/lit/ - Literature

Bakker is King

just wanted to say fuck you to this guy again

I am afraid of strong women in fantasy.

What are the top 3 or top Science Fiction/Fantasy books released this year? The only thing I've read is the first chapter of Theft of Fire and that is because it was recommended by a guy I follow on twitter

>>22787449
I just hate women in fiction.

>>22787460
>some blonde mixed ni****er, tranny and homo soijack fastman on the cover
Thanks but No Thanks.

>>22787463
I like women in fiction when they're the prize

>What was the last book you finished?
>What book are you currently reading?
>What book do you plan to read next?

>>22787448
I'm not sorry and yes I'm probably the guy you're talking about

>>22787400
>Saturday edition.
>12/03/23(Sun)
you had one job man

>>22787479
>Last
Mistress of the Empire by Feist and Wurtz, 6/6 stars.
It wasn't as good as the first two but the focus on showing the character growth from the other two books into a bittersweet and satisfying conclusion made it an enjoyable read. I especially enjoyed everything that came after she travels to the other countries.
>Current
The Darkness That Comes Before by Bakker.
So far, Bakker might actually be king. I'm liking this book a lot. Looking forward to reading the rest.
>Next
The rest of The Second Apocalypse, but after those I want to read either The Expanse or The Coldfire Trilogy.

>>22787488
Damn

I accidentally read a series written by a woman once. Won't be making that mistake again.

>>22787513
the worst is when they pretend to be not-women

>>22787479
>I'm not sorry
That's a good thing, but I still want to call those books you shilled shitty

>edited by: GEORGE R. R. MARTIN

>>22787479
>Last
The Cosmic Puppets and Martial World - A Light in the Dark.
>Current
Solar Lottery, Mirai Nikki, and Ryuu no Mishi.
>Next
As always, I never know. Maybe another Dick. Maybe I'll finish the Martial World book I'm on since it is the penultimate.

>>22787400
!SFFG.n1h7M here. As previously posted. here's a poll about my unfinished series reading and writing priorities in 2024. I'll be focusing on completing series and reading what's been released of ongoing series next year.
https://strawpoll.com/NoZr36JaGy3
The why is the same as ever, why not? I considered making this a ranked poll or using a likert scale, but neither of those would work out well. I may or may not post this again and at the middle and end of the month.

>>22787479
>What was the last book you finished?
A Knight of Valora: Serenity
>What book are you currently reading?
>What book do you plan to read next?
Nothing right now, but I'll probably pick up another/wg/ book for the hell of it. Let's see what retards here write.

>>22787513
Earth sea is fucking great

>>22787644
>using a likert scale
psychfag me: :O

>>22787463
Andy weir artemis was terrible.

i just finished Grendel, it's great, captivating, but i think i didn't understand half of it. i figure i should read Beowulf next, no? have you guys read it, what do you think? do you recommend any translation in particular?

>>22787513
i purposely read a book written by a woman once. didn't even try the rest of the series

>>22787932
>i purposely read a book written by a woman
I am so sorry, anon

>>22787648
I thought it was pretty boring and shallow
only read it until where he got invited into some castle and witch appeared making fun of him for some stupid reason

>>22787927
>do you recommend any translation in particular?
Heaney's and then Tolkien's for a good introduction.
>have you guys read it, what do you think?
Reading it along with the Poetic Genesis (A&B) made me start learning Old English, so I think it's pretty good.

>>22787479
Currently on book 4 of wheel of time, so the one before was 3rd and the next one will be book 5. Pretty comfy read so far. Was reading age of madness before that, it was decent, but i honestly hated most of the new characters

>>22787475
based and conanpilled

>>22787644
>stormlight
Haven't you read it? I'm absolutely sure you did

>>22788058
There will be a new book at the end of the year, most likely. Also, I just wanted to include it to see how many votes it would receive.

>>22787644
I wonder what kind of brain rot could be caused by reading so much fantasy.

I know this exact picture was posted on the last thread but I'm not that anon.
Does this dude ever stops being a wet fucking noodle? I'm at the end of book 1, it's okay but it's not wowing me.

The main character spends most of the book apologizing to various people and rarely actually gets to do anything (may also be a pacing issue IDK, the entire middle part of the book has nothing going on). I don't need him to be a super badass hero but does he stop being a little bitch? If i wanted to witness that shit I'd just live my life instead of reading books.

>>22788141
>I wonder what kind of brain rot could be caused by reading so much modern progressive fantasy

>>22788141
The majority are SF, at least by how I tend to define it.

>>22788145
Who and what are the best non-progressive, however you prefer to define that, fantasy series and authors?

>>22788158
Bakker

I read women authors on purpose because they are sometimes good, and I lucked out finding good ones

statistically I've kept a greater amount of books by women authors than male authors in proportion to the total amounts of books I read, however that's because there are far fewer female authors in the first place, so the raw amount of bad ones is obviously less than the discrete number of terrible male authors
the worst female authors I've read are Marion Zimmer Bradley (one of the few times I ever stopped reading a book that I started it was so bad, you can actually feel that the woman is a disgusting evil pedophile just by reading her prose) and Elizabeth Moon (who is just painfully boring)
the best female authors I ever read was Baroness Emmunska Orczy, the woman who invented the superhero genre in 1905 with The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Doranna Durgin, who convinced me that men having sex with their female horses is a good thing

of course I have more books by men overall because men are better at writing generally and have a longer tradition of success at it

what are some good constraints to put on a dungeon core? doesn't need to be fancy, just functional at keeping the dungeon core from being a semi god. making a dungeon core fic

Since we're talking about women authors, what do you guys think about this series? I'm in the market for a new space opera to read and saw this one.

This book is fucking great. I'm surprised more authors haven't tried to style their fantasy books on the old medieval epic poems.

I mean, it could be a lot better. It has some shortcomings, for sure, but overall I quite like it.

>>22788141
>I wonder what kind of brain rot could be caused by reading so much fantasy
Nothing will happen, it's just a story. I forgot pretty much almost everything from all the fantasy books I've read.

>>22788193
I have no problem with women author, but I don't read female protagonist.

More like George R. R. Fartin

>>22788193
Been a while since i read her books. but i really liked j.v. jones. Shame she probably will never finish her series

>>22788226
I've only read her newest series "Devoured World"
I really liked the whole series. Didn't expect to enjoy it when I figured there would be a romance focus, but I did.
It has a couple of relatively novel SciFi ideas, and some all-time classic ones, then spend most of the book exploring those, rather than introducing thousand different concepts, probably the smart thing to do.

That series you could 100% tell was written by a woman.
Most other female authors I've read, I couldn't have guessed.

>>22788241
Any reason why? If the girl isn't written as a boy with tits I think it's fine

>book one of x
Does the standalone even exist as a concept still?

>>22788312
Yeah, if the book doesn't sell enough to warrant a sequel.

>>22788286
>girl says X guy is handsome/good looking
>cringe and close the book forever

>>22788187
Meme response and incorrect.

>>22788312
Depends on how you define that, but regardless of how strictly you do, the answer is yes.

Only two chapters into House of Chains and man Karsa is fucking cool. I usually prefer multi POV but I'm liking the solo focus on him so far, it feels a bit refreshing since it's simpler to follow.

>>22788395
>I usually prefer multi POV
So you are one of the scum that have these authors writing multi pov shit

I've browsing through >goodreads lists and I find most of the top rated books ghastly. Like, most of it feels generic and written by women with verified accounts. And it's not like women are the problem when Ursula K. Le Guin and Ayn Rand were excellent fantasy writers.
I wonder if such works receive an artifical boost by marketing companies, which creates a wave where people rate it positively just so they don't feel "out".

>>22788408
I'm writing multi POV. Seethe.

>>22788408
Yeah I like the freedom it offers for stories that have massive worlds, provided its done right. Sue me.

>>22788427
"Fantasy" has been flooded by women writing their usual abusive romance dreck, but with a magic school or similar stock fantasy setting. Other women love it, publishers love money, and progressive fags feel compelled to validate them.

>>22788427

goodreads is purely a marketing platform, don't rely on it for ratings.

>>22788469
what do i rely on then

>>22788476
your own wisdom

>>22788445
Fuck all of these "people". Just gas them

>>22788479
but alas, i am a fool

>>22788476
Your peers with similar taste.

>>22788476

Every conventional source of information about which books are worth reading has been systematically undermined and replaced with institutionalized disinformation because you can't sell bad books to informed readers and the publishing industry wants to sell bad books.

Unless you know a much older lifelong reader that shares similar interests and reading habits, you are SOL. Your only recourse is to wander through libraries and used book shops pawing random stuff off the shelves to skim for references.

>writes 4 amazing horror novels
>refuses to elaborate
>dies in WW1
What the fuck was Hodgson's problem?

>>22788507
Bro this is just the continuum of mass-appeal schlock and pulp, not some insidious conspiracy. You can just say your standards of taste are higher than what's conventionally available without turning into a capeshit plot.

>>22788490
read moar and shed your foolishness

>>22788507
There's no need to do that when you can do the same online since most books have free excerpts.

>>22788519
>>22788519
>Bro this is just the continuum of mass-appeal schlock and pulp, not some insidious conspiracy.

There's no real difference between market gestalt and comically evil conspiracy. It is just easy to get hyperbolic about it when things were so much better not that long ago.

>>22788445
At this point it's just ridiculous to not have some kind of tag on goodreads indicating if it's a "real scifi/fantasy book", or the kind of book you are talking about
It's SO BLANTANT

>>22788511
Artillery shells?
>>22787400
Is Rhythm of War as bad as Oathbringer?I actually liked the first two books,but Oathbringer was so bad that I had to force myself to finish it and the ending was terrible.

>>22788542
They weren't. Not that long ago was also full of mass-appeal schlock. You're falling for the same nostalgia trap that music fans do where they whine about how vapid modern pop music is and how everything was better in the 60s and 70s, except the 60s and 70s were also full of vapid bubblegum shit that got filtered out of public consciousness as time went on.

Reject western fantasy; Return to japanese slop.
Read Dies Irae for kino

>>22788565

Nope. Completely different. I'm speaking strictly of the utility of e.g. the Hugos and other award platforms/publicity engines. Schlock is fine, there's nothing wrong with reading and enjoying schlock. It shouldn't be winning hugos though.

>>22788559
Why didn't you like Oathbringer?
There's a lot of things wrong with Rhythm of War, some are the same problems, some are different

For me, it was too long. And repeated stuff, AGAIN, for the 3rd and 4th time

>>22788640
>And repeated stuff, AGAIN, for the 3rd and 4th time
Gotta milk the paypigs

>>22788575
How good is reas route?

>romantasy
christ

>>22788640
>And repeated stuff, AGAIN, for the 3rd and 4th time
Mostly the repetitions especially the meetings.The book could have been half it's lenght and it still would have felt like barely anything happened.I wasn't a fan of him fixing Kaladin in the previous book only to then turn him into an insufferable faggot again.What's the point of character growth if it is immediately undone or replaced with even worse traits?

>>22787479
I just finished the Three Musketeers audiobook and Dauntless by Jack Campbell in print.

I'm going to read Sanderson's new book Defiant next and I'm hoping it's better after the last one felt like book 2 but worse and more filler-y. It's been an okay series overall, but he should really stick to his main schtick.

As far as audio goes I'm trying to decide between either Kraken Rider Z or The Sandbox by Andrews and Wilson. They write some great military thrillers and I think this is Andrews' first sci-fi book since Reset when he was writing solo and I thought Reset was great.

>>22788757
>anon is triggered and seethes in perpetuity at the mere existence of something
In other words, something highly routine that occurs every moment on the site

>>22788757
What in the name of fuck

>>22788785
epic post

>>22788775
Sanderdrones will defend that by saying it's a realistic depiction of mental illness but none of them seem to realize good storytelling should take priority over sticking to realism, especially when dealing with character development over 1000s of pages.

>>22788757
This is fine, keep it labeled and in it's own category.
Problem is when these books are mixed together with "regular fantasy", the blurb and reviews are being cagey and/or outright dishonest, and won't tell me what kind of book it is. Fuck em.

>>22787460
This year was fucking awful for fantasy. It's like nearly every writer I have interest in decided to take a full year off mid-series and there's only been like 1-2 decent releases otherwise. The entire genre has been completely invaded by woke shit up the wazoo.

It keeps getting more difficult me to find books I haven't read that interest me so I have to turn to LNs/Indies to fill in the gaps.

>>22788785
>goodreads sff group moderator detected.
Why do you even come here to 4chan? Just stay on goodreads, maybe visit r**dit, stay with your own progressive homosexual kind.

>>22788284
I read The Barbed Coil, and I didn't really like it, but I got the impression that the author was genuinely extremely autistic, both for good and for bad, which strikes me as the best way for a woman to equal the quality of male authors

>>22788799
give some random books a chance.

>>22788757
>trash ghetto
I approve.

>>22788757
What's up with these fucking covers, is it AI made?

>>22789004
lol, they were made by women "artists".

>>22788232
Yeah I love lgbtq+ historical fiction.

>>22788469
>>22788476
Rely on 1 star goodread reviews and your own intuition. If bad reviews come mostly from women or whipped men then there is a decent chance the book is good.

Why do fantasy authors love incest so much? From Once Upon a Future King to Game of Thrones, it's all about incest for male authors

>>22788957
I've branched out to some other genres, but it's still difficult finding new books to read. Are there any good resources? I feel like I've tapped out the obvious stuff and I haven't found a site or something that with taste I actually trust.

>>22789041
Incest is basic bitch taboo that isn't too deranged for the western audience.
Americans, on the other hand, are really sensitive to japanese loli for some reason

>>22789004
No, AI would make more better covers than that.

>>22789040
did you read all the books tossed on here?
>>22787448
>>22787460
>>22787500
>>22787645
>>22788144
>>22788226
>>22788232
>>22788294

>>22788795
>mental illness
He had no problems with killing normal people before.So it's not like it made any sense in the first place.And the girl had the worse portrayal of mental illness I have ever seen.

>>22789023
Aren't these just copied from Virtuous Sons?

>>22789059
I've read some of them (Bakker, Martin, Empire of Silence, Empire trilogy, and Between Two Fires). I honestly haven't even heard of a few them, but people here just seem to be mostly bitching about the others in one way or another.

>>22789096
It wouldn't surprise me. Too bad that ended up a dull read as well once it got under way. The start was okay.

TWI bros
What do we think of the Solstice so far

>>22787479
Last book:
Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
Current:
have to decide between 'the story of philosophy' by will Durant and 'hyperion' by Dan simmons
Next:
Whichever of the two I don't pick to read first.

On the topic of finishing snowcrash, I was the anon who complained about it at like 100 pages in, I think the first 100-250 pages are the worst part of the book and then maybe some of the history shit too. Overall it's a fine book but I don't know if I'd place it within the cannon of cyberpunk as a must read. I'd rate it a 3.5/5. Some parts of the book were much better in audio tape format while driving so I can zone in and out as it is interesting. Neal also drops the parody act quite a lot later in the book and is more serious as a cyberpunk book.

Spoiler review
the sumerian shit was okay, sometimes it was interesting but sometimes it would be like 40 pages at a time discussing it with the librarian but like, we already discussed it for 40 pages at a time with the librarian already atleast once or twice so wtf are we doing it again, it's like Neal has short term memory loss.

>>22788757
Do they have a chuddywuddy awards category?

>>22787479
>What was the last book you finished?
The Warded Man, by Peter V. Brett. Enjoyed it quite a bit, will probably get the sequel this week.
>What book are you currently reading?
Currently between books.
>What book do you plan to read next?
I have Elantris by Brandon Sanderson on my nightstand so I should probably give it a go. I'm tempted to just hold off on reading until I can get the sequel to Warded Man, though, cause I want to see where the story goes from where the first book ended.

>>22788775
Yeah you'd probably hate Rhythm of War then cause Kaladin yet again reverts to being an emotional retard and has to have yet another early life crisis / epiphany to unfuck himself just in time to save everyone (because despite everybody else not constantly teetering on the verge of emotional breakdowns they still aren't even half as competent as Kaladin)

Reading Way of Choices because some chud here recommended it

>>22789506
>he Warded Man, by Peter V. Brett. Enjoyed it quite a bit, will probably get the sequel this week
I personally hated the sequel and its one of the rare few books i just dropped for good. In general some of the shit i disliked in warded man just got amplified in the desert spear, and from what i read online, it only got worse from there

>>22789345
The Story of Philosophy is the first book on philosophy I ever read and I remember it being fantastic. You didn't ask but I recommend you read that. Hyperion is also very good, read that after. And I know you weren't totally sold on Snow Crash but if you do have an interest in philosophy I highly recommend Stephenson's Anthem. If Snow Crash is cyberpunk and Seveneves is orbital mechanics and Cryptonomicon is cryptography then Anthem is western philosophy, and it's very wonderful and comfy.

Bryan McGee's YouTube philosophy videos and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy are also great additional resources. I love philosophy

>>22789544
I appreciate the input, I do have an interest in philosophy, most of my knowledge of it comes from lectures and long-form YouTube videos (picrel guy is pretty good) so this will be my first book on the topic.

(although I do own the republic, metaphysics, second treatise of government, five dialogue, meditations, and existentialism and human emotions. So maybe I'll get the courage to read them)

It will probably be read before Hyperion, I've read like 20 SF books back to back over the last 3 months so I wanna verify I can even read non-fiction at this point.

I heard Anthem described as like a STEM philosophy book where 3/4ths of it is just dialogue leading up to the last part where it all comes together. I am a research scientist so maybe it'd be for me.

I have an interest in cryptonomicon at the very least before Anthem potentially just to see if I like Neal Stephenson as an author.

>>22789584
I'm not sure what you mean by describing Anthem as a "STEM philosophy" book... It's basically a book about monks that all practice different styles of philosophy (that are all similar to actual Western philosophers) and so yes the first third of the book is very dialogue heavy as these characters discuss and debate their different philosophies. What makes it neat is that, by reading Anathem, you are arguably getting some insight into actual Western philosophy. After all, anytime you read a Stephenson novel you will be better versed on a given topic. In any case you're a STEM guy anyway and philosophy is STEM-adjecent (especially modern academic analytic philosophy but that stuff is yucky). Enjoy!!! Philosophy is a lot of fun but certainly leaves you with more questions than answers. By reading The Story of Philosophy you understand various philosphers, their modes of thought, and their history at the time a whole lot better and the book will do a great job at grounding you for further study in philosophy.

>>22789345
>that spoiler
If you read any more Stephenson you'll see he loves doing this. Personally, I think he does it well enough to remain readable.

>>22787436
The Judging Eye is excellent so far. Best writing I've read in a while. I can see why he has such a good reputation here.

>>22788476
3 star reviews and under written by men.

>>22788144
Yeah, he does. Second book opens after a substantial timeskip and he's certainly not shy about taking charge and going after what he wants even when other people don't like it. I have my issues with the books, but if you found the first one ok it's worth giving #2 a try.

>>22789718
Quite true actually. Five star reviews are almost always especially useless. But a book's neutral to negative reviews tend to give me a pretty good idea of what I'll think about it. I can generally tell if the stuff that soured the reviewer on a book is stuff I care about or if they're just an angry retard.

>>22788511
Hodgson's death is most likely one of those huge losses we'll sadly never see fully explored.

>>22789718
I think a lot of people just drop books they don't like and don't give them a rating. GR needs an actual DNF category.

>>22788757
love the completely interchangeable covers

Hate myself lads

>>22787436
Truth Shines.

>>22787927
Francis B. Gummere's translation follows the meter of the original poem. It's a bit archaic now so it depends if you like that type of language. There's a reprint available by Aeterna Press.

A more literal translation into contemporary English I'd recommend is R.M. Liuzza's. It stays as close to the meaning of the original as is possible in modern English. Very readable and has useful footnotes to explain some obscure passages. It also has genealogies of the chiefs mentioned in the poem, which I found invaluable for understanding the parts about germanic tribal conflicts. The poem assumes the audience knows all this stuff so you really need extra info to get a grasp on it. The conflict with Grendel, his mother, and the dragon are more straightforward. Liuzza's edition also includes related texts like an extract from an Icelanding saga about a fight with a troll, and the Finnsburgh Fragment, part of a lost poem about one of the tribal conflicts referenced in Beowulf.

>>22789718
This has been a bit of a rule of thumb I've used a bit too.

It's not that I don't think a book could be 4-5 stars by someone's standards, but the 3 star reviews tend to have the most even pros and cons and female reviewers are just generally unreliable due to a skewed perspective and are typically annoying to read through on average.

>>22790868
>read a woman's review
>starts taking about things entirely unrelated to the novel itself
>""""review"""" ends up being a footnote on her blog post

>>22790658
It's been a year.
>>/lit/?task=search&ghost=false&search_text=%22hate+myself+lads%22

/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.

>>22788469
I only use goodreads to track which books I've read since it has integrations with Kindle.

Read The This and Project Hail Mary this fall.

Former: interesting use of pronouns. Didn't agree with the hegelian theme.

Latter: spider-bro was the overall highlight of the story.

>>22788427
I've seen a few titles I'm interested in in the giveaways. I'll take free books.

>somehow missed heretic spellblade 6 coming out
Nice it's a suprise smutkino

>>22789021
There are zero fags in BTF.

>>22789529
What didn't you like about Warded Man? There were some deficiencies I noticed, but nothing that really detracted from my enjoyment. Mainly, I felt Rojer and Leesha were tacked-on character perspectives that didn't need to be given their own point of view chapters. They ceased to have any real agency the minute they came into contact with Areln, which I think shows who is really driving the narrative.

>>22792017
Plenty who read it though.

>>22790882
I don't know what it is about women reviewers, but they write like 5 paragraphs where three sentences would do and then make cryptic non-sequitor statements without any elaboration as if they were self evident. I just stopped reading reviews written by women because even the ones who weren't absolute ninnies just seemed incapable of communicating their ideas in a straightforward way.

>>22792073
In general i did like the warded man, but like i said there was some stuff that grinded my gear. Its been a while, but from what i remember, every father or father figure was either a deadbeat or just plain useless, some annoying girlbossing shit and rape. That shit continued into book 2 and whats worse areln had a lot less screentime, which supposedly only got worse with every other book. Instead the desert dude who stole his spear was the main focus of the 2nd book and i just didnt care enough about him

>>22789332
Also, I just found out that that weird earther catboy is based on someone on Pirate's Discord (their friend?) that's in love with Silvenia
Makes so much sense in hindsight, those scenes with him were weird as fuck
Yuck

>>22792103
>Its been a while, but from what i remember, every father or father figure was either a deadbeat or just plain useless
You're definitely misremembering. Arlen's dad was a coward, but none of the other father figures in the story were as disappointing as him. Leesha's father started off as being emasculated and cuckolded, but manned up in a big way and started running his household properly. Rojer's father died protecting him, and his adoptive father, Arrick, also gave his life to protect Rojer. Arrick was an alcoholic womanizer, but was a kind and caring father to Rojer, so I don't really see him in a bad light.

Arlen's father surrogates, Ragen and Cobb, were both great people. Both were imminently respected figures in the court of Miln, both were highly competent in their respective professions, and both were great, loving mentors to Arlen.

is stormlight better than mistborn? I don't have any urge to continue the trilogy even though it was okay

>>22788232
Where can I find more Catholic fantasy kino?

I feel like you could make a sequel to this where Lucifer, having been beaten back from his high water mark during the Black Death next decides to take on God through a stealth campaign of corrupting individual reformers and counter reformers. You don't really need to pick a side in the Reformation, just show how the demons bring out the worst in everyone and use their own faith against them. Probably do the Huegnot War or the Thirty Years War.

>>22789345
Glad you didn't hate it at least, stephenson has some cool ideas but he's not the best writer.
I liked the exaggerated "hypercapitalism" stuff in this book, didn't really see it as a parody.

>>22792291
Story ends with the saintly virgin besting Lucifer in the end, stopping whatever conspiracy he had in mind. Maybe sabotaging the Westphalian peace conferences.

But then the epilogue will show a defeated Lucifer giving up on monsters, plagues, and war. Instead he's just going to help man get all the pleasures he wants. He's going to have the demons try to help man instead, to share their knowledge with him and give him access to great wealth.

Then we get a vision of a modern and completely godless world, piss jugs lit in the light of monitors as the playtime count on WoW hits 5,000 hours, rivers of porn flooding out through screens on the phones everyone aged 10 and up has, packed vitriolic political rallies, stale memes recycled again and again, soi jacks erupting from a million fiber optic tubes like some great volcano, parents glued to cellphones with a vacant gaze as their infants scream, shopping carts filled with corn syrup infused everything, hellish factory farms, addicts shooting up, obese people slamming fast food burgers... and almost vacant churches...

>>22792291
Miserere by Teresa Frohock
didn't do very well commercially so she hasn't made any sequels

>>22789685
Yeah it wasn't too grating, it's just weird he recaps it so much.
>>22792308
The further I got towards the end the more I enjoyed it, there were some cool ideas definitely and I did enjoy the exaggerated hypercapitalist stuff.

I think some of the 'parody' stuff was early on, mostly lame/cringe/reddit tier stuff like "Hiro hacked the niponesse business man's head off, after all, Hiro truly was a hacker" and that's almost verbatim from the novel. I am trying to repress the parts I didn't like but it was stuff like that. Some of the stuff was written and it's like I can see Neal smirking or lightly chuckling at it.

I'll add some more spoiler review because I'm thinking on it
the ending 'twist' that Ravens dad and hiros dad were in the same prison camp is just like, okay? Raven doesn't change or reflect on it and neither does Hiro really? Like, they still fight and he tries to snow crash everyone and the ending of raven just fleeing is like, okay...? It feels like there should be another book in the series because we leave with no word from Hiro, Raven, uncle Enzo, Ng, Mr Lee, or Juanita. I am fine that YT just dips out, she's a kid and doesn't really care I suppose in some sense. But the ending is so sudden. Neal couldn't give us one chapter of Hiro reflecting and pontificating on how the world has changed since they stopped the bad guys? What's Juanita gonna do with the ability to verbally program people? No closure on Fido the rat thing? Why can't it live with YT happily ever after as a gift from uncle Enzo? Also we never find out what happened to YT's mom after the interrogation. So many loose ends. It was a cool world and I liked the world building, I wouldn't be opposed to reading another in the same world.

>>22789377
No but they're all New York Times bestselling books

>>22792291
Pretty much all of Arthurian literature, which has a lot you could read, is Catholic fantasy. A Canticle of Leibowitz is Catholic science fiction.

Do you like it when the title of the series or the book is name dropped by characters? Sometimes it's terrible fanservice but it can be handled well if delivered correctly I think the two times I have really liked it are in Lord of the Rings and in Prince of Nothing

>>22792291
To Reign in Hell, by Brust.
i liked it a lot, much more than i expected. also A Canticle for Leibowitz, it's great

>>22788232
>I mean, it could be a lot better. It has some shortcomings, for sure, but overall I quite like it.
for me the shortcomings outweighed the good by quite a bit. at some point it turned into a mockery of what could have been, i hated the huge anime battles. also the prose was fucking weak at times

>URUGAL!
>WITNESS!

How does blacktongue thief compare to between two fires? Does beuhlman become a better writer over time?

I've been reading Burning Chrome and it has suddenly come to a grinding halt. Gibson's prose is like an empty vase.
A single example: does Gibson expect me to know what a ferroresonant transistor actually is? Am I supposed to look it up in order to be able to imagine it? Am I supposed to feel like an idiot for not knowing what that is? I don't grasp the intention. Jargon does nothing to flesh out a setting.

>>22792612
the answer is "no" to all of your questions

>>22792539
>To Reign in Hell
This sounds great

>>22788232
>This book is fucking great
>it could be a lot better
Then it's not great.

>>22792608
I did Two Fires on audio after having read Blacktongue and thought it was pretty whatever after having enjoyed Blacktongue so yeah it's better. I think it's a bit divided into sequences, but the writing is fun.

Spinoff series? Based. The schlock train keeps a rollin'.

>>22793018
Yes, spinoff series are normally based (off of a main series or some source material).
;)

>>22793018
this looks so shit it's gotta be good

>>22788232
Everything was great up until the ending. I have a few other books from him that I'm wanting to give a chance but don't want to deal with the drop offs in momentum. Recently started Those Across The River

>>22793063
He writes pozzed slop because he is pozzed slop.

>>22793077
>He writes [buzzword] because he is [buzzword]
Can you say that again, but like a human being?

>>22793105
He writes pozzed slop because he is pozzed slop.

For me it's Kane.

>>22793119
Broken bot.

>>22793187
Stop being upset.

>>22793208
Stupid fucking bot.

>>22792612
Gibson's audience was a few thousand of the smartest and most autistic teenagers on the planet in the 1980s. The main problem with your post is that you're a normie reading short fiction that is four decades past expiration date.

>>22793299
>expiration date

>>22793332
People who post this meme don't realize that it doesn't even make sense. It isn't even funny, because real life zoomers don't fly around sluggishly in straight lines. It'd be funnier if the second sentence was covered up entirely. It's lazy, and a prime example of how little effort people are willing to put into memes in post-2016 election era 4chan.

>>22793105
Pozzed

What's gonna happen to my nigga Jaime in TWOW?

>>22793409
GRRM writes one-dimensional characters in the sense that whatever goes wrong for them keeps going wrong in the same way. Jaime got where he is by fucking his sister and losing a limb so the likely outcome of his arc is fucking his brother and losing the rest of his limbs, literally or figuratively.

>>22793299
>>22792612
The only story that was bad in burning chrome was the weird trucker fighter pilot thing. The rest are all easy to read and entertaining. I'm honestly surprised to hear these things.

And to answer your question about 'ferroresentant transistors', you probably don't need to know exactly what it is but you can always just envision a regular transistor.

>>22793442
>the weird trucker fighter pilot thing.

just curious, what didn't you like about that one?

>>22793442
I'm sorry to hear that, that one's probably my favourite. Least favourite is either Belonging Kind or the one where the woman programs the medical robot to kill her.

>>22793299
>The main problem with your post is that you're a normie reading short fiction that is four decades past expiration date.

>historical-fiction esque low fantasy with the odd fantastical creature hear and there, but otherwise magic limited
What's her name?

>>22793535
lmfao that webm is actually pretty funny tho

any recommendations for a series with a strong, independent female mc that occasionally is forced to dress in skimpy clothing

>>22793456
>>22793502
It wasn't very clear to me why I should be reading it or what I was supposed to care about in it. I believe I even DNF'd it halfway through.

A lot of the other stories have an immediate reason to be read. I suppose I was not hooked like the others.

It's been maybe 4 months now since I read it though so it's been off my mind for awhile.

I'm surprised to hear good reviews on it, maybe I should re-read it.

>>22793502
Also wait, you didn't like the medical robot killer one?

you mean the one where they find an interdimensional portal that they exploit for high technology at the sake of people's minds and bodies, and in return they give the brave people who venture in a fake reality of heaven that they return to and are pumped full of drugs to hopefully convince them the horrors they experienced are past and life is worth living? I rather liked that one, maybe it was just weird enough to hook me.

What did you not like? I mean, it's sort of disappointing how it ends but it is short fiction.

>>22793551
plenty

>>22793598
mind sharing a couple?

>>22793620
Nope.

>>22793627
dang

Any good recs for horror fantasy?

>>22793750
No

>>22793750
Clark Ashton Smith
or
Between Two Fires is the modern novel that jumps out at me the most when people ask for this rec, decent read but not amazing.

>>22790494
>GR needs an actual DNF category.
agreed. although nothing says you need to finishing the book before rating it.

>>22792308
stephenson has some cool ideas but he's not the best writer.
>>22792483
>Some of the stuff was written and it's like I can see Neal smirking or lightly chuckling at it.
Stephenson's books been coagulating so long I absorbed the self-congratulating smartass gene. For instance, I once parodied the ten-page flashback-in-the-middle-of-an-action-scene thing that people complain about, and it was a good laugh when everybody in my critique group complained about it practically verbatim, but when I read the actual book it hadn't bothered me at all.
But the first half of Seveneves (with the Journey or whatever the fuck the characters call it,) was unironically the greatest sci fi novel I've ever read. First of all the tone of the first half doesn't have anything in common with the smarmy coffee fueled nerd digression-slash-discourse ,whereas the second part of the book reads like a shitty fanfic based on itself, Steven's signature style turned up to 11. so an editor must have rewritten the first half. Hell, maybe Nelly-boy Stevens edited it himself; the issue is of motivation rather than of ability.
However, to be the greatest sci book ever (half of a book) it's not enough merely to lack an annoying voice. It also needs to be a good book, which I've been thinking about frequently. this is what I came up with:
- it's incredibly realistic in the way that it presents characters and interactions. There's hard sci-fi writers (like the Rendevouz with Rama motherfucker) who don't write characters because they don't give a shit because that's not the point. For every one such writer, there's a hundred Hollywood hacks churning out melodramtic bullshit for normies. Seveneves is hard sci-fi with characters; astronauts actually act like adults, and they respect each other and act like you would expect from people who share a bond based on shared danger. Also, multiple characters make heroic sacrifices without first also making teary-eyed fuckin' ten-hour long speeches with like dramatic music and stuff.
(1/2)
pic not related, absolute mass-market trash, actuallay the dream/cyberdeck parts were quite well executed. Compares favorably to cyber universes in other works because it has a connection to the subconscious dream imagery. Unfortunately the writer's a hack, plot goes nowhere, by the time he introduces the alien species tiers with the fucking cats I read enough shitty cash grab sequels to know I'm being played. are character limits higher on /lit/???

anyway, where I was going with this is that there were enough technical details about the challenges of space -- radiation, eyeballs going out of shape, high velocity particles, and yes, even the orbital mechanics, which was superlative, in terms of accuracy in fiction. Like, two astronaut type fuckers can actually converse without also explaining how a fucking rocketship works, which is a sci-fi trope that contemporary authors don't realize that it actually makes you look like a joke, but if you read golden age sci-fi the authors are always explaining how exhaust gasses propel a craft forwards and essentially paraphrase Newton's third law and apply it to the situation. The reason old timey authors do this is because they thought they were clever when they figured that out, because people were fuckin' imbeciles in those days. But we're not that stupid and we all know you can't breathe out of a fucking goldfish bowl on Mars and shit. But authors still explain basic physics. But stephenson doesn't. The second half is fraught with masturbatory technology that makes no sense but the first half is solid. And Stevedore McNellis was always a competent character writer; really the worst thing you can ding him for is that the tech startup hackers make up like 99% of his world's populations, but in this case they're astronauts on a space station, if you copy-pasted Richard garriot's skillset twenty times and scrambled the demographics that's literally the factually accurate composition of the actual real life space station. To summarize, it was really good, the end. (2/2) sage

>>22793976
Speaking as someone with that same love/hate relationship with Neil Stephenson's work...
I think he'd be a much better author if he had an editor with some courage. That and figure out how to actually end a book. My pet theory is that second half of seveneves started out as a cheap "cut to coda" ending and he just couldn't fucking help himself and kept writing.

>>22794004
It was so catastrophically bad I actually thought about it. First of all, in retrospect it wasn't really all that terrible. This book, on the other hand, was a steaming dumpster fire of fucking shit. I like making fun of Danny "Dan Man" Manuel Suarez, because he's this grouchy old man who hates millennials and partying, but God dam... the main character's arc was like "I ain't cut out for this going to space, shit, I shoulda just stayed on Earth" and, as if on cue, the character who sends him on this mission has to literally explain the whole entire concept of Delta-V, in dialogue, and it takes multiple paragraphs. And he's like, "damn, I should've stayed in the mines, where at least the rocks stayed in one place." If it seems like a comedy, it's not, it's literally that fucking shit. The whole book has no redeeming qualities.
Anyway I liked the hook slingshots and ring worlds in Seveneves, and I have a weak spot for gliders and the process of weighting the wingsuit with water ballast was accurate. Some of the mega fidget spinners (basically everything atmospheric) was scientifically implausible but I had to think about it to decide why. But basically I decided the book ended at the end of the Origin (or whatever.) Everybody died. They failed. Well, obviously they didn't fail exactly, they committed to the Big Ride and executed at least part of it, and the human race ended in extinction.The happy ending is a fanfic, that's why it's so jarring. But I decided not to think less of it just because there's extra pages tacked onto the end of the book.

>Ishmael: A Novel
>Frankenstein
>Galapagos (Vonnegut)

I really enjoyed these but otherwise I had a long year of duds

>>22790131
Has anyone unironically read this?

>>22787460
>Ishmael: A Novel
>Frankenstein
>Galapagos (Vonnegut)

I really enjoyed these but otherwise I had a long year of duds

>>22793551
>read about a strong and independent female character
>haha wouldn't it be funny if someone raped and degraded the hell out of her haha

>>22793409
His fate will probably mirror Ned's, he makes an honourable decision that costs him his life.
He doesn't really give a fuck about anything anymore anyways.

>>22789345
>'hyperion' by Dan simmons
For some reason I didn't make the connection between the title and the book, but simmons is shit hot. The pilgrim narrative is evocative of HG wells while the combat and tactical action is as ambitious and coherent as anything that can go on a bookshelf. I didn't really get the noir detective's narrative. It probably wasn't that good compared to the others, but maybe I didn't appreciate it due to not giving a shit about detective noir.
>cyberpunk
for some reason I remembered that this book as traditional cyberpunk in the same sense as the neuromancer books. I also eventually outgrew the whole genre of cyberpunk
I remember the exact moment which catalyzed that decision, actually. I was reading a WIlliam Gibson interview in the paris review where GIbson said something like "you know, cyberpunk was a bit of a phase and looking back I was a lot more immature. I've moved beyond that." And that was what caused me to realize that cyberpunk was a phase and I was a lot more immature back then.
Damn, I'm so complicated and nuanced that sometimes I surprise even myself.

>>22791229
Now search "just want to die lads"

>>22793543
I strongly suspect you don't know what low fantasy means

>>22792483
>So many loose ends. It was a cool world and I liked the world building, I wouldn't be opposed to reading another in the same world.
That's literally what Diamond Age is. It's also written much better.

My personal Steal Nephewson rankings:
Anathem > Diamond Age > Snow Crash > Cryptonomicon > Seveneves > Baroque Cycle > shit > Reamde > his new stuff

Alright I finally got filtered by the fifth Dune book. All the others, had no problem understanding. But heretics? I have no idea what each factions plan or motivation and goal was.

>>22792291
try The War Hound And the World's Pain by Michael Moorcock

How to write a magic system doesn't feel mechanical and "un-magic" while also explaining why wizards aren't gods and have limits to what they can do?

>>22794407
I liked the one from kingkiller chronicles, at least the basic one, not the words one

>>22793359
>real life zoomers don't fly around sluggishly in straight lines
They don't? Got any proof for that, buddy?

>>22793359
>t. brainless zoomer

>>22794407
Using magic takes stamina and your body gives out if you try to do too much. And don't give me some shit about it seeming like mana or whatever other mechanic. Literally everything the human body does takes energy and makes you tired, including simply thinking too much. Performing magic would be the same. This is also why muscle wizards are the best as only those who have mastered their bodies alongside their minds can truly be great masters of the arcane.

>>22794407
>explaining why
You don't. Simple as.

>>22794492
Then why aren't magicians gods who can do anything and how would you write from a magician's perspective and rationalize his choice of spells?

>>22794503
You misunderstand. Don't explain why they can't. Just assert it and move on.

>>22794503
Just don't explain or info dump it. Want to prove that magicians aren't gods who can do anything? Put them in a situation where they get BTFO despite their power. That'll send the message you want without directly telling the reader.

>>22794407
>copy existing magic system,
>change and rename minor details
>call it your own unique and original magic system

>>22794674
I'm basing my setting's "terrestrial" magic system around what the average cyberpunk hacker could do and "extraterrestrial" magic is unpredictable and mutagenic like in warhammer.

>>22794678
Mixing magic with technology never end well (it ruins the story, it neither scifi nor fantasy),
Also I don't really like cyberpunk themes and never read warhammer so can't comment on your system.

>>22794686
Technology is not involved. What I mean by cyberpunk hacker is that's what I use to inspire magic spells.
>hacking
scrying
>jacking into the matrix
astral projection
>programming AI
crafting a tulpa
Etc. Magic requires a meditative state, so it's not the kind of magic where you can wave your hand and shout "Fireball!"

>>22794712
>crafting a tulpa
Okay... have you asked nice people on >>>/x/ ? I am sure they can help you.

>>22794722
Asked them what...?

>>22794407
Lord of the rings. Gandalf has to do a bunch of normal shit, and both subtext and his statements suggests limitations. The obstacles of the story establish limits.

Going into it with the mindset of 'I need to prove this negative wrong' is doomed to failure. Why should you have to established that magic can't do X when nothing suggests it can in the first place?

>>22794407
You need to decide what it'll be within your world and story and go from there.
Are they dependent on pacts with higher powers?
Are they using fragments of lost power/knowledge
Are they speaking in the true tongue of the world and borrowing its power?
Other planes?
Harnessing magical components?

Magic only becomes a blatant system if you're copying shonen like sanderson and it only becomes godlike if you attach no restriction or cost

>>22794055
Yes

>>22794747
Since it's inspired by cyberpunk, a wizard must channel a metaphysical ethereal plane through a meditative state. This ethereal plane is basically the internet within the source code of reality. Interfacing with it and casting spells requires an expenditure of energy, so anything too powerful or god-like would kill you outright.
Extraterrestrial magic channeled by color-out-of-space matter from the moon's ring is its own power source. Magicians power their spells the way you'd power a lightbulb by running a hamster wheel turbine. This CoOS matter is like issuing a nuclear power plant, but even more volatile. Its full potential is unknown but the potent way it reacts to and alters the source code of reality has ambitious factions thinking they could use it to get admin privileges to reality.
None of these techy terms are actually used in the story, it's just how I'm framing the magic system so you know where I'm coming from. The problem I've created for myself is cyberpunk hacking is technological and not meant to be mystical or mysterious while magic is. But perhaps this is compensated by how mysterious and unpredictable extraterrestrial magic is.

>>22794787
Do you actually have a story or is it just the magic system?
How good is your story? Magic and fantasy setting are there to make a good story better. If your story is shit or non existent then having magic in it is pointless.

>>22794798
I'm 55k words into a story and magic is central to it. The primary conflict is around the CoOS matter that has fallen from the moon's ring and the various factions and characters vying for them. Each faction or character has a different intent in mind, so it's just a bunch of dudes all just trying to collect magic nukes to nuke each other for world domination.

Do you think Bakker understands his own work? I get a feeling he doesn't actually realize that Kellhus is based and Dunyain are right about women.

>>22794849
I think his fixation on boy-rape merits investigation by authorities.

>>22794863
That's why he has been keeping a low profile.

>>22791328
Bakker and Dan simmons is pure trash and should not be recommended.

>>22794993
Nigga fuck you Simmons is awesome, although he's better at writing cryptohistory than sci-fi

>>22794863
authorities are pedos themselves especially american ones

>>22795038
Bakker is Canadian

>>22793550
Its even funnier because the guy in the webm most likely killed himself.

>>22793437
What a retarded post.

>>22794407
Read Bakker.

>>22795077
No, go join the 50% fag.

>>22795080
I was just answering your question, no need to be rude.

>>22795077
I did. See: >>22788294 for my impression

>>22795085
No you didn't.

>>22795050
Pretty sure xyrself is still shitposting on tiktok and some poor CCP chump has to review shym's videos

>>22795114
>xyrself
>shym's
What is this? Some new mutt speech? Some type of elvish?

>>22795128
Yes, both.

I drop a book the moment some character annoys me. Generally it is the protagonist rambling about his emotions or some shit. (Waah I'm so weak, I feel pathetic etc). I spent too much time tolerating that kaladin nigger so I learned my lesson.

>>22795144
Ok.

>>22795128
It's Pozzed.

Why are Wolfe stans on here so opinionated and schizo
I always see some schizo making a BOTN thread in the catalog sucking Wolfe's nuts

Why are Wolfe/Bakker/Vance/GRRM/Rothfuss/Simmons fans on here so opinionated and schizo

this book was fantastic and now I want more like it.
I recommend it.

>>22793750
Night Winds by Karl Edward Wagner.
Worms of the Earth by Robert E. Howard.

>>22795038
You're projecting, chinaman.

>>22795188
>Why are Wolfe stans on here so opinionated and schizo
>I always see some schizo making a BOTN thread in the catalog sucking Wolfe's nuts
Nothing wrong with that

>look at new releases for historical fantasy
>mostly weeb shit

why?

>>22795206
Stop trying to sneak Rothcuck along with the goats

>>22795256
>>22795206
>>22795188
Wolfe is a legitimately profound and intellectual author who deserves the praise. I personally am not a huge fan of his work, as I only really -get- about 60-70% of it at best, it's way too intelligent for me to be fully satisfied by. Naturally this kind of writing attracts genuinely autistic people. That differs from most other authors, who, being pseudo-intellectuals, attract pseudo-autistic people, who are otherwise known as schizophrenics.

>>22795297
asians and hapa mongrels love that shit

>>22794233
>>/lit/?task=search&search_text=%22die+lads%22

>>22795144
the problem with kaladin isn't that he had a poofter arc, it's that sanderson made him repeat that poofter arc three times (before I dropped the series and author)

>>22795242
>this book was fantastic and now I want more like it.
>I recommend it.
I like the concept, any further review you could give before I put it on my list?

Reminds me of the movie 'Army of Darkness'
>>22794157
Maybe I'll fall out of favor with cyberpunk eventually but I rather like it, what do you think is potentially immature about the genre? What did you move into after it?
>>22794329
Is it actually in the same world? By the wiki it seems sorta similar with the 'tribes' being like the suburbs of snow crash.
>>22793976
>>22794002
I appreciate your writing and will put seveneves on my list but I'm afraid some of your writing is a bit hard to follow. I think it will make more sense when I read the novel.

>>22795297
Western history is problematic. They can only write about the coal black lesbian granddaughter of a Moor who settled with the vikings so many times before people stop buying. Nips and weebs don't care about any of this, however.

>>22795357
>Is it actually in the same world?
It is set like 100 years later, but it's the same world. IIRC one character from Snow Crash even gets a minor role.

>>22795357
Differing opinions
Darkness
>>/lit/thread/16236371#p16245212

Seveneves
>>/lit/thread/18902302#p18906137

Big Book of Cyberpunk
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeaffY4DMrD_GfcYbBtXq9rpGIGYNYChFSN6yjGUssw


Various other /sffg/ opinions exist.

>>22795357
>what do you think is potentially immature about the genre? What did you move into after it?
I'm not punk and I'm not a low-life. That's basically it.
Not only the fiction of cryberpunk, but also the urban techwear aesthetic. The aspects which were paramilitary, or threatening and grimdark; these didn't work for me. I 'grew into' regular techwear (basically glorified camping gear without all the rice) and I don't really care about reading within the genre. my other artistic influence, futurism, survived and even got stronger. But futurists fuckin' hate novels unfortunately.
pic: I didn't realize at the time but Rick Owens, one of the biggest meme designers, has a giant futurismo sculpture in his house; he also replaced his dinner table with a coffee machine. you can't make this shit up, he's actually more than a meme, he's like, a deluxe meme.

>>22795206
The only schizo among those is the Bakkerfag who spams these threads. I don't think Rothfus has any fans here, at best there's people that enjoyed Name of the Wind and then forgot about him after he stopped writing. People generally praise Vance and Wolfe because they're influential and talented writers. GRRM attracts shitposters because he is currently the biggest contemporary name in fantasy. Who the fuck even talks about Simmons?

>>22794407
Impose arbitrary rules and limits on what magic can do. Don't bother to explain how it works mechanically. If you want to make it seem extra mystical and shit, tie some restrictions to celestial bodies like phases of the moon(s) or requiring certain numbers of things to work. The more esoteric the requirements, the better.

>>22795526
Rothfuss is brought up regularly every few threads. Hyperion is talked about damn near every thread. Lurk moar, faggot.

>>22788232
>gay priest
>" forgive your cheating wife or you will go to hell. it's what god wants"
>" no , the reason why every jew in my book is a tragic,heroic martyre has nothing to do with the fact i'm jew myself"
>sneakily insert personel opinion

>>22795624
Beuhlman isn't a jew. He's your standard liberal gen Xer who was raised christian but hated going to church so he grew up atheist/agnostic out of spite. The rest of your post is also retarded but I cba to correct every fake christian on 4chan today.

since we are talking about Simmons, what do you guys think about his Ilium duology? Also would you say that reading the Iliad is required to enjoy it or can you still get a worthwhile experience from it without reading the Iliad?

>>22788795
>good storytelling should take priority over sticking to realism
>Sanderdrones
The original Mistborn trilogy really stood out because it was a self-contained arc and not hack writing. One thing that pissed me off about both of his other series I've read: They get about three sequels in before one character's constant struggling allows them to implement liberal social policies on a large-scale. Soon afterwards, somebody else invents flying machines capable of long-distance cruising flight, followed rapidly by electricity, penicillin, and racial reconciliation; at which point the series devolves into nothing. I already complained about this, but let's consider what even happened in the latest Way of Kings:
>white lady sits in a fancy house and thinks about how she may have hurt black lady's feelings in the past
>the magical talking house offers words of encouragement
>the black lady and the white lady play xylophones together, which allows them to reconcile their differences.
>talking house explains that's this is where magic comes from
>a veteran feels disenfranchised and struggles with feelings of worthlessness
>his friends do a bunch of interventional shit that looks like it was copy pasted from a 503c nonprofit's website
>dj khaled and a black spearman 'fight' on a battlefield. dj khaled is worried because they usually take turns stabbing each other, but today, black spearman is not like her usual self.
Meanwhile, let's consider some historical facts about actual, real-life kings: They killed people who disagreed with them. Afterwards, they stuck these dissenters' heads on poles. They left them there for weeks. When you were commuting home from work, the decaying faces of executed political dissenters would stare at you in lieu of billboards. Also, people gave brooms to teenagers and required them to scrub toxic waste from industrial pipes which adults couldn't fit into. Before the guillotine became a meme, it was a practical device which solved the logistics of killing large quantities of people you didn't like and had already incarcerated.
(1/2)

Should I be saying I read fantasy books in a job interview if they ask what do I do for fun?

>>22795780
I usually say I like to read and then say something to that effect if they inquire further. it's better than saying video games, anyway

>>22795707
are you seriously lying about the fag monk

>>22795780
tell them you cultivate the great dao

>>22795780
Like that other anon said, just say you enjoy reading and only elaborate if they ask. Or, just start autistically shilling various epic fantasies until the have security forcibly remove you.

>>22795780
>>22795804
Just say you do yoga. It sounds fancy to normalfags and they don't view it as anything between mild aerobic exercise. You're still cultivating the Dao and reading books.

>>22795767
(2/2)
Basically, they were in the deep shit, man. They were that. They were living in that. They was that. So how the fuck do they go from that, worse than real life, to suddenly using the same semantics as the average Redditor complaining about Obamacare? It's not accurate. It doesn't make sense, the language doesn't have any meaning.
>New Sun / long sun / some sun
Language has differences from ours
>Edgar has eight different words / categories for "large, imposing war horse"
>He has two words which translate to "giant sea monsters of faction A" and "giant sea monsters of faction B" and it's not clear whether factions are defined by their political beliefs or origin, whether faction B is mostly mythology or superstition, or whether faction B is actually a single individual
>Edgar doesn't bother to differentiate between interplanetary space ships and a large boat with more than three sails
>he gets a job in a hospital and explains how he went to leech school and already knows a lot about leeches
tl;dr language is different from ours and suggests that the world actually progressed according to different rules and is not literally the exact same as our world.
Mistborn trilogy doesn't progress far enough to devolve into liberal social policies, that's why it's self-contained and cohesive and not jarring.

>>22793976
Seveneves is the worst novel ever written
What the fuck is it with /ssfg/ scamposting? Every post itt seems intended to mislead, every rec a red herring, every glowing review a psyop

>>22788757
This is a good and necessary thing. Before they gave it its own category, paranormal romance shit was sweeping the fantasy high score awards because it has a much larger reader demographic that's much more prone to handing out 5s as long as at least one character makes them horny. The portmanteau is cringe but hey, I'll take it.

>>22795767
>>22795829
Do you write?

>>22791328
++++/
-/++-

>>22791333
---+
/--+

>>22795864
no, I only communicate in hexadecimal

>>22795804

>>22795188
>Why are Wolfe stans on here so schizo?
Because most Wolfeposts are falseflagging done by seething autists

>>22795876
You should consider writing.

>>22794157
>"you know, cyberpunk was a bit of a phase and looking back I was a lot more immature. I've moved beyond that."
Sucks for him I guess. To be fair maybe his newer books were more popular but the best thing about his books is the worldbuilding, everything after All Tomorrow's Parties is uninteresting shit imo.

>>22794786
terrible?

>>22796187
No

>>22796187
its chink ball Z translated into choppy english, draw your own conclusions from that

>>22795739
Don't need to read the Iliad at all, books got enough exposition for you to "get it"
Figure it's just gonna be a neat bonus if you have

I'm sure I missed out some references, not having read it. But I still felt like everything came together properly.

Granted I was familiar with the rough outlines of the Iliad (I've read the Wikipedia article and played FATE/GO! )

There's a lot of references in Ilium. Not just to the Iliad, but Shakespeare and like 20 other major works.
It's a clever book.
Uh... Makes me feel clever when I get the references.

>>22796205
yeah I can't even enjoy the flow in Russian to English quality translations

>>22792275
Yes it's far better

>>22796305
Feels good being Slavic, the languages are so rich it hardly translates into the germanic ones

>>22796324
Yeah I can tell in the way they're translated that English doesn't really keep up.

>>22792275
I like the first two Stormlight Books more than I like the first Mistborn trilogy, by quite a lot. Stormlight Archive starts to drag in book 3 though, and book 4 is a real slog. I'm hoping Sanderson has at last learned that people are fucking tired of Kaladin repeating the exact same character arc every book, so I will give it one more chance. If book 5 disappoints on the same level as book 4, I'm done with SA.

>>22796324
The slavic languages have to the ugliest and least pleasant sounding languages in existence.

>>22796256
>I'm sure I missed out some references, not having read it. But I still felt like everything came together properly.
>Granted I was familiar with the rough outlines of the Iliad (I've read the Wikipedia article and played FATE/GO! )

>>22796443
>Laughs in Tagalog

>>22796443
Arabic exists

>>22796444
>Granted I was familiar with the rough outlines of the Iliad (I've read the Wikipedia article and played FATE/GO! )

>>22796417
To be fair apparently book 5 is the end of the first arc and then the protagonists will apparently all change for the back half. I'm not sure how I'll feel on that, but it really depends on books 5 and 6 (and I believe 6 is a long ways off).

1-2 are certainly better than 3 and 4 , but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a lot of aspects of them either and some even have better high points here and there even if there's worse low points. Even worse than Kaladin's repeated arc is how stupid Shallan's development feels. I think book 4 also had the most pointless flashbacks since we learn very little that's new outside of a few details until pretty much the end.

I also enjoyed Mistborn a lot more when I listened to it on audio for a re-read. On the other hand I think Stormlight was best when fresh.

On the whole I still respect SA for the shit it bothers to do that most fantasy series don't do (a real fantasy world that doesn't feel like some point in Earth with some window dressing or too barebones or boring) and TWOK is the book that got me back into reading one way or another (partially because it was my first book in a while, but still).

>>22796458
Wikipedia summaries will get you through college

>>22788232
Weird choice to make Saint Bernard of Clairvaux evil though. He did encourage the Second Crusade but he also ran all the way out into Germany to stop them from rampaging and killing Jews. He also helped curb Cathar and other heresies, but with words and preaching, not by demanding violence. He had a whole book on dealing with heretics putting meditation and purification first.

I don't get it because there are a lot of other figures you could put in that role.

>>22788232
>rips off the ending of the Silent Hill movie

>>22789137
After reading Bakker and Between Two Fires and seeing both dismissed as "lgbtq" and "woke," I've come to the conclusion that some people on this board are literally Tumbler-tier. They can't read something without shaking if it has any mention of gay, minorities, or women doing much of anything.

>>22796636
Any book that condones homosexual degeneracy is gnostic garabge, yes.

>>22795624
>Nooooo! A Christian story can't have Christian morality of forgiveness. It needs the be about vengeance and being le ebin tough guy and killing people who wrong you. Like when Christ jumped off the cross and fired lasers at the crowds instead of begging mercy for them.

>>22795794
The priest (a parish priest is not a monk) is disgusted with himself for sinning and reforms himself over time in the presence of a saint and gives his life defending here.

The other guy is worse than the priest. He literally murders people for their goods and acts as an accomplice for rape. But he also reforms himself.

Everyone is a sinner. The point is to draw close to Christ that the Spirit might dwell in you and you might be saved.

I pray that you can see this some day instead of focusing on hatred.

>>22796699
forgiving the sinner does not mean condoning the sin

>>22796692
name 1 (ONE) thing wrong with a man taking a nice solid cock up the arse.

>>22796699
>Like when Christ jumped off the cross and fired lasers at the crowds instead of begging mercy for them.
Kellhus?

>>22796636
This general has particularly deranged autistics in it that are best ignored. If you see any kvetching about women in books, just avoid responding or acknowledging the post. Dude has been schizoposting here for years and has, near as I can tell, not read a single new book since.

Just wait until facebook tradcaths pick up a book on the lives of the saints... Who am I kidding, they'll just find another way to justify glorified ancestor worship in a religion that specifically condemns it. Remember, we're all sinners.

>>22796792
>any kvetching
oy vey

>>22796527
Honestly, if it means getting away from the character arc repeating loops, I won't be too sad to see the back of the current batch of protagonists. I'll always remember Kaladin from books 1 & 2 fondly.

And yeah, I give Sanderson props for actually putting in effort for world building. His magic systems are actually the least interesting aspect of the worlds he creates, it's the thought that goes into the utterly unfamiliar landscapes and differing ecosystems and societies that spring up around them. Stormlight Archive is also as you said the world he has clearly put the most effort into creating. The world of Mistborn, Scadriel, feels one-note by comparison.

>>22796806
There is no better word for repetitive ideological whinging.

>>22796759
That man's anus is taking the place of a nubile girl's cunt. A man's ass penetrated is one less virgin deflowered, one less husband cuckolded, one less unwilling harlot raped.

>>22787400
Where do I find a list of recommendations for good stuff which came out the last year? Going through google all the mainstream stuff reads like a bucket list of pozzed garbage desu

I used to be pretty up to date up until 2021, and have read all the recommendations in the charts - but since 2022 and also this year, I kinda struggle to find a simple list of "good books that came out this year"

Help?

>>22795739
goes full on 1488 against the muslims in this series. I actually audibly had to chuckle when the wandering jewess reached Jerusalem and the Speakers started blaring to kill the jews, and the servant-robots turn out to be antijewish killermachines.

That dude has no brakes and I'm frankly amazed this even got published

>>22796636
Some is fine depending on context, but I don't want to read a book about it either. There's many books that are now given the genre of "lgbt" which I find ridiculous and so I ignore them. I was kind of fine with the stuff in The Rainwild Chronicles for instance because despite the slow start, everything else was so good, but on the other hand something like The Steel Remains' was way more than than I'd ever want to see.

>>22796811
Very true in most cases. I hope Arc 1 ends on a high note.

>>22796887
It's been very annoying to figure out anything since the places I used to look stopped talking about new books aside from a few popular ones. I used to use a list compiled on reddit from other sites for monthly releases, mainly because it was fairly complete compared to others that just listed some random 10 or so per month and even ignored the good shit.

It's kind of kept me limited to the authors I know however which ain't great. When I first started reading again years ago there was some big top fantasy site (which many categories) that while not perfect was helpful in terms of numbers and now I can't find it. I usually find myself having to go digging and hope I get lucky.

>>22796937
>It's been very annoying to figure out anything since the places I used to look stopped talking about new books aside from a few popular ones. I used to use a list compiled on reddit from other sites for monthly releases, mainly because it was fairly complete compared to others that just listed some random 10 or so per month and even ignored the good shit.
>It's kind of kept me limited to the authors I know however which ain't great. When I first started reading again years ago there was some big top fantasy site (which many categories) that while not perfect was helpful in terms of numbers and now I can't find it. I usually find myself having to go digging and hope I get lucky.
pretty much my struggle - I wish I was a younger lad again 6 years or so ago, when I was only getting started to work through all the recommendation charts here.

Sadly, because I am not keeping up with new releases, I cannot contribute to a "best of 2023" myself at all in any way. Kinda pisses me off.

this is why im glad i only started getting back into reading regularly 2-3 years ago, i still have a lot of well regarded series to get through

>>22796974
prepare for feels when you finish the last book by some authors, and then you consider them being dead, and realise that there's never gonna be any more of what you just enjoyed. Getting into this is more painful on a personal level than many other hobbies.

>>22796960
I'm right there with you. It doesn't help that I'm pretty voracious when it comes to the media I enjoy. I kind of blew through all of the low hanging fruit years ago so normal recommendations aren't very helpful. I also listen to audiobooks at work so I have to balance both print and audio options.

>>22796256
>Makes me feel clever when I get the references.
Books for this feel?

>>22797053
The Silmarillion, if you've read the Bible.. Just a bunch of slapped together, sloppy fantasy re-imaginings of Bible stories. In all fairness, he never intended for it to be published, but...

>>22797053

>>22796980
relax bro

>>22796980
>that feel when I jack off on books I finish then come back to them a decade later and a tear falls from the memories that are all too consuming

>>22797061
>he never intended for it to be published
he did, he was just never satisfied with them enough for publishing

>>22796617
I don't think he read much about the Cathars. He wanted a persecuted sect and just used names associated with them.

>>22788511
he wrote an insane amount of maritime kino and not quite horror stories though.

>>22794328
I strongly suspect you suck dick and balls for pleasure.

Where the hell is GraphicAudio Wheel of Time adaptation?
It's free money!!

I think I made a good choice picking up the Aspect-Emperor series as my first new book I've read in a while.

New

>>22797623
>>22797623

>read fantasy novel as a kid
>think nothing of it
>reread it as an adult
>realize the author was a coomer and filled the novel with thinly veiled smut
what's her name?