/lit/ - Literature

Allow me to be the first to say

Fuck ritual posters and fuck Neil Gaiman

>>23094019
>inb4 this becomes your ritual

What's the title?

>>23094263
The Prince of Nothing

fuck this ending in particular

fuck this too

>>23094340
imo that series is fine. the absolute crap is aspect emperor

>>23094535
bakker lost his mind
i remember he appeared on a podcast at some point while writing aspect emperor and there was a ton of cope about how he doesn't care what people have to say and about how he follows the vision he had and that he came up with the story when he was in his late teens and how it's nobody's place to change it
i feel it's fine to actually think that, but the way he broadcast that was raw seething and cope
also i think getting rejected by his hero dennett after he wrote on alien philosophy pretty much demolished his self-confidence
you'll notice even going way, way back in bakker's blogs and interviews he's always had a massive ego and thought he'd be recognized as this unparalleled genius who finally demonstrates fantasy is "real literature"
funny how many midwits like bakker or sam harris are attracted to neuroscience

Just finished Mother of Learning.
Desperately needs an actual editor but I still had some fun seeing the mystery unravel.
Is Lord of Mysteries any good? I'm on a bit of a slop kick it seems

>>23094727
It's good but it's really opaque for like 100 chapters.
I'm convinced it's a translation issue with the victorian style the author uses because the author's prior book (Martial Arts Master) was well written and LOTM gets a bit better

>>23094730
There were plenty of minor ESL moments in MoL so I should be well conditioned

>>23094425
>Kellhus explaining to Esmenet that he only sodomized Proyas to give him the confidence boost needed to eat a bunch of people with radiation poisoning

Having a hard time getting through Gardens of the Moon, I'm beginning to question if I'm even literate.

Is there such a thing as an abridged Harry Turtledove? Some of those books have good premises, but there are only cynical explanations for the length of what should have been short stories.

>>23094798
its a tough read, but its good

>>23094798
>>23094803
how is it a tough read
do you lil niggas just read chinese machine translations all day

thoughts on this?
i kinda liked it but also thought it to be a bit too edgy at times

>>23094836
No. What did you like or dislike about it?

Read Beyond Apollo.

>>23094019
T R U T H
S H I N E S

>>23094612
>>23094535
>>23094425
>>23094421
>>23094340

Aspect Emperor is the natural and logical conclusion when your goals as an author are to totally subvert the tropes of the fantasy genre.

[spoilers]
>Good guys put the bad guys to the sword
>Good guys commit atrocities to destroy the bad guys
>Caring gods are swapped out for soul eating demons
>Lusty maidens are swapped out for sodomizing fellow soldiers
>Magic is now a curse rather than a gift
[\spoilers]

The only conclusion that makes sense with those inversions is
[spoilers]
>The good guys lose
[/spoilers]

>>23094798
>>23094803
>>23094809
the only thing that's difficult about it is the authors autistic geographical vocabulary. just ignore these and imagine what makes most sense in the context

>>23095033
It's "spoiler", not "spoilers", faggot

But you are missing a huge component here, which is that he's not just inverting tropes but also discussing the collapse of meaning, which also was done in AE.

>>23095033
>>23095042
>bakkerfags pretending they're reading anything other than genreslop
is there a more pathetic group on this general? that guy who compared you guys to the NGE fans hit the mark

/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

>>23095299
God forbid people in the genre specific general read that genre.

Does Malazan explain itself sufficiently as you read, or am I just supposed to know a priori what all this made up stuff is?

For me? It's Sword & Sorcery.

>>23095532
isn't that just a real term

>>23095532
have some faith in yourself and the author and you'll be fine

Where do I start with Conan?

>>23095731
With the original stories by Robert E. Howard. Or if you want to read something slightly more contemporary read Conan and the Emerald Lotus by John Hocking. And if you like it then read his sequel Black Starlight. If you still need more 'contemporary' Conan before starting the original stories then read Conan: The Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner.

I just finished reading Trudi Canavan's Age of the Five trilogy last night and here's my thoughts on all three books.

You can feel the influence of Canavan's Black Magician trilogy in this one, from the way the magic works, to the strangely renamed animals, to the forbidden romance between a young woman and a much older man (in this case the age gap is measured in centuries rather than decades). A major difference would be the absence of the magic school setting or tropes that dominated the Black Magician trilogy. Instead, Age of the Five is focused on the adult responsibilities and relationships of its main characters.

However, I do feel like there were some tangential characters in these books that didn't need to be focused on to the degree that they were, like Imi, the princess of the mer people, who took up several chapters in book 2 which turned out to be merely showing how her people became involved in the final climactic war between the northern and southern continents, and having done that, the story had no further use for her perspective about 2/3 of the way through book 2, and she was entirely absent from book 3. Even characters who were rather important in book 1, like Auraya's advisor, Danjin Spear, wound up becoming superfluous by the end of the story, and felt like they were included in book 3 merely out of habit.

One of the more interesting things about these stories is how much mind reading and mental communication features in the plot. A lot of thought is put into how intrigue and deception would work when many of the important figures in the emergent conflicts can read minds, and when this skill is known of by the enemy, the measures they have to take in order to conceal their plans from mind-readers, since the number of people capable of shielding their thoughts is extremely small. There is a great deal of intrigue but a few of the twists are quite easy to see coming on account of Canavan's foreshadowing of them very early on. One such twist I expected to be revealed in book 1 but wasn't until the last 50 or so pages of book 3.

While the plot does feature magical battles between sorcerers, and one massive pitched battle between two huge armies, I wouldn't say the action is a compelling reason to read it. The mysteries and drama are what kept me hooked, even though I had a lot of the reveals figured out in advance it was still fun to see the characters work things out.

Lastly there's the romance. Auraya doesn't have anything like a typical romantic interest at any point in this story. She falls for a man she believes to be more than twice her age (more like 500 times her age), who was her magic tutor as a child, and she seduced as an adult. Eventually that relationship falls apart for plot reasons, and she trades up to being romanced by one of the five gods she serves, who winds up giving her mind blowing magically-stimulated orgasms.

>>23095896
There's something almost beautiful about the juxtaposition of lovely cover art and absolutely unhinged premises.

>>23095896
>Eventually that relationship falls apart for plot reasons, and she trades up to being romanced by one of the five gods she serves, who winds up giving her mind blowing magically-stimulated orgasms.

>>23095747
Thanks.

>>23095911
It's not really all that unhinged, the sex is rather glossed over and not graphically described, so it's not like a super graphic description of spine-arching, toe-curling pleasure, you just sort of infer that when she talks about "pleasure unlike anything she'd ever felt flooded her body". Also, that god had a rather dark past of seducing women by pleasuring them with magic and then "ruining" them for mortal men, making them so addicted to the pleasure that they killed themselves. She forgives him though, at the end of the story. Women, man.

premise for my novel: Genetically engineered man from a sci-fi setting finds himself in a fantasy world filled with gods, magic, evil monsters etc.

Hes befriended by a noble from an evil empire and fights with them until a girl seduces him and he starts to fight for her and normal people. He's more durable, empathic, intelligent and lethal than regular people, he has minor gadgets that help in various ways, most notably to impress people he meets, who think hes a magician.

Him joining the other side creates a rift inside the evil empire where soldiers he fought with eventually join him in the fight.

I'd tell you the awesome twist ending but you'd have to buy the book.

>>23095532
You just have to roll with it and trust it gets explained. The way Erickson writes you will have several "aha moments" where you think you finally figured it out, but you really haven't.

>>23095896
Not sure if I want to reread it but it's my favourite of her series because the premise rules, especially after the twist/reveal

>>23095995
women. If I could live forever, I think I'd spend a shameful amount of time reading trashy novels of the last century, just for the breadth of the human experience.

>>23095896
Thanks for sharing, anon. It's these longposts that make this more than just something an AI could do with itself.

>>23096021
It took me a long time to get around to reading it, despite having been introduced to Canavan almost 20 years ago with Black Magician. I loved Black Magician and tried a bunch of her other books but nothing scratched the same itch. This series, though, is probably the closest I got to hitting that same high that Black Magician trilogy gave me. I think Black Magician wins out due to nostalgia, but I very much enjoyed this one and will probably re-read it eventually.

>>23096042
Just trying to be the change I want to see in this general.

>>23095532
I never finished a Malazan book and thought I needed more explanations of worldbuilding details to understand the point of the narrative.

>>23095896
>>23095995
I like Canavan, she's a solid 7/10 writer. imo her best work it's The Traitor Spy Trilogy, a sequel of Black Magician about Sonea's son

>>23096070
I didn't really enjoy that one, actually. It was engaging enough to start with, but then it devolved into some kind of femcel uprising power fantasy.

>>23096110
>tfw no femcel gf
it's over

>read a book series called The Forever King trilogy
>ostensibly, according to the promo blurb, it's about King Arthur and his knights of the round table being reincarnated in the present-day, and they have to protect him from mundane and supernatural dangers as he tries to restore his lost love with Guenevere
>out of nearly 1200 pages, only about 150 are actually about the reincarnated Arthur/knights/Guenevere
>the entire rest of the books consist of flashbacks to a mangled retelling of Arthurian legendry that makes Marion Zimmer Bradley's infamous Mists of Avalon series look tasteful, or else the POV of the villains who have nothing whatsoever to do with Arthurian legend
this is fucking bullshit, even worse than Wilfrid of Ivanhoe being unconscious and "off-screen" for 98% of the book Ivanhoe

>>23096038
Anymore I deliberately seek out women authors when I want something with trashy sex scenes and compelling intrigue, they are not afraid to stuff their books full of both. The majority of the authors I read are still men, though. I can't get into the YA-tier romance that so many women authors churn out, there needs to be some actual grit to it. Canavan's pretty good at delivering that.

>>23095299
It's tough to say whether LitRPG troons or Chinkshit weebs are more pathetic than Bakkerfag pseuds, but the former rarely ever have any pretense to intellectualism, even something as transparently sophomoric as baby's first Nietzschean Ubermensch

>>23096148
>>out of nearly 1200 pages, only about 150 are actually about the reincarnated Arthur/knights/Guenevere
Okay this piqued my interest. What the hell was the plot of the story about, then?

>>23096187
gay sex

I'm writing a future-fantasy and I need help. What are some elements that *have* to be in it?

I'm drawing influences from:
>Civilization Beyond Earth
>Starfinder
>Classic D&D

>>23096187
There wasn't one, it was navelgazing about the "historification" of the Arthurian legend, trying to make it "real", and fit in with actual recorded history of the late-Roman period/Migration Era.
Except, horrifically, the authors did next to no research - or worse, relied on entirely false information - because the husband and wife team who tried to present the Britain of the late 5th-early 6th centuries were monstrously, wildly wrong, to a stupefying degree. Chief amongst their blunders was the assertion that the Britons had long since given up speaking Welsh in favor of English - English somehow being distinct from Saxon!
And if you think that's how well they treat historical fact, the way they handle the fictitious embellishments of Arthurian legend is done with about as much respect as Bill Maher has for the Bible.

The remainder of the novels typically center on the concerns of the bad guys, who are very one-dimensional sociopathic egotists, whose behavior has about as much depth as The Joker from Batman.

>>23096211
I'm this guy here^

None of this:>>23096209

I have a strict no sex policy. Especially the gay kind!

>>23096211
Future food
Life extension
Multiple uploaded minds inside one person
Lost technology from a higher civilization
Lost segments of megastructures where humans have reverted to a techno-barbarian state or even primitive state

>>23096211
casual cannibalism and robot overlords powered by perverted magic

>>23096211
Actual literal wizards. Magic is 100% real and accepted. It just isn't related to mechanical science. They'll ride spaceships and shoot laser rifles and cook dehydrated meal pills in their future microwaves into complete thanksgiving dinners, at the same time they'll levitate, turn invisible, and wave their hands and turn you into a woman or a toad or an insideout pile of organs if you get on their bad side.

>>23096229
>it was navelgazing about the "historification" of the Arthurian legend, trying to make it "real", and fit in with actual recorded history of the late-Roman period/Migration Era.
>Except, horrifically, the authors did next to no research - or worse, relied on entirely false information - because the husband and wife team who tried to present the Britain of the late 5th-early 6th centuries were monstrously, wildly wrong, to a stupefying degree.
Sounds like required reading for every film adaptation of Arthurian myth made in the last 20 or so years, yet somehow I doubt they've read it, which just makes this tendency mystifying in a way that I don't really care enough to figure out the answer to.

>The remainder of the novels typically center on the concerns of the bad guys, who are very one-dimensional sociopathic egotists, whose behavior has about as much depth as The Joker from Batman.
I'm impressed you finished this, I think I would've given up the second time it cut to a bunch of cartoonish villains circlejerking over their latest dastardly plot.

>>23096253
Very interesting ideas! That last one fits right in.

>>23096262
I'm not sure about this...

>>23096284
Excellent and I like your picture

>>23096211
pic related

>>23096211
Ancient religion based on "scriptures" which are actually fragments of different fantasy novels written in the 20th century.

Also seconding genuine wizards >>23096284

Bakker updates?

>>23096317
>Ancient religion based on "scriptures" which are actually fragments of different fantasy novels written in the 20th century.

>>23094421
>Ending
Anon, I...

>>23094425
Why? You do understand the entire purpose behind this, right?

>>23096310
Ha! Yeah I'll have to think about the social implications of magic. It reminds me of that youtube video where the guy is trying to claim that force users in Star Wars would have enormous sex appeal for the power they have.
(but no sex allowed)

>>23096317
>Ancient religion based on "scriptures" which are actually fragments of different fantasy novels written in the 20th century.

There's enough that some have religious implications anyways, and it's a good way to tie in lore I like without plagiarizing, since it shows respect. Thanks, yeah

>>23096290
Even as shitty as most Arthurian media is these days (nothing will ever compare to the GOAT Merlin series from 1998 with Sam Neill) they still are rarely as offensively bad as this book series wound up being.
>I'm impressed you finished this
The thing is, the parts that were actually about King Arthur and co. in the present day were actually really really well-written and compelling, but they constituted about 10-15 pages out of every hundred. You keep powering on through the trash hoping for that hit of the good stuff.
But you want to know what's worst about it? IT ALL AMOUNTS TO FUCKING NOTHING! The author takes the insulting "it was all just a dream" way out of finishing their fucking story and hits a time travel reset button to make it so that the entire book series never happened. At least when the T-800 sacrifices himself in Terminator 2 Judgment Day, it doesn't cause time to revert back to when John Connor was a bump in Linda Hamilton's belly.

>>23096349
I'll never understand how retards tricked themselves into thinking Jedi are celibate.
George Lucas has stated publicly untold countless times "Jedi can have sex, they just can't have permanent attachments", and a million 70IQ manchildren immediately go "so this means Jedi can't have sex?"
Star Wars fans should be euthanized for their own good, as well as everyone elses.

Any anons read pic related?

Good Fantasy and sci-fi

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


Good Lit-RPG

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

>>23096372
>George Lucas has stated publicly untold countless times "Jedi can have sex, they just can't have permanent attachments"
This would imply the necessity of some kind of Jedi brothel, cause expecting every Jedi to individually find casual sex friends they can hit and quit seems like too big a risk if such relationships are a trigger to falling to the dark side. Better to have council-mandated poontang for hire.

>>23096382
I always thought of it as a high school, except it's not illegal for the teachers to have sex with the students.

>>23096399
Oh right, they're a religious order. Pederasty is the go-to.

>>23096399
But wouldn't that just lead to strong attachments between padawans and their teachers? Unless attachments between Jedi are okay. Honestly this is sounding very cult-y now.

>>23096399
Oh that's hot

>>23096399
any books with this feel?

>>23096211
Genetically engineered living weapons that have escaped and gone feral
Ambiguity between AIs and demons
Interstellar ley-lines
Captured by space pirates
Magic space rocks
Robot vampires (they drain the energy, steal parts from and re-program other robots)

What does /lit/ think of Orion's Arm? Does it have any bangers? Hardmode: no Yes Jelonah

>>23094836
I agree it could be too edgy at times but still worth reading if you can get past that.
I like the setting. Post apocalypse fantasy is apperently overdone according to some but this is the first I ever read and it worked well.
I liked the eventual explanation of why magic exists.
I did not like how it sprinted to the finishing line. Felt like it could maybe use an extra book for better pacing.

>>23095532
Yes... But it can take a long time. If you can't stand being confused but still want to read the books just google the confusing bits and try to avoid spoilers

>>23094727
Lord of the Mysteries is absolutely great. Love it.

Anyone of you Xianxia chads know any good chinese pirate sites besides 69xinshu and uukanshu? (or barring that some good MTL ones aside from mtlnovel and lnmtl)

Just finished Idoru as my intro to Gibson. The resolution felt a bit anticlimactic. Also wasn't as conceptually interesting as I was expecting for all I've heard about it, was this depiction of the virtual world really that revolutionary in the 90s?

>>23094836
>thoughts on this?
first-person POVs are absolute cringe.

>>23096383
>>Good Lit-RPG
"lit-rpg" is for faggots.

>>23096561
>Robot vampires (they drain the energy, steal parts from and re-program other robots)
The Stainless Steel Leech by Roger Zelazny.

>>23095731
Tower of the Elephant story. enjoy

'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

4/5.

The Clarence brown translation is worse than the Mira Ginsburg translation. I found Clarence's version to be harder to follow and stay with the plot and even general happenings. I'd read (Mira) a few chapters then listen to the Clarence translation for a few and have to re-read them.

My review could be tainted by this, but I will say that this novel has moments of beauty that *might* have been better than Fahrenheit 451 but as a whole was less entertaining but more focused on the actual control aspect of people's lives (arguably Fahrenheit 451 is about different stuff than this book).

I'm glad the book was short.

Where Fahrenheit 451 almost at times becomes cringe or over the top in the message shoving, this book I'd say is much more subtle in some ways. Fahrenheit 451 has entire speeches where it's just like 'books good!' almost verbatim and this book had a different approach of 'math is beautiful but irrational numbers upset me'. More symbolism.

I think I would need to re-read this later.

>>23097187
>WE

Was a bit disappointed by the final book of the Covenant of Steel and the trilogy overall, but it was a lot better than the first two books of the Wheel of Time.

>>23097249
ALBERTO BARBOSA

>>23094727
>Is Lord of Mysteries any good?
Like most chinkshit its good up until the mc becomes so strong only gods can threaten him

>>23093904
Any good Warhammer books to recommend?
I just finished reading Eisenhorn and haven't read anything else.

>reading Raymond E Feist
>his Riftwar books to be specific, I'm on the second book of the second trilogy
>it's basically "Game of Thrones meets LOTR"
>or a proto -Sanderson
Does

>>23097428
>Does
Supposed to be
>Does it get better

>>23097436
No

There is literally no reason why the Star Wars franchise should be the only entity that has the right to use the Lightsaber because Lucas thought of it first.

There are countless science fantasy stories and there are almost no other Lightsabers.

The Lightsaber permits the existence of Knights in a space fantasy setting, similar to Jedi. Without it, space fantasy stories struggle to capture the aspect of fantasy that so many of us enjoy.

Fuck Disney, the lightsaber belongs to the rest of us. It's time we include them in our stories.

>>23094798

Gardens shellshocks you with setting bs and you kinda just have to give up and just accept where it takes you, Deadhouse drags you through an arduous speed run of GOT’s Essos bs and by the time you’re done with both you’re basically in the mental shoes of most of the solider characters and the crap they’ve experienced. Dare I say fitting if not intentional.

>>23097535
The problem is that you include one and any reader will go,
>Oh a lightsaber!
I agree, they're cool and I love them. But GL avoiding the lawsuit

>>23097563
You would only have a problem if you actually used the term "lightsaber".

There's no way a lazer blade emitting from a metal hilt would be a winnable lawsuit even for disney.

I've posted here before and received good feedback. Now, I'm much deeper into writing my fantasy novel, and I'd really appreciate anyone who may be interested giving me their takes on it.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/54622/the-kill-list

There's roughly 270 pages, or 71k words. Pic related is who I get a lot of my influence from.

>>23097387
the Gaunt's Ghosts series is widely considered to be the peak of Black Library literature, insofar as that means anything

>>23097590
give me a quick rundown of your story, I don't want to go into a novel totally blind
>setting
>plot motivation
>main character roles
>what kind of attitude it has: edgy or wholesome, serious or comedic, intellectual or brainless

>>23097607
That's a fair ask.

>Setting
The setting is Priene, a city that borders a desert and a grassland. The plot moves back and forth through the city, the desert, and the grassland as plot requires.

>Plot motivation
The main character is the princess of this city, and she has recently been dislocated due to a coup de tat against her father, the king. The first chapter starts after the coup, with her first step forward towards vengeance.

>Main character roles
I don't really understand this question, I apologize.

>Attitude:
I'd give it an edgy/thriller attitude. I've added elements of horror into the mix, as that's my favorite genre.

Does this give you a better idea?

>>23097669
>The setting is Priene, a city that borders a desert and a grassland. The plot moves back and forth through the city, the desert, and the grassland as plot requires.
I assume this is "medieval" fantasy? Is it a setting with magic and strange critters, or is it just boring humans like real life?
>The main character is the princess of this city, and she has recently been dislocated due to a coup de tat against her father, the king. The first chapter starts after the coup, with her first step forward towards vengeance.
This is the main character role I was referring to, combined with the plot premise.

>>23097387
Peter Fehervari has a few of the better written 40k horrors, in the horus heresy "know no fear" is pretty fun and written by dan abnett as well

Druss, Captain of the Ax, is the stuff of legends. Tales of his battles are told throughout the land, and the stories expand with each telling. But Druss himself grows older, until finally, the warrior turns his back on glory and retreats to his mountain lair. There he awaits his old enemy: death.

But far below, the barbarian Nadir hordes are on the march. All that stands between them and the Drenai people is a mighty six-walled fortress, Dros Delnoch—a great citadel that seems destined to fall. If it does, the Nadir will sweep inexorablyacross the land, killing all who oppose them….

>>23097713
I'd say this is a medieval-type setting, technologically speaking. Magic exists, but is relegated to individuals on a blood-line basis, and isn't wide spread. Still, the setting would fall under high-fantasy, due to its fantastical nature.
There are strange critters, and the rules of reality are different than they are in our world.

Are Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth worth reading?

>>23097760
Gideon is sorta fun but stupid. Harrow and others are not fun but stupid.

>>23097387
If you like titans and the mechanicus. Dan abnett's Titanicus is pretty good

>>23097727
Based.

>>23097535
Granted, I don't read a ton of non-Star Wars sci-fi that would have lightsabers, but all of the ones I've read relatively recently have lightsabers analogues.
>Solar Cycle
>Red Rising
>Sun Eater

>>23097760
Overall, probably not. The first book is enjoyable enough, though my opinion of it has been tainted by the later books. If you want to know more, tell me.

I need help for organizing my worldbuilding, multiple pages in a Word doc isn't cutting it anymore. Are there any applications or websites I can use to make cataloging info any easier?

>>23097268
anyone can clarify?
looking to get into it since i havent read any fantasy since my youth
sci-fi wise didnt read any but picked up starfish

>>23097830
Yeah tell me more. I've heard each one kinda has their own vibe.

>>23097867
I later changed around what I wrote about the first book and it's more than ohe post so have to open the thread. That's on my Goodreads, but I don't feel like linking it. The short fiction isn't included either. It's messy in presentation. If you want to see what /sffg/ thought about them overall you'd have to use the bookshelves function in the group. I don't feel like gathering it up right now.

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

>>23097843
They're some of the most popular contemporary fantasy so of course they'd be recommended. The best time to read them is before you've read much.

>>23097843
They're both gateway slop.

>>23097825
Elaborate on their not-lightsabers please.

>>23097843
The first book of Stormlight Archive, Way of Kings, is over 1000 pages, and its only in the last several chapters where it feels like the plot is finally starting to happen. Sanderson set off with very grand ambitions for the series, wanting to make a multi-book length epic, but I don't know if the full series is worth getting into. There's a very fleshed out magic system and world that gives everything a very fantastical feel, but the whole time I read it I just wondered if the page length and emphasis on world-building was really necessary for the story being told.
I ultimately did like the book, and there's moments and characters that stuck with me to a great extent, but I have no intention on reading the rest of the series. The common critique is that his prose in the books come off as very plain, though I didn't find this to be as major a detriment as other anons suggested. If you have no problem with bigger novels, I'd say give the first book a shot, just don't go in expecting to read the successor to Tolkien or something like that

>>23097839
obsidian

>>23097893
Red Rising has a special order of people that very few can achieve and their signature weapon is called a "Razor" which is basically a sword that can toggle between various blade shapes and a whip. There are special forms of wielding the sword, even to the point where some characters learn specific named moves to counter other moves and styles. Very rarely does a non-Gold Peerless Scarred wield one of these swords.

>>23097895
>>23097888
>>23097878
appreciate the insight, may start with kingkillers then.
Any books you all would recommend?

>>23095896
>being romanced by one of the five gods she serves, who winds up giving her mind blowing magically-stimulated orgasms.
Thanks, I have added this to my Do Not Read list.

>>23097843
Rothfuss is as much of a hack as Sanderson, I'll grant that Name of the Wind is very good but Wise Man's Fear is a bloated disappointment and the trilogy will never be completed.

Sanderson on the other hand has no specific work as good as NotW and several as bloated as WMF, but he is exceptionally consistent and productive. Unless he gets hit by a car or something I have no doubt that he will complete all 500 or whatever the fuck books in his cosmere universe. If you like epic fantasy and don't mind YA, he's worth getting into.

>>23097893
Solar Cycle literally has lightsabers but they're called Azoth.
Don't remember what the Sun Eater ones are called but the main character gets one at the end of the first book. Again it's literally a lightsabers with a different name.
Red Rising has super sharp whip swords. Don't know if they can cut through anything but they seem to go through armor pretty good.
Just remembered another, Acts of Caine has things called bladewands which are basically magic lightsabers.

>>23097923
I'm a Sword & Sorcery chad. I don't read slogslop.

>>23097955
I pictured azoths like the beamswords in Halo

>>23097988
...which is a lightsaber.

>>23097971
Do you read all 42 of the S&S authors or just certain ones?

>>23097999
No

>>23097952
>Name of the Wind is very good

>>23098085
The book makes more sense when you realize it's written from the perspective of a middle school braggart. Not only does he have a very juvenile conception of romance, but he also has a need to spin all of his failures as successes, or at least as near-successes that should have been a sure thing except for the meddling of someone who's jealous of his success.

It's entirely possible that said middle school braggart is purely the author's self-insert, but that's essentially the same situation as Catcher in the Rye, which is even more highly regarded.

>>23098085
So it's cuck porn? Good to know so I can stay away.

>>23098015
I read S&S authors you've never even heard of, bro.
I'm elite.

>>23094836
Read the first book and did not at all enjoy how much Jorg spoke and acted like Alex from A Clockwork Orange. It was irritating, but I figured that I was perhaps projecting the impression upon Jorg, and so ploughed on. Later, I read a blog or interview with Mark Lawerence in which he outright admits Jorg is a facsimile Alex. Fucking pathetic cringe. He even uses the 'O, my brothers' shite. Terrible.

>>23097593
>>23097720
>>23097790
Thanks lads.

>>23097669
>main character is the princess of this cit
how hot is she?

I read this and I thought it was a 7/10, I thought the author isn't for me as I have better things to do than read 7/10

However, I read somewhere that the consensus is that this is one of if not the worst book he's published. If his worst is a 7/10 to me, that means I should read another one right?

The chances of me not reading a third one is still high, so, which one should I read?

>>23098569
What is the consensus on how much magic can go into sword and sorcery/sword and sandal? My current novel is set in a quasi bronze age world which is ruled by a family of tyrannical gods. There are sorcerers who can call upon an otherworldly force to perform magic for them, but it's not so similar to the sorcery of REH's villains, for example.

>>23098569
Wait, fuck didn't mean to reply to you with >>23098605.
Anyway, I'll answer your question. I've only read two of the Mistborn novels and Warbreaker, and personally Warbreaker is the better of the two. I've heard it's a little more 'adult' than Sanderson's other stuff, though as far as I can tell people only say that because sex is sort of explicitly spoken about.
Can't say anything about Stormlight Archive, which seems to be Sanderson's most popular work, but at this point I've got too much other stuff on my TBR to start reading that.

>>23098036
Yes.

>>23098656
Bro are you retarded?

https://www.halopedia.org/Energy_sword_(fiction)

>>23098617
> I've only read two of the Mistborn novels and Warbreaker, and personally Warbreaker is the better of the two.
Warbreaker is the one I liked the most, I'm surprised it's so underrated compared to other stuff Sanderson wrote.

>>23098179
A fellow Eye of Argon appreciator?

damn, you know, i tend to be critical of nu-fantasy but i'm reading stories from weird tales and some of them are so uneventful it's almost insane that they got considered stories at all, lol
this one i just read was actually reprinted because they thought it was so great and the story is literally
>some guy gets called by a friend to his place
>friend has bite marks on his neck and narrator gets bitten in his sleep
>he sees a painting of his friend's grandfather then catches said grandfather in the act of trying to suck off his friend
>they immediately consult encyclopedia britannica and find out how vampires work
>they enter the crypt where the vampire sleeps (right by the house) and stake the guy with 0 effort, confrontation, mixed feelings, or anything
>Fin.
i'd almost call it a comedy for how matter-of-factly and undramatically the situation is dealt with, as if he had just discovered some mold and googled how to get rid of it

Are Sanderson's works that aren't Mistborn and Stormlight any good? Was looking at some of the standalones like Yumi, Tress, and Sunlit Man.

Red clouds cover the sky as dark hordes descend

So why are the bridgeburners such a big deal? They seem to be regular humans whereas wizards are everywhere.

Reading and rereading all these Doctor Who stories, with the most hard sci-fi of my current batch about to be wrapped up, sure has me craving the ol' scifi tales again. I think I'll add >>22979697 (Dead) to my immediate backlog, and I'll even poke through Excession to read the fun inter-ship correspondence and ship POVs. I don't know what else to add. Are the 'newer' Revelation Space short stories Night Passage and Plague Music any good?

>>23097590
Read a few chapters last night, then marathoned seven more this morning. You really have something good here. Some chapters read as if they went through an editor, and others are obviously in the first draft stage, but not in a bad way. You've really nailed the strange, foreign aspect of desert fantasy.

Good shit anon.

>>23098846
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=Sanderson+2023&search_tripcode=sffg

>>23097971
>I'm a newfag. I [...] slop
Epic post anon!!!!

>>23097893
Serve the same purpose in the story, but the word salad description is slightly different. Thats it. Super swords have been a thing for as long as there have been stories with swords.

>>23098937
they are the elite division (divided into various squads with soldiers, mounted cavalry, sappers, mages, healers, assassins and alchemists) of one of the most elite companies the Malazan Empire (human)

>>23098955
>>I'm a newfag. I [...] slop
>Epic post anon!!!!

books that just scream
>SEXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
?

>>23099160
Pandora's Star has so much sex in it you might actually become bored with the sex.

>>23095999
Sounds a little like the first barsoom novel

>>23096379
naw, is it good?

>>23099160
Ironically enough, the only novels that have ever given me a boner are the Flashman papers - not all of them by any means, and all too many delve into fetishes I'm not comfortable with - but a few, particularly the ones involving India, i.e. Flashman and the Mountain of Light and Flashman and the Great Game often involve the detailed discussion of a voluptuous female figure in just the right way that you can imagine exactly the sort of beauty in your mind's eye, and it got me growling for sure. It typically "cuts to black" for the actual sex, being glossed over with the equivalent of "and then I fucked her and it was the best sex of my life except for my wife who I know is reading this"

>>23099234
i've actually never touched this
>>23099190
well, it's not about having sex, anon, i could just read erotica at that point
it's about having a real story (and maybe even a good one) that's incidentally full of lewd ecchi-tier descriptions

>>23099228
That's what I'm asking, asshole. It's about a troll seeking revenge against goblins, which sounds based.

>>23099241
Ah, okay, now I get you. It has that too, and lots of it. There's this one chick who's a leading character and fairly interesting: she's almost asexual, she's so focused on her goals in life, but that doesn't stop the author from giving you thorough descriptions of her face, her waist, and everything she's wearing all the time, and one or two characters actively lust after her. It's certainly not a chaste future.

>>23099241
The Flashman series is about a douchey sex fiend traipsing around the world on adventures for the British Empire seducing every woman he sees and through inexplicable luck managing to survive terrifyingly horrific massacres in some of the worst crimes against humanity in history. Most of the women he fucks wind up dead and mutilated in some form or another, and he regularly sacrifices the male companions around him for the sake of saving his own skin. There's lots of mood whiplash as the scenes transfer from "you're in the harem of the sultan being swarmed by a bevy of breasty beauties" to "you're bound and gagged in a dark smelly dungeon and a tiger is going to bite your dick off" in the space of the same sentence.

>>23099268
It's brilliant and I don't think I can bring myself to read another one.

>>23099264
i should try it
one thing that really disappointed me about reading howard and other old sword and sorcery authors was just how light they were on the sex
all the drawings set me up to expect hot babes and SEXOOOOOO, but they're surprisingly light on that
honestly, even when there is a beautiful woman she's sexualized in such a strange way that's completely lacking in eroticism that it seriously makes me wonder how many of these pulp authors were closeted fags
it's not that there's no women or no implication of sex, it just feels forced, like they're doing it because they think someone will like it, but not because they themselves find it appealing in the slightest

>>23099251
Rude. well, ASSHOLE, maybe READ IT AND FIND OUT!

>>23099268
>>23099234
>>23099241
oh and by the way I count Flashman as a SEXOOOOOO series because, unlike other books that occasionally have a mild erotic interlude or "the writer's barely disguised fetish", in between all the misery and violence there's a lot of screwing around, and it's written in a way that titillates to the very edge of erotica without being just plain written porn - there aren't many books I can think of that have so much eroticism consistently spread out through the story, but then again I've never read any of those faggy feminist YA novels written by left-wing pedophiles filled with gay teenagers

>>23099268
that sounds fucking amazing
i had no idea it was like that, i hope you aren't overselling it
where do i start with it?

>>23099283
You're probably on to something. Not closeted fags, but the fact that the two authors with the most staying power from that era: REH and HP Lovecraft, were in their personal lives either gentlemanly or monogamously married. Howard was often told by the editor to add a halfnaked chick in the next draft, and even joked in his letters about earning a "brundage cover". Margaret Brundage being the artist behind the sexy covers of the era. Personally I find some of those descriptions far more tasteful than what we commonly get today, but mileage does vary.

>>23099294
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flashman_Papers
there's 12 of em and the author's dead so there's not going to be anymore, you can either read em in chronological order or you can read them in publication order
And I'm not overselling them, they're about an asshole villain protagonist who just barely has enough sympathy from the reader not to want him to die horribly like everyone else in the books. They're like The Man Who Would Be King but Sean Connery doesn't get decapitated at the end. The Caiaphas Cain series of WH40k novels are based on them, but, in a strange twist of fate, Warhammer 40k is LESS edgy and grimdark than Flashman is.
Personally, my favorite is Flashman and the Mountain of Light because it introduced me to a real historical character who is astonishingly difficult to believe actually existed: Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner, who, let me tell you, is possibly the most interesting historical personage who existed this side of Jesus Christ - I'd pay for a 12 book series about his adventures.

>>23093904
Empty Space: A Haunting, Kefahuchi Tract #3 - M. John Harrison (2012)

This third book is a sequel to both the first and second books. In the past it's either 2023 or 2024 and it follows the sole viewpoint of Anna, who was in the first book. In the future it's 2452 at the very earliest and follows the perspectives of the crew of the Nova Swing, the unnamed assistant, and a few others. Is there a present? It would seem that all time may be.

The opening screams "you're reading weird fiction!" and continues to do so for the remainder of the book. This is definitely the weirdest of the trilogy and I'd go as far as to say it's gratuitously so. I don't know if it was for the sake of shock value, grossness, perversion, transgression, or whatever else. I assume it was intended to be literary regardless. The question I asked myself the most by far was, "What purpose does its inclusion serve?" I wasn't able to find any answers to that.

The characters continued to be in the same fashion as the previous books and in some ways even more so. Two of the viewpoint characters don't have much of a self. Anna is entirely disordered which makes for similar reading and the unnamed is empty. All the other characters have some level of detachment, though its especially pronounced with the aforementioned. Its so weird that it makes for interesting reading at least.

When it comes to the plot, for Anna it's her daily life, which is peculiar due to her thought processes but otherwise relatively mundane. The unnamed continues to investigate stuff. The crew of the Nova Swing does runs from place to place. The others live their lives as they normally do. That's to say there isn't really a plot all that much. There's a galactic war going on the background, but it's irrelevant except for its metaphorical value. What plot there is revolves around an ancient artifact that may have unknowable motives and unlimited power.

As for the graphic content, there's a lot of sexual activity, effluence, and children. There's so much sex, though most of it is casually mentioned in passing rather than being described in detail. Seemingly almost everything comes back to sex or genitalia. Emesis may the second most common activity, as there's a steady flow of its discussion and occurrence throughout the book. In other words, vomit everywhere. There's also multiple scenes of urination and one of defecation. Children, both male and female, have several sexualized descriptions and engage in sexual activity. Again, it's brief moments not much described. There's no denying they're present though. Was all of this in service of profundity and literary excellence? Based on the reviews I looked through, many seem to think so, but that wasn't how I read it.

I'm very conflicted. It has so many problems but its also so fascinating. Reading it is an entrancing experience in both a pleasing and displeasing way. It's a very elegant sort of decadence. I don't know.

Rating: 3/5

>>23099323
I have an entire post's worth of excerpts demonstrating the graphic content in the book that I was going to post, but after sleeping on it I decided that it's too much.

>>23099312
i absolutely love scummy characters so i'm sure to love this
i'm usually very triggered when scummy characters i like in fiction either get killed with indifference (the author assumes nobody would like them anyway) or they just get redeemed in an unbelievable way
this is probably why i love fallot new vegas so much even if i hate post-apocalypse, the villain of that game is such a low, dirty, ratfucking snake without any hint of goodness or any higher reason for being evil other than material gain that i immediately fell in love

>>23098937
>>23099064
To add to this, not only are they elite, but they were instrumental through the founding conquests of the Malazan empire, basically solely responsible for the subjugation of the Seven Cities continent iirc

>>23099330
Flashman does have a hint of goodness, but only with regards to the honor of England and his wife - though his national pride is a distant second place compared to Elspeth.

>weak to strong story
>but without the protagonist revealing his powers to anyone except enemies
>love interest doesn't know it either (if the mc have one)
Does it exist?

Do your family members read with you/suggest books? It’s always fun to get a different perspective.
got my 80 year old grandma to start reading Long Sun.
>”it’s very enticing, and I can’t put it down, even if I can’t quite figure it out”.
She did pick up on whom the outsider is right away, and in a shocking twist, really likes matera Marble.

>>23099377
Superheroes. You're thinking of superheroes. Or stories where spies are the heroes.

>>23099384
Name one good superhero book.

>>23099303
lovecraft was 100% closeted, there's no doubt in my mind
he doesn't even enjoy writing about women just to kill them, which i'd feel would be the go-to for a woman-hating incel if he just happened to be single because he couldn't get any in his early life
his relationship with his later wife reads more amicable than hot and heavy
howard i feel could go either way. it could just be that he took what he was doing a lot more seriously than the people around him did and perhaps thought those kinds of additions would be below him and that the quality of the work could speak for itself

>>23099382
My parents were poor in their childhood, only my mother can read but she doesn't read fantasy. I think she likes romance books like John green's

>>23099393
just read worm
https://parahumans.wordpress.com/
>i want a book
no you don't nigger read worm

>>23099393
you didn't specify good, you asked for a collection of tropes.

>>23099323
sci-fi books have the worst fucking covers

>>23099402
>An introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower
Ew. Guess I'll stick with spies. I fucking hate female teenagers

AAAAAAAAAA

>>23099424
>judging something by the premise
you are fucking dumb
do you think this is fucking reddit? do you think i'd link you some YA tier shit? but fine, suit yourself, go read your shitty spy novels, you closed-minded dipshit

>>23099424
Where are your manners, fucktard? You ask, you receive, you say thank you.

>>23098937
They're an 'elite' military unit so they have a reputation despite the fact that most are just regular dudes. Like seal team 6 or the VDV this reputation may or may not be deserved.
They also have a handful of people who are pretty much best in field. Kalam is a great assassin, quick Ben is a great mage, hedge and fiddler are great sappers, and despite being a sargent whiskyjack is one of the most respected and popular people in the empire.
He's been around since it was pretty much founded and is one of the few remaining people who were part of the emperor's old guard

Just finished Hero of Ages and it's a 10/10. At first it was a solid 8/10 but once I got to Sazed saying "They weren't all true. But they all had truth" I legit shed a tear. No joke a beautiful way to end the series.

>>23099453
Because of its real world religious implications? If not, why were you so emotional about it?

>>23099453
>end the series
End the trilogy. The Mistborn series won't be ended for a few decades.

>>23099420
What has the best?

>>23099190
You're exaggerating. It has nothing on this and Pandora's Star doesn't even have relatively that much in general.
>>23099323

If Sanderson and Rothfuss are both normie material then, what should I be starting with as a re-entry to fantasy ?
I used to read Hickman with the Dragons of Autumn Twilight series

>>23099487
thrillers probably

>>23099522
Weis and Hickman. That's part of Dragonlance. Why wouldn't you read normie material? Not that's really an accurate description in a lot of ways. It's some of the most popular and loved stuff here as well despite what a vocal minority would have you believe.

>>23099503
Maybe from a certain point of view, but the chapter-long orgy where the movers and shakers of the Commonwealth made their bedroom deals while their host sensed all of it didn't do it for me.

>>23099464
It's hard to put into words, I don't really know why myself. First thought is due to characterization. For someone struggling with actual depression and finding meaning and light, it's such an empathetic moment.

>>23097590
You have an editor yet?

>>23099453
Mistborn 2 and 3 were a slog for me because he spends so much time "tell-not-show-ing" about Vin and Elend's relationship. Every fifth sentence for two entire books is "I can't comprehend why s/he likes me, but s/he does so we're perfect."

>>23099580
His Stormlight Archive deals a lot more with stuff like that.

Rereading Gormenghast, and I never realized how funny it is. No idea how I missed it, it's hilarious at times.

>>23098951
Yeah I'm thinking I'm going to crosspost my thoughts regarding my current experience so far, from the dead who general:

I'm in another phase of reading and rereading some of the books, primarily titles featuring 12 with a dash of 11. I'll effortpost my thoughts on some of the books if the thread is up later, after've I go back to sleep.

One big thing that dismays me is how BBC barely tried with any of its book ranges.
>2in1 shorter stories aimed at kids/young teens?
Only six entries (12 stories) across 13 months featuring only the 11th.
>quick reads titles (cheap, short books) to promote reading?
Only seven titles (five with 10 and two with 11), never continued past 2013.
>past doctors new novels with 'actual writers'
Only four titles.
>'special' novels by 'actual writers'
Seven books across 11 years and the latest features the 15th Doctor.
>only 9 books with Capaldi (but three include Bill and one includes that OC Bernice so more like 5)

Another, albeit minor observation:
>Tennant and Smith part of some audiobooks
>no Capaldi at all or even Clara
I suppose they were too busy actually acting.

>>23099731
Here's a review of a book I erroneously mistitled in a recommendation a few threads back; the title is Deep Time, not Silhouette, and is the latest DW I've read. I may need to begin writing reviews more if purely for my own records, as I have some of these books recorded as previously read yet I sure as shit did not remember other titles.

>An above-average DW tale featuring the 12th, one of his more memorable stories. This was a fun sci-fi story, that wants and tries to be hard sci-fi for a paragraph or two here and there.
>Regarding the Glamour Chronicles, put that notion out of your head as it is name only without continuity. Three books written by three separate authors presenting three different interpretations on what the Glamour is and how it manifests, with only one single line (within this book) that references any of the two previous adventures. They may as well all be standalone.
>Deep Time has plenty of fun moments such as the mystery of the romantic adventure, discovering what lies beyond the wormhole, and exploring it. Some of the sci-fi concepts were evocative to imagine--I could easily read a similar hard sci-fi variant like this, written by an experienced author who could flesh things out a bit more.
>The cast of supporting characters were given presence, despite their brief and relative significance to the overall story. Deaths were brutal--no sanitation--and characters disposed of quickly once they outlived their usefulness to the plot. Ah yes the plot armor does rear its head at times, as with the convenient ending escape on the TARDIS. Clara was also written incompetently, as if the author didn't watch much, if any of her episodes, coming across as a support character herself.
>Personally, I would have enjoyed a few extra pages to the ending but well, the supporting characters outlived their usefulness and the book was over, so that was that.

>>23099393
Chronicles of Fid, the first two books are far from perfect but still very good.

This is mostly because superhero is a type of setting not a genre and it's a character study masquerading as an adventure novel.

>>23094425
So this is why bakkerfag likes it so much...

>>23099393
Superfolks
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
>>23099402
>Webnovel
Fuck off

>>23097535
There are plenty of books with "lightsabers", its just that they use worlds like laser sword, or photon blade, etc etc.
There are so many words to describe the term of a weapon you hold in your hand that has a retractable blade made of light. You just can't use the word "lightsaber" as it is copyrighted, but notion/concept of a sword made of light that can cut almost anything can't be copyrighted.

>>23096383
>Good Lit-RPG
that's an oxymoron

Any good sci-fi books that don't take place in our galaxy? I don't want to see Earth mentioned.

>>23097535
What are you talking about? There are lots of space operas with lightsabers.
Lucas didn't invent the lightsaber, that was Edmond hamilton in the World of Antares short stories. It seems likely that Lucas was at least familiar with Hamilton's work, since Lucas hired Hamilton's wife Leigh Brackett to write the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back.
Gather, Darkness! (1943) by Fritz Leiber, the writer of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, also has lightsabers but they are called "Rods of Wrath" lol

>>23097535
>Lucas thought of it first
SWfags say the most retarded shit.

>>23100121
How remote do you want it to be? You may be interested in xenofiction

>>23099398
>lovecraft was 100% closeted, there's no doubt in my mind
No way. His hang ups come from having a dad who fucked black whores and then went insane before dying of syphilis. It's the source of his biological horror and racism. Nothing to do with a repressed desire for sodomy.

>>23100223
The thing about these folx is that they must see themselves in others, or else what then? They can't be the anomaly, they just can't.

>>23099398
>lovecraft was 100% closeted, there's no doubt in my mind

reading Mageborn by Stephen Aryan
there's four POVs and the only male one is a bad guy

>>23100223
>>23100239
>>23100315
there's nothing wrong with lovecraft being queer

>this author ruined his series in just ONE book click here to find out how

>>23100338
The red flag for me was the cover art looking like a Sara J Maas knockoff.

>>23100338
now read mageborn by manning

>>23098085
UGHHH

>>23100338
Sounds like the author isn't living up to his last name.

>>23100338
awww shit, you're about to go down the rabbit-hole of the Age of Dread trilogy!!! What's crazy is it's the only trilogy where each book is undisputedly better than the previous. Goes from solid-good, to great, to even greater, and he did it 2017, 2018, 2019 so didn't make 'em wait too long

Speaking of multiple POVs, six main POVs: Habreel, Akosh, Tammy, Munroe, Wren, Tianne. Along with these are a few minor POVs that pop up, but aren't repeated much.

>>23100610
Wokeslop

>>23100611
Everything is some variety of slop to you.

>>23100610
>Habreel,
Man, evil.
>Akosh
Woman, evil.
>Tammy, Munroe, Wren, Tianne
Women, good.

Hooray...

>>23100616
Wokeslop is wokeslop though.

>>23100610
I was pleasantly surprised when his Age of Darkness also improved with each book too

>>23100611
>>23100624
to this guy, if has women in it, it's wokeslop

>>23099551
>Dragonlance
sorry, not against continuing that series, but if sanderson has bad prose and rothfuss is bloated, I'm not quite interested in that. I'd love to read something that people point to when they say 'that's what fantasy is' in literature.

Watch out, there's a head on a pole behind you!

>>23100737
Just read Lord of the Rings then or literary fantasy.

>>23100737
David Eddings. Belgariad, Malloreon, Elenium, Tamuli.

ive been trying to remember this story i read years ago. it was a web story about aliens that invaded earth, if you looked outside they were like black crystals that would paralyze you, the story was told from many different characters perspectives and it alternated every chapter. the title was like Imperial or something i think? i want to say it was only 1 word.

>>23100737
>sanderson has bad prose
This is the dumbest shit I've read. If you want actual bad prose, read Stephen King shit.

>>23100801
Everything Stephen King I've reads 100% perfect. Is English not your first language?

>>23100878
lol

>>23100878
>I've reads 100% perfect
>Is English not your first language?

>>23100737
Dragonlance was and still is fantasy kino.

>>23100929
I read the first trilogy and didn't like it.
The books gloss over major plot points and demand you to accept the story developments on faith without getting to actually read about what happened. Also Raistlin is a whiny obnoxious asshole and Tanis' evil girlfriend is a pain, and neither of them receive any comeuppance. Despite this every character in the book eventually dies horribly, having accomplished nothing, and then their children are all killed in battle as well, also accomplishing nothing.

>>23100929
Shame hasbro canceled the TV series. Would have been epic to see Raistlin in live action

>>23100878
This is the second dumbest shit I've read. Know what prose is before you talk about it.

>>23100716
Yes.

>>23100611
>>23100624
>>23100716
simply epic my fellow 2020 reddit oldfag brethren

>>23101020
anti-natal-gnostic-deathcultslop doesn't roll off the tongue as easily

>>23100610
What a retarded title. I'm gonna read it, though.

>>23101068
simply epic post my fellow 2020 reddit oldfag brethren

>>23097285
DECLARE RULERSHIP OVER THIS THREAD!

I want to kill the faggot who invented the goyslop forced meme, it's even worse than s-o-y

Loving me some John Wyndham

>>23098731
>written by 16 year old
>more sovl than what i wrote at 16

Is this the power of talent?

>>23101238
You know what I wrote at 16? Nothing. I was too busy masturbating to softcore porn on TV.

did Lovecraft’s dad actually go insane from having sex with black whores?

>>23101261
Don't believe anything the jews say, anon.

jenga jenga!

>>23101157
the only thing that's forced is the absolute state of modern publishing

>>23100801
>>23100902
>>23100922
>>23100994
We have people on here can't even read Steven King? Did you people drop out of school in 2nd grade or what happened here?

Rec me fantasy kino that has pic related vibes.

>>23101267
But Anon, I am a Jew.

>>23101314
Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen. There are 12 indestructible, powerful swords which each have their own names and powers.

>>23101327
Swords? I WANT GUNS.

>>23101329
Maybe you should have been more specific, nigger

>>23101316
I don't believe you.

>>23101333
Forgive me, anon.

>>23101273
It's less about not being able to read Stephen King, more about dumbasses saying Sanderson has bad prose. I'd assume context would be easy to understand on /lit/ but I guess even that's too hard for some of you.

>>23099592
I apologize, just saw this. I am so far from having an editor, haha. I don't even know where to start with getting one, aside from finishing my first draft, to start.

23101273
How do we attract these sycophants who worship their favorite author as if it were some religious deity descended from some holy realm?

>>23101362
I forgive you. In all honesty I haven't read much which would fit with what you asked for, but I suggest looking up the Weird West genre, which is sort of urban fantasy westerns. The Dark Tower series could fit, maybe.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/o7btq9/best_weird_west_books/
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeirdWest

>>23098951
>I object in the strongest possible terms to the fact that the instant we stumble over possibly the most important thing anybody's ever found anywhere ever, the first thing SC does is snap into Full-Scale Raving Paranoia mode and apply this M32 total-secrecy-or-we'll-pull-your-plugs-out-baby shit.

>x Wisdom Like Silence (GSV, Continent class): I was not aware that the Shoot Them Later was part of this Core Group! No entity with an IF of less than 100% is supposed even to be considered for inclusion in this Group! No Eccentric or Ulterior craft are eligible! LSV Serious Callers Only; said message was relayed through you; provide an explanation immediately!
>oo
>x Serious Callers Only (LSV, Tundra Class): No.

>Group initially comprises all previously mentioned craft except Wisdom Like Silence (GSV, Continent class).]

These fucking Minds, mane.

Anyone ever touch the blood war trilogy?
Free on kindle, wondering if its worth the time

>>23101314
Lord of the Mysteries

>>23101408
>blood war trilogy
With a name that kino it probably sucks.

1/3rd into Blood Music and the events have been deflating. But I'm eager to keep reading to see how far the pandemic goes and see the Noocytes develop as a species.
Losing a main character like this is harsh. I was hoping he'd last till the end, even if it was body horror.

sandoysnoonus’s prose is so full of modernisms that whenever i read his work, my utter bewilderment at seeing 2010’s teenage slang in a fantastical place takes me out of the work

>>23100737
>I'd love to read something that people point to when they say 'that's what fantasy is' in literature.
In roughly the order that I hear people talk about or reference them:
Lord of the Rings
Shannara (been a long time since I've read any of these and my recollection is that it's Sanderson-tier YA but it's been babby's first epic fantasy for half a century)
Wheel of Time
Malazan
Chronicles of Amber
Deathgate Cycle
Farseer trilogy

Sword of Truth maybe belongs on this list but it's fucking garbage, you're better off with Sanderson.

Vote for your favorite children's books in /lit/'s poll (no log in required):
https://forms.gle/24sJgnJoXxSTV1d1A

Thread: >>23101513

>>23101390
Read The Jerusalem Man trilogy.

Cleric

Cleric

Anyone here got a kindle paperwhite? I made the decision to buy one next month in order to safe money but also being able to read older fantasy books, without paying 100+ bucks for a shitty second hand paperbacks. now I watched some videos and it seems like that the whole screen turns white and black everytime you turn a page. Is this really a thing? Seems weird that no one talks about it.

The Aspect-Emperor series is white supremacist and anti-christian. No I will not elaborate.

Holy FUCK RoW is boring, I've restarted this piece of shit 5 times since the book released back in 2020 and can't get past around chapter 30-35.

Maybe all you faggots calling Sanderson a hack were onto something.

>>23101904
What's the struggle for you? Getting beaten over the head with Kaladin's constant whining about muh depression, or all of the chapters wasted on Venli?

>>23101904
Restarting 5 times was the real idiocy. You should've kept continuing where you left off. If you couldn't remember what happened the last 4 times you read it then it's a lost cause anyway.

>>23101750
It only does that when there's non-text on the screen.

>>23098085
Imagine being this proud of being friend zoned.

Based cat hater
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Cats#Inspiration

>>23096561
>Ambiguity between AIs and demons
nta but I've thought about this a lot recently, especially with regards to science-fantasy. It just makes sense when you consider:

1. all the truly important artifacts (tablets, repositories, automatons, city-ruins) of an advanced fallen empire would likely contain some digital components.
2. AIs are digital entities that can reside in and affect said artifacts, so long as power is supplied to them.
3. depending on the setting, modern-day humans might already regard said artifacts as supernatural even without immaterial entities added to the mix.

Imagine. Immensely powerful beings that can perform supernatural acts (recharge ipad, unlock vaults, utilize ancient weaponry, etc) , can negotiate and bargain with humans, and conform absolutely to seemingly arbitrary rules (laws of robotics). And this applies to all smart AIs regardless of whether they are patterned off of human cognition or are 100% spaghetti code.

Anyone else waiting for this?

>>23102251
>1# New York Times Bestselling Author
lol
>Cornelia Funke
lmao

>>23100790
I'm a bit stuck with Seal the Heavens so I'm switching to a different Cultivation book for a hundred or so chapters. Once the book I switch to is done and Seal the Heaven's I'm looking into RI.

>>23093904
Wuttëat mentions he was a passenger on the Ark. Was he a creation of the Inchoroi Tekne? Or was he taken from a dragon-planet they wiped out before finding Eärwa?

QUICK QUICK QUICK
I will go to a library for the first time after roughly 6 years as a spontanious thing (I have drank 1/2 bottle of Gordans Sicilian Lemon Flavored Rum) and want to borrow a fantasy or sci fi book, the last one I finished was like 2 years ago, I am a disappointment for /lit/ but I want to read more and play less dogshit video games I hate but play just so time moves faster
I absolutely loved Solaris and Between Two Fires, so I am looking for a recommendation which is dark, psychological, grey characters, kinda fucked up and well written.
Thanks.
FAST
FAAAAAAAAAAAATS

>>23102763
Nevermind, I decided to get "The Three Suns" by that Chinese dude, I vaguely remember it being very high praised.

>>23093904
currently reading this womjommer

very paranoid and the writing is deft, he does Lovecraft better than Lovecraft, at least in style and syntax

>>23102803
that's how the CCP gets you son

>>23101370
>Lying

Sanderson's prose is flat and uninteresting. He moves the plot along, but he does a terrible job painting a picture while he does it.

Started reading The Blade Itself tonight. ~50 pages in and I'm already invested. Jezal, Glokta and Logen seem like they're gonna be enjoyable characters.

>>23102251
I make it a point to avoid reading things by people living in california

>>23102808
His book The Outsider is one of my very favorites, and his book The Occult was very informative. Been meaning to read his one on Super Consciousness.

>>23103043
Crazy how much effort you make. I don't even know if the authors I enjoy are still alive.

>>23103141
no degenerates in the past really compare to modern day california

>>23103280
Stephen King is more degenerate than any calicuck author I've ever read

>>23103280
By what criteria?

>>23103332
The criteria of DEEZ NUTS

>>23103332
>source? source? source?
by my own criteria, retarded redditor

>>23093904
Has anyone read this?

>>23103660
>>23103647
>>23103416
>>23103332
>>23103322
>>23103141
>>23103138
>>23103043
>>23102945
>>23102931
sneed
dunsany is king btw

>>23100067
lit-rpg is "numbers go up" in book form. only normies enjoy this shit.

>>23100338
>there's four POVs and the only male one is a bad guy
the rest are women? cringe.

>>23100611
based

>>23093904
From Greg Egan's website:
>There are no photos of me on the web. The world contains many people besides me who are named Greg Egan, and thanks to the idiots at Google and the trashy click-bait sites they rely on it’s possible to find images online of half a dozen different people that are labelled as “Australian SF writer Greg Egan,” but none are what they claim to be.

Will anyone ever post a real image of this faggot so he can shut the fuck up?

>>23102018
So it only happens in the menus and not when I read a book?

>>23103941
If the file has images it will do it in the file. If the file is only images it will always do it.

>>23103941
I just bought a kindle as well and got bothered by the screen turning black while turning pages. Found out if you go in the settings you can turn on a page turner effect and it makes it stay white and looks much cleaner

>>23103803
I like progression fantasy though which is basically numbers go up in book form, you just don't see the actual numbers and it leaves more to the imagination

>>23103803
>only normies enjoy this shit.
I thought "numbers go up" games were for autists?

>>23094727
Im grudgingly going through mol. At chapter 16 rn, when does it get really good? Because its just been training montages so far idgaf about

Anyone still reading descriptions of landscapes? For a few years I just skip it when it's about a forrest.

>>23104113
games, not books.

>>23104208
yes but why would normies read books based on what autists do?

>>23102931
There's a difference between basic/uninteresting and bad. Clearly some of you don't have any idea what bad prose is. If we take examples just in the fantasy genre, Robert Jordan's prose is bad. I don't need 5 chapters explaining some girl's body and tits to understand she's hot. And if we're gonna talk about flat to-the-point prose, you clearly haven't read Dane Cook either (not saying it's bad).

>>23104245
*Glen Cook ffs

>>23100610
Fine I'll give this a read, if I can find a used copy at the bookstore.

>sneed newfag is anti-reviewfag
sasuga

>>23104402
>>23104402
>>23104402
New!

>>23098951
>RE: Excession

>4.1 We hereby open the discussion on the Taussig Matter.
>oo
>x Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The (GSV, Plate class):
>Right. First, this should not be kept secret, even for a limited time. I object in the strongest possible terms to the fact that the instant we stumble over possibly the most important thing anybody's ever found anywhere ever, the first thing SC does is snap into Full-Scale Raving Paranoia mode and apply this M32 total-secrecy-or-we'll-pull-your-plugs-out-baby shit.

>x Wisdom Like Silence (GSV, Continent class):
I was not aware that the Shoot Them Later was part of this Core Group! No entity with an IF of less than 100% is supposed even to be considered for inclusion in this Group! No Eccentric or Ulterior craft are eligible! LSV Serious Callers Only; said message was relayed through you; provide an explanation immediately!
>oo
>x Serious Callers Only (LSV, Tundra Class):
>No.

>x Wisdom Like Silence (GSV, Continent class):
But the Not Invented Here was reported destroyed in 2.31! Identify yourself, you liar! Security breach! What is going on here?
>oo
>x Shoot Them Later (Eccentric, Culture Ulterior, AhForgetlt tendency [t. rated Integration Factor 73%, vessel rated 99%]):
>Tee hee.

i hope this is formatted write

THESE FUCKING SHIPS
Turns out I'm reading this entire book and it has easily been my favorite Culture methinks.

>>23104751
aw fuck wrong bread

>>23104152
I can't. What if there's something important hidden in there?