/lit/ - Literature

BAKKER IS KING

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61160984-the-third-kingdom#
Was this actually released or is the date wrong?

>>20548560
There's literally a link to the store page on that goodreads page.

So, I saw some Anons say that LitRPGs are just video game stats with shit plot. I admit that most are, but most of every genre is shit. If Litrpg is worse on average, it's because the genre is no mainstream (yet, I can see trends, I assume LitRPG will be mainstream in 5-10 years). There can be and are great LitRPG stories, mostly those who take the idea of a world with a formal system of stats and numbers and treat it with seriousness it deserves, exploring the idea of how people would act in such a world. Basically every good LitRPG takes the matters of a world-governing system seriously, and not just a dumb premise to write another story for patreon bucks.

I believe most of any genre is for the lovers of said genre, any other person just reads the best of the genre has to offer, not devling deeper. That's why I believe anyone should try at least Dungeon Crawler Carl, it's has everything a person not into LitRPG would like, sci-fi, modern setting, humor, themes important to modern world... It's great to get into the genre and see how you like it.

Aside of that, the best story among LitRPGs is definitely The Wandering Inn. Epic fantasy coupled with Slice of Life, sometimes even Slice of Warcrime (it was partially inspired by Warhammer and its influence is clearly seen). Even the mainstream internet readers start noticing The Wandering Inn, the webnovels are no longer this niche thing they were a decade ago.

>>20548608
Is this a copypasta

Note about starting The Wandering Inn now, the author is currently doing a rewrite of the first volume, so I advise to wait a few months before trying it out. You can of course read it now, but the writing is not up to the level the story is now as the author was an amateur back then in 2016. If you don't care about amateurish writing, go read it, otherwise wait until it's polished.

>>20548616
>Is this a copypasta
No, just responding to the discussion in the last thread.

Does the TWI author shill here or something?

>>20548685
No, it's just one autist spamming it.

>>20548685
doubt they need to

>>20548685
>Does the TWI author shill here or something?
TWI has over 5k patrons and the author reapes hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, why would they shill in some god-forgotten shithole?

>>20548688
>>20548689
those are fake, he patronizes himself

>>20548692
>he

Any good horror fantasy?

>>20548698
>Better than the Menocht Loop.
Menocht loop is almost the worst time loop story possible, it destroys everything enjoyable in loop stories and in exchange gives cheap and stupid family drama, just to have it all end with 'it was all a dream'. And the writing isn't even good.

>>20548715
It's not even family drama, it's just women telling the MC he sucks every time he turns his head and homolust.

>>20548489
https://youtu.be/7VC26-dQAKo
>Nooooo why is the illustrated page in the new LOTR edition a different type and colour?
Does this guy know that you can’t just print images onto “normal” paper without it smudging or looking like shit? I’m just trying to find out if this edition is worth it.

>>20548712
The Night Land is pretty good.

>>20548764
Do NOT link to his videos please. Thank you.

>>20548681
Any source about that? Or when the rewrite is gonna come out?
I was interested in giving it a try...

>>20548818
First chunk was made public a couple days ago
https://wanderinginn.com/volume-1-rewrite-pt-1/
Not sure when the whole thing will be done though

>>20548818
>Any source about that? Or when the rewrite is gonna come out?
>I was interested in giving it a try...
The first nine chapters have already been rewritten, plus two new ones added. Overall, the first 40k words are done. Of course it's still the first 'draft' of the rewrite, but the author basically never reworks anything, every chapter is only written once with little to no changes, that's why the rewrite of the first volume is such a big deal. The author intends to spend one update worth of time on the rewrite each month, so depending of how much text will be left alone, it might take until the end of the year.

>>20548502
>>20548507
>>20548508
>>20548540
STOP

Does any remember a YA or younger fantasy series about some orphaned street urchin kid (á la Aladdin) who finds a wizard or alchemist and becomes his apprentice? Takes place in Victorian England, or the fantasy equivalent iirc; I also remember that it seemed to love talking about salt peter.
I feel like I still have the first or third one in my house, but haven’t seen it yet. I’ll post if I manage to find it. Have no clue if it was genuinely good or not so I wanted to give it a reread.

>>20548818
>Not sure when the whole thing will be done though
>>20548838
>it might take until the end of the year.
Thank you, I'll wait until it's out then.

>>20548685
It's a single autist. I just wonder if it's a woman or a trannie.

>>20548708
He's obviously a dude. One of the audiobook release descriptions written by audible employees called him a 'he'. Dude tries to write without giving away anything about him but if you read TWI you can tell he is obviously an American white guy with fetish for muscule girls.
And it's not even like people call him 'they' because of some retarded gender shit. He said authors are the least interesting part of a story and thus wanted to be completely anonymous including his gender.

>>20548774
I hate this guy so much

>>20549032
I mean, the publisher wanted Rowling to use her initials so boys would read HP. Let the work speak for itself. Works made by women usually “speak” like retards.

>>20548871
That sounds a little like the Jinx series except the Victorian part. But Jinx is good, you should read it

Only the true will Reign Supreme!
No matter how long you scheme
Only the true will Rule in might
No matter how hard you fight

>>20548712
library at mount char

>>20549045
What? You don't believe WoT and Stormlight are the pinnacle of fantasy? Or is it the ego and punchable face?

>>20548871
"The Alchymist's [sic] Cat" by Robin Jarvis?

>>20549263
I wouldn't mind Bakker posting if you actually talked about the books and recommended the best of them for some of us that haven't read any. Huh, wonder why these generals are always shit?

Why is the Felurian arc in Wise Man's Fear so shit? I can see why people hate Rothfuss, where the fuck is this series going? The character at this point is only like 16 and how am I supposed to believe that by the third book he's like 25?

>>20549331
>third book
Topkek

>>20549322

>>20548489
Madness in Solidar, Imager Portfolio #9 - L.E. Modesitt Jr. (2015)

Chronologically this is the middle subseries. The second began before the current calendar and ends at roughly 0 A.L. This one began at 398 A.L. The first began in 743 A.L. Once again various historical characters mentioned in the first three books took center stage. I briefly looked back at those books and noticed some discrepancies in them, not so much that the official histories were wrong as it seems some small changes about the history were made in third book versus the first. One, which was entirely trivial, was that a character's name had a single letter changed. Maybe that was simply a transcription error over the centuries.

Unlike the first two subseries which featured a protagonist who developed his powers and personality over the course of the series, this one has a 38 year old Alastar who was already the most powerful contemporary imager and their leader. He was already fully established from the beginning. There wasn't really so much character development as just learning about him. He already knew who he was and did what needed to be done at the proper time without hesitation or concern no matter how drastic he had to be. As with the prior protagonists he also had a powerful love interest, who at 23 is considerably younger than him.

Over the centuries the Imagers had become lax, complacent, and not fulfilling their function as they were supposed to. All external affairs had been neglected and in some ways their organization has slowly changed to have a parasitical relationship with their society. This had caused much resentment in others. The duration of their entire lives would have to be spent to restore equilibrium, if not their reputation, and it would come at grievous cost.

Almost all the immediate problems could be traced back to one thing, tax policy. The fate of the country literally depended on whether the various factions could agree on how much in taxes should be raised, if at all. The government's coffers were always nigh empty. The grossly bloated army which served almost no functional purpose was a significant cause. Another cause for concern was infrastructure, particularly roads and sewers, and a questionable use of eminent domain.

I was amazed by how little overall happened and also how quickly it had when anything did happen. Even more so I was amazed that I didn't mind at all. It was all very smooth comfort reading. Nothing bothered me about it, but there weren't really any high points either. That makes it difficult for me to rate, and I'm not satisfied with a rating, but it'll do.

Rating: 3.5/5

>>20548871
>>20549233
>>20549310
Found the cover just by searching “kids fantasy novel covers” in Google images. thanks for the guesses though and I’ll try those out when I get through some of my backlog.

>>20549295
latter

Tower of the Elephant is pretty good so far but I’m wondering why there’s so much more exposition of Conan’s thought process than previous stories.

why does every token muzzoid author that gets featured in some list of the "best" new fantasy of the year have djinns as the focus of their book? are there no other beings in middle eastern folklore?

>>20549656
because these people know nothing about actual middle eastern folklore. i doubt they've even read the arabian nights

>>20549656
Jinn is a catch-all term for spiritual beings.

>>20549322
I used to do that, y’know, actually discuss the books, until the shithead spammer came ‘round and ruined this general for everyone.
My goodness, I hate this website and its horribly piss-poor moderation sometimes.

>>20549662
>the arabian nights
If you’re from the west, you probably heard “The Arabian Nights” from a certain perspective, started by a French dude making up shit or repurposing folk tales he heard and making them unrecognisable.

Whoever posted here that Kellhus is a “relatable character” is a retard

>>20549629
It's been years since I read Conan, but from what I remember many of the stories give him a companion, either a beautiful woman or a young soldier who admires him, who provides a point of view for the narration. Since Conan is on his own in this story it makes sense that it would look inward more.

>>20548608
>That's why I believe anyone should try at least Dungeon Crawler Carl
Comedy is hit or miss. If you find the kind of comedy insufferable, then the whole novel/series is insufferable.

>Aside of that, the best story among LitRPGs is definitely The Wandering Inn
It's meh. One of the longstanding problems of litRPGs, and webnovels/patreons, is the bloatedness and word count. There are definite diamonds in the rough in TWI, but if you have to dig through mountains of filler and excessively descriptive prose to get there - then that's a problem. It may just be a byproduct of having to post 3-5 chapters a week for patreon, but it's still insufferable to me.

I think the litRPG genre has potential, but I haven't seen it yet. If the best the genre has to offer is TWI and DCC then anon...

>>20548608
>anyone should try at least Dungeon Crawler Carl, it's has everything a person not into LitRPG would like
I hate the fucking insufferable cat and dropped that utter shit series after book two when the cat got more screen time instead of being killed off.
That is one of the worst litrpg gateway novels I can think of.

>>20548608
Also Wandering Inn in shit, so if you liked it, your tastes are in question and I wouldn't trust you with any recommendations.

>>20549791
>Comedy is hit or miss. If you find the kind of comedy insufferable, then the whole novel/series is insufferable.
This is how I felt about anything I read by Dakota Krout and I never finished any of his series. I will say that his stealth internet post about his VA trying to fuck him over was fun to read and I'd like to see more of that.

>>20548774
Imagine being so low IQ you think Robert Jordan is a better writer than Gene Wolfe.

>>20549746
>Whoever posted here that Kellhus is a “relatable character” is a sociopath
ftfy
doesn't surprise me either

any tricks to improve memory book retention?

>>20548502
>>20548507
>>20548507
What kind of mental illness causes an anon to do this in every thread?

>>20549907
They’re both, really. They think protagonist (if you could call Kellhus that) = relatable. I bet they also read the New Testament and were like, “Wow, Jesus Christ. He’s just like me :)”

>>20549980
It should be clear to anyone with more than two brain cells that Achamian is the protagonist, inasmuch as there is one.

>be the highest skilled video game player of your entire civilization
>become a god

What are some good loli science fiction or fantasy stories?

>>20550042
>sadpanda
>language:english female:loli male:huge
Stop bugging us.

>>20550042
Unbreaded?

I have the exact same personality as AM, both afraid of death with a planet sized ego.

>>20550084
You’re more of an AC and you know it.

>>20550146
I'm Roy Batty, my name comes from the same one too.

>TWI book 3
>want to know what happens next
>suddenly 5 chapters of wistram days
why.
especially annoying since these are flashback chapters.
also can i ship ceria and pisces?

>>20550184
>reading the gobbo lover inn
>expecting it not to be literal filler.

The wandering inn is absolute dogshit. I've read a lot of fanfiction written a lot better than that.
I do understand it's supposed to be the book equivalent of a manwha but still.

>>20550042
the daenerys chapters where she meets khal drogo

>>20549930
Recitation is all that matters. You recite what you already remember from memory at regular intervals. You have to do this even if you take notes or use memory "tricks" like peg systems or memory palaces. Repetition or rereading is useless. It's the recitation from memory that makes it stick not the rereading.

>>20549676
Yeah the spamming here is ridiculous. It's bad when I'm getting /sffg/ recommendations from other random threads instead of here. That said, I'm actually surprised there isn't more discussion. More people in general. Where in the world do people even talk about this stuff if not here? Or do average people just not read anything anymore? It's sad when you could find more discussion about fantasy books offline at a random diner than you could online where the entire world used to congregate.

>>20549884
I want Robert Jordan to give me back the time I spent reading his books. Thank you. I'll accept cash deposit from his estate as a substitute.

>>20550219
Those were nice, but I still preferred the ones where her brother was acting rapy, wished more of that action happened.

>>20550306
I unironically get book recs for fiction from /v/. Just start a bait thread about what fantasy/scifi novel deserves a vidya adaptation or something and you get craptons of good discussion on various novels.

>>20550197
i don't really mind it. and i don't consider it filler. i'd be careful with that because it's easy to consider just about anything filler once you go down that road.

>>20550306
>>20550328
there was a good
>botns
thread on /tv/ the other day
learnt there's a comic of shadow

hello sffg, i recently enterd the world of books but only finished sombe webnovels so far cause they were easy to get into, mother of learning, perfect run and worth the candle.

I wanted to ask if anyone knows a good magic/fantasy novel that's completed and focuses on an protagonist that grows in power. I want someone who goes full autismo on his magic and finds out stuff everyone should have but are just too lazy. I alwas hear rational/litgrpg/progression with that description from google but here are just too many books for me to decide. any recommendations please?
Also I tried bakker's book in audio form but that was really really hard. too many names in too little time. Maybe I'll try it again in the future once I have some references under my belt.

>>20550179
>Batty
Means ass here..

>>20550342
book of the new sun

>>20550342
>I wanted to ask if anyone knows a good magic/fantasy novel that's completed and focuses on an protagonist that grows in power.
That's progression fantasy - it's basically Naruto/DBZ shounen style power ups. It's a really wide net and there's a lot of stories that fit that niche - most of them bad to god awful to harem-filled trashfires.

If you want progression fantasy, try Royal Road - although they skew more towards litRPG (giving concrete game elements + stat numbers). Look at the Rising Stars/Trending to see what's popular with the masses.

If you want something less concrete number crunchy, you can try wuxia/cultivation novels although the barrier to entry is getting through translations of chinese-to-english that sound awkward and cultural barriers/references (King Ching Chong of the Wu Dynasty's special sword omfg! and you're like 'who?').

I wouldn't spend money on litrpg/progression books/etc... until you've exhausted a good chunk of the free online content. In my experience, they're barely a step above what's posted online anyways, and a vast majority of those highly recc'd progression/litRPG novels got their start posting in their blogs or Royal Road anyways. Good news about the genre is that you can probably find something you will personally like, you just have to dig through mountains of trash to find it.

>shills made me check out the wandering inn
>female protagonist
I'll never fall for webnovel shilling again, fuck

>>20550369
>falling for it in the first place

>>20550368
>If you want progression fantasy, try Royal Road - although they skew more towards litRPG (giving concrete game elements + stat numbers). Look at the Rising Stars/Trending to see what's popular with the masses.
yes thats what I did, but I wanted to get out of webnovels /lit/ once told me webnovels are just a meme, unless you know some that are good? I really enjoyed mother of learning
then again the only books I've read in my whole life have been lord of the rings and harry potter

>>20550373
Pathetic isnt it

>>20550355
I just read the wiki description and I just get from it that protagonist is a tortuere and it plays in some apocalyptic future.
Should I know more or just head straight into it? where does the "progression" come into it? I don't mind going in blind, though I alwyas fear you anon recommending shit for some fun

>>20550342
Read Lord of the Mysteries
Nothing comes even closer

are people (REAL people not normies) really intimidated by long book series like wheel of time or malazan?

>>20550373
>>20550369
t.cock lovers

>>20550436
Men don't read books and women read whatever YA with female protagonist is popular at a given time, so yeah

>>20550342
Read the Cradle series. It's basically a xianxia without the fat/filler. It's not complete yet, but it's going to be finished in like 2 or 3 more books I think.

>>20550412
I'll check it out thanks
I really love if protagonist go all out on their power, hate it when potential is left on the table, even better if it all makes "sense" and you could have figured it out too.

Last december when I started with my web novel adventure I had some anon ramble about how webnovels are shit and I should read proper books, after some back and forth of me complaining i didnt even know where to start some anon here actually started compiling some chart that ranked fantasy novels by ease to read and quality. Did that get filled in by now? wondeirng how that went. I visited from time to time and still saw it getting updated here and there.

my personal lord of the rings headcanon is that the shire has clocks and umbrellas because saruman gave them that tech in exchange for pipeweed
saruman became aware of pipeweed-smoking in 2851 when gandalf did it at the white council, so there remains 90 years before the events of the hobbit in 2941 for saruman to have become secretly interested in pipeweed and for his trinkets to have disseminated among the shire upper-class

>>20550436
I wouldn't say I'm intimidated by Malazan, but once I start a series I rarely read anything else until I'm done and I'm not thrilled by the idea of dedicating the next two months of my reading to it.

>>20550580
If you like well-written epic fantasy you probably won't be able to take a break even if you wanted to

There are far too many who aggressively and persistently insist on their recommendations.

>>20550594
>Malazan
>well-written epic fantasy
jejejejeje

>>20550618
like what?

>>20550620
That's a fact so your opinion is discarded, try to make it less obvious next time.

>>20550184
My biggest gripe with the series desu
I'll be engrossed reading about something really interesting and boom, 300 page side arc (that'll probably end up being pretty fun to read too but kinda breaks the momentum, specially when it's a new POV/arc and it's as if you were starting a new book altogether)

>>20550306
There's a killer concept album based on Dragonlance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUbqYOkv_l4

>>20550306
I read Dragonlance Chronicles for the first time about 6 months ago and I was extremely disappointed.

>>20550733
That's only to be expected. Some stuff can only be enjoyed at certain points in one's life and sometimes only at certain cultural contexts that have long since passed.

Totally blind. Does anyone recognize the top book here?

>>20550860
book of the new sun

>>20550875
Really? I expected a trilogy.

>>20550733
I read most of the mainline trilogies a few years back and had a great time. I began with War of the Twins and read until whatever the ending was.

>>20550703
>boobs on a breast plate

>>20550906
fuck off, it's historically accurate if you look back on real armor fashion trends (codpieces, wasp waists, ab/pec armor)

>>20550853
>>20550899
I found the "conclusion" to the first trilogy extremely contrived and unsatisfying, and then I read online and found that every single fucking character introduced in these books, as well as all their children (if any) down to the third generation get killed in battle against whatever bullshit, it's the most depressing shit I ever read, but in retrospect I should have expected as much considering it's nothing more than promotional shit to market a board game, still I'd have expected something better than 40k's Black Library

>>20550184
>hy.
>especially annoying since these are flashback chapters.
>also can i ship ceria and pisces?
Wistram Days is a good backstory for some characters, though I understand why a novel worth of prequel events might be frustrating. However, the events in Wistram Days are incredibly important to understand Ceria, Pisces and their relationship to each other. Additionally, later on Wistram and characters within become incredibly plot-relevant, making these chapters crucial to understand what's going on. At the very least the conclusion to the arc is emotional kino.
>>20550369
>>shills made me check out the wandering inn
>>female protagonist
>I'll never fall for webnovel shilling again, fuck
Imagine being so weak-minded you cannot read a story without a male protagonist. The absolute state of an insecure male, scared by a fictional girl.

>>20550379
Check out Warlock of the Magus World. It's xianxia but it has numbers.

>>20550916
It's more complicated than that, but yeah. Shared worlds and and their characters are too often at the whims of bad corporate management decisions. In this case a revamp wiped the board so to speak and the established setting and characters were collateral. Later on an alternative retcon was provided where none of that happened if you preferred it didn't. There has also been legal drama in recent years as well.

sabriel

>>20550342
Supreme magus

>>20550930
>>20550703
yeah i usually end up enjoying them anyway. but it's still a bit jarring.

>>20550930
>Imagine being so weak-minded you cannot read a story without a male protagonist. The absolute state of an insecure male, scared by a fictional girl.
I can't relate to women and I won't self insert as one. Begone, shill!

>>20550379
>>20550934
>Check out Warlock of the Magus World. It's xianxia but it has numbers.
>>20550958
Don't get baited Anon, that story is shit as hell.

If you want something rational, focused on breaking the world while also being incredibly good, read Worth the Candle. One of the pinacles of the genre, and written by an actual sperg. Dungeon Crawler Carl is also great, though much more suited to a typical reader, so it's probably the best choice for you. I believe you might also enjoy Paranoid Mage, Never Die Twice or even Vaienquar The Dragon. I'd also tentatively recommend Blue Core, it has slight NSFW elements, but you can easily skip them after the beginning if you are not into it, it's very focused on exploiting the shit out of magic using science.

If you are into something more edgy, consider Infinity Realms: Monsters&Legends, if you are into in-depth LitRPG system that incorporate different power types (Skills used by pure Willpower, Cultivation that focuses on cultivating Essence into a core, and more classical Class system where you just buy higher tiers of power with Essence like with XP)

>>20551022
Based king.

>>20551022
>>20551031
>fuck yeah, I'm a low test soi boi

>>20551022
>I can't relate to women and I won't self insert as one
Only children self-insert, you are not supposed to do that past the primary school, Anon.

>>20550906
it looks cool though

>>20551022
the only people who can't empathize with other human beings are african-americans, which is why they always demand that everybody cater to them

>>20550703
>>20550906
Boobs in this image are only mildly irritating, but those stiletto heels are downright disgusting. Whenever I see fantasy art with heels I know it was made by an absolute retard.

>>20551030
mfw finally caught up to IR and having to read this shit on rr

>>20550911
I guess the fighting in high heels armor is historically accurate too.

>>20550306
There's no point in coming to /sffg/. More often than not, you have shitposters and spammers ruining it for the small few who want to discuss stories they've read. Either join the goodreads group in the OP or make stealth /lit/ threads on different boards.

>>20551071
/sffg/ is only good when the /lit/ jannies bothers to do their job and start removing the low-effort posts and banning the shitposters/spammers. Other than that, /sffg/ is nigh-unusable.

>>20551038
>>fuck yeah, I'm a low test soi boi

>>20551057

>>20551094
>nigh-unusable.
I used to frequent /gsg/ on /vg/ compared to that everything I saw in sffg, ever, is perfectly innocent in depth discussion of relevant topics.

>>20551022
>self insert
lol. do you read for entertainment, something more intellectual, or purely to live out your personal fantasies?

>>20551022
>can't even self-insert a woman and has to have someone do it for him
Are you even a man?

>>20551115
nta, but it's impossible to read fiction for anything but entertainment. Reading philosophy is the intellectual equivalent of reading books with titles like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

>>20551110
What does posting anime girls accomplish, faggot?
>>>/a/

>>20551122
anime site retard

>>20550853
I'm going through the lot of them too. I read most of them for the first time when i was a kid. I can't say much about the quality of any of it really yet. The story does seems to flow pretty nicely and i find the place exposition (If that's what it's called) also good.

Then again. This is like the very first fantasy series that i've started to re-read since my "literary awakening" so i don't really have that much to compare with, yet.

>>20551149
I hope you realize there are 200+ Dragonlance novels.

>>20551122
It's inspired me to start writing a trashy fantasy story about those girls following the structure of an idol anime as an exorcise to get better at writing a large cast of characters.
>>20551110
Thanks Anon!

>>20551153
Ah. Yes. Well i mean i'm reading just the old "main ones" for now. The ones i remember, and then seeing where i go from there. Stuff like
>Chronicles
>Legends
>The two Mercenary Majere Warrior Bros books
>Possibly the ones with Sturms son
>Elf Books
>Dhaemon Saga
>Huma for the very first time

>>20551112
I don’t know Anon, people here just want to discuss what they read.

Books with protagonists similar to Klein? (Starts grinding at early twenties, no school arc, smart and knows how to interact with people with class and diginity)

>>20550930
>Imagine being so weak-minded you cannot read a story without a male protagonist. The absolute state of an insecure male, scared by a fictional girl
Kek why would I torture myself reading a story with female proragonist.

>>20551071
Its because people who recommend and promote female stories (female authors, female protags, female centric stories) constantly shit up the thread. We don't want this garbage here, go to redd*t and talk about female/feminist/progressive/antiwhite/lgbt/sjw/pozzed stories there with other trannies.

Why did steampunk get driven into the ground so hard and so early? I have a sneaking suspicion it's because of Current Year politics - when you're not allowed to take the Victorian or Wild West moral worldview at face value there's really only one steampunk story you can tell, about the plucky anything-but-a-white-man underdog protagonist overturning the established order and bringing about the triumph of The Current Thing. That makes the genre as it exists essentially fan fiction.

>>20551229
Both steampunk and cyberpunk are absolute dogshit
Aesthetics can be cool, but everything else behind them is garbo

>>20551209
Go back to twitter.

>>20551196
>>20551209
Why are you even here?

>>20551251
because this is 4chan

>>20551094
You forgot you can’t even discuss stories because the shitposters and spammers seethe if it fits their /pol/tard mindset.

>>20551229
Steampunk is a hollow genre rooted solely in aesthetic contrivance, and I say that as someone who loves steampunk. It is no more than a color palette that can be slathered over any other fantasy/sci-fi story.

>>20551229
Where did steampunk even come from, Anon?

>>20551242
We're living in cyberpunk now, only it's a gay Jewish cyberpunk without the aesthetics.

I wish janny would come back adn start clearing up the thread as he used to. Now we have Bakker spammer resurfacing, pedo poster and constant trolling about manchildren unable to read female protagonists.

>>20551287
You do know you have to report them for jannie to come here, right?

>>20551281
I had expected the future to be dystopian I just hadn't expected it to also be this gay and retarded

>>20551274
Every board on this site slowly turned into an incel board. /lit/, /fit/ and even /v/ used to be pretty good boards about genuinely common interests but now every board is

>"I'll get a gf if I'm really into books/fitness/video games and also fuck niggers".

qrd on Cherryh's Merchanter novels? Recommended?

>>20551229
>so early
Steampunk's been around for 30 years. Like any fashion it got played out and will undergo a resurgence later

>>20550031
He wasn't the most skilled, he loses at the beginning. What sets him apart is his love of games. And the Father was soulless so he couldn't understand music.

>>20550369
based

>>20551229
>>20551242
when will the first good steampunk and cyberpunk novels happen?

>>20550930
You'd actually have to be insecure to care that lefties say you NEED to read femlit.
Simple as.

>>20550954
forgot my picturu

>>20551369
You will NOT make me hate one of my favorite childhood books. Doesn't matter how much disgusting art you post, faggot.

>>20549949
They think it will cause people to read their shit books, it won't.

>>20551362
Cyberpunk has been good, it came and went decades ago. Steampunk is fundamentally flawed and can never be good.

>>20551396
>Steampunk is fundamentally flawed and can never be good.
how come?

>>20551411
How come what?

>>20551287
female protag? Why even bother, kek whats next? tranny protag? Cant read tranny because yur manchildren ree, lel pozzed protag, cant read pozzed aids ridden protag because we are man childen, get fucked you damn retard

>>20551380
why would the picture i commissoned cause you to hate the character
now that i think about it should read the rest of sabriel & figure out another comm

>>20551302
At least with /sffg/ it’s just a few dedicated shitposters with no-life whatsoever.

>>20551413
how come steampunk is fundamentally flawed and can never be good.

>>20551436
name (1) good steampunk settings that isn't magitech

>>20551396
Steampunk is usually paired with the Industrial revolution which makes it a great setting. Its the transition from aristocracy to tycoons, from rural farmers to factory workers, from kings to parliaments and much much more. It is also a setting where fantasy and science live in tandem, where the mismanaged buildings sprawled out in ordered chaos evoke a mysterious visceral feeling that warns people to not travel at night. It is also unlike shit cyberpunk and has a clear culture on how people should act in general. What does cyberpunk have except being a shithole and to rebel against the system?

>>20551448
>good setting
>not a single good book or even movie
when will steampunk fags learn?

>>20551369
>>20551380

>>20551448
Cyberpunk at least has philosophical comments on and criticisms of (post-)modern society, regardless of what you may think. I like the steampunk aesthetic too but it's a little more shallow and not as relevant compared to cyberpunk.
>rebel against the system?
in good cyberpunk, rebellion is generally foiled through subterfuge

>>20551465
?

>>20550703
Whenever I see fantasy art with heels I know it was made by an absolute chad and/or chadette

>>20551448
Just look at this picture and you'll see how much more aesthetic and dazzling steampunk is compare to cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is by itself always a shitty aesthetic and brings with it a broken world with broken people while Steampunk is an era of change.

>>20551495
That’s dieselpunk you ducking retard.

>>20551495
> a broken world with broken people
that's the point. Cyberpunk is good because it's a relevant portrayal of our own world and deals with the themes of our own times. Steampunk and dieselpunk and various other historypunks are just shallow antiquarian aesthetics that rarely even bother trying to explore the social themes of the times they depict or connecting them to our own world.

>>20551511
no its steampunk look at what they're wearing

>>20551536
Thats the fault of the writer if they don't explore those themes. Cyberpunk is just too hyperfocused on modern society instead of trying to teach anything else. Steampunk's era is much more interesting in showing human nature as its set around the industrial revolution.

>>20551547
>steampunk
>no steal anywhere

>>20551575
>dieselpunk
>no oil spills anywhere

>reading book
>enjoying it
>the main story ends 60% of the way into the book
>the next 10% is kinda like an epilogue to the main story, but ends up being its own smaller story as well
>the last 30% of the book is apparently the backstory to the quasi epilogue story of the main story
Boy I'm sure having a hard time getting motivated to finish this now.

>>20551632
Tolkien?

>>20551632
Why not just make it two books

>>20551643
Nah
>>20551648
The book itself is only 328 pages long, but I know this backstory story isn't going to be as good or interesting as the main story.

>>20551495
That’s not steampunk.

>>20551648
oh god. The bastion fag found new spam material.

>>20551287
It’ll only get worse from here on out.

>protag has to take his female companions clothes off to heal her
>he now has to marry her or she'll kill herself

Wtf is this trope

>>20551832
Correct.

I'm reading an article about how Neanderthals could have been real life orcs and now I want stories about prehistoric humans waging wars against them.

>>20551832
>>20551832
yes, stop reading trash.

>>20551870
But then I’ll have to stop reading fantasy and science fiction

>>20551865
>europeans are descended from orcs
just like my subversive modern fantasy

>>20551906
Where do you even get that from that post? Get off /pol/.

>>20551894
Just stop reading modern fantasy

>>20551973
But I don’t just want to read Tolkien all the time. I like him and all, but I want some something different.

>>20552002
Ignore him, just read what you want.

>>20551973
in which year does modern fantasy start?

>>20552002
Try George Macdonald, and Williams Morris, E.R. Eddison, Lord Dunsany, William Hope Hodgson
Then tell me if they're good, I think Morris is probably really good but I didn't get around to him yet

>>20552086
Already read them, and found them okay.

>>20552078
Early 80s

>>20552095
>>20552078
1983

>>20552097
That's not the Eye of the World

>>20552097
>Early in her career, writing as Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman, Bradley produced several works outside the speculative fiction genre, including gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels; I Am a Lesbian was published in 1962. Though relatively tame by today's standards, her novels were considered pornographic when published.

>>20552122
This should be illegal.

>>20552126
Why?

>>20552097
>>20552122
She sounds fun. I’ll read her some day.

>>20552142
the darkover universe seems quite interesting but from reading about it on wiki it also seems she didn't have a completely clear image of what was going on and sometimes contradicted herself. she also seems to be an incestuous pedo with a pedo husband so not sure if i should read her

>>20552179
>also seems to be an incestuous pedo with a pedo husband so not sure if i should read her
You new to genre fiction? That’s common.

>>20552142
She was also a rapist.

>>20552212
Okay, and?

>>20552215
Dunno. Just something for you to flip the bean to I guess.

>>20552220
You really are new to genre fiction.

>>20552212
You make it sound as if she's the only fantasy/science fiction author who ever committed a crime.

>>20552141
Ignore him, he’s just a prude.

>>20552258
name 5 more

>>20552387
You care so much, you can google it, anon.

>>20552390
you can't do it to save your life

>>20552387
Bakker has for sure raped a dude.

>>20551463
Never. They just want to look at pictures with exaggerated aesthetics, a tendency which has been cause by their cartoon addiction.

>>20552397
I mean, sure ignore asimov‘s sexual harassment or other authors crimes. If I have two shits, I could probably find and post the image of fantasy/science fiction authors crimes.

>>20551865
I hope you realize that Africans have the least neanderthal DNA, many with 0%. Also, I don't know what sort conspiratorial pseudoscience you've found or where, but you really ought to stop taking it seriously because nothing you've presented has the slightest basis in reality. The idealized neanderthal would be more like Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.

>>20552449
4 to go

>>20552454
To my knowledge Neanderthals were individually smarter and more capable than Sapiens, the reason they "lost" in the sense of getting incorporated into our DNA was our superior group dynamics/cooperation, so it stands to reason that the most solitary and individually capable races of modern man (surprise surprise north europeans have a reputation for both) would have the highest proportion of Neanderthal DNA

>>20552466
You can easily search this up yourself, but I know you won’t since you don’t care. So, there’s no point.

>>20552449
>>20552484
You do know he’s just singling her out because she’s a woman, right?

>>20552422
I recanted that allegation.

>>20552477
Homo Sapiens, the goblins, won. Weaker, dumber, faster breeding, far more numerous, but better cooperation and utterly ruthless genocidal maniacs. So, yeah, pretty much.

good books with dysfunctional families

>>20552528
Your diary.

>>20552528
Nine Princes in Amber

>>20549884
does he say that? or does he just enjoy RJ's books more than GW's?

>>20552484
i did and got zero results. only you can enlighten me

>>20552387
asimov
ellison
silverberg
rothfuss i think?
lynch
bakker was raped himself
bradley & husband
do you want me to continue? i know i've really only listed males but there's several sketchy female authors too

>>20552539
underrated reply

>>20552552
list their specific crimes

>>20552564
No, now fuck off.

>>20552569
guess you named the first authors that came to mind huh

>>20552569
Ignore him, he seems to be in denial.

>>20550720
I will have to listen to this. Thx.
>>20550733
Dragonlance had a huge impact on my as a kid. I was a little obsessed with it. I'd draw fan art. Had the campaign kit for AD&D. They were some of the few novels I reread repeatedly. Dragons of Autumn Twilight was also one of the first books I bought with my own money. I remember bringing that book camping, fishing, you name it. The good old days. That said, I haven't reread the books as an adult.
>>20551153
I wonder how many are actually worth reading. I read some fairly terrible ones with gully dwarves.
>>20550328
I've loved some of those threads. You get people that are just really excited to talk about what they love to read. It's a kind of enthusiasm you don't see too often.

>>20552643
Where do I start with Dragonlance?

>>20552513
No, Neanderthals were outbred by Homo Sapiens

>>20552486
I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to assume.

Do you guys have unpopular opinions about books or authors that /sffg/ likes? I personally found Wolfe to be an average author and I don’t know why his fans overhype him.

>>20552454
I imagined you saying all of this with a gay lisp lol

>>20552802
>Do you guys have unpopular opinions about books or authors that /sffg/ likes?
I truly and utterly, do not care about prose whatsoever.

>>20552802
The core of Bakker's writing is basic bitch as fuck. He's a generic grimderp writer like every other grimderp writer except his take on grimderp is especially pretentious so it tricks midwits into thinking they're reading something 'deep.'

>>20552802
I agree with you on Wolfe. Wolfe has an almost legendary status amongst fellow authors; Gaiman called him 'a ferocious intellect', Swanwick said he's "the greatest writer in the English language alive today", and Disch called this series "a tetralogy of couth, intelligence, and suavity".

You can rarely trust the popular market to single out good authors, but you'd think it might be safe to listen to the opinions of other writers (especially an assemblage of Nebula and Hugo winners in their own right). I will give his fans one concession: Wolfe is an author who defies expectations. Unfortunately, I was expecting him to be remarkable and interesting.

This book had been sitting on my shelf for months, along with other highly-praised works I've been looking forward to, but I bade my time, waiting for the mood to strike. Few live up to their reputation, but most at least deliver part of the promise.

I would expect any author mentioned in the same breath as Peake to have an original and vibrant style, but I found Wolfe's writing to be simple without being elegant. His language and structure serves its purpose, only occasionally rising above mere utilitarianism, and then he rushes to florid flourishes that fall flat as often as they succeed. Sometimes, it is downright dull. The prose of the second book is stronger than the first, but its plot and characters are more linear and predictable.

I appreciated his 'created language' more than most fantasy authors, but I didn't find it particularly mysterious or difficult, because all of his words are based on recognizable Germanic or Romantic roots. Then again, after three years of writing stories about Roman whores in Latin, I had little problem with 'meretriculous'. Even those words I wasn't familiar with seemed clear by their use.

The terms are scattered throughout the book, but rarely contribute to a more pervasive linguistic style, as might be seen in The Worm Ouroboros, The Lord of the Rings, Gormenghast, or The King of Elfland's Daughter. Wolfe's terms pepper otherwise and unremarkable modern style, which hardly helps to throw us into a strange world.

He is better than the average fantasy author, but he resembles them more than he differs from them. His protagonist started off interestingly enough: an apparently weak and intelligent man, which made it all the more disappointing when he suddenly transformed into a laconic, wench-loving buttkicker who masters sword-fighting, finds the Super Magic Thing and follows the path of his Awesome Foretold Fate. Again, I must agree with Nick Lowe: Wolfe's plot owes more to magic and convenience than good storytelling.

>>20552828
People think he’s deep? From what I gathered, he looks and acts like a midwit.

>>20552814
Is prose not a factor at all, or are you just willing to overlook it?

>>20552856
>Is prose not a factor at all, or are you just willing to overlook it?
Prose is not a factor at all, since I believe almost all Fantasy is shit to begin with.

>>20552831
is this pasta

>>20552886
>Is this pasta
An anon giving his opinion pasta now?

>>20552886
No, and just because someone doesn’t like an author makes it so.

>>20552886
Why would you think that's pasta?

>>20552831
> He is better than the average fantasy author,
This is my assessment of Wolfe after reading his books.

>>20552950
My view of him would have better if he wasn't so hyped. I think that was disappointed me more than anything.

>>20551678
>Nah
if you dont name names, then you're full of shit

>>20552955
Welcome to /sffg/. Where more often than not, posts are full of shit.

>>20552955
No point since I'm the only anon who isn't a poorfag and can actually purchase ebooks that aren't available for pirating.

>>20552962
>>20552977
summer really turns this place to shit

>>20552982
>summer really turns this place to shit
Are you just going to ignore the past few months were shit?

>>20552977
I don’t pirate books, so what’s the book?

>>20551287
When did the janny ever clean up this general? It’s terrible now, but it’s been this way for almost two years now.

>>20551428
I used to post here all the time. Quality posts I might add, the kind that thinking anons might miss. Now I go months on end without opening the thread. This is my first time back here since maybe February, and I see nothing’s changed.
Well, carry on with your slog, lads.

>>20553001
>When did the janny ever clean up this general?
2-3 months ago, was really noticeable. Recently, they've been lax again.

>>20552982
>t. summerfag

>>20553001
This /sffg/ was great, the best we had in recent memory and it almost lasted three days. >>20528207

>>20553026
>it almost lasted three days
That still surprises me.

>>20553037
Shame the following thread was shit, but that’s to be expected at this point.

>>20553072
Expecting /sffg/ to have quality thread is just stupid, join the Goodreads group in the OP.

>>20553089
>Expecting /sffg/ to have quality thread
*Expecting /sffg/ to have continuous quality threads

>>20551425
Because it's disgustingly bad.
Simple as.

>>20552552
That’s a long list.

>>20552749
that's what he wrote

>>20553174
Nah, he assumes it was other factors, but it was the breeding part where Neanderthals failed.

>>20553177
see
>>20552513
>faster breeding

>>20551186
literally every isekai

>>20553183
And see the part where he cites other factors.

>>20552831
I read your review on Goodreads, it's nice to see that you are consistently pompous across platforms. "laconic, wench-loving buttkicker who masters sword-fighting, finds the Super Magic Thing and follows the path of his Awesome Foretold Fate." Is a complete misunderstanding of Severian's journey as a character. Have you truly read the books?

>>20552896
Because it is quoted verbatim from the most long-winded negative review of Shadow of the Torturer on goodreads...

>>20553199
>"laconic, wench-loving buttkicker who masters sword-fighting, finds the Super Magic Thing and follows the path of his Awesome Foretold Fate."
That sounds like Shadow of the Torturer

>>20553206
Because it is.

>>20553206
Maybe if you make a conscious effort to avoid reading between the lines.

>>20553212
Anon, it’s time you just admit it, that it wasn’t a very good book.

>>20553212
Having an unreliable narrator doesn't make a good book, anon. That's been known even in the literary world.

>>20553199
>Have you truly read the books?
I mean, he has to if he gave a review about it.

>>20553215
I admit it wasn't greatest book in the world in it's own right. I do think it was pretty decent set up for tbotns, which considered as a whole is fantastic. It is unfortunate that Severian's actions end up filtering so many people.

>>20553242
Not him, but why do fans of Wolfe overhype him?

>>20553257
>why do fans of an author talk about why they like him.
Because he is good.

>>20553272
I found him to be an average author, above average if I'm being nice.

>>20553276
There’s no point in trying to discuss with him

>>20553290
I just wanted to know, that's all.

>>20552513
Nobody knows how the Neanderthals went extinct, every possible scenario is heavily disputed.

You know what they say, if you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything nice. Faggot.

im gonna say it

>>20553317
>every possible scenario is heavily disputed.
I wouldn't go as far and say they're disputed, rather researches can't single down a cause, and think it involves multiple factors that contributed to the demise of the Neanderthals

Why the fuck are so many writers afraid to give their books a proper conclusion? Why the fuck is the entire ending sequence rushed as fuck? What is the point of introducing a bunch of new concepts, details, and locations 5 chapters before the end of the book if you're not going to do anything about them and the book just ends?

>>20553335
You never heard of cliffhangers?

>>20553335
>Why the fuck are so many writers afraid to give their books a proper conclusion?
They aren't. It's why the last books often have proper conclusion

>>20552831
Good review.

>>20552528
My diary.

>>20549494
Good review, surprised you gave it a 3.5.

>>20551153
Why does a series need to have that many books?

>>20553335
>Why the fuck are so many writers afraid to give their books a proper conclusion?
What are you talking about?

>>20551495
I like the cyberpunk

Is this worth a read, bros?

>>20553429
Yes.

>look at Rothfuss' goodreads
>Go, Dog, Go! 5 stars
>his own books 5 stars

New thread
>>20553644