/lit/ - Literature

>>22923476
It's not. Cook CAN write, people just disagree with his terse style. On some level most people want their fantasy prose to flowery and purple.

>Why yes i read chinese web novels translated with google how could yoi tell?

>>22923698
>yoi
hmmmmmm

/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.

Anyone read this? Is it good?

>>22923931
>"timely"
Confirmed shite.

Any fantasy where the protagonist owns slaves and doesn't feel bad about it?

Did you like how Carl's dad was handled in DCC6? How do you feel about the overall primal AI plotline?

>>22924089
>DCC6
?

what is the scifi or fantasy equivalent of flashman?

>>22924088
Reverend Insanity.

>>22924429
I shall not read Chinese garbage.

>Consider Penis

>>22924440
Ok, don't read it.

>>22924440
i've read plenty of chinese, japanese, and korean slop
Reverend Insanity and Lord of the Mysteries are both very good exceptions

>>22924252
Ciaphas Cain is very literally Flashman IN SPACE.

>>22923663
First for
Women authors, women protagonists and wise or experienced women mentoring/raising young men

>>22924676
also I am a coomer (and trans), not sure if that matters.

>>22924476
That's not saying much.

>>22923754
>Reverend Insanity = Literally about an a-moral bugman killing/consooming/cultivating
>Lord of The Mysteries = Hard to into asian steampunk with potion based class acquisition, achievement and crafting progression with un-lockable magical items and sekret tarot organizations because it wasn't already confusing enough.
>Neuromancer = Decent cyberspunk i'm putting together a team novel
>Hyperion = Interplanetary high tech trooning
>The Prince of Nothing = Bakker is for fags and fags are for Bakker.
>The Wandering Inn = Stay at home moms power fantasy with a main character whos most prominent power is complaining while being a pacifist.
>Between Two Fires = Heaven Vs hell but in medieval FRANCE!
>Mother of Learning = Time loop and like all of the subgenre goes literally nowhere over and over again, has a decent magic system that some find mediocre and a main characters sister that is annoying as fuck.
>Cradle = Every second novel is a dud in the series with a birdbath of a main character. Only decent thing is the fights that get stale real quick because it does not take long to realize they are all ill conceived magical games of uno.
>I Shall Seal the Heavens = Proto xianxia at its worst, MC gets kidnapped into strong but lowly down on its luck sect. Queue haughty young masters, saving face and swilling ginseng infused tiger penis soup by the gallon.
>A Song of Ice and Fire = Fantastical medieval degeneracy where the characters who should live die and the characters who should die live. Also author is too busy getting fat and old to finish the series.
>The Poppy War = Fem-C gets accepted to 20th century china-esque martial academy and gets looked down upon while struggling to overcome amidst pseudo researched equally vintage china political bullshit.

>>22923762
>Azarinth Healer = Starts good but fizzles hard midway. Author also makes the main character a low key lesbian because they clearly have no idea what to do with their love life.
>Primal Hunter = MC+background is so impossibly nonsensical that he's not even cannon in his own setting.
>He Who Fights with Monsters = every character that isn't the MC is just there to be amazed at how smart Jason is while he tells them shit they already know before reminding them (incorrectly i might add) that 'Oh you have no idea".
>Dungeon Crawler Carl = The MC's sidekick (A cat named 'Princess Donut') is so much smarter than Carl (the MC) that every scene the two are in is eye-gougingly painful. This would not be so much of a problem if such scenes did not constitute the majority of the series.
>System Universe = After the initial premise is established it turns into how to pander to followers at a snails pace AKA; 'Filler McFiller Face - The Excessively Extended Sleep Inducing Saga'.
>Dissonance = MC gets god fucked more then once as he goes about becoming a man/bear/goat/pig/axolotl hybrid who also has many super sekret identities.
>Defiance of the Fall = Brain dead MC with very-much-just-barely opposed kingdom building with a wafer thin cultivation system
>Iron Prince = edgy school setting with even edgier MC who has lightning powers and no discernible challenges what so ever.

>>22923663

>>22924688
>Talks about trannies out of nowhere
Lmao why are you /pol/fags so obsessed with cocks? I'm a STRAIGHT MAN who likes STRONG WOMEN, Chud.
Cope, seethe, go back to /pol/, touch grass, have sex, you will never be a roman soldier.

awful lot of newfaggotry within the past half hour. someone going for a record?

>>22924805
Shut up city slicker

>>22924752
What is lovecrafts best work?
>asking for a friend

22924828
oh it's the 16 year old newfag who mass replies and posts "sneed" lol explains everything

finishing up White-Luck Warrior, Maithanet was done fucking dirty, i'm seething

>>22923665
I think a lot of autistic people also have difficulty understanding framing devices like the one employed in Black Company. Croaker being the author of the story, and therefore the prose being a reflection of Croaker's character, is something lost on them.

I am autistic and I only read chinese web novels that have a golden finger

>>22924981
Fantasy-only readers are usually very autistic and/or retarded.

>>22924843
My diary desu

>>22924088
I think you should turn to anime & manga for that, they have tons of that shit

>>22924766
I like female authors and I like female characters but I don't like bad authors or bad characters and Elizabeth Moon is a bad author that writes bad characters
Or to put it more accurately, she is a 90IQ author who writes 90IQ characters for 90IQ readers, which is pretty much what you'd expect from military fiction that's not Tom Clancy

>>22924766
If this is bait, it's pretty shitty

>>22925007
Actually most of the time it's sci-fi spergs that foray into fantasy and pick up that series because it's so highly recommended by fantasy fags who have no trouble understanding it.

bakker is king

What should I read next? I'm getting back into reading after a long hiatus.
Finished
>Vonnegut, Asimov, Dick, William Gibson
>Read a lot of Neal Stephenson, pretty good but kind of loooooooong
>Just finished Starship Troopers (movie was better)
>Before that finished A Canticle for Liebowitz (very good)
>Couldn't get into Vurt
Not interested in chinkshit
Picrel is my bookshelf. Worst book on it is probably the Martian
I've read dune but not the sequels, maybe that?

>>22923698
AI is already better than humans at translating, you just need access to the best models. Opens up a ton of non english literature.

>>22925530
I do not see any pkd.

>>22925578
>pkd
?

>>22925581
Philip K. Dick. Am I being memed on?

>>22925594
You see, PKD it's not the same as pkd.

It's funny how most of Philip K. Dick's and Isaac Asimov's works have great concepts but they are awfully boring at storytelling. Dickus makes the plot unnecessarily contrived while Asimov spends 90% of the work explaining the setting and logic instead of developing a proper story.

>>22925530
I can't quite tell all the books on your bookshelf so I'll just make some general recommendations. I can't recommend Dune past book 1. You just came off long "hard" sci-fi with Stephenson so may I suggest something a bit lighter. I think The Dispossessed by le Guin would be good - it's standalone and with interesting political philosophy themes. le Guin sits in the ranks of great SF writers and she's hard to beat. If you want to keep the religious side I can recommend The Sparrow. Otherwise if you want to stay with the hard sci-fi follow the flowchart and check out Permutation City by Greg Egan

>>22925530
LEM

>>22925621
saved this from last Christmas

>>22925773
>pic
I'm autistic, does that count?

>>22924252
Mark Lawrence's 'Red Queen's War' trilogy is basically fantasy Flashman being forced by circumstance to go on a buddy-cop road trip with a viking. Not the best author out there, but this trilogy was decent enough. Slightly softened vs. Flashman though — the main character is a womanizing coward for sure, but not quite to the extent of old Flashy, and he never rapes anyone. Of course, Flashman was also softened as a character as the series progressed, so it's not that much of a change.

In sci-fi, I can't really think of any. If you're willing to look at franchise fiction there's Ciaphas Cain, but while he was certainly inspired by Flashman I'd say he strays rather far from the original. He's a 100% legitimate hero who just has severe imposter syndrome which makes him portray himself as more Flashmanesque than he is. Even then it focuses entirely on the cowardice element, lacking Flashy's caddishness almost entirely.

What am I in for bros?

>>22923663
When True Night Falls - The Coldfire Trilogy #2 - C. S. Friedman (1993)

Following a six-month time skip the party arrives at the eastern continent from which no one has ever returned. The last attempt was over 400 years ago. There they face a far greater evil than before. Across this new continent they journey to vanquish The Undying King.

That's the whole plot, from beginning to end, a singular journey to defeat the evil overlord. The plot is again by far the weakest part. As with the first book, this one is a self-contained story. There's a lot of wasted potential here, at least in terms of my personal preferences. Somehow I didn't mind that much that it was almost only travelling. There's even at least a few repeated story beats, yet it doesn't matter because this trilogy is all about the character interactions. That's especially the case with Tarrant. Without him this would be a thoroughly mediocre series. However, without Damien it wouldn't even be a series. Their interplay is easily the best part of the books. That's good, but it really ought to be more than that.

I've seen a lot mention the implicit homoeroticism of the two male leads, but I believe that to be a considerable exaggeration. There are those who see moral corruption, dependency, and much else as inherently sexual or even romantic, but I don't think that they are. Far too much is made of their relationship in sexual and romantic terms. I'm not going to say their relationship isn't unusual, it is, and that's what makes it's so interesting.

There's definitely a lot more religious content in this one compared to the first. It's primarily a comparative sort in how it can go right and how it can go wrong. On a personal level for Damien it's about confronting nihilism and how much necessary evil is allowable. If relying on specific evils leads to far better outcomes than not using them, then is one obligated to use them? It's one of the better arguments for The Greater Good and The Ends Justify The Means that I've seen, though of course in fiction the outcomes can be whatever the author wants them to be for any given action.

It's difficult to for me to say which I've enjoyed more of the two books. The first had both more high and low points while the second is somewhat better than decent the entire time except for the last 20%, which I really enjoyed despite being conflicted about what happened. Also in the latter's favor is that it has Tarrant from the beginning.

Next up is the final book of the trilogy. If the third book is also a simply plotted journey I'll be disappointed. My biggest problem with this book is a meta consideration. If plot twists seem to have been for the author's convenience, does that make them less meaningful? I prefer it when it feels like it wasn't something that had to happen.

Rating: 3.5/5 (4)

Previously in the series
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=Coldfire&search_tripcode=sffg&search_ord=old

>>22926167
Your """reviews""" are SHIT. fuck off

>>22925530
Read Vernor Vinge, a fire upon the deep.
Read the Witcher series.
Read hyperion.
Read jack Vance.
Read Richard K Morgan.

>>22925621
PKD schizos will attempt to refute you but you are right. Ubik is the most single handedly ruined concept I've seen.

Finally got round to reading some Forgotten Realms starting with the Dark Elf Trilogy. Bros this book has a Drow Matriarch whos described as being 600 years old, 4 ft tall and weighs 50lbs.

Did R.A. El Salvador invent the 1000 year old loli trope?

>>22926217
Don't listen to this faggot

>>22926217

Is there anything like the Horus Heresy? Deep in future space opera with lots of killing?

>>22925962
certainly, I'll add it to a later revision

>>22923698
I'm supposed to be improving my writing, but I keep getting sucked into the abyss of Lofter MTL'd fanfiction.

>>22925930
Asimov is completely unreadable by the fact that he's a shit fiction writer regurgitating math and physics drivel.

>>22923754
>>22923762
>>22924088
>>22924676
>>22924740
>>22924745
>>22924766
>>22924898
>>22925121
>>22925996
>>22926167
>>22926296
>>22926298
>>22926454
Great post anons, very original but just started three body problem and i'm wondering when does it gets good? 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??? Abercrombie is Reddit-tier?? Are the dune sequels worth it or should i stop with god emperor of dunc? Should i read the Hyperion sequel???? 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´t understand Malazan?!?! Any books with chinks??!! When does ASOIAF 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?

>People getting filtered by Asimov in 2020+4

>yfw the supposed "golden age" of science fiction was A LOT less popular than the derided 'pulp age' of science fiction

>>22927503
Always ask "according to who?" whenever somebody talks about the "golden age" of anything. The answer to that question for sci-fi is "literary critics", who have never cared for the sort of stories that capture popular imagination.

>>22927261
This but ironically.

>>22927509
professional critics are typically the last sort of people you should ever listen to for anything

>>22924089
Bump.

>>22926026
one of the better examples of modern sf
>2006
FUCK YOU, IT'S STILL MODERN

>>22927552
It is, everythig after 1999 is modern, only zoomers think otherwise

>>22927552
Yes, obviously 2006 is modern. You're either overly defensive or a zooomer.

>>22925339
no, i just really like female authors.

>>22927565
>>22927567
That's almost or just 25 years. Well past modern.

>>22927732
>not knowing the difference between modern and contemporary
>thinking it's based on how old you personally are
>probably relating it to videogames with their relatively short history and great changes over the years compared to books that have been around everywhere for many centuries

>>22926026
Vampires in space and alien octopuses. It's a fun book, the characters are kinda boring but there are interesting ideas.

>Alien virus crash lands on earth
>Writer makes it crash in the middle of nowhere or in Antarctica so it doesn't take over the whole planet immediately

>>22927567
Retard

>>22927837
Where's the pic from?

>>22927921
Penumbra Black Plague.

>>22927921
Looks like Eastern Europe, maybe Russia

>>22927565
imagine being this retarded

>>22928176
See >>22927814
Zoomzoom

>>22924088
It's not fantasy, but Christian Cameron's (who also writes fantasy)'s Long War series set in Greece has one. He treats them well but still does as he likes with them. Cameron is good at being honest to the era he's writing in.

>>22928389
Thanks for the recommendation, anon. Looks like I already had Killer of Men on my PTR, actually. I'll start on it tonight.

wot book 10
im way past sunken cost considerations, but will perrin and faile do ANYTHING that matters or can i safely skip their chapters?

>>22928451
>WOT latter half
>will [character] do ANYTHING?
lolno

>>22928176
Joke's on you; I don't have to imagine.

>>22924745
do you have any series to recommend then?

Any fantasy/sci-fi that came out in 2023 that's well-written? I've been spoiled by contemporary writers like Ada Palmer and Bakker.

>>22926167
I really liked the concepts and ideas in this series, but the characters felt like cardboard cutouts that the plot just happens around. The only books written by a woman that I've read that didn't feel like that was the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb.

>>22927837
To be fair if it were to crash land anywhere in a modern setting and not centuries ago, it would have been spotted by someone and probably shot out of the sky as it entered orbit or immediately collected by one organization or another when it landed.

Are there any other 40k books that are as good as and/or similar to the Eisenhorn novels?

>>22925598
kill yourself

>>22924088
Elric of Melnibone, the Verdant Passage

>>22928527
The Kaiju Preservation Society

>>22928572
grim

>>22928572
Kill yourself

>>22927509
That's simply not true. If it were Jane Austen and Charles Dickens would not be considered classic writers now.
Same in France and America with Victor Hugo and Steinbeck.

>>22928580
Either say what's wrong with the book, suggest your own or shut the fuck up faggot.

>>22923754
Mother of learning was a nice surprise. It does feel like a cultivation novel sometimes, but I think time loop novels are fascinating.

>>22928527
Did you consider any of the the 30+ I posted my thoughts about here?


>>22928552
I assume you mean that they didn't feel like real people, as in they weren't three dimensional. I get that, but not as a quality particular to women. I haven't read Hobb and I don't know that I will unless I have some reason that I do so without wanting to, so I can't comment to that specifically.

>>22928650
>Did you consider any of the the 30+ I posted my thoughts about here?
I'm specifically curious about 2023.

>>22928651
Yes, I know. That's what I meant.
>>/lit/?task=search2&ghost=false&search_text=2023&search_subject=&search_username=&search_tripcode=sffg&search_email=&search_filename=&search_datefrom=&search_dateto=&search_media_hash=&search_op=all&search_del=dontcare&search_int=dontcare&search_ord=old&search_capcode=all&search_res=post

>>22928658
There were a few I didn't end up writing about and a lot I could've read, but even so it's quite possible none would be to your preferences. I was simply curious as to whether you had.

I decided not to do "which 2023 books did /sffg/ read the most in 2023" this time because it didn't seem worth the effort going through all the profiles again relative to how much others seemed interested in it.

>She would bear the sons of the Warrior-Prophet

I'm only nearly the end of book 2 but I've noticed something interesting the title of the previous book was also mentioned in an Esmenent chapter I'm guessing it's the same for all the other books and she name drops them in each one, right?

>Cover art for the books mostly went out of my control. The results could be ghastly—the droopy, lilywhite wizard of the first Puffin UK paperback; the silly man with sparks shooting out of his fingers that replaced him. Some covers were quite pretty in themselves, but delicate medieval persons on twee islands with castles with pointy towers had nothing to do with my earthy, salty Earthsea.
>And as for copper or brown or black skin, forget it! Earthsea was bathed in bleach.
wtf why no one told me Le Guin was a chudette

>>22928829
I don't know if you're trolling, illiterate, or both.

>>22928658
The fact that you'd give a Sanderson book a 4/5 tells me I can't take your recommendations seriously.

>>22928924
I don't mind. That's entirely for you to decide. There's a lot of what I see as discrepancy from others as well. It just goes to show how complicated people can be. Reducing that complexity is a valid strategy.

>>22928951
>trying to be condescending when you actually read Brandon Sanderson

>>22928982
No, I say that in all sincerity.

>>22925818
OwO wuts that?
>>22925578
Second shelf from the left, at the top, two black volumes, "Dick" in cursive. They are laying on their side.
>>22926282
I appreciate the recommendations. Will anyone second these? I've never read any of them. I played a little of the first Witcher game but my mom made me turn it off when she saw me earn a card.

>>22928829
she really was made for it huh

Are there any other sff authors with a fucked up backstory like Eddings?

>>22928527
read pic after it was posted here
I liked it

time loop novels are the speed running of literature
autistic as fuck
just reading the same thing over and over again with slight variations while the story inches story forward at a snail's pace

Just finished the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy and it was (mostly) kino. I think I liked the current day and near future settings of Three Body Problem and Dark Forest more than the far future of Death's End.
Anyone have any recommendations for what to read next?

what's the best /sffg/-related audiobook?
for me it's Shadow of the Torturer (and the rest of BOTNS) by Lailey

>>22928389
NTA but I've started on the first book and I instantly liked it. Any other you can recommend that take place in some form of antiquity, fantasy or historical is fine with me as long as it's not an actual history book.

>>22929369
The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter

>>22929051
>Will anyone second these?
Look them up, see if the description is something you find interesting, and if necessary download a free sample and read the first few pages and make your own decision instead of outsourcing basic thought like a pathetic mongoloid.

>>22924740
On point desu

Fantasy books for a casualfag? No Sanderson slops pls.

>>22929591
Chronicles of Narnia

>>22929051
>OwO wuts that?
Start with Tales of Pirx the Pilot and the Cyberiad.

>well and truly burned out of sanderson after the shitshow that was rhythm of war
>autism prevents me from dropping, moving on from or forgetting about anything unfinished
Christ

behold, Egwene fighting Ishamael in wheel of prime

>>22929702
You do know that means you still have decades to go until it's all finished. For the Stormlight Archive alone it'll possibly be 22 years. At the end of the year the 5th of 10 books will be published over the course of 14 years. It'll be at least 8 years after that until book 6 according to his current schedule. Assuming the same pace, 8+14=22.

any recommendations on asimov?? Is he worth reading or just a meme? I saw a few of his books at B&N for just like $5 and they're hard to find on amazon

>>22929591
The bible.

>>22929936
Foundation trilogy is nice if you like the idea of long term politics and the concept of an empire falling and a new one rising. It's not "fun, it's more of a food for thought kind of book.

>try reading Will of the Many
>reads like a bad YA novel
You guys actually sat down with this?

>>22930129
i'll check them out anon, thanks. Sounds like a fun read.

>>22928527
It's funny you'd use those two authors as your examples. I agree they're both very competent writers, but their subject matter is almost diametrically opposed.

>>22930159
I'm always laying in bed. I'm a sucker for academy arcs in YA but it was just slop in this case and let's forget about the fucking ending. It's a shame because I kinda liked the main concepts that justifies the powerlevel. Anyway, not like I paid for it.

>>22926026
I've read a lot of Watts' stuff and I've noticed the basic setup is always the same. A crew of around six or seven mentally ill yet highly qualified assholes who all hate each other are stuck on a ship/station and must resolve a neato sci-fi situation while struggling with their own psychological issues. It works in Starfish and Blindsight but it gets kind of repetitive after those two.

>found love death and robots on netflix years ago
>watch the Beyond the Aquila Rift episode
>spaceship crew wakes up at a wrong location
>captain meets his old gf
>they try to wake up one of his crewmembers but she is unstable
>crewmember freaks out and attacks the gf
>later the captain finds out nothing is real
>he gets mad and demands his gf show him what is going on
>gf is a freaky ayy and captain screams in horror

>actually read the short story this week
>crewmember never freaked out
>captain never got mad or screamed

amazing netflix drama

>>22930419
>crew of around six or seven mentally ill people
Why is this trope so popular (or is it forced)? Not just in books but movies too? You would think that people selected for such a mission would be all highly qualified professionals and most importantly of sound mind, but no, it's always schizos on spaceship!

>>22929718
NAY
NAAAY

>>22929591
Sword of truth

>>22930159
>>22930339
Fun things are fun.
Currently it's at 7 four stars and 2 five stars in the /sffg/ group. You should add your ratings to balance it out better.

>>22930885
>sffg/ group
More like a tranny group

>>22925621
Unironically filtered. I guess your favorite author is Stephen King? Nice and easy storytelling even children can follow.

So I recently started reading through the first law trilogy. Read blade itself and before they are hanged and just started on last argument.

It's not really as dark as I was expecting. Logen is like the nicest, most reasonable guy ever, very few people actually seem to die, and when they do its not really dwelled on for very long. Despite having a torturer as a POV chat, most of the torture happens offscreen or is alluded to, with the stuff actually happening being mostly frost beating people up.
I'm actually not a big fan of grimdark, and I'm reading it mostly because I just read most of the cosmere and wanted something a little darker as a change of pace but I really don't understand how this series is "grimdark".

>>22930579
J.g Ballard wrote: 'The biggest developments of the immediate future will take place, not on the Moon or Mars, but on Earth, and it is inner space, not outer, that needs to be explored. The only truly alien planet is Earth.

>>22929321
Marion Zimmer Bradley was a pedo
James Tiptree Jr shot her husband and then killed herself, her husband worked for the CIA btw

>>22931176
It isn't. Abercrombie is a lazy dudebro author who imitates the conventions of the genre without understanding them. People who like his books don't really read much fantasy, they call it "grimdark" because it's the closest thing to dark fantasy they've read.

>>22929702
I eventually did get back into reading his stuff recently, but yeah Rhythm of War put me off reading anything by him for a solid year. Going from RoW to reading Elantris and his short fiction stuff was nice and restored some of my enthusiasm for his writings. I am still dreading the 5th Stormlight book, because if it winds up being another RoW-tier slog, I might have to drop SA.

>>22929591
>admits he's casual
>thinks he's too good for one of the most casual-friendly authors
I guess go read Eragon

>>22931195
At first I thought that by "inner space" he meant the mind, but the last part doesn't make sense in that case. How is earth "the only truly alien" planet regardless of what your point is? That sentence is just never going to be true.

>>22931176
Reddit law

>>22929321
Are there any other sff authors who were literal Prophets like PKD, who saw a vision that saved his son from an undiagnosed brain disorder?

>>22929431
Broadest possible selection of good stuff for a single credit. Some of it is recent gigazogged drivel but you can just skip to the next story.

What fantasy should I read next, /sffg/? I really want something I'm gonna like. I've been reading things that I've heard from the world at large are good, and have been disapointed.

Read the Witcher series. I thought it was a solid 6/10.
Read the cosmere. ranged from bad (Words of Radiance, Rythym of War, Mistobrn Era 2) to mid (rest of stormlight, mistobrn era 1) with a few suprisingly enjoyable reads in Elantris and Warbreaker.
Reading through Blade Itself which has underwhelmed me thus far after a strong start.
Read ASOIAF, which I do really like, read through Kingkiller Chronicles which I thought was fine if not a little Gary-Stu-ish, and my all time favorite is The Dark Tower Series.

Feel free to call me a faggot.

>>22931375
faggot

>>22931375
>Read ASOIAF, which I do really like
As I know, there are only two other authors with serious pseudo-realistic worldbuilding: Guy Gavriel Kay and R. Scott Bakker. The first one is more optimistic, the second one is more pessimistic.

>>22931375
go read a daily reddit rec thread faggot

Recommend me cozy fantasy about travelling with low/semi-low stakes. Like "Hobbit", but more contemplating, with descriptions of nature and landscapes.

>>22931471
Why not just read some literary naturalism or travel literature? Why does it also have to be fantasy?

>>22931486
>Why not just read some literary naturalism or travel literature?
For example?

Answering your question: because I like medieval vibes, horses, bonfires, castles with fireplaces, virgin landscapes.

>>22931486
Not the other anon but can you give examples?

>>22931515

You might enjoy the mongoliad

>>22931523
Thanks, I will look through it.

>>22931471
The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls

>>22931523
By Greg Bear or Neal Stephenson?

>>22931680
I've only read the first book, ymmv

Any more pulp kino recs like this?

I’m halfway through the fellowship of the ring

>>22929487
If I had a basic thot I wouldn't be asking for remmacendations for books to read retard i'd be too busy kissing her.

Read Grass by Sheri S. Tepper

>>22931971
kool

>>22931952
Not just pic related he has written a lot more.

>Why yes, I am the best thing GRRM ever wrote. How could you tell?

>>22932139
>tfw no gigantic technology-manufacturing horror-creating salvaged ship

I'm tempted to pull the trigger

yeah I know they are cheaper in abebooks but shipping is insane over here

>>22932257
It's cool to have them all together, but in the back of each is a little write up on the publishing history of Elric and I'd highly recommend reading them in that order rather than the chronological order they are collected in. There's good to be found in all of them but Moorcock's style and attitude changes over the decades and you will have a certain amount of whiplash going from a story from a short novel from the 70s to a novel from the 90s to a short story from the 60s. In particular the original cycle of short stories and novellas tell a complete and consistent story that all following works refer back to (even ones that come before them chronologically), and I think breaking those stories up with later works dulls the impact that those originals have.

>>22932451

would the Del Rey collection be better suited?

Where should I start with J. G. Ballard? serious question.

>I look back at the stuff I read as a child
>local fantasy novels that were never translated to english
>collections of local fables unknown to anglos
>aesop's fables
>basically every remotely known greek myth
>heaps of old pulp novels that were translated and sold here because the rights were dirt cheap
>my suicided cousin's old hard SF books

man
i took this shit for granted huh

>>22932480
Crash or The Drowned World

>>22932598
His World series is very bleak frfr

It's my brother's birthday soon. Is this book any good? The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson

>>22924089
>finally finishing up the finale
Which finale of Carl was your favorite?

>>22932799
>niggas and trannys on the cover
Probably not.

>mfw you'll never get to experience this

>read 1930's pulp
>get to part where the horror is revealed
>read description closely
>hairy, snub nosed, long armed, thick chest
>immediately realize that they're describing an ape
>the cosmic horror ends up being a demon bonobo

Why were devil-apes so common in old Weird Tales? I've seen them in Seabury Quinn's work, in a substantial number of the original Conan short stories written by Robert E. Howard, even Clark Ashton Smith had them as horrors. What's with their prevalence? Were apes unironically the peak of eldritch horror during Lovecraft's time, and that it was only Lovecraft who was really inventing new horrors?

>>22932953
because apes ARE fucking horrific
they also make for easy monsters because they neatly fill the uncanny valley

>>22932953
Racism and eugenics. Metaphor for other races.

Missed first post by 3 days because of the weird OP pic

>>22933074
>not doing a catalog search for sffg or having the search bookmarked

I take it back, this is actually quite cozy.

What is a good book about mages without faggotry? I don't mean man fucking man, but slice-of-life, kids in school, people finding themselves kind of faggotry. I basically want a book about Conan shooting lasers. No good vs evil if possible, no modern setting. Just bearded guys conjuring demons, doing cool shit and backstabbing each other for power and giggles.

If you know such book, please recommend me, I can't thank you enough. Oh, aside from the bible, already read that one.

>>22929431
The Discworld books by Nigel Plainer are great

>>22933840
Maybe the Raven's Mark series by Ed MacDonald? The POV character works for a godlike wizard who is part of a cabal fighting another group of godlike wizards. One side is better than the other so there's a bit of good v bad but the good guys are pretty shit to begin with

>>22933896
For one sec I thought they kept doing the Discworld series with another writer. Don't do this to me again anon.

>>22933903
Ahaha, wouldn't that be terrible

>>22933909
God damn it wrong image

>>22933910
I liked the first pic more
>fucking hell

got this as a gift, holy shit it's terrible
it's like a series of partly remembered dreams told in a rushed un-immersive way with a protagonist who is clearly some edgelord teenager's idea of a cool guy
is this just how fantasy was written in the 70s?

>>22933763
Warbreaker is Sanderson's best

>>22933763
>>22934341
I tried to read it a few years back and found it rather hard to get into. When does it get interesting?

>>22933148
Bruh just do a highlight filter and pin it to the top of the board, like a civilized man. Then the only way you don't see /sffg/ at the top of /lit/ is if the OP is a mongoloid that doesn't put /sffg/ in the subject field.

>>22934712
For me it started to pick up around chapter 30

>>22934742
I just thumbed through my copy and that's like halfway through the book. Sheesh. Then again, Elantris was kind of a slow burn at first, but it still got interesting within the first 50 pages.

>>22934240
Yes. Now read the comic book adaptation and the circle will be complete.
Also how big is this, all 10 novels in ONE volume? That's some serious brick.

I don't think Sanderson will finish The Stormlight Archive, he looks really fat and unhealthy these days. Can see him having an early death from heart attack or stroke.

>>22934715
I'll admit, I was the last one to do that.

>>22934240
kek
glad i dodged this bullet on the advice of /sffg/
this general isn't so bad after all.

are there any fantasy books where the protagonist is an unlovable incel freak?

>>22935035
Dying Earth, definitely (Cugels Saga)

>>22934925
Depends on how distracted he gets with his half dozen other ongoing series. I have no doubt he could sit down and finish it in like 2-3 years if he devoted himself to the task but he seems intent on dragging it out like some gay cinematic universe by weaving all these other cosmere books into the mix and only doing one SA book every 2 years or so.

>>22935035
My diary desu :'(

>>22933840
Zorachus
Time Master series by Louise Cooper
>Inb4 woman author Bad
Ok chud

>>22933840
Harry Potter

What do I do if I'm enjoying a book and suddenly the author injects some tranny bullshit into the middle out of nowhere for no reason and it affects the plot 0%

In a purely fictional world where gender identity has zero presence in its history a character corrects another character on pronoun usage, then later a frumpy bookish androgynous character in "ill fitting clothes" refers to himself as "he" but also as "baroness". The books were semi decent up to this point.

>>22935280

>>22932900
>20something roastie
I prefer them with more experience

What do I do if I'm enjoying a Feed and suddenly the author injects some city slicker bullshit into the middle out of nowhere for no reason and it affects the plot 0%
In a purely fictional world where Feed and seeds identity has zero presence in its history a character corrects another character on German cars, then later a frumpy farmer character in "ill fitting clothes" refers to himself as "Chuck" but also as "Sneed". The books were semi decent up to this point.

>>22935359
Stay in your containment board dumb cunny poster

>>22935363
be careful, anon. he'll mass reply to about fifteen different posts, saying "sneed", and totally "own" you!!!!!!

>>22935368
Not if I do it first
>>22935359
Sneed

>>22923663
>Reading Cugel The Clever
>reach the part where he eats the blob creature

Did...did Cugel just eat the fucking Aleph?

>>22932953
Apes actually are pretty unnerving when they're hostile. If there was a species about halfway between chimps and humans in terms of intelligence, and it had an aggressive disposition, it would be viscerally terrifying. Probably why our ancestors exterminated the shit out of all those near human hominids in the pleistocene.

Recommend me something about a world with ruins and decay, looming and depressing sky, thin population density, estranged landscapes.

I have already read Bakker.

You guys won't believe what i just did on goodreads

>>22935538
wat

>>22935538
Flirt with divorced women? Yes i do it all the time

I just finished reading Gateway by Pohl, really enjoyed it. Are the other books in the series any good?

>>22931585
no gay manga. this isn't /a/

>>22932257
you know you can read the epubs for free, right?

>>22935648
>he doesn't know

>>22935657
>In this beautifully illustrated slice-of-life fantasy, a young girl sets out to become a valiant knight by first serving as a squire.
sounds gay

>>22935679
I fucking hate le cozyfantasy
That is all

>>22935651
If you have the money, you won't have to.

>>22935736
What retard pays more than $120 for three hardbacks?

>>22935758
>What retard
we have many of those here in /sffg/

>>22935736
Then why are you questioning your purchase? You should be posting pics of the stack on your shelf.

https://youtu.be/k0H584ftkQU?si=yd5d4bPPAaCwFqkn&t=1401

>>22935736
You should be pirating books until an author has proven their worth to you and deserves support. I read probably 75 books a year. I only actually buy books from two authors. Don't feed the dregs and propagandists.

>magic is a mystery and nobody knows how the fuck it works ie LOTR
>hundreds of pages per book are dedicated to autistic magic system science ie Sanderson
what's the ideal balance between the two?

>>22935869
The Locked Tomb style where there appears to be an autistic magic system but it actually is a mystery and is never explained

Whats a good book about an axe wielding barbarian running around enjoying himself and chopping up shitters who try to stop him? I need an outlet or ill just do it my god damn self I'm sick of society

>>22931176
You'll get why when you finish it, it fits the genre in a very annoying way

>>22928527
All of the KJ Parker stuff was decent even if he does seem to be writing a bit too much these days.
Didn't really read any new releases last year so I don't have opinions beyond that.

Any know where I can find an audiobook of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin translated by Mirra Ginsburg?
I just can't find a reading of this specific translation :(

>>22935970
Just have an AI read it to you. Hell, that way you can even pick your favorite narrator.

>>22935890
He's not a barbarian, but First Chronicles of Druss the Legend and Legend of Deathwalker.

>>22935980

>>22935970
>>22935980
>>22936015
Is he the greatest narrator of all time???? I am in shock at how good this is.
https://youtu.be/BagcmfJye7o?si=e3tpvl6vzdVHbQqI

>>22935869
Video games

Why are you posting here when you haven't even read the Hobbit and the LotR? What are you posting here when you haven't even read Dune? Why are you posting here when you haven't even read WoT? Why are you posting here when you haven't even read Ender's Game? Why are you posting here, anon, you illiterate, scumfuck, third-worlder piece of shit?

>>22936224
dune sucks

Alright, I finished my first book of 2024. Blindsight by Petter Watts.

I rate it 3.5/5.

What I liked: The scifi is great. There's a lot of behavioral science, biology, a bit of physics and philosophy as well. There's also a final chapter with legitimate scientific references to some of the elements and observations in the book. The author has put a lot of thought into it. I was a bit sceptical of the vampires in a scifi setting but he makes it work.
The aliens are also indeed very alien.

What I didn't like: It's sometimes difficult to visualize what the author describes. Weird way of writing and choice of words.
The characters are kind of flat and the dialogue is not that great. They interrupt each other a lot, none of them seem to have any social skills whatsoever.

I did enjoy it though and will read the sequel. That ending was great.

>>22936376
Great review, I agree on all points. I want to re-read this but to endure that cast again (and those awful flashbacks) is too much pain. Jukka should have eaten them all.

>>22936324
You still need to read it, /nutlit/.

The person uploading DCC patreon chapters to kemono is SLACKING and needs to get their shit together.

witch hunting but with killing floor vibes?

>>22936383
Yeah the flashbacks were kind of annoying too.

>>22935492
Shadow of the Torturer

>>22935302
Into the trash it goes

>>22934891
god damn that looks even worse, maybe i will check it out
also it's not that huge, it's like a large sized softcover but only as thick as one of the long malazan books
his writing which is a lot of shit like
>i went to sleep
>then i woke up and continued
is really word efficient so the books are all short as fuck

how did Wheel of Time become such a popular series anyway, it isn't really good at anything except sheer length

>>22936515
WoT is proto-Sanderson and is popular for similar reasons.

>>22929591

Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy, first book is The Blade Itself. As accessible as Sanderson, but the prose is better by a wide margin and the character writing is top-notch.

Don't read if you have a weak stomach or want happy endings.

>>22929431

I got halfway into the Shadow of the Torturer audiobook and dropped it to listen to other things. The plot never really hooked me, felt like The Name of the Wind if it was written by someone significantly less of a self-important faggot than Rothfuss. Am I missing something or is it just a slower paced, less gripping sort of story?

>>22936535
WoT filtered me halfway through the first book when I realized there wasn't going to be any sort of subversion to the general structure of the narrative. If I wanted classic, non-deconstructive fantasy I would reread Tolkien. At least Sanderson occasionally subverts the tropes he uses.

What's with Howard's non-Conan fantasy? They either deal with Atlantis, Mu, the pre-drowning world, or have to deal with the Aryan Spirit against the rest of the world. The plot of one of his short stories goes something along the lines of this: an ancient Atlantean wizard is resurrected in the modern era (1930's) and builds up a conspiracy that a local detective discovers. What's that conspiracy you might ask? It's to gather all of the non-white races for a singular coup against the white race. There's another one where a guy gets hit in the head by an axe and relives a previous life as an Aryan warrior who was murdered by a race of manlets, then awakes and tries to strangle his friend upon realizing that he has their phenotype. These stories are hilariously based.

>>22936572
This is such a shitdumb numale take that I'm surprised the post isn't riddled with spelling errors. Subversion for the sake of subversion has absolutely zero substance. Do you hate grapes because they aren't as subversive as the cheap box wine you guzzle after hoovering cock all day? Jesus christ.

>>22936567
It doesn't really have a plot. Severian just sort of wanders around bumping into things. Wolfe's gimmick is that every character turns out to be some other character in disguise. For some reason, people find this to be ingenious story telling.

Is it just me, or is Brandon Sanderson kinda bad at writing dialogue?

>>22936984
Not quite dialogue, but more the surrounding text around the dialogue. There is a reason why his prose is not praised. Have read Mistborn (book 1) and Elantris. His worldbuilding, characters and storybuilding is not bad (quite good actually), but his prose lacks originality and can be a bit clunky.

Is it just me, or is Brandon Sanderson kinda bad at writing

>>22935890
Karl Edward Wagner's Kane

Want to start (buy the books) a new series which would you recomend of these 3:
a) Belgariad
b) Riftwar Saga (Magician)
c) Silmarilion, Unfinished tails, Tolkiens poems?

Why hasn't he used his millions to buy himself a gym?

>>22937115
From literary point of view the c) is the best obviously.

>>22937128
Without questions.
But I want to know if you would recomend the other two.

>>22937123
He wants to die from cardiac arrest. Thi is the manifestation of the will to die.

>>22937135
I have read only c). But I'm interested in comparison of the other two also.

>>22936984
I think the dialogue is fine but his characters are bit too cartoonish at times.

>>22937142
>>22937128
>>22937135
Belgariad is ok. I read it at age 15 or so and I already felt that it was a bit too simplistic of a romp through tired tropes. It's more of a childrens' series. Not to say I didn't enjoy it - it was a page-turner and I cared about the characters and stuff, but it just didn't read like proper literature.

I read most of Silmarillion at age 26. It was breathtaking. A work of absolute unbridled genius. A world so beautiful that the only work I can compsre it to in terms of scope and depth is the Bible itself! My best friends and I still wax lyrical about it sometimes.

...I don't read much literature.

>>22937160
Thanx for the answer, so Belgariad is out.
But what about Riftwar Saga (Magician)?

>>22937170
The entire Riftwar Saga up to the end of the Serpentwar tetralogy is my favourite fantasy series, and I've read a lot.

The talon of the silver hawk trilogy is alright, but it's basically just a retelling of Count of Monte Cristo and the series goes downhill from there.

>>22929353
is it good as a standalone? it looks like the first of a series and i try to avoid series

>>22937209
What about the Krondor trilogy?

>>22929591
Chalion

>>22936515
>how did Wheel of Time become such a popular series anyway, it isn't really good at anything except sheer length
The fantasy boom was about availability more than ability
Shannara and Sword of Truth are even worse and they were popular at the time too just because the authors kept putting out books which kept the publishers and stores pushing them.
Even the good stuff that got popular from that time period like Discworld did so because the author was prolific.

>>22937211
If you want some good standalones I sugest David Gemmells Drenai saga books. They are part of a series, but some of them are excelent as standalones. "Especially Legend" , "Waylander" and "Winter Warriors" . In addition I also Recomend "Knights of dark renown" and "Morningstar" (by the same author).

It's cool that this thread doesn't do a gay top 100 list like the rest of the board

>>22937345
Absolutely no one will agree with it

>>22936956
Characters are exactly who they say they are. Severian just doesn't pay attention to the details.
Did you even read the book?

>>22937345
Thread gets raided every four months so a top 100 would be meaningless

>>22937211
yes
there's nothing left open or a future plot setup in (now) book 1

didn't even know a 2nd book was coming. looks like it was just recently announced

>>22937345
It has a top 20 or so and one much more comprehensive than that.

>>22924843
Call of Cthulhu and At the Mountains of Madness

Am I the only one who think that Tolkiens Elves might have been inspired not only by norise mythology, but also by celti mythology, from Tuatha De Danann to be precise.

Am I the only one who think that Tolkiens Elves might have been inspired not only by norse mythology, but also by celti mythology, from Tuatha De Danann to be precise.

what's the point of the dying earth setting? like, do they ever acknowledge that the earth is about to die? Does it have any bearing on the characters and story?

>>22937345
We have a top 10 instead and rabid shitposting autists who lose their mind if you discuss an 11th title.

>>22936376
The sequel is basically the same book but not quite as good. I liked the vampire chick though, her interactions with the pov character are funny and she's got a lot going on under the surface for a creature who supposedly doesn't have qualia.

>>22924843
boring uncontroversial choice but Innsmouth, he's a much more mature writer by the time you get to his late period

>>22928389
How does it compare to his Traitor Son/Chivalry series? Not super interested in the period but I like how Cameron approaches his historical stuff (before inevitably wandering off into the absurd/contrived after several books).

I recently finished reading the Black Company up to Port of Shadows. Overall I liked everything more than I had expected and I became very attached to the characters. Over time I've grown to appreciate the Books of the South more than I first did. I hope we get A Pitiless Rain this year.
On this topic, what do you think of the theory according to which the events in Port of Shadows are influenced by Shivetya-Croaker and Lady? I think it's pretty obvious.

>>22937123
He's starting to look like GRRM

>>22937686
yes

>>22937747
Is that pic from a book series or something?

>>22937850
Not directly, but its quite like Cameron's Against All Gods series. The differences between regular humans and demi gods is about whats depicted in the picture.

>>22937108
>Karl Edward Wagner's Kane
Not a barbarian

DON'T FORGET TO POUR ONE OUT FOR LIGHTNING LOU
THE POOR DOG LEFT ALONE TO GUARD A STORE ON CHRISTMAS DAY

>>22935890
Not quite a barbarian but an axe wielding old warrior: David Gemmells "Legend".
It has Druss the Legend who is an old axe wielding bad ass warrior. His axe is named Snaga (which in the story is explained to mean "sender" ).
There are also two another books about him: "First chronicles of Druss the Legend" and Legend of Deathwalker".

What's the consensus on Herbert's non-Dune books? Got The Green Brain lined up to read and the only other one I've read is Hellstorm's Hive which was ridiculously fun.

>>22932257
Go for it. I got em and don't regret it.

>>22926167
Would you be willing to review my novella that comes out in March? If so just let me know a good email to share a review copy with.

Content is post-post apocalyptic novel in the style of a Lewis and Clark expedition across the ruins of America. A beta reader said the style reminded him of Book of the New Sun - maybe since the language is meant to evoke the colonial era.

I think you're the anon that got me reading Long Price Quartet so would respect your opinion.

>>22938262
How pozzed is it?

>>22938296
It's completely chud approved, all three of my beta readers are /ourguys/ and were super into it. There main feedback was to expand the ending which I've now done.

>>22938324
Their*
FUCK

>>22938324
Does it contain any of the following:
>female mc
>female supporting character
>(female) love interest
>romance/sexual relationships
>lgbt, feminism, bbc, harem cuckoldry, cooming etc
>non white/minorities
?

>>22924088
Read and learn dear zoomies.

>>22937160
Belgariad/Malloreon is based and has hot milfs (and a gilf)

>>22938362
at first glance i thought it said TRANSMAN

>>22938126
>>22936403
>2024
>Dungeon cuck carl
get your shit together anons

>>22932257
Get them on Amazon, each of them cost less than 40 with international shipment.

>>22938262
>Would you be willing to review my novella that comes out in March?
Yes, but based on past experience with self-published books, especially with the ones from here, I strongly recommend against me doing so. I don't treat them any differently or grade on a curve as it were. My overall rating on Goodreads is 2.99. There's very little chance that I will rate it better than 3. I've read around 35 originally self-published books and very few were better than that for me. That's harsh. Some have posted theirs here as well that I briefly looked at and didn't read, because it would be a waste of time for all involved.

Here's one example of someone from here who asked me:
>>/lit/thread/21565496#p21571494
I provided a lot more feedback outside of this review, though how helpful any of it was is questionable at best. It's certainly critical.

>If so just let me know a good email to share a review copy with.
sffglit@gmail.com
I don't have any problem with briefly looking it over before I try reading it to tell you how well it'll probably go. I don't even mind reading it, writing something about it, and then not posting it. This is just a hobby and I don't intend to get in the way of others.

>I think you're the anon that got me reading Long Price Quartet so would respect your opinion.
It's possible.
>>/lit/thread/19806731#p19807479

The Book of the New Sun is not very good

>>22938362
Already read it.

Do you guys like Dune?

>>22938685
Yes.

>>22938446
I certainly don't feel entitled to your (or anybody's) time, and certainly not a 5/5 fluff review. I'll send it over tonight and appreciate any feedback you're inclined to give and however you'd prefer to share it.

>>22938355
I shan't spoil it, but I promise what few females are included are there for a worthwhile reason that may not be immediately apparent (not a love story). You or anyone else want a review copy tonight just let me know - appreciate any chance to raise awareness before it formally goes out

>>22938432
>dude he's a cuck BECAUSE I FUCKING SAID SO
I wish I could meet psychotic retards like you in real life.

>>22938685

>>22923663
thoughts on M. John Harrison? I liked picrel, it's like a proto-Star Wars.

>>22939039
I've only read one book by him, Light, and I liked it. I've read some of his short fiction as well. I'll read more from him eventually.

>>22935869
I prefer it when magic has stated limits and rules, because not every author has Tolkien's restraint in using magic without them. With totally undefined and vague magic, there is a strong temptation to use it whenever you need a way to conveniently resolve a scene. It becomes a crutch.

So I like it when it has rules in the sense that there are clearly stated things magic can't do, and clearly stated conditions for certain things to work, because this creates opportunities for suspense in the story. I don't think adding overwrought "systems" where every single interaction and mechanic is explained in detail adds much value to the story. Some people find imaginary systems fascinating in and of themselves, but I am not one of those people. I am in it for the story.

>>22938726
>dude he's a mouth breathing retard of an MC who gets upstaged by a talking cat
I wish i could stay away from you toxoplasmosis infected inbred fucks in real life.

>>22939351
>toxoplasmosis
you said the word xDDD epic!!!

>>22935869
Less is more, and the story takes precedence above all else.
>in order to cast the spell slappiccus ballicus you need 3 spoonfulls of powdered rainbow newt tail and do a tripple backflip on the waning phase of the second of our planet's 7 moons.
>Also, the spell generates 8462312 hexicons of magical energy
Unless any of those details are meaningful to the plot or a character's inner journey all that shit in the greentext is useless noise