/lit/ - Literature

Ancillary Justice, Imperial Radch #1 - Ann Leckie (2013)

I chose this cover because it's far more relevant and accurate to what the book is about rather than its standard cover. This was a science fiction of manners. Apparently the following books only emphasize that more and more. I don't have any interest in authors such as Jane Austen or works like Downton Abbey. I'm glad that Leckie was able to write what she wanted in the latter books, because I felt there was a clash of intentions in this one. Although there was a clear revenge plot, it seemed to be a framework to allow everything else and perhaps for wider acceptance among science fiction readers. I wouldn't have minded this if I cared for the characters, but alas, my engagement with them was near zero. The primary antagonists were the Radch, which I can't help but read instead as Reich (Empire). Leckie stated that the Roman Empire was an inspiration, as it is for many fictional civilizations. There also were alien species who vary in power, but they're more of a background presence than anything else.

The science fiction concepts, particularly the importance of synchronization in distributed consciousness was an interesting and worthwhile one. It was somewhat like a thematic expansion of Greg Egan's "Learning To Be Me". The protagonist was a sentient AI housed in both artificial and organic bodies and had a full range of emotions. The first person viewpoint of a character who is in many bodies and places at once was handled well. Unfortunately, these ideas only served as consolation for my indifference towards almost everything else. Overall, this was more about emotion and aesthetic than anything else. I felt like I was reading an attempted creation of a mythos, which was an intriguing feeling, but I only felt what must have been the shadows of its full effect.

One oft repeated point of contention I've seen is how much focus there was on tea. There were 117 direct mentions of tea over the course of somewhat more than 300 pages. Another issue is how pronouns were used. I think there's too much fuss about both. The protagonist's use of "she" for everyone, except when doing so upset others, wasn't anything more than presenting a cultural trait. The Radchaai don't seem to correlate behavior with sex or gender at all. The non-Radchaai characters usually mentioned the sex of important characters at some point, though that could be easily missed without careful reading.

I've both rated and felt similarly about both this book and The Raven Tower, another novel by Leckie. As such, I won't be continuing this series and it seems unlikely that I'll read further works by her. This book's many awards and nominations are understandable, but are otherwise irrelevant to how I felt. It's increasingly clear that I'm not fond of anything that's "of manners", but some manage to be just worthwhile enough to read.

Rating: 2.5/5

>>20036705
Recommend me fantasy for an antisocial recluse

>>20036133
Sounds vaguely like Alastair Reynolds' books, but his FTL is more like you can do it, but it would be extremely stupid because your frame of reference jumps up its own ass and you join the cast of the Sliders reboot.

>>20036744
Reverend Insanity

I wish I could protect all of the children in ASOIAF
It makes me sad

>>20036744
Jokes on you. All books are for antisocials. Literature a solitary thing since the invention of the book as medium.

But to answer your question: Go with the Warhammer Fantasy: Gotrek & Felix. It's not good literature, more like exploring the Old World via tabletop rpg, but it's comfy read.

i'm kinda depressed that a hack like sandersoi is soaking up all that crowd funding only to churn out more mediocre crap, and stagnating the fantasy genre for a generation.

>>20021418
It's about a bunch of characters who inhabit this impossibly big castle and the slums outside it.
One is a boy who escapes the kitchens and begins climbing the social ladder and the chaos that unleashed inside of the strange insulated society of the castle.
Also the princess, the king, or rather duke or something, his attendant, the wet nurse to his newly born son, etc.

>>20036744
The Prism Pentad
Elvenbane
Golden Compass
Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Bridge of Birds
Soon I Will Be Invincible

Sanderson is the Steven King of fantasy and I hate Steven King.

I did like Salem's Lot tho

>>20037457
His name is Stephen. No wonder you hate him, you're illiterate!

>>20037168
>>20037457
It’s all because of delusional redditors just look up mother of learning and watch the redditors praising it like it’s the holy gospel. It’s like their inborn mediocrity has somehow made its way to their literature preferences.

>>20037457
Is salems lot scary?

Could you please recommend me books in category of cyberpunk and steampunk? For cyberpunk I would prefer from last ~22 years, not older.

>>20037686
How do I delete a post on 4chan?

I think I’m just going to up on the magic fantasy genre, there just is no good books out there. All of them either treat magic as a story tool to hand wave with dull power systems such as true name or autisticly create magic systems so rule driven that the genre seems to be more sci-fi than fantasy. Honestly fuck Sanderson, even if your magic systems are shit you didn’t need to have the most bland characters, the most bland prose, and the most straightforward plots. Also being overly detailed doesn’t mean you’re good at world building it just means you’re autistic.

>>20037700
It is worse than that. There is good fantasy and not so good, most of it mediocre, however the most serious problem is that fantasy has been infested with progressive sjw cancer for many years now.

>>20037700
You should give up on more than that.

Is /sffg/ especially low IQ and angry or are all scifi and fantasy fans except me like this?

>>20037867
Many here use fantasy as escapism instead of actually wanting to become proper fantasy writers. Thus they transfer their anger at their own miserable lives to the fantasy series they are obsessed with this week. Or: envy takes hold of them and only by pulling down writers such as Sanderson or Bakker can they feel good about themselves, dismissing them as "cucks" or "hacks" or whatnot.

>>20037686
Fuck, I should've put Meno in place of Mother of Learning instead

>>20037876
I just like reading fantasy because fantastical settings can lead to interesting conflicts and characters that don't really exist outside of it. Not to say some characters are EXCLUSIVE to fantasy, just that some archetypes can't really be done too well outside of it.

>>20037565
>mother of learning
Wait, that's more than a weird niche title for the kind of people who read isekai like it's their job? Is Mother of Learning actually the future of fantasy?

So what do you guys think about this anthology?
Personally I really liked the way FTL works in third story, it was pretty innovative and interesting

>>20036705
OP you faget those in your pic are wyverns.

>>20037926
>It's another "anon tries to pointlessly taxonomise fictional creatures that're referred to by an umbrella term" post

>>20037908
is this the one where she turns into a floating sphere of brains and gas bladders?

>>20037675
Here its only about being non-pozzed and reading old books. Google would help you more.

>>20037686
what happened to some of the V3 books
just make it bigger and put them all in

>>20038069
how can you say this when n.k. jemisin is /sffg/'s patron queen??

>>20038064
Yeah, that's the first story I think

>>20038071
I'm trying to do a funny, most of the new books don't belong
There was a book called "main character hides his strength" with a guy with a bow so I put in the part of the odyssey where Odysseus hides his strength and shoots a bow, etc
Maybe it's not very funny

>>20038103
Oh, I didn't even notice it was a different image this time. I just assumed it was the same nothing image as before.
>A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Hah.

>>20038077
Then give him recommendations if that's the case, I just know people here don't read books that is actually fun and only read pretentious crap.

>>20038142
here are some that /sffg/ essentials that this thread refuses to ever mention

>honor harrington series
>anything by jemisin
>the many coloured land
>the handmaid's tale

>>20038152
it's not my job to read and talk about books you're interested in anon
if you care, you can read and talk about them yourself

>>20038152
pozzed

>>20036705
2022 spec fiction tentative reading list
>read
Ubik
Soldier of the Mist
Count Zero
The World of Null-A
Invisible Cities
>currently reading
Burning Chrome
Shadow of the Torturer
>want to read
The Night Land
Soldier of Arete
Mona Lisa Overdrive (read Neuromancer a long time ago, might reread idk)
The Players of Null-A
Virtual Light
Camouflage (Joe Haldeman)
The Forever War
Hyperion
Armor (John Steakley)
The Dosadi Experiment (Herbert)
Software (Rudy Rucker)
The Worm Ourobouros + The Mistress of Mistresses (ER Eddison)
all Clark Ashton Smith's short stories (5 volumes)
all Robert E. Howard's fantasy stories (already read Conan)
The Black Company
The Darkness that Comes Before
Tigana
Imajica
Sandkings and other GRRM short stories/novellas
sequels to anything above that I liked

>>20036705
Anyone have mobi versions of rare highest quality Malazan ebooks? All the ones on libgen are old and have formatting issues

I just finished Eye of the World. It was a decently comfy adventure story, but after they clowned on the Dark One in the first book I can't imagine how the rest of the series maintains any level of tension.

>>20038364
The Dark One goalposts get moved a bit in a couple more books.

Is there any real motivation to spend more than a few months writing a genre story? I find that most people who read them retain very little and the only thoughts they seem to relating to the book they read are mere summary.

>>20038385
to have*

>>20037168
Sanderson is extremely good at what he does. He's a highly productive writer who is engaged with his fan base. Fantasy has stagnated for decades now, and he's not the cause--he is the end product.

>>20038385
It depends. Yes, I have read some genre books that are so shallow that I had already forgotten them a few months after reading, not to mention now years later. However, if you truly create a world with layers of depth and complex connections between characters, people WILL go full autist over them and analyze every little detail about your story for many years or decades if you’re really good.

The vast majority of genre stories are of the former type. They are basically marvel movies in book form. People read them once and forget about them a short while later.

How was Iron Widow a bestseller, it’s blatantly just Darling in the Franxx.

>>20038364
>they clowned on the Dark One in the first book
lmao you're going to love the next few books for sure

>>20038545
>chink thrives when ripping off nips
How is this still surprising to you after all this time?

>>20038575
>>20038382
I'll carry on then.

Finally finished this after almost a week.
Not sure how I feel about it. The setting and ideas were interesting, but it still feels like a pretty standard first-contact story. Pacing was horrible, with most of the action weirdly spread in the first half and tail end.
3/5.
Any anons made it through this book?

>>20038641
Reminded me of gremlins in space so I dropped it

>>20038646
Gremlins in Space sounds like a wonderful idea

>>20038723
How do you determine what time to stop feeding them?

>>20037675
Anyone?

>>20037587
I've enjoyed reading it. Can't comment on how scary it was.

>>20038545
Concepts don't matter as much as execution. Also I'm fairly sure Xiran got fairly known through other means so it was gonna do well regardless.

I haven't read anything since 2011, has any decent fantasy come out since then?

>>20038900
Nope. All the good stuff is still from before then.

>>20038900
There's this interesting book called Prince of Nothing by one R. Scott Bakker.

>>20038900
Check Adrian Tchaikovsky.

>>20038545
Yes, the author also literally says that's what it is as well. Videos and etc were linked here some time ago.

>>20038293
Download the original epub versions and convert them or fix the issues yourself.

>>20039120
So it's Darling in the Franxx but WITHOUT a terrible ending I hope?

>>20038152
Not reading the threads is your own fault.

>>20037675
For steampunk, I enjoyed Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter. Can't help you with cyberpunk, though

>>20039132
I don't know, I don't read YA. I was just amused by the videos. I tried reading it at the time but couldn't. I have watched Franxx though.

>>20037587
It got me very tense a number of times. I don't find supernatural stuff very scary but he made vampires about as scary as they could be .

I was reading "Dying Inside" by Robert Silverberg until recently, but I'm afraid it will go down in my own personal history as one of the only books I've dropped midway and THE ONLY book I've ever erased from my kindle.

What a fucking piece of trash. Ugly, vulgar, neurotic, irrelevant and pointless. Just masturbatory prose from the author, barely any exploration of the admittedly interesting concept of a telepath losing his abilities with age. This garbage was just Catcher in the Rye, except even more neurotic and even more vulgar and concerned with talking about genitals. At one point I had to read a paragraph of the main character talking about his infant sister's pink slit. What fucking garbage. Apparently this book was well received too. Just goes to show that everyone in the art world is a depraved fucking hack, if this is the kind of shit that gets praise.

>>20037675
Senlin ascends is a bit steampunk i think, you can try it. i thought the first half was fantastic, afterwards it went downhill

>>20037686
How did you get the watermark to stick over the new implants?

>>20036705
So apparently bakker's official site got hacked....bakker is really dead

>>20039192
Traced it manually in a transparent layer, in a selection limited to the cover of the book
Had to experiment a bit to find the right color/alpha

>>20038142
They don't want anyone to read these because it isn't some pseudo intellectual crap.

Is really that hard for a YA to not write a love triangle? Pic related, dropped it the moment I saw a love triangle confirmation.

>>20039229
this is red rising right? it's still going? why?

>>20039218
I always find it odd seeing people use their usernames from when it was a web novel on a cover like that. I understand why, to a degree, but it always feels a little strange.

>>20039244
Japanese and chinese authors also do it, so it's ok.

>>20039253
I also find the inconsistency of it strange. Some of them put their username first, then AKA their real name, some put their real name first, then the username.

>>20039236
Yeah, it is Red Rising, and I made the mistake of trusting a YA author.

>>20039229
girls lap that shit up and girls are the main audience for YA
boys don't read books

>>20039244
That'd be because it's unprofessional and/or lazy.
Pen names are an established tradition for anonymous authorship, if you can write a novel you can invent a proper false name, at least.

>>20039229
I don't hate love triangles inherently, it's just they're so often "Nothing protagonist", "Blatantly obvious choice" and "Barely a red herring". More of them should resolve with polyamory.

>>20039267
boys don't read books about gay shit*
hit the enter button too fast

>>20039274
Well, the problem is people get known online by one name. That said, they should at least try to come up with one that doesn't have numbers in it. Shirtaloon is one of the only username names on that list I don't dislike, because while it's clearly not a real name, it at least reads 'profesionally enough' if that makes sense.

>>20038641
I liked it, it was definitely longer than it needed to be with lots of human drama that didn't seem bad but which was totally unmemorable. Everything about the Moties was cool tho.
I even read the sequel which was legit one of the worst books I've ever read. Just absolutely nothing going on, no new ideas. The Moties try to escape, in the end they manage to stop them. There saved you the trouble of reading the sequel.

>>20039282
I'm a nobody and I even have enough class not to make usernames with numbers, be they random or leetspeak.

>>20039201
lol. You did a lot of work to make your fake not stand out.
Do you work officially as a spin doctor for a rich person?

>>20039229
It turned into a noir whodunit with faggot shit.
I dropped the series after this book also.

>>20038267
Congrats!

>>20039381
>Do you work officially as a spin doctor for a government agency?
ftfy

>>20039282
>Shirtaloon
He also has a aka on his books now.

I think it is legally so people can't come out the woodwork and say "i am [insert penname here]" like what happens on youtube.

There is big money being made taking someone's work who is anonymous and uploading it as your own. There are even famous cases where the persons IP was stolen from them.

>>20039387
My brother...

Bakker is the name
I'm ahead of my game
Still reigning SUPREME
Still puffing my leafs
Still fuck with the beats, still not loving police
Still rock my khakis with a cuff and a crease

>>20039403
Fair enough. I assume a lot of them keep the original works online too, so it helps. I don't dislike it necessarily, it just feels odd to see, because books getting usernames on them feels very 'old meets new'.

>>20039533
Just protecting your butt in these unscrupulous times.

>Write something with a penname because you are ashamed that your family might find out.
>Get over 50 million readers praising your work
>get podium, atheon or some other publisher approaching you to make ebooks or audiobooks
>get told that you should put your real name
>have no problem putting your real name on books now because you are proud of your work and the validation of tens of millions of readers

>>20039557
Oh, sure I get that stuff. It's more... How do I put it... It always just feels off seeing an author's name be a name, AKA "Name012301932". Pen names are at least usually names that sound like names (well, Lemony Snicket aside).

>>20038900
life's too short to concern yourself with reading books that have come out in the past 20 years. i'll never be able to read all the great sci-fi from the previous 50 years anyway, so why even bother with the new ones. if anything was all that good, you would have found out about it organically.
as for me, some more recent books i've read and haven't regretted have been blindsight and echopraxia, three body problem, revelation space and first law
but like i said, i did not actively seek them out, it's just that the internet was abuzz with talk about them.
you could also read bakker, he's genuinely good, but the series isn't finished so keep that in mind if you want to start it

>>20039381
Picking the books took more time.
I do like editing pictures.

>>20039274
>nooo, you can't just put books on amazon under the name everyone knows you by
>you have to make a gay fake name and suck off a publisher for shelf space

>>20039572
depends on the platform originally published in my opinion
it's not weird seeing like xXSniggeringRat445 on a forum or royal road
but put it on a book it's suddenly weird, but the reverse also feels out of place
I feel like there's a middle ground that can be achieved
like [Book Name] by [John Doe(xXSniggeringRat445)]

>>20039600
Noone is ever going to honor the name of "LordofBoners6969" or whatever.

>>20039679
Well, that's how they are on those books in that image, it'll be a name and then a username as an AKA (or vice-versa).

>>20039679
>like [Book Name] by [John Doe(xXSniggeringRat445)]
I'd save it for the "about the author" section. ie; "so and so originally released this work under his screen name of cumguzzler80085 as a web novel"

>>20039709
the way I see it is, as a self published writer, you need every attention you can get , the more you hide it the less people know about you
you put whichever name is more popular front and center
if you want to change your name to something more legit you have do it very very slow
things like change your user name and social media handle to John Doe(Previously xXSniggeringRat445) and do it everywhere for at least like a year before you can remove the old use name and switch to the other name

>>20039694
Nobody with enough verbal IQ to be a successful writer is going to choose a handle that would seriously conflict with the tone of their work.

>>20039786
Well, look at >>20039218 a fair few have their usernames on it, and they're a LITTLE jarring. Some fit (TheFirstDefier for Defiance of the Fall) but some are just Username2190349 or whatever.

>fantasy novel
>no humans, only fantasy races
thoughts?

>>20039797
Go to /wg/

>>20039797
>no humans
worthless

>>20039797
I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but that's the most recent book I finished and will be posting next thread.

>>20039800
im not writing anything im just curious as to what you guys think about it

>>20039797
Why do you faggots come here known if there’s a writing general for your kind.

>>20039814
It depends. Is there one race that's basically just "the human stand-in"? Feels a little lazy then. If it uses the differences of species to a great effect to provide a rather alien viewpoint, that can be interesting.

>>20039817
ig /sffg/ is the market

>>20039817
again read fucking >>20039814

>>20039817
Because they want to feel special thinking, they're writing something unique. It's why they detest going to /wg/. Because they'll soon realize they're just writing the same garbage.

>>20039795
If you think the name is jarring, wait until you see the prose.

>>20039848
Maybe I just don't have the brain for it, but I never really 'recognise' bad prose unless it's jarring awful. I don't know what really makes good prose.

>>20039797
Very cliche, go to /wg/ to discuss your novel, we won’t care.

>>20039854
>honey of unwashed anus
good prose
>she was a girl
bad prose

>>20039854
give the trash heap a dive if you want to see what shit prose is

>>20039861
>>honey of unwashed anus
>good prose
Are you a retard? That's terrible.

>>20039866
You just got meme'd. First time in the thread?

>>20039854
>I don't know what really makes good prose
Read Tolkien. He has great, dare I say, even beautiful prose.

>>20039864
>Heinlein's on there twice

>>20039866
its how you use the words, not the words themselves

>>20039869
Is it essentially evocative writing with a clear voice behind it, compared to a more dry style? So Terry Pratchett has good prose, for example?

>>20039861
>>20039873
So, do you have no life to just shill this godawful Reddit author or what?

>>20039856
im not writing anything. i hate you.

>>20039879
I'm just having a long form discussion with my fellow /sffg/ posters, the topic of good prose popped up and I think Bakker is the king of prose

are coomlits allowed in this gen

>>20039881
Yes, yes, not my fault your so called original idea is cliché. Try reading more, or head to /wg/. I’m tired of you.

>>20039882
Ah, the threadshitter with no life.

>>20039892
I offered an example of good prose, words stringed together beautifully "honey of unwashed anuses" it sings to you as you read it.

>>20039887
whatever. i don't write simple as. if anything i was asking what books have done that.

>>20039892
Ignore the tranny. He’s from Reddit and just shits up the thread. Just report him or ignore him.

>>20039869
Dunsany > Gaiman > Vance > GURM > Shirtaloon > Tolkien > Pratchett

>>20039920
Bakker is for chads, not for trannies

Whats the last fantasy novel you enjoyed reading?

>>20039927
Where’s Zelazny, he had decent prose.

Tolkien

>>20039927
Terrible

Tolkein > Dunsany > Wolfe > Vance > Le Guin > GRRM > Gaiman >>>>>>> Pratchett

I don't know who shirtaloon is

>>20039884
Yes as long as they're fantasy or scifi and you're willing to put up with the autist shitposter saying otherwise every time you post one

what do you think of this ranking?

>>20039988
pozzed and unbased, this is why /sffg/ is dying, we used to have long form discussions about non-pozzed authors and books, now its all about coomers simping for w*men.

>>20039988
>put up with the autist shitposter saying otherwise
Just report him. His posts are low effort and spams the same bullshit like pozzed, unbased or sjw. He won’t be missed.

>>20040009
>non-bakker supreme
bad ranking

>>20040009
Maybe show one from this year?

>>20040023
maybe he think this year is pozzed, 2018 sounds more based (trump in office)

>>20040023
oops this is the 2021 version

>>20039132
Like Franxx if Franxx ended on a cliffhanger of MC-kun’s shocked face right after finding out that the dinosaurs are good guys and everyone is being manipulated by evil aliens.

So yes actually.

>>20040009
>>20040023
Here's the most recent one (I assume this is the r/fantasy list because it looks the same overall) for anybody interested.

>>20040041
>JK Rowling, GRRM and Rothfuss all dropped
Wonder why.

>>20040009
>>20040041
>>20040054
Why do we give two shits about Reddit? Just go back already.

>>20040054
light mode......................

>>20040041
I like how after the top 15 it just kinda goes all over the place with the rank changes. Haven't even heard of the new ones there, wonder if they're alright.

>>20040041
Where Bakker?

>>20040077
No one cares about your failed author.

>>20040077
He's down at 99.

>multiple works set in one setting referred to as The Setting Universe
Strongly dislike this, lads.

>>20040090
I can understand it, since they'll often have a similar tone, and sharing a setting means they'll occasionally blend together.

>>20040041
Sometimes the praise redditors give Mistborn makes me want to double back and see if I was reading the wrong book or smthng.

>>20040099
I think the second Mistborn series is good, first one is rough after the first one. I'm not really agreeing with Stormlight being #1, though. It's pretty good, but it's not better than Tolkien.

>>20040041
Inheritance > Dreamblood > Broken Earth > Great Cities.

>>20040041
>stormlight archive
Isn’t this shit basically a video game rpg
I read a preview of the first one long ago and all I remember is some dude putting on an elemental armor or something. Shit felt like it was right out of an MMORPG

>Kingkiller Chronicles
This shit was actually more cringe than some anime I have watched

>Wheel of Time
Do people truly enjoy 10,000 pages of female characters being shrill?

>The Realm of the Elderlings
Dangerously close to furfag shit

>>20040112
What do you like from the list?

I'm just going to say it, if people were non-pozzed and had some sense, Bakker would be number 1

>The protagonist is not a virgin at the start of the story
Instantly dropped

>>20040128
Why would a failed author, who got dropped by his publisher be number 1? Are you that much of an idiot?

>>20040119
Vance, Wolfe, Le Guin, Tolkien & Erikson.

>>20040142
If publishers were non-pozzed and had some sense, he would be number 1

>>20040154
No Witcher?

>>20039135
>>20039181
Thank you

>>20039282
>>20039403
Pitty that 50% of his work is filler and he uses three hundred chapters before he ranks up his MC. Spouts leftist propaganda at length. All characters are a carbon copy of each other and he has everyone suck the MC proverbially off every chance they get.
It's Xinxia tier trash.

>>20040196
Meh, I'll read it and form my own opinion (I generally have a low bar for gamelit isekai shit, I've read some trash), if it manages to have characters I can remember the names of two days after finishing it I'll consider it good.

>>20039979
Why did he grow up to be such a nerd?

>>20040245
Once a nerd always a nerd, once a Bakkerchad always a Bakkerchad

>subverts your whole genre before it even exists

Which of Gene Wolfe's fantasy novels should I read first?

>>20040284
Don't bother. It's just ramblings of a psycho that you project your own meanings on to. Just appreciate Gene Wolfe for Pringles.

>>20040284
Book of the new Sun

Just jump right in

>>20040289
>It's just ramblings of a psycho that you project your own meanings on to
Is that bad?

Gamelit is the kusoge of books.

>>20040297
It's not particularly good either.

>>20039969
Between Vance and Gurm probably. Zelazny always blueballs me.

>>20038545
she did the rioght thing in todays market, build a fanbase in social media

>>20040112
>Wheel of Time
>Do people truly enjoy 10,000 pages of female characters being shrill?
Yes. They were all well written and, with the exception of Egwene, enjoyable to read.
inb4 Nynaeve-hating plebs share their worthless opinions

Reminder that LOTR has always been LGTQIA+ and y’all didn’t even realise Gandalf in the movies was hella gay.

All writing can be built upon. Fanfics are of equal authority to the original. Canon is a lie. The author is dead. All interpretations are permitted

Is Licanius trilogy any good? I'm 20 pages in and it's cliched as fuck. Does it get better?

>>20038152
>n*ggers in space
An essential /sffg/ and /lit/ refuse to mention. Hmm, I wonder why..

>>20038152
you could talk about handmaid before the show

>>20039267
>boys don't read books
Yes because most ya books are progressive trash

>>20040090
As do I. It's lazy and I'm convinced the people who refer to the books collectively like this haven't actually read them.

>>20040362
Unironically true. “Intellectual property rights” don’t exist and intellectual property laws shouldn’t exist. Including patent, trademark, and copyright laws.

>>20039884
No. Get out and take your coom with you.

Are there giant mechs in Book of the Long sun?

Or is this cover wrong?

>>20040425
Lemur is supposed to have an android body or something.

Sanderson has begun writing Stormligjt 5.

>>20040545
I still haven't read the first four. Tell the nigga to chill.

Thoughts?

>>20040571
>my name is jeff
No thanks

>>20036705
Is there an author who is like Sanderson but good?

>>20040586
Sanderson.

>>20040586
Robert jordan

>>20040363
Not at all, drop it now or regret it later.

>>20040363
Book one was okay enough to interest me in book two.
Years later book two comes out and it's shit. The female protag fucked the book.
Didn't read book 3.

>>20039218
Menocht Loop wasn't very good, but its sequel is absolute shit

>>20040764
Yeah. Book two was shit. None of the shit that made you pick up the sequel from book one remains.

>>20039797
I believe this could work as any speculative piece of fiction could as long as this decision has a reason. What would be the thematic purpose of a universe devoid of humanity? The reader will inevitably attempt to empathize with the characters regardless of race/species/fantastical descriptions.

>>20039797
it's kinda weird how in novels it's impossible to find a book without humans in it. Like it's rare in most mediums but near absent in books.

Sanderson is for neckbeards

Science fiction and fantasy is for neckbeards

>>20040841
Is there even any good fantasy/sci fi stuff that has a nonhuman protag or at least a prominent side character?

>>20040907
There are plenty non human protagonists books.

Read more fucking books.

>>20040923
name 1
I'll read more books when they make more good books.

>>20040934
Go to goodreads and search for non human protagonist.

I will not hand feed you.

>>20040934
Stop watching anime/reading manga

>>20040907
The Hobbit.

>>20040967
Make books that are worth reading over them, already read the old stuff by the dead people back in school. There are no new books worth reading. you can tell that by how dead /lit/ is compared to /v/ and other boards.

>>20040998
Fair enough, but still basically short humans in appearance. also already read.

>>20041008
Year of the Griffin.

Often it seems when people say non-human they mean non-humanoid and also alien psychology.

>>20041040
Orcs, elves, dwarves, goblins, lizardmen, demons, angels and much else. Basically human!

Talking animals think too much like humans so they basically are as well! Land Before Time that's all dinosaurs? Basically human in mind! Finding Nemo? Fish are people, my friend! Robots? Same! No human can truly conceive the non-human.

>>20041003
Arguing value by popularity? Silliness.

>>20041073
the point is that books don't have a wider appeal because in general there aren't many new good books being made, and if there are you wouldn't get an answer from lit because that's spoon feeding or something. even most of the stuff talked about here is old stuff besides bakker and Sanderson, etc.

>>20041040
>>20041065
I'm fine with humanoid nonhumans. Obviously writing something that doesn't think in a somewhat human way is hard and isn't fair to expect, but even with humanoids it's still hard. There aren't many books with an orc, lizardman or whatever main character. Stuff like elves are the exception since they are basically humans with pointed ears. There's also vampire and werewolves, but that's mostly cheesy romance stuff for middle aged women.

>>20041126
Surely there is a Star Wars book from Artoo or Chewbacca’s POV.

>>20039162
I liked the short story he wrote for Night Shift better

>>20041116
Or it could be that cultural preferences have shifted to where it wouldn't matter good the book is.

>>20036725
>Ancillary Justice, Imperial Radch #1 - Ann Leckie (2013)
Great review. I dropped it because I couldn't stand the retarded the decision to use "she" for everyone.

>Ancillary Justice, Imperial Radch #1 - Ann Leckie (2013)
Great review. I dropped it because I couldn't stand the retarded decision to use "she" for everyone.

>>20040280
based lovecraft

Finally getting around to reading Dune. I'm really thankful I didn't read this as a teenager because it would have made me even more of an autistic dork than I already was. I would have larped.

Anyone read treason?

>>20041008
vampires are basically pale humans with fangs in appearance
elves are basically slim humans with pointy ears in appearance
lots of fantasy races you could say that for

>>20036705
Give me ONE reason why I should read Malazan

>"Brandon Sanderson should not get millions of dollars from his willing fans because... because... he just shouldn't!"

>>20041540
I read it in high school.

I still mentally recite the litany against fear in stressful situations.

>>20041823
what would tolkein's twitter look like

>>20041862
bunch of world building autism
>thinking about this world blah blah blah... thoughts?
>what do you guys think about this...
>trying to decide if I should base this language on germanic or sinic roots

>>20041862
shitposting in old mercian

>>20041862
This video, but in twitter format
https://youtu.be/oa6cHEJIjYI

>>20041900
linguistics are cool

I'm nearly finished with the first Foundation book but I'm just learning that Asimov's universe is 10+ books in depth. The only other book of his I was interested in was I, Robot but apparently that's also linked to the foundation series. I'm not sure if I should stick with Asimov for the foreseeable future, or just read those two and move on.

>>20042087
If you like a series, why wouldn’t you keep reading it until it ends, or until you don’t like it anymore?

>>20042095
Because Tesla's too many books quote.

>>20042101
What’s the quote? Google just showed me a bunch of Elon Musk results.

>>20042106
He means the Zappa quote 'So many books, too little time'

Fucking Tesla?

>>20042125
You honestly expect anything more form this place?

>>20042125
kek ok thanks the only quote I saw from Tesla was that he loved reading

>>20041823
How many more times are you going to keep posting this?

I'm very amused by those defending Sanderson for no reason other than to use it as an attack on what they see as the greater enemy.

>>20042230
Yes, we get it, anon. You’re seething that someone writes and you don’t. Can you stop spamming it already.

I wasn't expecting this to be comfy. Also don't get yet why people say he's an unreliable narrator. I am only 1/3 of the way in. I know he says he's insane, as in he imagines things, but I haven't got the sense yet he's lying to me about anything important that's happened.

>>20042315
A narrator that imagines things is by definition unreliable, because you don't know what he's saying is actually real. I haven't read the book myself but I assume there's some heavier ambiguity about some events and whether or not they happened.

>>20042095
Because I have a mental deficiency. No, I noticed when i started reading heavily again lately, I want to jump around to different authors and series which is normal, but I have this sense of not wanting to 'burn out' reading too much of one series or author at once. Which is retarded. Worry about that if it happens. If I like an author, just read him. What could go wrong?

>>20042315
Try reading it and not skim it. Seriously, it's obvious when he's being an unreliable narrator.

>>20041862
Either lots of stuff about linguistics or he'd post shit about nature.

>>20042335
>Either lots of stuff about linguistics or he'd post shit about nature.
What I would give to have a fantasy author like that now. Tolkien will forever be based.

>>20042327
I guess that makes sense but if you do get burned out then just put that one aside for a while and come back to it later.

>>20042327
>What could go wrong?
Nothing, I do the same thing. So, I never understood why it was wrong.

Gentlemen, I have finished TUC. What a ride, what a fine collection of curved phalluses. I now have the privilege of joining the collective bitchwhine of waiting for Nope-God. Might reread the whole thing if its ever announced.
I actually predicted the Kelmomas tweest since TGO Bakker you basterd

Tolkien will never be surpassed will he? Dude made modern fantasy and he made it so he can’t never be usurped.

>>20042321
I'll try not to spoil the plot as it stands, in the first chapter he by chance encounters an important person and becomes embroiled in a conspiracy. The insane comment occurs in the next chapter when he's looking for clues to confirm that encounter had happened among documents in his guild (torturer's guild) and doesn't find them. So he questions whether it happened - at the time, as his narration is taking place into the future and he's recounting all this.
He also remarks that he has a perfect memory, which would seem to contradict the above.
>>20042330
I've noticed a couple inconsistencies or odd things but the thing is it seems unimportant to follow the story so I'm not dwelling on it. For example the coin, at the end of chapter 4 he looks at the coin as if he was expecting to see the face of Vodalus but he first describes it as a woman's face. And the other one is when he kills one of the volunteers fighting Vodalus, he glosses over his direct actions, he only implies that he did it by his own hand. Not until later does he say that he swung the axe.
All the strangeness of his narrative revolves around the important encounter he has in the first chapter, that much is obvious. I guess when I hear unreliable narrator I expected that he's lying and hiding something big from the reader, but it would be to no end that i can see as yet. He comes out and says he's a traitor who broke the vows of his guild among many others.

>>20042389
>I've noticed a couple inconsistencies or odd things but the thing is it seems unimportant to follow the story so I'm not dwelling on it.
No wonder you don't sense he's lying. Christ.

>>20042375
I’m still writing, anon. Haven’t published yet. Just wait.

>>20042404
If you’re posting on 4chan, I already know you’re not going to surpass Tolkien.

>>20038267
Clark Ashton Smith has the most ornate and elegant prose out of all the Fantasy writers I’ve ever read. It’s a shame he isn’t as popular as Lovecraft otherwise we could’ve gotten some incredible editions of his stories.

>>20042407
What corner of the internet would you expect the next great author to spend their time in his 20s?

>>20042429
>great author to spend their time in his 20s?
Outside living life?

>>20042397
Well hey for all you've said I have no reason to believe you understand the book better than I do. Most of the narrative so far consists of worldbuilding. Whatever it is you think I'm missing isn't going to alter the meaning of him rehabilitating a dog and going to a brothel and having a conversation with a librarian. The only thing he could be hiding is that he was somehow in deeper with Vodalus from the beginning than he's letting on, and I already suspect something weird going on there for the examples I gave, and I know it'll come out later.
Like, if his unreliability is just him painting himself in a better light, like anyone would do, then it's not what I expected.

>>20042433
So what, Instagram? Everyone, especially young people, spend time on the internet. Even if it’s just on their phones.

>>20042443
Yeah, this sounds like cope.

>>20036725
>Ancillary Justice
WHY IS SEIVARDEN?

>As such, I won't be continuing this series
It gets even worse. I really liked the Presger tho. The concept of all-powerful and uncomprehendable aliens gets the "they are all-powerful and incomprehendable and that's it, done" treatment. Leckie succeeds in making an entertaining display of how even with entities of unmeasurable capabilities and incomprehendable efforts, both sides sure as fuck gonna at least try and understand and affect each other in various ways.

That gets the series to 2/5 for me, otherwise it's 0,5/5.

>>20042453
You’ll see.

>>20042460
There’s nothing to see. You’re excusing your behavior on others.

>>20042442
>Like, if his unreliability is just him painting himself in a better light, like anyone would do, then it's not what I expected.
Anon.....

>>20042419
Sell me on him? I’m looking for new authors.

>>20042495
Uh huh, we'll see just how big a dick you can take, fag

>>20042315
It's not that he lies, it's that he misrepresents events, e.g. in the first chapter when Severian kills the man with the axe who was about to strike Vodalus, he doesn't actually say he killed him. He says something like I grabbed the head of the axe and then it was over, but later refers to him as being "the man I had killed" or something like that.

Recommend me something that has 1. Cool villains like f.e. The Ten Who Where Taken from TBC. 2. Monumental buildings, interesting lands (like Dark Souls games, but I don't want it to be another 'books like Dark Souls' request). 3. No teenagers

>>20042544
>No teenagers
You're shooting yourself by having this.

>>20042509
No this guy
CAS basically wrote world's first creepypastas. None of his stories are longer than a dozen pages so you can easily gobble them up by the dozens. Most of them have exact same structure
>protagonist does something morally reprehensible
>cosmic weird shit happens
>ironic comeuppance
He's basically a soiboy's Lovecraft

>>20042509
I never heard of him until some anon mentioned him among the names of original fantasy authors worth reading: Lord Dunsany, ER Eddison, Mervyn Peake, Lovecraft, Smith, Howard.
Apparent Smith was the most prolific contributor to Weird Tales with Robert E. Howard being second, and he was friends with Lovecraft. I'd never heard of him.

Something like Cradle. Natively written in English, and no gays.

So we should change it from:
>As an /sffg/ discussion grows longer, the probability of someone posting about non-pozzed Bakker and pozzed cucks approaches 1.
To:
>As an /sffg/ discussion grows longer, the probability of someone posting about Brandon Sanderson's kickstarter approaches 1.
?

>>20042581
Nobody cares about Bakker. Fuck off to reddit already.

Nearly finished with my current book, recommend me something.

>>20042597
covers like this make me think the book is titled The Black Song Anthony Ryan

>>20042591
It was a joke about the Bakkerposter, autismo.

What's the best sci fi for someone who isn't interested in exploring deep philosophical questions but just wants to be immersed into a science fiction setting
Also I don't care that much about science or technology

>>20042608
Shadow run.

>>20042619
Not him, but reading Street Cultivation really made me wish for something like Shadowrun. Maybe I should read some of the novels.

>>20042598
that is the title

>>20042650
>>20042598
The author is W. N. Sleeps

>>20042674
Is he any good?

>>20042701
He's pozzed
>Captcha: KYS42

>>20042707
Are you capable of forming paragraphs or is spamming pozzed are all that you are capable of?

>>20042720
Either ignore the low-effort troll or report him, but don't respond to it.

What's the Neuromancer of fantasy?

>>20042726
Lord of the Rings.

>>20042720
>>20042723
Did I just expose actual bots?

>>20042726
What did you like about Neuromancer?

>>20042737
I like everything about it that makes it antithetical to a space opera. I like how borderline camp it is and I also enjoy Gibson's style. To be fair I do prefer his Bridge trilogy overall

Malazan or Stormlight?

>>20042771
Can't you decide for yourself, anon?

>>20042772
I can't. That's why I'm asking.

>>20040907
>>20040934
Goblin Emperor

>>20042773
Are you that much of an indecisive bitch that you can’t just pick?

The latest entry to the Undying Mercenaries series dropped recently, and I read it yesterday. One of the better entries recently.
Earth is conscripted by Grand Admiral Sateekas into helping defend a Mogwa colony world from a Rigellan land invasion. It's all fucked, they're all going to die, and it's up to one redneck retard to unfuck everything.

There's a relatively fresh cast of side characters in this one. Gary, Galina Turov's secretary, gets thrown in the deep end and put on the front lines, The gremlins make another appearance, and old McGill gets blown up.

Good ride, will continue reading this series.

>>20042778
Is that self-publish?

>>20042777
Apparently yes. Recommend something or stfu. I don't have time to quarrel with uppity children.

New thread
>>20042790

>>20042789
Actually pathetic.

>>20042781
Yes. I assume you aren't familiar with the series? The QRD is basically
>Earth gets absorbed into an intergalactic Bureaucracy as a slave state. All states in any given sector are granted a monopoly over one export industry and any state that cannot produce anything of value not already being produced in that sector is simply exterminated
>Earth only has one thing it can really export, and that is people, so earth starts using its armed forces as mercenary troops, aided by Alien revival machines which essentially 3d print bodies then zap their mental engrams into them after death

It's dumb fun, absolute cheese. The Revival Machine angle allows the author to really push the envelope with the action, like one point a character needs a shuttle to pull him out of a place, so they drop a bomb on him and revive him on-board because it's faster.

>>20042793
glad you at least have some self awareness

>>20042794
Sounds interesting, I'll check it out on amazon. Been wanting to support indie authors.

>>20042793
Leave me alone, jew

>>20042794
>>20042778
sounds dumb I'm in

>world gets invaded by all but immortal monsters
>international trade collapses
>less than half the world's population dies
no way

me newfag
me no lurk
me ask question asked in every thread
me get mad like toddler when no answer