/lit/ - Literature

Dunsany is king.

Almost finished reading Misplaced Legion, but unless the ending really grips me I doubt I'll continue the series.

Conan is probably THE strongest character in all fantasy…

I make fun of "your reviews are shit" guy for only two days and everybody is losing their minds

>>21804548
All hail Dunsany. Been reading his story "The King of Elfland's Daughter" and feel inspired.

>>21804635
He gets beat and imprisoned all the time anon

>>21804674
You're seething and insinutating that i'm the bakker spammer (no, i think he's a shitty author). You are a seething reviewfag. go back to goodreads, your reviews are shit, fuck off

>>21804699
case in point

So what's Aragon's tax plan?

>>21804702
>>21804674
Are you the author of this shitty litrpg or are you a revewier infatuated with it?
In either case kill yourself

>>21804705
Less tax for friends, more for enemy. Humans thrive, orcs die.

I seem to recall that he also launched conquests against Rhûn and other peoples. Leave it to Tolkien to create a hero-king who acts with historic rationale.

>>21804687
And he always defies the odds! The final battle after he’s caught by the sorcerer and the sorcerer screeches as Conan hunts him down? Based.

>>21804712
There no review of DCC here or in the archives.
Are you confusing it with something else?

Any good books with stoic protagonists? I'm tired of cocky and arrogant mcs

Bros, I feel like doing my LitRPG chart today. Which software would be the best? I tentatively plan on Gimp because due to doing a few memes in the past I'm somewhat famiiliar with layering, and I want to have a raw project to be able to update and improve the chart in the future.

I welcome recommendations for the background image, font and how to organize it in a simple, aethistical way.
Also, I want to make a special marker for stories that posses harem/erotica elements, but not sure which should I use. A red dot is simple, but feels somewhat too simple. A rose is tacky. Red borders on the cover arts feel like too much.

>>21804784
>Also, I want to make a special marker for stories that posses harem/erotica elements,
Put Tenchi's head on it.

>>21804796
Must be universally understood, though. Maybe just a small 'NSFW' word on the cover art will be enough...Will add a legend anyway.

>>21804784
Tentacles

>>21804674
>everybody
He's just revved up his spam and retards keep responding to it and giving it attention.

imagine reading something titled dungeon crawler carl

>>21804720
>>/lit/thread/S20835357#p20835422

>>21804977
cool , thanks!

>>21804833
"Dungeon crawling" as a distinct concept of any prominence is incestuously "inspired" garbage, in tabletop, video games and wordy-booky alike.

Spoiled brat characters brought low is a favorite of mine. It's fundamentally optimistic to see such a clear character change that is possible after a devastating event. Jezal of First Law comes to mind.

>>21805082
>tfw jezal is the only character to actually change and is rewarded with a frigid dyke wife

/SFFG/ Recommendations:

Read Reverend Insanity, Lord of The Mysteries, Neuromancer, Hyperion, The Prince of Nothing

Also read The Wandering Inn, Between Two Fires, Mother of Learning, Cradle, I Shall Seal the Heavens, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Poppy War.

>>21805082
>All I did was focus on my insignificant anxieties
I've said it before and I'll say it again. "Anxiety" is a fucking scam. Doesn't even exist in the way people talk about it. Literally just do shit until you're not afraid of it anymore like a normal human being. I'm sick of people encouraging lethargic behavior by validating people's confrontation adverse personalities. Stop dragging everybody else down into the pit of decision making paralysis. Yes, I'm angry that I trusted people about this shit when I was younger and wasted so much time doing nothing. I will now read this manga.

>>21804674
>>21804702
This retard spamming Dungeon Crawler everyday is the same as the Bakkerspammer, Reverend Insanity or Ritualposter, but fags here will pretend its not and think its okay

>>21804800
I mean, if the cover art has a scantily clad woman (and little else) there's like an 80% chance it's erotica.

Post recs that have giant snail mounts.

>>21805262
And I want a giantess waifu getting into Gulliver travels situations, but you don't see me begging

>>21805161
that's cause I don't post it every day.

>>21805029
it's game show , of course it has a stupid name

>>21805301
Hell yeah brother.

>>21805142
>>21805147
I'm also looking for an ending where it all turns out to be a lie. Not in the kind of The Unusual Suspects, nor Alice in Borderland, but the kind where the narrator unapologetically made the entire story up (just to mess with heroes or straight up for a malicious plan, either works). No happy ending. No ending that truly solves anything. To go beyond the unreliable narrator trope.

I just finished the farseer trilogy, and really enjoyed it, and was curious on /sffg/'s opinion on Robin Hob's other series.
Are they worth reading too?

Will you read AI-written novels when the time comes?

>>21805555
No

>>21805545
You want a story that follows how you feel about your own life.

>>21804518
>souless AI pic again

the state of this general

>>21805596
Or, instead of dabbling in projection, I might be interested in what you can do with a narrator in a fantasy story. No, can't possibly be that.

Amazon just recommended that I read a book called Harmion. Anyone have an opinion on it?

I finished Lies of Locke Lamora a few days ago, what did I think of it?

>>21805651
Why dont you use google instead of asking here?

>>21805545
I recommend every work of fiction in the world.

>>21805545
>AiB in my manga backlog
Maybe I'll manage to forget this by the time I actually read it.

>>21804518
did anyone read the new elric book the citadel of forgotten myths?

also, on another note, kind of related tho: what other x of y books are there? i mean jirel of joiry, "something" of gor... et cetera.

>>21804518
apparently done by this dude, cannot say if he used ai

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/joseph-feely
https://www.artstation.com/joefly
https://pixels.com/profiles/joseph-feely

>>21804518
>reading the lies of Locke Lamora
Fuck I think Im dying of cringe

>>21805743
y (oo-uh-ee)?

>>21805743
What is wrong with it?

>>21805746
?
>>21805748
Quippy like an anime for 12 year olds, characters doing dumb shit for no reason, unlikable characters in general, retarded slapstick comedy scenes. It would have been way better if it was more serious because world building and plot are pretty good desu senpai

>>21805555
Yes

>>21805771
"why" (y) the book that made you cringe. already read the reply thanks

>>21805712
Do you mean specifically "Character-name of Place" types or any sort of "X of Y" title? Because "X of Y" is a VERY standard title format for fantasy.

>>21804796
>>21804825
Okay bros, I have the first beta version of the chart. I still have to add NSFW markers, rationale for the tier, and the background will probably change, but in its raw form this is how it looks.

Feedback appreciated.

ps: had to add titles to some images on my own because some authors are lazy as fuck. One didn't even use a nickname. Like, I can't even write down your nick because you dont have one, how do you want to show your story to people? Dumb.

>>21806045
>Defiance of the Fall that high
>Anything by Benjamin Medrano even being worth mentioning
>Street Cultivation even being on here in the first place

>>21806045
>NSFW marker
Uhh what... is your boss make sure you're not reading books with sex in them?

>>21806045
>all these titles with female protags
Grim.

>>21806052
DotF was hard to judge, but in the end I decided it's better than Primal Hunter and qualitively better than the Decent tier. Not an easy decision, though.

Benjamin Madrano write sutterly generic, forgettable stories full of his lesbian fetishism. But it's not offensive, so I put him in the average tier.

Street Cultivation is a tough one, because calling it LitRPG is a big stretch, but in the end the focus on portfolios and numbers made me include it. I'll possibly remove it from the chart in its future versions.

Also, the chart got cut off because paint fucked me over. This is the proper version

God Roy Dotrice sounds like he's slobbering all over himself when he voices Varys. Who the hell told him that was a good idea to use a voice like that?

>>21806045
Now remove all women authors, all lgbt authors, all novels with female protagonists, all harem and romance novels

>>21804518
After picture related, what are some fantasy settings with interesting and novel tales on elemental magic, and what do they do with it? Especially if they include more than just the standard four elements.

>>21806045
ELLC is kino

>>21806076
aww , I like Delve

What happened with Skill Trainer? I dropped cause it was too low fantasy for my tastes.

>>21806076
Feels like you just read a bunch of erotica stuff that was tangently LitRPG-related and somehow stumbled onto actual LitRPGs here and there. Not saying erotica can't be good, I'm just saying there's a high ratio of it in this list which seems suspect. Surprised Marvin Knight's so low, on that note, I haven't read that series, but I quite enjoyed his Paladin series. They're dumb fun, but they're competently written dumb fun. They get a bit too 'wacky' sometimes, but I enjoy the silliness.
Honestly this list is just telling me you've sort of moved through quite a different set of books than I have, I guess because you mostly just followed Amazon recommendations or something, so a lot of these aren't even particularly notable. You don't even have one of other biggest ones, He Who Fights With Monsters, on there (which, I mean, I'd put above DotF, but only just).

>>21806091
>What happened with Skill Trainer? I dropped cause it was too low fantasy for my tastes.
I read it up to 3/4 because it kinda petered out. When I wanted to finish after the story concluded the comments and reviews told me the author fucked everything up and everyone hated the ending.

I will add rationale for the tiers in the later iterations, Do Not Read tier encompasses not only bad stories, but those that waste reader's time, betray initial focus or straight up become garbage later on.

>>21806091
Delve has been barely readable ever since the Barrier arc. The author cynicaly milks the readers by posting shit filler every week and hiding behind his stupid autistic numbers that are most of the time incorrect anyway. Life's too short to read low quality fics, anon.

>>21806078
Unironically considering making an Incel edition of the chart. Only male protagonists and authors, no romance or harems.

>>21806073
I don't mind NSFW elements, but some of these have big focus on sex and harem elements, better for people to know what they are getting into.

>>21806111
Sounds like Delve is comparable to Infinite Realm, except Infinite Realm has characters that're interesting and an author absurdly autistically devoted to making sure his system works out.

>>21806111
>I don't mind NSFW elements, but some of these have big focus on sex and harem elements, better for people to know what they are getting into.
Just add subgenre info? "NSFW" is about images or videos that someone glancing at your monitor could get you in trouble.

>>21806098
>Feels like you just read a bunch of erotica stuff that was tangently LitRPG-related and somehow stumbled onto actual LitRPGs here and there.

Reverse, started with LitRPGs and stumbled into erotica/harem later on. I should have probably done harem/erotica chart first, but some of these are decent enough to include, especially Erogamer that's fascinating if you are into deep stuff.

>Surprised Marvin Knight's so low, on that note, I haven't read that series, but I quite enjoyed his Paladin series
Zeal of mind and flesh was dumb and wasted my time, it was a bad story, and even worse erotica/harem. It was all over the place. I can forgive a lot, but wasting my time I won't. Dunno about his other books.

>Honestly this list is just telling me you've sort of moved through quite a different set of books than I have, I guess because you mostly just followed Amazon recommendations or something, so a lot of these aren't even particularly notable.
I'm mostly a RoyalRoad reader, so a lot of those I read before they were self-published on Amazon. I'm only now getting into othber published stuff like CivCEO, Unbound, The Great Game, etc.

>You don't even have one of other biggest ones, He Who Fights With Monsters
I'm one of the people that had bounced off HWFWM hard, but considered putting it in 'Do Not Read' category too harsh. I will try to read it again at some point and decide on its position after 2-3 books.

Can you faggots stop being so gay and actually read good non retarded stuff? The only chad fantasy you all know is Dying Earth. Read R A Lafferty. Read David Gemmell. Clark Ashton Smith.
So much chinkshit/women low IQ shit. It's embarrassing honestly.

>>21806144
I liked reading Cugel back in the day but it's been a few decades , anon. Did you just discover it or something?

>>21806130
That's the plan, anon. But I need to think about a proper marker. Probably a red dot with an explanation at the start concerning what it means.

>>21806117
Infinity Realms author cares about his System more than Delve's author, but isn't retarded enough to try making it perfect. Numbers go up and there are hard numbers, but the author isn't dumb enough to try calculate hit points and what not. Delve's author thinks he can just make an entire comprehensive and flawless system from scratch. Suprisingly, he has utterly failed.

>>21806045
Here is a better version

>>21806167
>so mad , he downloaded and edited the image

what's wrong with you?

>>21806144
What's R A Lafferty and David Gemmell best work? I'll read them.

>>21805712
Huh, surprised Moorcock's still alive.

>>21806174
Literally took less than 2 minutes to edit the image

>>21806076
Remove all the smut and put it on a different chart. It's all trash anyway.

>>21806144
Because anime and shitty vidya are a mind virus. the exposure that zoomers have had to them have given them brain damage and made it so they unironically tolerate shit like litrpgs and chinkshit

>>21806174
Are you seriously pretending that took meaningful effort?

>>21806186
>>21806167
BASED

>>21806167
thread saved

>>21806186
so mad , lol

>>21806210
Thanks for the suggestion! Added to the tier list!

jesus fucking christ, trying to work Gimp drives me mad. How the fuck do I force the the working area to encompass all of the image, not just the intial area? Literally impossible to figure out.

>I swear , I'm not spamming. It's those litRPG guys spamming

>>21806225
>Delete this person insulting the books I read jannies
>Its off topic for the talk-about-books-we-read thread
Its not spam since I'm just replying to litrpg loser's upset replies kek

>>21806076
wtf are Salvos, Large Chests, and Delve doing in Do Not Read?! Also most of that smut isn't even litrpg.

>>21806045
>>21806076
I'll add it to the mega whenever you want and update it as you go along. Just let me know when you want it to be added.

>>21806252
This is beta version, I'm working on the background, nsfw markers and will add text eplanation for tiers later. Dunno if if'll be done today, most likely tomorrow.

>>21806238
>Also most of that smut isn't even litrpg
All of the smut you see here is LitRPG. Which do you think aren't?

>>21806272
Whenever. Today, tomorrow, next week, month, year. Take as long as you want and update it as many times as you feel like. I can just upload the new version and delete the old.

Version 0.6, added NSFW markers (were a bitch to add, holy shit GIMP obfuscates its options so hard).

Version 0.6, added NSFW markers (were a bitch to add, holy shit GIMP obfuscates its options so hard).

Repost, forgot to add the image

Anyone read any hard scifi that has a focus on IT/networking concepts? Eg deep focus on future internet or communications using today's frameworks and concepts.

>>21806300
"Speculative nonfiction", for lack a better term known to me, seems like a rather niche subject. Maybe it's even somehow an underserved market.

>>21806300
True Names by Vernor Vinge

>>21806285
> Which do you think aren't?
Succubus, anything by Sentar, Arand / Randi

Opinions on this background? Something with texture feels better, but I can't quite get it right. Would try some fantasy picture in the abckground but do not know how to make a slow transition so that it could the entire length.

>>21806326
>Succubus, anything by Sentar, Arand / Randi
Succubus is a straight up WoW copy, with skills and levels. Its litrpg side it's uninspired and shallow, but absolutely belongs to the genre, more than many others.

Some of Randi and Sentar books are litrpgs. System Overclocked, Remnant, Dungeon Diving, Monster's Mercy etc. all use Skills and Character numbers in meaningful way.

>>21806326
agreed
Blue Core and ELLC are true litrpg that happens to have sexual content
Sentar and Arand/Darren are low effort smut authors that happen to add litrpg elements to lure in readers. erotica should have a different chart

>>21806346
>Sentar and Arand/Darren are low effort smut authors that happen to add litrpg elements to lure in readers. erotica should have a different chart
I...don't disagree, but stories that use LitRPG as a shallow lure already land down in average quality tier to reflect that. I'm considering doing the erotica/harem chart now that I gained some experience in working in Gimp, but not sure when I'll do that.

>>21806327
>>21806298
>>21806076
You do know that you could have found covers for a lot of those novel from Royal Road? Many of them have been "professionally publish" (Podium or Aethon books) and have proper covers. That Cathfach bitch has covers.

>>21806413
Believe me, I checked. 'A Lonely Dungeon' has a new cover only for audible, the amazon version is the one you see. If there are proper covers, I will check it later, but I'm pretty sure I catched them all.
Version 0.6.4 btw

>>21806464
What kind of version control is that?

>Dungeon Crawler Carl
>Ascended Tier
>Wandering Inn
>Ascended ttier

what a fucking joke

>>21806464
Why is the text italicized and underlined?

>>21806327
it's not great with the highly repeating patterns of the wood grain

>>21806464
this is better but has lots of artifacts

>>21806464
> Gravesong
Only sane way to read that is to spend a few hours searching for a pirate link.

>>21806465
It pleases my autism. I'm satisfied with my progress so far, I think the next version will be v1.0, maybe AI upscaller will allow me to stretch the image.

>>21806484
>Only sane way to read that is to spend a few hours searching for a pirate link.
I'm considering adding notes for certain stories, Gravesong definitely should be acquired from Libgen or Zlibrary. The same with Erogamer, although not reading it on Questionable Questing forum takes away from the experience, as the story was written as a 'Quest' with reader interactions.

Look out for my new LitRPG titled Fantasy Hero Hank

>>21806514
Also the followup Supernatural Detective Darrell is already in the works

>>21806045
I remember snake report wasn't that bad. Also, why Gravesong? Isn't that just a spin-off?

>>21806532
>I remember snake report wasn't that bad. Also, why Gravesong? Isn't that just a spin-off?
A spin-off that can be considered its own thing, good way for people who don't want to tackle the giant TWI to get a taste of the writing. Snake Report was good at the start, but as it progressed it became more and more unhinged schizo ramblings that weren't enjoyable to read. The author completely dropped the ball, the same about his other story Gilded Hero.

>>21806464
After looking at all those covers and reading a few of the synopsis, that one anon writing his little fantasy story with the black haired girl is starting to look good.

>>21804518
Tiamat's Wrath, The Expanse #8 - James S.A. Corey (2019)

A few years have passed since the previous book. There's a lot that happens very quickly. I wonder how much that was for dramatic effect and commentary versus the need to advance the plot sufficiently to set up for the final book. Either way it still worked out well enough. There's a considerable amount of speculation and some empirical testing about those the entities which wiped others out, but that's not what I'd prefer the focus to be about. The significance of The Expanse short fiction story which I liked the least, Strange Dogs, is explained here. I assume its full meaning will be detailed in the final book, rather than being mostly for an event which may be more impactful for those who haven't read it. More and more this reminds me of a memorable line near the ending of Dan Simmon's novel, The Fall of Hyperion, involving a statement from an unknown existence. That's probably wrong, but it amuses me to think of it that way. There's also a travelling aid that reminded me of similar from Endymion and I wondered if it'd function the same way.

Naomi has the most chapters again for a second time. They're better than when she was a primary viewpoint in Nemesis Game. Most of them are passive, as she wants a diplomatic solution, though are are also some interesting developments later on. Elvi from Cibola Burn returns, and she's considerably improved, and goes on neat science adventures. Teresa seems to be mostly to provide an insider perspective on the enemy. Maybe she'll a serve greater purpose in the final book, because I wasn't impressed by her role here. James is relegated to the prologue, interlude, and epilogue. This continuing trend of lesser importance doesn't bode well him in the final. Alex and Bobbie believe that violent resistance is preferable to diplomatic and influence operations. None of them stood out to me, but they were overall all enjoyable enough. There were a few times where I felt the characters were doing stuff solely for plot reasons.

Only the final book remains for me to read. Considering how much the plot was advanced here, how much was settled, and generally how much change occurred, it's not that clear to me what exactly the final book will entail. Obviously it's about the ultimate antagonists, though I don't know how it's all going to be resolved. Endings are difficult to successfully pull off, and I've seen, without being spoiled, that that were various disappointments in several ways. Fortunately for me, all those concerns haven't affected my personal enjoyment. All in all, this has gone better than expected. My previously stated worries have mostly turned out to be misplaced. Even though I didn't get what I most wanted from this series, what I've gotten instead has been entirely enjoyable anyway, so I don't see any reason to complain. Even if the last book is the worst it won't affect my overall enjoyment much.

Rating: 4/5

>>21806515
needs more Azarinth and ELLC

>>21806189
It's pretty sad, and their excuses on why they don't read actual books is worse, for some reason they believe that every book published since 1900 is "woke propaganda", absolutely mind staggering.

>>21804518
What are some fantasy or science fiction settings that handle shapeshifters well, in both powers and limits?

>>21806176
>He doesn't know who Gemmell, one of The most famous heroic fantasy writers, is.
Do zoomers really...?

>>21806599
your """reviews""" are SHIT
FUCK OFF

LITRPG? pretty cool
Im waiting for LITMOBA so we can have league zoomers take it over with MOBA KINO LITERATURE

This is the future, boomers forever btfo

>>21806617
Was in the earlier Versions.

>>21806289
I'm done, Version 1.0 is a go. I'll update it as I read more stories, possibly add some text. You can add it to the mega now.

>>21806679
why do u read so much coomer harem sex shit?
yikes

any casual sex scene = insta skip

>>21806683
it's a low quality list from a low quality reader.

>>21806679
>The Mayor of Noobtown
With titles like this one can only expect the best

>>21806683
>why do u read so much coomer harem sex shit?
>yikes
I consider it a better alternative to porn, also I like my titillating with some story. For instance Blue Core is 90% autismo kingdom-building and rampant abuse of magic to dunk on enemies, with 10% being interesting sex scenes. Every story with a red star has significant amount of sexual content or focus on it, as you can notice the higher you go in tiers the less of it, with the exemption of Erogamer that's no joke incredibly well-written, too bad it's written in format that will make most people hesitant to read it.

@@21806679
>Blue Core
>no Paranoid Mage
List really does specialize toward sex-shit and I'm not giving it a You.

>fantasy mechs
I already know about Iron Dragon's Daughter, is there anything else with this basis? I don't want to just google it and wind up swamped with lists of self-published or, worse, YA trash that might have come out recently.

>>21806690
Even by the standards of the genre it's shit.

>West's cringeworthy mishaps

Seriously, I feel like skipping every chapter with him and the Northmen.

>>21806679
Wait, all of it is stuff you've read? That's simultaneously impressive and sad.

Which of these you'd recommend for someone looking for smut? Erogamer?

>>21806679
It's been added.

>>21806704
Paranoid Mage isn't litrpg. It is closer to urban fantasy than anything else. Also tbf Blue Core can be read without the sex. The "blue" chapters can be skipped.

>>21806705
Yeah, there's at least a few that have been posted in this thread. Even excluding Japanese stuff there's a good bit.

>>21806704
>>Blue Core
>>no Paranoid Mage
>List really does specialize toward sex-shit and I'm not giving it a You.
Assuming you are not trolling...Paranoid Mage isn't LitRPG. Can be classified as Progression Fantasy, but that's not the focus of this list. Also, it gets kinda bad later on. I assume you know Blue Core and Paranoid Mage were written by the same author.

>>21806715
>Wait, all of it is stuff you've read? That's simultaneously impressive and sad.
>Which of these you'd recommend for someone looking for smut? Erogamer?
I've read way more of the genre than this, but many of the stories were too casual, bad or in a state that I wouldn't want to consider for people unfamiliar with the genre.

As for smut, Erogamer is the BEST erotica work you will find, but it's as close to high literature as you will come on the internet, unless you are at least somewhat into current philosophy, rationality concepts and enjoy a lot of discussion about sexuality, you might find it tedious. Sexuality is the focus, but it's not porn.

Smut recommendation depend on what you need, if you want LitRPG erotica then Blue Core and Inferna (the entire Prism Academy series) might be a decent read, but if someone's looking for a decent erotica I'd look outside LitRPG genre. Fostering Faust, Saving Supervillains, Ex-Superheroes, Fimbulwinter (Daniel Black series) etc. would be a better choice. I'll probably do a erotica/harem chart at some point.

>>21806705
Universe on Fire by Ivan Kal. Yes, it's self-published.

>>21806720
>>21806757
I concede and retract my statement.

Any well-written series with the same feel?

>>21806771

>>21806664
>keeping in Sentar, Tamer, Burke
anon...

please do a separate Fantasy ero/smut chart
with Kushiel and Good Intentions at the top

>>21806176
For David Gemmell you should start with "Legend"

>>21806771
will wight's garbage

>>21806705
Servants of War

>>21806840
I liked Stormrider, it has 18th Century style line infantry.

>>21806771
Cradle

>>21806658
gamelit predates litrpg

>>21806679
A lot of the books on that chart were shit, or the series started good, then turned to shit.
Also you should only suggest books that have been "published" at least then, you might get your book proofread, instead of the word vomit most webnovels are.

The Wandering Inn is shit, and you putting it so high shows what your standard and tastes really are
>it gets good in volume 4 bro
Just because the author puts out shit every week doesn't mean it's good.

>>21806905
no , TWI and DCC are legit good

>>21806790
Large Chest was in the earlier versions.
I only read Azarinth recently after it was published, and it will be added to V5 of the chart, along with the other stuff I read recently that passed the test.

>>21806922
Look fuckwad. I'm onlt commenting on what I read (did you see me say the entire list is shit?).
I read them both, they are shit. dcc started okay, but the author became a crowd pleaser, and the story started to go it's own way. I had book three for years and can't start reading it after book's two ending. Wandering Inn had the potential to be good, but the author shit the bed and awarded shit characters for their shit decisions.

>>21806905
I'm not taking taste advice from a person rating Zeal of Mind and Flesh as a good book, it's was utter shite.
TWI utterly mogs 95% of this chart and if you don't get why you wouldn't recognize good writting even if it kicked you right in the ass. TWI is a good story right from the start, but becomes great as it goes on. Volume 4 is when it starts ascending and leaves others in the dust.
One TWI chapter written casually in the span of two days eats and spits out overwhelming majority of online writers, there is next to none competition. Pirateaba is a freak of nature.

>>21806941
calm down

>>21806941
Hard disagree , they are top tier.

>>21806905
>DotF as OK

You guys have recommendations on what translations are the best for jules verne novels?

>>21806941
MONGO IS APPALLED.
THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN ABOUT SIX POLLS, ANON.

>>21806948
Why yes, pacifist Erin is the best. Goobos good boys, they hurt nobody, chess the great equalizer. Those goobos should have raped her ass, I think a gang rape would have changed her character for the better. Use that berry juice as lube and buggered her ass.
Zeal was trash yes, but it knows it's trash, its not meant to be taken seriously. It was a fun read, TWI takes itself too serious. If you are a addict and just like it because the author gives you your dopamine hit every week, just say so.
You are just like the chinknovels fans who read machine translated shit. You willing read shit because you get it free and you get it regularly.

>>21806970
>Why yes, pacifist Erin is the best. Goobos good boys, they hurt nobody, chess the great equalizer. Those goobos should have raped her ass, I think a gang rape would have changed her character for the better. Use that berry juice as lube and buggered her ass.
Listen you disturbed individual, I hated Erin being all bleeding-heart idealist. Goblins deserve being genocided and every argumeny can be refuted with 'Goblin Kings lmao.' Chess stuff is eye-roll worthy.

Still, taking all of that into account, The Wandering Inn crushes every other story. No competition. Second best stories can't even come close to this level of character writing, story-telling and pure understaning of what makes a good story. Every statement to the contrary is a proof of deep mental retardation that requires clinical intervention.

Anybody else fed up of these "academies" autism that these Write to Market authors are putting out these days? The genre has taken a step backwards writing the laziest shit to write about, school.

so, is there an audiobook equivalent to library genesis?
Somewhere to get audiobooks without having to do torrents

>>21807027
>so, is there an audiobook equivalent to library genesis?
>Somewhere to get audiobooks without having to do torrents
There is, but I don't remember its name. I got some audiobooks from there to check how they work, but I'm not an audiobook listener so I didn't care.

>>21807019
That has been going on for decades now. Are there any new particularly egregious trends that have started up recently?

>>21807033
well, I've recently been diagnosed with degenerative eye inflamation, so I better start hoarding them.
lmk if you can ever source them again

>>21806957
If I can get through this sealed off dimension book, it might be turned to shit. The author trying to stretch the story has hampered it's quality. It was okay, but the last few books have been going down hill, and that sealed off shit made me drop the book until I can stomach that shit. Same thing with Fights with monsters, when he went back to earth the series turned shit, and the protag turned into some emo fagget. Didn't help the author likes to end shit on cliffhangers.

>>21807027
Mobilism, #ebooks on irchighway on IRC, the-eye, fora.snahp.eu
Probably tons of better places but I don't listen to them.

>>21807051
yeah but i dont wanna listen to a robot if I can help it.
i get enough of that from uni these days

thanks

>>21807048
Can't even remember what book I stopped reading DotF on (4 or 5, might've been?), but it just was becoming clear to me that there really wasn't gonna be much actually interesting happening. Like, Primal Hunter, to compare it to something, has its faults, but it is very aware of the sort of person Jake is, and also does a lot to give you a lot of varying perspectives of other characters. DotF, even if it does have other POVs, rarely feels like they matter as much, and for the most part you're stuck with Zac, who's just... Really boring. HWFWM I liked at first because, despite everything, Jason is at least a coherently written character. My gripes with him come down to "his flaws never meaningfully affect him in a negative way", whereas Zac doesn't even feel like he has flaws, he barely has anything. And to compare to Jake from PH, again, Jake is clearly a weirdo who does weird shit because he's finding he thrives in this environment, and you get regular points of contrast with normal humans and other people who've also excelled in different ways.

>>21806991
>Every statement to the contrary is a proof of deep mental retardation that requires clinical intervention.
>Imagine being so mental attached to a work of badly written fiction that you build your identity around it, and can't function if someone calls out your obsession as shit
I guess you can't take it that you can't pull the "you didn't read it/ don't know what you are talking about" card on me, huh anon? I read the shit, so I have ammo to send at you bad faith shillers way.

An example of the power of movies on book sales.
The Girl with All the Gifts has 215k ratings. Its sequel only has 10% of that and the third book only has 50% of the third. The first book of his next series only has 66% of that third book. His upcoming series will probably only have a fraction of the third book of that second series. It must be tough to have a break and only ever be downhill from then on.

>>21807119
As long as you don't start writing for movies, you can get another movie deal out of it.

>>21807119
What's the 3rd book? I don't see it.
Not that I've read them but it looks like the first book is self contained and the second is a prequel so this explains the drop off.

>>21806771
unironically Wheel of Time

>>21807191
There isn't one. I was inattentive.

>>21807119
books don't sell

>male mc
>time traveling
>interesting plot

This is good right?

>>21807379
I only read old sword & sorcery books, with some haremlit exceptions.
Never bought or read books written in the last 10 years apart from Sanderson (I wanted to read the Stormlight Archive, so I ingenuously trusted people suggestions' to read Elantris, Warbreaker, Emperor's Soul and the Mistborn Trilogy before).
Almost everything published in recent times makes me wanna kill myself in Minecraft.

>>21807385
For you personally? You'd have to at least read the free provided excerpt to have an idea. I tried reading it at one point and didn't care. That doesn't mean anything. You'll probably be hard pressed to find someone here who has read it.

>>21807406
>makes me wanna kill myself
Why do you let it affect you so much?

>>21807379
*bad books don't sell.
You have to keep in mind that women have dominated tradpub for decades now and they want to publish almost nothing but garbage.

>>21807428
Books that aren't successfully marketed on social media don't sell. It doesn't matter if they're good or bad.

>>21807428
>Bad books don't sell
Fifty Shades of Grey was the best-selling book of its year, anon.

>>21807428
Anon.
Look.
You might want to sit down for this one.
Romance, as a genre, is the highest grossing book genre by an order of magnitude. I believe that with sff being 2nd at around $500mil, romance was a bit over one billion.
And the meta for top romance stories, as evidenced by Amazon, involves shifter sex, females being dominated of course.

>>21807427
>Why do you let it affect you so much?
It's just that every form of media I enjoyed (comics, movies, manga, books, trpg) in the last 10 years has degraded so much that I lost almost all the passion and attachments I had to them.
For example, I started watching only movies from the '70s in the last months, I only read old S&S books, listening to epic metal (things I started listening to more than 10 years ago), only reading old comics and manga series that started several years ago and playing either old trpg (CP2020, CoC and OSR retroclones), while I almost completely stopped playing vidya in the last save few exceptions occasionally(Factorio, Dominions 5, Dwarf Fortress and few more).
It's really discomforting.

>>21807471
>that feel when you know that feel

>>21807454
It's one of the best selling series ever.

>>21807471
Seems like psychological issue to me that you created for yourself.

>>21807471
How would you review the old science fiction novels, before we knew that Earth was pretty much the only habitable planet in our solar system? Sword and Planet, that kind of genre.

>>21807471
Is it because you became a /pol/tard?

>>21807504
>Seems like psychological issue to me that you created for yourself.
Are you sure?
Because it doesn't seem so "made up" for me.
One thing that I always looked forward were new movies, comics, trpg, vidya and music.
One of the few recent movies I've truly appreciated was the last one of Jodorowsky, all the mangas are the same reincarnation/isekai shit that infested modern writing, comics are pozzed like never before, I'm currently re-reading the Metabarons, started in '92, all videogames are shitty services masked as games to suck your money, with shitty remasters of old good games being between the highest sellers in the industry, and people are only playing that cancer called D&D 5E, I have to play online to find people willing to try other systems.
When I was young I was always hopeful for the future, but now all seems pretty bleak, and not only in the entertainment sector.
I only see the medical system in my country crumbling down slowly, the cost of living and bill increasing exponentially, with almost no safety net.
I've also started realizing that I stopped buying stuff beyond immediate necessities, not because of economical problems, but because there's nothing that I desire anymore, no books, comics, manga, vidya or rpg, it's all stuff I already own.....
(music doesn't count, since the bands I follow tend to release a new album/single every 2/3 years, which I can totally afford).
>>21807558
I consider fantasy and science fiction as the same genre,
>>21807566
>Is it because you became a /pol/tard?
Unless /pol/ has made the world produce only shittier isekai, GasS videogames, garbage books and movies, pozzed comics and no new trpg, I really doubt it.

>>21806644
At this point, you're just imitating old people

! ZIPPYSHARE IS SHUTTING DOWN !
If you have any book links, or know of any on zippy, you have two weeks to download what you can.

>>21806515
That's just like a list of things you've read. Why not try to structure it into something useful?

>>21807581
>Are you sure?
No, based on this post it seems more like a mood disorder and anemoia. Unclear if nostalgia is involved.

There are still a wide variety of manga being published, let alone translated that aren't reincarnation or Isekai. I can't speak to comics. Only a few of the most popular games are successful live service games. The overwhelming majority aren't at all. You overestimate remasters. There's been a lot of backlash against d&d services. People do tend to play whatever is newest. That's just how it is.

There's nothing wrong with disengaging from consumerism and/or materialism.

>>21806922
TWI is not legit good. It's fetish bait, either for word count or /mlp/ vibe. You can respect it, but it's not actually good.

>>21807379
Publication is irrelevant.

>>21807600
they were one of the last greats

>>21807600
>! ZIPPYSHARE IS SHUTTING DOWN !
It's ogre

>>21807600

>>21806111
>Only male protagonists and authors, no romance or harems.
Thanks

>>21807581
Have you any reccomendations for Sword and Sorcery? I’ve only read the works of REH and CAS. Is Lin Carter any good?

>>21807600
FUCK

>>21808006
Appendix N is pretty spot on for suggestions.
Just look the authors and stories written in there.
Personally I'm a Moorcock fanboy. Also Fritz Leiber is spot on.

>read Prince of Nothing
>think I can read subtle facial features

>trudging through david estes shitty kingfal audiobooks
>constantly wondering how such a shitty writer got his books narrated
>turns out theyre only published as audiobooks
My sensibilities are outdated

>>21805691
Its okay, its not a spoiler.

>>21806658
>litmoba
The kings avatar comes to mind

>>21806176
>R A Lafferty
Past Master is about a clone of st. Thomas More traveling in time and a political struggle in a really odd scifi setting. His short stories are also incredible.

>>21807406
Read the licanius trilogy.

>>21806076
>mostly utter shit the chart
I get that these are popular but that doesnt mean that most arnt utter drivel.
Tower of Somnus, first book of Snake Report, Azarinth Healer and first book of Cinnamon Bun

>>21808593
>Tower of Somnus, first book of Snake Report, Azarinth Healer and first book of Cinnamon Bun
Azarinth Healer is in a Decent Tier, the other two in Average. Not sure what's your complaint about, they are all explicitly rated as 'barely good enough to read' except for Snake Report that goes to shit and the author starts writing schizo rants.

>>21808593
>Azarinth Healer
lesbian shit kys

>>21808592
Thank you, will try it next.

>>21807600
F

This is complete garbage.
>The invaders had come in like they owned the place, and Captain Darren had rolled over like a dog.
This is worse than pulp.

I've seen Malazan mentioned a lot on the croaking website but never here. Why is that? Is it ribbity? Or is it worth a read?

>>21808790
I enjoyed the last few books, after they got over the retarded freedom fighter bit and went full sci fi.

Bakker is King.

Simple as.

>>21808837
The fuckhuge cast consists mostly of beaten-down, nihilistic doomers who whine and pontificate endlessly, the author can be obnoxiously verbose at times, but the setting is unbelievably intricate and nuanced, so you take the bad with the good.

I'm so tired of overconfident arrogant protags in fantasy bros

>>21808931
>I'm so tired of overconfident arrogant protags in fantasy bros
From what time period? If it's a young person, over-confidence is a common behaviour, but in current fantasy genre you can scarcely find confident people.

>>21808867
How many books from the first one until that happens? Can I skip books? Do they get better? I mean this is real bad. Should I move on to another series and just watch the TV show?

>>21808837
Because it's shit. It basically takes every problem with modern fantasy that nobody likes and writes ten books specifically playing up those problems
>Every book cuts to a completely new cast of characters
>Due to the former, none of the characters ever get a proper character arc. They get the start of one, then disappear for 4 books and show up as a ToTaL BaDaSs briefly later on
>World building is given more emphasis over the actual plot and characters
>The actual plot being completely irrelevant in the end and it just ended up serving as a vehicle for the author to jerk off his oc donut steel tabletop characters
>Author fundamentally lacks any real sense of scale, so he throws out random absurdly big numbers on things to make it EPIC when in reality it's just dumb

Is Brando Sando just translating random papyri with magic rocks, without knowing hieroglyphics, so he just makes it up on the fly, then putting it into his schlocky novels? That's basically what Joseph Smith did.

Weird thought: has there ever been an author who totally rewrote one of their books later in their career because they felt they could do better? Musicians re record their old stuff, video games get totally remade, and directors cuts 20 years after the fact are common, but has anyone done that for a book?

>>21809019
Robert Reed wrote Marrow, the first book in his Great Ship series, in 2000, then rewrote it into Marrow Redux in 2018; to better fit his overall plan, IIRC. Only example I know of off the top of my head.

>>21809019
I think King went back and heavily edited some of his cocaine era books because they were too good, bit that's it.

>>21808948
...unless they're women ;)

so I'm reading mistborn and I realized something

when vin, elend and spook leave luthadel to escape the koloss attack, there's a chapter that begins with vin and elend waking up in a tent and she's naked, so obviously they were fucking the previous night
but spook is a tin burner and we know he never turns it off, so he sees and hears everything
so all along he was hearing the girl she had a crush on get banged by the man he felt inferior to

poor lad

>>21808952
Persepolis Rising, the seventh book.
It takes place 28 years after the 6th book, and abandons all "muh fweedom fighters!" Nonsense from the first 6 books.

Do you want to see a bitch in power armor ferry a pocke nuke through the blind spot of an alien spaceship? The last three expanse books are that.

>>21808952
>just watch the TV show?
Sure, as long as you stop at the 3rd season. 4th is still somewhat watchable. Seasons 5 and 6 are insultingly bad.
As for the books, I mostly enjoy all of them except the 6th which is just extremely boring and centered on horribly uninteresting characters. 7, 8 and 9 are great.

>>21809019
>Weird thought: has there ever been an author who totally rewrote one of their books later in their career because they felt they could do better? Musicians re record their old stuff, video games get totally remade, and directors cuts 20 years after the fact are common, but has anyone done that for a book?
IIRC Terry Pratchet re-wrote his book 'Carpet' or something like that, the version I read even had his commentary of what he did and why.

>>21809057
It's a shame they killed the show right before the best shit happens.
Or, well, considering how terrible the amazon seasons were, maybe it's not such a shame.

>>21809052
poor spook
big mistborn era 1 ending spoilers for spook: he becomes a []D [] |\/| []P post-catacendre and contributes significantly to the repopulation of Scadrial. Sazed too helps him out and bumps him up to Mistborn

>>21805737
>cannot say if he used ai
definitely not. AI can't handle things like those shrouds in the background

>>21809099
Midjourney totally could. Even good old stable diffusion might be able to. I don't really see any giveaways that it's AI though, other than some slightly off perspective and wonky architecture, but that might just be the guy bashing references together to maintain his output. And the fact that these models were built to make this style of art, so no wonder it's hard to tell.

Any recommendations for books similar to the movie Alien Covenant? Or Avatar except about the humans instead of the blue cats. I suppose what I want is colonists in a scary space jungle. I've already read Deathworld and The Word for World is Forest.

>>21809129
the one silver lining of this soulless ai art is that its killing soulless photobashers.

>>21809019
I think Poul Anderson rewrote one of his novels to make the prose worse.

Why do you dislike female protagonists?

>>21806183
He actually wrote 3 books of late. One is this Elric (even if it's a "fix-up" of 2 novellas, albeit heavily modified, or so I've heard, and expanded with a third part that is an unreleased novella in itself, of two novellas he published in 2008 and '10. I didn't read the novellas I'm just reading the book) and the 2 sequels to The Whispering Swarm (2015) that is a kind of "fantastic" autobiography or so I've heard. I believe they are due this year and the next. I think there another one in the works but I'm not sure.

Apologies if this has been asked 1000 times buy what's a good "higher meaning" fantasy novel other than LOTR/Narnia. I want something written by someone who's extensively studied religion/mythology/philosophy.

>>21804565
mfw jomonchad are actually the true latins

>>21809460
The Worm Oroborous, the author was friends with tolkein and lewis.

>>21809483
didn't read the book sadly even if i tried once but from what i've read on the internet the moral of the story is kind of the opposite of lotr. that is: the mighty win but i'm talking by hearsay so probably i earned a "go fuck yourself pseud" (i did read lotr tho but not narnia).

>>21809530
>Tolkien generally approved of Eddison's literary style, but found the underlying philosophy unpleasant and unattractive; while Eddison in turn thought Tolkien's views "soft
kek
seething tolkiendrone

>>21809530
I would argue that narnia isnt really a "higher meaning" fantasy novel. Its themes more or less just repackage christian parables in an interpersonal romp around a fantasy setting. Whereas yolkien doesnt just regurgitate his christian themes, he explores and expands on them.

I would also argue that the first mistborn trilogy by brandon sanderson is a good higher meaning fantasy novel.

>>21809460
I wish I had memory to remember all the books that awed me as a child, all I ahve left is strong belief that a man should aspire to more and ascend in his essence. It's almost as if I siphoned all of 'higher meaning' literature without remembering it, and when I try to make a list of what I've read I come up blank, as if it was all imagined.

Back to your question, I guess longer fantasy series and especially Epic Fantasy are most likely to contain 'Higher Meaning' message. Terry Pratchet definitely, Brandon Sanderson unironically (although his decent at best in this regard), Bakker is a meme but as far as I know he's well versed in philosophy, Dune is a series that tackled religious themes.

If I were you, I'd look at longer series, again, check Epic Fantasy series. They are full of larger-than-life goals.

>>21808633
>cultivation crap, dungeon cuck carl and preschool hunter rank higher.
And that trannies and gentlemen is why the chart and the Lit-RPG genre is viewed as utter shite.

>>21809554
>Dune
Dune exceeds higher meaning and jumps straight into esoterica. Straight shota rape, alchemic wombs, and ugly bastard body swapping. Can we even really call dune fantasy? It felt like a fever dream.

>>21809554
I feel like Pratchett was almost the opposite of higher meaning. It was almost "higher meaning is settled, let's talk about the lower stuff nobody cares to bring up much".

>>21809568
I hate to break it to you, but that IS a higher meaning.

>>21809571
I suppose, but it's always a lot smaller scale/personal than some of the grander higher meanings you see in other stories. Not all stories go for the grand stuff, but Pratchett consistently went for the smaller scale. The grandest he really got was "If there is a divine creator, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior".

>>21809460
the warhound and the world's pain?
A canticle for Lebowitz (post apoc/scifi)?

>>21809567
>Straight shota rape, alchemic wombs, and ugly bastard body swapping
Don't forget brain-washing people with sex. 'Imprint' (or whatever it's called in the english version) was hilariously dumb I couldn't take it seriously even as a teenager.

>>21809549
i know, eventually i'll read it. I read s&s so i'm not like squeamish (?)

>>21809483
Thanks. I've actually read some Eddas and the saga of the volsungs.
>>21809530
I don't mind alternative takes as long as I know they're not objective bullshit/intentionally misleading.
>>21809554
I was considering Sanderson, mistborn or stormlight. I actually read Dune and forgot to mention.

I've hummed over "Malazan Book of the Fallen" but something just doesn't feel right in the descriptions. I'm more of a personal journey guy and that seems more political. Someone tell me if I'm wrong.

>>21809603
Wait a minute, that zombie...

>>21809567
is this in the first book? i temporaly abandoned dune after the arena combat with the atreides soldier

>>21809624
No, usually when anons talk about Dune like that they mean the 5th and 6th books.

>>21809019
Tolkien was planning to rewrite The Hobbit before he died.

>>21809624
>is this in the first book?
NTA, no in the first. People will seethe at this, but the only difference between Anne Rice and Herbert is that Dune series maintained its quality in writing, but it went off the rails into weird shit just as hard. The Dune reading chart exists for a reason.

>>21806167
based

>>21805324
Bayne?

>>21809583
No no no, i mean "higher meaning is settled" is the higher meaning. Think absurdism.

>>21809608
Of all the nonsense science in dune (pheremones) you chose an actually real phenomenon to not take seriously...

>>21809645
>>21809653
>incest
>child rape
>orgies (including children)
All in the first three books :/

Just finished Mistborn era 1 and I'm kinda sad that Vin died even though it felt like that was gonna happen even before I started the 3rd book
I can agree with criticism regarding Sanderson's prose and style but desu it was a fun ride with great worldbuilding and some cool characters

>>21809741
I liked Mistborn era 1 well enough, though it's sort of... It didn't need to be a trilogy. Two books would've been enough, because the vast majority of the third book is "everything sucks and the world is dying" until the ending. Second book wasn't great either, but at least it had stuff going on.

>>21809748
Book 2 has too much of Vin's "but does he really love me? do I deserve his love?? what even is my place in the world???", and Book 3 has too much of Sazed's "man, what's the point of all this?"

>>21809653
The ugly bastard body swapping is in the second book

>>21809758
I still maintain that Zane doesn't feel like he belongs in that series. But it did highlight that Sanderson doesn't really write romance all that well (he's a BIT better with Era 2 and with Stormlight, but not great).

>>21809758
Bro dude trust me in 40 years when the series is finish all of sazeds waffling will be good then.

>>21809769
>and with stormlight
Sitting here, waiting for the payoff to kalladin and shallans touching moment in the crevice.

>brando sando
Thanks for letting me know it's about celebrity worship. Never going to read this guy now. Welcome to my filter list.

I’m looking more for mech fantasy.
Any suggestions?

>>21809782
>Sitting here, waiting for the payoff to kalladin and shallans touching moment in the crevice.
Didn't 'Rhytms of War' end with Shallan ending the love triangle between kaladin, her and the noble guy's son? Still it suprises me how Sanderson straight up inserted the most common YA Female trope into his Epic Fantasy, how can a man be this unimaginative. Or was it pandering to the female audience?

Do you like soft magic or hard magic

>>21809813
magic

>>21809813
Hard like my dick because everytime I shoot my cum and it lands somewhere I feels like I exhausted my mana reserves to tame a howling beast

>>21809791
I would literally recommend you only read the first mistborn trilogy. Celebrity worship? Its the exact opposite. The man needs a team of editors to reign him in or else you get oathbreaker...

>>21809797
Iirc after that she starts to adopt a split personality who finds kaladin attractive.
Sanderson is all over the place with stormlight.

do I read Secret History before or after mistborn 2

>>21809856
You dont read secret history

>>21809838
No no, Rhythm of War DEALS with that part. Shallan herself is mostly into Adolin, but her split personalities are into Kaladin until she basically reasserts that no, they're all just her, and she may be attracted to Kaladin, but she's chosen to be with Adolin anyway, so. Shallan's character arcs are exclusively just "Shallan has an identity crisis or her excessive backstory keeps coming up and being conveniently remembered".

How do you deal with book hangover?

>>21809856
It's about Kelsier so any time after era 1 is fine.

>>21808030
This is an absolute goldmine. Thank you so much!

>>21807604
They are all there because they are readable.
All the utter shit I left off the chart. Why would I put the shit books on the chart too? And I don't have autism, so I can't rank anything like some stats sheet. They were all readable and enjoyable.

Is The Braided Path good?

>>21809795

>>21809460
Book of the New Sun is that, but actually suitably complicated and doesn't just deliver feel-good christianity.

>>21809969
explain book hangover

>>21809795
>>21810036
I haven't read it but I keep hearing that it's good. It's a webnovel make of that what you will: https://ranobes.net/chapters/214004/

>>21809945
>but she's chosen to be with Adolin anyway, so. Shallan's character arcs are exclusively just "Shallan has an identity crisis or her excessive backstory keeps coming up and being conveniently remembered".
I hate sanderson so much you wouldnt believe

>>21810096
Little baby read his first good book and cant stop thinking about it

>>21810096
>>21810089
>catholocism
>feel good
Anon...

>>21810004
>>21808030
not personally used it but there's also https://dmrbooks.com/

>>21806045
>Sylver Seeker in average
Fight me you fool. Badass ancient necromancer coming back to life to mess shit up is really a nice story. I also found it much less cringeworthy than most other LitRPGs. Please move it at least out of average.

Would somebody please explain hwat a litrpg is

>>21810180
Gamelit's a book but there are video game elements diegetically in the world (maybe it's just the world is like that, maybe it's a special power the protagonist or only some people have, etc.). LitRPG is that, but specifically RPG stuff (they tend to derive either from MMOs or from tabletop RPGs, and some literally are just set in an MMO).

>>21810200
>>21810180
I hope someone makes a litrpg mixed with choose your own adventure. Then you'll have branching paths and basically a huge ass VN

>>21810224
I mean, stretching the definition of /lit/ here, but that's sort of what shit like MSPaint Adventures was before it just became a linear deal. I've actually sort of wondered if the 'best' way to do a LitRPG would be on a website where every relevant character's stats would always be available on whatever page you're reading, so you don't clog up the narrative itself with that stuff, but it'd still let people keep track of the nonsense you've got going on (and I'm sure you could do some fancy fuckery with it).

tips for writing a female protag that isn't a mary sue

>>21810253
wrong thread retard

>>21810239
Sounds like 'Choice of Games'

>>21810253
Attention and obsession. Specifically what the character pays attention to and what they obsess over.
You have to remember anon, women are neurotic. They fret over stupid bullshit and obsess over things men dont even remember.

>>21810253
Mine is rude, selfish, has an incestual relationship, hates crowds, fights with her mom, insults fat people, and just a very unpleasant person.

She also saves the world.

>>21804548
>>21804680
he was a baron but i diverge. his books are on my list of "earlier" fantasy/fairy tales with macdonald, eddison, cabbel etc but cannot push me to start reading them. All his book are free

>go to cyoa general
>no help with recs there either
feels bad man

>>21810253
There's nothing wrong with Mary Sues. It's not bad writing to have one.

>>21810180
It is a written book, but character strength progression is similar to what we know from role playing games, i.e. usually there are classes, skills, stats and last but not least some set of rules for progression. While classical RPG systems had such rules out of necessity to allow human players to meaningfully interact with the world. While such a system seems absolutely pointless for a book, where the author can make up any shit he likes as he goes along, it is nevertheless oddly satisfying to read, due to the protagonists steady growth. For anyone from our generation such RPG style progression must have been ingrained into our minds as supremely pleasurable. Overall it is some weird brain hack to squeeze out dopamine.

>>21810307
Tell us more, Chaunceyposter.

>>21808006
Hope this helps:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordsmen_and_Sorcerers%27_Guild_of_America

>>21804518
>Dehydration is one of the inherent dangers of sex magic
Post some of the greatest lines in Fantasy.

>>21810429
no

>>21810429
It

Why didn't Rashek just burn all the atium before the second coming of Ruin

>>21810169
>Fight me you fool. Badass ancient necromancer coming back to life to mess shit up is really a nice story. I also found it much less cringeworthy than most other LitRPGs. Please move it at least out of average.
Sylver Seeker had a solid shot at bordering Superior Tier, but the author's lack of ideas where to go with the plot, meandering and unimaginative world-building shot it down.

Also, the progression was really unsatisfying. The system is rather boring, I cannot imagine less thrilling Class than Swamp Lord and the story didn't change my opinion at all.

It all started going sideways when Sylver crossed the portal into a Sci-Fi world, which resulted in an incredibly average side arc, which was subsequently doubled down on by the next one being in a Cultivation land.. That's where I stoped reading and I'm unlikely to continue unless I hear multiple good opinions about what happens in that arc and later, my time's too precious these days.

At this point I downright hate authors who try to shove as many webnovel tropes into their stories as possible, it's not quite or on the nose, it's fucking stupid and lame.
>>21810180
A story where characters and/or the world is governed by numbers. Powers can be measured, people are defined by Classes (or their synonyms) and abilities are most of the time codified into actual [Skills]. Most of the (quality) stories has it not as something strange, but as an inmutable part of the world. In the end there's little difference between this and other power systems except that this one is easily understood by newer generations that game a lot. Not that a lot of those are necessarily game-like, some can be very non-game like.

TL;DR Stories where powers are governed by hard number, not vague description. That's all.

>>21810500
Most LitRPGs will often have it a point that, yes, actual power is quantifiable, but technqiue and ability is trickier. You can make a broad guess based on raw numbers, but they almost always make it a point that the human factor is impossible to really take into mind.

>>21810513
>Most LitRPGs will often have it a point that, yes, actual power is quantifiable, but technqiue and ability is trickier. You can make a broad guess based on raw numbers, but they almost always make it a point that the human factor is impossible to really take into mind.
Many authors use that an explanation for power levels not beign set in stone and introducing chaotic elements - and I believe it to be true, but it's mostly a writing device.

There are many LitRPG systems out there, from autistically hard on numbers and amth Delve and soft and vague The Wandering Inn. And TWI's is objectively better for story-telling because it allows for more wiggle-room.

I was prety lenient with my LitRPG categorization in the chart, though. 'System Overclocked' is a borderline example as it's only a special power that can be used by the protagonist and no one else, with basically no statistics as far as I remember. 'Inferna' is a similar case but the protagonist has an actual status sheet and can choose Skills, even though all of this is diegetic for the protagonist.

I might tighten up my requirements for what constitutes a LitRPG in the future, if I feel it's necessary.

>>21810500
Some of your points are valid. The progression can be really slow sometimes, e.g. reading about the MC getting a 10% increase in mana regeneration feels sort of insulting to read. But I think a point can be made that the MC is also at odds with the system itself and sort of trying to go his own way with the knowledge he has. Additionally making him more overpowered than the already is would quickly devolve everything into a anime power creep and kill the story dead.

Sci-fi world was really a slog, but it is over and I actually like the one after that. I have actually never read a cultivator setting, so I am probably missing all the tropes.

But anyway, compared to the other cringey coomer shit higher on that list, I think there is some large bias at work here. Although I have to admit I did not read most of the other shit.

>>21810598
>The progression can be really slow sometimes, e.g. reading about the MC getting a 10% increase in mana regeneration feels sort of insulting to read. But I think a point can be made that the MC is also at odds with the system itself and sort of trying to go his own way with the knowledge he has.
No. The problem doesn't lie in the speed of the progression. It lays in the system being a boring, unimaginative mess. Probably on the same level of uninspired as 'The Primal Hunter'. It worked until Necromancer Class was over and he became a fucking mushroom druid.

>Additionally making him more overpowered than the already is would quickly devolve everything into a anime power creep and kill the story dead.
So many Op MC stories that don't crash and burn is testament to the contrary. You can have incredibly strong MC and good story, even though it's not my thing. But this was not a problem here. The problem is in design, not execution.

>But anyway, compared to the other cringey coomer shit higher on that list, I think there is some large bias at work here. Although I have to admit I did not read most of the other shit.
That 'cringy coomer shit' is well-written and maintains its quality throughout the story, which cannot be said on Sylver Seeker that starts strong and falls off HARD. I judge stories using many metrics and SS simply isn't up to scratch. I considered droping it all the way to Do Not Read Tier after the state I saw the story when I dropped it, but assumed many people would not be as discerning in quality as me so I let it be.

>>21810577
I do like the concept of "this is just the protagonist's special ability", because it means that the world isn't truly quantified, it's more attempting to quantify one person thoroughly and using that person to quantify other things, though it puts me in mind of Solo Leveling and that was not... Good... Though there's other stuff like that (The Gamer predated it, I think, and it's better but still not very good), surprisingly little of it in book form. He Who Fights With Monsters is an odd case, actually, because the protagonist has LitRPG powers, but it comes down to effectively just his way of interfacing with the world's magic system, with a few unique advantages just by the nature of being RPG stuff. But HWFWM started going to shit so who cares.

>>21809567
>Straight shota rape
Was that Jessica in Children of Dune? I can't remember, anyways we need more /ss/ in scifi and fantasy. Don't forget to play Behind the Dune, by far the best videogame adaptation.

>>21810253
Have them get beaten and make them lose, seriously, that's why feminist fantasy from the 80s and 90s was so famous, mc would pretty much lose every fight except the last one.

>>21810151
>Classic reprints
Nice.
>Pulp covers with big booty evil women
It's kino.

>>21810653
>Have them get beaten and make them lose, seriously, that's why feminist fantasy from the 80s and 90s was so famous, mc would pretty much lose every fight except the last one.
Reminds me of that famous Sapkowski's text about 90/00s female writers that kept writing female character that were constantly raped, getting revenge for it, then getting raped again, to the point of utter absurd. That's what feminist fantasy was like once upon a time.

>>21810625
I tell you why I like SS regardless of that:
- Sylver behaves like a rational person, which avoids pointless drama, which so many other authors shamelessly abuse to add filler
- The way Sylver fights dirty and brings down his opponents in "unfair" battles is a nice change compared to most other LitRPGs, where the MC often gets incredibly lucky or there are asspulls out of the ass or overcomes foes by their strength alone.
- The way Sylver is an anomaly in the world, i.e. things that are difficult for him are incredibly easy for everyone else and vice versa makes it a very interesting setting.
- His supporting characters are mostly cool.
I think these things are really hard to find in other LitRPGs, which is why I would place SS higher, but whatever.

>>21804518
FUCK he is good.

>>21804518
What fantasy settings have the best takes on alchemy? And why do you feel that way?

>>21810151
>>21810668
dmr books is great
best new sword and sorcery publisher

>>21810253
People miss the point of Mary Sue. There's nothing wrong with the character. It's just the story is naked wish fulfillment.

>>21810736
I don't think I've ever seen anything actually tackle alchemy in a particularly interesting way. It's always just bog-standard "they can make some potions that do some beneficial stuff". Some at least approach it interestingly, but the actual mechanics and usage leave a lot to be desire.

>>21810767
A Mary Sue isn't specifically just a character themself, it's the character and how the world itself treats them. If it feels like the story is bending over backwards and breaking its own rules for the character (without any real reason, chosen ones tend to get a free pass for example), that tends to make them a Sue/Stu.

>>21806515
How about you mark what has isekai or system so I can avoid that trash

>>21810895
Just avoid the entire chart then, because almost everything has some type of "system". If you know you're not interested in that shit, don't read.

>>21810913
Thanks. I will

>>21810934
No problem, you know you don't read anyways, so why pretend? I don't need the (you)s.

rip thread

I don't read by the way

>>21810944
I do read. I just have intense hatred toward isekai and systems. The novel has to be extremely good for me to get over my hatred for them

Funny how retards always reply to ritualposters/chartposters starting pointless fights, then pretend to be sad about the state of the general and how bad the threads are

Is it really that hard to ignore others and talk about the books you're reading?

The behavior makes sense if you dont read

>>21810964
Go to reddit if you want to circlejerk over your favourite books
it's also fun to start and talk shit/spoiler]

>>21811004
When was the last time you finished reading 1 book and the name of said book?

what do you think about a female protagonist that is implied to sorta be a lesbian but it's never a central part of the plot in a woke-preachy way

>>21811028
>lambasts the thread for responding to shitposters
>responds to a shitposter
COLD UP THERE ON THAT IVORY THRONE, IS IT?

>>21811039
>lambasts the thread for responding to shitposters
>responds to a shitposter
>responds to anon responding the shitposter
COLD UP THERE ON THAT IVORY THRONE, IS IT?

>>21810736
The City in the Autumn Stars? Especially in the second part of the book but it's not set in alchemical world, it's not an alchemical setting per se. I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere the story is a parallel, a calque of a real alchemical text or fiction from some centuries before about alchemical marriage.

>>21811032
Based but ONLY if she's a futa

>>21811032
lesbians aren't real so >>21811079 you might as well give her a dick

>>21810736
Reverend Insanity or Lord of the Mysteries. Both center around cultivation through alchemy and the entire plots and settings revolve around acquiring ingredients and recipes and refining them.

>>21810736
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw27ebf71Uo

>>21811032
I don't read books with female protagonist

>>21806713
Like what? Refresh my memory.

>>21806779
That's a good point. It's like "faction fantasy" or something. You got different factions, there's in-fighting between them and then some hero has to come and bring them all together

>>21807192
Ehhh disagree. Wheel of Time has too many POVs to have ATLA's pacing

>>21811278
I don't feel like I've seen too much of that. I've seen some weird faction shit, but nothing too recent (some like within the last 10-15 years spring to mind like Divergent). Granted, I haven't really read 'big modern YA stuff' because... Why would I.

>>21811148
i dont know man
Lord of the Mystereis doesnt have high focus on Alchemy, the cultivation goes through potions, but you only have people searching for recipes, ingredients, doing the potion and drinking, theres nothing after that, they are not studying alchemy or creating new potions, flasks or things like that, the alchemy is not the real center as you make it sound

Im almost done with volume 5 and gonna start volume 6 after, so maybe theres something later? but right now is just that.

I never stopped to read Reverend Insanity so i know nothing.

I Shall Seal the Heavens have good alchemy arc on book 2 and book 7 or 8

>>21809057
Shit anon I don’t think I can wait through six books for shit to get better.

Nrw bread you snippy sons of sea bitches!
>>21811321

>>21811307
Most think the earlier books are better. Opinions vary. You shouldn't base everything off one random anon. It should be several anons. Most of all, it should be you.

>>21811325
Wow, new thread is already shit