/lit/ - Literature

>tfw the best, most profound sci fi story I ever saw is contained within a Finnish rock album

>tfw the author planned a novelization, but some burglars stole the laptop with the draft

>tfw I will NEVER know what or who the fuck is behind the Wall of Light

>tfw I will NEVER know if the Seer of Parvati ever really existed

wasn't Atlas a bit too op here?
anyways Society still seems to be comically outmatching the others, curious what kind of bs will result in the last book so they don't win out

12 Miles Below

https://www.amazon.com/12-Miles-Below-Progression-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B0BWKDF1C7

Icy death above. Monster-filled dungeons below. He must fight or freeze.

Extreme sub-zero temperatures suffocate the surface. Frozen structures of bygone eras span across massive ice-wastes. And the survivors closely guard any technology rediscovered within them.

The only escape from the deadly climate is beneath the surface, but that doesn't mean it's safe...

Monstrous machines lurk in the depths. Unhinged demigods war against them, dying over and over, treating it all like a game. The depths themselves shift over time, more contraption than rock.

When an expedition into the far uncharted north goes terribly wrong, Keith Winterscar and his father get trapped together in a desperate fight for survival. Stumbling upon an ancient war of titanic scale, the two will need to set their differences aside while they struggle against gods, legends, and the secrets of the realm that lies below.

>>22310396
So you're telling me not everything tagged with LGBT is garbage by default?

>>22310758
No, I'm telling you that when you're ready, you won't need the tag.

>>22310758
lgbt tags indicate the book is shit

>>22310828
Lgbt tags indicate that the author wanted to get published so he shoved some token queer into a chapter or two.

To any Dickians in the room (aw hell who am I kidding? It's only me!), I strongly suggest this three-volume series Ultra Heaven.
>invent drug
>give person drug
>write about their wacky adventures
Reads every bit like a Dick novel. Each page is superb visualisation.

fantasy is for children

>‘Now, on Earth things are not quite the same. On Earth one of the things that a large proportion of the locals is most proud of is this wonderful economic system which, with a sureness and certainty so comprehensive one could almost imagine the process bears some relation to their limited and limiting notions of either thermodynamics or God, all food, comfort, energy, shelter, space, fuel and sustenance gravitates naturally and easily away from those who need it most and towards those who need it least. Indeed, those on the receiving end of such largesse are often harmed unto death by its arrival, though the effects may take years and generations to manifest themselves.
>‘And note that even if this mythical yokel did decide to sell the stuff, or even give it away - the Earthers have an even more devastating trick they can perform; they show you that those foods aren’t even needed anyway! They wouldn’t feed the least productive, most unimportant untouchable from Pradesh, tribesperson from Darfur or peon from Rio Branco! The Earth has more than enough to feed all its inhabitants every day already! A truth so seemingly world-shattering one wonders that the oppressed of Earth don’t rise up in flames and anger yesterday! But they don’t, because they are so infected with the myth of self-interested advancement, or the poison of religious acceptance, they either only want to make their own way up the pile so they can shit upon everybody else, or actually feel grateful for the attention when their so-called betters shit on them!

>‘Naturalness?’ I said, loudly. ‘This lot’ll tell you anything is natural; they’ll tell you greed and hate and jealousy and paranoia and unthinking religious awe and fear of God and hating anybody who’s another colour or thinks different is natural. Hating blacks or hating whites or hating women or hating men or hating gays; that’s natural. Dog-eat-dog, looking out for number one, no lame ducks . . . Shit, they’re so convinced about what’s natural it’s the more sophisticated ones that’ll tell you suffering and evil are natural and necessary because otherwise you can’t have pleasure and goodness. They’ll tell you any one of their rotten stupid systems is the natural and right one, the one true way; what’s natural to them is whatever they can use to fight their own grimy corner and fuck everybody else. They’re no more natural than us than an amoeba is more natural than them just because it’s cruder.

----

>I stroked one of Tagm’s hands, gazed again at the slowly revolving planet, my gaze flicking in one glance from pole to equator. ‘You know, when I was in Paris, seeing Linter for the first time, I was standing at the top of some steps in the courtyard where Linter’s place was, and I looked across it and there was a little notice on the wall saying it was forbidden to take photographs of the courtyard without the man’s permission.’ I turned to Tagm. ‘They want to own the light!’

tl;dr Culture finds Earth and debates on whether to Contact or not; there's a subplot involving one of their crew members deciding to stay on Earth because he found religion and (poorly) argues in favor of Earth over the Culture despite Earth being a bunch of primitive backward fucks

>>22310758
LGBT tag is merely the latest fad. Just because there's a lesbian in the novel it doesn't mean the entire story is about her pegging men, for example.

Is Super Sales on Super Heroes actually any good? It was shilled last thread. How on earth a literal slave harem series where the MC collect girls like Pokemon can appeal to feminists?

>>22310396
Can I shill my book?

>>22310501
Which album?

>>22310878
>published
>not self published
in other words author ruined his book, turned it into shit in order to get published

>>22310983
You tell me, shill.

>>22310990
Nobody is going to stop you. Just don't spam it and you'll be fine.

>>22311010
>Self published
>0 sales, 0 reads, 0 support, 0 legacy
>Trad published
>10000 sales, 10000 reads, 10000 support, 10000 legacy

Which would you take? Not a single person on /sffg/ would buy a self published book.

>>22311055
You tell em, goy.

>>22311055
I bought several self published books.

three body problem was neat, the vr parts were weird but all the tech was cool
dark forest was okay and death's end was just misery porn

any of his other books worth reading?
think one of them about moving the entire earth with huge engines got a movie adaptation but the story just seemed silly

>>22311074
Pic or it doesn't exist

I want a romance novel where the love interest is a ghost and she does everything she can to cockblock the MCs attempt for pussy by haunting every other girl in the world.

He'll descend into madness until he finds a way to rape correct the ghost. Any such books?

>>22311144
sounds like one of my japanese anime

/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.

/SFFG/ Recommendations: LITRPG Edition

Read Azarinth Healer, Primal Hunter, He Who Fights with Monsters, Dungeon Crawler Carl

Also read System Universe, Dissonance, Defiance of the Fall, Iron Prince.

>>22311055
The only reason I don't buy selfpubbed stuff is that it's almost all on amazon. If they sold it anywhere else I'd buy from authors I like to support them but amazon's exclusivity requirements mean it will never happen. Oh well!

>>22311251
What's wrong with Amazon?

>>22310997
Nelma U, Vol. 2 - Takaisin kouluun

>>22311300
Their stranglehold monopoly on selfpub and audiobooks is stifling the industry. Their algorithm is also murdering sales of any actually good but unknown book while encouraging authors to release absolute fucking garbage weekly just to stay on top. The entire ecosystem is a cancer so I try not to support it at all.

>>22311229
all those covers look ai generated

>>22311384
>is stifling the industry
Amazon is garbage, but tradpub being dominated by women has done INFINITELY more damage to the "industry" than Amazon.

>>22310983
I stopped reading when they started fighting giant goo monsters. The superhero fights read like a script from some Sky High spinoff.

>>22311437
Sorry I didn't specify. By industry I meant just the selfpub/indie pub area. Any attempt at innovation in that sector is killed off by having to deal with that monopoly. If Amazon wasn't fucking selfpub in the ass then it would be a viable alternative to the LGBTBIPOC menace that infests tradpub.

>>22310983
Yes, but the sequels aren't.

>>22311317
She sounds nice.

Just finished Hyperion for the first time. It was pretty good but nobody warned me that it was only the first half of a book. I knew there were sequels, but everybody talks about it as if it's a standalone story and it's certainly not.

>>22311010
>"I can't read this 500 page book because it has a gay in it. Gays make me so upset I can't keep reading :c"
Sounds like an issue, not an issme

>>22310983
>How on earth a literal slave harem series where the MC collect girls like Pokemon can appeal to feminists?
Because it's portrayed as MC being a competent in certain narrow area while letting the women excel at everything else, making it the protagonist be an important Queen Bee while everything is done by hyper-competent fierce female characters. Trust me, most of harem stories are feminist as fuck, very few describe a hyper competent male with a group of pretty damsels. Remember, it's written to appeal to a neurotic liberal young man who has certain lusts but was taught all of them are inappropriate, of course it needs to be framed in certain way to be 'acceptable'.

Just started Malazan ...What am I in for /lit/bros?

>>22311795
the sequel is decent but you can definitely skip the endymion books which come after
>>22311875
10 very long and truly convoluted books
some enjoy it, some don't, some find it ok
just keep in mind plots and POV characters will change between books a lot

>>22311795
Good post, anon but are the witcher books any good? Only played Witcher 3 and the netflix's series. Just started Eye of the World when does WoT gets good?? Any books like dark souls/berserk/Bloodborne??? Any books like FF/Dragon Quest/Tales of..??!! Any books with N'Wahs?Kvothe is a cuck, will slob Martin ever finish winds of winter??? Are the dune sequels worth it or should i stop with god emperor of dunc? Did severian fucked his grandma? Is severian a clone? Any books with chinks? Any books like fallout/metro? Any books where the mc gets cucked? Any books where the mc Doesn't get cucked?? Stormlight book 5 when? Will kaladin fuck the fairy?? is the Eisenhorn trilogy a good place to start with W40k??? Or should i watch 4hours YouTube vid about le EPIC lore??? Any books with young petite women? Any books with old thick women? Any books with MANLY men like David Gemmell? Soulcatcher or Lady who is the better waifu? When does malazan gets good?? I didn't finish highschool so i can understand Malazan?!?! When does AOIAF gets good??!? When does Farseer gets good?? When does lightbringer gets good?? When does codex alera gets good??? When does Lord of The Isles gets good?? Dunsany is king or bakker??
Any books with incest?

>>22311875
See >>22311921

>>22311921
Might as well make this the OP

Just read a short story about a man who murders a drag queen because the drag queen was trying to extort money from the man by threatening to tell the man's wife he got a blowjob from the drag queen.

>>22312023
What does that have to do with sff?

>>22310519
A little but never completely unbelievable. I would love to read a book focus on someone like Atlas by far the most interesting character. Just the image of him looming over the two hundred his feet hanging over the edge and everyone shitting their togas in fear of Fear makes me smile.

>>22312084
What indeed...

What sff mags would you recommend, anon? Are there any ones you're currently following or subscribed to?

Discworld is the best fantasy series

>>22312234
It's #2.

>>22311055
good goy
this is why no one will remember your name

>>22310396
>If she had a brightness inside of her, there was a corresponding darkness inside of him.
I want to throw rotten fruit at Jeff Vandermeer's face. Preferably pineapples or coconuts.

>>22311795
>nobody warned me that it was only the first half of a book
It isn't.

I seem to have lost my image of the political compass meme from Bakker's "Second Apocalypse" series.

Could somebody post it, if they have it?
Would appreciate it, thanks in advance!

Any good sci-fi or horror with ufos and alien encounters. All this ufo talk lately puts me in an X-Files mood

>>22312448
>All this ufo talk
No aliens, just america covering up more war crimes, it should put you in a PKD mood not in a "OMG i LUV science and ufo bro!!" Goyslop mood

>>22312401
I'm just finishing the 3rd novel of the Southern Reach trilogy. I should have known something well-lauded as this nowadays was going to terrible, but even if I had there's no was I would have expected it could be this bad.

It starts out with a decent mystery, some nice exploration, but gets mired down in inane and annoying cardboard characters that bicker on most of the time instead of moving any closer to the mystery.

I don't want to know about Mary Sue's orgasms. I don't care that the author was bullied in high school and still carries a huge chip on his shoulder over high school jocks. Say Ghost Bird one more time you, you hackneyed shitlib submediocrity!

Jeff Vandermeer writes like a lobotomized Margaret Atwood. At least Atwood can write though, at least she seems to possess something above average intelligence.

I hate everything. Why is it so hard to find good sci-fi?

>>22312448
There's no aliens. Every once in a while, a guy with some government credentials ends up being just as much of a conspiracy tard as the general public, and he says some things that confirm the biases of other conspiracy tards. That's all this is. You can see the retarded glee on the man's face for all the attention he's getting.

>>22312640
No this is a result of a snowball of speculation of the many people who work for the government to retrieve crashed foreign craft over the years who weren't told anything about it, and people not being skeptical of their faults in perception or mechanical detection. Also note that the government is full of idiots, not necessarily malevolent people, see Hanlon's razor.

>>22312831
Clearly you didn't see how badly this went over in the /sffg/ group read. It isn't so much as SF as weird fiction.

Fostering Faust by Randi Darren and WD Arand

[Synopsis]

Alex was a bastard in life, dying alone after heading a global technology firm. Finding himself in Limbo, a wraith named Leah appears and notified him that his failure to bug test a VR device capable of uploading one's consciousness lead to hundreds of thousands of people having their souls deleted. She makes him a deal... 'You can be reborn in a new world but you must make bargains in my name'. Alex accepts, looking for any alternative to Hell, and finds himself reborn as the influential Count Brit.

[Characters]

As Count Brit, Alex uses his Gordon Gecko-like business affinity to reorganize his realm's commerce and make himself so rich that money doesn't matter. A savvy man accomplishing most of his feats off screen, he also introduces strategic warfare to the battlefield through a knowledge of strategy games. He attends to the minutiae of his county including dispensing justice, which brings him in direct contact with law breaking women that he bends to his whims. This leads to the creation of...

The Numbered are women who serve a function in Alex's court such as maids, bodyguards, and assassins. They begin with Riley or 1, who is among the first to enter Alex's dungeon. Accused of a crime, she proves one of the easier to break and becomes a doting (and clingy) maid. 2 is Carla, who was part of a bandit party attempting to waylay Alex's group on a trip to the capitol. She is converted and bound in oaths to become his bodyguard and bed fellow, leading him to turn out most of the numbered. This goes all the way to 5 in this story, along with...

Alex's wives who are interviewed during a trip to the capitol. Anna proves to be an airhead but one so savvy at the business of manipulating people that she easily enters Alex's affairs with Leah. The other exists to be manipulated, earning her place as a wife by filching cum from #2 under Alex's command.

[Progression Mechanics]

Upon sealing his initial bargain with Leah, Alex is granted a crystal. For every deal he makes, the crystal will grow darker until entirely black. The more these deals are in Alex's favor, the darker it becomes. Alex receives a quota every month that he easily exceeds, filling crystals well ahead of time before receiving a means of storing months worth. These deals are Faustian bargains and Alex ties both women and men in oaths with deals progressing as the series go on.

[Final Thoughts]

What do you do when you want to write a harem rape fantasy but also want to get paid by Amazon? Well, you water everything down and force consent into every single chapter. Female characters are subbed out with duplicates only to be re-developed and sexually dominated along similar lines. Alex soon generates unlimited money and there's not really any stakes in this story. Funniest part of the story is when Alex gives everyone herpes and is so blasé about it that Leah has to cure it for him and give him magic cum as a mulligan.

3/10

>>22312905
>Lord of the Mysteries by Cuttlefish – 9/10
>Dungeon Crawler Carl Series by Matt Dinniman - 9/10
>Cradle Series by Will Wight - 8/10
>Worth the Candle by Alex Wales - 8/10
>Infinite Realm by Ivan Kal - 8/10
>Mother of Learning Series - 8/10
>Ave Xia Rem Y by Mat Haz - 8/10
>All The Skills by Honour Rae - 7/10
>Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor and Luke Chmilenko - 7/10
>Chrysalis by RinoZ - 7/10
>Forge of Destiny by Yrsillar - 7/10
>A Thousand Li by Tao Wong - 7/10
>Mark of the Fool by JM Clarke - 6.5/10
>Retribution Engine by Akaso - 6/10
>Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer – 6/10
>Wandering Inn by Pirateaba - 6/10
>Virtuous Sons by Ya Boy - 6/10 (Re-Reading)
>Bastion by Phil Tucker - 6/10
>The Primal Hunter by Zogarth - 6/10
>Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe - 6/10
>Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren - 6/10
>Heaven's Laws by Apollos Thorne - 6/10
>Battle Mage Farmer by Seth Ring - 5/10
>I Shall Seal The Heavens by Er Gen - 5/10
>Soulhome by Sarah Lin - 5/10
>Monster Menu by Terrell Garrett - 4.5/10
>Soulship by Nathan Thompson - 4/10
>Azarinth Healer by Rhaegar - 3/10
>Fostering Faust by Randi Darren - 3/10
>Reincarnation: Threads by Michael Head - 3/10
>Paladin of the Sword by Marvin Knight - 2/10
>Portal to Nova Roma by JR Mathews - Dropped
>>The Human Emperor by Huangfu Qi - Dropped
>He Who Fights Monsters by Shirtaloon - Dropped
>Coiling Dragon by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi - Dropped
>Dissonance by Nicoli Gonnella - Dropped
>The Elevation Chronicles by Captain Capslock - Dropped
>Last Ship in Suzhou by Lungs - Dropped
>Defiance of the Fall by J.F. Brink - Dropped

>Final Title
Way of Choices by Mao Ni

Ohhh, can you feel it? We're almost done.

Rec me kino that has pic related vibes.

>>22312961

Zothique, of course
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser

>>22312905
>Fostering Faust is 3/10
Which haremlit books do you consider decent then? Good Intentions?

>>22310396
OP here again.
No seriously, I want to know where that archetype comes from. I have to guess it's some Arthurian tale thing? I never read Arthurian stuff. But I'm guessing it's related, because all the stories that use this archetype also have the accompanying archetype of the prince who is going to win his succession to the throne and unite the kingdom for a new era of peace.

It's usually the little rat assassin dog archetype who acts as the prince's right hand man.
A slightly less similar archetype exists in A Shadow in Summer. Where the supposed main character is just really good at 1 thing, so he's carried around by all these important people, and follows the man who is a secret princes, who would one day become a uniting emperor. The only difference here, is that the rat-dog character isn't an assassin. However, he also does fucked up shit, causes more problems for everyone around him, and never grows for the better.

>>22310501
those things sounds pretty simmons-hyperian desu

>>22313139
please do not

>>22313079
Based.

>>22313128

Don Quixote retard

>>22310758
To a greater degree it's like thinking all YA is garbage because it's YA. Most LGBT tagged works just feature token inclusions because authors are trying to game the system.

>>22313187
Are you only saying that after acknowledging one of the many factors I listed?

>>22313102
Fostering Faust and Paladin of the Sword are the only two haremlit titles I picked up for this run and both were disappointing.

Just ordered Hyperion. Should I order The Fall of Hyperion too?

>>22313273
Perhaps you want to consider something more mainstream, renowned for its well-developed female harem cast, like Wheel of Time but I believe you've already read that.

>>22313280
Yes, but then leave it at that. Book 3 and 4 are either the true masterpiece or a flaming pile of shit and I firmly believe the latter. 1 and 2 are fucking bangers, though.

>>22310997
Talvikuningas/King of Winter

>>22313139
The author was somewhat inspired by Hyperion, but it's a distinct thing.

Holy fuck there's a lot of Hyperion enjoyers here. I never even heard about this book until about a year ago. Read it, enjoyed some parts, hated other parts.

I heard Simmons became quite a crank with age. Are any other of his novels worth checking?

>>22313128
>I have to guess it's some Arthurian tale thing?
It's just ninjas. Ninjas were big in the 80s. Fantasy authors imported them as generic 'assassins'. Now it's a shitty boring archetype.

>>22311921
Should I read only Dune or Dune and Children of Dune or Dune and Children of Dune and Messiah of Dune or Dune and Children of Dune but not Messiah of Dune or Dune and Messiah of Dune but not Children of Dune or Dune: God-Emperor of Dune only or Dune and Dune: God-Emperor of Dune or Dune and Children of Dune and Messiah of Dune and Dune: God-Emperor of Dune or Dune and Chess Masters of Dune only or Dune and Chess Masters of Dune and Dune: Alia, the Maiden of Dune, or Dune: The God-Emperor of Dune and Dune: Chess Masters of Dune only, and above all, SHOULD I READ BRIAN HERBERT'S DUNE BOOKS?

>>22313432
Reading anything from Brian Herbert is just tarnishing Franks name.

>>22313432
Feyd-Rautha deserved better. An abused kid that never even got a chance for redemption, character development or anything but being murdered by an unbeatable psychogenetic ubermensch. If I was making a treatment/adaptation, I'd make him into a loveable deuteragonist whom Paul either kills reluctantly or is forced into killing.

I wonder what Vilneuve will do with the character.

>>22313431
I don't buy that idea.

Is Necromancer a good scifi book?

>>22312175
I read the stories in Clarkesworld whenever one comes out, I find the level of prose is usually pretty average but there are occasionally some nice stories. I mostly just read it to see what's going on that's contemporary.

Bakker copied Herbert, but he did a better Job.

>>22313432

>>22312905
I guess haremlit might not be for you, then. The harem/erotica element is the main sell, so if it falls flat for you everything else will be subpar.

>>22313432
Dune Messiah was Ok only because of how great the ending was, but was full of plot holes. Everything afterwards is just recycled trash.

>>22312420

>>22311227
between two fires is great. hyperion/fall of hyperion are also great but everything else dan simmons has written makes them feel worse by proximity, it's like he sold his soul to the devil but only got two good books about it

>>22312905
>What do you do when you want to write a harem rape fantasy but also want to get paid by Amazon?
There aren't many good rape fantasies written by western people. The japanese and koreans are really fucking good at writing utter deranged shit (and they're hot af)

>>22312913
>final book
what did he mean by this?

>>22312913
You're the only guy who actually reads stuff here huh

>>22314069
We have a few who read but unless it's a popular selfpub or a popular running series, it doesn't get replies.

>>22313974
>The japanese and koreans are really fucking good at writing utter deranged shit (and they're hot af)
Because there is no censorship.
Especially the Koreans, they are really good at chunking out decent sff novels, prioritizing melodrama and romance over extensive worldbuilding and epic sagas because they understand that their worldbuilding will never surpass LOTR or Dune. Meanwhile the West are more autism centering their entire novels around worldbuilding even if their works are unoriginal and lack innovation. I feel they overlook the human emotion aspects in their stories.

Dark tower the wasteland sucks. Book 2 was far better. Only got 100 pages left but I’m struggling. I hope wizard and the glass is good as people say it is

>>22310997
This one
https://youtu.be/FRaV_k4HEmY

>>22314143
BLAINE THE TRAIN was fun. All I remember from Wizard and Glass was an old dude dryhumping a young girl until he came.

>>22313300
Only on book 3 of Wheel of Time. I'm planning to restart and finish the series at some point but my backlog is staggering.

>>22313852
The erotica doesn't really land since its always shafts, members, slits, and hip thrusts. I guess I appreciate the variety in this title versus the other one, which mostly went threeway missionary. I've seen Japanese VN models of all the characters - is there a version of the story out there that drops the pretext? If so, I'd be more interested in that if they also play up Alex's ability more.

>>22313974
Rape fantasies may not be for me in the first place, no matter the quality of deranged shit in it...

>>22314052
No more long form progression fantasy analyses! Think I'll switch to a 2 paragraph 'synopsis/thought' format for subsequent titles unless a major system pops up that's worth talking about. Don't know yet.

>>22314069
I decided to dive into progression fantasy with a 20 book challenge to analyze magic systems, basically. It became 40 when I saw I wasn't looking into litRPGs and cultivation titles evenly, activating my autism. Don't recommend it.

>>22314188
>to analyze magic systems
What ended up being the best one of that, independent of your overall enjoyment of the book, I wonder?

>my fantasy story is all over the place
>Probably didn't even need magic in it at all
>Too late to rewrite everything
Oh well.

>>22314116
why do the Koreans seem to be the only asians who seem to directly incorporate real life schizo stuff like the Great Reset into the lore of their fantasy stuff?

>>22314274
>why do the Koreans seem to be the only asians who seem to directly incorporate real life schizo stuff like the Great Reset into the lore of their fantasy stuff?
Examples?

>>22314281
There’s one whose title goes like.: Villain Pretending to be Hero

In the first chapter, the MC proclaims himself to be a Gamer and he is one of the most hilariously deranged gook MC’s I’ve had the pleasure of reading, in one of the most deranged gook modern portal-dungeon settings I’ve ever read, with a shadowy UN cabal plotting to use the upcoming Demon King invasion in order to put their Great Reset, which is what it’s literally named in the story, Plan into motion.

>>22314230
>too late
What's the rush? Unless you have a publisher breathing down your neck for the book then take all the time you need to make your story better. You're better than this and your vision is worth the effort.

Is Aristillus series actually good? I heard some people hype it as the best libertarian sci-fi novels since The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but the bad reviews of the 1st book make it seems like a barely coherent attempt at an Ayn Rand novel with talking dogs that just stops halfway through.

>>22313416
Carrion Comfort

>>22314274
Because Korea had a major political/ social crisis where a bunch of schizo alex jones theories about their government being run behind the scenes by evil sorcerers turned out to be true.

>>22314143
Just read Juruselum man trilogy by Gemmell instead

>>22314069
Every time the last/current/next guy posts in these threads my last book is at least one read past my previous next.

Can't speak for other people.

What are some Fantasy novels with subtle but strong Christian or Buddhist themes?

>>22314414
The king always talked about in these threads, Wolfe's botns

>>22313974
Can you give any reqs on good rape fantasies and generally this type of books?

>>22314602
Dungeon Defense LN is decent, practically on par with full-fledged Western novels. It's good because it plagiarized from various well thought-out novels and philosophy books. In a way, it's basically a fanfiction of multiple series.
>The novel has been discontinued due to the author getting caught plagiarizing massively.
>The author plagiarized a lot of his writing (i.e. he's literally taken the words of other authors word-by-word). This includes works by Friedrich Nietzsche, Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka, Walter Benjamin, Charles Baudelaire, and Hwang Ji-u.
>He's also taken ideas from 12 other authors, which includes Emmanuel Kant, Shakespeare, etc; 4 other authors he's taken ideas from but modified slightly (these include George R.R. Martin, Nietzche, etc.)
>For example, in chapter 25, the magician that appears in the story gives a lecture. The author directly admitted that the content of this lecture comes from an 1860 speech by Karl Ernst von Baer, which he got from the translated version of Nietzche's work, <Die vorplatonischen Philosophen>. But, the same chapter has a near word-for-word line from Neitzche's Zarathustra, but the author did not mention that. This is only one example of many.
>A lot of "good quality writing" and philosophical thoughts/writing is literal plagiarism of other people's writing.

>>22314289
Love me some schizo stories, those are the best ones
Fantasy is unironically elevated in status hugely because of schizo writers with strange metaphysical systems and views, they are beautiful and should be nurtured

Books that feel like Akira, Scanners, Black Magic? Cool military stuff, killer cyborgs, psychic powers. Not looking for "military scifi".

>>22314116
>Meanwhile the West are more autism centering their entire novels around worldbuilding even if their works are unoriginal and lack innovation. I feel they overlook the human emotion aspects in their stories.
It's because they get into fantasy literature after playing fantasy-themed games.

>>22312961
The Dark Eidolon
The Fortress Unvanquishable

>>22312175
Whetstone is a free S&S magazine you can download in PDF, but since it's part of the (((New Edge))) S&S movement some of the stories are probably pozzed as fuck.
https://whetstonemag.blogspot.com/

>>22314645
>Oh no he's PLAGIARIZING from Neitztche
>He stole my ideas about philosophy!
Why are Koreans insane? I really liked that series.

>>22314347
>Just read Juruselum man trilogy by Gemmell instead

>>22311437
The problems with traditional publishing should be able to be avoided by self-publishing, but they can't be, because of Amazon killing the self-publishing market.

>>22311055
I've bought self published books before. Most of the ones I buy though are traditionally published.

>>22314414

>>22312913
>>22312905
your """reviews""" are SHIT
FUCK OFF

>>22314645
Is this the sad penis and rancid loli farts LN?

>>22314673
Based.

Any book with a (male) chubby protagonist that doesn't hate himself ?

>>22314882
Radix

>>22314799
To be fair Amazon doesn't want it's bookstore to be filled with shit load of half-assed books.

What if someone writes something incomplete or directions how to make a bomb?

>>22314645
Koreans not being utter fucking insane challenge (impossible)

>>22314926
>To be fair Amazon doesn't want it's bookstore to be filled with shit load of half-assed books.
That's apparently literally what they want. If you are not putting out a book every month the algorithm makes sure you're never seen by potential new readers. Even if you do release a book every month you'll be swamped by the ghostfarms that crank one out every week. They absolutely want quantity over quality.
>What if someone writes something incomplete or directions how to make a bomb?
People upload copy/pasted ripoffs of popular books all the time and get away with it until they are mass reported. I wouldn't be shocked if bomb and gas weapon recipes get hidden in a book now and then.

>>22314882
Herbie Popnecker

>>22314803
this sounds awesome. Thanks

What would be the a good name for a fictional idealogy that roughly corresponds with anarchism? I'm thinking "aseemblism"?

>>22314926
>amazon
>morality
luhmao

>>22310542
So you wrote underland? Good. I liked it minus the breadtube-tier political commentary.

>>22314602
The villain who robbed the heroines (KR, protag is a complete lunatic who rapes and abuses his wife and mistresses)
Pure love x insult complex (JP, straight up rape and degeneracy fantasy with minimal plot)
Both don't rely on hypnosis or stuff like that, but there's heavy blackmail

>>22315002
just stop

>>22314116
>prioritizing melodrama and romance
That is exactly what I don't want in sff novels. That is one of the big things that ruins sci-fi.

>overlook the human emotion aspects in their stories.
Go read a romance novel then. I want world-building, exploration, discovery, technology, etc. right at the front, screw that human emotion crap.

>>22314203
The ones that have stuck with me... Soulship definitely, score aside it's just very conceptually interesting if poorly executed. Reverend Insanity pairing its Gu with Daoist philosophy and creating historical idioms for its world was presently fantastically, if not escalated too fast. Retribution Engine was also pretty great, I liked the evolution of both weapons and skills along with how the MCs applied them. That one has stuck with me in particular. All The Skills is fantastic in concept but the author goes too far with the dragon plotline, instead of card collecting... Forge of Destiny was fantastically written and presented but it's vote-by-council nature lead the story not to go anywhere.

Out of all of them I'd say Retribution Engine and Lord of the Mysteries have stuck with me and push a sense of hype during the read. DCC and Cradle go without saying, as I find these to be the best entry level stories in their respective sub-genres. Solid systems that inform and empower the character writing.

>>22314414
Christian: Stephen Lawhead, Mary Stewart, Julian May.
Buddhist: Sean Russell, Dennis Schmidt, David Zindell.

>>22313820
See >>22311921

>>22315061
>Reverend Insanity pairing its Gu with Daoist philosophy and creating historical idioms for its world was presently fantastically, if not escalated too fast
You ain't seen nothing yet, new shit was still being introduced thousands of chapters later. The tales of Ren Zu could literally be an entire standalone book.

I don't read books with female protags because I can't self insert as a girl
What do? Self inserting makes fantasy way more fun

>>22315135
I have read so many books with female protag that would be better with male protag

Men please stopping writing women protags

>>22314978
You're welcome, fren :3

>>22314656
I was about to rec you a book that you couldn't read. I apologize.

>>22315027
It's not meant to be like a politically motivated thing, I just want to explore how an anarchistic society could work out (if it can), warts and all, in a constructed world.

>>22315159
no. Mai waifu deserves a story.

>>22314926
>To be fair Amazon doesn't want it's bookstore to be filled with shit load of half-assed books.
Then they shouldn't offer self-publishing services in the first place. Or else should've created a subsidiary service for them.

>>22315400
I can see a subsidiary. /wg/ has made some decent self-published books

>>22315362
It can work out any way you want it to - you're the one writing it. There's no way to simulate it in a way that would correspond to the real world. Why do you need a word or phrase? Just use one of the anarchist terms that already exist. Mutualism, Horizontalism, voluntarism, and many more.

>>22315135
Though I hate women, I don't understand why people have to self insert or relate to the character.

Can tolkien orcs breed human women?

>>22315800
Just be confident bro, you'll get there.

>>22310396
Finally finished reading all of his books and it is top tier popcorn fiction.

Best read during flights or in long car rides.

Do any of the other FR book series get as good as this? I've already read the Twilight War trilogy and that was pretty good.

>>22315834
Did you read all Salvatore or just Jizzt? I remember appreciating that the Cleric Quintet did just what it set out to (make the cleric class engaging).

>>22315842
>Did you read all Salvatore or just Jizzt
Drizzt only.

I never heard of Cleric Quintet but after googling it, it does sound interesting. Same author too so I'm pretty sure I'll like it.

>>22315834
People like War of the Spider Queen. Salvatore didn't write any of them but he supervised them

>>22315834
You read all the 40 or something Drizzt? What about the Entreri ones that eventually became their own series but were originally part of the Drizzt series. Some of the Cleric Quintet characters later joined the Drizzt series. Then I think there was some later other spin-offs.

>>22315834
Brimstone angels is really good DnD.if you liked drizzts perspective as someone from an "evil" race then you'll love the two tiefling twins and their dragonborn friend.

I read around 120 Forgotten Realms novels, which wasn't even half of them. I'd have to look how many there are.

>>22315861
>You read all the 40 or something Drizzt?
All of them, including the Enteri spin offs

>some of the cleric quintet characters
when I googled anons suggestion I did recognize the characters

https://www.tor.com/2023/07/27/what-do-we-want-from-the-bookish-internet/
What do we want from /sffg/?

>>22315890
I read pic related too but never got to the second book in the finders stone (I chose Drizzt over it. More books)

>>22315895
cute female MC that gets beat up

Some of the last remaining sff magazines may die off because Amazon is no longer allowing subscriptions to them in a couple months. A few chosen ones will be allowed into Kindle Unlimited. Also Twitter dying is causing a lot of problems for the magazines.
https://twitter.com/michaeldthomas/status/1683153127904628737

>>22315895
I want more isekai/system/rebirth stories but written by actual authors.

Also I want true edgy main characters who actually are despicable and commit horrendous crimes.

>>22315909
>>22315901
/sffg/, the general, not sff, the books.

>>22315485
Concerning the name, I think it may too contrived if I just used a name present in this world, given this setting is constructed and has a different history and all that. I suppose it's probably not too much of a problem however and I'm splitting hairs.

>>22315905
Imagine linking to a faggot who has pronouns in his bio. Fuck off.

>>22315917
my demands still stand. I want /ssfg/ to feature cute FMCs that get beat up.

>>22315895
People who read books and less shitposters
A bit more of woman hate too just in case

>>22315936
He's the guy who runs Uncanny Magazine. It was relevant.

>>22315909
>I want more isekai/system/rebirth stories
what the fuck is wrong with you

>>22315960
He's a fucking retard who only wants a twitter alternative because he's a woke queer.

>>22315928
If you keep going down that path you'll start questioning things like: is it okay to use this proper noun or words in general. Can I use the days of the week, or even week? Months? What about the names of numbers, or even the number system itself. How similar to Earth is this planet? Why why why how how joa.

>>22315969
He's arguing against going elsewhere and lamenting the state of the site because all alternatives are failures
So, no, he doesn't want one.

>>22315909
>Also I want true edgy main characters who actually are despicable and commit horrendous crimes.
Just read japanese webnovels lmfao

>>22315976
More like webnoveld in general.

>>22315940
Here.

>>22315909
>Also I want true edgy main characters who actually are despicable and commit horrendous crimes.
Here.

>>22316044
I've read another book by this same author (Eldest Throne, which I'm half-convinced is just "guy watched Bleach once and got inspired") so I'm honestly wondering what sort of series that War Eternal even is.

>>22316051
>>22316044
>>22311229
>le bad ass stands with weapon looking cool while monster or something hovers over
It's all so tiresome

>>22316057
I think you're thinking of a different author. He doesn't have a book or series with that title.

I've only read book 1 but War Eternal is a memoir style book about the MC's life as she becomes the ruler. The entire book is about her imprisonment in and escape from a DKR-style prison. She spends a lot of book 1 getting the shit kicked out of her.

>>22316080
Oh yeah I am confusing him for another author entirely. He did do a progression fantasy thing recently, Titan Hoppers, that's what I was thinking of. They tend to blur together sometimes, the authors.
I thought that was... Fine? I dunno. His writing style was purely just 'competent', it didn't stand out to me all that much and that I already forget most of the main characters despite reading both books only a couple months ago now (I think) doesn't exactly sell me on the author.

>>22314781
>>22314952
You can't imagine how let down I felt. I had genuinely believed that Dungeon Defense was one of the best fantasy novels because of how the author could skillfully write mature philosophical themes. Then I later discovered that the author copied word-for-word from past philosophers. Nevertheless I think DD is still a novel that's worth giving a read.
>>22315060
Have you ever seen a K-drama before? Some of them are actually pretty good and have meaningful themes they try to convey. Think about the movie "Parasite" but imagine it in a fantasy world, many modern Korean novels explore drama in a similar way. The world-building, exploration, discovery, technology, etc. are still there, sometimes they are the main themes (admittedly they aren't as good as your favorite sff novels) sometimes they provide backdrops for the drama and personally those books are quite good.

>>22314656
Brian Lumley's Psychotron has this. His Necroscope series is basically "psychic spies versus vampires" as well, if you're into that sort of thing.

>>22315895
>This is not a post about twitter
>proceeds to whine about twitter the entire time
Why do these people care so much about who owns their social media?

>>22316262
You wouldn't care at all who owns 4chan regardless of who it was and what they did to the site?

>>22316230
>the author copied word-for-word from past philosophers
So did all those past philosophers!

>>22313432

>'action' scene in story
>skim through it
Anyone else do this? 'Action' in a book has become the most boring thing to me now for the most part.

>>22316446
I don't skim them, but too much simple action without anything else going on makes me drop books like no other.

>>22315060
>I want world-building, exploration, discovery, technology, etc. right at the front, screw that human emotion crap.
JP/KR authors can worldbuild but they tend to lean towards the harem fanservice genre due to market appeal. Even in most generic JP harem trash series I can find reasonably crafted world-building. For instance, picrel the MC has 9 wives, the gimmick is that he has a smartphone granting him access to the modern Internet in a fantasy world.

Finished gardens of the moon last night, it's a decent read. I got lost at times on occasion throughout, especially towards the end with the azath and galayn demon moments. Is it worth continueing to read this or are the rest of the books more or less the same? Does it get better or should I move on and tackle the rest of my bucket list?

>>22316253
Thanks. I've read some of his cthulu stuff, it was ok.

>>22316551
It gets better.
Gardens is pretty much just the introduction to the series.
Book 2 happens almost completely on a different continent with mostly new cast.
It may seem a bit confusing at first but trust me the payoff is well worth it.

>>22316551
GotM is always difficult because it's both setting the foundation while reading like something in the middle of the series expecting you to just roll with the punches. No other book in the series is written like that. Azath House will specifically get expanded upon, for example.

>>22316564
>It gets better.
Great to hear
>Book 2 happens almost completely on a different continent with mostly new cast.
Yeah I noticed that from the blurb
>>22316571
Ok, you and the anon I quoted above have convinced me

>>22316314
Chinkmoot took over 4chan, made a bunch of stupid decisions, started selling user data, and rebranded the site to 4channel. And I'm still here. So I guess not.

>>22316564
>Book 2 happens almost completely on a different continent with mostly new cast.
That's literally every book in the entire series. It's the "multiple PoV characters" meme notched up to 11, every book almost completely replaced the primary cast, completely throws out the plot and starts over. It's awful. Erikson's approach to character development is to give a character a book, cut off their development halfway through, then reintroduce them 3 books later as a ninja/archmage/super saiyan. It's awful.

>>22316930
That didn't really change all that much. It'd be more like closing all the red boards, having site-wide user IDs based on IP addresses, requiring a 4chan pass for full functionality/unlimited usage, and much stricter moderation. All in the hopes of getting more advertisers and profits.

It could even be something like how Reddit CEO Steve Huffman recently said: "It's time we grow up and behave like an adult company" and much else.

Hey has anyone read Book of the New Sun lately? Can someone explain to me what the war was about? I mean overall I guess it was a generic future war used a plot device, but at some point Severian questions where the enemy comes from and what they want, and they're described as human but with a weird, uncanny "fake" appearance. Is it one of those things that's left open to interpretation? Or does it come up in Book of the Long/Short Suns?

>>22317260
so go to r*ddit, why are you even here

>>22317301
The Megatherians (Erebus/Abaia/etc.) want to stop the coming of the New Sun and they know that the Autarch is involved in that situation, hence war.

Asians come from North America and cloning might be involved.

>>22317322
>>22317301
also the ascians are commie Koreans or something who have no soul and come from 1984 world

>>22315834
Blades of the moon sea is alright. Same guy that did twilight war.

Ursula Le Guin is such a great writer. IAnyone else like her?

>>22310396
they ruined it man...

>>22317682
She wrote the worst short story of all time.

>>22317761
Which was?

>>22317874
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

>>22317711
Ruined what? I referenced like 6 different things in the OP.

>>22317923
the anime

Why wasn't DUNE very good?

>>22317930
Yeah? I'm in the middle of the second season currently, and it's really good. As much as I complained about the dumb assassin kid protagonist, I would still say the show is very good.

>>22317910
For you anyway.

>>22310519
I dropped the first book when they started singing as a form of protest. Is this actually good or is it leftist dribble?

>>22317936
Because it didn't suit your preferences as a result of your life experiences.

>>22317939
What's good about it? Mc turned into a simp, he may also have brain damage and turned into an idiot. I hear third season hes gonna go full retard.

>>22310758
Gays should be banned from media. Homosexuality in media adds nothing to the plot 99% of the time. Unfortunately we don’t live in a just society

>>22317952
What does heterosexuality add?

>>22312913
Cradle should be at the top of that list. What the fuck are you on?

>>22314347
based not many people know about that.

>>22314414
licinuous trilogy - Christian

>>22317952
Media is a jewish trick, its irrelevant if it has gays or not, if you consume media then you are a retard.
Books with jewish and progressive influences should be tagged as such to make it easier to avoid them.

>>22317942
I stopped reading after the first trilogy but it doesn’t really sway politically other than to make a point that caste systems are bad. If it’s lefty schlock, it doesn’t even do that well considering it continually makes the point the gold ubermensch are better in every conceivable way from the other colors. They bought the film rights like a decade ago and didn’t even bother trying to make the movie during the hunger games hype because it was impossible to hide all the racism.

>>22317960
More children for faggots like you to abuse for one.

>>22317966
Cradle had good few good moments but otherwise it's cucked garbage.

>>22316051
Fuck that shit was awful. Clearly an author self insert

>>22317951
You'll understand when you're older.
The MC was always an idiot. How did you not see it sooner?
Season 1 was loaded with failure after failure. But, so far, 11 episodes into season 2, at least Thorfinn understands how much he's fucked up, and plans to do better. So finally, there's some character growth. It's interesting to see how far a man can fall, before he can find redemption.

>>22317941
For everyone. It's the worst post-modernist garbage imaginable.

>>22317966
Bloodline was genuinely terrible and Dreadgod was a rushed mess without a real conclusion. The series peaked with Uncrowned and Wintersteel, diminishing returns from there. Why, what are your thoughts?

>>22317960
Family.

>>22317910
That story was fine.

opinions on this?
I am almost done reading this, felt like shounen anime by the end of the and Kip getting le epic power ups during city siege

>>22317992
I didn’t like the ending and the one (can’t remember which it was) where they first go back to sacred valley was bad but the writing style and characters are worlds above anything written by an irl bugman.

>>22317986
His character growth is trash. At the end of season 1 he was almost best buddies with the prince, I don't know what happened and how he ended up as slave (probably more of his idiotic character growth) but he is truly a cucked character, one of the most cucked that I have seen in anime in a long time. His character growth reflects everything that is bad with modern male culture, people who produced that manga should be shot.

>>22318002
That's Dreadgod and Bloodline, both entries that tow down the characters and pigeon hole their development. Lindon was amazingly written and realized by Wintersteel, yet they turn him into a quieter and more rational version of Eithan to fill in the gap he left. Completely denied him any real character moments in the finale, outside of providing a happy ending. The character writing is fine but there's a HUGE arc and tone shift after Wintersteel that railroads everyone. EVERYONE.

>>22317992
>Uncrowned and Wintersteel
Weird way to spell Ghostwater and Underlord.

>>22317997
No it wasn't.

>>22317991
Nah, you simply haven't read worse. There's far worse. There's no need to talk about them though.

>>22318025
Ghostwater is the early peak. Uncrowned and Wintersteel is the top of the mountain. Bloodline was a sheer cliff face drop into the ocean.

>>22310396
Are there any genuinely decent D&D books out there?

>>22317942
If you get past the first 50 pages or so that dumb shit goes away and makes way for what is a pretty enjoyable mashup of Ender's Game, Lord of the Flies, and Hunger Games. I'm almost done with book three and that first section of book 1 almost made me drop the book. It's not leftist drivel at all unless you think trying to overthrow an autocratic dictator is leftist.

>>22317982
Oh definitely. Easily the worst book I've read this year, but it's also exactly what anon asked for.

>>22318005
>At the end of season 1 he was almost best buddies with the prince
WHAT?! No he wasn't. They had like 1 good meal together before tragedy struck. They never really connected. The prince wasn't even aware of the depths of Thorfinn's hatred. There's this part where one of the characters asks why Thorfinn is angry, and the prince responds "didn't ask". The one thing Thorfinn cares about, the prince didn't even bother asking about.

And then of course Thorfinn ends up a slave, for reasons that I can't say in this thread, because it's far too spoilery. But suffice it to say, he fucked up real bad at the end of Season 1. How do you come back from that? You're probably used to other stories where the powerful person waves their hand and dismisses all the terrible things a person has done. But think for a minute. How is it possible to come back from that fuck up? He can't. Slavery was the only option for him.

>Blah blah modern male culture
You can't even follow the narrative, that's why you don't understand how things shook out the way they did. How are you anything near what the model male should be?

>dat feel when reading this shit
Aside from everyone being written like a Marvel character devoid of any defining characteristics beyond constant quipping, did it really need former boss character drama? How do you waste such a great premise?

>>22318012
Mostly agreed but I feel there was a cool character moment at the end with the relief and joy he feels when he can finally let loose and just fight the dread gods, being worn down trying to pull his friends along to get close to his level the entire book.

>>22316051
>>22317982
Fuck you all I thoroughly enjoyed it. It did help I read the trilogy when I was like 12 and a fan of edgelord shit.

>>22318045
thanks anon I may give it another try.

>>22318049
The fuck happened to Scalzi? This and Red Shirts was some of the worst garbage I ever read. I remembered enjoying Old Man's War and Ghost Brigade quite a bit.

>>22318057
It was a fine moment, the finale is mostly good there's just... not enough there. I described it as a solid grilled cheese sandwich in my review, iirc. Rush to the end and into some higher universe that I swear is sequel bait for a Reaper Squadron series.

>>22317991
What's wrong with post-modernist garbage?

>>22318062
>not enough there
That’s the best way to put it.

I will never read another book by this insufferable faggot ever again. I don’t care how well he writes anything else, this series alone is my line in the sand. The first book was immaculate. Just a simple story about a crippled disabled prince being betrayed by his family for being disabled and having to get his kingdom back. The second and third books should have Abercrombie hanging from a cross. He just abandoned the main character from the first novel, the actual interesting one with character growth and relegated him to the back of the bus. He goes full dipshit and just introduces a Mary Sue with no development whose only motivation is basically “am stronk woman, I’ll be the bestest warrior because the men say I can’t.” She never fails and only gets more powerful until she’s essentially an unkillable god, all while the crippled main character kind of exists in the background. The author then pulls the “hahah jk this fantasy world is actually post apocalyptic earth in the future!” Trope out of his ass when nothing ever remotely hinted at that. I’m not a pretend tough guy, but by the end of the third book was the first time other than reading a King book where I’ve thought about finding the author and taking a bat to his legs.

>>22318034
Uncrowned is when he vocalized churning out a new book every six months for max relevancy and profit, and is why we got an unfinished mess.

>>22318058
I like edgy shit too anon, but Prince of Thorns was just stupid. There's no meat to it, it's like the author's only goal was to make a list of bad shit and say that the main character did everything on the list.

>>22318044
If you have to ask, then, for you, probably not.

>>22318093
Damn, I could have made a good "more like Unfinished" joke here.

>>22318089
Somehow I find the post apocalyptic plot twist to be a bigger offence than the foid warrior

>>22318062
Scalzi simply lived long enough to betray every value he ever held that’s all. He realized he isn’t getting any more awards in sci-fi as an old white dude if he didn’t play ball and instead of retiring with dignity, he turned whore.

>>22318089

OK. 1 out of 10 or 0 out of 10? Finally score?

>>22318058
Try Joe Abercrombie for relatively good edgelord shit. Key word relatively

>>22318089
That's what you get for reading his YA series.

>>22318107
But not >>22318089 apparently.
(I only read the first law series)

>>22318103
>He realized he isn’t getting any more awards in sci-fi as an old white dude if he didn’t play ball and instead of retiring with dignity, he turned whore.
this might be the perfect explanation as that's exactly how kaiju preservation society reads like. modern garbage with enough boxes checked to get noticed. big sad.

>>22318095
Bah I don’t believe it. No author would have a weird list that says the mc has to meet hellboy but not really for ip reasons as a character, then proceed to nuke hellboy for the lulz…alright you might be onto something. If it helps the sequel trilogy is a lot less edgy because it follows a comic relief character.

>>22318105
First book-8/10
Second book-1/10
Final book-question your faith in god/10

>>22316051
>>22318058
>>22318095
I read that series ages ago. Frankly I found the MCs shenanigans hilarious. Also the first post apocalyptic fantasy that I read and it was the main draw of the story for me.

>>22318103
Is this essentially the same thing that happened to Steven King?

>>22318128

Why would someone start so strong and then end up in the garbage?

>>22318089
>>22316051
Both these did the “it’s actually just future earth thing.” It’s funny the edgy one actually did it well by building up to it, the other was a complete ass pull.

>>22318034
>>22318093
I don't think the quality of Cradle changes significantly from book to book. Will Wight is a very consistent writer.
Most of his characters are pretty basic and tropey. I don't think he has much to say. He just wants to write cool anime-esque fiction. And that's what you got with Cradle from beginning to end. I think perhaps you expected more from the story. Perhaps you saw potential that wasn't there.

>>22318138
Like I said the first book actually had a compelling character, he was crippled and somewhat useless and his cunning was the only way he could get anything. He became a background prop for a Mary Sue in the second book. I actually think he became the villain for retarded reasons by the last one.

>>22318135
No, king realized he could write the same book 50 times in a cocaine fueled haze and for some reason idiots gobbled it up. Hustling rubes is different than selling out.

>>22318093
>>22318097
If that's true then it explains a lot. He'd have had competent notes for Wintersteel and then go by the seat of his pants. Perhaps shared universes are a BAD idea sometimes... he Sanderson'd himself into a shit show. I see the legs of the joke too and laughed regardless, so I'm giving it to you.

>>22318151
Maybe? Having too high of expectation for something so significant in the genre doesn't seem like a bad problem to have. You can structure a world and a story's escalation coherently while also having cool anime-esque fiction, that was clear by the intrigue he generated with the Akuras and Malive until she's wasted.

>>22318175
>If that's true then it explains a lot
I'm 99% sure there's some blogpost on his website that went into this.

is there any book with greek mythology?! something like asoiaf. percy jackson is for kids!!!!! :(

>>22318177
https://www.willwight.com/a-blog-of-dubious-intent/wintersteel-new-strategy

Even LESS time than 6 months. Ouch.

>>22318185
Gemmell's Troy series is more historical fiction than fantasy, but it's good.

>>22318175
>Perhaps shared universes are a BAD idea sometimes
I'm still butthurt he dropped Traveler's Gate. He even wrote a lot of short stories in that world, which showed that he was interested AND produced extra content, with little effort--he even wrote a Cradle short story, but now it's over.
>>22318192
There's so much in there that just makes me shake my head. No point to even bother these years later.

>>22318103
Scalzi has been the epitome of the commercial SF writer that does whatever will make money and have people like him from his first publication. He hasn't changed at all.

Dear anons talking about Vinland Saga, are you unaware it's a historical series?
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorfinn_Karlsefni

Christian authors writing dark fantasy is sooo much better than your average grimderp writer who only wants to write shock value and subversion.

>>22318185
Percy Jackson is GOAT and anyone who claims otherwise is a complete faggot.

>>22310396
Why is Steven Erickson so goddamn depressing? He writes wonderful action scenes but my god does his dark stuff just make me want to put down the books sometimes.

Does anyone know of a lighter Epic Fantasy series I can read to support my read through of the Kharkanas trilogy?

>>22318047
The narrative is shit, I followed the narrative in season 1, in season 2 he turned into an idiot, I am not going to follow an idiot

>>22318323
Probably shouldn't ever read about the life of Miyamoto Musashi then, or read Vagabond.

>>22318323
How can you say he "turned" into an idiot? What does that even entail? The entirety of Season 1, is him being a giant violent fuck up. An idiot.

>>22318337
Renouncing violence is as idiotic as it comes. Pacificism is for the weakest of males, which they are in name only.

>>22318343
>Wasting 11 years of your youth chasing vengences = good representation of male culture.
>Loving your foes as much as your friends, and doing all you can to preserve life = bad representation of male culture.
That's really all it comes down to for you? Dagger fight good? Peace bad cucked?

>>22318300
It shouldn't be dark. It is should be uplifting. You have the wrong idea.

>>22318365
"Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

>>22318381
Ooga booga doo, booga doo ooga, doo ooga booga, booga ooga doo.

>>22318314
percy jackson had trannies and gays. Miss me with that abomination shit

>>22318300
>Christian authors writing dark fantasy
obligatory
this dude writes some surprisingly dark stuff that peeks its head out every once in a while
>book where guy goes around raping other dudes and little boys with the help of a demonic thrall
>protag of book that trilogy is in loses his waifu after he infiltrated a cannibal's lair and tortured their leader to death after snapping
>protag's new waifu gets her head crushed in
>protag of a set of short stories loses his parents to a raid then later becomes a servant of an immortal sorcerer against his will until supernatural happenings free him

>>22318373
You are literally retarded.

>>22318406
That matters not because grace is for all.

>>22318408
Not for retards like you. You go to special retard hell.

>>22318404
Begone, satanic author!

>>22318413
His wife and dog died in the same year, and he hasn't wrote anything in that 'shared universe' since then (2014). He still writes a lot of other stuff, mostly weird urban short stories.

>>22317998
>Brent weeks
absolutely do not read his works ever
I guess the initial world building might be interesting but the story gets so convoluted that a PoV character from the first book literally turns out to be someone's schizo delusion, asspulls all over the place, and the series literally ends with a deus ex machina
If you ever had the misfortune to read his night angel works, you'll realize this is probably just as bad or worse

>>22318411
I shall pray for you.

>>22318427
While you're burning in a lake of retard fire in special retard hell.

>>22318432
Blessed be the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

>>22318441
Special retard earth.

OP here. I only made the thread to ask the question in the OP. I won't bother making the next thread. So if you want the general to carry on, one of you will have to do it.
You know the drill, wait until page 10 before making a new thread.

>>22318501
Kys

>>22318089
damn. Glad I never picked this shit up. Disgusting

>>22318424
>If you ever had the misfortune to read his night angel works, you'll realize this is probably just as bad or worse
Night Angel was decent desu. I mean, it was the platonic ideal of 'decent american style fantasy' series, with some weird elements and so-so ending, but it was decent. The Prism Series however I dropped after the third book due to the reviews of the later books.

Unfortunately, the author has been befallen by a dire condition oft found in schizo authors - he found God. And now everything he writes relates to that. Convertites are the fucking worst, the raised religious authors are just quirky, but those that get religious later on inevitably turn into unsufferable fags. That's just how it is.

>>22318089
This series was mid, that's true. It was so mid I only remember the plot of the first book and the end of the third, which is a rare ocurrence for me.
Still, his other books are good. The First Law series keeps the quality until the end, his stand-alone books in the same universe are also decent.
Alas, the author suffers from being too edgy and gritty for edginess and grittiness sake. He makes up for that in storytelling and writing quality, though.

His other flaw is being too much of a muh progressive, in that weird unnerving way of a liveral guy who tries too hard.

Like, he wrote a book with a lesbian protagonist and he had to reference it all the time, with lines like:
"She was good at picking the locks, Gods knew she was better with holes than the keys."

If I were a lesbian woman I'd cringe inside-out upon reading this. It's been many years since I read it and I still remember cringing, even as a boy in my late teens.

>>22318501
I would love nothing more than a month without /sffg/ to clear some of the riffraff.

>>22319119
You'd be out with them, and all the better for you and everyone else.

>>22316518
is the anime adaptation of that any good?

>>22318933
Gene Wolfe was a convert.

>>22319190
You should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking about consuming that shit

I've read:
>ASoIaF
>Kingkiller Chronicles
>Dropped Eye of the world

Is it just me or is ASoIaF FAR above these two? The other two get praised a alot but they both seemed to be pretty immaturely written to me.

KC was at least somewhat compelling despite being wish being moslty wish fulfilment

>>22319237
>Is it just me or is ASoIaF FAR above these two?
This is like comparing turd sandwiches; yea the turd sandwich with only a couple of turds is better than the turd sandwiches with dozens of turds, but they're all turd sandwiches.

>>22319237
>The other two get praised a alot
by who? Retards?
It's all shit compared to Vance, Wolfe, Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, etc

>>22313820
Nah it’s disappointing

>>22319248
>by who? Retards?
Yeah, I guess.

>>22319245
I think Martin did a pretty good job all things considered. There's nothing in partiuclar that stands out to me as being bad or poorly written in ASoIaF, there's some meme lines which get posted but I've never felt bothered by them much.

>>22319225
I enjoy edgy self-insert wish fufillment trash honestly

I’m unironically looking forward to Classroom of the Elite Season 3

>>22319152
Yes? Oh no I won't be able to discuss books that I already can't discuss. Oh no my book discussion posts that are already ignored will continue to be ignored in favor of casuals and their mainstream taste.

Make a new thread, assholes.

>>22319336
but have you heard about a little known niche author named george r r martin?????

>>22319371

>>22319258
>nothing in partiuclar that stands out to me as being bad or poorly written in ASoIaF
Not even the ending?

>>22319258
>what I disagree with is a meme
typical germ fan

>>22318381
oh, so you're a r*dditor in denial, of course.