/lit/ - Literature

Autistic mods tongue my anus

He supremely supremed the supremacy of supremia

>>20255632
I love cyberpunk. What should I read?

>>20255648
Something good to cure your love of cyberpunk.

>>20255691
Is desu ex cyberpunk?

>>20255691
Kek, this is the misery of the Cyberpunk reader.

Cyberpunk the genre of fools
Readers with a mouth that drools
Cyber fans the biggest tools
Cyber cities smells like a stool

So, just finished the first Mistborn trilogy (Era 1?), and honestly feeling a bit exhausted.
I don't often see these books categorized as YA, but I feel like I would have derived much more enjoyement from them if I had read them a few years ago

One of the main reasons for this would be the fight scenes, one-on-one ones specifically. They often felt drawn out for the sake of making a "cool" fight, but after a bit I just started speedreading them and the only enjoyement I was getting from them was trying to think of what asspull the author was gonna resort to to give a "shocking" twist and "develop" the characters a bit.

And that's another facet I've grown to loathe over the books, but not for it's repeatedness, but for how it has changed, specially after the first book, by far me favorite one. Here, there were a lot of moments, conversations, whole chapters, where everything felt so... natural? Characters being introduced, understanding their motivations, watching how they changed and developed after events, showing this close knit group of allies-friends and, while abviously very idealized and "fantasy-like", they felt alive. They weren't just the cogs and pawns that I kept finding in book 2 and forward, moving to very specific positions to advance a very complex and unjust puzzle that the author had set up as the basis for the books. They felt like real characters.
But even these decent characters felt bunched up with the new ones introduced and all relegated to a very background role, removing the little interesting worlds they introduced to the books by adding detail and general texture.
Now, maybe I felt that way at the beginning because it was my first contact with a Sanderson work and was still not acclimated to his writing, but the way the other two books read was honestly shocking, I was constantly wondering if whole sections were written by the same author, whatever "subtlety" it may have had before lost now.

The whole religion thing with Sazed felt really jarring at first, but after finding out about Sanderson's religous views, it all kinda clicked and made sense. Honestly not the worst aspect of the books, but brought it down oftentimes.

Lastly, I know this is a point of contention, but I honestly liked the romance elements, as much as Vin and Elend became the ultimate Mary Sues early on, the start of it on book 1 made me really like them and kept me interested in their romantic affairs, kept looking forward to their interactions and I even cried like a bitch a few times.. Which is weird, considering that it's one of the most "YA elements" of the book, but I couldn't bring myself to hate it.

Overall, it was a decent read, ranging from really entertaining to absolutely loathsome at times, so I'm still not sure if I'll read more Branderson for a bit.

Thanks for (not) reading my second grade tier book review.

Smartphone is the first true step into cyberpunk future. Prove me wrong. Think about it. Think how vital smartphones are, they are more vital than some internal organs. You could do without a kidney or an ear but try living in a modern world within a smartphone. Smartphones enhance your memory(through recordings), your 'thinking'(through the use of Internet), your vision, your mobility and capacity to operate the reality around you (phone, taxi services, food delivery etc). Smartphone represents the greatest jump in human evolution since agriculture.

>>20255753
Embarrassing misery of the non-supreme sanderson reader.

>>20255761
Pointless drivel of schizoid cyberpunk reader.

The Three Sitgmata of Palmer Eldritch is the most unique and creative "cyberpunk" setting ever made and ever will be made. I use that term loosely as PKD never used it or identified with it but his stories objectively created the genre.

What fash mins would you have in your perky pat layouts?

>>20255761
>Smartphone is the first true step into cyberpunk future.
Nah, that would be digging stick.

>>20255765
This is what happens when you read Cyberpunk, absolute schizo mania.

>>20255765
Think about it, it's about a drug war between a corrupt fashion manufacturing corporation that secretly runs a drug trade of illegal extraterrestrial mushrooms and a rival drug cartel run by an insane industrialist trillionaire who discovered a new psychedelic mushroom outside of the solar system

>>20255772
We know it's good. The issue is that it's not cyberpunk - it's the ol' PKD brainfuckpunk.

>>20255765
>tfw no loli demigod with metal teeth gf

Cyberpunk sadly never had a chance as a genre. During the golden age of science fiction the writers however brilliant couldn't truly comprehend the scope of digital technology, thats why in Fire Upon The Deep interstellar civilizations still communicate via emails and sell kilobytes of traffic. Modern writers are inept morons who cannot write anything except the adventures of brave LGBT misfits fighting da evil corpos.

>>20255791
I would argue many of Egan's stories delve into the realm of cyberpunk

I'm reading the first book of the First Law trilogy right now and I'm not liking the character of Jezal at all. Compared to how interesting and/or likable other characters are, his chapters really fall flat. Dedicating those chapters to Logen's old crew would've been much better imo.

This is a Cyberpunk general now.

>>20255791
Dude just fuck off.

>>20255797
Egan does his own thing.

Haven't read dune should i watch the new movie?

>>20255853
read the book first

>>20255648
Try Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

>>20255691
not every cyberpunk is about neon streets in the rain

Recommend me a book based on this image

>>20255798
I agree, but only for book 1

>>20255903
His character improves? I'm on the fence right now on whether I should buy the other two books, and it's mostly because I really don't like his chapters.

>>20255761
I guess? I don't use my phone for internet, it's actually hard for me to understand the appeal.

>>20255753
Most people seem to agree the third Mistborn book is the worst. Because it's basically "a lot of pointless misery until the finale". There's not really any significant growth or change or anything except maybe for Spook but who gives a fuck about him, Sazed's chapters are just him being depressed and Vin is just burning the candle at every end. I think Era 2 Mistborn (Alloy of Law and onwards, if you're curious) are generally better and more coherently-written. Everybody is a bit more of an archetypical character, but they're competently written archetypes, and Wayne at least is pretty great. Sanderson is a mixed bag, and currently Stormlight is on a bit of a downturn, but maybe book 5 will be good again and not just another poorly-paced mess that's all set-up into a climax that's yet more set-up.

>>20255798

Jezal is the weakest main character by far

>>20255791
A have not read A Fire Upon the Deep, but I fully believe people will still be sending emails 10,000 years from now.

The first book of this ended up being really good. I think I thought it was slow in the first 2/13 chapters because I quickly grasped what he was doing with the worldbuilding. The mythological references are easy and the nature of the world is not as mysterious as New Sun. You know what this place is, if not how everything works. It's written like a normal novel, in the third person, and narrator is not unreliable.
The basic conflict of the plot comes from the main character being an augur (priest) being forced to engage with the criminal underworld because his manteion (church) got bought out from under their feet. So he has to figure out which lines he's willing to cross or not as he deals with criminal types, juggles his responsibilities to the gods and follows all the rules of his office, and wrestles with the question of violence, and so on.

>>20256077
>narrator is not unreliable

>>20256193
It's an omniscient third person narrator that occasionally hops to other POVs, nice try bitch you can't meme me.

>>20255761
Pff, I don't even have a smartphone and do just fine. Schizo retard

>>20256310
To be fair, it's significantly less "fair" than Severian blatantly telling about himself.

>>20256387
Embers ad infinitum
Worm

>>20256387
One of the biggest plot points in Wheel of Time. Hallucinations, paranoia, manic episodes and all.

All 3 parts piece by piece have around 800 pages combined but this whole series in 1 had 600. How to explain it ?

>find an interesting title to read
>female protagonist
>ignores the title completely
How can I stop being like this?

>>20256414
Physical dimensions, formatting, font size

Is janny fucking retarded?

>>20256429
Why would you stop?

>>20256429
Stop thinking of women as "the other".

>>20255924
maybe slightly.
for me, it's more that another character just got worse and worse so I didn't find jezal boring any longer

>>20256429
>Book has an unironic tranny "genderfluid" main character
>Actually pretty good

>>20256536
Is it just, like, a shapeshifter protagonist, or is the protag just human?

>>20256545
No, the main character is a (biological) female who is mentally fucked up a bit and who wants to be addressed in the pronouns of whatever her current attire is- so dressed or presenting as a male, referred to as a male, dressed or presenting as a female, referred to as a female.

The book is surprisingly light on actual tranny virtue signalling shit. There's a le evil bully who refuses to call the MC by her preferred pronouns (the joke being they are in a "game' where every single one of the assassins is trying to kill every other assassin, so pointing out this bully is so mean and evil in a group of murderers is very funny to me) and of course the oh so wise magical super-queen acknowledges and accepts the MCs special gender identity without hesitation despite being way older then everyone else and literally in charge of this traditionalist medieval empire.

I really prefer not to think about politics or align works of fiction with my views at all; though I will say that if ANY fictional character can pull off being a "genderfluid" then I think an androgynous assassin blending into crowds and wearing disguises of either sex would probably be the best for this concept.

>>20256429
Don't stop. Works written by women (or liberal males using women protags) simply do not appeal to white male audience, don't read them because if you do you consciously or subconsciously condition your mind to work more like a womans mind, soft, accepting, irrational, illogical, liberal, to make decisions based on feelins or unable to make decisions at all, even if you have strong resolute mind reading the words of women (or about women) will affect you and erode your convictions the more you read about them.

>>20256580
Honestly, I think something as minor as gender stops mattering to super-old fantasy characters so them just being like "Sure whatever" tracks.

>>20256588
Greg Egan's female and nonbinary protagonists are just as autistically rigid and analytical as the males

>>20256673
I don't get the hate for female protagonists (apart from, y'know, 4chan). Most of the shitty ones seem to be written by people who treat women like they're a whole different species and there's an annoying trope to make them just better lately, but that's sort of fading and the good ones are just good characters.

>>20256673
>nonbinary protagonists
Why would I want to read about such people? Just reading such a description of a person is already giving me cancer, why would I read entire book about it?

>>20256682
I don't get the need to write female protagonists.
If they are good characters then why not just write them as males in the first place?

>>20256721
Why not write them as women? Male isn't the default.

>>20256726
It is in fantasy and science fiction.

>>20256711
>complaining about non binary in scifi
lol
lmao even
for all I know it could be some transhumanist shit too

I read harry potter again after like 20 years. It was fun. Checked out the recommend chart and ended up with The Riftwar Saga and The Way of Kings. Would these be good or have decent similarities in fantasy? I don't mind if they're just overall good books regardless.

>>20256744
Any transhuman is still effectively male or female, even if it is just their brain floating in a tank it is still essiantially male or female brain.

>>20256775
Way of Kings is... Pretty good. People are divisive on Sanderson in general (a lot of it is just "popular thing bad") but Way of Kings is generally considered pretty solid for him. It's a slow burn, though, and the rest of Stormlight is a bit more of a mixed bag. Dunno about Riftwar.

Will William E. Brown ever continue the Daniel Black series?
Is his other stuff even good?

Read Red Wedding chapter and holy fuck, Catelyn going mad and crying for Ned after Robb is killed was heartbreaking. A lot more brutal than in the show

>>20255632
Science Fiction is dead ever since they turned directly to character centered pseudo-literary pieces. My college’s literary mag is better than magazines like Asimovs and most of the newer novels coming out. And my college lit mag is filled with undergraduate non-sense. Terrible stuff. Used to be the literature of ideas. Now it can’t be, because that would show men as valuable.

>>20253205
>To clarify, from reading old reviews, coupled with the title being about an "wandering inn" it gave me the impression that this series was about an inn collecting tragic stories in a shitty world without much of a driving plot that moves things forward. And i figured that this was the reason why TWI ended up with that reputation you mentioned in your other post.

>That was a while ago though so the specifics elude me, this is just the loose impression i got. I have no idea what the story is actually like (no spoilers pls). This is one of the reasons why i was hesitant to pick this up back then.

>So yeah, this is also why i was wondering about its sense of progression. It's partly about power, but it's also about plot.

The Wandering Inn isn't a collection of stories, although I see how it could be thought that way by people who just look at the wordcount. It's actually very focused on the Main Character and the local side characters, at least until the later Volumes where the side stories meet the main plot and everything starts coming together. Some people say that plot moved slowly back then, but for me the things were just being properly set up for later. These days the plot goes at extreme speeds.

>>20255753
I had similar thought regarding Mistborn. Fight scenes are very cringe and feels like the guy is describing manga panels. I don't like how all of his works are about ultra powerful deity-like individuals whose only draw back is that they are sad.

>>20256836
I'm still disappointed they cut out Lady Stoneheart in the show, a mute zombie Catelyn running hanging people would have been great to deal with the Freys

When are the women in Wheel of TIme going to be put in their place? I'm on vol.4
These bitches can't stop themselves

>>20256985
>they cut out the character who shows up on one page
By the Darkstar!

>>20256711
>>20256784
We're talking, for example, about a procedurally generated artificial mind, raised in virtual reality and running at 1,000 times human baseline speed, several hundred thousand subjective years from now. Why would it have a gender? It doesn't even have chromosomes.
Later on in the novel there's an intelligent species that's so fundamentally alien that it can't communicate with humans without a chain of interpreters.

>>20257057
The put downs start in 5 with one character and expands from there over the next books. They all learn their place except one by the end and each is great to read. Real cathartic.

>>20257134
TransHUMAN is still a human, but yes, an artificial AI would not have a gender but then the term like non binary is not required anymore.

Reading APGTE right now.
How many female commanders are these in this series? I like having female characters but this is getting fucking ridiculous.

>>20257186
At least in normal fantasies you have few female soldiers, or at least it's mentioned that they are in minority as they are women (sci-fi and fantasies where soldiers can use magic etc. are obviously an exception). In PGTE a normal soldier is just a person, at least human ones. PGTE has unironically the most insane gender norms I've ever seen in fantasy, where even 13 year old girls are conscripted as soldiers. En masse. In a country suffering population problems. Even feminists would balk at this.
But webnovels heavily fetishize women and like to shove as much female characters as possible, it's creepy as fuck.

I finished The Way of Kings.
My previous post, if you give a shit: >>20225391

It's more Sanderson Slog. Once again, he gets away with another technically competent, but underwhelming story. Once again, he over explains things for the slow kids in the back of class. Once again, he drags on plotlines out too long.

So last time, I said that I wanted part 3 to have some kind of "climax". I got what I wanted, but only by half. Some big events did happen in part 3. I won't say what they are because spoilers obviously. But I found them insufficient. They didn't CHANGE anything. The narrow hallways Sanderson calls "plots", forces the characters down a strict path of development. There's no real surprise. There's no real mystery. All of the characters fears are stated in the beginning of the book. And then step by step, beat by beat, we encounter all of there fears, exactly as foretold.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Sanderson is a magician explaining his tricks as he's doing them: Here's an example.
So a character is unveiled at a betrayer. And then another character is so struct with grief, that she paints a huge symbol for "justice" on the ground and burns it, thus marking the ground with the symbol. but then, the man who was betrayed arrives to confront the betrayer. The betrayer himself standing upon the symbol for justice as the betrayed steps up to make his confrontation.

Now, this is pretty overt symbolism. And there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes a symbol being shoved in the reader's face works to build up the mood of the scene. That's fine, Sanderson isn't hiding anything here. He's basically going "hey, isn't it ironic that the evil guy stands atop justice, while the good guy comes to do justice."
Except, that's not "basically" what Sanderson does. That's "literally" what Sanderson does. A character quite literally thinks "It's ironic that this man tramples upon the symbol for justice". At that point, the mood is ruined. My eyes rolling. Sanderson cannot help himself. He has to explain every little detail of the narrative.

Now, if he didn't waste all those words over-explaining shit. Then all the events that happen at the end of the book, could be shifted to happen at the middle of the book. Because the shit that happens at the end actually CHANGES things. By the time things change, the book is already over, and you realize it's all just a set up for the sequel.

>>20255899
Shaman King

>>20257263
Any fantasy books you'd recommend? I just started The Way of Kings and while I probably will still finish this, wondering what other authors are out there that are considered good writers.

>>20257263
Huh, I haven't noticed that while reading, but I am always very forgiving to authors and try my best to align with their vision of the story. As for the books, I remember liking the second one a bit less, then despising the third to the point I dropped the series. Felt as if it was ghost written.

>>20257281
I don't know. The First Law, I guess. I'm not good with recommendations. But you can see what I like here: https://pastebin.com/ciCgF217
I don't think in the sense of reading authors. Like, I don't think "I'm going to read Sanderson". I think "I'm going to read Way of Kings". I tend to rate books on their own. So if you look at my chart, you'll see that The First Law isn't marked as an especially liked book series. I mean, it's entertaining. I wasn't mad I read it. But I wasn't blown away either. It's just in the middle ground where I'm like "ok".

But then you see I have Red Country marked highly. That book had my by the edge of my seat the whole way through. Same author as The First Law. Joe Abercrombie wrote both. But one book is much better than the other.

That's kind of my problem. I already read 4 books worth of Sanderson, and he's never impressed me. But I naively think that the next book is worth a shot.

stormlight archive only really goes off a cliff in book 3 desu

>>20257364
>________Key________
>*liked
>**liked a lot
>@disliked

>________Finished________
>Dune**
stopped reading here

>>20257320
>>20257382
hmmmm.... If fans of the first books dislike the second and third, then perhaps the latter books differ from the Sanderson pattern.. Maybe they're worth looking into.

>>20257413
Way of Kings was also worked on for like 15 years overall. WoK alpha was way different too.

>>20257487
I kind of find it amusing how Sanderson wrote Way of Kings' first version, realised he had a character who he wanted to write the origin of (Vasher/Zahel was in WoK initially) and so wrote Warbreaker. The guy doesn't seem to know how to limit himself.

>>20257612
And then he never wrote the sequel to Warbreaker. No he just writes whatever he wants, which is great for his reality.

>>20257364
Thanks, this reminded me I was going to check out the Wheel of Time too but forgot.

Guys, give me reasons why to read The Wheel of Time. I read like 20-30% of the first book before dropping it due to how boring and dry it was, but everyone and their mother keeps mentioning it as one of the best series ever. Even my favourite authors.

>>20257685
Get better favourite authors. Can't be hard, as most authors are by necessity functionally literate.

>April 23rd is the official release date for Mage Errant Book 6: Tongue Eater.
oh boy

Read Project Hail Mary. Pop fiction, but it was quite fun and easy to read at work.

>>20257685
I'm used to reading trash and I liked the bro trio, that's what kept me reading it

Last time I really read a book for fun was during middle school and early high school hooked on the Redwall series. Any recommendation for something similar?

>>20257674
Cool. Wheel of time is a lot of fun. Starts off pretty simple. Hitting a lot of old JRPG cliches at first. But then finds it's voice as it progresses, becoming something rather unique.

>>20257685
>Guys, give me reasons why to read The Wheel of Time
It seems to be one of those series where you either love it or hate it. It's a comfy book about prophesies and fighting absolute evils. Good guy versus bad guy stuff, mixed with domestic banter between men and women. You might enjoy it better if you lower your expectations, and just enjoy the little lighthearted adventure. The heavy stuff will come later.

>>20257685
The first book is dry as hell until the last hundred or so pages. It's good on rereads but I almost dropped it the first time as well. Book 2 is great though.

Today I found out Joe Abercrombie looks like this, and I don't want to read his books anymore.

>>20257790
Who's this nerd? Is he that - WhiskeyJack! - character I've heard about?

>>20257138
So, the wheel of time is actually a feminists or a misogynistic book saga??

>>20257790
Not everyone gets to be a tall aryan blond gigachad like King Bakker

>>20257801
It's neither.

>>20257790
He and his wife look a bit weird, but there are way uglier people in sff

>>20257831
It's not that he looks weird, it's that he's making the face.

>>20257817
The series is definily feminist cringe but i keep hearing the books are redpilled

>>20257861
It's got a matriarchal society but it's basically showing that it's more "whoever's the top dog of society will almost always be awful".

>>20257685
> but everyone and their mother keeps mentioning it as one of the best series ever
Not true. It gets mixed reviews and tons of people dropped it midway. If you don't like the first you will certainly hate when it dies in the middle books.

>>20257805
bakker's 5'10

Any good Marxist sff?

>>20258013
Heinlein probably idk

>>20257996
Bakker's a 6'9 Noble warrior descended of Knight Kings.

>>20257996
looks taller than that. This is what 5'10 looks next to 5'5 and these women are probably around 5'5 (avg female height) + they're wearing heels + Bakker is leaning. at least 6'1 for the bakkerchad

>>20258017
He's a libertarian. Le Guin (anarchism) is the closest I can think of.

>>20257685
It will cure you from fantasy for good.

>>20258107
what do you read?

>>20258115
library at mount char

>>20258125
>The Library at Mount Char is a contemporary fantasy/horror novel

>>20258107
What's there to read besides fantasy? Women's studies? lmao

>>20258092
>these women are probably around 5'5
These women are 5'0 tall whores. The best bakker can do.

>>20258092
T R U T H
S H I N E S

>>20257138
That seems like a huge investment just to see some women get their comeuppance. There are better ways.

T R U T H
S H I N E S

>>20257138
For pure misogyny I'll take Birthgrave with the mc navigating the plot by way of murderrape and resurrection. Later Gor books read like Norman was furiously beating off the entire time and kept losing track of what he was writing.

2

truth shines

>>20258104
Le Guin entertains Marxist ideas but doesn't actually give a shit. Heinlein is a dead eyed communist Alex Jones villain masquerading as a lolbertarian.

>>20258685
Meant for >>20258384

>>20258685
Was Norman a person or just a branded writing stable?

truth shines

>>20258685
Ah, Tanith Lee. I might check that out. I tried to read Night's Master at some point and just didn't click.

>>20255791
Wrong. In time we will see that they were better futurists than we even thought. Technology will ebb and flow. What we have now is unsustainable. Twitter feels like it runs the world, but will be gone soon whether it's because Elon ruins it or whatever. Nothing will be in the right time and place to replace it on the level we saw. Future generations will reject our generation's addiction to smart phones and social media.
And think about if we ever achieve interstellar travel or whatever scifi kind of shit. If you're a star system away, it's a lot more likely you'll send an encapsulated message like an email than do a Facetime.

TRUTH SHINES. I WILL NOT BE SILENCED FUCKING JANNY

>>20255899
The Testament of Tall Eagle

>>20256429
Female protags are fine so long as the author is male and the book was written 30+ years ago.

>>20257790
>grimderp writer is soi
Why does this surprise you?

>>20258808
>27 years old
Damn, no love for Sabriel.

If you want a good female protag just read the joan of arc book by Mark Twain.

there's only one baru cormorant book
she's decent in the only book she appears in
definitely only one book

>>20258808
Sabriel mogs your favorite male MC.

Tad Williams would be the best choice to finish ASOIAF

>>20258823
>>20258892
The fact that you have to go back that far just proves his point.

>>20258823
absoutely based. loved this book as a preteen

based sabriel chads

Progression Fantasy fag doing a 20 book slog. People expressed interests in my reviews on this slog of a journey.

Slowed down for a while there due to work but I've wrapped up A Thousand Li and it was surprisingly good. I recall it being one of the first major xianxia to cross the pond and it shows, as a lot of the western xianxia I've read has borrowed formula and flow. For a Chinese author, his character writing is the strongest part of the entire book.

MC is personable and humble, rising at his own speed while befriending a few odd ball characters. Unfortunately he spends most of this book by himself but the journey was unique and introduced some odd features to the world. The cultivation takes a back seat to all of this, being a basic numbers system that relies on weapons primarily. One can learn the Truth of a Blade, Its Soul and then its Being which allows them to become one with it.

I enjoyed how the author would describe the flow of movement to a sword technique and then give it a name, such as the Dragon Step. Once its described initially, the author short-hands it from there and expands on other techniques. By the end of the book you can figure out most of the MC's main kata - Dragon Step, Swallow cuts the sky, etc, etc. It's never used as a crutch though, and the author fills in these absences by having the MC continue to develop his techniques.

Probably my favorite book since Cradle. This book also made me review my number scale and adjust some scores...:
Cradle by Will Wight - 9/10
A Thousand Li by Tao Wong - 7/10
Virtuous Sons by Ya Boy - 6/10
Bastion by Phil Tucker - 6/10
Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren - 4/10
Reincarnation: Threads by Michael Head - 3/10

Next up - Forge of Destiny by Yrsillar. I'm about 15 chapters in and definitely impressed. This book is from Royal Road but has completed volumes versus Virtuous Sons episodic delivery.

>>20258752
One guy. Psychiatrist, iirc.

>>20259011
As someone who much prefers Cradle, the first few chapters of A Thousand Li #6 mogs the last few Cradle books. MC is calm and confident, has professional relationships with people outside the sect, etc. it's really nice to see.

>>20259048
Glad to hear this. Aside from Cradle and Bastion (which is too new to have a follow-up), A Thousand Li is the only book on the list that I've bothered to pick up the sequel for.

Pic somewhat unrelated but the action in Thousand Li reminds me of Immortal Iron-Fist, a series of comic books that I read when I was younger. First book that's scratched this itch.

>>20259011
Forge of Destiny is really good at being an introspective character study of a peasant girl becoming her own person in a cultivation world. Unfortunately the actual plot is written by committee and it's basically SHIT at being a story.

Is there anything similar to The Talisman by Straub/King?
I'm mostly interested in plots about dimensional traveling between two worlds.

>>20259078
Do most Royal Road series do this? If so, I may dump the rest of the titles I picked up from there. Your description would be some of the exact problems I have with Virtuous Sons, MCs being over-powered Stus aside.

>>20259011
You planning on ever reviewing the thread memes? Or just western cultivation?

>>20259161
A few of the titles I've got have lined up with the 'Gamer Lit' infograph (pic related). Most of the overlap is coincidence, but I'm not against following thread memes or personal recommendations. Whatcha got?

>>20259190
Some of these covers look really good, I wish more book covers focus on the character and not some random abstract shit in the book.

I'm getting used to read trashy fantasy books or webnovels because I refuse to read anything else.

>>20259190
Obviously Reverend Insanity. It's technically an isekai litrpg timeloop.

Also,
>the magicians
IT SUCKS DICK, I HATE IT SO MUCH! Only decent part was the beginning, and only because the cuck author hadn't had enough time to expose himself.

>>20259204
I've read Book One of Reverend Insanity - 4/10, no interest in continuing until I'm up against the wall on titles to continue. The Gu system is JUST interesting enough to make me want to look past all the other glaring, GLARING flaws.

>>20259206
Looks interesting - think a friend of mine has recommended Ascendance of a Bookworm before. Saved and appreciated, thanks.

>>20259206
**Lord of Mysteries is not an isekai.**

>>20259232
>GLARING
Like what? I mean you've read it already, so why not do a review?

>>20259203
Trashy is more fun

>>20259233
You forgot the spoiler tag.

>>20259145
Forge of Destiny is pretty unique in that it's the novelization of a quest thread with mechanics based on an RPG system (I believe the system used was a homebrew Storyteller/WoD)

>>20259244
Believe I reviewed it before but that was likely sparse, used to call out the guy who posts the cover and then lurks in the thread... That ain't you, is it?

Reverend Insanity has a few good things going for it. I was a huge fan of how it used religious parables as a means of setting up certain acts or actions in Fang Yuan's story is fantastic. The cultivation system is also one of the more interesting ones in terms of how the powers manifest themselves and what you have to do to make them keep up as you advance your cultivation. Gu worms are neat and the advancement of the FY's moon blade was great, but the rest of his moveset was disappointing; focusing entirely on punching the shit out of things and being able to move fast. That's about all the praise I have for it though.

For context to others, the MC is a 600-year-old cultivator who managed to secure himself a legendary Gu worm and reincarnate himself into his 14 year old body. When he reincarnates himself however, this legendary Gu worm isn't expended but sticks with him. Throughout the story it threatens to activate and kill him but instead of this ever being a tangible threat, it instead saves his life at the end of the book and rewinds time an hour. This is a Rank 6 worm, while our MC is only at the peak of Rank 2. It is strongly established throughout the entirety of this book that you cannot use Gu outside of your rank or you WILL destroy your cultivation. Fang Yuan fears this near the final third of the book and yet when it comes to pass, its in his benefit.

Not only that, but the 'butterfly effect' is used heavily throughout this book to change fate in his favor. At first I was on board with him using his knowledge of the past to discover hidden legacies. Fang Yuan remembers a drunkard stumbling across a rare gu, turns out it belonged to a demonic cultivator who tried to destroy the clan. Lucky for Fang Yuan, this cultivator left behind a 1,000 year inheritance... All the tools you need to kill everyone on the mountain, so long as you're strong enough to master everything given to you.

Several of his academy exams alter from what they were in his original life, allowing him to amass 'points' and trade them to his benefit. The few characters that are introduced around Fang Yuan are often killed off-screen when the author believes they no longer serve a purpose. This included two of the clan elder's children who had important lives originally, killed off screen. The best introduction to the first book are the two Heavenly Detectives. Unfortunately before they can conclude their investigation, the MC unearths Dracula and the lead investigator dies off-screen.

Someone else in this thread has told me that 'fate and destiny are specifically helping Fang Yuan out, that's why this happens' but I think it's entirely cope. There's nothing here to enjoy besides an edge lord MC and his... femboy companion? Don't even get me started on Bing. Anyways...

tl;dr - 4/10

>>20259190
Soulship
Heaven's Laws: Prodigies
Infinite Realm (litrpg components but there is a higher level of quality, surprisingly, compared to the author's older works)

>>20259349
nice

>>20259349
I liked it because of the interesting philosophy. As for the rest, most of your complaints are temporary and don't matter much in the context of the story. But given your focus on them you probably didn't enjoy the core of the story and that only becomes more prominent as times goes on.
I'll say that the starting setting is literally an irrelevant backwater, Fang Yuan uses literally every single cultivation path at one point or another, and the Spring Autumn cicada, while valuable, is basically only used to bootstrap the ACTUAL plot, which begins later.

But really the story is entirely about
>Fang Yuan's philosophy being compared with and tested against other's
>the mystery of the setting itself and it's many hidden plots left by previous cultivators
Both of which are center stage even in book one, with Fang Yuan's ambition, the secret origin and history of the Gu Yue clan, and the introduction of the story of Ren Zu.
If you didn't notice or enjoy those parts, you're probably not going to like the rest of the story either. Though I'll say the climax of every book surpasses the previous book by an order of magnitude.

In general I think it's quite strange how everyone I've heard review it either loves it or hates it. I've never heard a moderate "it's alright" response.

>>20259446
My complaints are our first exposure to the character over 200 chapters. Just because the series is over 2,000 chapters does not give it the excuse of having 'temporary' flaws at the setup. Is the test of philosophies in Book One between Fang Yuan and Gu Yue who can profit off their home clan the fastest? I didn't see a clash of wills so much as Fang Yuan lamenting that he couldn't steal Gu Yue's technique, rewinding time an hour, and then stealing Gu Yue's technique.

Like I said, my favorite part of the entire think was Ren Zu and the use of parable in storytelling. Should I ever write anything, I'd like to pursue that myself. Other than that, I've got to disagree about Fang Yuan's ambitions and the history of the clan. The clan doesn't matter unless you're talking about the bullshit regarding the Blood Sea Ancestor setting up dozens (hundreds?) of legacies over the world. If that's what Fang Yuan is pursuing then the sheer amount of convenience that led him to discover it chaps my ass all the more.

I've got major gripes with the series unfortunately, so we'll see if I bother with Volume 2. You're right though - you either love it or hate it, there is no in-between.

>>20259506
I mean thematically. The entire clan just being a plot to raise aptitude. Hundreds of years of history just so some vampire could eat a bunch of his own children to get stronger, all as part of a minor powerstruggle between two low level cultivators from a distant sect. Plus the blood sea ancestor stuff.
Just the general idea of the world having a deep history, and even a backwater nothing village is part of AT LEAST three entirely different longterm powergrab schemes in addition to Fang Yuan, and how it's by exploiting those schemes that he succeeds and gains power.

As for the philosophy I mean the worldview of the mortals, cultivators, clan leaders, founder, rival clans, and Fang Yuan. All of them are seeking strength, but all indifferent ways. The mortal hunter gains msucle and experience, scheming with secret maps and even dabbling in demonic cultivation. The clan elders are all carefully nuturing and grooming successors while exploiting and sucking the value out of everyone else in the clan using propaganda. Then the demon monk is plotting against them from beyond the grave with his inheritance, the rival clans are secretly supporting a ten extreme physiques cultivator, and the founder created the entire situation in the first place just to kill everyone later and eat them for a power boost. And all the while you gets stories about Ren Zu using strength, wisdom, rules, regulation, etc... to accomplish the same things, tying the cultivation method itself into the story.

It's all very interesting to me, and it only gets moreso later. But the first book is a microcosm of the series as a whole, an almost model prologue.

Any book with a sword autist as the protagonist? Doesn't have to be swords, could just be one with an autistic obsession with a type of weapon. I just like swords. Bonus point if the autist is a cute girl

Any good books about sword fighting?

>>20259655
>female protagonist

>>20259655
Do you have time to talk about our Lord and savior?

>>20259892
How aboot you check the achieve.

>>20259349
>Someone else in this thread has told me that 'fate and destiny are specifically helping Fang Yuan out, that's why this happens' but I think it's entirely cope.
It is literally part of the story and it is covered in detail in later books.

>Several of his academy exams alter from what they were in his original life, allowing him to amass 'points' and trade them to his benefit.
I really don't understand why you are so hung up on this detail. Probably in every time loop story the new timeline changes due to the actions of the time traveller. This academy exam thing is insignificant, the author might aswell have chosen a different exam and FY would have aced it because his skill levels and experience are much higher than other students.

>jannytranny deletes any mention of Bakker
>chinkshit spamming is okay though
Dilate you retarded abomination

>>20259941
There you are!

>It is literally part of the story and it is covered in detail in later books.
'The MC is given everything in the first book(s?) by a Deus Ex Gu that we learn about later. THAT'S why he's a Stu and the world seems to exist only to benefit him and his journey.'

If you can't realize why this is bad storytelling, I'm not sure what to tell you.

>I really don't understand why you are so hung up on this detail. Probably in every time loop story the new timeline changes due to the actions of the time traveller. This academy exam thing is insignificant, the author might aswell have chosen a different exam and FY would have aced it because his skill levels and experience are much higher than other students.
It sets a dangerous precedence. Fang Yuan made a point of mentioning his past life's trial and how it was gathering royal jelly, which is difficult to do with the spirit bees. Instead of planning for this he simply ignores this and focuses on cultivating Gu, which requires him to kill boars. Fang Yuan, being a pragmatic sort, decided to cut and dress every boar after his magical worm fed on it. "If nothing else, I can sell it when the caravan comes back."

Luckily, the butterfly effect has changed the academy exam from royal jelly to boar tusks. Luckily, Fang Yuan was keeping hundreds of boar tusks in a secret cave for months. He turned these in and was able to buy additional Gu and materials to facilitate his advancement. Isn't that lucky? The chapter's name is even 'An Odd Coincidence.'

Without these tusks he would've been hard pressed to gather the necessary resources and Gu to advance down the Wine Sage's Inheritance in time. Giving your characters convenient items or advancement to keep them ahead of the threat is BAD STORY TELLING. Even if it's part of some larger Deus Ex plot, you're removing every ounce of struggle in the story. Fang Yuan is pressed ONCE and only once. This is because everything and everyone else exists to uplift him.

>>20260017
I bet the Jannytranny is sandershit fan that gets off on banning supreme posts and sublime discussions of the best author in modernity Bakker.

Johnny depp is like Bakker and Amber Heard is like the Jannytranny defaming and erasing the supremacy of Bakker.

>go to an author's Twitter
>read description
>he/him

Many such cases

>>20260093
This is the misery of troony troons.

>>20260030
If you didn't notice, there were several extremely unlikely BAD "coincidences" that happened too. It shouldn't be strange he's succeeding, he's a massively experienced timetraveller, the main thing all these suspicious coincidences do is force him into one specific path instead of following his original plans.

Do you really think a 600 year old master would have any difficulty getting first place on a test for children?

>>20260093
>mfw when they/them

>>20259190
Why does it reommend "a perfect run"
Wasn't the first chapter incomprehensible in what it was trying to say?

Does it get better

>>20260093
>author has a twitter
Already a warning sign
>pronouns
That's a "not gonna read your book" from me

Are there any good right wing writers

>>20260302
Bakker the ruler supreme of sublime prose and complex philosophy.

>>20260302
Heroic Fantasy is inherently right-wing so almost all writers of HF are right-wing.

This general is healing, a lot of non-pozzed and Bakkerchad posts, the sandersois are fleeing, rejoice in this small victory, for the road now is supreme, only the non-pozzed and Bakkerchadery will be allowed.

just report the spammer, don't engage with him, use word filters, and carry on lads

>>20260337
>Heroic Fantasy is inherently right-wing so almost all writers of HF are right-wing.
Unironically good fantasy books used to be leftists back when LGBT and some other ideas hadn't won yet. Books talking about freedom of speech, liberty, fighting with oppressors and bigots etc. were a common sign and top of the shelves. 'Question the traditions!' was basically a guaranteed theme. These days, the center-left has won, both in Europe and America (culturally), and loosely understood 'Right' is crying in the corner.

Why does it matter? Because questioning authority is no longer 'good.' You are not supposed to question to whether LGBT is good or healthy. Whether being trasngender is a real condition or a mental affliction. People in power are supposed to be venerated, not questioned. Freedom of speech no longer applies, because now people with 'bad' ideas use it. A new Dogma has been set and it is not supposed to be questioned.

Call me a schizo, but the reality is strongly influencing new books. For instance, YA about a rebelious women fighting witha Goverment is no longer viable because IRL mainstream is no longer supposed to be rebelled against (I'm talking about America in this case and some european countries, because this is where cultural influences shape the storytelling and ideas used in it).

It seems someone moderating this thread needs a moment of self-reflection. I made a post about how cultural shifts change the trends in fiction and how it's influenced by politics in USA and Europe, and it was deleted. Seriously? This thread is about literature. It was on topic. Even on Reddit and Twitter it wouldn't be deleted. What next, we will not be allowed to discuss what ideas books represent? This is incredulous.

>>20260093
>check my favourite authors
>none of them have it
feels good to have good taste

>>20260660
There has been some power trippin Jannie here recently. They have completely ruined these threads.

>>20255871
2nding this

>>20260660
https://archived.moe/lit/thread/20255632/#q20255632
Ah that's why the thread has been getting better. Look at the ~30 complete garbage posts removed, yours is the only one where it is questionable wether it should stay.

What a fucking asshole holy shit

>>20260814
…

>>20260814
>What a fucking asshole holy shit
And the old fuck has the audacity to complain about the fans being restless. So many years, broken promises, dissapointed expectations and now outright poking the fanbase with shit like this. However, I still hope that at least the Winds of Winter will be published, as we deserve one book that resolves some plotlines fucked up by the show. But that might be a pipe dream. It trully astounds me that someone can write few hundred thousands words for over a decade. Pirateaba does 2.5 milion words per year, and it's quality fiction, and they are probably below 30 years old. This old fuck is a veteran and he can deliver a single book.

>>20260814
yeah at this point he's just mocking the fans and rubbing it in their faces that he's a big fat rotten corporate sellout and will never finish his stupid series

>>20260825
>and it's quality fiction
lmao

>>20260814
fuck this man and fuck everything to do with him

>>20256429
>female character
>act exactly like a man anyway

>>20260979
I've never read anything like this.
Most of the time they act bossy

>>20256077
I hope you enjoy the rest of the ride. Long Sun is my favourite of the three mostly because Silk is such a fun protagonist

>look up lists for the best fantasy and sf released in the past few years
>it's 80% female written romantic/erotic YA fantasy, or female empowerment narrative with the occasional race baiting

Is there a place or person online where I can follow new releases that are actually worth the time? The recommendation of lit in the MEGA are good, but those are mostly about classic/older books.

All the lists on Goodreads suffer from the same problems I said above

>>20260979
>>female character
>>act exactly like a man anyway

I've seen numerous threads and comments about how females are supposed to act, all over the internet, from men and women. And you know what? No one could precisely declare what it should be. Mention Cersei Lannister from ASOIAF and half the women will say that the couldn't connect with her at all because she was just a man in shape of a female character, and the other half will say that she's a wonderful and complicated example that should be a reference for how to write female character. GRRM's often quoted sentence 'I just write women as people' sounds somewhat profound to people, until they actually have to write the characters and hear that they are wrong.

People can't even decide what character traits female characters should have to distinguish them from males. Mostly because it opens the 'what mental differences are there beteween men and women?' can of worms, and these days few people want to touch that. It's funny, how each woman wants feminine characters, but thinks herself a judge of what character is feminine or not, depending on their own life and cultural influences. Overwhelming majority of that is entirely arbitrary.

Honestly, as long as you don't make every female character in a story 'Strong Female Character' cliche, then everything should be okay.

>>20259076
I believe Thousand Li, much like Iron Fist, derives from more real-world martial arts rather than being pure fantastical. It's still superhuman stuff, xianxia always is, but it's grounded in some level of reality. It's also nice to see a xianxia protagonist who's, y'know... Not a dickbag. Anything interesting on your list after Forge of Destiny? I haven't read Beware of Chicken but I've heard good things, it's apparently quite weirdly wholesome despite being largely a xianxia parody.

Anyone read the Shadows of the Apt series by Tchaikovsky? Worth a look if I like sweeping epic fantasy? What I look for is interesting characterisation and well-wrought prose.

>>20261042
>What I look for is interesting characterisation and well-wrought prose.
Then you should skip Tchaikovsky entirely. I don't even think he's a bad writer, but his prose is basic and his characterization is flat as fuck. Which basically makes him a completely normal Slav author.

>>20261000
It's beautiful. A fake real world with fake real gods. I'm 100 percent in. Robot nuns, laser swords, needle guns, tank monsters, a pet super raven. A fucking ghost? I need to read the part where he meets Mucor again because someone is locked in the room but it doesn't seem like at any point he saw a living person's body. Silk playing detective, resisting whores so he doesn't lose his wizard virgin powers. How's he going to drum up the money?? Yeah it's good.

>literally just China
You fags told me this novel was creative

Lads. I've read
>BotNS
>Hyperion Cantos
What's next?

>>20261146
Your education is complete. Now write an epic of your own for us to delight in. Of not, your mother will die in her sleep.

>>20261157
>Of not
Caught you slipping, bitch. Now give me recs

Stopped reading for a few weeks and finally finished The Thousandfold Thought yesterday. I really enjoyed it all but kind of let down by Moenghus
I thought they would either team up or there would be a bad ass battle, still I thought it gave some great information and a lot of things made sense after

I thought there would be a lot more of the consult in the trilogy but it did a good job of keeping them mysterious and I’m excited for them to be the main enemy of the next books because they’re really the only reason why I wanted to read the series.

This was my first fantasy series I’ve read besides the occasional Warcraft and Warhammer book, overall I really enjoyed it and eventually I will read through it again to try and pick up on what I missed.

Now I’m trying to decide if I want to continue with the series or take a break and read something else.

>>20261294
Also, what the fuck are the rings?

>>20256588

>>20260710
I will continue posting on topic relevant to /lit/ posts regarding females, female authors and female protagonists, reminding everyone here to avoid such works. Female psyche is unquestionably liberal, irrational and anti white male, their literature is designed to turn men into weak minded idiots.

>>20261313
>Still BTFO by Sabriel

>just finished reading game of thrones
>bran just happened to forget the incest couple
>lord eddard didn't tell anyone about the incest couple before he got killed
are their secret really still safe after all that?

>>20261359
it's hinted that somebody else found out alongside Jon Arryn...

>>20261359
I think everyone generally knows the truth but there are many to whom it would be better off pretending the kids aren't incest

>>20261313
Sabriel shits all over your favorite male MC a handful of chapters into the first book.
Seriously, combating DEATH with BELLS is one of the most unique forms of fighting in fantasy.

>>20261146
Keep reading everything else by Gene Wolfe. The rest of his Solar Cycle, Wizard Knight, Latro in the Mist, Pirate Freedom, all his short stories etc. Wolfe reigns supreme.

>>20261525
My favorite male MC is a literal god
Your move, now

>>20261546
>*ting ting*
Your favorite male MC is now sealed.
ANOTHER GOD REJECTED

>>20261525
I keep meaning to read Sabriel. Only other Garth Nix stuff I've read was Keys to the Kingdom (read those only a year or so after the last one came out, I think) and I keep meaning to look at his other stuff.

>>20261525
>Seriously, combating DEATH with BELLS is one of the most unique forms of fighting in fantasy.
how about we just have a standard medieval setting and normal male protagonist who can use a sword and maybe some magic. I guess in current year this is not allowed anymore.

>>20261605
Abhorsen > Seventh Tower > Keys
imo for his main series. not sure what else he has written that isn't involved in those.
>>20261629
>boring shit
I would say you have your ASoIaF for that vice but lmao you don't.

>>20261536
You can tell dumb people who don’t read real books but want to seem smart by liking Wolfe when they don’t mention Peace. Sorry it doesn’t have wizards lmao

is there any leftie/tranny propaganda in Dune?

>>20261719
Women exist and matter.

>>20259892
>trust no one, not even yourself

>>20261605
I might read Sabriel cause of this thread reminding me it exists. I still remember it from when I was younger and the covers.

>>20261663
Any thoughts on Troubletwisters?

>>20261827
Never read it but considering I own those other three series from childhood and have read them several times, they're probably enjoyable enough.

>>20261678
I enjoyed Peace and I hope to read it again soon. I just mentioned the works that immediately came to mind. You sound like a [REDACTED].

>>20261719
The entire book is anti-Religion, anti-prophethood atheist propaganda.

>Zelazny found the manuscript in White's home in early 1968, read it, then contacted Dick about working on the project. Work proceeded sporadically over several years as each author, in turn, forgot about the book. At one stage, Zelazny's cat took the opportunity to urinate on the original manuscript. The novel was completed quickly, though, in the spring of 1975 after the publisher, Doubleday, demanded either the manuscript or a repayment of the advance paid to Dick. The editor discovered that Zelazny had sent photocopies of a number of the manuscript pages and demanded the originals as per Doubleday's policy; much to Zelazny's chagrin, he had to send in pages stained with cat urine. Zelazny said later that he always wondered what the editor made of them.[1][2][3]
heh

tried reading The Shadow Of The Torturer but it was boring so i dropped it

>>20261536
I will at some point in my life, but I am shopping around for other authors. I do the same autistic process with music, explore a bunch of artists and then return to the ones who left an impression on me.

>>20261892
We are proud of you, anon.

>>20261719
the book has a group of not-catholic nuns secretly controlling everything behind the scene that put fake prophecies in every religion around the galaxy for their own convenience. Religion is a weapon used to control or manipulate people.

>>20261892
Ok, but who asked?

>>20260103
None of the 'BAD coincidences' impacted Fang Yuan, it only provoked certain events to happen sooner. It isn't strange that a 600 year old man can beat the shit out of 14 year olds, no. What's strange is that in his first life none of the 'coincidences', bad or otherwise, happened. The only memory that Fang Yuan recalls vividly is some drunkard finding an extremely rare gu. From that point onward, history itself rewrites to provide a golden path for the MC.

'Oh, I forgot... the Ice Soul Immortal also explodes in a few years, destroying the entire mountain before anything matters... I better remember to leave before that.'

I can at least have a discussion with the other Reverend Insanity fan here. You, though... You're difficult.

>>20261026
I'm trying to go into most of these books blind so I haven't dug into summaries. My goal is to read 20 total, but I'm only sitting on around Going based off of recommendations. My defitionition of xianxia/cultivation is broad, I've looped in some GameLit and progression fantasy as well.

Titles I definitely plan to read:
>The Last Ship in Suzhou by 'Lungs'
>Mother of Learning by 'Nobody103'
>Worm by 'Wildbow'
>The Wandering Inn by 'Pirateaba'
>Soulhome - Weirkey Chronicles 1 by Sarah Lin (pic related)

Recommendations tentatively on the list:
>Ave Xia Rem Y by Mat Haz
>Ascendance of a Bookworm by Miya Kazuki
>Soulship by Nathan Thompson
>Lord of Mysteries by 'Cuttlefish'
>Heaven's Laws by Apollos Thorne
>The Menocht Loop by Lorne Ryburn
>Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe
>Coiling Dragon by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

Lol at the Bakkerspammer seething. Based Hotpockets. Also I'm starting The Wandering Inn. Writing feels very amateurish but not in a bad way if that makes any sense.

>>20262018
Think I had a stroke in the middle of this. 'I'm trying to go into most of these books blind so I haven't dug into summaries. My goal is to read 20 total, but I'm only sitting on 14-ish. Picking up books based off of recommendations. My definition of xianxia/cultivation is broad, I've looped in some GameLit and progression fantasy as well.'

>>20261956
just haring my experience

>>20262018
Of those I've only read Soulhome and Sufficiently Advanced Magic. You'll get zero discussion about the second series because of the fact that gay characters exist in it, though I generally enjoyed it. I actually enjoyed the author's other current series, Weapons and Wielders (which takes place as a story being told to people WITHIN Sufficiently Advanced Magic for reasons) a fair bit more. SAM is just good enough to be enjoyable, I found, but nothing astounding. Soulhome... I found myself unable to really pick up the second book and I have no idea why. It wasn't a bad first book, it just felt really... All-over-the-place? Mage Errant is also a series I felt was fairly solid as progression fantasy goes. The unfortunate reality seems to be that Cradle is sort of the peak for western progression fantasy, and I dunno what the fuck the best xianxia is because there's so much schlock paraded as the best thing ever.

>>20262045
Speaking of Cradle do we have any idea when Dreadgods is coming out? From the impression I get Will Wight is almost sanderson tier in his ability to just churn books out one after the other.

>>20262066
Probably sometime this year, but I'm pretty sure he just often has a "when it's done" approach to writing. Unsouled was only 2017, so whole series should be finished next year (though I'm kinda baffled as to HOW 2 more books will be enough to finish it unless one is Wintersteel-length).

>>20262066
He's stated before that a Cradle novel every 6 months is what generates the most income.

>>20262092
Wonder why Wintersteel was so much longer, then. Every other book I can believably see an above-average speed writer with a planned-out story putting out every six months, but Wintersteel was quite a bit more.

>>20262097
Wintersteel was also my favorite of the Cradle novels so far. Possibly he was just "in the zone" for writing most of it.

>>20257846
Why? His teeth are surprisingly good for an Englishman

>>20262045
We're on the same page. Almost all of the books I've read so far have been pure schlock or so terribly written and executed that I can't imagine why people like it. Cradle is my highest rated and it seems like it may remain there... firmly. It's a shame to read one of the best books in the genre first. Everything else seems like half executions of a concept from a template.

>>20262066
>>20262087
Last blog post was something about starting a new series, so I'd expect Dreadgods near the end of this year? It's going by too fast... but it obviously opens up to this comic hegemony he's trying to setup, so that'll likely be another series.

>>20255632
Who is the best sci-fi author ever and why is it Heinlein and his kinky sex fetishes

>>20262018
Mother of Learning, Worm and The Wandering Inn all get perfect recommendation from me, albeit each is amazing for different reasons. I recommend to read MoL first, as it's the shortest of the three, then Worm and at last TWI.

Ave Xia Rem Y has my recommendation, although it kinda strays from its premise at some point. As it is now, it's just a decent Cultivation novel with potential to get real good in the future. Maybe it will change for the better in the future.

The Menocht Loop...is not good. I''ve never been as dissapointed with a webnovel as with this one, so interesting premise just to throw it all away instantly. Normally I can read anything that I started, but after the first book I dropped it. I recommend to read Mother of Learning first, so that you know how weak ML it is in comparison. It must also be mentioned that it isn't really a time loop story, if that's what you are looking for. Try it out, though.

>>20262205
He's pretty mediocre once you stop drinking fluoride.

>>20262205
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick_bibliography

>>20262018
some of those aren't anywhere close to being xianxia or cultivation related.

that being said i want to to add to the other replies, i highly recommend lord of mysteries. its setting is imaginative and it has an incredibly strong premise imo. but take note that it's not actually finished. what's finished is only part 1 out of 3, still absolutely worth the read though.
i recommend against coiling dragon. i haven't read that far into it but it just seemed very generic to me.
bookworm is better than the average japanese LN, but it's still just that.

>>20262237
>Worm
i generally have no interest in the superhero setting. is there a reason people tend to recommend this in relation to litrpg/progression fantasy?

>>20262018
>What's strange is that in his first life none of the 'coincidences', bad or otherwise, happened
The key events happened in his first life. Him being taken advantage by his uncle, losing his parents inheritance, him not having a status due to low aptitude, not getting resources to cultivate, him not receiving rare gu, him not winning another rare gu at gambing den. Basically the only good coincidence that happened is that he joined the caravan and left the mountain before the other guy exploded. I am sure it is mentioned several times even in first book that his life was hard during his first life and that is due to him basically being semi nice and also not understand others in his first life. At the end of his first life he realized true human nature and by coincidence (or by design), he travelled back in time, this time using his experience and knowledge he is simply turning those events into opportunities and then taking advatage of them. It is also not like good things just happen easily. He spent all his money on wine looking for inheritance, he found it on his very last attempt, him extorting money brought attention of others, in a fight with the guard he could have been injured badly and at that stage it would have been disastrous, when he met mortal villagers he was given incomplete map which would have taken him into strong beast teritory, when he killed villagers, villagers eldest son started hunting him, when he showed the secret audio video wall to the guy from caravan he had to kill him (or be killed otherwise), that brought countless problems, if he didn't plan and work hard it would have resulted in him being killed. At the final fight between zombie and the other old master events had already changed and the very last thing to do was bet on his immortal gu or be killed (remember at this time there was no guarantee it would work) and kill himself. He travelled back only an hour but this time he used the flaw in zombies technique to take advantage of the situation.
In my opinion there is minimal plot armor, the time travel is kept to a minimum and most people would not be able to exploit opportunities even if they knew advanced information about them, let alone resolve all bad coincidences, unless you consider that Fang Yuan mindset and his ability to plan and scheme is a plot armor itself.

In contrast to Mother of learning where the guy literally repeats
his time loop hundreds or even thousands of times, basically just grinds through everything and does minimal planning and scheeming, where death in time loop has no effect, Fang Yuan gets one chance at most things, he has to get it right the first or die because spring autumn cicada can only be used once in several years until it recovers and even then it is not guaranteed to work, it is absolute last resort. Mother of learning is the definition of a plot armor yet I hardly ever see this mentioned.

>>20262237
Appreciate this, I'll bump Ave Xia Rem Y up. The Menocht Loop I was lukewarm on, along with most necromancer tier media. I gave Gideon the Ninth a try and dropped it... very, very quickly. I'll give it a shot but my vow is to finish all of these fuckers too (at least the first book), it's on the chopping block if its THAT bad.

>>20262333
>My definition of xianxia/cultivation is broad, I've looped in some GameLit and progression fantasy as well.

Third time I've had Lord of Mysteries sent my way, so that's been bumped up too. Coiling Dragon I can't remember the context of adding to this list, so I remain tentative on that title... Is there a Japanese LN that you recommend? I can't recall a time I've ever read one, so if there's an above average Japanese cultivation novel lay it on me.

As for Worm, think people recommend it because of the way the main character's power evolve. I read the first few chapters nearly 10 years ago and it focused heavily on her growing her powers, creating a costume and joining a minor league of super villains. There's some struts being put into place for interesting world building.

>>20262205
Because he wrote Friday a speculative fiction book with a nonshit female protagonist

>>20262417
>>20262333
Worm is not progression fantasy. People recommend it because it's a webnovel. It's very good tho.

>>20262412
>He spent all his money on wine looking for inheritance, he found it on his very last attempt.
By finding this worm he's able to raise his cultivation and claim his parent's estates when he comes of age, making money a non-issue.

>him extorting money brought attention of others, in a fight with the guard he could have been injured badly and at that stage it would have been disastrous
Luckily the guards do nothing and the Elder makes a point of humiliating their feeble human minds by distracting them with a petty raise while he 'observes Fang Yuan himself'. I wonder what the Elder's investigation yields...

>when he met mortal villagers he was given incomplete map which would have taken him into strong beast territory
Luckily he knew the methodology these hunters used in his past life and acquired the true copy before violently murdered everyone there in the same chapter, bribing a local guard and using him as a constant resource throughout the book with no drawbacks.

>when he killed villagers, villagers eldest son started hunting him
Luckily Fang Yuan's twin brother is a more prominent figure in the village than he is! What a convenient mix-up that did not impact Fang Yuan at all.

>when he showed the secret audio video wall to the guy from caravan he had to kill him (or be killed otherwise)
The guy from the caravan uncovered the Inheritance Legacy and threatened to take it from Fang Yuan. Without the caravan guard, Fang Yuan never would have proceeded past that cave.

>At the final fight between zombie and the other old master events had already changed and the very last thing to do was bet on his immortal gu or be killed (remember at this time there was no guarantee it would work) and kill himself
The book goes out of its way to setup the very idea of trying to use it was unfeasible as it would detonate his core and kill him permanently. Then the final few chapters forget this and have him do it anyways, allowing him to steal the zombie's special gu.

You're being disingenuous in your representation of events to try and prove a false point like I haven't read the book myself. Mother of Learning I can't speak to, haven't picked it up yet.

>>20262194
I hope he doesn't do "crossover" stuff towards a grander plot encompassing it all like the Cosmere is, because... I dunno, it feels awkward. I didn't mind the few crossovers we do have (Valin from Traveler's Gate somehow was in the world of Elder Empire, each world is another Iteration, etc.) because each series has its own plot self-contained from the rest, but if they intertwine I might be iffy. Cradle's the only one so far that seems to have gone cosmic in any significant degree, but who knows what his next series will be.

>>20262417
>Is there a Japanese LN that you recommend?
mushoku tensei. and bookworm i guess, among others.
but again, i'd put these in their own category. they are always far more trope-y than your standard western novel or webnovel. MT is finished and was a great ride.

Going to start this bad boy now, checked the wiki and saw that there are like 25 different view points, what I'm in for?

>>20262417
>>20262447
>Worm is not progression fantasy. People recommend it because it's a webnovel. It's very good tho.
Worm is not stricte 'power progression' because MC's power never really progresses, but just gets more and more innovative uses. However, there is a reason why Worm is considered the prime example of 'escalation' in fiction. It escalates, arc by arc, gripping you all the while. There's a reason why there are mountains of fanfictions written around the main character.

If anyone wants to read Worm, I recommend reading it up to Arc 8. Read the entire Arc 8 and after it's done decide to either drop it or continue reading. Do not stop earlier.

Give me a fantasy book about assassins please

>>20262567

>>20262542
Oh it's a teen who only read online shit.
Worm isn't a prime exemple of anything (save how to write a good ending, I guess). The "escalation" (terrible ESL word, holy shit) is absolutelly typical of YA and comic books the work is inspired by, there's nothing unusual about it. Worm isn't Progression Fantasy, or "Rational" Fiction, or any cringe shit like that.

>>20262582
How is "escalation" an ESL word. Would you rather they talk about raising the stakes or what?

>>20262567
Hobb Robin's Assassin trillogies (three of them). Although the character is more of a medieval assassin, does some dirty jobs and sometimes kills people, but it's not his main purpose.

Brent Weeks books are...not bad, but nothing amazing. Kinda cringe and edgy. Recommended for younger people.

>>20262607
It's not, really, more of a cringe fandom thing. Forget about it.

>>20262582
>Oh it's a teen who only read online shit.
>Worm isn't a prime exemple of anything (save how to write a good ending, I guess). The "escalation" (terrible ESL word, holy shit) is absolutelly typical of YA and comic books the work is inspired by, there's nothing unusual about it. Worm isn't Progression Fantasy, or "Rational" Fiction, or any cringe shit like that.
I've read over a thousand books before I even touched webfictions, years after becoming an adult. And it still sweept me off my feet. If you can't appreciate what it is, fine, but you have a horrible taste.

>>20262485
It's just very strange to me that you don't mind literal timeloop grind stories about people looping a million times and becoming invincible, yet balk at a guy doing it TWICE.
And all your complaints boil down to
>well the protagonist of the story doesn't just die, that's unrealtistic
Yeah no shit, he's presented with obstacles, and then moves past them. Sometimes it's entirely skill, sometimes it's entirely luck, a lot of the time it's a mix of the two.

>>20262582
>"escalation" (terrible ESL word, holy shit)

>>20262624
Jesus, imagine being swept off your feet by Worm...
It's a moderately interesting setting with an average cast of characters and a plot that goes full dumpster tier halfway through.

>>20262624
Sorry about the insult. I actually love the work, I just don't like to see people misrepresent it and spread some cringy review straight out of some fanfiction site.

>I've read over a thousand books before I even touched webfictions
Actually, don't forget the insult.

>>20262485
>You're being disingenuous in your representation of events to try and prove a false point like I haven't read the book myself.
I am not but that is your opinion.
The events I have pointed out are simply opportunities that Fang Yuan taken advantage of by using his knowledge, wits and his strength. To me the plot itself was quite believable (in relation to the world setting) and full of unexpected twists and turns which infact very surprised me after reading several other works both western and chinese which felt linear and predictable.

>>20262498
First few books are great after that it drops in quality.

God it's incredible how much better this general is without the bakkerspammer. Even litRPG webnovel readers actually discuss the works they read instead of reposting stale memes. Bakkerfags actually discuss TSA too without the poetry autist to rile them up. Thank you for your hard work janny I appreciate you.

>>20262582
>"escalation" (terrible ESL word, holy shit)
In that case half the words in English language are terrible ESL words.

>>20262642
Not him but it has the best female main character I ever read.

>>20262498
fairly decent as far as modern SF goes
>>20262577
>>20262567
Never read a word of Brent Weeks if you can avoid it

>>20262486
Unfortunately, I think its shaping up to be exactly that. All the Iterations are starting to show their different progression systems in the 'cosmere' and building up towards it. It is definitely awkward with how Wight writes time dilation and how both events are occurring at the same time with Lindon's taking years and her's taking... days? If that? It'll be interesting how they bridge the gap with what happened in the last novel. Are they going to be concurrent storylines now or can we expect Lindon to age 5 years for Eithan's 5 day trial?

>>20262493
Mushoku Tensei added to the list. I'll add MT to the main list but probably save the rest of these LNs for the end. Appreciate it.

>>20262634
This board is the worst example of speed readers that I have ever fucking dealt with. On /lit/ of all places, holy shit. I HAVE NOT READ Mother of Learning. I've also laid out all the reasons why I don't like Fang Yuan and his character. The 2 time resets are symptoms of a larger problem for me.

The problem wasn't that he didn't die for it, its that he did not directly encounter some of the threats you laid out. He learned about the wild man hunting him AFTER the wild man was dead. If there was a demonstration of skill on FY's part, I've yet to see it.

>>20262649
We're not going to see eye-to-eye on this one, sweetheart. Feel like I've laid out my point more than adequately on my gripes with the series. If you disagree... ok. I'm going to read better shit in the interim.

>>20262624
Zero reading comprehension.

>>20262681
Unfortunately she also falls into the dumpster along with the plot. Luckily the setting stays pretty strong throughout, but damn there's a huge letoff in quality. And worse, there's MILLIONS OF WORDS between the dropoff and the ending.
I'll admit most of what I can remember is forcing myself through that nightmare slog over the course of a week and it's probably colored my impressions pretty strongly.
Obviously there must have been SOMETHING in the early parts I liked enough to keep me going through that.
And then Ward, ugh... I couldn't make it.

>>20262693
Weren't you the one who recommended the perfect run?

>>20262681
>Not him but it has the best female main character I ever read.
I did not know this, I will not be picking this up. Thanks

>>20262624
The only thing that should be sweeping is your broom buddy, get back to work royalwagie and maybe we'll allow you some time to cry yourself to sleep on royalroad.com

>>20262755
Yeah, ward is trash.

Also, the final arc and ending are perfect, in my opinion. So the drop in quality isn't that big of a deal. It's only what, two low quality arcs before the final arc, not that big of a deal.

I disagree she falls out with the plot.

>>20262773
The issue is those two shitty arcs are like an entire book series in length.

>>20262768
Nope. Do I need a name or something to distinguish myself and avoid these conversations? Can I just name myself '# of 20' since I only pop up once a thread when I've finished a book? Simple as.

>>20262780
Worm isn't without its faults, some in the moment, just a little scene, etc, and some more damning like the bad arcs, but if you take everything together it doesn't add up to being even 10% bad. The bad parts didn't even register when I think of the story as a whole desu, I like it that much.

>>20262811
Hmm, did you binge it or read it as it came out?

>>20262608
Weeks' second series is definitely less edgy than Night Angel was. His bigger problem is that his editor doesn't know how to tell him to stop adding plot elements, so every time he gets to the end of a series there's a bunch of stuff left half finished, and a solid chunk of what is resolved just isn't that satisfying

>>20262799
Sorry about that then, I guess we're just eager to induct people into the cult of RI. Probably because there's really nothing else like it to read or talk about.

>>20262839
Binge read. I guess I got lucky and read past the bad part in less than a day. I think you're exagerating the lenght of it or you're making the unreasonable point that literally everything past the ward thing was bad.

>>20262608
>Brent Weeks
why do I know that name?

>>20262860
I read up to that part in like 3 days, then burned out and dropped it for a month, and then took another week to force myself past it. I really, really, cannot overstate how much I didn't enjoy that part. The ending too was just meh. For me, the only thing left after the Ward part was the setting. Didn't give a fuck about the characters, didn't give a fuck about the plot, and the end resolution to both was also total shit and didn't actually lead anywhere(except into Ward, which was unreadable).

>>20262417
Personally, I think japanese LN authors are actually weaker than korean at this point. I definitely liked The World After the Fall and The Second Coming of Gluttony more than any of the jap stuff I've read

>>20262863
>why do I know that name?
The Lightbringer Series, me thinks. It was popular not so long ago, I read 3-4 books and enjoyed it, but allegedly the author was afflicted with a horrible sickness known as 'Finding God,' so the last book turned to shit and everyone hated it. I prefered not to tarnish my good memories, and dropped the series.

>>20262879
He's been a crypto-christian fantasy writer from the very start, it's all over both Night Angel and Lightbringer

>>20262878
No worries, I get it. I've said this previously but the cultivation system and use of allegory to convey the narrative was a huge plus for me. When I finish the rest of my reads and separate the wheat from the chaff, it's on the list of titles to revisit and push through.

>>20262890
meant for >>20262858

>>20262878
I'll check these two titles out, not really familiar with Korean series either. What can you tell me about these titles?

>>20262875
You're the first person I know who didn't like the final arcand battle. I guess you have to be in the mood.
If there's something you can say about it is that it's a bit too long, so you can get burned out.
I loved the ending-ending, with Taylor dumped on the other earth etc. Very melancholic after all the plot. Some people didn't like it, but in my opinion it was masterful in how it left no questions (save the fake one of is she dead or not(she's alive)) or possibilities in Taylor's life. She's going to live a normal life after all that shit and that's it. Very final.

>>20257897
This. A character in the book outright tells another character that the women in power are as varied and fallable as everyone else. This idea seems to go over everyone's head. They hear about a female character doing something bad, and they assume the auhor hates women. Then later they hear a female character doing something good and assume the author treats all women like perfect angels. When the fact of the matter is: He wrote a spectrum of women doing all kinds of things, because that's how you end up with an interesting cast of characters.

>>20262693
>All the Iterations are starting to show their different progression systems in the 'cosmere' and building up towards it.
Are they, though? There's no real indication of that. At most, we'll see the systems from the other Iterations involved, but not necessarily characters apart from some immortals like Valin and the like. Also, Suriel's stuff definitely didn't take days. Years are basically nothing to the Abidan, so they probably just passed without her even noticing.

>>20262896
The World After the Fall, and the authors' other work Omnisicent Reader's Viewpoint, are metanarratives, so you're best off picking them up after getting more familiar with Korean books. They expect you to already have some familiarity with regressors, isekai, returnees, murim, etc. TWATF is primarily about the way people impose their understanding of the world onto those around us, that there is no real gestalt, it's shared illusions all the way down. ORV is similar, in that it's focused on the unbridgeable gap between people. No two people can ever really experience what it's like to be the other, and the constant battle to communicate in spite of that. More specifically it tackles that idea through the framework of an Author trying be understood by a Reader, via a Protagonist, with those three archetypes as the core.
Second Coming of Gluttony is a lot less to think about, it's just a fun isekai with good characters that grow in what feels like a meaningful way.The author also understands how to time their plot beats effectively, so when someone sacrifices themselves it carries weight.

>>20261956
I didn't come to 4chan to hear your opinions!" - but hurt fan, who just heard something he didn't like

>>20262879
Smart. I've no problem with Christian themes and such, but when God shows up at the climax and helps solve all the problems it's an issue. Hell, God even creates an airplane and makes a joke about "deus ex machina". It's awful.

>>20262943
Nice to see that my simple post aggravated you this much.

>>20261359
No. Start the next book.

>>20255648
Modern newspapers.

>>20262943
t.filtered

>progression fantasy
Who /Tower of God/ here

>>20263386
isn't that a webtoon? not even a novel.

This is getting kind of annoying.

>>20263531
How so?

>>20263558
Both Kaladin and Shallan are being retarded but falling ass-backwards into success. There are aspects of the story I'm actually interested in that aren't going fucking anywhere.

>>20262333
Worm is a cartel war with powers rather than capeshit.

>>20263643
Did anyone else notice the small references to tropa de elite? Pretty sure Wildbow used it to study how organized crime works.

>>20260093
>go to an author's Twitter
>read description
>"Hitler was right"
Bought all his books 5 seconds later.

heh

>>20262237
What do you think of A Practical Guide to Evil?

>>20261017
>opinions differ so the truth's indeterminate
No the truth exists whether there's unanimous consensus or not.

There are many traits which differ between men and women. Martin abhors femininity and all things good. His first book starts with Sansa literally saying things like
>I just want to be a princess and marry a handsome prince!
Martin condemns women who think in such a way so Sansa's abused. As she becomes jaded by Littlefinger she's considered, "improved" or "wise" when she's really cynical.

Likewise for male characters. Martin has a pervasive attitude denying the existence of Honor or Good. It's only a lie for children and fools. Anyone smart knows deceit and trechery are the best way to live. So Ned, who's introduced as our archetype of knightly virtue can't survive. Jamie becomes our deconstruction of a knight and flashbacks reveal Ned was a liar and traitor after all so no one's honorable anyway.

It's an antithetical worldview to authors like Tolkien, who extol mankind to be Good, with stories where even in the direst of circumstances the characters still do what is right, facing death bravely, because this is an end unto itself.

Walder Frey did nothing wrong

>>20264008
heh

>>20263996
Are there any authors that take the middle road between Tolkien’s idealism and the edgy “everything sucks everyone bad” mantra of grim dark?

>>20264108
I’m serious though, Robb publicly humiliated him by not marrying his daughter like he promised and sending his bannermen to die in a diversionary attack, then he has the nerve to ask for more of his soldiers?

>>20264121
Pratchett has a weirdly sort of hopeful pessimism throughout his work. He clearly believes in pursuing higher ideals, but he at the same time acknowledges these ideals are not inherent, but instead are something people should strive for out of simple common decency. At the same time, some people and systems are simply awful and need to be removed or replaced.

>>20262333
>i generally have no interest in the superhero setting.
despite literally being about superheroes Worm's setting resembles the stock superhero setting only on the surface level. It's essentially a sci-fi dystopian setting underneath a thin veil of superhero setting tropes. The reason that people say to stick with it until Arc 8 is because Arc 8 is where the story pulls off the superhero veneer and lets the reader see what they're actually dealing with.

Thoughts on Pratchett’s coat of arms?

>>20264170
The ankh's a cute touch. There's not a lot to say of it, it's just a coat of arms, they're pretty stringently designed. He managed to sneak in an Ankh-Morpork reference and the motto is "don't fear the reaper" at least.

>>20264121
I wouldn't call Martin grimdark so much as evil. It's not that he's trying to portray his setting as grim; it's that he denies the existence of Good in our own reality and advises practicing Evil as wisdom.

For a more Amoral setting I'd say a lot of ____punk, like The Difference Engine or Diamond Age are closer approximations because more of the characters don't live by a firm code, nor the setting overall, but contrary worldviews smash into each other producing a range of compromises. A lot of Phillip K Dick's writing's like this too. Characters get high, abandon their families for their mistresses, and do other petty things while simultaneously potentially being Jesus in a simulation.

Neutrality's impossible. Every man has some value-system and will transmit it through his words.

>>20264142
Pratchett, like Scott Adam's or John Cleese, has that very British sensibility where contradictions in ethos and behavior, spirit and letter of the law, rules of society and stated values of society, and so forth are starkly contrasted and highlighted to show the absurdity of it all. Not in a truly pessimistic way, because he's not saying no one means it. Nor in an entirely preachy way, because he's not trying to change your behavior. Mostly as a fun cope. Folks don't live up to their own standards, bureacracy interferes with virtue and that's relateable.

I want to believe that ASOIAF is about a reconstruction of good and nobility, that the whole northern plot is about people choosing honor etc but the reason GRRM can't finish the story is because he can't figure out how good works

Is it just me, or has these threads been getting better recently?

>>20264280
ASOIAF was ALWAYS about subverting dem expectations and nothing more. It's why he can't finish the series; he has no idea how to subvert dem expectations while wrapping everything up as neatly as possible. He could very, very easily simply have a 'reconstruction of good and nobility' ending, but there would be zero subversion there (unless you consider subverting an expected subversion a subversion on its own and my braid just died).

>>20264299
Bakkerposter finally shut the fuck up.

>>20264299
No, I've noticed that they're getting better, and we've been getting more people. I remember a few months, we were lucky to get 60 or so posters, now we're getting over a 100+ posters.

>>20264311
Also forgot to mention people are actually discussing books they've read.

How do you guys deal with all these series with years in between releases? Do people seriously re-read the series every time the newest book comes out or do most people just have way better memories than I do or not care?
It kind of sucks not really supporting the author when it's probably needed most or reading things when all the buzz is happening, but I'm at the point where I think I might just start waiting until series are completely finished before I read them.
(I actually have the same problem with shows, movies, and some video games too...)

>>20264344
I hope that what I've read comes back to me when I read the opening chapters of a new release, and if not I'll just skim a summary of the last book.

>>20264344
>How do you guys deal with all these series with years in between releases?
Live my life, read other books, or do something productive.

>>20264344
I don't read a series until it is completed.

>>20263510
>can't discuss ToG here because it isn't a novel
>can't discuss ToG on /a/ because the only person who makes a thread about it is some seemingly underage ESL spaniard and every other shitposter thinks anyone who likes the series is aforementioned ESL
sigh

>>20264344
I just forget about them and then remember them when the next book comes out or there's an interesting discussion.

NEW THREAD WHEN?

>>20264526
Are you that desperate to shitpost? Get a life.

>>20264310
>>20264311
So jannies doing their jobs?

>>20264526
>>20264533
samefag

>>20264539
Nah, that fag always wants a new thread so he can shitpost.

>>20264280
>I want to believe that ASOIAF is about a reconstruction of good and nobility,
Did you read the books? Because that's basically what's happening, rather subtly.

>>20264549
It's not finished yet. Everything could be SUBVERTED by the end.

>>20264309
>>20264560
>t.never read the books
The latter half of the series is literally about how the Lannisters/Bolton/Freys are losing their grips on power due to their bullshit.

>>20264384
I don't mean how to pass time. I just don't understand how people can remember names, places, plot details, etc. and still feel as invested after all that time. It doesn't feel nearly as natural to me as just reading through a series at a normal pace.
If "A Dream of Spring" ever came out it would be pretty crazy to try to recall details from the first book in 1996... Probably, only be three or four decades in between, I guess. Maybe I just need to start taking ginkgo biloba or something.

>>20264582
I mean, you can always reread the series when a new book comes out. I did that with Harry Potter.

>>20264582
>just don't understand how people can remember names, places, plot details, etc.
You do know people can just reread previous books, right?

>>20263386
Art style looks like shit.

>>20264170
Looks pretty neat.

>>20263996
>Likewise for male characters. Martin has a pervasive attitude denying the existence of Honor or Good. It's only a lie for children and fools. Anyone smart knows deceit and trechery are the best way to live. So Ned, who's introduced as our archetype of knightly virtue can't survive. Jamie becomes our deconstruction of a knight and flashbacks reveal Ned was a liar and traitor after all so no one's honorable anyway.
I don’t know how you can read the series and get it completely wrong.

>>20264344
I haven't had to return to series very often. I've only been reading for a few years now, and most of the stuff I've read have been complete series. But for ongoing series like Cradle, I ended up liking is so much, that I re-read the whole series leading up to the next release. Having read through it almost 3 times now, a lot of the details are now etched into my mind. So my recall is better than it was. I would recommend re-reading books that you love.

But for The Age of Madness Trilogy, I had to wait between book 2 and 3. And for that, I didn't bother re-reading. I just jumped into 3, and hoped for the best. Luckily, hearing certain words and phrases did trigger enough of my memory to make following the plot possible. Even if I missed some of the smaller details, I got the bigger picture.

The way I see it, is that re-reading books are akin to rewatching TV episodes. I grew up in the 90s and 00s, before entire catalogs of entertainment were available on the internet. So I grew up watching a lot of re-runs. Nothing better was on, so you just watched episodes you already watched. And you might see the same set of episodes 10 times again before the new season drops.
So when I first started reading, I had a similar anxiety to yours. How would I remember all of these details to books before the new one comes out? Then I thought "why am I being such a bitch? You can rewatch old TV episodes, but you can't re-read old books?" So now I don't feel bad about re-reading stuff.

I've re-read the first Dune, the whole of A Song of Ice and Fire, the Curse of Chalion trilogy, the first few books in the Vorkosigan saga, and most recently I'm going back through the Licanius Trilogy. I'm in the middle of book 2. A second read through Licanius is definitely helping my comprehension, because the plot was so convoluted. Knowing what I already know, I can make sense of what is happening this time.

tldr: Don't be a bitch, and just re-read. Or dive in and hope you remember.

>>20264719
Kek, I have a similar mindset. Never understood why people dread rereading things again.

new thread
>>20264867

>>20264562
If GERM were working towards a typical fantasy ending he would have finished the series years ago. He WANTS to have a GOTTA SUBVERT DEM EXPECTATIONS ending because that's what the entire series has been about, but he has absolutely no idea how to do that in a way that isn't completely retarded AND completely obvious.