/lit/ - Literature

Favorite novel/series with not-lovecraft lovecraftian/eldritch stuff? Can be sci-fi or fantasy.

Any fantasy recs with a lot of mythological beasts/races? Something written for adults, not YA

>>23485188
Well to start with there's always "Who Goes There?"/Frozen Hell by John W. Campbell, Jr., the original version of "The Thing".

Declare by Tim Powers:
Imagine if James Bond was a meek little nerd. Now imagine if that meek little nerd was the only person capable of handling the mind-bending effects of fallen angels who crashed to earth and became embedded in meteorological phenomena like solar flares, magnetic storms, lightning bolts, natural gas fires, tornadoes, by figuring out a way to kill them before the KGB can find a way to weaponize them.

Eaters of the Dead and Congo by Michael Crichton, as well as Relic and Reliquary by Preston and Child both have the sort of more mundane biological form of weird horror that Lovecraft enjoyed like The Lurking Fear and Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn, rather than the cosmic or supernatural.

>>23485177
Just read the first Trilogy of Dune and I really liked it. Already ordered God Emperor. In the meantime, I'm reading Solaris.

i would like to read another sci-fi saga. Is Hyperion or Book of the New Sun worth a read? Which one is better?

>>23485299
You should read both anyway, start with hyperion

>>23485299
The Expanse is good, and with the books you get more story after where the show stops, with a proper ending. I recently read Solaris myself, way better than the clooney movie. Can't really recommend the game though.

How the fuck is this dude making 30k+ a month from patreon with this book? Seems completely insane to me.
It starts pretty mediocre, then peaks in chapters 30-70. After that the magical academy arc starts and it's fucking trash, until very recent ones when stuff actually starts happening again, you could probably condense nearly 100 chapters of pointless teenage babble and subpar "comedy" into 20 chapters meaningful dialogue and plot progression

>>23485299
Iain Banks Culture series is a must-read for sf fans
Clarke's Rama series, Gibson's Neuromancer series, Niven's Ringworld, Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy

any afro-fantasy recs?

>>23485332
How pozzed is it?

>>23485422
I skipped a lot of chapters in the academy arc but I don't remember there being anything explicitly "pozzed"
At times it feels like the writing is permeating gayness though, but maybe that's just my imagination

>>23485416

Is Croaker cringe or based

I'm three books into Malazan so far if you asked me to define any noteable characteristics of characters you'd have me stumped but I guess I like the following so far: Quick Ben, Hood, Rake, Tattersail, and Sorry.

Is this normal for a first time Malazan reader? I like how Erikson just dumps you in the middle of action but he never gives time to develop anyone for you enough to care about them but I get he takes precident over showing how cool the action scenes are more than anything.

>>23485547
Imaro is the only good nigga protagonist I've read about in fantasy, it's basically just Conan stories but the people have brown skin

>>23485177
>notices your pretty picture
OwO whats this

>>23485561
>he never gives time to develop anyone for you enough to care about them but I get he takes precident over showing how cool the action scenes are more than anything.
so he's a hack? Glad I never touched these. Read standalone fantasy like The Broken Sword

>>23485294
Declare would have been perfect if the scene where they go to the puddle of oil in the desert happened after the scene with the tornado in Berlin. Putting the puddle scene in an earlier chapter messed up the pacing and kind of diminished the impact of the tornado scene.

>>23485332
just tried over a dozen litrpg, they were all embarrassingly bad. several of them had me cringing, even. they shamelessly pillage each others tropes and add nothing of value. just giving sad boys their superimposed roleplay dopamine. FUCK
dungeon crawler carl is the only litrpg ive tried that wasn't shit. actually pretty good.
he who fights with monsters was also a cut above the slop, but not great relative to any decent published writing.

>>23485844
I hate how prevalent litrpgs have become. Actual sea of slop with mediocre worldbuilding and terrible characters. Same goes for xianxia. Really wish there was more progression fantasy like Mother of Learning out there (if anyone can point me toward some I'd appreciate it)

I just blew $100 on this and sold $50 worth of PS3 games

I just blew $100 on this and sold $50 worth of PS3 games

>>23485844
I completely agree, litrpgs are mostly trash. I don't even bother trying most ones I come across. Worst is when there's levels, quests and isekai involved. I guess having a personal system that chats with the MC and explains everything going on is on my shitlist as well.
In my mind litrpg can work well as a comedy vehicle pretty well though, or without most (preferably all) of the previous elements I mentioned

>>23485722
You're might be right, the Berlin sacrifice would have amped up the weirdness factor after the runaway telegraphy in Paris without effectively spoiling what was going on the way the Legion tar pit in Arabia did.

>>23485844
Read Fighter Fred. It's the only good LitRPG.

>>23485923
sure, fuck it. i really can't help myself. i won't look up any reviews, and i'll dive in blindly like i always do.

>>23485999
It's a literal Literary RPG. That is, there's no faggy autistic spreadsheets of player stats inserted directly into the text, it's a narrative of a tongue-in-cheek Dungeons and Dragons session from the perspective of Fred - the GM's pet NPC, who actually believes the crazy world he lives in is real life - and the rest of his party of PCs, including a meta-gaming wizard, a roleplaying elf, a mary sue thief, etc.

>Sir Loin of Bœuf
gets me every time

>>23485561
>but he never gives time to develop anyone for you enough to care about them but I get he takes precident over showing how cool the action scenes are more than anything.
At no point does he ever do character development. Every single character will be sidelined at some point, and then show back up several books later having completed their character arc and now they're BADASS and they'll do an action scene and dosappear forever.

Malazan is garbage.

>>23485574
>the quest fo cush
This is parody, right? Or was it just written before that became slang for tussy?

>>23486067
Cush was a semi-mythical land south of Nubia that was rich in gold and traded with the ancient Egyptians. Nobody knows exactly where it was located but it was somewhere around modern Sudan or Ethiopia.

>>23486062
no, that's sick as fuck.

>>23486067
Written before kush became slang for weed. Cushites/Kushites were a Nilotic race of East Africans that occupied the region now known as Sudan. Their center of culture was the city Meroë (pronounced MEER-oh-way). Kush and Nubia are essentially synonymous, and it is likely that this is the type of people meant when the Bible mentions "Ethiopians" rather than the civilization of Aksum/Axum which eventually became what is now recognized as the state of Ethiopia (as well as those states that split off from it, such as Djibouti and Eritrea).

>>23485177
I asked Chat GPT "Please, recommend me sci-fi books based off 4chan's /lit/ recommendations". Thoughts? Are these accurate?

First for FUCK webnovel slop FUCK chinkslop and READ the Belgariad and the Malloreon
>>23486140
I've been shilling The Stars my Destination

>>23485574
didn't most people on conan stories have brown skin? i read conan years ago so i can't remember

>>23486144
Kek what is that cover, did they slap the title over a misprint?

>>23486152
Howard had a bit of a fixation on huge black negroes woth heaving muscles, yes.

>>23486155
If howard was alive today he would be spamming "built for B B C" on /pol/ and /v/

>>23486140
Female author in the list. Looks inaccurate to me.

>>23486170
ok thin skinned chuddie who's afraid of women

>>23486170
You don't know Ursula LeGuin?

Are there any Wheel of Time experts around? I was reading "Winter's Heart" and had a question about the specifics of one of the phenomena described. I'm aware that the worldbuilding and magic system etc. are extremely complex, so I'd very much like the opinion of someone who's very familiar with and knows all of the finer ins and outs of the series.

Just finished the first three of The Black Company. Do I read Silver Spike next?

Sanderson is nearly as fat as GRRM now

>>23486225
Why would you make this post then not say what you want to know?

I'm right on the edge of deciding to plunge in and read it. Tell me why I should or shouldn't. Btw, I haven't read anything since like 2013 and want to get back into fantasy so any recent recs are welcome.

>>23486327
It's fun anime, you may or may not like that.

>>23486330
I love anime

>>23486282
delet this

>>23486327
>Btw, I haven't read anything since like 2013 and want to get back into fantasy
Don't take this the wrong way but are you retarded? why would you plunge into series with 15 books when you haven't read a book in more than 10 years? start with something smaller and easier for fucks sake

>>23486338
it's fine, the series is long but the language is average high schooler level, it's not a difficult read

>>23486327
Why read when you can listen? Audiobooks on the commute is the best way to read books.

>>23486323
I wanted to make certain sure that experts were present, and were willing to answer my question. I've done a fair amount of research before posting, and it seems that this question has gone unaddressed since the novel was released. It's a compelling question and a depth and breadth of knowledge of the Wheel of Time universe and its intricacies is required.

>>23486327
I say go for it. Books 1-3 are kino, imo, so I think it's worth the read.

>>23486361
>Audiobooks
>Reading

>>23486282
he's a getting stronger

>>23486420
You can't read a book at 3x speed. I'll be finished with four or five books before you're even halfway done le reading with your retarded eyes.

>>23486449
You haven't read a single book.

>>23486450
I read upwards of 50 4chan threads every single day. That's about 2100 words per thread, 105,000 words per day. Literally one book's worth of words per day.

>>23486420
i only READ audiobooks now. i dont want to wear glasses and hold book

>>23486478
You do not read audiobooks.

The more she drank, the more she shat.

>>23486496
Any ASoIaF experts around to analyze this line?

>>23486479
every word that is spoken i then imagine on a page and read that

https://lithub.com/ted-chiang-has-won-the-pen-faulkner-foundations-short-story-prize/

>>23485188
I've liked Frank Belknap Long's work. Pic related was pretty good, he wrote both sci-fi and horror stories.

>it's a block of Elayne chapters

Are science fiction and fantasy dead as artforms? They used to be written almost exclusively by military men. The stories were orderly and meaningful and imbued with the experiences of well-seasoned, traveled, war veterans. But now...

>>23486619
>They used to be written almost exclusively by military men

>>23486619
>They used to be written almost exclusively by military men.

>>23486619
anything that women touch turns to shit
that includes literature

>>23486619
>They used to be written almost exclusively by military men.
lol lmao even

>>23486619
Lol. Lmao.
This here is the most stereotypically "military fiction" fantasy book ever written and it was written by a woman veteran about a woman soldier.
It's also dogshit, but it's exactly the kind of tripe that you're faux-nostalgic about.

yeah, I'm thinking it's kino

>>23486680
not him but Paks is kinda cute tho?!?
>>23486688
based old school fantasy poster

>>23486688
I remember this opening with a guy drugging the queen so he could rape and impregnate her while she slept and pass the child off as the son of the king

>>23486688
the only JV Jones I've read is The Barbed Coil and while generally interesting and well-written the ultimate way the story panned out seemed extremely dissatisfying.

>>23486692
how attractive a character is has no impact on how blocky and braindead the prose and pacing is, it was astoundingly difficult to tolerate reading Elizabeth Moon, her "voice" is about what you expect from Gomer Pyle - the fat one who killed R. Lee Ermey, not the gay one from the Andy Griffith show

>>23486327
>fantasy book covers will never be this awesome again
it hurts, I hate everything modern

someone here recommended me Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. I just got to the telepathic dragon orgasm scene in the first book. what the fuck is wrong with you

>>23486742
scifi kino

>>23486742
If you think that's the worst perversion scifi/fantasy has to offer you are sorely mistaken.

>>23486282
Can Mormon's take Ozempic?

>>23486155
No he didn't. Blacks only ever show up briefly in his stories and they usually get killed off before being described in any detail.

So I posted in /wg/ but it seems they're more interested in trying to write the next Infinite Jest than genre fiction. I'm writing a chapter in a fantasy novel where some of the characters are aboard a ship in the middle of the storm. The grandfather, who is a powerful sorcerer, uses his powers to protect the ship and prevent it from breaking apart during the storm. This is one of the first chapters, so this is meant to show the reader the powers of sorcerers, as well demonstrating some of their weaknesses. I then wanted to have a scene later in the chapter where the grandfather tries to teach his granddaughter sorcery, as a way to show the reader the basic rules of magic. However, I'm wondering whether this is just doubling up on what is essentially the same type of scene. Would it be better to cut one of these scenes or keep them both?

>>23487015
Based. I can't remember which was which but I'm pretty sure Gawyn was the pussy that ended up with Egwene. Imagine having that nag-hag for the rest of your life

>>23487055
Well, it depends on you want to do. If you want to keep your magic mysterious, I say don't bother with the grandfather teaching his granddaughter. If you want a "hard" magic system then keep that scene.

This is personal preference but I would err on the side of not having that second scene and keeping the magic mysterious for as long as you can.

is the revelation space series any good?

Read Tenebroum

>>23486225
>>23486370
I might have answered but your vagueposting is gay.

>>23486619
>They used to be written almost exclusively by military men.

>>23487117
Yeah

>>23485177
Read Northern Lights.

>>23486327
>>23486338
I did pretty much the same. I hadn't read a book since I read all of ASOIAF back in 2014 and then I wanted to get into reading again back in 2021, picked up Shadow of the Gods in a store because it had a sick cover, read that and then went straight into reading all of WoT without any other books inbetween and been reading regularly since then. WoT isn't a hard read it's just long.

>>23485561
I'm also currently reading book 3 of Malazan and I feel the same. The only characters I feel I've really liked and get excited when they show up are QB, Toc, Icarium/Mappo and Kruppe.

>>23487055
Sounds to me like the first scene will be more of a hype-moment to show some of what the magic is capable of and the second scene is meant to make the reader understand the mechanics and how it works. That sounds good to me, especially if you make the first scene not focused on the finer mechanics of what he's doing and leaving that a bit more vague and mysterious, and then once you get the explanations it'll be a bit of a "a-ha" moment for the reader, if I'm making sense. But what do I know I'm not a writer.

>>23487216
No, no, you make sense. I'm not really a writer, either but that was my intention with the two scenes.

>>23485561
the books just aren't that great, don't expect too much for them
they basically exist to set off cool payoffs

>>23487331
western writing was a mistake

What are you favorite one and done, single book, fantasy novels?

>>23487348
A Knight of Valora: Serenity. The story is STANDALONE. So if you don't want to commit to a fantasy story for years to find out the end, this may be for you!

Didn't get a proper answer in the last thread, so I'm repostin'

Question to the Bakkerfags: in "The Judging Eye", when the gang travels through notMoria and runs away from the notBalrog, Mimara looks at a chorae with the Eye and sees it as a true "tear of God", after which she exorcises the shade somehow using it. If sorcery is not a sin (as it was edited into the Tusk by the Consult, according to what I've seen on /sffg/) and chorae are the work of aporetic sorcery (man-, or rather Nonman-made), why does Mimara see what she sees and how is she able to banish the spirit? That whole bit was written as some kind of revelation and "power unlocked" moment ("She understood"), but it doesn't come up in any shape or form again (as far as I've read, which is roughly till half of TUC)

>>23487348
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay

I gotta tell you the truth folks, I gotta tell you the truth.
Brandon Sanderson is alright and he's suckered me in. His prose? Pedestrian. His characters? Paper thin and tropey. His plots? Done to death. His magic systems? Autistic and cumbersome. His world-building? Both overambitious and undercooked at once, stretching a short sci-fi novella's worth of ideas across multiple novels.
And yet... I like it. Sorry. I just like it is all.

>>23485844
>Dungeon cuck Carl
I admit the litrpg genre is filled with a lot of derivative shit but that does not exempt you from having shit taste.
>>23485894
>Progression fantasy
Also filled with predominantly barely flowing effluent. Try A Practical Guide To Magic if you like well written slow ass story telling. Honestly don't know of any good time looper stuff sorry.

>>23487348
The Luck of Relian Kru

>>23487431
slopchad

>>23487431
That's the thing I've found with slop. It's often punchy and readable. I don't read it often (to be honest, I don't read much at all these days), but when I borrowed the first Death's Head book from a friend I finished in two days or something. It's trash, but it's eminently readable trash. Just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride.

>>23487431
I feel the same about Discworld

>>23487711
DISCWORLD IS ACTUALLY GOOD.

>>23487711
Nigger I will disembowel you

>>23487717
>>23487720
NTA but I wish my OCD would allow me to just enjoy things for once, I want to read Discworld but just can't fathom reading 40+ or what books series.

>>23487747
It's not like Discworld is one continous story that you need to read in order to follow it, it contains multiple series following different characters and standalone works as well
Just grab a book like Small Gods and try it

>>23487747
Like the other Anon said, it's not really a typical modern Fantasy series. There are a bunch of series within Discworld because they follow the same characters, and they develop over time, but those are still all stand-alone stories. Though I have to say, I have gradually fallen out of love with Discworld and never felt the need to read more after being a big fan for a few years.

Can you guys help me find a Sci-Fi title? I can't remember the name, nor the author.
It's about a female protagonist. She's some sort of agent in a military force. Future space story with colonized moons and planets in the solar system. Earth is mostly devastated by an attack that crippled the entire solar system prior to the beginning of the book by an alien race that somehow transmitted a technological virus through radio signals. Radios are banned in the solar system. They use some other forms of tech for comms. The aliens are building a space station since they've returned, and they have to figure out how to deal with them.
For the life of me, I can't find it. It's just a one-off pocket sci-fi novel.
Another detail is I remember her suit. It could basically transform into practically any utility purpose, tied to her thoughts.

>>23487410
Read the rest of the books and find out.

>>23487717
I've read a couple Discworld books and I just don't get it. It feels like it's trying too hard to be lol so random at times. There's good stuff in there but it's buried under so much random unfunny shit and meaningless B- and C-plots that I just get frustrated. I guess the humor just isn't landing for me since everyone else seems to be raving about them and think it's the funniest shit they ever read. For context the ones I've read are Mort, Reaper Man, Hogfather, Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms.

>>23487845
If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you. It's pretty joke-heavy overall. But I wouldn't call it lolrandom humor at all, though. That would be pointless non sequitors, which Discworld just doesn't do, in my memory.

>>23487135
Are you even an expert? Only looking for analysis and opinion from a Wheel of Time expert, for reasons previously stated. If you are actually an expert, you're coming off as being very unprofessional.

>>23487896
Yeah, I'm a certified wheel of time expert but you blew your chance buddy.

Actually good sff:
>The Hobbit
>The Time Machine
>The Broken Sword
>The Stars My Destination
>Conan
>Dune
>A Wizard of Earthsea
>Neuromancer
>Swords and Deviltry
>Shadow of the Torturer
>Titus Groan
>Fevre Dream
>Berserk
>Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
>His Majesty's Dragon
>Neverwhere
>Blind Voices
>Solaris
>Bridge of Birds
>The Pastel City
>Illuminatus!
>Cloud Atlas
>The End of Eternity
>Soon I Will Be Invincible
>Spaceman Blues
>Lord of Light
>The Forever War
>Black Leopard, Red Wolf
>Assassin's Apprentice
>A Game of Thrones
>The Darkness That Comes Before
>Lovecraft
>Borges
>Dick
>Jack Vance
>John Crowley

>>23486582
>Rand chapter ends
>Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne chapter starts

Should I read The Culture

>>23488060
Catastrophic

>>23488152
Read The Player of Games and find out

>>23487144
any books with tara tainton like characters?

>>23487431
>I just like it ok!
T. resident /sffg/ Sandersoi.

don't know what to read next

>>23488261
Have you considered Lyonesse by Jack Vance?

>>23488261
Read Treasure Island

>>23488274
How pozzed is it?

>>23488290
Please seek help for your schizophrenia

>finally sit down and read a book
>do100 pages in one sitting
>get up
>feel lightheaded and dizzy
>suddenly head hurts
>eyes are weirdly wide open for the rest of the day
guys, I... I think I'm too retarded to read...

>>23488274
Local library doesn't seem to have it

>>23488302
what book

>>23488302
Try lowering the volume.

>>23488302
>2024
>not exclusively reading audiobooks

I seriously hope you guys don’t do this

>>23488329
Magic Eye: A New Way of Looking at the World

>>23488314
Interlibrary loan

>>23487747
Think of Discworld in the same way you think of Marvel comics, you just pick up a book that takes your fancy or that someone tells you is a good jumping in point and see how it goes. If you like them, then reading all 40+ books will come naturally and if you don't then oh no you spent 10 quid on The Colour of Magic how will you ever recover.

>>23488346
Ah, a Gene Wolfe chad.

>>23487896
Say what's the question and stop being a faggot. Nobody's gonna steal your question for a video essay

>>23487431
I feel like he could write something genuienly great if he took his time more and did it from the heart and stopped being so concerned about what sells

>>23488633

I'm this guy >>23486327

I started reading Eye of the World, read the first four chapters. It's mostly just introduced the characters and Two Rivers. How am I supposed to pronounce "Egwene" and "Nynaeve"?

>>23488656
Eggwhen
Ninnyveh

>>23488656
you listen to the audiobook and go with whatever the VA says

>>23486688
Is she ever gonna release endlords? God damn, how long has it been, 15 years?

>>23488701
nah, it's just a carrot on a stick to keep people buying her books, the GRRM and Rothfuss grift

>>23488610
All right. When Mat and Noal are talking about the gholam and new killings near Moldine Gate, Mat notices Tuon staring at him and gets "the golliwogs". What did he mean by this?

>>23488707
Is she even that popular? Dont think she has the same influence as those 2

>finally finish Orc King
>'What a nice ending, it is so nice that Drizzt found another Drow happily living on the surface'
>'I shouldn't read the wiki but I'm really curious-'
>mfw
we can't have nice things

>>23488775
serves you right for reading Drizzt

>>23488023
>The Pastel City
that's mediocre at best bro

>>23488855
He's got A Song of ice and Fire, wrongly attributed as Game of Thrones, on there and that's what you take issue with?

>>23488855
what? it's a fun dying earth story. not on par with anything vance or wolfe but still interesting none the less

>>23488912
i don't remember it being fun at all. all i remember about it is that i kinda regretted reading it. i wrote this, at the end i called it enjoyable so maybe i'm being too harsh now but for sure i wouldn't put it in a good book list:
average and at times bland story, the setting isn't too interesting, the characters aren't too engaging (and they feel pretty artificial, token archetypes rather than actual people with personalities), the plot isn't too original. it has some decent twists but i never was very engaged, maybe if the prose had captured me or i cared about any of the characters i would have liked it.

it's not bad by any means but just very forgettable in my opinion. the MC is very mary sue, it bothered m a bit at times because i saw nothing else really good about the book to compensate it. Quick and enjoyable read, it never felt like a chore or anything, but most of the time I wasn't too interested.

>>23488904
a game of thrones is a book and a pretty good one too

>>23488936
I don't think it belongs on any "best of" list. It's easy to read, and pretty exciting, but it's slop, for lack of a better word. Other languages have words for it. Stuff that is simply for reading, without having any self-elevating purpose. Compared to other titles on this Anon's list, it's woefully out of place.

>>23488973
true. It shouldn't but anons list is all over the place random in quality so it just seems like the only books he has read/ai made

What do you think about star wars books? currently reading master and apprentice and it seems okey

>>23489015
I think you should consider suicide

>>23489015
Star wars is awsome

>>23488338
>audiobook
>reading
Pick one you adhd tiktok brained zoomer

>>23488656
Egg-wayne
Nigh-neev (rhymes with sheev)

>>23488656
There's a glossary with pronunciations in the back of every book

>>23488766
Not to the same extentas GRRM or Rothfuss of course but her books were best sellers and there is still quite a large demand for Endlords

>>23488737
Can't tell if you're trolling or if your ESL is showing extremely hard (I'm ESL and have no problems understanding this)

>>23488656
Never read them, but they look to me like they should be "EGG-when" and either "NIN-eh-vuh" or "Nin-EVV" or maybe "Nin-AYVE". However I'd recommend doing what this guy >>23489050 says.

>>23489063
Why even bother? Just desigmate them as female 1 and female 2, their names are irrelevant anyway

>>23489069
>>23488656
This is the only way I can get through Chinese fiction, I've read tens of millions of words and can only remember the name of the main character for each story. For Way of Choices I couldn't even do that.

>>23488290
Negative pozzed. If I recall correctly, it starts with a woman in a pillory getting serial raped.

>>23489087
>Faude Carfilhiot, wanting to be a powerful magician but lacking the patience to learn the necessary skills, schemes with his lover Tamurello.
Negative pozzed you say? I did a quick search and it appears that this Tamurello character is also a male. How do you explain that?

Also
>starts with a woman
Nuff said.

>>23489081
>>23489069
exposure to cringy incels like these can turn even the most rabid misogynist into a simp

>>53489483
Holy shit you figured it out! I've been dying to know the title of that book. I didn't expect someone to actually find it! Thank you so much!!!

>>23489105
>alt-right
Why do they never mention the position of the moderate right or normal right or near right?

>>23489112
because neither of those groups attract anti-semites

>>23489105
Are you speaking from a personal experience?

>>23489121
So only the left and alt-right do?

>>23489112
because anything right to the crazy left is FAR RIGHT

>>23489132
yes, of course

although to be fair, "alt-right" is a phony astroturfed made-up term by lefties to refer to "any republican who isn't a spineless centrist or controlled opposition" that's primarily been adopted by literal FBI plants or people so stupid they may as well be FBI plants, the point being that retards who poison the well of discussion with their bizarre idée fixe should be exterminated with the rest of the untouchables, and in the case of this thread that's schizoid homosexual bugmen who are repulsed at the very thought of women existing in literary genre fiction

>>23489061
I ASKED for ONLY responses from EXPERTS.

Zaudunyanibros...

>>23489175
Richard Spencer coined the term "alt-right".

>>23489333
Look which governmental organization Richard Spencer's family works for. Here's a hint: it rhymes with See-Eye-Hay.

>>23485325

Do I need to read other xianxia for this to be worth it? I've skimmed some other xianxia but feel I'm missing cultural or genre context.

>>23485325
>>23489399
Jiasiting Bi Bo - Baby (Reverend Insanity Opening 2)
你說你愛我 這我曉得
喊我的名字 我就出現
要我的愛 要我的心
我們就永遠永遠永遠不分開

我不是玩具 別玩遊戲
怎麼說 只是好朋友
望著我的眼 說你有別人
我初戀 竟讓我心碎片片

而我只能
Baby Baby Baby Oh Like
Baby Baby Baby No Like
Baby Baby Baby Oh
怎麼不是到永遠

Baby Baby Baby Oh Like
Baby Baby Baby No Like
Baby Baby Baby Oh
怎麼不是到永遠

為了你 要怎樣我都願意
叫我如何相信 你已經離去
我想保持很冷靜 但卻失去你
買給你全世界 任何一顆鑽戒

我心碎滿地 你來整理
我只求你把我從惡夢中喚醒
我被擊倒 倒 倒 倒
簡直無法相信 我初戀 已經不見

我只能
寶貝 寶貝 寶貝 Oh Like
寶貝 寶貝 寶貝 No Like
寶貝 寶貝 寶貝 Oh
怎麼不是到永遠

寶貝 寶貝 寶貝 Oh Like
寶貝 寶貝 寶貝 No Like
寶貝 寶貝 寶貝 Oh
怎麼不是到永遠

我離開了 ( Yeah Yeah Yeah ... )

*【姑娘你很漂亮 - 例外人】
其實你很特別你很好看你很自然你很漂亮可愛的姑娘
只要你的心地善良對人誠懇大方人人都會喜歡
其實自自然然平平凡凡簡簡單單開開朗朗自在又清爽
不需要太多的打扮不要花枝招展姑娘你已經很漂亮
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbQV4AsDTiY

>>23489399
>Do I need to read other xianxia for this to be worth it?
Not really.

>>23489015
read the old canon aka legends books, new canon is a bad joke

>>23488775
>finally finish Orc King
Buckle up dwarf-lover, the next 6 books are non-stop suffering for my boy Drizzt
>>23488805
minthara my beloved

>>23489476
pusi?

>>23488060
>Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne chapter starts
>It's 20+ pages long and they go to tel'aran'rhiod halfway through

>>23489536
drussi
https://files.catbox.moe/9z6jik.jpeg

>>23489563
>only 20 page chapters
I laugh at you little baby

>>23489593
I said 20 PLUS, you lose nerd

fantasy books where the protagonist get cucked?

>>23489675
There was a chinese xianxia story were the MC got cucked that got adapted into a 3dcg animoo with a really cool opening sequence, I keep trying to find it for reference

>>23489675
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
A Song of Ice and Fire among various characters

>>23489675
Farseer has one of the biggest cuck plot twist, Fitz adopted father fucks and impregnates his gf like 4 times, i don't understand the people who say they cried when he died on the sequel series, i was cheering like a retard when that fucker died lmao

>>23489675
In the third Changespell book - that series I've been shilling about a female horse that gets transformed into a human and learns to animorph back-and-forth between them - the female horse learns to love her human rider when she is in her human form, but while they're desperate to conceive a child, nothing seems to be able to do it, until she gets stuck in her horse form for a long time and a wild stallion comes along...well the hero gets cucked by a horse. Sort of.

>>23489714

>>23489675
Harry potter gets cucked by dean thomas in that series. I can't believe she got away with it

>>23489727
Harry Potter himself held those books back so much. He is written as too much of a retard, stammering, "erm", cant voice his opinions, is a literal cuck, is a literal retard and has no interest in actually learning MAGIC, gets steered around by other characters while never taking any initiative of his own, and chooses to go be a cop for the corrupt government who persecuted him through most of his adolescence. FUCK

>>23489741
He's very passive, has no goals or real amibitions of his own, a pawn for the older characters. A male author would have written him differently.

>>23489714
would have been more kino if she got impregnated by the stallion while she was in human form

>>23489784
She shifted to human form with the baby inside her, but the author never said if the baby turned human inside her belly or if it was still a horse foal in her human womb.

>>23489759
J. K. Rowling is legitimately a retard author, the pinnacle of female narcissism and incompetence. But she makes trannies mad which is turbo-based.

>>23489855
She has some talents, she's quite good at nomenclature and was able to make going to school feel like a magical adventure.

>>23489714
>>23489852
lol
I will now read your book

>>23489855
>>23489886
She just copied tom brown's school days and added some poorly thought out magic. It is a comfy series though at least for the first couple of books

>>23489040
Both. I read when I can sit down, and listen when I'm doing the dishes / cleaning the house / commuting

>>23489886
Roger Scruton?? I thought you were dead!

>>23485177
Is Ryan Cahill's bound and broken series good? The reviews mention Eragon a lot which gives me pause

>>23489905
Yep. The books stopped being good after Prisoner of Azkaban. Goblet of Fire was literally unreadable and the only way I consumed the rest was by being forced to listen to their audiobooks with my sister on the way to school in the mornings. Mercifully I graduated after Half Blood Prince so I never had to listen to the final book.

>>23489904
It would have been better if she successfully seduced her human lover while she was in horse form THOUGH

>>23488199
Dark haired motherly characters?
Dragonsbane
Bridge or D'arnath
Belgariad

long live Sanderson
fuck Bakker

>>23489741
it took me many years to realize that "erm" pronounced with a bonglish accent is "um" in American english

>>23489112
Because the mainstream right wing is the most zionist political group by far. In the USA at least.

>>23489741
>>23489759
It's weird. In the first book he's excited ti learn magic and shit but then settles into being a lazy shitter

>>23490120
But DeSantis is a far right extemist

>>23486140
dune was so damn boring, i really had to drag myself through it

>>23489333
Richard Spencer is completely irrelevant and nobody cares about what he has to say or takes him seriously in 2024, even people you would call alt-right.

>>23488023
I will consider your list only if you answer the litmus tester's riddle.
Find the gold amidst this rubble:
Three bodies
With only blindsight to guide them
Crash into snow.

>>23490004
They mention Eragon since both are farmboy from village finds dragon egg and becomes a dragon rider stories. Bound and the Broken is great and you should read it, you can start with the prequel novella The Fall which is like 70 pages and free from the authors website to get a feel for it and the world. The first novel is a bit tropey and suffers from some editing mistakes but after that the books step up as fuck and just keeps getting better. Fourth book is one of my most anticipated releases atm.

>>23490353
Well if it improves then it's fine. I'll try it. Does it have pozzed shit in it?

>>23489714
>>23489675
Reminds me there's a book called 'Lady into Fox' with a similar theme. The guy's wife turns into a talking fox and then slowly becomes animalistic. She later comes back with fox kits.

>>23490362
Nah it's not pozzed at all

>>23490404
Alright then i'll start reading it soon

>>23488992
I have read them, it is not ai. They are not the only books I have read.
Pastel City is light, but I enjoyed it greatly. The sequel A Storm of Wings really compliments it, providing the weight. The rest of Viriconium is of interest, but they don't sing like those first two do.

But I like to recommend only the start of series. People can decide for themselves if they want to continue reading. And the first book has to be worth reading in its own right for the series to be truly great.

>>23486327
Waste of Time

>>23488912
I wish I had saved the rant I wrote here when I first tried it. It is staggeringly bad. Novice-writers-first-draft bad. Even mentioning it in the same breath as writers of actual merit is criminal. Recommend it if you want to signal your own absence of any sense or taste

>>23485904
It was on sale for like 30 not even a few months ago. I got it the hobbit and the silmarillion about the same. They are nice.

>>23490453
Your response is prototypical of the internet retard "critic". In essence you say nothing. You only use strong language to say "book bad" but are unable to give any coherent reason for why it's bad, nor any example of the book's badness in action. And to cinch the deal you then immediately go for the ad hominem, which as we all know is a class act that signals great literary taste.

In short, you sound like a retard. The strength of your opinion coupled with its gaping emptiness make it impossible to take you seriously.

im reading the plague, I've finished the outsider, and starting on more kafka next. they both write like my favourite scifi/fan authors even though settings arent the same. (maybe they werent smart enough to think of spaceships?). They prove the real power of speculative fiction is not grand world building or even a plot desu. just good old schizoaffective paranoia. If the author is wise then the book will be wise; you can't write yourself smart.

>>23490657
picrel

What are your favorite "trapped in another world" novels?

>>23490690

Think I'll treat myself to another one or two of this man's short stories today. So glad I got his complete stories.

>>23490691
Anyone reading book 2? How is it so far?

>>23490690
The Misplaced Legion by Harry Turtledove. A Caesarian era legion transported to a different world which is experiencing the Byzantine era, plus magic.

>>23488023
>Assassins Apprentice.
Just this or the entire RotE?

Okay I'll do it. I'll read Way of Kings

>>23491284
Whole thing. Liveship Traders is the best part, Rainwild Chronicles the weakest

>>23491422
No you won't.

>>23487431
fucking same man. I actually love it how he is putting the cosmere together. Every serie can be read as stand alone, but the gloves are coming off man. It's quite geniousily put together desu. I'm deep diving in

>>23491646
yeah but why is he so afraid of sex and violence

>>23491741
cos he's an autismal Mormon

>>23491608
I'm 70pgs deep already

>>23491741
I was under the impression his novels featured a great deal of wars and romantic relationships. Or are you complaining that he doesn't write phrases like "shitting brown water"?

>>23491811
he doesn't need to go full GRRM but it would be nice for one of his characters to admit they popped a boner or something, sexual desire is important to character development and motivation

>>23491830
I don't really miss that in his books. He's all about world building. The fact that he has meticilously thought out the complete cosmere before he started writing, is fucking insane. He has even hidden the end of all 10 books somewhere in the first two books (probably in the death rattles).

Stuff like that gives ME a boner, so i don't need his characters to get hard all the time

>>23491853
do you masturbate over worldbuilding?

>>23491860
dude are YOU autismal?

>>23491890
yes but this isn't relevant to the discussion

>>23491804
well, enjoy your slop then
it gets good a 100 pages away from the end and then it turns to shit again in the next book

Give me 9 reasons why Brando Sando is better than random chinese shit like Coiling Dragon. Prose is a given.

*unzips dick and starts pissing*

>webtoepub has gotten wonky
rip

Never read a book in my life but want to get into fantasy where should I start? I hear a lot about this Sanderson fellow

>>23491981
start with the epic of gilgamesh

>>23491981
Blood Song. Don't read any of the sequels

Would you recommend Harry Potter, Narnia, The Hobbit, etc. for adult first time fantasy readers?

>>23491981
Ignore the cover. This was a nice standalone read

99% of fantasy are trilogies or higher. You're not getting the authentic experience by reading single volume works

>>23491897
Oh well it's just a fantasy book. Nothing really matters in the end

>>23491981
You need something short if you're just starting out.
I don't really have any suggestions besides that though, but if someone recommends you something like Wheel of Time or Stormlight Archive then you can safely discard that instantly because there's a high chance you're not even gonna go past the first book in the series.

>>23492013
>NOOOO YOU NEED TO DEDICATE YOURSELF TO READ SLOP LIKE MALAZAN AND WHEEL OF TIME
no wonder fantasy is bloated as fuck

So, like, you think Robert Jordan really was into bdsm and lesbians?

>>23491908
Is Sandersons prose better than pic related?

>>23492038
the amount of unfinished shit on that list is unsettling.

>>23492038
>Dune is there because of the garbage his son wrote
depressing

This is the most reddit slop I've ever read. Know nothing about physics, math or computer science, but want to write a book around them anyway? That's what this guy did, and it shows. The style is just meaningless (at least to the author) words words words, quantum fractal algorithm dimension event horizon, refuse to elaborate. The setting is part generic 90s, part futuristic cyberpunk where everything operates by advanced alien science (magic). The author mainly describes revolutionary scientific discoveries by stating the color of the glowy light, or in many cases the spooky liquid involved. Future programs are like spirits that can go anywhere and do anything.

Nearly every page at least an offhand mention of cooming, if not a full sex scene (but nothing truly erotic, I feel like it's meant to gross you out). The plot is straightforward and doesn't really end in any grand revelation that would justify the hours wasted reading this. The characters have no real personalities. A psychopathic researcher/killer obsessed with sex, a pilot who spent some time in a vr world and likes sex, a molested girl turned spaceship who hates sex but reluctantly ends up wanting sex anyway. Did I mention sex? I'm just so tired of it.

Anyway, usually I'm able to enjoy some aspect of a book. Maybe the dialogue is natural, or the themes are thought provoking, or the setting is interesting. Not with this book. Page by page I waited for it to get good, mostly stopped expecting any improvement at the 200 page mark, and finally just wanted to finish so that I could tell myself I 'beat' the book. Sometimes you shouldn't do that.

>>23492038
Are Riftwar and Shannara actually finished? it feels like the authors just publish a new when they need some cash

Make Fantasy Great Again

>>23492013
LOTR has <500k words. The most influential fantasy book ever made. Back in the day they actually thought LOTR was too lengthy for a single book and it got split into 3. Nowadays that's like what, 1 Sanderson book out of 10 in the series?
Where did we go so wrong?

>>23492101
Tolkien was the main one responsible for it, his work emphasized the important of worldbuilding, epic plots and immersion. Before LOTR most fantasy was stylized and more about the atmosphere and prose.

>>23492084
You were already told that's how it was.

>>23491908
I'm not really a fan of Sanderson, but neither do I have anything against him particularly, though I don't respect mormons as a matter of course.
But Sanderson, being a human, produces literature that reads like a human wrote it. Whether or not you like the style or the story, it at least HAS a style and a story. The average piece of "literature" produced by China reads like something AI-generated...8 years ago. They make the scripts to episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh or Speed Racer look like bloody Shakespeare. The cultural consciousness of the Chinese people has been so mindbroken by the Maoist cultural revolution that all scraps have creativity have been successfully extirpated and their only produce is the kind of glibly robotic English grammar for 2nd graders combined with the absurdist resentful power fantasies of dull minds locked in a soulcrushingly oppressive dystopia. It is the absolute rock bottom source of genre fiction and that's really saying a lot considering we have subhumans who produce the abominable genre of "LitRPGs". The worst the western world has to offer is still better than the best the Chinese can provide, with scant few exceptions, namely Journey to the West, which is the Chinese Iliad par excellence, and naturally is pretty much the one story they've copied and reproduced ad infinitum.

>>23492160
Sanderson is a legit shit writer though, worse than even Chinese webnovel authors.

>>23491981
I wouldn't go off the deep end if you've literally never read a book in your life. Go for something really simple and easy to read, like "A Wrinkle in Time", or "The Phantom Tollbooth", or "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" or "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Those are fairly entry-level fantasy books. If you feel like those aren't quite doing it for you, read something a bit bigger and more serious, like The Lord of the Rings or Jurassic Park. Then you can start trawling through deeper and more profound works, or perhaps more graphic and dark works, depending on your tastes.

>>23492096
Shannara I think is finished. Not sure about Riftwar

>>23491976
wtf are you talking about?

>>23491741
>muh books need to have sex and gore otherwise it's for kids and not for real mature adults like me!!
do people above the age of 15 actually think like this? I find it to be an extremely fresh breath of air reading Sandersons books and not having to read through pages of drivel like that. You don't need to have fat pink masts and cunts becoming worlds to have a good book.

>>23492309
>it's a breath of fresh air to read from the perspective of a mental eunuch who feels no desire for beautiful women
even Tolkien is more sexual than Sanderson

>>23492315
Just go watch porn or read smut. Is reading about people thinking about sex really the reason you read sff?

>>23492342
>Just go watch porn or read smut.
No, take your creepy puritan logic and shove it up your ass. Adult characters should have adult motivations, even the Bible understood this but for some reason many Christians try to remove all references to sex in art.

>>23492432
>starts complaining about christians out of nowhere
>inb4 sanderson is a christian its not off-topic!!!
>proves he doesn't know shit about mormonism or christianity

>Year of our Current + 9
>He thinks Mormons are Christian

>>23485894
Re: Monarch is pretty decent slop, and is shamelessly stealing from, I mean getting inspired by, the time loop progression fantasy formula from MoL

>>23485894
Reborn: Apocalypse is by far the best one I've read recently. I hope the wait for book 5 isn't as long as it was for #4.

Anyone like Conan pastiche? Any favorites?

>>23492454
>>23492462
Judging by your reactions I was right on the mark and your puritan logic IS from christian larping

>>23492432
Mormons aren't Christian bro. And I'm not talking about some exclusivist Catholic "Pr*ddies aren't real Christians" harangue, I mean they are an absolutely bonkers cult that has about as much to do with Christianity as Scientologists or Pastafarians.

>>23492509
Mormonism is best understood as American Islam

>>23490528
On Amazon? It doesn't come in a special blue box if you order it online, I got mine in a store.

>>23492519
NTA, but not really. Most of the things people typically associate with Mormonism were abrogated a long time ago, after Joseph Smith died and Brigham Young took over.

>>23492519
That's a fairly close approximation in terms of their moral/cultural standards, but at least Islam can claim to have a valid faith in transcendent cosmic forces. Mormons literally believe that Jesus is an alien from the planet Kolob who trained his dragon ball chi so hard he went even further beyond Super Saiyan x3 and got a harem of a trillion hookers and slaves for achieving CHIM and becoming king of a planet and every single person who becomes Mormon can achieve this if they pay enough money to the Brigham Young's descendants.

>>23491970
I remember seeing this on the best sellers table at Indigo now that table filled with nothing but manga's. Is the same thing's happening at Barnes and Nobles too in US?

>>23492509
>Mormons aren't Christian bro.
They identify as Christian. Anyway, whether they are or aren't Mormon sexual ethnics are largely derived from the Puritan flavor of Protestanism.

>>23492554
And Bruce Jenner identifies as a woman, that don't make it so.

>>23492554
>Mormon sexual ethnics are largely derived from the Puritan flavor of Protestanism.
Say hwat?

>>23492564
As we all know the foundation of sexual relationships on the Mayflower was polygamy with 12 year olds.

>>23492096
Shannara is finished, Rifwar ended years ago but Feist is making a new sequel but i think you are getting confused anon. Riftwar and Shannara are series divided in story arcs, it's not one continuous storyline with the same villains and character arcs like wheel of time. for example the first three shannara books are all stand alone and the first four riftwar books are a complete story arc, same with the sequels, the only story arc that ends with a cliffhanger is Conclave of Shadows

>>23492480
Conan the Rebel by Poul Anderson plus The Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner.

The Ring novel wasn't that good but the first sequel Spiral is really good.

What are some books about BIG boobies?
Verification not required.

>>23492342
SF/F is the divinely appointed rape and fetish genre

>>23492752
unironically Malazan, it's pretty obvious Erikson likes big women, also femdom and reverse rape

>It's the "characters go from the material plane to the upper plane and go from being continent-smashing gods into pathetic losers" chapter of the xianxia story

>>23490453
>>23490430
>>23488973
>>23488936
>>23488855
I bought the hardcover for $300 btw

im trying to read that hideous strength to finish CS Lewis space trilogy but i just cant get into it. i try to keep pushing through it but its just not holding my intrest like the last 2.

>>23493125
To start with, the third part of his Space Trilogy is twice as long as the other two put together, so there's a stumbling block to begin with. Then there's the fact that it takes place exclusively on planet earth instead of exploring other bizarre alien cultures. But it doesn't really start to come together til halfway through when you finally start to get the idea that something is "off" about the N.I.C.E. and things rapidly start to get more and more outre until the book really comes together in the last 50 or so pages. I do think it's worth it in the end, and if you managed to enjoy the first two, you should appreciate That Hideous Strength.

>>23485844
I'm a sucker for Outcast in Another World, It starts out pretty weak but it actually is a bit deconstructionist in how artifical and gamified the world is.
Also I really appreciate the breadth of thought most characters have, few people are carrying the idiot ball.

>>23492480
Karl Wagner is the best. If you read comics, Slaine is good too.

>The author writes hyper angsty characters with deleted social skills superbly
>the author has been barred for ever returning to the us because he got a felony charge for assaulting customs officers during a routine border crossing
Lol
Otherwise I really enjoyed it and Solaris recently. Also loved Hyperion.

Recommend me a follow-up anons.
Minimal politics, more reflection on humanity and the mind.

>>23489741
Jk Rowling has a way of making all the characters slightly retarded in a way that makes for good comedy and it’s just charming. Harry himself, should have been less retarded though. Especially book 5 onward. It does feel like he is still mentally a 12 year old his whole school career.

>>23493277
For me? It's Luna

>>23493180
Slaine chads rise up

>find audiobook of book that has been in my backlog
>it's graphic audio
fuck

>>23488656
Eggyweg
Nnyeeh

>>23485177
Happy Father's Day, anons. What books do you read to your kids?

>>23493271
Blindsight has a sequel, Echopraxia. A lot of people hate it but I enjoyed it. It does the "hyper angsty characters with deleted social skills" well enough.

>>23493277
I really liked Mother of Learning because it feels like a response to HP. The magic has depth and makes a lot more sense, the time travel makes sense, the main character actually wants to learn magic.

It’s not as good as Harry Potter but it’s nice and does well what Harry Potter fails at

>>23493592
> The magic has depth
MoL is just the D&D magic system with an added time loop. Also for so much of the early story being set in a magic school almost all the cast he meets there and related storylines end up going nowhere.

i will NOT read webnovel SLOP
simple as

>>23493631
Based

I will read webnovel fun
simple as

>>23487055
You could try the /tg/ writing thread.

>>23492145
I know, I still wasn't expecting it to be this bad. I thought the plot would come together in the end in a somewhat meaningful way to make the journey worth something but it never did. I'm going back to Gene Wolfe now to calm down after this horrible experience.

>>23490605
If I thought it was worth a critique I would have offered one.

what is the blue book on the left? its way too small/pixelated to make out the words

>>23493853
Clearly says Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson

>>23489675

>>23494081
What a terrible dialog, jfc

>>23493853
It's Thomas Covenant DO NOT READ that you will extremely regret it

>>23494325
That bad?

>>23490094
Bakker will outlive Sanderson.

>>23494359
>MC is a cranky bastard
>gets sick with literally leprosy
>shunned by everyone
>isekaid to fantasy world, magically healed
>hey it just be a dream so I can do whatever I want
>the first thing he does is rape the first woman he sees
>gets immediately forgiven by everyone because he's the destined hero
>actually feels worse and treats everyone like shit no matter how much they're kind to him, because he (correctly) believes he's irredeemable

>>23494392
I'm not hearing any negatives here

I'm thinking of reading some less-talked about Wolfe, The Devil in the Forest and Free Live Free
Any thoughts?

>>23494392
holy mother of based

>>23494359
It's a great series. Sounds to me like the other anon gets too easily triggered.

>>23494519
>>23494519
>>23494519
New!