/lit/ - Literature

>>21494509
The Tales of the Mighty Dead

Bakker is the King

Already off to a poor start.

>>21494516
Not as good as Sanderson

Just finished reading pic related. Most of the series felt pretty scuffed but the final stand and farewell at the end were quite good though it did leave several things unresolved and just ended abruptly
3/5

>>21494509
First for female authors

>Fantasy general

>>21494509
>scifi jungle
just looks like virmire

>>21494550
You know what. Unless its smut, I can't do female authors. If I'm going to read something scifi, I genuinely prefer to be pulled way the fuck out of my own reality. I don't want to read of a character that I already get the thought process of. I want to read something that truly takes me out of what I know or how I see shit. Reading is escapism for me. Always has, always will.

>>21494550
no way fag

>>21494571
What's a virmire?

Expectations based on what people said about it
>complex military scifi about the difficulties and dangers of interstellar warfare and logistical issues regarding relativity effects and time dilation introducing anachronisms into the arms race
What I got
>'ate army
>'ate gobmint
>'ate fagets (not bigot just like girls more)
>'ate modernism
>'ate crammed spaces
>'ate commanding
>maybe 10% of the book actually features fighting aliens
>final battle is a tower defense mission from Starcraft

idgi who won?

>>21494582
>'ate inflation

archives are dead so ill ask here. What does /lit/ think of children of time?

I'm reading this, very very gay, but I want to finish it.
Has a comfy J.M. Coetzee vibe to it tho and he predicted a coronovirus situation pretty closely.

At least it's not recommended on sffg a lot.

>>21494622
Try using Warosu.

>>21494622
I think it's really smart science fiction

>>21494623
>inspired by Will Wight's Cradle
pass

>>21494623
Gay as in...

>>21494582
I love Forever War. Absolute Kino Ending.

>>21494651
It's like it's written by a woman. Instead of talking about all the natural disasters it's about messy intrapersonal relationships.

And there are a lot of gay things sneaked in, like they take a kid to a hospital, they talk to the nurse and suddenly they call the nurse "he". And "he" says "I'll get the doctor" and then after a conversation it's "she said". Very needlessly breaking down gender roles.

And there is another conversation and someone asks "what do your dads think?". Just gay shit like that sneaked in

Read The Wandering Inn, Read Mother of Learning, Read I Shall Seal the Heavens.

Also read The Prince of Nothing, Neuromancer, Cradle, A Song of Ice and Fire, Hyperion, Between Two Fires, The Poppy War.

>>21494650
I only downloaded it because I couldn't find stuff to read and I didn't do any research apart from the cover kek

>>21494680
Got it. Wearying.

>>21494685
I only like books that get the story finished in one go

>>21494691
It is a 2003 book too so he was really one of the founding ꜱoyboys.
I need to read 52 books this year though so I'm plowing through it

>>21494680
>like they take a kid to a hospital, they talk to the nurse and suddenly they call the nurse "he". And "he" says "I'll get the doctor" and then after a conversation it's "she said". Very needlessly breaking down gender roles.
Imagine getting angry about this. Lmao have sex.

>>21494700
if you read the books nonstop u are doing in one go

>>21494714
I like the story done, I don't like how some kike author leaves it unfinished so people buy the next book

>>21494680
>australian
ah that is why

>>21494712
absolutely terrible wood splitting, she is clearly brand new to it

>>21494712
lgbt fiction can exist but it should be labeled as such so that people who aren't into lgbt don't waste their time.

>>21494723
I agree
read The Deep (1975), The Broken Sword, The Mask of the Sorcerer

>>21494727
kek. I went to Australia once and I noticed it was very common to have women driving with men in the passenger seat. Probably the only country in the world where that happens

>>21494733
thanks fren I actually will (after checking they're not book 1 of 10 and you're trolling)

>>21494516
This

>>21494733
actually, I remember the cover, I tried to download The Deep only a few days ago but couldn't find it

>>21494731
Again, Imagine getting angry about something so trivial. Lmao have sex.

>>21494734
Age-gap (older women and younger men) relationships are pretty common there too.

>>21494759
kek nothing wrong with that

>>21494751
I don't like dropping books halfway when characters or story suddenly becames gay and it does make me little angry.
Why not just label it correctly.

>>21494595
Bane since zannah's hand was twitching at the end. At least that is the ending I got since pretty much every other star wars novel is dogshit.

>>21494775
Have sex incel chud, thats why

I love child protagonists.

>>21494802
The Bane books weren't good though, nowhere near the top of the (admittedly unimpressive) Star Wars book rankings.

>>21494733
>>21494738
Mask of the Sorcerer is good and standalone. One of the only true hidden gems I've found thanks to /sffg/

>>21494815
example?

>>21494509
Demographics and various stats are now up for the 2022 /sffg/ Report in the relevant thread.

The two polls are ongoing.

>>21494853
Animes made by japs, like Made in Abyss, LOTF (lord of the flies) type of stories, fairy tales, Lolita type of stories, stuff like that.

>>21494816
The only better book is the plagueis one. All the rest are literal crap. Significantly worse than 40k schlock.

>>21494578
ZoomZoooom

>>21494582
I liked when the gay brown clones did away with the (((commanders)))

Haldeman is an insufferable boomer though. All his other stuff is awful.

Why yes I am writing a story about a farm boy who goes on a journey to save the kingdom and features no female pov characters, how did you know?

>>21494999
checked and kek'd

>>21494802
>Bane since zannah's hand was twitching at the end. At least that is the ending I got since pretty much every other star wars novel is dogshit.
that's what I thought but Legends cannon is that Zannah won, which ruins it in my opinion. The rule of two is stupid and self-defeating unless the master always body-switches to his apprentice when the apprentice gets strong enough. Then Bane becomes Zannah then becomes Darth Cognus then becomes Darth Millenial ... etc. It fits better with his theme of rebirth through killing his old self

>>21494880
having only read vector prime, would it be worth reading the following 18 books in the New Jedi Order series if I am fond of Star Wars and tolerant of schlock

>read second Foundation
>Asimov mentions 5 or 6 times how Arcadia (14yo) has womanly charms
based

>>21494680
~1/10 nurses are men. Are you going to bitch when a character with red hair turns up?

Post fantasy villains who got away with absolutely everything.
I'll start, Lanfear (Apparently)

Brandon Sanderhack needs to die.

>>21495110
Bayaz

>>21494815
Belgariad was cool
>>21494733
For me, it's the War of Flowers by Tad Williams
>>21494822
Sometimes /sffg/ it's not complete shit. another one i discovered thanks to some anons were the Fortunate Fall and the Throne of Bones

>>21495114
he's gonna get necked eventually, but Abercrombie is going to milk it for a few more books.

>>21494509
The official Mom Protagonist SFF List.
I apologize for the lengthy (ie autistic) list. I may update it later.
>Caught in Crystal (1987) by Patricia Wrede
>The Interior Life (1990) by Katherine Blake
>Raven's Duology (2004-2005) by Patricia Briggs
>Wolfblade Trilogy (2004-2005) by Jennifer Fallon
>Bridge of D'Arnath (2004-2005) by Carol Berg
>The World Gates Trilogy (2004-2005) By Holly Lisle, She wrote Minerva Wakes and the Arhel trilogy, those two books also have mom mc
>Dragonsbane (1985) by Barbara Hambly
>Paladin of Souls and Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
>Sunrunner Saga (1988-1993) by Melanie Rawn. Mommy Sioned best yandere girl
>The Empire Trilogy (1987-1992) by Janny Wurts
>Liveship Traders (1998-200) by Robin Hobb
>Birthgrave (1975-1978) by Tanith Lee
>Heart of Bronze (1997-1998) by Matthew Stover
>Karavans Trilogy (2006-2012) by Jennifer Roberson
>Skinwalkers (2014) by Wendy N. Wagner, about an ex-pirate Axe wielding mom!
>Frostfell (2006) by Mark Sehestedt
>Legacy of Steel (1998) by Mary H. Herbert
>The Traitor Spy Trilogy (2010-2012) by Trudi Canavan
>Sevenwaters Trilogy (1999-2001) by Juliet Marillier
>Blood songs (1987, third book in the Frost trilogy) by Robin Wayne Bailey
>Bloodsong Trilogy (1985-1986) by Asa Drake
>Gypsies (1988) by Robert Charles Wilson
>Child of Time (1991) by Robert Silverberg
>The Wayfarer Redemption (1995-1999) by Sara Douglass, by book three almost every character is pregnant, after book three there's a 20 year time-skip so all the mcs have grown-up children
>The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974) by Patricia A. McKillip
>The Keys to Paradise Trilogy (1987-1988) by Robert Vardeman, trio of mcs all of the same importance, veterans of the Trans-War that ravaged the country, one of them is a cat-girl who saves a slave kid and adopts him
>Bitter Angels (2009) by C.L Anderson
>The Great Wheel (1987, book three of the Tredana Trilogy) by Joyce Ballou Gregorian
>Daughter of the Bear King (1987) by Eleanor Arnason
>Night-Threads series by Ru Emerson, portal fantasy about a druggie mom, her sister and her teenage son.
>Frostflower adn Thorn (1980) Phyllis Ann Karr
>Fifth Millenium by S.M. Stirling, Shirley Meier, and Karen Wehrstein
>Spellsong Cycle (1997-2002) by L.E. Modesitt Jr
>The Sword of Lyric by Sharon Hinck, christian portal fantasy about a soccer mom and her son fighting against Not-Satan
>Cradle of Sea and Soill (2020) by Bernie Anes Paz
>Boneshaker (2009) Cherie Priest
>The Gap Cycle by Stephen Donaldson, absolute grimdark kino but like most of Donaldson's work it has a happy ending, the main characters just have to go through hell to get it.
>Dragon Gate by Lindsay Buroker, a six book epic about a Mother-son duo
>Memories of Ice (2001 Book 3 of Malazan Book of the Fallen) by Steven Erikson
>To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987) by Robert Heinlein
I'm open to any suggestions for SFF books with mom mc
Bakker is king etc. etc.

>>21495167
Minerva Wakes is actually a pretty nice little book, solid 7/10 at least probably an 8, could have stood to be a bit better, but if it had been made into a movie like Labyrinth with David Bowie or Hook with Robin Williams it'd be famously popular

>>21495119
the best part about Belgariad isn't that Garion is a child protagonist, but that you really get to see him grow as a character from a very small child into a mature young-adult (from infancy to about 16-18) in the first 5 books and into a fully-mature adult in the next 5 (18-30) and the transformation is handled excellently, in a way that few other series have accomplished, and certainly none within the much compressed timeframes of television or film

>>21495098
Is she hot?

>>21494623
to end the woke brigade, this book is kind of set in generations and it ends with the main characters non-related Asian granddaughter figure getting a call from her "mother" (who earlier on was a gay Chinese dude) that the main character has died and his genetic line ended. . . but life goes on. . .

>>21495279
She's athletic, of average looks but something about her at certain angles draws your attention. The way she moves, or maybe its her huge lactating tits soaking her tank top

Neural Wraith 2 is fucking great

space cats

>>21495380
I read the first one and while I didn't hate it, it just felt a bit weirdly anemic. Protagonist is just sort of dragged from plot point to plot point, randomly fucks one of the androids, and then just the story sort of continues with all the androids being weirdly obsessive about him, but never quite in an eerie way or a sexy way, it's just kinda there. Is Heretic Spellblade, by the same author, any better? I found his writing style serviceable enough at least.

>>21495522
I would recommend Demon's Throne rather than Heretic Spellblade.

>>21495388
Jesus christ i haven't seen that cover since I was a kid

TWI 8.39

You know, it clicked like 10-20 chapters ago, I'm back to enjoying reading any PoV and looking forward to most of them.
All the Horns ended in pretty interesting situations and groups of characters (that slave chapter was hard to go through though).
Wistram about to stop being sloths, although I'm not sure how I feel about the "new" Eldavin.
Last few Ryoka chapters have been hilarious and her thing with Ailendamus seems to be moving way faster than what I was expecting.
The Bird-Niers led group seems like it's gonna be a fun bunch.
Relc sideplot was really engaging too, glad he's coming back to Liscor. Now we just need his buddy pal but antinium have been pretty silent this Volume.
However, the gnoll sides of the story have been the most tiring so far. Doomslayers, Meeting chapters have felt quite filler-y more often than not and I'm starting to have problems remembering some of the names since so many minor and semi-minor characters have been introduded. A lot of set up that may pay off I guess but I'm halfway-ish? through the Volume and it has been the most frustrating "plotline" so far.
I'd love a bit more of Erin, which seems that's gonna be a thing with Fetohep (kinda related, it's a bit weird how Raelt got kinda forgotten kek).

Is The Stormlight Archive good? A friend of mine recommended it to me and I'm curious if it's worth reading.

>>21495617
yes but just started Eye of the World when does it get good?
Any books like Dark souls?
any books like berserk?
are witcher books good? only played witcher 3 btw....

If I make a race in my book that is like a human with fur will people think I'm a furry?

>>21495532
I might give it a look, though most smut fantasy seems to just kinda suck it seems. I... Decently enjoyed Marvin Knight, and K.D. Robertson or whatever that guy's name is at least had me intrigued enough to keep reading compared to so many others that I just dropped, but it's a hard time to find anything good in that subcategory.

>>21495617
Dialogue is sorta ass and there are other issues I have with it. But it's basically written shounen anime so you might like it idk

>>21495717
depends on the ears

>>21495114
think the series is gonna conclude with him getting bodied and one of Jezel's descendants will replace him rather than overturn what he's done to the world

>>21495796
Most recent book was so bad that I honestly don't care what happens anymore.

>>21495617
No. It's the written equivalent of Marvel movies. If you like Marvel movies you might like it, but honestly I think people who like Marvel movies should be set on fire.
It also devolves into Sanderson preaching about mental illness and how we have to support people who are mentally ill for some reason. It's baffling.

>>21495851
I wasn't in love with it (i admit to not being an expert on the french revolution but it seemed like the books turned from pastiches of the bolshekivks into that. also felt like Leo's character taking a complete 180 to become Glokta 2 was a bit forced so that Abercrombie could continue the cycle themes) but overall found most of the character conclusions satisfying and the book to be a fairly pulpy, entertainign read. what didn't you like?

Well, I reached book 13 of Dragon Heart series, a Russian cultivation story.
Was fun, the feeling of adventure was present and I was reading for hours every day. But this book really killed it for me. I was spoiled in advance that our MC gets married with a character introduced early on despite the no romantic interaction between them.
So, based on what we were told about high cultivation beasts, I was expecting it to be the White Tigress named Azrea, companion he is with since book 1 who we know will only be able to assume a human form once she reaches higher cultivation. The first time we see her in human form is in this book, great. She confesses she loves him, great. Our MC pulls a japcuck move 'I love you like a father', decides his love interest is a female we got introduced halfway into the series and who barely appeared, and they were never close, closer to enemies and who he never cared about beyond thinking she is hot, which is nothing unique in this story. Awful, but whatever, she is implied to be a reincarnation of a girl he met way before and died before he could love, since the world works that way. This is implied in this book, not before.
But then the author decides to character assassinate the MC, Azrea, and the MC's 'true love'. All to move plot forward in the same direction it was going for over 10 books, and he changed in this very book. What the fuck.
Christ almighty, I can get over OTP being ruined even if it's the only romantic line we could have based on all context, and that makes sense in the setting. I can get over the author being horny for demon girls when he decied to write this bullshit. But to ruin the whole setup of plot,our MC's character, and to a lesser extent Azrea's character, all in order to prolong what he is draging over 10 books is amazing. If someone told me he was paid big money or held at gunpoint to write it like that I would believe it.
Now I know I am being a faggot to stop reading a book over romantic pairing of all things, when that isn't even the main focus of the book, but it brings into view all the dissatisfaction I had with the series that I could easily ignore due to enjoyment. The nonstop action and mundane happening that occur back to back that makes it impossible to finish the series without a hundred books, which is countered by timeskips of immense scale that depict events that sound much more interesting than events what we get in hundred pages chunks, introductions of multiple power systems that make power levels all over the place, MC being forced into constant deadly situations he shouldn't be in, which he can only overcome with deus ex machina powerups, bits and pieces of deepest lore that bog down the story due to taking at least 50% of the word count outside of battles and could be told in much better ways.
Overall, worth a read if you like cultivation stories, especially if you wanted a western story with eastern influence.
Thanks for reading my blog, this is a cry for help.

>>21494775
This desu. Heck I used to read slash fanfic. But I knew what it was going into it. I don't want to read 70% of a novel and then suddenly the main character is gay with no warning.

>>21495934
Why do you need to be warned?

Is he the modern day Tolkien?

>>21496042
Yes, unironically. Give it another 10 years or less, honestly and this board will be claiming that they always loved his books. He will be remembered for much, much longer than any of his contemporaries, that's for sure.

>>21496042
Tolkien only published 2 novels.

>Is the better Game of Thrones in your path

>>21496042
probably. people have a hard time accepting fantasy has changed.

>>21495931
I remember reading this shit years ago. Dropped it when the MC killed the sand nigga warlord and went off to the obligatory academy arc with his monk friend. Is the woman you're talking about the one the mc gets a boner for the instant he sees her?

>>21496088
It was alright. The hentai ntr tier plotline with Fidele kinda came out of nowhere but can't say I didn't enjoy it.

>>21494509
Where to download Tress of the Emerald Sea?

>>21496128
Basically any site that has ebooks at this point.

>>21496102
No, she first shows up during the Academy arc that gets interrupted for a whole book to go to the enemy Empire, meet up with Orcs and go defeat demons trying to enter the world. She is one of the demons, from the start he isn't sure if he should kill her or be neutral, they part on same terms. She appears again to blackmail him for some loot, disappears, and appears by the end of arc without even talking to him. Then there is a timeskip of 75 years, she appears, coerces him to join her on some mercanary quest she took, and then she suddenly becomes love of his life out of blue.
And the Academy arc isn't even an Academy arc, it's tied to the War arc I mentioned, where MC gets into the conflict and drama with the clans in the Empire, Emperor sends him on suicide quests like a dog for 5 books or more, it ends with nothing special happening. He is only a student in name,does not study anything or attend lectures, just trades for some techniques and gets a teacher who dies quickly. Most of the arcs are him being sent somewhere to die, only to get stronger, returns and that repeats for 5 books.

I know this is kind of dumb but could someone recommend me something sublime? Like dragons and wizards and aliens and space travel are all well and good but I kind of want something to wrap my mind around like a wet blanket around an angry badger. I want the satisfaction to be the badger stopped fighting the blanket. I dont want high art, just interesting. I'm fucking bored. I want something to think about while I'm at work or tuning out my GF's endless shrilling about her coworkers/how much she loves me.

>>21496088
The titles and cover art are the most generic thing I've ever seen. Give me a quick run down.

>>21496155
Sounds lame. Glad I dropped it when i did. Whatever happened to that swordswoman in the academy the mc was lusting after? From what litte i did read of the not academy arc it seemed she was being set up as the main love interest.

>>21496168
It's Game of Thrones but better

>>21496184
Meathead detected.

>>21496182
She was, then the author changed his mind for whatever reason, and we got a 'It was not love, but lust' introspection, even when Hadjar already knows what lust is and fucked around with women, as well as love because he loved that girl that died while he was a cripple. Almost the next chapter after that last introspection that repeated around three times already, she gets together with some random noble their age that joins their group. It felt like pure cuckoldery to me, the author knew it would feel like it, that is why he had to repeat how MC didn't love her, ignoring the budding love she had for him and vice versa, and even had MC say, upon seeing them hold hands described in a way you would get from an NTR hentai (standing closing to the guy instead of her brother who she was a servant to, with him putting his hand on her shoulder while looking at MC), 'I don't feel bad, it was lust not love I felt for her'.
The shit was so awful I almost dropped the book right then, but what I described in the OP is even worse.
Like all webnovels, the author is winging it, and he cannot write characters that hang around the MC to save his life, so he pumps their powerlevel via plot armor offscreen until he gets sick of it and writes a resolution. Sand monk became a noble and got married, brother of the swordswoman seems to grow as a person then dies for no reason, the swordwoman's guy dies leaving her with a child, only the Tigress is left, and he offs her as well.

>>21496168
problem is covers mean jack shit these days since everyone is doing the same digital art approach

>>21496234
AI will save us.

>>21496247
AI is literally homogenization. It's just generic with finer details.

>>21495854
I've yet to try Sanderson because I saw a YouTube of him and he seemed like a moron, is this actually from one of his books? It's so much worse than I ever imagined.

>>21496325
he cute

>>21495388
CJ Cherryh is amazing. I read everything from the Alliance-Union universe and I enjoyed every page.

>>21496160
This will get no replies because people are too busy memeing their obscure amateur fiction writers with the prose of 4th grade invalids like they're secret gems of fantasy and scifi, and all this in between Bakker spamming the thread with himself

>>21495617
The real answer is read it and decide for yourself. Anyway, Stormlight is good entry level fantasy. It's the classic "underdog saves the world" story.

>>21495854
Though sanderson is objectively shit, you're presenting that passage dishonestly. He's writing the narration with Lopen's attitude in mind, and he's a devil may care armless unflappable goofball. It's still shit, but that was the intent.

>>21496325
It's not very representative of the novels because Lopen is a "funny Mexican" side character who doesn't have many lines.

>>21496476
Being intentionally shit is actually worse than making an honest effort and turning out shit by happenstance. I can judge an honest effort by its own merits even if it ends up being sub-par.

>>21496160
Gene Wolfe is famous for making books that make you think about them and make theories, high concepts, puzzles, rereadability, etc.
https://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=WolfeWiki.Contents

>>21495617
He has multifaceted problems. He's got good imagination and can shape it to page but not in a way that's easily digestible. He doesn't seem to get writing fatigue so he churns out like 3 doorstoppers a year but it also means all his shit blends in a messy way. His characters are diverse but extremly one dimension, and they dont always behave in the ways he's already prescribed them. I personally like magic systems a little fleshed out in my fantasy but he get autistic about it.
When you take it all together and add it up, he's mid, which is why midwits sing his praise.

>>21496160

>>21496481
It was an artistic choice. Not one I necessarily agree with but it's still an eye of the beholder issue. Most people will dislike a macaroni painting of a turd, but funtional criticism has to be at the execution rather than the expression.

>>21496481
>introduce comic relief character
>make him say and do comical things
>Wtf? This isn't my slow burning bone chilling dark souls bloodborne avant garde genre defining dying earth cryptical dystopia

>>21496499
>woah is that the new literary kino from R. Scott Bakker?!?

>>21495931
The first several books were real Kino. When he got enrolled in the army, the Bear squad, when he attacked the sect for the first time, the interactions with immortal etc but then it got worse, the hidden city arc was garbage. Anyway at that point MC was OP af, acting like a proper grown man, a war veteran, then in like book nine (I think) he deals with that group of assasins and decides not to use his AI powers anymore. FOR WHAT FUCKING REASON? For what damn reason do you not use hidden powers that give you advantage and instead get fucked by enemies, that was real shit decision that only shitty protags in anime make.
Then in book 10 then when he is in a war room, he is acting like a damn kid, like a teenager, you would not think that hes gone through several wars, a seasoned war veteran, but just fucking reincarnated as a 15 year old neet. Total 180 on a character. Then he fucks a ni**er!. It's like the second time in the entire series he fucks and it has to be a black, who then tells him whites are this and whites are that, some check your privilege sjw BS etc.
GARBAGE. ABSOLUTE FUCKING GARBAGE. I even paid money for the first several books because they were good. What a letdown, what a dissapointment. The series is a fucking scam. I got scammed. Also never trust russian authors, supposedly the last line of defense of tradition, family and white people etc and who suddenly done a U turn and a fuck you to the reader.

And fags here say, oh why don't you buy more books then the authors will write more stories for men. I did and got fucked instead.

>>21496478
this argument is shit because you're still reading cringe
a third of kingkiller being cuck shit doesn't make the rest any better because you still have to read about it

>>21496027
Nta if I am warned then I can just not bother reading that book in the first place and spend my time doing something I like instead.

>>21496251
in other words; kino

>>21496168
extremely safe (as in not edgy or "grimdark") tropey not-europe heroic fantasy.
it's not trying to be game of thrones at all.
also over half of the first book is pure exposition/set-up, just a warning. it's fast after that.

only recommended if that's your thing

>>21495598
the good thing about vol 8 is that most of the plotlines will be resolved by the end.

The Meeting of the Tribes will start to get more interesting once the revelations from the Silverfangs start pilling up

Why did you brainlets tell me this was good

>>21496042
Maybe tell us nonfantasy fags who this sperg is

En route.

>see this shit in the "new arrivals" section at the library
>looks like the worst schlock ever but I need my vampire fix plus it's free
>actually a fun read

>>21496088
is the follow up series any good? I thought the first series was ok and I also thought it was funny when he said the prophecy was literally just made up, but why did Corban have the ability to enter the Otherworld?
but the antagonists were comically overpowered and constantly just had the protagonists just give them shit for free and later threw away their advantages to do something retarded
I'm not sure if a shield wall would have been so revolutionary at a similar time point in contemporary medieval history, did he really expect that everyone is just fighting in unorganized mobs prior to that point?
I suppose I have mixed feelings on it

>>21496789
I didn't, I told you it was mediocre and too long, lacking strong characters and suffering too much from modern liberal copes about Catholicism that it had to turn the whole religion into something more digestible to the author himself, but also much, much more boring and pointless.

>>21496160
Gene Wolfe, Book of the New Sun and Fifth Head of Cerberus
Philip K. Dick, Valis, Ubik, A Scanner Darkly
Stanislaw Lem, Solaris
Yevgenij Zamyatkin, We

>>21496160
Reverend Insanity. Most refreshing take on philosophy ever written, the perfect fusion of Stirner and Nietzsche.

sisters
>>>/tv/178927379
>>>/tv/178927379

>>21496160
Do androids dream of electric sheep. The green millennium. both are great novels.

>>21497069
I did not care for The Lord of the Rings. It insists upon itself. It takes forever getting in, you spend like six and a half hours. You know I can't even get through it, I've never even read the ending. I have tried on three seperate occasions to get through it, I get to the scene where the guys are all sitting around in the chairs talking about the ring and that's where I lose interest and I go away.

>>21497065
I have seen some reviews from fairly normie reviewers and they all go about how RI is deconstructing ancient China customs, legalism, ccp and so on. I get that, there is some truth to it. But all of them ignore the main point of the novel, that is the main character and his philosophy and outlook toward life and the future, his convictions and mindset. It's like an elephant in the room, unlikely that those people don't actually see it, most likely they are ignoring it willingly. Why? I do not know. My guess is deconstruction of communism is acceptable but FY being a total Chad in every possible way just does not sit right with their notion of what a male main character should be (weak, emotional, essily bullied, unintelligent, a cuck and a white knight). So they just ignore it.

>>21496828
i'd read it if Kristoff wasn't the writer

>>21496818
autistic, detail oriented fantasy writer who bludgeons you over the head with technicals about how his world works and recaps of previous chapters.

>>21497126
RI doesn't deconstruct shit. It plays the entire genre painfully straight. Fang Yuan is as absurdly stereotypical as a Xianxia protagonist can get. If anything it's a reduction to absurdity, Fang Yuan is so aggressively a stereotypical Xianxia protagonist that it almost comes across as parody.

>>21497159
>Fang Yuan is as absurdly stereotypical as a Xianxia protagonist can get
Stereorypocal xanxia protagonist is a righteous chinese hero, who may commit acts of violence but only for right reasons like serving the country, the king/emperor, or protecting or avenging people, or becayse of some written or unwritten morality laws. Fang Yuan is nothing like that.

>>21497181
No, Xianxia is defined by the pursuit of Immortality. If it's like Xianxia but the hero is fighting for ideals/country/king/emperor/love etc it's Wuxia.
As far as Xianxia goes, the overwhelming majority of protagonists are assholes. Because again, the fundamental rule of the genre is the pursuit of immortality, which is considered borderline evil by definition because an immortal never discharges their negative karma through death and rebirth.

>>21497199
not disbelieving you or anything but is this something you came up with yourself or is there a source for it?

>>21497211
Xianxia literally translates to "Immortal Hero(es)". Westerners just lump anything Chinese with martial arts under the term for convenience.

>>21497199
The main difference between wuxia/xianxia is wuxia doesn't exactly feature or strive for immortality while xianxia is all about immortality. Most martial arts movies anybody has seen would be considered wuxia. None of this "serving x people or committing x action" nonsense.

>>21495114
>goes up agains girlboss protagonist(s)
His days are numbered

>>21497126
>>21497159
It's a reconstruction, Fang Yuan is so stereotypical he wraps around to being a deconstruction, and then wraps around AGAIN to being a conventional protagonist.
Same with his enemies in the righteous path. They start out as stereotypical hypocritical assholes, then wrap around to actually reasonable compared to psychopaths like Fang Yuan, and then all the way around when you see they're just as, if not MORE insane than he is!
And then it takes this story of ridiculously overexaggerated inhuman monsters and manages to humanize them and make all their philosophy and morals make perfect sense given their experiences and even show how it could make sense in our world even without magical bug powers.

>>21496042
he’s not the modern tolkien we want but he’s the modern tolkien we deserve.

>>21494582

I was surprised by how much I didn't like this book. Having milled through a lot of military-sci-fi in my youth, I expected this to be some sort of crown upon the genre or something.

Instead it's a very literary take on "muh soldier's plight" that's a very obvious limp-dicked allegory for Vietnam capped off with some absurdist wish fulfillment

Vietnam really, really fucked up an entire generation didn't it?

>>21495617

Read Way of Kings or Mistborn. If you aren't sure whether or not you like Sanderson's writing after reading one, read the other. Together they offer the full range of his ability as a writer even though they're relatively early works.

If for some reason you can't afford the time or money to read two whole books (and this is understandable in this case since they are tombstones for the Amazon rainforest), consider whether or not you want to partake in something that Sanderson himself jokes about being a mega-huge writing project meant to get people to buy a massive series of books.

I'm looking for light reading fantasy or sci fi. Nothing grimdark of whatever (tired of that shit). Read lotr, reading discworld 1 right now.

Also I made this map for the two towers and return of the king, if you have a kindle you can replace the cover of our mobi file with this map so when you shut the kindle off you can look at it.

>>21497687
Version for fellowship.

>>21496499
>Try and make funny character
>Realise you aren't funny so just make him really quirky and grating
Sanderson should stay in his lane and keep appealing to magic system manchildren.

>>21497069
I haven't read Tolkien since middle school and even I know that's a retarded question.

>>21496828
Complete and utter shit edge schlock.
The world building is so fucking boring and lazy and the story is atrocious. Wish I could have my time back after having that.

>>21495873
A lot. This is going to be long. I've generally found his books enjoyable for what they are, but the final book of the new trilogy was bad enough that I'm hesitant to touch whatever he writes next.

Pacing and variety were shit compared to previous books. For an entire 2/3 of the book, 2 PoV characters are in an extremely predictable—if inoffensive—North storyline (and Isern is p annoying and one-note for the amount of 'screentime' she gets). But 5 of them are all in the same location and all experiencing roughly the same things. Abercrombie wanted his Reign Of Terror post-revolutionary chaos and serial regime change, but he beat that horse past the point of death and it became a repetitive slog for me.

Some PoVs were a waste of time. Broad in particular ended up not amounting to much, everything in his story which actually mattered throughout the trilogy could have been shown in someone else's PoV chapter, or in one of the "The Little People" chapters where we have shorter PoVs from a bunch of non-main characters in succession. Doesn't help that he comes across as "Bloody Nine but less interesting". His distinguishing feature is that he has a family, but they barely ever factor into his chapters in book 3.

Arguably the best character from the previous two books, Orso, also felt wasted. Book 1 he experiences character development reassessing his values and priorities. Book 2 by coming into his own as a leader. Then in Book 3 he doesn't really develop much at all, he's just a guy who sits around and things happen to. Boring, frustrating. At least he got a good death scene, going out with dignity and making his enemy seethe (vs. Jezal breaking and becoming a miserable servant of Bayaz). However the way he ends up on that hangman's scaffold is pretty retarded, and relies on incredibly stupid stuff I'll bitch about further down.

When the revolution happens, suddenly the world feels too small. Only Adua seems to exist. It makes sense that Angland doesn't interfere because their armies got absolutely shattered, but the other provinces just sorta ignore it. Even more criminally, other nations seem to just ignore it. There's a token excuse for why, but it's very unconvincing to me. No fucking way Monza for instance wouldn't make a play for Westport while the Union is tearing itself apart, let alone the guy who's been uniting the Old Empire. Feels like the rest of the world—aside from the North—is just on hold to allow the plot to happen. This is made worse by how, as mentioned earlier, pretty much every character is in Adua.

Will continue in another post.

>>21495873
>>21497861
Bayaz' baby, the Union, is getting all kinds of fucked up and literally all he does is occasionally send his henchman to make vague threats which he doesn't even try to act on until the end of the book. A shapeshifting superhuman henchman who could have done any number of things that were much more effective during the revolution. This is a guy who managed to set up and shut down an entire peasant uprising before, and now he feels almost entirely impotent and incapable of covert maneuvers. That or he doesn't give a shit about the Union and has abandoned it as a project, but that makes no sense given his earlier characterization. It'd be a big enough change that I'd at least want some kind of reason established for it. Instead he just fucks around in the North. It feels arbitrary and robs the victory over Bayaz of real satisfaction, since it means he either doesn't care or was just turned into a lazy retard so other people could get a win. If Bayaz is going to be beaten, I want it to be the formidable one we saw in First Law trilogy, not some loser with the same name.

Inquisition seems way too completely loyal to Glokta and Pike and their "fuck wizards" cause. I don't care how smart they've been about recruitment, we saw in the first trilogy that Practicals are just normal people with the same loyalties and vices as any other. That not even one Practical betrayed Glokta and turned him in to the revolutionaries or anyone else strains credulity for me. But fuck it, maybe it was just Pike and the ten or so that we see who were aware, and it turns out they were all really loyal dudes. It still seems questionable that in the post-revolutionary jockeying for power nobody ever set their sights on Pike.

But the big one, holy shit the big one: Leo is a total mess, and he's arguably the most important PoV character of the book. Two books worth of being portrayed as an arrogant impulsive retard, albeit one who wants to be one of the "good guys", then he gets injured. Like a switch flips he then transforms into the love child of Glokta and Calder, some kind of political operator. It's some comic book Daredevil "injury=superpowers" bullshit. I don't have an issue with him losing his morals and becoming a bitter asshole, he was always an asshole and it makes the point that it's easy to be a good dude when everything was handed to you on a silver platter. I do have a problem with him suddenly gaining a dozen or two IQ points as if by magic. I definitely have a problem with him backstabbing Orso figuratively and the leader of the Loyalist army literally in public, and the entire Loyalist army which has already been willingly fighting a seemingly-hopeless war for months just uh... surrendering or disappearing? Not immediately devolving into restarted civil war or at least massive losses for the Anglander army. Armies appearing and disappearing with little justification as the plot demands, just plain bad writing.

Gonna take another post.

>>21495873
>>21497861
>>21497869
Then the new leader of the North bends over backwards to make peace with him, when the only reason there's enough of an Anglander army to occupy and defend Adua is that they've stripped Angland of p much every able-bodied man. She's the one with the leverage, she could quite literally walk into Angland and take it, or at least use the threat of doing so to secure temporary peace. He can't afford to fight her, but the story and characters all act like he could. The story contorts itself by all means necessary to make things work way too smoothly so that Leo could become emperor Palpatine.

But then his wife outmaneuvers him politically and leaves him near powerless, and suddenly he transforms into what he should have been right after the injury: An impotently seething bitter wreck, like Glokta without the cleverness and self-awareness. That's how the character in the first two books would have ended up (because becoming a cripple doesn't make you Glokta) and it's where he does end up, but only after all the ridiculous bullshit I mentioned which absolutely makes no sense. He spends 90% of the book as a plot device, characterization driven solely by whatever Joe needs to happen in the plot. Only once the plot is complete and it's time for wrap-up does he behave in a way which makes sense given prior characterization and have the world respond in a way which also makes sense.

Trilogy ends with a tease for future shit, which after this merits a "fuck off" rather than a "wowie, how exciting!" from me. I'm vaguely fond of Orso's little sidekick, but that's not enough. As far as Joe goes I'll read a standalone if someone I trust says it's good. I've liked the standalones well enough. But another trilogy? Nah, not until every book is out, at least.

tl;dr A lot of the book is just boring, and every major event is driven by Joe forcing it to happen whether it makes an ounce of sense or not. Worse than anything else he's written, and retroactively makes the first two books dumber and more pointless.

Thank you for reading my diary.

>>21497650
On my recent reread, mistborn was a fun and cute read but certain writing issues were more glaring this time, and the ending is a cope and nonsensical unless you use hubris as an excuse.
>>21495617
Depending on how experienced a reader, you are, it'd either be a fine read or grating due to the writing. Later certain characters, like Lift, could ruin scenes since they're XD random.
The only reason to read the Cosmere, is to autistically connect dots between novels, theorise and understand the wider universe.

>>21497097
>I get to the scene where the guys are all sitting around in the chairs talking about the ring and that's where I lose interest and I go away.

You lost interest at the most interesting part?

>>21497861
>>21497869
>>21497873
New anon here, after a brief to see whether this was copypasted, it doesn't seem to be, I will briefly reply.

One thing that can destroy enjoyment more than anything else is not suspendeding disbelief or being able to look past glaring and obvious flaws. I felt somewhat similarly, but I decided to just not let me bother me so much. I can't always do that, let alone want to. Abercrombie is a very cinematic writer and that comes with the same flaws that many similar types of movies have. It's how it is. I've never really found writing how one wants a book to be rather than how it is to be productive, but it does make for nice reading. Complaining as according to reasonable expectations seems more worthwhile.

He has a new unrelated series coming out sometime but I have doubts whether it'll be worthwhile.

>>21497847
>The world building is so fucking boring and lazy and the story is atrocious.
Be specific, anon.

>>21497901
It's The Godfather

>>21495931
I dropped it after the author disabled his neural network hack, and mentioned it like 3 times a book in the background how it was rebooting, and just had the MC Dragon Ball z scream to get more powerful. Nothing is more shit writing than having someone who used all their energy suddenly get a power boost from "being angry".

>>21497978
The story is set in a pseudo Anglo-French setting, where the frenchness is exemplified by some basic french terms, and not much else.
The religion is bog standard Christianity/Catholicism, just like in The Name of the Wind.

The main character has the ultra rare/powerful bloodline and forsakes humanity cause religion bad memes. In general he's a edgy loser who gets grating at times.
Side characters are just there and don't have a reason to exist or for us to care about, like his nun gf, the gays, and the obvious girl pretending to be a man, etc.
I couldn't care less about the potential intrigue relating to his sister, or how humanity could potentially be saved or whatever.

>>21497971
Yeah it wasn't copy-pasted. I get the need to suspend disbelief, but it's a matter of degree and the books maintaining internal consistency. Previous Abercrombie books haven't lacked their issues, but I've been able to look past them easily enough. The difference here is that the problems are larger and more glaring, that they contradict how things are presented in the books themselves (rather than just some external real-world conception of what "makes sense"), and that the repetitiveness+boredom issue means I'm less inclined to forgive them.

Everyone will have a different view of what reasonable expectations are, but I don't think it's a terribly unreasonable expectation to want an author's book to be comparable to their other books in this regard, rather than noticeably worse. His other books are "good for what they are" but I would not say that's true of this one. I wrote out the complaints because I was asked what specifically I disliked. Ordinarily I just say it was a very bad book, and leave it at that.

>>21497614
Suggestions for worth while military scifi please. Old/new whatever. Galaxys edge finished and I'm putting off reading the extra books.

any good sci-fi books featuring zeta reticulans?

>>21497997
He tried to litrpg his story by having it act like a scouter, then realised powerlevels will fuck him in the ass because he can't just explain how someone with 2x stats can lose to MC.
After the reboot, he later decides to not use it, and I believe it was a good moment since he realised that the neural network can take control of his body if it detects cetain death coming to him, despite him nearly dying multiple times before and it never happening, prompting our MC to be paranoid since everyone and their mother wants to use him. It leads nowhere, just like most of his freedom rambles, he still goes with other's wishes, still uses neural network in the end, all while grumbling so. It could be so much better, but the author can't join MC thinking one thing then MC thinking/doing the opposite later, because he writes that shit chapter by chapter basis
>>21496529.
>The first several books were real Kino. When he got enrolled in the army, the Bear squad, when he attacked the sect for the first time, the interactions with immortal etc but
Yeah the first part in Lidus was pure kino. Once again I confirm to myself that the more mundane low fantasy parts at the beginning are better in almost every story. They always ooze potential
>but then it got worse, the hidden city arc was garbage
It had it's moments. Started out as him finding himself after losing almost everything, but the Sun Sandnigga plotline went nowhere to be fair.
>Anyway at that point MC was OP af, acting like a proper grown man, a war veteran, then in like book nine (I think) he deals with that group of assasins and decides not to use his AI powers anymore. FOR WHAT FUCKING REASON? For what damn reason do you not use hidden powers that give you advantage and instead get fucked by enemies, that was real shit decision that only shitty protags in anime make.
Eh, it wasn't that bad, since like everything else in the story, the author didn't know what the wanted out of the neural network. It's OP based on what we know it can do, but always gets limited by the author. If you read until the part where the network can gauge the potential utilization of someone (how much of what they have they use to fight) and see the pitful one digit numbers, you'd understand that he isn't using it to fight in order to grow stronger himself, to better comprehend mysteries neural network cannot cope with.
>It's like the second time in the entire series he fucks and it has to be a black, who then tells him whites are this and whites are that, some check your privilege sjw BS etc.

Well not the second, but all the tribes of niggas get razed to the ground, she is the only one left and she stops existing after the Derek arc, which is bullshit all on it's own.
Also never buy anything, libgen that shit and buy after reading everythign and liking it. Be smart.

>>21498039
Frontiers saga

>>21498036
This thread needs many more like you.

>>21498018
Oh no, it's one of those fantasy books where an author—generally one with very shallow knowledge of Catholicism, medieval times, or medieval Catholicism—decides that what his world desperately needs is a shallow medieval Catholic-flavored Evil Church so that he can rub everyone's faces in his daddy issues and bitterness over being made to attend sunday school as a kid? I'm not even religious and that shit is criminally tired and boring even as a background element, let alone a focus.

It'd be interesting to see a character in fantasy with a story arc involving organized religion (or any religion really) which involves them becoming more devout, not less. Bonus points if the religion isn't just some D&D shit which exists basically just to provide flavor for cleric spellcasting.

>>21498052
no, I did pirate first, read it, then bought the books. Obivously I didn't buy book 10(didn't even finish it), his complete character change and the other thing just ruined the series for me.

>>21498073
>It'd be interesting to see a character in fantasy with a story arc involving organized religion (or any religion really) which involves them becoming more devout, not less.
Book of the Long Sun and Book of the Short Sun, unironically.

>>21498039
Behold Humanity

It's a wierd WH40k inspired series with a lot of sci fi combat (ground and space).
It was posted on /hfy/ subreddit , just so you know what you'll be getting into.

First chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/f94rak/oc_pthok_eats_an_ice_cream_cone/

more hits than misses but it IS a hfy wankfest. 6.5/10

>>21498073
In general religions are done shit in fantasy books
Rarely if ever do authors mention about the rituals, affect on communities or society, apart from religion bad.
Bakker kinda does it well, in a sense, and apparently Brian Lee Durfee, but I haven't read his series yet cause the first line/paragraph were off-putting conceptually.

>>21498099
I will put my money where my mouth is and read them. Thanks.

Is this book good?
I'm not really into Sci-Fi btw

>>21498090
What scared me was seeing 'Chapter x' listing in the beginning of every book, which just confirms that it's a translated webnovel and not an edited version to work as books. If Kiril wasn't a moneygrubbing fuck like all the authors that manage to get their webnovels licenced, he would have the time to turn what he already wrote into a more complete, coherent whole, removing the glaring changes of pace and thought that occur when you write chapter by chapter basis with limited planning when it comes to the overall story.
I am inclined to believe he makes changes to the story for the shock value, since ruining an established character his fans love gets traction, no other way I can cope with what happens in book 13.

>>21498073
Religion is handled very poorly in SF-fantasy literature because most authors are either A. atheists, who are at best indifferent to religion and therefore don't write about it at all, or B. protestants, which is arguably worse, because their writing, even if positive towards the fictive religion, is liable to be extraordinarily shallow and ignorant.
Well-developed religion in SF and fantasy is unspeakably rare, and the authors who tend to do it are almost uniformly Catholic, even - and especially - when they are making a fictive religion that holds next to no similarities to Christianity.
One of the most consistently good authors I've found on the subject is Stephen Lawhead, who makes sure he knows damn well what he's talking about before making a story about it.

>>21498158
By the way I should add that this is merely a generalization, and should not be considered absolute: there are atheist/agnostic authors who can portray religion profoundly and not with scorn and snobbery, as indeed there are with authors of any religion, but most of the time you're going to wind up with Dungeons and Dragons pantheons, or if you're lucky, Robert E. Howard. Otherwise, you're typically going to be reading literature that amounts to apologetics, and I personally adore that type of novel, but it's not exactly going to be appealing to everybody, particularly non-Christians.

>>21496529
Wow pol, didn't know you NatSoc types get worked up because of who a fictional character sticks his dick in. I could understand the neural network, why not use all your skills if it's life and death, but reading all that shit after he went to the hidden city (dropped it there), only for the last straw being who he fucked. You polly types really are fragile as fuck.

>>21498062
Will look into
>>21498106
Read the first couple paragraphs. Brain is bouncing between cheesey and schlocky. I'm in.

>>21498192
Why do you care what puts him off and what doesn't? It's as valid of a reason as any to dislike a book.

>>21498158
>>21498174
I agree with basically all of this, and think it's part of a larger issue with many authors being unable to wrap their minds around a cultural context different from their own. It's part of why so many characters in worlds very different to our own basically think and behave like 21st century middle or upper-middle class westerners in ways which go beyond just religion.

It's a pity, because part of fantasy's appeal is to explore alien cultures and worlds, and religion is a powerful force in shaping culture, behavior, philosophy, etc. Makes it a real shame that what we get is generally D&D pantheon grid-filling, reheated vaguely-tribal theme park spiritualism/shamanism, and Evil Churches with no depth.

>>21494509
Any of you read The Last Angel on SB? I think it's pretty neat

>>21498111
The protagonist of the first is a priest of a false religion (details of which are revealed throughout the text itself) that is even as such treated seriously and not something intrinsically either evil or stupid.

>>21494560
Book? I'm a schizoid and would like to read more.

>>21498229
The funny thing is that monotheistic type religions are always portrayed as evil and stupid. But introduce native tribal polytheism and suddenly it becomes spiritual and deep. Witcher 3 is a video game, but I guess pretty generic and a good representation of the trend. Church of the Eternal Fire? Absolutely terrible. But raiding religion of island savages? Absolutely worthy of respect.

>>21498192
It wasn't just that. Her story wasn't really related of the main story. Her tribe was oppresed by the Empire and they called them names, the current the name Empire called them was deragatory or something like that, and mc was told not to talk that way...,nonsense like that. It was literaly a reflection modern progressive trend regarding blacks. For nine long books, there was no mention of any kind of progressive politics, it was just it's own fantasy world that had 0 reflection of the real world politics and events, then suddenly mc is being told all that garbage out of fucking nowhere. Then they fuck and mc is like oh she is the most beautiful woman or some shit, when he himself said about 1000 times that elves were most attractive people. It was a complete detour from the story, the pacing and the character. I didn't like that and I dropped it.

>>21495167
Do any of them feature incest?

Is there a modern fantasy writer who isn't a self-absorbed twat?

>>21498295
John C. Wright and Larry Correia are pretty decent.

>>21498288
There were progressive politics before, like cultivators being the same regardless of sex, army accepting without caring about your sex, your eternal companion can be the same gender as you in rare cases but it being impossible to have multiple true life companions (gay yay harem boo), isolated village in the beginning being patriarchical and demon's being the same, Empire favoring male heirs and some clans highly disliking the idea of having a female leader, etc.
But most of the time it was told to us that that is the way it is, not browbeaten that it if you dislike you are a bigot stop reading my book, so you don't really pay much attention to it, even if it is obvious there will be conflict like in the army one, it gets swept under the rug as something not important to the plot.

>transmigrates into a harem novel as an antagonist
>grooms the protagonist into a homo for you
Scumbag System is so dumb, and I love it.

>>21498336
none of these have anything to do with progressive politics.

just saw this

>>21498358
ok dude, whatever you say

>>21498369
what are you trying to do here? Are you trying to convince me that some false statement is actually true? Or did you make up own definition of progrresive politics?

>>21498270
>>21498229
Ironically, Assassin's Creed Valhalla subverts this trend (possibly accidentally) by making all the pagan vikings (and by extension the player, who is playing such) and remnant celtic druid types share 21st century neoliberal values at the same time as being utterly loathsome and almost totally unsympathetic murderous brigands; while at the same time the Christian Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Franks, and Gaels are near universally portrayed positively, even when they your specific enemies and set to die horribly, and despite their severe earnestness in their medieval cultural mores that is virtually alien even to the most devout Catholics of the present-day. The only exceptions to this rule are the Norse or Danes that are friendly with the English and sympathetic to their plights, or Christian nobles who are secretly pagan cultists conspiring to destroy the church from within and are invariably the villains.

It is an absolutely schizophrenic take on the Dark Ages that is simultaneously faithful to history and totally fucking batshit insane. It is Orwellian doublethink laid bare and open to ridicule, and I cannot tell whether it was done deliberately, as satire, or through the sheer absurdity of blind faith; and the distinction between the two is virtually meaningless at this point.

>>21498158
>Stephen Lawhead
how have I not heard about him? looks like some good shit.

>>21498227
No it's not you guys are just pussies

>>21498462
>You're a pussy because you dislike something in a book and don't want to read it anymore
Reading a book is not a competition or some challenge you step up for. It's entertainment, and what joy would you derive from doing something optional with no reward that you don't enjoy?

Are there fantasy novels that feature space travel yet still remain firmly fantasy at its core? Like maybe they brave the vacuum on dragon in air magic bubbles or some shit. None of that Bakker or Wolfe scifi bleed-ins. Closest I can think of is Tales of the Dying Earth where wizards travel across the galaxy in a flying mansion.

>>21498515
Chinese xinaxia novels tend to have it once they become strong enough, but it's usually a short part before they go to a new realm/planet.
If you are asking for a full on space combat featuring magic I can't help you. The closest I know is The Legendary Mechanic because it features space battles with both tech and magic, but nothing grand like dragon dogfights.

>>21498435
yeah hes pretty based

>>21498515
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpaceWhale

>>21498515
That seems like something you'd have to go back to the Golden Age for, or maybe even Radium age. Maybe the 60s due to drug usage.

>>21498289
To sail beyond the sunset has almost too much incest.

>>21495110
I'm glad she's alive, because I like hot evil women in fiction and it means she's could still theoretically be caught and dicked into submission like in my Japanese cartoons. Thank you Brandon for opening up this new frontier for my imagination.

Wish protagonists would actually fuck the hot evil woman more often.

>>21494880
Not that anon but just about anything Stover wrote is much better than the Bane books. Yoda Dark Rendezvous is also much better. They're definitely schlock but the Allston X-wing books are more enjoyable schlock than Bane's brand. Plagueis is better too, but suffers a bit from excessive focus on building continuity between a bunch of other stories. The first Bane book was just a retelling of a comic but with the goofy soul extracted and stupid Revan-wank added in. It makes an era 1000 years before the films nearly indistinguishable from the era of the prequels. Everything good in it was lifted from elsewhere.
>>21495078
Possibly. It's a long series by a ton of authors of wildly varying ability. Some real dogshit, a lot of schlock that's enjoyable if you like the setting enough, and one or two genuinely good books. how much did you enjoy Vector Prime? I'd say it was pretty representative of the average quality level. Even if you like Star Wars schlock I wouldn't bother with the series which follow it though, which completely squander the torch-passing promise in favor of recycled original trio adventures, recycled prequel era aesthetics and norms, and basically zero reckoning with the aftermath of apocalyptic galactic war. Either treat The Unifying Force as the end of Star Wars, or just skip right to the Legacy comics.

Paypiggng webnovels is insanely expensive

>>21498967
what

>>21496247
None of these compilations would be possible without the vision of the people who created the original films that the AI was taught with. After a while it will get old fast. AI is a meme.

>>21497861
>>21497869
>>21497873
I'm the anon you originally replied to; firstly good post, it's felt like I haven't seen a lot of people discuss the novels (and abercrombie's) flaws anywhere else online and it's a refreshing change of pace.
To respond to some of your arguments, I agree with your assessment of Leo and Broad but for the latter I really struggle to remember how his story concluded and don't have the book or a wiki readily available to check BUT throughout WoC i felt like his prescece as a familiar face among the burners whose been contorted from what we've seen him as was an acceptable use of the character. WoC imo was all about the decay of who you are in the face of group think and with Broad you're very aware of the rage lying underneath everything from the first two books and he stands as an actual character with a face and personality who represents the commoners rather than just having someone like him in one of the one off chapters.
My thoughts on the themes comes back to why I found the use of Orso very impressive throughout the book, he goes from someone with power who didn't want it to someone with power making change with it to being brought down to a level lesser than even what the commoners were while maintaining the clarity he acquired as King. He turns into an almost completely passive prescence within the story and the world except as a figure of hatred or reverence-like his father. His death being the only thing he had any say in (that he faced it with dignity that is) after everything else was robbed I thought was a fitting end to his character.
For Bayaz I agree that his actions seem very strange but with them in mind on top of the setup at the end of the series I find it slightly hard to pass judgement until we learn more about what his machinations could be, I admit this is another area my memory is hazy on but him allowing the Union to hit the state it does doesn't necessarily signal a lack of care on his part and could be simply a part of his ultimate keikaku. that's not an excuse for him being stupid in AoM but I do think it's relevant. i have similar feelings on the practicals being extremely loyal based off of Glokta's super selective process or whatever.
I'm clearly putting a lot of faith in Joe to deliver on some of the holes presented but with the exception of Leo's character-where I'm with you 100%-I think that it's a solid conclusion to things, just wish it was more conclusive like the first trilogy was.

>>21499068
It's a pretty straightforward post which requires no information the people being replied to wouldn't have, anon. Not sure what you're confused about.

>>21499099
None of those films would have been possible without the vision of true artists (painters, literary authors) who created the original works that the film creators were taught with.

>>21499105
I get where you're coming from with most of this, though I do stand by what I said. It's possible that I'd be on the same page as you in some aspects if it didn't feel so repetitive—this is a book where I think nearly every part could have benefited from more editing (the North storyline spent ages setting up a "twist" which I figure just about everyone predicted from a mile away, to the point that the big reveal was more "ok cool, finally" than satisfying). For what it's worth, I'm glad you got more enjoyment out of it than I did, and I hope Abercrombie lives up to your faith.

I agree you don't see much criticism of this book online. I think most Abercrombie criticism focuses on his first books (and overall style/focus/whatever) because that's where the people who fundamentally dislike his writing and shtick tend to bounce off. By the time you get to any author's ninth book in a setting the pool of people able to discuss it in detail is both smaller and self-selected to lean towards the positive. Many people will like such a book almost reflexively, provided there wasn't a large gap between releases or substantial change in style. So if you dislike it, the overwhelming majority of other people with the context to discuss in depth aren't going to agree. Most places online, most people aren't going to be especially eager to dive into that because they're not inured to being called tasteless faggot retards or similar, and live in fear of being considered wrong. There are some benefits to /sffg/, in that sense.

>>21497861
>Some PoVs were a waste of time. *** in particular ended up not amounting to much
That's like 80% of the entire series and one of Joe's favorite tropes. Complaining about something like that in book 9 I think you'd have to realize you've hit the point of disinterest where you're just making up endless criticisms out of the smallest molehills (if not thin air).

I appreciate the Abercrombie effortposting though.

>>21499066
Retard tax

>>21499234
Perhaps I put it poorly. Regardless of impact on the ending or what have you, generally I've felt that his PoV characters have had a purpose and allowed us to explore stuff the others didn't, with the exception of maybe Ferro. But the one I'm talking about here? I have a hard time thinking of any significant scene or theme of his which couldn't have been (or wasn't already) explored equally well in someone else's chapters with the occasional Little People interlude. I didn't find that to be the case in any of Joe's other books, except perhaps Best Served Cold where it bothered me less because of its standalone nature, and the nature of the stories it told. Or perhaps it was just less glaring because the characters themselves were more interesting, and the situations they found themselves in less repetitive. Either way it felt worse here.

It's possible that all of this is rationalization and I'm just tired of his writing and tropes in general, but I do think there's a meaningful difference to be found. I will admit it's been a long time since I read the first trilogy, and it's quite possible I'd have a lower opinion of it upon reread. The standalones remain his best work I think.

What am I in for lads? I found this and it's sequel in Waterstones for half price, signed by the author. It's apparently has gormeghast vibes, which I can get behind

how is The Vorrh trilogy?

>>21499341
Vorrhible

I'm looking for recommendations. I enjoyed the world building of GoT but I find long descriptions of fighting and war dull. Or is that too broad a prompt?

As an aside, is there a series that brings about the twee-ness of the Fable games?

>>21499230
>this is a book where I think nearly every part could have benefited from more editing (the North storyline spent ages setting up a "twist" which I figure just about everyone predicted from a mile away,
Very fair, for me personally with the North storyline I found Stour's resolution the most disappointing part of the series along with Leo. They both felt so intertwined in the first book that as they went on I expected their arcs to either mirror one another with Stour becoming some kind of dark reflection of whatever went on with Leo, or even (although I admit it was obviously far fetched and a wild assumption on my part) striking up some kind of romance between the two as they both had some kind of weird sexual energy be it Stour threatening to rape Rikke with horses or everything that happened between Leo and Savine.
I think the one thing that concerns me the most with the future of Abercrombie's writing is that he's running out of ideas for gimmicks. He did a lot of experimentation within the standalones--the chapter in the Heroes with the shifting perspective during the battle being the most often praised--but there's a scene in Red Country with Cosca leading the attack on the dragon people that had an energy I found very electrifying. you could feel echos of both scenes throughout the three books but nothing within the trilogy matched the skill of those two chapters and could felt very off to me at times. Curious as to whether or not he's going to stick to that style he's carved out or (if he ends up writing more standalones to bridge the gap between this and the next trilogy) he ends up attempting more experiments to keep the books feeling fresh compared ot someone like Sanderson who definitely has a style he likes and sticks to.

>>21494560
Literally me.

>>21494622
Was unique at least. I had never read a book about a sentient spider. Some of the concepts of biological technology were cool.

>>21499314
Never even heard of it until now. They're definitely trying to lean into the "If you like Gormenghast you'll like this!" thing with that cover, which actually makes me somewhat wary. That level of aping is rarely promising. But I guess that's not something an author has control over.

>>21499353
>twee-ness of the Fable games
Discworld and Hitchhiker's Guide, chiefly. Less 'bawdy Brit humour' like Fable, but still very very British.

>>21499352
but alan moore says its good and he hates everything

any good books with oyakodon?

>>21499341
I thought it was pretty cool, despite being recommended by someone I don't trust at all (Alan Moore)

>>21499489
Googled and it's some kind of Japanese chicken egg and rice soup? Doubt you'll find it in SF/F except maybe near-future SF by a Japanese author. Why this in particular?

>>21499508
nta, but oyakadon is Japanese slang for having sex with a mother and daughter at the same time.

>>21499508
>>21499565
oyako roughly means "parent and child"
don roughly means "rice bowl"
japanese humor being what it is they called a bowl of rice with chicken and egg "oyakodon" meaning "bowl of rice with parent and child"
japanese depravity being what it is they called having sex with a mother and child oyakodon

>>21499565
>>21499574
Oh, I guess I know a new word now. Well I wouldn't recommend them but in the Trysmoon books a mother and daughter are both in love with the protagonist. They don't have sex with him at the same time though, and the books are not very good. I'm sure there's some old sexual revolution-era pervert sf/f where it happens.

>>21499574
I've seen the same dish with a translated name of "family reunion" which is very good and funny

I see a lot of people praising Malazan. Anyone here try to read it and find it boring or unreadable for any reason?

>>21499620
the key to enjoying early Malazan is that you aren't supposed to have encyclopedic knowledge about everything the moment it's introduced

The people who find it boring or unreadable tend to get stuck on things like that

Don't worry if you don't understand things or can't keep track of characters, let it flow over you and rest assured these characters and places and events will show up many times over the whole story, and you'll piece together the whole picture quickly

>>21499675
>rest assured these characters and places and events will show up many times over the whole story, and you'll piece together the whole picture quickly
yeah except you need to read 10,000 pages for it
I for one am not willing to undergo reading the entire Wheel of Time series to fully enjoy the first book

Now that the dust has settled and all's said and done, what did everyone think of this thread?

>>21499620
Same. People tell me it starts to pay off after the first book, but that's longer than the entire Book of the New Sun. To much opportunity cost. Maybe if the prose see more engaging, but it's pretty standard fantasy schlock.

>>21499893

Easily the single worst thread zero-tripfag thread ever posted to 4chan, including /r9k/, /adv/, /soc/, and every previous /sffg/

>>21495098
>reading comprehension

>>21494712
>>21494751
Dilate.

>>21495617
No read Bakker. Don't post in this thread until you've finished the first book.

>>21499902
Can someone sell me on A Practical Guide to Evil? Is there any romance?

>>21499822
The idea that the series is completely unengaging until you’ve read the entire thing is a huge misconception. All that’s being said is that GotM throws a lot at you that you won’t fully grasp until later but the literal scene to scene plot is fairly straightforward and easy to follow for each book

>>21500041
How’d you like the series? How do you rank it against other series?

thoughts?

>>21500180
>that nescroscope
fuck I hate modern covers, man

>>21500199
>book's original cover has a beautiful illustration
>new printing has a shitty photoshop done by an intern
why the fuck does every publisher do this?

Any right wing science fiction?

>>21500222
The Bible

>>21500230
where's the fiction?

>>21500221
Publishers have massive amounts of statistics about what sort of covers sell which type of books at the moment. For some reason low-effort stockphoto covers are preferable for selling low-end reprints.

>>21500222
wtf cover those tantalizing ears, woman

>>21500180
The Necroscope books are pretty silly and the writing itself isn't amazing quality, but they're definitely a lot of fun. Especially if you like your vampires absolutely vile.
>>21499893
One of the better ones in recent memory. We've skipped some of the most tired arguments and shitposts, and there's been some decent book discussion. It even had some pretty in-depth effortposts, though they were ones I disagree with. There's still time for it to take a nosedive in the next 100 posts or so, however.

>>21500180
How the fuck is between two fires getting memed this hard? It was a 6

What're some good German fantasy books? Don't say the neverending story

>>21500369
Germans aren't known for their imagination

>>21500222
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weapon_Shops_of_Isher

SF is famously lefty but not these books. Also I'm amazed they were written in 1951 they don't seem that old when reading them

>>21498135
all her books are about her being a butthurt feminist

>>21500415
this sounds great

>>21500348
amazons "algorithm" has been recommending it to everyone

>>21500199
>>21500239
Someone on /tv/ recommended Necroscope. It would not be in my cart if I based my decision on that cover. Its a really bad.

>>21500222
Gene Wolfe, R. A. Lafferty (quite explicitly in his essays, and he wrote something like 4000 pages of essays), Jack Vance (Araminta station is incredibly funny in how right wing the whole thing is), Heinlein (he's trash, but right wing), Lovecraft (he's racist), John C. Wright.

>>21499822
No, that's not what I'm saying. I vaguely get that's the reputation of Malazan and Gardens of the Moon in particular, but it's not true at all

Each scene is incredibly easy to follow, understand, and summarize. It starts in media res on a cosmic scale, but your brain will fill in the gaps like with any other book

What Malazan does a little differently is that it's constantly hinting at greater depth without immediately revealing its hand to you. You'll see similarities between the names of two different things and think "huh, that can't be by accident", or there will be strange word used that nobody questions but makes no sense to you, or there will be a conversation that is meaningful in-universe but whose meaning you can't grasp, etc.

What usually happens in fantasy is that you'll be allowed to speculate and form assumptions for a few paragraphs or chapters and then it'll be spelled out for you. With Malazan, that same process is spread out across books

So when people say "you need to read a billion pages to get it", what they really mean to say is that the gaps in your knowledge are constantly being filled, and your understanding is being expanded, or even rewritten, as you go through every book

You'll read Garden of the Moon and immediately "get" the basic gist of what a T'Lan Imass is, even if you don't understand the weird name or some of the mechanics of their abilities. By book 3 you'll have a much, much better understanding of what a T'Lan Imass is, how the one in GotM greatly differs from the rest, the extreme importance of their name, how they relate to the Malazan empire, their immensely tragic history, the hints of an even greater history before them, and so on

That does *not* mean you need to read 3 books deep just to figure out what was going on with one character in book 1, but it does mean your understanding was incomplete, and filling in the blanks is a huge part of the joy of reading Malazan

>>21500543
>Lovecraft (he's racist)
What does that have to do with right wing?

>>21500553
I love you my man. Your autism is so easy to spot in every thread. Thank you for existing.

>>21500562
Who? Also you didn't answer

>>21500521
it's actually quite cool, high tech gun stores that are above the law because they defend themself if the government tries to stop them

>>21500584
If only this was a reality

>>21500415
>The Isher/Weapon Shops novels are very rare examples of Golden Age science fiction that explicitly discuss the right to keep and bear arms, specifically guns. Indeed, the motto of the Weapon Shops, repeated several times, is "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free". However, Van Vogt's guns have virtually magical properties, and can only be used in self-defense (or for suicide).

>>21500543
>Heinlein (he's trash, but right wing)
Heinlein was definitely neither right-wing nor left-wing, he was clinically autistic.

>>21500553
It's a good enough reason for a right winger to read him. I read Kipling mostly because of racism. Great choice, but I went for it because he was racist.
>>21500626
Could be, I'd be fine with removing him from a right wing list.
There was at some point a list of science fiction writers on Vietnam, if they supported finishing of the war or if they are for retreat. I could find the list, it has some good authors on it.

>write fanfic
>receive invite from webnovel
I mean, I did write 100k+ in a month having absolutely no life but fucking hell

>>21500643
kinda based ngl

>>21500643
You know what to do comrade.
I expect a series of pa pa pa involving monster girls.

>>21500646
It seemed like a scam, but it checks out. Like, holy shit. I almost gave up the dream after my Royal Road attempt went fucking nowhere (4 views after five months, hurray)

>>21500654
Give link to RR

>>21499951
Some insofar as there are characters in relationships but it romance is in no way in a focus.

>>21500662
eh, i'd rather not
you guys helped with the title though
if you know what it is or find it i will confirm

>>21500639
>There was at some point a list of science fiction writers on Vietnam, if they supported finishing of the war or if they are for retreat. I could find the list, it has some good authors on it.
The thing with published and popular writers (especially sci-fi and fantasy) is that they exist in their own bohemian microcosm that has it's own reasons for things, which has little to do with what the populace sees as usual markers.

>>21500672
Boy why the hell are you being coy, I just wanted to read. Scouring the archives without any information would make me hate your work even if I found it by some miracle.

>>21499620
>I see a lot of people praising Malazan. Anyone here try to read it and find it boring or unreadable for any reason?
I did, and then I bitched for three threads about /sffg/ memeing me into reading it.

>>21499902
>Same. People tell me it starts to pay off after the first book
They lie.

>>21500679
I'm probably never going to use it again. At best it will be a framework for me to go off of.
Children of Misguided Dreams
lol, it wasn't five months just three
I've lost track of time with all I've been writing to be honest

>>21500686
>Cecil
kek, I will read it later anon. Good luck on webnovel

>>21499620
>I see a lot of people praising Malazan.
they're stupid

>>21500693
Not my real name. I write under like three different ones.

>>21499620
>Anyone here try to read it and find it boring or unreadable for any reason?
Many people. It's incredibly long, but also horribly written and convoluted. I didn't bother finishing the first novel and I'm certainly not going to be reading thousands of pages just to reach some mythical point where it is supposedly good.

>Every book full of cuck shit, faggot shit and other forms of degeneracy
I can see why you disgusting fucking losers love this shit so much.

>>21500727
You can also see why many hate him so much.

>>21500727
as an uncultured fantasy lover, i have no idea who this is

Death to all Tuskies (not racist just don't like em)

>>21494560
>...and to obliterate the overt expression of aggressive and sequel impulses towards others
Fuck, dude. I'm supposed to be reading into the text, not the other way around

>>21494509
I just finished the Culture series, where do I seek more cool and exotic alien worldbuilding/techwank?

so, as someone who may be in need of commissioned artwork soon, what who would you guys recommend?

>>21500586
it can be

>>21500767
Pay like $10 for AI generation

>>21500618
Yeah if I remember correctly the guns like travel in another dimension to get to your hand and aimed at the bad guy and cops can't even touch them

>>21500767
>>21500772
this

>>21500767
Definitely AI.

>>21500774
>>21500781
fuck off shill.
>charging for others work
if it was free then cool. but jews gonna jew

>>21500774
quite a lot of actual covers badly relate to the book anyway, especially in the past. Artists obviously don't read the books

>>21500795
you need to pay to use their computer, but quite soon it will be able to done by the average person I suppose

>>21500767
Adrian Smith for sure.

>>21500795
What? Access to these AI's costs a couple of bucks purely for the processing time, compared to most artists who will give you a significantly inferior product for tens of times the price.

>>21498515
A Voyage to Arcturus

>>21500767
Big boobs

>>21500649
every webnovel type site is filled with those

>>21500766
Three body problem trilogy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ye02qGiKKY&t=4s&ab_channel=Quinn%27sIdeas

Honestly just go ahead and read every book that this channel touches on.

I want to read a novel with a big fat blonde woman who gets fucked in her ass?

>>21500222
I read A Deepness in the Sky a while back and it felt like cold-war propaganda sometimes.

>>21500799
I've read a few artbooks and the artists absolutely did read the books when they had the chance, or at least they were given material by the publisher to work from and did the best they could.
Except that faggot that did those ugly yellow shits for the SF Masterworks covers.

>>21500799
>>21501228
Honestly, an Artist doesn't have to know the plot to make a decent, attention getting cover. The artist responsible for pic related had almost no idea what the plot was and it's one of the most iconic posters ever. Granted it's not a book, but hell, I'd read it if it was.

https://i.4cdn.org/wsg/1673248885997881.webm

>>21495617
I liked the first two books.The third one was terrible and has entire chapters were nothing happens and that can be skipped without affecting the story.Half of the book is just people sitting in conferences waiting for something to happen.It then focuses on side character with even less interesting plots and also makes some of the main characters complete retards.It also starts introducing stupid shit like the Parsh having four genders and refering to themself as malen and femalen.Later books get even worse with trans characters and one main character turning Bi despite never showing interest in their own gender before.Which feels like Sanderson just did because he had to tick another diversity checkbox.
>>21496092
So modern fantasy needs to have identity politics and trans people in every book?

>>21501302
>So modern fantasy needs to have identity politics and trans people in every book?
Only the shit ones.

>>21500795
Stable diffusion is free if you have a good enough PC to run it and aren't too dumb to set it up. You're not paying for the work, you're paying for access to their expensive hardware.

>>21500144
It’s one of my favorites, it casts an extremely large net which is a nice change of pace from a lot of other contemporary fantasy that create the illusion of being large. The prose aren’t mind blowing (not Sanderson tier though) but Erikson makes up for it with Kharkanas

Any good books about a band of mercenaries?

>>21501501
Traitor Son

>>21501501
Good ones? No, but Black Company is a bad one about a band of mercs.

>>21500221
Insane digital competition has driven prices low.

>>21500041
>The idea that the series is completely unengaging until you’ve read the entire thing is a huge misconception
You're right - in fact, even after you've read the entire thing, it's STILL unengaging.

>>21501501
Kings of the wyld

>Supposely a book about assassins
>Only two assassinations happened
>One was not described and the other was ruched
Can't say I didn't like, but can't avoid feeling disappointed. Was expecting more assassinations mixed with fantasy, not the life of a spy.

Is it finally over? Is this the end of /sffg/?

>>21502119
Better-than-average thread this time

Can anyone recommend some Zelaznyesque books? I really liked the mix of the grand and poetic with dad humor

>>21499951
it starts as a typical YA novel , turns into strategy/logistics wankfest , then goes into Moorcock high-fantasy slock and it ends in meta-narrative battles against the main antagonists.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. The bad guys are top-tier 11/10 material.

>>21502220
>>21502220
>>21502220
new thread

>>21502184
Roadmarks is only other book I read by him.

R A Lafferty is king

>>21502271
You really ought to read This Immortal. Just really good shit.

Where should I start with Lafferty?

>>21502314
Past Master, or his short story collection Nine-hundred grandmothers. If you like insane conspiracy skitzo shit read Fourth Mansion.