/lit/ - Literature

Paladin of Souls, World of the Five Gods #2, Lois McMaster Bujold (2003)

Three years after the events of the previous book, Ista is now forty years old and deeply unsatisfied with her life despite the curse having been lifted. From birth she was brought up to be someone who'd marry into greatness, so she couldn't ever be herself. When she came of age and married the king the role she had to play was even more false and tormented. Even after being widowed and secluded, the anguish from the curse and trauma she endured left her without a self. Grief and loss were her world entire. The crushing weight of expectation began at birth and seemed it would not relent until death. Now at forty, her life half over, she wonders if she can begin to live as herself. Perhaps there's yet remains time to experience life, embrace the world, and see what exists outside of what has been forced upon her. After glimpsing what her life could've been, she resolves to go on pilgrimage despite her fears of relapsing into madness. She doesn't do so for a religious reason, but to save her soul, and if that's not possible, then to at least to lighten the burden upon it. Though she wants nothing to do with the gods any longer, one of the gods sees this as an excellent time to have their will worked through her. What ensues is a tale of mystery, magic, murder, demons, gods, love, war, self-discovery, and acceptance.

Ista is the sole viewpoint character and the only one from the previous book to be in this one in a significant role. Past characters make brief appearances and are mentioned in passing, but this is almost entirely about the new cast. Whereas the first book was about courtly life, intrigue, and adventure, this one is traveling for the first quarter then exploring a mystery for rest of the time that's much more than it initially seems. Although it's rather different from the first book I greatly enjoyed it anyway. Overall I prefer the first book, though that may change in time, as this has greater strengths in some areas than the previous one did, primarily in terms of being a character study. Ista's story is one that I personally find to be very compelling. It's often very introspective and deals with how to navigate relations with both the self and others. I found it to be fascinating how she comes to terms with the life she's lived and is able to move on from it, step by step.

Based on what I understand this is as far as the story goes in chronological terms. As far as I know all other works in this setting take place in the considerable past. Regardless, I'm eager to read them, as this book has shown that what really matters is simply that Bujold is writing in this setting. Even more so it's about how meaningful it feels. I don't mind reading entirely for entertainment, however if it can also be meaningful, then there's little else I'd want from it.

Rating: 5/5

Previous book:
>>/lit/thread/22678324#p22679394

>>22993448
>40yo used up roasties life story
>she is now ready for self discovery
> 5/5 "I greatly enjoyed it" - resident /sffg/ simp

>>22993439
He is not going to win in any type of fantastical or literal literary sense and neither will (you)

>>22993479
>>>/pol/

>>22993479
>anti-bakkerfag also has TDS

>>22979027
nice illustration but why nobody draws him as described in the short story? iirc all four limbs mutilated and thoroughly tortured; and disheartened
pic posted is famous Sanjulian pencilwork about the same subject albeit wrong in its depiction the same way as the pic posted in op. But one of my fav depiction nonetheless.

>>22993703
Apparently just the upper limbs were cut

[...]and behind it sat an idol on a sort of marble couch. Conan stared aghast; the image had the body of a man, naked, and green in color; but the head was one of nightmare and madness. Too large for the human body, it had no attributes of humanity. Conan stared at the wide flaring ears, the curling proboscis, on either side of which stood white tusks tipped with round golden balls. The eyes were closed, as if in sleep.[...]
[...]The trunk of the horror was lifted and quested about, the topaz eyes stared unseeingly, and Conan knew the monster was blind[...]
[...]Tears rolled from the sightless eyes, and Conan's gaze strayed to the limbs stretched on the marble couch. And he knew the monster would not rise to attack him. He knew the marks of the rack, and the searing brand of the flame, and tough-souled as he was, he stood aghast at the ruined deformities which his reason told him had once been limbs as comely as his own.[...]

>Past
>Current
>Future
Past: A Practical Guide To Sorcery -
Its pretty decent for the first two books and the character interactions are really its life blood (Based Damien retard) yet not even they can save the third books drudgery from still being trapped in the university setting as the students have only just finished their first (1st) mid term by that point.

Current: The Murderbot Diaries -
Interesting so far with nice scene setting and lots of good scifi things. Character interactions and descriptions are a bit catty like how Rowlings are (not a bad thing) but the first book is veeery short so will be interesting to see how things can wrap up so quick.

Future: Maybe Conan or some Star Wars stuff

How gay is this?

>>22994472
overall not gay
pov mc isn't gay but there is gay side characters

it's edgekino, you should read it

Anyone have experience with Perry Rhodan? While I have no intention of reading anything close to the whole thing, I'm curious if it's at least entertaining enough to be enjoyable or if it's just bottom shelf supermarket pulp. I can read German decent enough, but not well enough to read classics (Goethe filtered me HARD). I can read Harry Potter in German just fine if that reading level (and random made up words) is comparable.

>>22993458
>women love men and want to rely on them
>mentally unstable weeb seethes over girls not being deranged misandrists
stay on /a/ please

>>22994492
>edgekino
retard detected, opinion discarded

>>22994492
How woke is it?

>>22994610
edgy really is the best way to describe it. more so than gay, woke, or whatever else you're going to ask

Will a man ever win the Hugo Award again?

>>22994714
Not while gnosticism is the de facto state religion of the west.

Pick my next book for me

>Fevre Dream
>A Wizard of Earthsea
>The Dark Forest
>Red Rising
>Claw of the Conciliator

>>22994816
I couldn't put red rising down. Read the first 3 books in one week. After that I dropped since it wasn't where I wanted the story to go

>>22994472
Less gas then Anne Rice or Twilight, more gay then Blade or Dracula.
>>22993525
Odd that you take that stance with a reply as opposed to the original post.

>>22994816
Claw

>>22994714
The source for that image is
https://vector-bsfa.com/2020/01/12/the-decade-that-women-won/
which specifically says it excludes most Hugo categories from the chart. Men are still winning, just not in the main categories.

Here are two other references for gender
https://www.kith.org/jed/hodgepodge/nonfiction/hugo-statistics/hugo-stats-author-gender/

https://reactormag.com/gender-and-the-hugo-awards-by-the-numbers/

The question you should be asking if is a man will able to win the Hugo for best novel again.
https://www.sfadb.com/Hugo_Awards_Winners_By_Category
2015 The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu
2013 Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas, John Scalzi

There's only been two wins in the last 10 years. Before that it was mostly men.

>>22994816
A Wizard of Earth Sea

>>22994472
It's pretty gay. The author is a stereotypical modern shitlib so expect multiple interracial gay couples making up a significant amount of the cast.

I need your help finding a story that was quite wild, sadly I don't remember the author.
>It's about romans invading britan
>I think Marcus Aurelius is leading them
>He leads his men into some god forsaken part
>they end up havin no food
>they are close to starving and find a cave
>they hope to find a bear or something inside
>they end up waking up some eldritch monster/god
>the monster fights witht them and the other eldritch gods come to earth because of that
>Cthulhu comes out of the water
>Marcus prays to his gods
>Zeus starts to throw lightning at Cthulhu
>The romains manage to kill the monster
>the other gods go back home
>the story ends with the lingering feeling of dread because the men are still starving and now having the dead eldritch thing laying around

First for Robin Hobb enjoyer. Farseer Trilogy is so good.

Should I read The Faithful and the Fallen or The Bound and the Broken?

>>22994816
Red Rising. As a total snob I tried it on a whim and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

edge chronicles worth reading as an adult? found my brothers old copies from when he was younger

read heaven's laws.
also that fucking feel when refreshing dcc patreon daily for new releases

>>22995233
Only if you can allow yourself to feel as a child would. That goes for only book meant for those in the single digit ages.

If your book has elves and dwarves I don't want to read it. Get new material

>>22995246
>Being a paypiggy.
>Spending more then you would for a complete edited novel for only a single month.
>Doing it for Dungeon Cuck Carl.
Not even going to title search your recommendation tbqh.

>>22995275
>newfag can't greentext properly
>being a paypig when kemono exists
>being the fag who says Carl is a cuck because you say so then spergs out for the next 100 posts
lol

Read Beyond Apollo

>>22995160
>The Faithful and the Fallen
idk about that other series but i had the misfortune to read both this series and its sequel
the world building is kind of ok but the plot and characters are pretty bad, prose is also pretty bad
the antagonists are comically overpowered and lose due to some shitty writing

/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 Mark Lawrence? I'm working my way through his Book of the Ancestor trilogy at the moment. A lot better than his first trilogy, but I think Red Queen's War was better

>>22995333
I will probably try the first one and how I like it honestly the only good thing I remeber hearing about is that the action scenes are great... Which is usually something that I find to be a snooze fest and I doubt this will make me change my mind but I am still curious.

>>22995422
I read his broken empire series and enjoyed it. Book of the Ancestor put me off when I saw it at first. Too many mentions of women in the description.

Would you recommend it? Will read it if sk

>>22995455
Oh I enjoyed Broken Empire too, but I didn't find Jorg as compelling as Jalan
As for Ancestor, the primary setting is a convent and the main characters are all women and young girls, so if that's not something you can picture enjoying then it might be better to skip. If you haven't read Red Queen's War though, then I would recommend that for sure, especially if you liked Broken Empire's post-apocalyptic Europe as a setting

Which fantasy books are vibrant and original?

>>22994564
It really is the only way to describe the book. At first I thought the author was just a cringy fuck with a self insert MC but then I realized that he's playing up the edge on purpose until it becomes ridiculous. It's pretty entertaining.

>>22995511
>vibrant
is this some kinda trannywhistle? if not, reverend insanity`

Good Lit-RPG

>Book of The Dead
>The Tutorial Is Too Hard
>The Reincarnation of Alysara
>Dawn of The Void
>Eight
>The Mana Influx
>Red Mage
>Hell Difficulty Tutorial
>Age of Stone
>Overgeared
>As Good as Dead
>The Nailmaker
>Cinnamon Bun
>The Warlord

Good Fantasy and sci-fi

>Ringworld
>Neuromancer
>Melody of Mana
>There Are Superheroes In This Story
>Warlock of The Magus World
>A Neets Guide To Becoming A God
>The Reality Dysfunction
>What We Do To Survive
>A Practical Guide To Sorcery
>Healer of Monsters
>Blame
>Sokaiseva
>I Am Not Chaotic Evil
>12 Miles Below
>Beserk
>Violent Solutions
>Tenebroum
>Planet of The Apes

>retcons the only interesting throughline of his series
what the fuck was he thinking

>>22993395
any villain protag royal road kino or should i give up searching the desert of low quality and female protag?

>>22994880
Is there any way other way to take a stance on 4chan other than replying (or not replying) ?

>>22994472
Been reading this. Nothing gay so far, but it is fairly generic. The praise for it is fucking ridiculous; must be from people that hardly read any fantasy or horror. It's fine though.

>>22995618
Does that mean you WANT a female villain protag OR do you want a male one?
>>22995642
I think (you) should reread the post (you) are referring to.

>>22994169
>last
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
>current
Dune Messiah, almost half way through the book. So far much worse than the first book, lots of politics and yapping.
>next
Dying Earth, 2nd hyperion, black company, shadow and claw, vernor Vinge short story collection, we by yevgeny.
One of those.

>>22995695
I want scheming self-interested will to power selfish male protag no womans no homos no woman-interested male protag no edgy murderhobo

>>22995817
reverend insanity 2 when

>>22995817
>No homos
>No murder hobo
These two are both the most prevalent and mutually exclusive ones. Also please specify if you want vanilla fantasy or sci-fi / Lit-RPG / Xinxia(Cultivation) / some kind of hybrid - Just to help narrow it down further?

You guys read any xianxia or wuxia that really blew you away? I've given a bunch of the most popular ones a chance, I like the martial arts and Chinese mythology but I don't give a fuck about the "cultivation" bullshit

>>22995140
I don’t remember this from Meditations

>>22995140
Are you absolutely sure you didn't just have a fever dream?

I can't believe I'm enjoying this garbage. I'm supposed to be better than this.

>>22995140
This sounds like the reverse of The Cairn on the Headland.

>>22995695
>take that stance
>with a reply

>>22995160
>The Faithful and the Fallen
do not read
it's extremely mediocre, like the other anon said

apparently Gwynne may have improved with latest works, but I haven't read them so idk

>Going on a short break because of real life but I'll be back to update soon!
>Last updated July 4 2011
what's its name?

>>22996330
grrm

>>22996330
>read book series
>author's wife and dog die in the same year
>author continues writing but never another entry in that series
a decade now, rip

>Murtagh gets a qt cultist waifu and an urgal bro, kills children, burns a city and robs Glaedr's grave
based

>>22993479
>trump can read
fake news

>>22994524
Why don't you just buy one magazine/book and try it out? Never read it myself but haven't heard much about it either, I don't think the German in those is going to be that difficult.
Why in the fuck do you want to learn German anyway? There are many languages way more useful to know.

halfway through wot 11
i really hope Sanderson can salvage this series because holy shit what a waste of setting

>>22994524
Yeah i read the first 100 of the book version. I really liked it but you should like retro scifi if you want to start at the beginning. The whole series is structured in arcs so quality fluctuates a bit depending on the arcs. Havent read the newer ones so i cant say anything about them. In general you shouldnt expect some hight literature but not some trash either. I would say its pretty solid scifi that explores some interesting concepts from time to time.

>3 Shallan chapters in a row
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I get needing to kill off Jasnah so she can actually develop character but HOLY fuCK

>>22993448
Finished the first book recently, and enjoyed it, but I don't see the motivation for a sequel nor how Ista can carry a whole book. If anything I would've expected the Fox's son or Pali to be the focus.

>>22996615
If you're curious enough then you'll read it. Then you'll either understand or you won't. It's Ista because of her second sight and having previously been a saint. The consequences of the curse having been lifted are also explored.

>>22994783
how is gnosticism the de facto state religion? where are my hallucinogens and priestess prostitutes to show me the truth?

>>22996671
What is a woman?

>>22996693
not a hallucinogen nor a priestess

>>22995927
those are some ugly baby chicks

>>22993703

>>22996110
Stop being an autist by focusing on only one word in the sentence anon...
>>22995817
Healer of Monsters

>>22996330
Death's Head by David Gunn

To be filtered by Bakker is to be filtered by aesthetic splendor, power of cognition, and wisdom.

The Sandersonite CRETINS have come out of the woodwork to defend their indulgent drivel. I don't care about the CRABS or the PLANTS or your DUMB MAP when your characters have no spark of humanity and only exist so they can FLY AROUND AND FIGHT. Authors worthy of the name can draw real human tragedy from just 20 pages of two people talking in a room; the modern fantasy "author" can't provide a glimpse of humanity from 1000 PAGES of the most APOCALYPTIC CLASH of GOOD AND EVIL. I recently attempted to get through book one of Sanderson's "epic" Stormlight saga, and was FLOORED when he had to represent how characters feel by MAGICAL EMOTION FAIRIES because he was UNABLE to convey it through BELIEVABLE DIALOGUE. THIS IS THE MAN WHO HAS THE MOST POPULAR LECTURE ON WRITING ON YOUTUBE. It is no wonder that today's young fantasy writers think CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT is synonymous with "LEVELING UP". World-building represents the D&Dification of the Fantasy genre. The focus foremost on setting rather than character, prose, plot, or theme, can only be explained by the influx of AUTISTIC sons of 35 year old mothers who cannot understand or conceptualize human emotions or relations, and can't write for shit. BRANDON SANDERSON has destroyed an entire generation of writers, along with VIDEO GAMES, ANIME and AUTISM. It should be no surprise that the current trend in the genre are so-called "LitRPGs"--a derivative of ISEKAI, D&D, and VIDEO GAMES, because these stunted shut-ins have no exposure to the world beyond the mediated glow of their computer screens and the musky back rooms of tabletop gaming centers. MAGIC SYSTEMS are the product of STEM AUTISM and are completely irrelevant to anything that makes a story worth reading. The entire genre has become one big MALADAPTIVE DAYDREAM. The only solace is that fantasy is falling into such disrepute that it can safely be consigned to the same bin as YA fiction and romance slop.

>>22996671
>gnosticism
4chan schizos learn a new word and repeat it everywhere. Gnosticism is a uniquely bad choice for a state religion because it teaches that those with worldly power are necessarily aligned with satanic powers. In fact, the reason the gnostic strands of Christianity were quashed was because the religion was going mainstream in the Roman empire, becoming a state religion.

>>22997147
4chan has discussed gnosticism much longer than the handful of years you've been here.

>>22995662
People praise the weirdest things these days.

>>22997207
>writer with chinese background
>jade in every book's name
cringe

>>22997207
because everyone's desperate to point out the "modern classics" to hide the fact they haven't read many of the most important works out there.

>>22997147
the reason gnostic sects were eradicated was because they were practicing sex magics

>>22997207
is this any good?

>>22997275
anon, goddammit...

>>22997227
>to hide the fact they haven't read many of the most important works out there
Why hide it?

>>22997227
No, it has a deal with "excitement marketing". You cannot sell your booktube channel to viewers if you always are a depressed guy with low scores. And publishers won't sent you free books.

>why are shit books being praised?
Short answer: Marketing
https://web.archive.org/web/20230801232532/https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/07/21/critics-are-getting-less-cruel-alas

>>22995520
I mean worlds that feel alive and multifaceted instead of mudcore. Evict the trannies residing in your head at no cost

>>22997344
this. very much like in everything else key is talking about NEW releases. all big booktubers talk about the same books for a reason.

What are the best of military sci-fi? I'm talking books that don't sugarcoat war, but also don't try to be preachy.

>>22997217
it's funny because jade isn't even green to the chinese, they think this is lowgrade trash

>>22997509
Lensman

>>22997275
I thought it was pretty good. But you have to have some tolerance of gay sex, anti colonial rhetoric, and the plight of the abbo.

A nation with a highly saught after natural resource that turns you into a super soldier pushes its colonial masters off their island and rebels fracture into semi-legitimate crimal gangs.

These gangs struggle for power while also trying to modernize their country.

>>22996542
If you read through CoT then you went through the worst, the Sanderson is pretty good other than Mat getting a bit Flanderized in 12.

>>22996355
haven't read these books since I was in middle school, was this in the first four, or a spinoff, or schizoposting?

>>22997509
fall of reach, first strike are both decent books by eric nylund

>>22997968
>video game novelization
Dunno, I feel like you're pulling my leg.

>>22998264
How about I pull something else, big boy...

>>22998264
Not him and I was young when I read them, but I remember them being pretty decent reads when they weren't just novelizing the game. First Strike good, The Flood bad, basically.

>>22996749
Those are kittens, not chicks. The fact that you couldn't tell indicates you have low intelligence.

>>22996355
haven't read these books since I was in middle school, was this in the first four, or a spinoff, or schizoposting?

>>22997844
sequel to the first four with murtagh as the protagonist

>>22998558
holy shit

What am I in for bros?

>>22998776
You are a small boy

The way of king's final chapters are still living rent free in my mind... Sanso really nailed it

>>22998776
>book is 30% the size of your body

>>22998776
at that size you should've just read the e-book

>>22998339
hello wyatt

>>22998779
>>22998830
>>22998834
>muh wrist strain
limp-wristed faggots

>>22998787
pity the series went to shit.

>>22998834
>ebooks
Eh, sometimes I do this. I had eye surgery a couple years ago, and have tried to avoid bright screens.

>Font size: 1
>Light brightness: 6 or 7
Yep, it's Kindle e-readin' time.

>>22998873
Who are you quoting?

>>22998887
>Light

>>22999117
>he doesn't live on a planet with a day/night cycle

>>22997509
Death's Head by David Gunn

>>22997509
Hammer's Slammers by David Drake

>>22998885
You should consider getting an e-paper kobo or something. They're pretty cheap, can be read without a backlight, and the battery will last weeks if you keep the WiFi off

>Murtagh is tripping balls and missing his sword while watching a literal neanderthal giving orders to and flying his dragon around
It's like reading cuck porn

>Khal Drogo unfastened his belt. The medallions were pure gold, massive and ornate, each one as large as a man’s hand. He shouted a command. Cook slaves pulled a heavy iron stew pot from the firepit, dumped the stew onto the ground, and returned the pot to the flames. Drogo tossed in the belt and watched without expression as the medallions turned red and began to lose their shape. She could see fires dancing in the onyx of his eyes. A slave handed him a pair of thick horsehair mittens, and he pulled them on, never so much as looking at the man.
What did GRRM mean by this?

>>22998776
Underage

>>22999502
>Retard just Googles the melting point, thinks that means gold can't liquify at lower temps
lol

>>22999583
>retard thinks liquifying isn't melting

>>22999613
>Doubles down
Ohnonono

>>22999583
It cannot.

Any sffg recs that are martial arts focused

>>22999583
What do you think liquefaction is?

>>22999795
Reverend Insanity, serves you right thinking martial arts matter at all. MMA has shown to the world that most martial arts are a scam and won't work against an aggressive, uncooperative opponent.

>>22999613
>>22999660
>>22999894
Is it really this easy to get (You)'s? I just have to be obnoxious and retarded?

>>22999502
>pure gold,
Maybe it wasn't pure gold (but something with lead, tin, antimony or zinc) and they were fooled.

Anyway, temperature in a firepit can reach 900 degrees C.

>>22999999

>>22999899
How has MMA shown that retard?

/sffg/ books to regain your humanity?

>>23000434
I liked Magician.

>>23000434
the hobbit

>>22997121
Truth to power.

>>22993448
This book was a great sequel. Third book was dumb and meandering, but the author really poured herself into this.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/24/science-fiction-awards-held-in-china-under-fire-for-excluding-authors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85CFDXrORdw

>“My Hugo acceptance speeches would have gotten me arrested in China. I have said things on record that are just illegal,” said the writer Jeannette Ng in 2021.

>The Worldcon organisers “should have taken our concerns about the awards being held in China seriously from the beginning. We knew something like this was going to happen,” said Zhao.

>>23000649
Yeah, I completely agree that she did, which is why Paladin of Souls was great. I'll be starting the third book later today.

>>22996044
i could not continue when author started writing less and less about MC and more about other characters. this became metaphysical cucking of MC. as he became side character more and more

>>23000650
I hope china arrests all these fucks

>>22997121
Based, have an ayy with thick thighs

>>23001161
The author is probably a tranny

>>22996873
>Fang Yuan frowned even more deeply
>Fang Yuan's frown swelled into a knot

>>23002009
I'm curious if China paid them to hold the con there or if because the organizers are all leftist loons they thought China would be a bussin place to have it.

>>23000650
>A prestigious literary award for science fiction
lol

>>22998264
not him but i read fall of reach only because i knew halo, and it surprised me how decent they were. lots of cliches and so on, you know it's made for consumption, but it's honestly good. it's a quick, entertaining, fast paced, engaging, etc. it is obviously a sci-fi military book so don't go expecting a deep masterpiece, but miles better than what i've read of 40K for example

first strike is also good, probably a bit more epic masturbatory and so on. but also good

>>23002111
The Chinese purchased fake memberships and spammed votes.

>>23002207
Even better.

How deep into The Black Company series should i go? Currently reading the first trilogy.

>>23002447
The first book is the best so it doesn't really matter since it's all downhill from there.

so I read the Dying Earth corpus in order (The Night Land, then Zothique, then Jack Vance, then BoTNS) and it was a meme as usual

I really expected something ultra powerful from BoTNS because every fanboy gives such sloppy sackjobs to Gene Wolfe and I figured wow well that must be the next level of fiction quality

but it's just mediocre "solitary 2strong4u protagonist roams the desolate dying earth while fucking every girl in her cunt, also have a couple babby-philosophy ramblings once in a while and also the lore is gonna be aborted every 10 pages but it doesn't matter because hopefully every 10 other pages he's going to hopefully stumble on a major plot device!! here's typhon!! here's the autarch's gold stash!!"

very gay and arse

>>23002499
Filtered.

>>23002574
tell me why it's good then

yes I read a lot of https://ultan.org.uk/about/ articles and it's still not clear why I should give a fuck

newfags arguing with newfags

>>23002207
b-based

>solitary 2strong4u protagonist roams the desolate dying earth while fucking every girl in her cunt, also have a couple babby-philosophy ramblings once in a while

>>23002009
i think china is cyberpunk af and doen't afraid of anything desu

>>23002698

>>23002584
it's good because your a whinny babby and if you dont like it then it's probably pretty cool

>>23002499
You are trash

>>23002715
Is that a boy or a girl?

>>23002762
The file name says it's a girl, for whatever that's worth.

>>23002762
here, have another pic so you can get it easier
left : boy
right : girl
(with the assumption of you knowing your left from your right)

I just finished this finally. It was at its best when there was still a bit of mystery but the entire last third of the book kinda dragged on. I think there was a lot of meandering on this one. But I think I enjoyed it still? I like the hard sci fi aspect of it all and how despite it all. Definitely felt like 40-50 pages of this book could have been trimmed. Especially since in general he is a bit of a dry writer.

>>23003015
any interesting sci fi or fantasy books featuring child soldiers?

>>23003031
xeelee exultant
child soldier but an entire civilization
not only an entire civilization but the reigning galactic top dawgs

>>23003031
oh my science what the CHUD

>>23002144
the crysis books were pretty good too. Just like the halo books, it's a little jarring when you realize the author is at a point you remember from the game, I remember the halo book being a little more awkwardly handled, but I've played halo a whole lot more so I noticed a lot more in-game moments.

And there it is. The moment I lose all interest in not only this book, but every book not written by a hardcore right-winger.

>>23003105
Is this a bakker reference?

>>23003105
gayness is normal for mammals bro, pretty much every animal with fur, 5% of its males are totally gay and about a quarter are a little gay. For me I refuse to keep watching/reading anything where half the relationships are gay, that's way more than average and a sign the author is mindbroken and undeserving of my attention.

>>23003105
Why do you have that picture saved to your hard drive?

>>23003128
Why do you think, sweetness?

>>23003128
>he saves pics to his hdd to post on 4chan

basically this

>>23003105
why would you read something by Jay Kristoff?

>>23003199
Never even heard of this faggot before I started reading this book. But now I know better; nothing published by tradpub should EVER be read. I took a chance this one time and it backfired. Gonna go back to reading obscure indie books and S&S written a century ago.

>>23003275
Went ahead and read the spoilers on jewpedia for the rest of the book. Fuck finishing this. I should have known better. Never again.

I finished the farseer trilogy which was ok i guess, a bit weird
is it worth reading the sequel series or no

>>23000649
It's weird how flat Hallowed Hunt falls when both books before it are best in genre contenders and all of the penric novellas are really fun.

>>22997344
>And publishers won't sent you free books.
Maybe not physicals but you can get epub review copies incredibly easily, you just have to have a blog and directly beg authors/publishers.

>>23003345
You should at least read Liveship Traders

>>22993395
Worth reading?

>>22997509
BOLOS

>>23003411
>What if... LE SUBVERSION like all grimderp?
No.

is there really nothing after the 4th book?

>>23003435
he got dropped by his publisher

>>23003441
Nothing stopping him from releasing sequels independently.

>>23003362
You don't even have to do that. You just use a site like NetGalley or Edelweiss and request the books. For the former all you literally have to do is create an account,fill out your bio with relevant details, click request book, then wait to be approved or not. That's what I've done anyway.

>>23003411
Honestly I was a bit dissapointed by it after hearing every reviewer suck him off. Ending just kinda leaves you with a hollow feeling like "Thats it?" I honestly though the first book was the best and then downhill from there. Worth your time but rather overrated.

>>23003411
It's if something you think you'd like, then yes. It can be rough going at first though, at least in my experience. You have to have the right set of expectations as well. Then it can possibly be a lot of fun, as long as you don't try it to take it too seriously, as if action movies.

>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=Abercrombie&search_tripcode=sffg&search_ord=old

I still have one more to post from Abercrombie, The Great Change (and Other Lies), which I'll do when I don't have something else to post, or maybe just in the thread after next, either way. It's already posted on Goodreads.

>>23003425
wait, i get not liking grim dark (though enjoy it now and again), but whats wrong with subversion?

>>23003560
I agree. I liked the series but the ending wasn't overly satisfying. It also turned me off low fantasy (limited magic) settings a bit

>>23003784
Grimderp IS subversion. And there's nothing 'subversive' about it anymore because it has become its own series of tropes and clichés. And First Law is, in fact, one of the best (worst) examples of extremely cliched grimderp.

>>22993395
Why isn't there a separate /sfg/?
I don't give a fuck about fantasy and I'm sure there are many fantasy guys that don't care about SF.
Just finished picrel and I'm gonna have to read the rest of this guys work. The tranny stuff was a black mark but otherwise great

>>23003119
>i just lost hard

>>23004133
ok, you said why you dont like grim dark, but again whats wrong with subversion?

>>23004164
Literally every time there's been an attempt to create a separate thread of any kind from /sffg/ over the past 10 years or so has failed. The threads never survive more than a few iterations for the simple reason that no one makes the threads consistently. If you want there to be such a thread you'll have to consistently maintain it yourself. Then there's the issue of maintaining enough posts over time as well so it doesn't get bumped off the board.

>>23004380
Jannies delete them actually.

>>23004380
a /SFG/ Speculative Fiction General endured for a while during the Bakker-only spam

opinions on baxter and the xeelee sequence of his?

>>23004164
yeah Permutation City was great but I tried reading Diaspora and it had fucking ve/ver pronouns on the very first page. Into the trash it goes

>>23003105
You were literally told it had a gay couple, retard.

>>23004995
I had to double check that it was this thread lmao. don't know what people want.
anyways, looking forward to book 2 in march

any book recommendations with an evil/grey protagonist? i vaguely remember one recommended in an old thread featuring some sort of alchemist

There's a few different complete editions of Conan. Any opinions on which I should get?

Holy shit does Shallan ever stop being a schizo? I can't get through another two thousand pages of this

>>23004916
Distress was funny when he wrote a sex scene between an "asex" and the protagonist. Egan seems to undertaken a lot of effort to explore this in most of his novels, as far as I can tell. Gotta give him credit, he was ahead of his time, but the depiction didn't sell me on the concept of romance with such a person.

>Paolini spent all his eragonbux on a gym

>>23005196
Doesn't look very expensive.

>>23005192
>Holy shit does Shallan ever stop being a schizo?
No

>>23004164
>>23004916
>>23005193

>>23004910
Check warosu. Nobody ever wants to read more than about two of his books because people are lazy uninspired readers.

>>23003411
It's bad writing at first, but he picks up as he goes on.

Don't go into it expecting some deep and meaningful experience. It's a light read and low investment with some cool characters, but it isn't going to change your life.

>>22995160
Anon, Bound and the Broken is our generation's LOTR. Go read it ASAP. Publication order obviously.

>>23005154
does anyone know? only thing i can remember was that it might have had a red cover and the title was a word or two long

Aurora Cycle is my favorite sci-fi series ever and I'd recommend it to anyone

>>23005782
>jay kristoff
Is it as hilariously edgy as his vampire book?

>>23005192
Her schizo only gets worse

>>22995511
Jack Vance, A.A. Attanasio, John Crowley

>>23005782
>amy
>(((kaufman)))
>jay (((kristoff)))
>nyt bestseller
>trannys on the covers

>>23005948
are you seriously retarded enough to think that kristoff is a jewish name?
It's like the most obviously Scandinavian name possible

>>23005952

>>23005413
Does it count if I'm currently having sex with another degree holder of the same sex?

>>23005633
oh found it after digging through the archives "Master of Sorrows" by Justin Call
the review in the archives sound semi promising

>>23005166
The Del Rey collections. All the stories are unedited and in written order. Plus there's a ton of extras and illustrations.

>>23005154
Kane by Karl Edward Wagner. There's three novels and two short story collections.

>>23004995
I wasn't told it would be a disgusting interracial gay couple with graphic sex, retard.

>>23006023
were the kane stories set in the modern day any good?

>>23004368
I literally just told you, faggot. It's beyond predictable now. And just because you LE SUBVERT something doesn't make it good. Either you're a newfag or stupid; either way I hate you.

>>23006031
No.

>>22995581
what's the series about?

>>22996339
Which series was this?

>>22996542
Can't tell if you're enjoying WOT 11 or not, but Knife of Dreams is unironically one of my favorite entries.

>>22996873
Why do bugs write this way?

>>23000434
The Hobbit + Lord of the Rings, unironically

>>23006063
The RI writer gets mocked on the chinese web for being a bad writer.

>tfw when reading unabridged count of monte cristo and just want to read some fantasy shlock
only 700 more pages to go haha

>>23003411
It's not bad and pretty fun. I would've preferred that the author didn't autistically LE SUBVERT and point at it like, "See? See? I gotchu!" but that's really the biggest flaw it has. Take it for what it is and have fun

>>23006079
Angry commies and/or retarded wuxia shills.
Soul valley is still shit.

Holy shit I am literally on page 1 of dying earth tales by Jack Vance, I saw a meme here that was like you need a dictionary to read jack Vance and holy shit that is spot fucking on. I know most of the words but God damn that's funny, brilliant analysis.

Why should I read litRPG? If I wanted rpg mechanics in a story I’d go play final fantasy again and have a much better time. I don’t see the point in incorporating video game elements into a written story, is it zoomer brainrot or is there actually something of substance to the genre?

>>23006063
pick your poison

>>23006146
Rheumy and arguably turfed are the only rare words on the first page, though.

>>23006244
Rare yes, but most of the others are fluffy or too verbose I'd say (meaning that there are simpler ways to describe the action). Like "did the idiotic visage conceal perception, a will to extinction?" you could probably simplify that but I guess Vance likes to write more poetically or verbose, I don't bring these up as negative points. I for one like Lovecrafts writing style.

>>23006052
I don't know if it is the real reason why but it is awful coincidental. Poor guy.

I was born in the late 1980s. My favorite fantasy series/books are from the late 80s and the 90s (although I began to read fantasy in 2002-2003). Do you have the same relation, that your favorite works are your age?

>>23002499
is it really just sexual validation fantasy half of the time?
I read half of the wizard knight and a lot of stuff that was going on made no sense and the author threw females at the main character from time to time for no particular reason

>>23006209
I'll stick with old white men, then.

I finished LOTR, now what?

(I barely read any other fantasy)

>>23006553
3 pillars:

1. LOTR
2. A song of ice and fire
3. Harry Potter

>>23006573
lol

can you guys recommend me good medieval books where the protagonist is learning to be a knight most of the books i read the authors had a boner with archers

>>23006603
Tales of Dunk and Egg.

>>23006603
i think the traitor son books have all sorts of squire and knight and other medieval vocabulary and bits and pieces in them
maybe you will like it
though there are a lot of archers, quite lethal shooters as well

>>23006603
french hands typed this post

>>23006425
No, no, I don't.

>>23006581
He's right, whether you like it or not. No, your favorite obscure fantasy series from the 80s is not a pillar.

When I'm reading authors like Bakker or
>>23006146
I write down any word I either A. don't know or B. know but feel like they should be more present in my vocabulary and write it on a notecard. Then on the other side I write the definition so I can quiz myself later.

>>23006684
What a way to become erudite with alacrity! While others are timerous about autodidactism , you are exuberant and vivacious! Bakker may be tendentious here, but that's only because there's a vile and mendacious campaign that seeks to impugn his virtuosity. We need many like you to be the colonnade that buttresses his perspicacity.

>>23006770
I knew most of those words already, but perspicacity is actually in the pile. I think I've got about 200 cards thusfar.

where is a good place to get bookz these days? obviously b-ok.cc is down, zlibrary is there but suspiciously wants a login, libgen was my go-to but lately more and more of the links are dead, only the tor link worked for me today.

>>23006817
Libgen

>>23006817
libgen
zlibrary/b-ok have to be accessed through tor now

>>23006791
https://play.freerice.com/categories/english-vocabulary
Try maxing out the vocab meter without getting any wrong and see how long you can stay maxed out.

how it is called. When author bit by bit moves away from main charterers point of view to other less interesting characters ? I want to know how it is called to avoid it in the future

>>23006817
Anna's Archive

>>23006830
cool they're still up in some form? didn't know that, thanks.

>>23006837
awesome site

>>23006832
I don't think there's a widespread term for that. Maybe someone has made one somewhere, but I don't know it. The closest I can think of would be saying to moves from being a sole viewpoint to being an ensemble. Though if the original main character becomes irrelevant, I don't know what that would be. Maybe you can find something on tvtropes or a similar site.

>>23006820
>>23006830
libgen is dead along with all its mirrors

>>23006858
https://libgen.is/

>>23006863
you're retarded. you didn't even try.

>>23006869
Not that anon but I have no idea what you're talking about. I just downloaded this >>23004164 from there today.

Does this shit get better after the awful prologue?

>>23006896
For most, yes.
For some, no.

>>23006882
I find more and more often the download links there just hang and then fail, I couldn't get >>23005560 (v2) except through the tor link. Looks like I'll be an onions boy after all.

>>23006896
yes, but do not read 3th and 4th books

>>23004853
This is a speculative fiction general
Claiming otherwise just shows that you don't understand the term

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundane_science_fiction
What are your favorite books of this subgenre?

>>23006980
Very funny that the first author I can think of as fitting into this is quoted in the article as saying the subgenre is fake and meaningless.

>>22997275
It has chink milfs, that already makes it readeable imo

>>23002499
>Zothique cycle
>A meme

how close close does the Solaris film follow the book? I've watched the film years ago but I feel like there is no point of reading the book if it's roughly the same.

>>23007036
as someone who watched the movie once years ago and then read the book once a month ago, the book makes a lot more sense. The movie struck me as some acid trip by a brainburned director, I didn't really try to follow it, and it really dropped the ball on the happenings on the planet as opposed to the book. The book's characters are kind of old-timey in their thoughts and desires compared to modern people, but that's to be expected of a book from 60 years ago or whatever. You should read the book and forget you saw the movie, imo.

>>23007036
Similar plots, totally different experience and themes.

>>23005526
How so? I know literally nothing about it aside from hearing it was better than asoiaf from some guy

>>23006817
Mobilism
LibGen
Anna's Archive
Soulseek
Randomly searching for epubs and mobis on Yandex

>>23006679
>he's right
samefag elsewhere

>>23007070
newfag aggression.

>>23007062
i know a place better than all of those and i'm surprised nobody has mentioned it, maybe it isn't as well known as i thought

>>23003031
ender's game
ender's shadow
ghosts of tomorrow

>>23007124
>better
you can find pretty much everything published ever between just mobilism and A'sA

>>23007105
I know. Newfags lack subtlety and samefag in the same posting mannerisms to no avail. It's not like this thread in particular doesn't have 4 years of consistent regular practice spotting bakkerfag's autistic sperg outs.

>>22996444
he's so old school he insisted on his emails being printed out so he could read them in hand and not on a screen (like a true man, fuck ebooks)

>>22997713
>tolerance
>anti colonial rhetoric
Why do dumb Americans pretend this is a bad thing? Or do they love England now?

>>22995481
not that anon, but i like monasteries and monks in general. does that part read like it was grounded in reality and well researched?

>>22996567
>>23005192
>knowingly reads shitty garbage known for being exceptionally bad at writing characterless with any degree of actual dept
>still cries about it and keeps reading trash like an idiot

>>23003015
china is peak aesthetics, shame about their construction and infrastructure

>>23007204
>china is peak aesthetics
yeah like a thousand years ago maybe

>>23005166
wasn't this asked and answered in the last thread? am i losing it?

>>23005962
yes!

>>23006817
ePDF pub

>>23006817
zlib works fine on my machine

>>23007214
needs stripper heels

>>23006896
I think the first two books were alright, but they deliver some good ideas in a shotty wrapper. Not much happens in the first book and the second tries to be more profound than it really is.

>>23007247
>government seizes website
>website is kill
>suddenly website is back, under .io laws (UK)
>wants login
could you glow any harder

>>23007164
Are you retarded?

>>23007214
China is eternal. What's a mere 1,000 years?

>>23007554
when your "century of humiliation" lasts 180 years, a millennium means a lot

>>23007561
that still winning, gweilo. south border in us look like brown asshole, but shit going IN!!!

>>23007561
they'll be fine, they chinkfied every foreigner who tried to rule over them
modern day manchus from qing dynasty discovered that manchu is now an endangered language among them

>>23007568
You import 70% of your food from the USA.

>>23007627
we do no need 70% of china, fren

>>23007592
>they'll be fine, they chinkfied every foreigner who tried to rule over them
>modern day manchus from qing dynasty discovered that manchu is now an endangered language among them
this man speak truth. china is forever, china not one people but chinese people. china lives and stands forever as china.
china #1

>>23007692
to be fair, manchus are a singularly evil race singularly responsible for china's degradation between the 17th-19th centuries

Winner of best debut book. Read it

>>22999899
if anything MMA showed that old school martial arts were right, and sometime between the 1850's-2000 martial arts was capitalized and corrupted

We're seeing all these old ass attacks like calf kicks, trapping, one in punches, etc that were once popular when you're fighting to defend yourself from dying.

I'm waiting for sweeps, which I think will be the next step for MMA.

>>23007177
I don't know much about the monastic life but I would say probably not. It's not really what the book is about though, there's more of a focus on their training to be assassins and the magical aspect, that sort of thing

>>23003411
Glotka was the only good character. Best Served Cold was a much better story imho

>>23007678
giwtwm

>>23007934
I liked the guy who randomly turns into a domestic abuser in book 3 until that happened.
I think Glotka is the most popular character because he's the only one who book 3's "subversion" doesn't ruin
And yeah the big problem with First Law is just that Abercrombie was an immature writer, his standalone novels are all a step up.

>>23007947
leave the great satan behind. make china your #1 home.

Why did nobody tell me that the Discworld series was so good?
Damn!
Also, is this worth reading too?
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/30558257

When reading books now, do you imagine the characters as normal human beings, or anime caricatures?

>>23008092
depends on the book really. sometimes i imagine the female characters as pornstars

NEW THREAD:
>>23008308
>>23008308
>>23008308
>>23008308
>>23008308