/lit/ - Literature

>>20011897
How much of these are pornographic?

Which of these are actually worth reading if I don't care about
1. mindless action
2. endless scenery description with no point beyond explaining scenery

Is the Elric Saga a good starting point in fantasy?

>>20011959
Do you have an example of a relatively well known book that falls under categories 1 and or 2?

GIVE ME ACADEMY SETTINGS

>>20011986
uh...
Harry Potter and Ender's Game are two that I know of that actually spends time in an academy setting

>>20011986
mage errant

>>20011986
Hmm
A Practical Guide to Sorcery is pretty good
I got a fake job at the academy is quite innovative
Rise of the Akron (Rewrite) is good but not enough chapters and author is on hiatus

>>20011986
>we've finally arrived at [The Academy]...
>SIKE! we're not having a fucking academy arc, lmao EXPELLED!

>>20011976
1. Princess of Mars
2. Lord of the Rings

Any good reccs for books with an arabian/persian setting?

>>20012182
The darkness that comes before is my recomendation.
You will know if its for you within the first 2 chapters.
Gets graphic if you are not into that sort of thing.
Imo this book has the least amount of useless information I've read in any book. As in everything leads to something in the end. I recomend all books in the series

>>20011959
mountains of madness isnt really on the fantasy spectrum of lovecrafts works, thats really some of his more hard scifi shit, hardly any references to ancient space gods or any of that, its mostly about ancient ayylmao civs and their demise. its a story about the degeneration of civilization and ancient intergalactic race war.
if youre wanting lovecraftian fantasy his dream cycle stuff is much more fantastical, stuff like the cats of ulthar

>>20012265
Warded man, First 3 books.
Its not the greatest book series ever written but has some desert. Latter books not recomended.

>>20012182
>2
No.

Recommending Lord of Light for an interesting take on indian mythology by Zelazny.

>>20012326
that looks pretty based ngl

>>20012346
It's a colorful read, it's all in mythological prose like one would read in the Vedas or something.

>>20012274
conversely, it also has the most amount of useless drivel ever shat out of a leaf's ragged anus onto paper, excepting maybe rupi kuar

>>20012353
I suspect this is just a matter of preference.
What books do you recommend. Im here because i feel i have exhausted my favourite genre( fantasy ). Will read any fiction.
Nothing YA or an excessive amount of romance

>>20011959
Honestly most of the stuff there is pretty decent. Book of the New Sun, Dying Earth (starting with Eyes of the Overworld), Black Company, and 2nd Apocalypse are core sffg memebooks and none of them have those problems.

>>20012296
The cognitive dissonance of Tolkien fans is astounding.

I tried reading some non-fantasy/scifi (Agatha Christie) and got so bored

>>20013024
realistic fiction is an abomination, it wears the skin of the real and pretends to be true while knowing that it is a lie. at least scifi and fantasy knows that its an absurdity and a contradiction and embraces it. "realistic fiction" is for midwits who cant into real history and events

Can this man be stopped?

>>20013091
Some of his poses give off school shooter vibes

Just finished Stand on Zanzibar. Good book overall though perhaps a little too long. Some of the vignettes were just brutal. I absolutely hated the one where the guy gets his life ruined for having too many kids, then the entire community turns on him and kills him

I think Brunner perfectly nailed the sociological aspects of both an overpopulated nation in general, and the mentality of the have-nots within eugenics laws. Can recommend just for that, if you can ignore the dorkier aspects of the technology and stuff like hobby saboteurs

>>20011817
Tried Bakker. First thing I had to do was to remove all the ^s and ¨s of Tolkien orthography LÂRP. The guy lacks the poetic sense to deserve to make names any more tedious to read than absolutely necessary.

>Anâlisûrimo Kêlhaüls

Who is the Fang Yuan of western protagonists?

Hero of /sffg/.

Simple as.

>>20013284
Probably Kellhus. Must be why RI and Bakker are shilled constantly here.

New books have better covers than old books.

What are the best novelizations of historic mythological fantasy? IE Arthur, Beowulf, Jason and the Argonauts, etc (even/especially lesser known stories). Not looking to read medieval-style poems but actual novels.

Are there any genuinely good non-European fantasy books?

>>20013667
You mean written by non-Europeans, or with non-European settings?

God I can't fathom why I put off reading Black Company for so long this shit is absolute kino, been burning through this series I can't put it down

>>20013678
Setting

I really liked Gandahar and Fantastic Planet (movies), but the source materials' author's works apparently haven't been translated into English which sucks. Are there any other good /sffg/ lit like them I can read? The closest thing I can think of is Downward to the Earth which I loved.

>>20013721
Master Li novels by Barry Hughart

My comrade volunteers and I just arrived in Ukraine. Any last minute reading material recs to keep my mind off things? I was thinking about The Darkness That Comes Before because that's kinda got a crusader theme. I want something with more of a modern flavor though. Wish me luck, bros.

>>20013790
Do u think they’re dead? If I had to recommend them something it would be Ice Trilogy by Sorokin

Fafhrd and Grey Mouser is comfy! COMFY!

>>20011961
If you are a slav yeah, otherwise read real books and not sword and sorcery

>>20013805
Fuck I thought they were reddit foreign legion

>>20013721
A Shadow in Summer

>>20011928
A few. See disclaimer at the bottom.

>>20011959
Titus Groan, the first book of the Gormenghast trilogy.

>>20011959

>>20014164
well at least you moved name of the wind into the same level as mistborn, what really bothered was that it was above mistborn.
I still think mistborn deserves a C but the way of kings can stay at D.

currently reading through house of leaves
fascinating little enigma this book is
all these hidden little nuggets of secrets, too bad I'm too retarded to actually solve them

>>20011897

This reads like an Urobuchi VN.

>>20014164
Should be:
>Ender's Game on tier C
>Dracula on tier A
>Hobbit on tier A
>Le Mort on tier S
>Conan on tier B
>The Name of the Wind on tier B
>Hyperion on tier S
>Piranesi on tier A or B
Also, how is Frankenstein "hard to get into" at all?

Can anyone rec some light, short novels (around 200-300 pages) that aren't part of a series? I don't care if it is sci-fi or fantasy, I just want something I can read in a couple of sittings.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/books/brandon-sanderson-kickstarter.html
Sandersoys... we're going on the self-published charts now.

>>20013811
Yes it fucking is. My favorite S&S series. You too are a man of great taste. When I read them I feel like I have actual imaginary friends.

>>20014481
sauce on pic? asking for a friend

>>20011897
At least rank arrange them or something.

>>20013091
This man taps into the midwit IQ audience. Such people cannot be stopped.

I will keep shilling this book until you faggots read it and realize that there are hidden gems among the garbage that is modern SF/Fantasy

>>20014578
female protag?

>>20014412
Is that Scranc poop?

>>20014580
No

>>20014593
okay, I'll add it to my tbr then
thanks.

>>20014555
Why? Are you autistic?
You have some oCd there ?
Need it to be in order?
Read it or not, doesn't matter. If the cover and title seem interesting, go and check it out
.

>>20014578
How much beetle kin are cucked in this book.

>>20014607
>Ask for your tierlist
>hurr durr ocd order autist
Why are you such a faggot, anon?

>>20014615
The fuck's a beetle kin?

>>20014578
Already read it. One of Tchaikovsky's best. It goes in many unexpected directions. He's for sure one of the greatest modern SFF writers, post-Shadows of the Apt, at least. Dogs of War is the one I recommend to people.

>>20014623
>The fuck's a beetle kin?
You didn't read his other books, did you?
That author has a fetish for spiders and insects.

>>20011817
Nice pic, though the strength of those thin pillars' material would have to be batshit insane.
Is there any actual sf/fantasy that has a city like that as a setting?

>>20014635
I like Dogs of War, but it sometimes feels a bit too simple and straightforward to me. Maybe because the protagonist thinks like pretty much a retarded dog.

>>20014644
I've only read his SF stuff, not the fantasy series. Should I? I'm aware of the spider thing, I've read that one and the one with the octopi. But beetles? Which book is that?

>>20014481
Try Prosper's Demon and its sequel, by K.J. Parker. Around 110 pages each.

>>20014703
Shadow of the apt.

>>20014684
Only anime will help you there.
A light novel or some shit
>>>/a/

>>20011897
Only one good book on this chart

>>20014578
Oh shit is is dying earth subegenre? I thought no one wrote this kind of setting anymore

>>20014424
Also recommend this one. the second one is also good

Fuck "witty" characters.

I just finished the last book of the Foundation saga(Forward the Foundation) and there were so many aspects of the psychohistory that could be explored. Asimov wasted so many time with trivial uniteresting situations. And I don't know if I love or hate how he connected the Foundation saga to his other books. It feels like you need to read his other books to fully comprehend the universe he created.

>>20014763
>my tastes are better than yours
>better read what I deem acceptable

>>20013091
He’ll be stopped by a cheeseburger or donut decades before he ever would have been able to finish his fantasy version of the MCU.

>love Heinlein, Vonnegut and Card
>couldn't get into Clarke, Asimov or even Niven
Am I forever doomed to appreciating Babby's First Sci-fi novels?

The Emperor's Soul is the best Sanderson work.

Is there a ASOIAF equivalent in sci-fi?

>>20014885
Asimov and Niven haven't aged well in my opinion. They often have interesting ideas but the way the story is told, especially the characters, often feels stiff/poorly plotted out.

>>20015262
Niven has aged a lot worse, the sequels to ringworld make me cringe now.
Fucking space vampires, seriously?!

>>20015023
Yeah, probably. I think his other books are generally pretty solid (Elantris and the later two books of Mistborn Era 1 are the only ones that I'd consider actually kind of weak) but Emperor's Soul shows that Sanderson can actually do pacing well and only a single viewpoint and STILL have a complete story.

>>20014763
Which is?

Any thoughts on Will Wight's work? I thought Cradle was a generally pretty good read, even if half of the first half of the series was pretty empty. Traveler's Gate was... Decent, but the protagonist was utterly lacking. Elder Empire was neat, but the split perspectives across books leaves each split of the series feeling a little empty sometimes.

>>20015296
Simon is who I want Lindon to be. Cradle peaked with Ghostwater, maintained steady momentum with Underlord and its been on a steady decline since. Quality doesn't matter anymore because there exists a legion of Cradle fans who will purchase any new title regardless of the content and advertise the series everywhere.

>>20015260
Most people would say Dune. Foundation might kind of fit, but I don't remember like dueling family type stuff.

>>20015296
it is epic if you never read actual chinese xanxia and only read western woman authors, but once you do you realize just how shit and sjw cradle is.

>>20015304
I just found it impossible to really ascribe any particularly personality to Simon beyond 'vaguely grumpy good person'. Lindon is a bit more overt in how he is as a character. I don't think any of the back half so far has sucked as bad as Skysworn (nothing fucking happens in that book it's incredible) but I feel like the ramp-up to the top-tier bullshit feels too... Quick? Almost like it's setting up for a sequel series. I generally enjoyed Wintersteel and despite the previous statement I did really like Reaper's finale for what it was. Just on the grand scale it's "Oh we're doing this now?"

>number one kickstarter in history
>it's only been going for a day
SanderCHADS report in

>>20015313
Isn't actual Chinese Xianxia like all 95% the exact same shit every time? As for SJW... What? A female character is capable of fighting and that makes it SJW or... What?

>>20015316
tradpubs on suicide watch

>>20015280
>Fucking space vampires, seriously?!

>>20015333
So do they explain why the Sun doesn't just incinerate the space vampires or.

>>20015316
Is the pic hoid?
I knew one of the books would have been a hoid book.

>>20015340
I think it's meant to be Hoid? I'm not sure what Hoid appearance it is (given the guy doesn't seem to have a set look) but if it's anybody specific it's him.

>>20015340
It is meant to be Hoid
He also got his own merch box

>>20015354
...How much Hoid merch can there really be? I guess based more on his specific appearances, and generally as Wit.

>>20015333
>standing in an open airlock without a space suit on
>Lt. Cmdr. Data is a vampire
This doesn't look like it's supposed to be hard scifi though, ringworld was absolutely meant to be hard scifi.

>>20015316
The name of the first book and a few chapters were emailed out. Sounds like a generic fucking name so I didn't bother. I've also lost about all of my Sanderson interest since reading Rhythm of War with you fags.
What a shitshow.

>>20015354
>sanderfag merch box
What would this contain?

>>20015365
little glass phials of metal shavings.

>>20015365
Donuts

>>20015371
metal*
* = hardened crusted flakes of his shit spray-painted silver

>>20015316
YEAR
OF
THE
SANDERSON

>>20015354
April looks like Magical scifi (mage hat and a tech gun). If I didn't an hero by 2023, I will pick up April's book when it's pirated.

>>20015374
No, donut recipes. He keeps the finished ones (I would).

>>20015358
I'm glad even cosmerefag has lost his interest.
It has been fun being in here with you for half a decade plus years, cosmerefag, and to watch as I first lost interest in Sanderson after oathbreaker, and now you lost interest years later after Rythm of Shallan.

It's pottery.

>>20015405
I enjoyed Wax and Wayne stuff so far. I hope Lost Metal is a solid wrap-up. I think Stormlight is suffering a little from trying to be 'about' so many people when Sanderson can't really have that many characters who're actually characters. Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Adolin, Szeth, Jasnah and maybe Venli feel like the only ones who actually should be focused on that much. I don't dislike the rest, but Lift and Navani and all them sometimes feel like they're just there to remind us they're there. I did enjoy Navani in RoW but prior to that she was just nothing.

>>20014578
I'm gonna read it, been enjoying Tchaikovsky's short fiction recently like Elder Race and Walking to Aldebaran so it's time for something bigger

>>20014578
Sell me on this?

>>20015320
Don't bother, for some people here it's pozzed if there's even one woman in the book.

>>20015427
Like, I can respect some xianxia stuff, but it does feel like a lot of them are just the exact same story beat-for-beat. Cradle's only similarity to the general xianxia story is "protagonist starts out in a bullshit place where nobody knows anything about how to actually progress" but he doesn't know anything either.

>>20015405
I've grown tired of the plateauing of his progress, in that he hit a certain point where he stopped improving and his sale numbers confirmed that he didn't /need/ to improve then. The tone of the entire meta does not fit the 'characterization' and yes I'm aware of how they are simply plot devices. It's hard to stay interested when we get a new book every 3 years and there's YA nobody asked for in between.
And boy am I butthurt about how we've still never gotten the Warbreaker sequel or Elantris sequels we've been promised since the 2000s.
Nothing stays good for long.

>>20015436
I'm personally gonna reserve judgement until Stormlight 5 comes out, to see if the first half of Stormlight as a whole is generally good or not.

Vasher and Kelsier are the only likeable Sanderson characters

>>20015451
I think Kaladin's largely likeable, even if he's just 'grumpy hero guy'. Nightblood may be goofy but it's a pretty charmingly dumb sword.

>>20015451
Vasher in fortnite when?

>>20015459
Apparently they do have the rights to put Vin in too but I doubt they will at this point. Still so weird that's a thing that Kelsier's in.

That's it you win shills I'll start a Sanderson book. Mistborn 1 is the recommended entry point, yes? Is the feMC a qt at least?

>>20015482
She starts off fairly ratty but the first book is like 30% My Fair Lady and she becomes a pretty high-society lady.

>>20015482
start with elantris or the emperor's soul

>Kelsier escaped Scadrial to end up in Fortnite

>>20015489
>>20015482
Warbreaker's also a good start, and available for free on his site.

Does anybody have any idea how the printing process actually works for a book that includes illustrations? Not graphic novel/comic book frequencies, but say 40 pages out of 400-450. Can they actually print high quality digital scans or illustrations to standard issue paper or do they only print those pages in another paper, or do they just have to munt the whole book up?

>>20015485
>My Fair Lady
I can dig it
>>20015489
>>20015495
Thanks I'll check those out as well and see which interests me more.

>>20015320
>As for SJW... What? A female character is capable of fighting and that makes it SJW or... What?
the absolute state
Are you really asking me what makes it sjw? It is not obvious to you? The entire fucking romance subplot, the entire fucking strong woman approach, the woman has almost become the second mc, almost every other strong character is a fucking woman, Lindon is fucking stupid retard, while every woman is a genius. More women characters are being introduced.
What the fuck is this shit? Is this a fucking a drama, a fucking romance novel set in some eastern fantasy setting? In later books the plot and story mainly advances because of the women drama. remove the women and lindon would still be some trash in his village.

>>20015529
Ask /wg/.
>>20015244

>>20015535
Fair enough. Emperor's Soul is the shortest one, but be warned that Elantris is his first-published novel and most people generally say it's rough. I don't dislike it, it has one of his better villains, but its pacing suffers a little from a triple viewpoint where one viewpoint just doesn't really do much.

>>20015320
Ignore him. He’s just a shitposter who does this shit every thread.

>>20015540
>The entire fucking romance subplot
A minor undercurrent of Lindon and Yerin's relationship, also how is romance SJW
>the entire fucking strong woman approach
???
>the woman has almost become the second mc
Yes, that's called a deuteragonist.
>almost every other strong character is a fucking woman
Northstrider, Reigen Shen, Ozriel, Mad King, the dragon dude, all male. It's honestly fairly balanced on the gender ratio which you'd generally expect in a world where sex determines fuck-all because anybody can become superhuman to the point that the comparative minor differences in ability between the sexes don't matter.
>Lindon is fucking stupid retard, while every woman is a genius
It's literally a running joke that Yerin is an uneducated idiot while Eithan is the eight billion IQ mastermind and Lindon is just ambitious, his intellect is generally pretty good at coming up with ways to bypass challenges.
>More women characters are being introduced
Oh no, characters, how dare they exist.

>>20015566
Ignore him. He’s just a shitposter who does this shit every thread.

>>20015552
Ah, wish I'd known that before responding with >>20015566 and all that. I wonder if people like that are genuinely upset that their precious genre has somebody else doing something with it or if it's just somebody trying to be funny and baiting.

>>20015436
Don't forget the Rithmatist sequel.

>>20015482
Emperor's Soul, then Warbreaker.
If you still feel okay, try his mistborn series. The West West versions is better than the original Trilogy.

Can you distinguish Cosmic Fantasy vs Sci-Fi? Or do they blend too much?

>>20015593
I think the main deal is the framing and thematic significance of the elements there. If it's cosmic fantasy, the cosmic stuff is very clearly 'fantastical' and 'magical' in how it's treated, whereas sci-fi stuff is just tech, and generally has 'real-ish sounding technobabble' to explain it.

>>20015593
I think I'm reading a mild cosmic fantasy series right now.
>fantasy "ancient evil about to awaken" 5 book series
>book 4 right now
>life was made by creatures who inhabit the Stone/Sea/Sky who came here from the stars (although bigger details were given)
>main noble savage character was exiled to this planet by his spacefaring race
>some weird shadow realm shit going on too that people don't know much about

>>20015610
What series?

>>20015598
I think you're right. I find the concept of Cosmic Fantasy very interesting and a natural evolution of the genre. There are very few books that explore this beyond games like Planescape.
>>20015610
Title? Sounds like Malazan, but I never read the full series.

>>20015614
>>20015616
https://www.goodreads.com/series/190347-immortality-and-chaos
I've been meaning to make a post about it at some point (and to make a post about completing Northworld, with the worst cover that one anon had ever seen) but lethargy.
The series has been good at showing, not telling, and providing you the story through the characters and what they believe.

>>20015616
Well, back to Sanderson, we know he's planinng on pushing Mistborn into full-on sci-fi, and the narrative approach there is for 'magic' to become just 'technology', as Wax and Wayne is already showing the transitionary state. So even though the sci-fi is based on a fundamentally 'magic' system, it's still going to be functionally sci-fi because in-universe, that'll just be how it's done. It's not some esoteric artifact to be treated with care and signifiance, it's just "we used the shit some people can do with metal to make spaceships and this is how it works".

>>20015610
er, no bigger details were given* at least so far. I don't know if there will be some big mega twist at the end but also the author wrote a 6 book series after this one, and is now seemingly in the process of ANOTHER series after that one. I don't know how far I'll go.

>>20015626
That is an interesting concept. I guess I would miss some of the mysticism that comes with fantastical magic.

>>20015624
Are your thoughts generally following the reviews that the first book is rough but the rest of the series is solid? I can handle a rocky start so long as there's at least something I can get invested in, so is the protagonist interesting?

>>20015632
It's a neat concept of how much the line is really not actually there. Sufficiently advanced technology and all that, with the corollary of "any sufficiently analysed magic is indistinguishable from technology". I think that mostly only applies to harder magic systems though, because you can't really nail down a soft magic system too much and build machines from it. Unless you're Discworld but honestly that's just something else entirely.

>>20015634
If the first book isn’t very well reviewed and subsequent books in the series are, it’s not necessarily because they get better. They might. But it also might be because people who didn’t like the first one didn’t keep reading, so only people who like the series are reading and reviewing the sequels.

>>20015435
xanxia genre is as good as or better than western fantasy, It has many great aspects but the issue is chinese authors who lack creativity and write according to commie rules.
western fantasy has mostly been subverted by sjws and progressive culture, while many older sff authors were more traditional and conservative they were still chronic coomers. Being some old coomer is as bad as being some blue haired sjw tranny.
I am not against women or anything like that, let them write and read whatever they want, but the sitation now is women write about (strong) women, there is plenty of misandry, men in their novels are constantly discriminated, strong push for progressivism, this is actually fine because who cares, it is free country the problem is here is that seemingly straight white men write about women, there is plenty of misandry, men in their novels are constantly dicriminated, strong push for progressivism. If they are less progressive and 'based' by western standard then it is less of strong woman and more of weak woman, white knighting, drama, romance and coomer shit.
Western action, adventure, hero journey, mystery and even comedy is dead because westen male authors cannot even come up with a single sentence that has no women, no drama, no, romance and no coomer shit anymore.

>>20015647
Also true. Reviews are generally a pretty terrible metric anyway because most people don't have any nuance, it's 1 or 5 and most people don't even leave reviews (god knows I don't) but they're just about the only one there is. I'll look into it when I'm done with Mage Errant because I've apparently just been reading a bunch of fantasy shit lately. Some good, some okay, nothing awful though a couple I was just like "Hoo boy I need to stop reading this series because this is a lot".

>>20015634
I didn't mind it at all, really. I fell into it easily and read it quick. The first two books split between two perspectives, where the first half of book one begins with Wulf Rome and Quyloc on the military side of things then bounces at the halfway point to follow the Tenders, your group of women who were strong in the past but now their goddess is absent and they are a shell of their former self, keeps the latter until halfway through book 2 before bouncing back to the former. I enjoyed it because you begin piecing together that the in-world narrative may be faulty.
The series has been well-written which goes a long way too, of course.

>>20015660
Any particular standout reason it's good, anything gripping or just 'solidly written'? I can deal with that, but it's just to know what the appeal is.

>>20015624
>about completing Northworld, with the worst cover that one anon had ever seen
What's this about?

>>20015566
Started reading bloodlines, the first seber several chapters is literaly just women talking, I tried skipping paragraphs and then even chapters and it is all just women talking about nothing. I just dropped it after that. Why could he not approach that entire scene or scenes like a fucking man and just write half a paragraph summarising what those woman spoke about (if it was anything of value) and then start writing about interesting things like action, adventure and mystery.

>>20015673
I suppose the quality of the writing and piecing together the mythology of the series through what the characters experience, know, and are told or what they read. There's a light amount of exposition but 90% of the book is in the moment. Characters feel distinct, important or not.

How does one deal with the aftermath of Kellhus. In the initialisation you are forcefully taught and humiliated through the eyes of the trapper but with time feel freed from your general metacognitive neglect and fetishised previous self-inflicted suffering. Yet you are human and not Dûnyain, I can now see how much of others and my own mind and will isn't my own yet I don't have the skill to overwhelm it but that sight is constantly there now seeing the self-harm.
I had read stuff like Lasch, Marx, Metzinger and thinkers that Bakker mentions before reading him but there's such a huge difference between simply having knowledge of something you can regurgitate over truly seeing it like I do now.
I feel cleansed and grateful but simultaneously have the eyes to see so much soot within myself and others, true soot, not the fake soot that I saw before.
Is there some way to deeply un-condition yourself and practice to overwhelm my parts that aren't me with whatever I am. The question what I am doesn't bother me anymore at all, that thought was soot. What bothers me now is my own conditioned behaviour, mind and will controlling me and the chains I see around all other people.

>>20015695
That's good to hear. I'll give it a look after I'm done with Mage Errant, see where it goes.

>>20015658
Mage Errant is fun but it quickly becomes teenage romance.
>>20015684
It's about a RUTHLESS man sent to find out why a planet disappeared from space and what happened to the three previous exploration teams sent out. It was heavily based off Norse mythology.

>>20015699
>How does one deal
By reading a better series.

>>20015702
Well, I'm already reading Mage Errant, and I've yet to bounce off it (pacing of the first book is weird as fuck, starts in an awkward spot and progresses almost too quickly before we get to know Hugh) so we'll see if the romance turns me off. I doubt it will if it's not that sappy. I've sort of been on a binge of varying fantasy series lately, just going through an author's entire body of work. Did that with Will Wight, then Andrew Rowe.

>>20015713
You have until at least book 3 before it begins becoming mildly annoying then book 4 and 5 is heavy. I do not exaggerate when I tell you that you will come to learn who each and every single person that the four underage protagonists want to fuck, or be fucked by, male or female, by the time that you catch up with the series.

>>20015721
It was honestly kinda refreshing reading Arcane Ascension and Corin is just asexual. He's not aromantic but that's mostly used for tension, he's not really ABOUT it.

>>20015725
I read that the AA protag was turned gay at the end of book one so it turned me off that entire series and author, plus he gave me a 3day ban from the gay progfantasy sub because I replied to someone and dared to say that I didn't like Bloodline so fuck him in his dreams because the faggot would probably like it

>>20015734
He's asexual, but not aromantic. His romantic interests are nebulous, but he's definitely into a dude and probably into a woman. He's not really 'attracted' to people because he doesn't have a sex drive, he just likes them.

>>20015706
haven't felt like reading any fantasy series after, and I don't think a book for that matter could answer my question. I think my answer is in practice and a lot of work from a few points for an intuition.

>>20015626
>stormlight already has flying ships made possible by quantum tunneling
>they're learning how to make atom bombs on roshar again
i cant wait for sci-fi cosmere

>>20015750
The brief glimpse from Sixth of the Dusk was neat, and that little excerpt he read about a potential Sixth sequel showing it off in more detail was a nice thing.

>>20015750
>the pages and pages of threads and threads of 17th shard trying to figure out how FTL travel will work

>>20015749
>haven't felt like reading any fantasy
There’s your problem. Start reading more.

>>20015761
So the current travel methods basically work because the Cognitive Realm doesn't really 'have' space in it because people don't really think about space, right?

>>20015767
Yes, the space within the cognitive realm might expand as people begin conceptualizing it and actually necessitate spacefaring technology to get around the cosmere after a while

>>20015769
It's a neat concept to think on, and also just the whole fact that it's hard to get into the Cognitive Realm in some places means it'll probably be treated like hyperspace or something in sci-fi.

>>20015749
get over yourself

Any good adult faery setting books?

>>20015765
not going to read more
>>20015774
yeah that's what I'm trying to do

>>20015885
>I’m trying to do
>I don’t want to read more
Sure, anon. Whatever you say.

>>20015893
nothing left to read at this point, my backlog list is pretty much empty other than like 5 books I'll read eventually but I'm in no hurry for them. I'm looking for points to put work into and practice.

Sirens of Titan or Slaughterhouse five? Which one should I buy?

Is this series good for the detective/mystery aspect or is it full of shitty action scenes

>>20015878
What is "adult faery setting"?

>>20015938
I'm guessing either a mature setting involving the fae heavily or a fairy-tale style setting, but adult.

>>20011897
I'm writing a gamelit right now, working on my system

>>20015934
it's a series about battling werewolves on top of a moving train that's about to crash then leaping onto a helicopter to safety

>>20015950
Does Gamelit specifically mean 'has a game-like system in its setting, whether a straight-up actual game or just is like that' or is it more taking inspiration from that style of system?

>>20015958
I’m gonna skip it then, thanks. I’m on the hunt for good mystery, doesn’t have to be fantasy

soul = story > world building >>>>>> magic system

>>20015996
Honestly at this point I'll only like a magic system as much as it contributes to neat fight scenes or other setpieces. Characters tend to be the major thing for stories for me, if you have great plot, world-building and everything, but the characters are bland I just don't care.

>>20016004
same

>>20015986
Honestly I think Butcher is a fucking great plotter. He knows how to keep escalating the stakes every few chapters and really get things moving when you thought they were already going strong. That said yeah it's not really a detective series per se.

Where do I go after reading reverend insanity? Every other webnovel I've tried just seems moronic and cliche now

>>20016011
>That said yeah it's not really a detective series per se.
it never was, save for the three books, and even then, it barely qualified.

>>20015980
Gamelit is typically a subgenre of progression fantasy, and means characters/narrative care specifically about things like "I gotta get 50xp to get to next level so I can learn the skill to beat the villain"

A story set in a game world is not gamelit unless things are expressed in game terms. So a D&D novel isn't gamelit until Frank the Fighter starts talking about what feat he'll take when he gets to level 3.

Some people also include systems where the characters have a stat tracker but isn't technically a game world eg Iron Price as gamelit.

>>20016024
Right. I wasn't sure if gamelit was just "progression fantasy with stats" or had to be specifically gamelike systems. Like would Arcane Ascension count?

>>20016027
Arcane Ascension is gay, not gamelit afaik

>>20016033
Oh right I almost forgot what site I was on for a minute.

>>20015986
Garrett PI books have some well constructed mysteries. First one is kind of a drag, but they're light reading and the overall series is fun.

>>20016036
Main character is a literal homofaggot and it comes out of nowhere like 65% of the way into the first book

>>20016115
He's asexual but he's romantically fine with men and women. It doesn't come out of nowhere, it's established that he's pretty clearly not physically attracted to anybody so why would gender even matter?

>>20016125
Tranny cope

>>20016128
Does a character who's not completely heterosexual have to openly announce that to the reader from the first page?

>>20016138
yes

>>20016138
Stop replying to the shitposter, already.

>>20016140
It's easy to forget.

>>20016140
>>20016143
Are you replying to yourself? lmao

>>20015260
Vorkosigan saga

>>20016161
I'm not sure if this is meant as an insult to ASOIAF or not.

>>20014164
>eragon at d-tier

I didn't like the novel either but you only put it that low because it was written by a 15 year old.

>>20016179
Eragon author is a literal chad
>Eh I'm gonna publish my fantasy star wars fanfic at 15 and become one of the biggest authors of all time

>>20014164
Revelation Space should move to S2. Goes off the rails in later books but the first one is excellent and very accessible

>>20015313
>once you do you realize just how shit and sjw cradle is.
Yeah, no. I agree with >>20015320
In all the Xianxia I've read all the women either can't fight on the same level of other characters or they manage only for a small part of the story, they only exist in the story for the sole purpose of being fucked by the MC (or killed).
Yerin at least can fight.
>>20015420
>been enjoying Tchaikovsky's short fiction recently like Elder Race
>Tchaikovsky's Elder Race
Anon, I...

>>20016209
Xianxia women seem to be entirely there to be not QUITE as good as the protagonist or to become harem-fodder.

>>20016214
>mfw 78 episodes of Return of Condor Heroes anime were made, but only 26 were broadcast in Japan and not only does chinese sound terrible to my ears, the image quality of every episode I've found past 26 is copy of a copy of a casette tape tier

>>20016164
Do you really want to compare a finished and award-winning saga with one in which the author, old and obese, has delivered 3/4 of a book in twenty years of work, because he has closed himself in a corner?

>>20016225
Not familiar with that?

>>20016214
>Xianxia women seem to be entirely there to be not QUITE as good as the protagonist or to become harem-fodder.
You can also add to that:
>Xianxia men seem to be entirely there to be not QUITE as good as the protagonist or to become subordinates/corpses.

>>20016209
what? what is it about elder race?

>>20016234
True, there's a lot of power-wanking of the protag who's super-special-awesome because reincarnation or something. Though thinking on Cradle it makes me realise that Ozriel is basically a send-up of that style of Xianxia protag who finally got to the very peak and was like "...Damn, this sucks."

>>20016231
Condor Heroes is pretty much the seminal work that established the wuxia and xianxia genres. Return is the sequel, about the son of the villain of the first series. He gets picked on for being the son of an evil shit and runs away to this dinky little tomb/sect and its sole female inhabitant. She becomes his master but they also fall in love, and love between teacher and student is forbidden in the wuxia world so they become outcasts there too

Is Witcher worth reading?
I haven't played any of the games yet but I'm looking for another fantasy world to become engrossed in with interesting writing, good scene descriptions and fun dialogue
My favourite fantasy series of all time are LOTR, ASOIAF and Earthsea

>>20016243
I... See. Are those basically the things that all of these basically template xianxia stories are riffing on?

reminder to read feng shen ji
it's about a cocky fag noble kid who dies and has his soul transferred to some slave he maimed then xianxia shenanigans ensue

>>20016257
I read that a ways back. I actually enjoyed it, even if it was very power-wanky, because the characters were kinda interesting. I appreciate the audacity of the protagonist just pulling out a fucking cannon to fight a god.

>>20016254
Basically whereas western fantasy went Tolkien -> Fanfics of Tolkien -> Deconstruction of Tolkien Fanfics, China went Condor Heroes -> Condor fanfics -> Condor fanfics with everything turned to 11

>>20016271
I see. Are the stock phrases just a result of awkward translation or do they all really say the exact same shit all the time?

>>20016274
same reason "It can't be helped" is so common, bugs don't have much to work with

>>20016238
It's pretty bland, both the setting and the character.
The only 2 fleshed out characters are the mage and the princess (just barely, and only by the end), the others are basically cardboard-level, just there to have more than 2 characters in the story.
If the author made it longer it would have been much better than what it is, probably.

>>20016282
But "It can't be helped" is at least a relatively uncommon phrase in English, a lot of the stock phrases I see memed on in Xianxia stuff seems to be complete nonsense.

>>20016288
You're not wrong.

>>20016290
Junior, you dare? *coughs blood* You have eyes to see, yet you still don't recognize Mt Tai...

>>20016297
Something something "frog at the bottom of the well", "courting death", "jade-like beauty".

>>20014764
Yes, yes it is.

>>20016305
How I always imagine the jade beauties

>>20016312
Admittedly it's one of the least esoteric of the phrases, because jade is associated with heavenly stuff in China, so "jade-like beauty" is effectively the equivalent of "angelic beauty".

>>20016315
It's a bit of a misconception. Jade is a type of mineral that comes in many colors; green, white, brown, and red. But in China the white jade is the most heavily prized. A jade-like beauty is being described as extremely pale. Westerners only get the shit green jade so we have a very different mental image.

>>20016333
Ah is that how it is? I assumed it was based on the heavenly association. And most of the phrases do make some sense, they're just weird to read, especially given they seem to be used all the time.

>>20016202
I read the first 3 Inhibitor Sequence novels plus Chasm City and they're all equally awful from a literary standpoint. Reynolds is interesting for the world building and the high diamond age vehicle porn, and he seems to get better with those in his later books.

>>20016250
Yeah they're pretty fun books. Although I read the books after playing the games and had a great time with the whole franchise so I don't know if your experience will differ.

>>20015699
It's a curse, try to forget about it before it eats you up. I recommend socializing more. That's the best distraction I've ever found.

>>20015699
>How does one deal with the aftermath of Kellhus.
Pretty much do what this anon told you to do, >>20015706 and read a better series.

So, should I read Hobbit first, then read Lord of the rings?

>>20016688
You can if you want but you don’t have to.

>>20016688
Yeah, pretty much.

>>20016297
Senior, remember not to be a wrong doer in your next life

>>20016688
The Hobbit is a far shorter book that does serve well as an introduction to Middle-Earth. Keep in mind that many of the characters and settings (Such as Rivendell) feature in Hobbit first and then LOTR. One could even argue that The Hobbit is actually vital to properly understanding Frodo's quest and the storyworld.

>>20016716
So, Hobbit is a sort of prequel to lord of the rings.

>>20015654
Older sff authors were usually sjw's and progressives of their time

>>20016688
>>20016723

>>20016735
Thanks, anon. This will help me immensely.

>>20016735
God, how I wish we had another Tolkien.

>>20016688
Yeah definitely do this
Hope you enjoy it anon
>>20016767
>tfw ywn be the asian Tolkien

>>20016802
It's depressing we never did have another tolkien, after the original.

>>20016767
>>20016805

>>20016829
The saddest thing about this? It’s not that far from the truth.

>>20016802
I am going to be the Tolkien of Japan. And even though I am white they will all bow out of respectu for my accomplishment.

>>20016829
What are the similarities between Tolkien and George RR Martin?
What mythology was George working with? How deep is his knowledge of linguistics/philogy?
>>20016833
That's cool anon, good luck with that
If you did it well I'd definitely read it

>>20016829
Only if he finishes his series.

Why do people say warhammer 40k is a shit setting? I think it's fans are extremely obnoxious but I think the idea of a decaying empire fighting an endless battle is quite interesting

>>20016854
>Why do people say warhammer 40k is a shit setting?
Only pseuds say that, most people enjoy it for what it is.

>>20016843
They both have RR as their middle initials.

>>20016843
>What are the similarities between Tolkien and George RR Martin?
None, that I can recall, other than having deep lore.

>>20016854
I personally find the books to be either hit or miss.

>>20016854
>le game settings are /lit/

>>20016829
GRRM: nihilistic mess where all the heroes die pointless deaths. Anti-fantasy masquerading as fantasy. Sex and violence instead of story.

He truly does personify the attitude of our age, and thus fail to reach even the ankles of Tolkien.

What's the best Conan book to start with?

>>20016926
Most people prefer Westeros to Middle Earth

>>20016940
Westeros was designed as a campaign setting for D&D, Middle-Earth was made to be a modern mythos imo

>>20016957
Middle Earth is too simple

When someone asks for a book like ASOIAF which features do you think of?
For me it's the kind of gritty pseudo realism, political intrigue, the huge cast of characters, the different point of view characters and the way each character is threaded together in the narrative
The world of ASOIAF just feels more alive than most other fantasy books have felt for me
>>20016940
I prefer Middle Earth over Westeros

>>20016961
That's because you're contrarian

>>20016968
How is he a contrarian.

>>20016978
For pretending to like LotR more than ASOIAF just because it's the unpopular opinion

>>20016904
>>20016854
the setting itself is very strong and interesting but its often underutilized and the most interesting shit usually takes a backseat to space marines chaos or boring eldar. never rogue traders or best eldar.
most of the books these days are terrible too, its been a while since they published something i thought was good, and the old stuff was mostly mediocre

Where can I read a balanced and fair assessment of Sanderson's writing so I can determine whether I should read him or not?

>>20017016
Not here if that's what you're asking.

>>20017018
Well I'm not asking for an anon to dump an essay

>>20017016
https://libgen.rs/fiction/?q=Brandon+Sanderson

>>20017016
Have you tried reading him and form your own opinion on him?

>>20017048
But that would mean he has to read.

>>20017072
God, forbid he reads something in his own.

>>20017006
I hear that some authors are great, while others aren't.

>>20017095
It’s the same with Star Wars, you got a few good authors, and a ton of shit authors.

>>20016016
Warlock of the Magus World,
Martial World,
Renegade Immortal

I've read or tried to read a bunch of wuxia but these 3, as well as RI, are the only ones I've read that have an enjoyable MC, decent plot, and alright translation.

>>20016854
>>20017006
>>20017102
Nobody talks about Star Trek, is the series really that dead when compared to the others?

>>20017114
The movies pretty much killed it. Same thing is happening to Star Wars. But, Yea, the series is dead.

>>20017114
The best of Star Trek tends to filter midwits more than the best of Star Wars or other non-lit scifi.

>>20017126
Star Trek is too pretentious and takes itself seriously.

>>20017122
1. First Gen Trek (TOS, TAS, TOS movies)
2. Second Gen Trek (TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, TNG movies)
3. First Gen Star Wars (original trilogy)
4. Second Gen Star Wars (prequels, Clone Wars)
5. Third Gen Trek (Reboot movies, DSC, ST, PCD, LD, PRO)
6. Third Gen Star Wars (sequels, Solo, Rogue One, Mandalorian, Boba Fett, Bad Batch)

>>20017130
Doesn't really change what I said, Disney is pumping out extended universe for material, but its dying.

>>20016933
"Simp of Cimmeria" is the best book

>>20017137
Kids aren’t even buying toys from them unlike the prequel toys.

>>20017128
>t. never seen Star Trek

>>20017112
>Warlock of the Magus World,
Dropped it at chapter 1050, that arc was a confusing clusterfuck.
>Martial World
Dropped it at chapter 367 (the initial part was REALLY good tho).
>Renegade Immortal
Dropped it at chapter 307 (ironically I dropped I Shall Seal The Heavens at 306).

>>20017155
Anon, that isn't an argument.

>>20017171
>Hey! I can have an opinion on things I know nothing about!! Uhhhh logical fallacy!!

>>20016016
Martial world
Human emperor

>>20016209
The whole point is that she even exits. She should have been some unimportant side character given few chapters to help Lindon escape. Or better yet she should not have been written at all. There is no need for her. When authors intoduce women they always introduce womens perspective and things eventually get done in womans way. There is no need for this is in prograssion fantasy which is mostly about lots of fighting, going on adventure and reaching immortality. You do not go on adventure with a woman because that will always end up in disaster, a ton of wasted time and failure.

>>20017182
Jesus Christ, are you still seething?

>>20017201
I have been seething since western literature went sjw way.
I won't stop seething any time soon (if ever)

>>20017207
Get a life or touch grass.

>>20017211
Getting a life is sjw, touching grass is pozzed.

>>20017143
>>20017221
Fuck off already.

Why do contemporary SFF man babies act like this?

>>20017232
>iPhone
Go back.

>>20017235
Android are more susceptible to malware.

>>20017245
You still have to go back.

>>20017182
>Human emperor
Where's the best place to read if? If there's more than one translation.

>>20017224
sjw tranny

New thread
>>20017288

>>20017283
Lightnovelpub.com

It is completed so you can you google human emperor epub and one of sites that have a complete or partial epub will show up.

>>20017296
Thanks

>>20014578
This was a fucking cool book. Ill have to read his other shit.

>>20017112
>recommending wmw ever
>the webnovel where an omnipotent AI chip invariably gets its flesh sack out of trouble any time it looks like there are actual stakes
>the webnovel with a setting completely lifted from ad&d's forgotten realms
>the webnovel where you have to suffer through shit chinese>english translated sex scenes that don't even do anything
Just why?

>>20014164
Revelation space is super easy to read. In the language and the fact it is so fast paced and throws so much at you. The main thing noobs have issues with in books is slow pacing and hard to read language. Revelation Space is one of those books that really excels at entertaining noobs Also it is fantastic.

The darkness that came before has once again excellent pacing, and easily pulls the reader in.

The Quantum Thief and it's sequel the Fractal Prince or pretty dammed hard to understand.

>>20011959
Unironically " The Darkness that came Before"