/lit/ - Literature

Should I cop this?

>intense fight scene in progress
>cut it away to someone doing something else at the climax
>we never get back it and the result is mentioned in passing later

Is book 6 of the Foundation series really just a flahback to Seldon founding the Foundation? Can I safely skip it to book 7 and not miss anything?

>>24033290
subverting the expectations kino

>>24033268
Just click that checkout button already

>>24033268
Definitely not.

does anyone know any "space fantasy" book or series? i dont mean like star wars i mean like having knights, fiefdoms, and dragons but in space if that makes sense.

>>24033686
Do the space knights fly through space on space horses to fight space dragons for their space lord?

so, how's wind and truth looking? the 1-star reviews on goodreads are very funny

Dust of dreams malazan 9
>mfw
>hobbling of hetan

can the Artihmatist sequel please just come out already. i was a freshman in highschool when it came out and im graduating university soon...

>>24033268
for real for real, on God

>>24033184
God damn I love AI artwork.

>knife of dreams
Man, Elayne is so fucking retarded. Andor is screwed.

>>24033686
there's the universe on fire series by ivan kal, the dude who writes the infinite realm litRPG thing.
the premise is that humans get into space only to be immediately quarantined by advanced aliens, so in the process of R&D they build a hole into another dimension that uses magic. so they build magitech and use it to establish themselves as another 'independent' entity within their region of space
>tl;dr SPACE MECHA

>>24034116
Is it as 'colored' as his other work?

>>24033184
What should I read next?
>Children of Time
>Too Like the Lightning
>Starfish or Echophraxia (Peter Watts)

Trying to take a break from gene wolfe and read something modern and more straightforward. Anyone read any of these and have opinions? I think I am most looking forward to the children of time since the premise seems interesting, but it's a pretty big book. Ada Palmer is new to me. For Peter Watts I read Blindsight and liked it but wasn't motivated to read Echophraxia. It's been a while so I might continue or start his other notable series. Thoughts?

>>24034226
children of time. spider sections are fantastic xenofiction material.

>>24034231
Thanks, anon. I'm going to bed but I liked what I read so far. I wonder if I'm going to grow to like kern.

>>24034226
Starfish is slightly better than Echopraxia. The setting is cooler and the characters in the main cast have a better dynamic with each other.

I have to read 2000 pages before Jan 1 I can't do it

>>24034226
Except Echophraxia all others mean you're committing to a trilogy.

>>24034341
Y?

>>24034341
Sure you can. Get some easily skimmable drivel like litrpg.

>>24034355
page goal

>>24034357
bet dat

>>24034315
I always found it funny Watts got butthurt over Behemoth having to be split into two parts for publication.

>>24033184
Anyone else just finish Wind and Truth? It feels like it Brando let one of his critics write a parody version of his book and then printed it.

>>24034226
>Too Like the Lightning
From my journal:
>like a shallower and less clever Diamond Age.
>starts well but gradually declines towards the end.
>all the main characters are super special awesome OC donut steele
>there are too many of them and characterization is rather weak
>a bit too much of author's magical realm
I wasn't impressed enough to read the sequel.

Does anyone remember this series? I loved it as a kid but I am hesitant to re-read it, it will be probably quite cringy. Anyway it's still in my parents house somewhere so I'll give it a try during the christmas when I'm there

>>24034510
forgot the pic ..

>>24034467
Definitely felt like he wrote it to me.

not lit but I decided to watch Houseki no Kuni after an anon here asked for books where characters change drastically like Phos or Maddi (Pantheon). Foolishly I assumed that Houseki might feature good character development. This was not the case. Furthermore the show ends before the plot has a chance to go anywhere. Guess I'll have to read the manga.

>>24034503
I really like her blog/essays about renaissance italy for both style and content. But everything i've heard about her series makes me not want to read it

>>24034512
It's very British
and by that I mean the protagonist is a slimy wimp and every plot boils down to having the resident girlboss who doesn't need his help at all solves the problems. It's a thoroughly unlikable series from every angle, none of the characters are remotely interesting or engaging.

What do you think of the Witcher short stories vs the long form storyline?

>>24034561
and what about this? I bought it like 15 years ago and have never read it

>>24034584
The stories are fine light reading. the actual series itself is shit. I don't know what it is, but every series that starts out supposedly being about hunting monsters isn't actually at all about hunting monsters and it always gets side tracked bu chosen one bullshit.

>>24033184
Machine Mandate #3-6
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5831239867
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7052920247
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7061276672
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7069001841


I'll do the same for the rest of Penric and Desdemona when I finish it. That'll conclude it. I have two other books I'll have to read aside from those, but may not applicable to post here. I'll read Wind and Truth eventually, but it won't be this year or even next month probably. I'm not that excited about it. It can wait.

What are some fantasy/sword and sorcery novels featuring a pair of teamed up male and female slowly falling in love with each other throughout their journey?

>>24033686
Jack Vance: Night Lamp, Emphyrio, lots of his stuff
Friedman: Cold fire trilogy

>>24034916
All of romantasy and most YA fantasy novels

>>24035048
>romantasy

>bro Sanderson you gotta read him he's so good bro
>bro the thrilling conclusion to the first part of the cosmere is out you gotta read it
>this 1400 pages of flashbacks
>flashbacks of people watching your flashbacks
>when we aren't flashing back it's just 300 pages of ten thousand year old lunatics who lived in hell for millenia going to therapy

>>24034467
Its insanely bad

How pozzed is this shit, does anyone know? I need some trashy vampino with power progression and this is all that I can find but my spidey sense is tingling for some reason. Any opinions one way or the other?

>>24035210
knowing absolutely nothing about this book other than having seen the cover you posted I will tell you now that it is complete mary sue girlboss slop and not worth bothering with.

>>24035210
I liked it until the scenarios get stupid, and almost comedic, after around the half-way point

>>24034712
>I'm not that excited about it. It can wait.
You (in general, not personally) only read it to talk shit about it with the rest of your buddies at forward slash lit. And you surely don't ever have to read all of a Sanderson - that's why you skim past filler, dummy!

>>24034116
hmm ill check it out but the cover art is kinda off
>>24034980
these are pretty close to what im looking for, thanks.

>>24035366
I stopped at the ending of book 1, where he leaves the village. Overall I liked it, but some parts were a slog. Is it a faster read after that?

>>24035389
I wish this were an AI generated post. It'd be less sad and more understandable if it were.

>>24035085
The world ran away from him. He got his plot in, but Roshar was barely on the page.

>>24034584
1st two books (essentially the short story anthologies) are great. There are great moments to come with later books but it's overall weaker.

At the same time, he was in no position to turn from help, even if it was offered by Wit in his Wittish ways

>>24035070
With a question like that, were you really expecting anything other than slop?

>>24035522
No. Pacing stays almost the same.

>>24035539
It might be a big deal to you (reading a book of that size) if you only read a few books a year. I don't say that to sound cruel.

I AM THE LAW

Haven't been on this general in over a year. Is there any word on Abu Bakker and the No-Allah?

>>24034530
Binged the manga, it was pretty readable and answered most of the plot threads that the anime adaption just leaves hanging. Reminded me a bit of Childhood's End.

>>24034584
The short stories are fun and memorable. I barely even remember what happens in the novels.

feels like nothing good has come out in a while.
And I refuse to read that annihilation sequel. Those three books were dogshit.

I started reading Red Rising, roughly read half of it. I'm bored out of my mind, does it get better? I saw a lot of praise for the second book, but I don't really know if I want to continue this series.

>>24035939
Drop it if you're bored

>>24034916
Morgaine series by C.J. Cherryh, sort of. There's no romance but they go from boss/henchman to old married couple over the course of four books.

>>24034584
even the short stories are pretty boring. the popularity of the second and third games carry these books.

>Who can say where divides truth and the host of desires that, together, give shape to memories? There are deep folds in every legend, and the visible, outward pattern presents a false unity of form and intention. We distort with deliberate purpose; we confine vast meaning into the strictures of imagined necessity. In this lies both failing and gift, for in the surrender of truth we fashion, rightly or wrongly, universal significance. Specific gives way to general; detail gives way to grandiose form, and in the telling we are exalted beyond our mundane selves. We are, in truth, bound into greater humanity by this skein of words…
>Introduction to Among the Consigned
>Heboric

>>24035701
Again with the AI response that creates its own subject to respond to rather than addressing what it is stated.

Genius MCs?

>>24036144
hate to say it but Kellhus

>>24036145
What do you think of this review by Gwern (given 2/5) of Thousandfold Thought?
>A major disappointment; the epic grinds to a baffled conclusion which undermines the interest of the previous two novels. Having wondered for two enormous books what Kellhus’s father has been up to, we discover that it is… not much, because he screwed up; having wondered for two enormous books why the Cishaurim attacked the Scarlet Spires, setting in motion a substantial amount of the plot, we learn why and it is beyond stupid (so the Cishaurim on discovering a skin-spy immediately assume it was from the Scarlet Spires, do not negotiate or warn or investigate in any way, and immediately laugh a decapitation strike? If this were TvTropes, it’d be an entry on the Idiot Ball page. One almost wishes Bakker had Moenghus take responsibility, because at least then it would make some sense.) The conquests become lackluster after book 2.The only redeeming aspect is that Paul becoming Padishah Emperor sets us up for Dune Messiah—sorry, I mean Kellhus becoming Aspect-Emperor sets us up for The Judging Eye, which has more intrinsic interest.

Why is Wind and Truth so fucking bad?

>>24034525
I agree, it's just the absolute worst that could theoretically be him. He's put out some decent stuff recently in mistborn era 2 and the secret projects so I have no idea how he fucked this quite so completely.

>>24035090
I finished the book yesterday and after sleeping on it's the worst book I think he's put out

>>24035939
The 2nd book drops the whole hunger game aspect and expands the setting and scope. Character writing remains the same for the most part. Pacing is pretty good too. If you're expecting deeper characters you're out of luck.

Ok brandofags, give it me straight. Do i miss out or will i be lost if i only read the stormlight archives?

>>24036251
it's impossible to be lost. he holds his reader's hands every other paragraph

>>24034512
It's very good for a young adult series, ignore the grumpy anon

>>24034604
Very long winded at times, but also very good. Really more like three books in one.

Working on my novel.

My gut feeling is that I’m rushing through it. It feels like the first draft plays out like someone telling you about a story they read from memory. Then the second pass is where you add things to slow down important moments and add deeper setup now that you know where you’re going. But, man, I’m dealing with a lot of imposter syndrome.

Bakker going for the record with his use of "debris" in the last quarter of The Great Ordeal lmao

>>24033784
It has the same problems as Rhythm of War. Sando needs either a much better editor, or to slow down and revise more himself.

>>24036271
Can't speak for writing, but in other creative work I feel like an incompetent loon for at least 50% of the life cycle of the piece/project. Only once it starts to come together does the feeling fade

also go back to /wg/

What did I think of it

>>24036376
/wg/ is populated entirely by faggots.
t. different anon

>>24036098
More newfag chatbot vagueposting. Do you feel better now that you get to repeat your "epic reddit diss", 2020+ trash?

>>24036460
meds

Are fanfics allowed here? I honestly think this is the best thing I've read ever. No need to read the source material (it's shit anyway this turns it into gold) let me know your thoughts if you do read I haven't read too much besides First Law, ASOIAF

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/shards-of-the-eight-overlord-au-ocs.878331/
MC is first person but other chars are third

Is there a western fantasy equivalent of a battle shonen?

>>24036652
Beowulf, duh.

>>24036652
Isn't Sanderson slop clearly anime inspired? Also, probably some of these western cultivation like Cradle.

Just finished reading blackwing.
It was a nice read, thanks for anon who recommend this book 2 or 3 months ago in here. I just got the chance to read it over the weekend and devoured the entire thing in two days because I really invested myself to it, enjoyable read indeed.
Loved the prose and protag, he sounded like iraq war vet who got isekai'd to otherworld for thirty years and had enough with everything, the fact that he's also a careless alcoholic made everything better. This book already sold to me in the first page only for its prose lmao. Worldbuildnwas also good, better than I thought, it was alluring for those who like to construct their imagination and challenging their mind-visual range and I found myself interested in how everything works in there.
Sadly I dislike the plot of this novel. The story of blackwing moved in a very small scope of narrative, all with a backdrop of big and promising worldbuilding. Its like running a game that only utilize 2 gb of ram at max inside a powerful computer with 64 gb reserve of ram, all ready to be exhausted to the ground. in short, lots of wasted potential with how the author handle the plot and worlbuilding. Limitation is this book weakness. To make everything worse, the small number of cast and the shortness of this book pages don't make everything comfortable either. Another hundred pages or so would probably makes everything better, for me atleast.
Its flawed, but its enjoyable. Going to read the second book, next year probably. Now I have to write a complete and detailed opinion of this book on my notes.

>>24034510
>>24034512
I only read the first book as a kid. It was fun. One thing that stuck to me is that it felt like the author looked at Harry Potter and the outrage over supposed satanism around it and said to himself "This suppose to be satanistic? I'll show you how it's done." So the magic is all about summoning demons and the mages secretly rule the Great Britain like masonry. Funny enough in my school library you had to have parent's written premission to borrow Harry Potter because of mentioned devil panic but I could borrow this book without any of that.

Best fantasy books to listen to while on runs?

What's a good weeb fantasy novel?

>>24036652
The Cradle series by Will Wight for sure.

>Dai-gonis, forgive me...

>>24033290
>>24033551
It gets tiresome. I first I thought Gene Wolfe-like, but I'm just past the part where the kids were getting bullied at school, and I think only like 2 important fights since the start of the novel haven't pulled this shit.

>>24036915
*I thought it was

>>24035522
Reading book 2 will get you the feeling of the whole novel; it's big and grand and mc wins grandly.

>>24035939
1 has awesome action, 2 is cool, 3 is cringe.

>>24035085
>bro Sanderson you gotta read him he's so good bro
if someone actually said this to me I would never talk to them again

>>24035939
I thought the second one was a significant step up but I also didn't hate the first one. I got it as an audio book on sale before a 18 hour drive and it kept me entertained.

It's not deep sci-fi though. It develops, but more into Warhammer 40k with 8 foot tall super humans larping as ancient Greeks and Romans. The fifth and sixth books have been my favorite, but they're a long ways away.

>>24037024
>I'm going to read anon's post and act as if his obvious sarcasm were sincerity
#gottem

>>24035696
the tagline combined with art that looks AI tier made me avoid this one completely, even though I normally like necromancer stories

>>24035939
I’m at the part where the main character finally gets to the hunger games high school, and while I’m more entertained the prose is still painfully bad
The author felt the need to spell everything out with no artistry, just the occasional hamfisted metaphor and nounNoun (noun to be technic) in place of real worldbuilding

Opinions on Neal Stephenson and where to start with his works?

Which one bros

>>24036206
Essentially the criticism of his prose has never been more accurate then now, alot of quips, alot of modern sensabilities and 'Well THAT just happened' and alot of flanderization of characters.

The book suffers massively from being part 5 of 10 and the end of the first 'arc', it can't wrap things up but needs to offer some closure, it doesn't really succeed on that. Lots of plot threads go nowhere, lots of used material is lame as fuck, and I think Brando wanted to get into some deconstructive whatever so alot of the book is a meta narrative about the first one 'one of the main scenes from Way of Kings is revisited and the hero depicted as a monster'. a good 30-40% of the books are flashbacks, and the typical sanderson backended revelations and major plot events (the sanderlanche) falls apart because the characters are separated from eachother so can't pass on reactions/their own knowledge, and some of the reveals are lame as fuck How Dalindar dies, Odium's choice of Champion, how Kaladin dies and becomes a Herald etc are pivitol moments which are very underbaked.

Characters individual arcs are a mix of hit and miss, with some working out where others really sputter. So all in all it's not where you want your cap stone book of your main franchise to be, espeically especially because schedule as written we aren't getting another stormlight book for 10 years, and the series won't be finished for 20.

Re-read way of kings to make sure I wasn't going insane and that the man can actually write and its a night and day difference, Wind and Truth reads more like YA.

>>24037273
Hobb so you don't become an irredeemable chud

>>24036915
It's just dumb confucianism vs daoism vs buddhism circlejerk, the story is optional.
Not worth the time for the majority of xanxia/wuxia fans.

>>24037304
Did Sando end up dropping a plotline about a plague in Shinovar?

>>24037304
>odiums choice of champion
Jesus christ he really needs to nail down what's breaking the rules or not because that seems to be pretty fucking blatant direct

>>24037362
>the champion
Nah, Taravandium had a point about the selection itself being legitimate.
>paralyzing his own champion
lmao, Wit's bullshit about respecting the "spirit" of the agreement is a fucking meme.

>>24037434
I'm glancing through and I guess I'm missing it. What do you mean?

>>24037443
>glancing
Bruh.
Taravandium paralyzes Gavinor shortly after the contest starts. Hardly a "contest" at that point, but Taravandium doesn't care, and this obvious violation of the spirit of the agreement- a contest, not an execution- seems to have no ill effects.

>>24037458
Yeah, but why doesn't he just kidnap everyone?

>>24037329
Kinda? Ends up being the The herlad Ishar the entire time, he is also the reason Szeth is so fucked up ultimately. There's a bit about him being corrupted by Odium by the Kaladin Therapist arc was veryyyy weird and annoying. He eventually cures the Heralds via bullshit 5th oath nonsense

>>24037434
Like so much of the ending, the actual implementation and effects of the thing are skirted around. Somehow he managed to make this very long book feel rushed as fuck in every department.

>>24037468
I am both of those anons, and I have read WaT. But the entire time I was reading it, all I could of was, "Didn't RoW have a background rumor about a plague in Shinovar? Something about an Unmade causing it?" I really expected the "plague" part to have follow-up, but maybe I'm misremembering. Googling it suggests I was thinking of sniffles in the Purelake, back in OB, but that doesn't seem right.

>>24037464
Shards can only directly interfere in that way if it's with someone that has given themselves up to him. The real question is, why doesn't he do more to directly empower Moash? Or literally any other character that holds Odium/Retribution to be their personal god.

>>24037024
I recommend Sanderson, but I make it clear that's because if you're gonna read slop, you might as well get it from the guy who puts out consistently and on time.

What if you can't just walk away?

>>24037510
>be a paraplegic
>in a utopia
I guess they'd just turn you into the tortured kid, then. Somehow.

>>24037329
>>24037474
I remember the plague being in the Purelake as well. I don't know where you got the plague being in Shinovar from.

>>24037476
So how did a literal child give themselves up in that now?

>>24037561
Being in the spiritual realm puts you at the mercy of the local shards. He could brainwash Gav until he agreed to be champion. Being vulnerable to them there was sort of a big plot point the entire time the characters were there.

>>24037273
ship of magic is part 1 of the 2nd series of realm of the elderlings, just fyi

>part of ISSTH where Meng Hao revisits his planet before leaving to the stars
>visiting the Temple of Doom
>bowing causes a bunch of the statues to come alive and bow back while the entire temple lit up and shook the planet
Unintentional hilarity. I lost myself.

Remember when Lift hung out with Gavinor for two books but was mysteriously NOT sucked into the Spiritual Realm or around at all whatsoever during Gav's corruption sidequest? Haha!

>>24037474
The Unmade should have been edited out of canon.
Remember when Ba-Ado-Mishram was suddenly made the focus of THE book 5 minor main quest? How she supposedly could rival the strength of Odium itself? Then she was released at the very end by the fag couple, screamed BOO! real loud, and cut to credits.
>>24037561
He kept Gav around in the Spiritual Realm for 20 subjective years, programming him in the process.

>when your best novel is your first one

>>24037601
Awfully convenient that the one Radiant powered by something that can be found everywhere didn't get MRAIZE'd. I'm sure this will have no importance after Retribution's Ascension.
>>24037607
I like the Unmade. It's a shame Sando keeps edging the topic, though. Similarly, it took way too fucking long for the topic of Shallan's mom to be broached. Why did NO ONE seeing the visions notice the family resemblance?

>>24037655
Shallan's backstory was basic bitch shit that I can only imagine Sando thought he was clever for holding back 5 books until the ~revelation~.

Hey, remember when the Spiritual Realm was built up since the start of the Cosmere to be this mysterious plane that even the Shards have difficulty navigating? And then several people maneuvered -- usually to their benefit -- at will and Shards can even drag entire populaces of mortals or outright steal parts of souls.
I bet the Whimsy Shard is having a riot.

>>24037690
Looking at anything else her D.I.D is offensively badly written, especially considering he has an expert for the disease on consult and is credited in the book. Kind of the hallmark of being insane is not realizing you're insane. Not having conversations with yourself while you explain to everyone else you're insane. Look at fucking wheel of time, Rand is basically the staple for it. He fucks it up on every level.

>>24037325
it's better than the usual forced progression of "Junior, you dare!", or faceslapping and glancing at jade beauties

Kelsier actually is completely right. Sazed is too idealistic.

>>24036837
>chinkslop
>western fantasy
get the fuck out of here

>you know what, the devil? Because jasnah is bad at arguing, I'll team up with you, the devil, currently leading an army hellbent on sucking the souls out of every human being on the planet. Ill trust you when you say you aren't going to fuck me on this, burning our one chance at freedom and redemption, because you're probably an honest guy, Mr. The Devil. Where do I sign?

>>24037992
That scene was admittedly quite bad. It should've been another one of the hard-to-write scenes he offscreened, but his ego got to him.

Remember when Tanavast was made out to be one of the better Vessels, a wise and amiable understanding leader? Then he acts like an angsty teen all throughout his flashbacks?
Don't forget Cultivation, the almighty wise dragon from Yolen -- who was known for playing the long con game, only to get owned by a 'human' male and then instantly with no hesitation flee the Rosharan system as fast as possible!
I can't wait to see how Brandon causes Edgli (Endowment's Vessel) to fuck up its plan to deal with Odium.

>>24037738
Sanderson's entire concept of mental illness is undoubtedly significantly influenced by his fanbase and the feedback he reads online or gets at conventions since the faggots are loud.

>>24037799
It's probably because of Kelsier that Scadrial stays ahead of everybody else in the arms race.

>>24033533
Book 7 is just book 6 part 2. Chronologically the series ends with Trevize making his choice at the end of book 5.

>>24037269
I started with The Diamond Age and I think that's a fine place, unless you're super into WW2, then Cryptonomicon, or you're into the Baroque period, then Quicksilver obviously

>>24037269
>Opinions on Neal Stephenson and where to start with his works?
shit and don't bother

Are there any good sci-fi awards left? I've tried reading some recent Hugo nominees for best novel and they've all been absolutely repugnant.

Has anyone read Wind and Truth?
Im a good 20 chapters in a regretting it.
Parts feel like hes pandering fully to his tranny beta readers and other parts feel like hes phoning it in.

>>24038224
The way the book is written, you may as well read the wiki summary. Same for RoW. He got through his outline of what he wanted to happen and called it a day. There's maybe a few neat moments, but if the book didn't grab you there's no reason to force yourself.

>>24038224
I’m about a third of the way through. I was eagerly anticipating excellence after the secret projects and it’s just… ok? Very disappointing. It’s not actually bad, at least not yet, but all the turgid introspective stuff about superheroes going to therapy is rotten. Needs more alpha and less beta readers.

I hope he doesn’t fumble his next arc in Mistborn or the Elantris sequels. Didn’t think much of white sand either, but I just don’t like graphic novels at all, so hopefully the prose version works out

also got the back end of The Expanse novels and Inhibitor Phase to read over Xmas. Why does it all feel like a chore

>Still no good novels about adventurers adventuring.

It's all so tiresome.

Shinbros... not like this....

>>24037495
If you just wanna pass the time reading, read the king of consistent high volume slop, Er Gen.

>>24035696
Harrow is an excellent example of an unreliable-narrator book and does some interesting things.
unfortunately to get there you have to first read Gideon which reads like a typical quippy YA fantasy.
I remember almost nothing of Nona despite reading it most recently.

>>24037304
>Re-read way of kings to make sure I wasn't going insane and that the man can actually write and its a night and day difference, Wind and Truth reads more like YA.
Part of this is that his old editor retired, every book from 2020 onwards has been with the new one.

Don't read anything before 1960.

>>24036251
read mistborn (the first book, not the trilogy)
then stop there.

>>24036652
like 3/4ths of stuff on royalroad or literally every litrpg
>>24037868
it's a western chinaboo author though. you could read his next series which is about space shit instead, "the last horizon"

>>24036794

>>24038478
I've read Asimov so I've already failed this mission.
Lord of the Rings is 54 too.

>>24038486
Title pollution

>>24038478
I'm not giving up Howard and Ashton Smith.

>WoK - 10.
>WoR - 9.
>OB - 8.
>WaT - 7
>Edgedancer - 6.5
>Dawnshard - 6
>RoW - 3
Sanderson fucked up with the scale of this series, I'm considering dropping it

>>24038224
>are you a spren or a god?
>I'm his therapist
fucking DROPPED

>>24038478
>Don't read
Most of this general already has you beat.

Now that the dust has settled, what went wromg?

>>24038577
>sets up a charity, promises he'll get back to writing if it makes enough money
>has yet to write one page and even his editor seethed on facebook to her boomer friends
Fuck this fat grifter fraud

>nerdmale author trying to write like a nerdfemale author describing a female character in a in a trope suit up way from a female perspective
I didn't think Sanderson could get much more cringe or pandering. Fuck me I was wrong. Why do stronk wymyn characters always have to have these analogous tropes that try to make them work in masculine frameworks while attempting to be more feminine? Why not make strong women strong in a feminine role? I wonder if Sanderson and his like even know the difference at this point. How have they not figured out how to build off the likes of Joan of Ark or Boadica to move their examples into fantasy? It's like he tried to combine Cinderella and Rambo, completely failing at both.

So, is Way of Kings worth reading at least? I've had it for about six years after buying it when I saw everyone raving about how great Sanderson was, and wanting something to hold me over while I waited for Winds of Winter (still waiting, less hopeful by the day). In those six years, I've since seen some excerpts from his writing that really put me off picking it up, but they could be from later books in the series.

Goddamn I'm reading Dune and it's already so much better than the films and I'm only 80 pages in
I'm typically a 'book is better than the film guy' but I loved the films so much I'm still surprised

>>24038601
Basically every female character besides navani is insanely bad and it makes me question how he ever became popular with women

>dalinar talks about odium parking the everstorm over places
>jasnah namedrops the prisoner's dilemma
>kaladin goes around telling everyone he's a therapist
>a spren talks about kicking fused ass
Sanderson's editor should never have let any of this shit through, it took me straight out of the setting

>>24038213
>awards
No. They've all been subverted. I outright refuse to read anything that's won an award, because I know winning just means its propaganda written by some nepotistic, feminist cunt.

What is the peak of dark, low fantasy?

>>24038641
BoTNS

>>24038616
>reading shit while waiting for shit

I want to read some enjoyable smut, what are my options?

>>24038672
ASOIAF for fat pink mast kino

>>24038672
Backyard goblins

Been rereading The Dresden Files, and I'm at the end of Skin Game... and I forgot how not shit Butters is after Changes. I remembered it as him becoming a dogshit character from Cold Days, but its understandable why he acts the way he does. Even at the end of Skin Game, after the horseshit lightsaber moment, he's pretty humble about it.
I'm seriously impressed with Butcher that he takes this and just completely shits it up in the next book. Like just royally rapes Butters as a character. Goddamn, son.

>>24038618
i hear the audiobooks are great. it sounds exactly what you'll like.

>>24038213
Almost no one reads any current year fiction except those who are major authors already. For many here there's barely anything worth reading from this century. If we did a /sffg/ awards it wouldn't be what you want either.

Does LitRPG actually have any special appeal or is it just popular because most guys are too vidyabrained to write anything else?

>>24038889
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with litrpgs, it's just a genre that attracts bad writers and dumb readers.

>>24038889
Litrpg is the most immersive experience in literature. The knowledge that your self insert is getting stronger through their own hard work and luck is just one of a kind. Imagine having your sword swing go from +0 to +2. Now apply that to life, you literally get to see your own progression. Same as slaying bitches. +1 notch to +20 notch. Thats swimming in pussy right there.

>>24038641
Black Company.

I don't understand the hatred towards female protagonists. Females offer something different and a unique experience men can't replicate.

For example a duel to the death. A male character would be plausible in overpowering the other man and winning with a sword strike, but for a female character that wouldn't make sense, so having her win by shaking her titties or finding some other evil way like running away from him towards a bear cave and screaming awaking a bear who senses danger then mauls the guy would work.

Whats the best indie author book?

If anyone want's a good book to read, I can recomend "Legend" by David Gemmell. Great heroic fantasy in the style of Conan, Witcher and Elric. Unlike most of the modern slop, which is basically erotic romance mascarading as fantasy, this is what fantasy actually should be like. Basically men preparing for a siege, and attempting to later survive it. If they fail their nation will fall and It's people will be enslaved.

>>24038945
Then read this

>>24038921
Often problems arise precisely because of thouse points. They should not be capable of overwhelming a man in a single attack, but in many modern stories they do (without using magical means).
Often happens because authors deny natural biological facts.

>>24038993
Already have, all 3 books of Jerusalem man trilogy.

why are the covers for malazan so FUCKING ugly, like jesus christ
they're only one small step above ai slop

>slop
Speaking of posts that are like AI

Any good sci-fi books/series with multiple anthropomorphic races and conventional adventures? Like D&D/Forgotten Realms in space or Mass Effect. Is Hamilton's "Exodus: The Archimedes Engine" any good in this respect?

>>24038601
>Why not make strong women strong in a feminine role?
behold the power of motherhood.

>>24038921
Men don't like female characters because female strategies are cowardly, makes the person employing them untrustworthy, and breaks down cooperation within the group as a consequence. E.g., challenging someone to a duel, and then running away and having a bear kill them instead of fighting them yourself.

There's also the other female character, the man with tits, who is just a woman that's as strong as a man for no reason and often without having earned it, but why people dislike those character shouldn't need a lot of elaboration.

>>24038889
Plenty of readers see the appeal in selfinsert power fantasy characters getting stronger and stronger chapter over chapter.
The rpg statblocks / videogamey parts I don't really get though. Mostly it feels like it's because the kind of authors who want to write that kind of story are also too vidya-brained to describe their world's mechanics or their hero's abilities through prose. But it definitely appeals to the subsection of readers whose favorite fan activity is writing wiki articles about characters' power levels.

>>24038672
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1084494/kono-drow-exile/

Low fantasy adventure, good dialogue, great action, and fantastic sex. Shame the author fucked off, but I would cringe to death too if I wrote futa smut.

>>24039092
>Men don't like female characters because female strategies are cowardly, makes the person employing them untrustworthy, and breaks down cooperation within the group as a consequence. E.g., challenging someone to a duel, and then running away and having a bear kill them instead of fighting them yourself.
Hence a more unique perspective. It's good to have something different than sword fight after sword fight after sword fight. Have a girl shake her titties and win a fight. have a woman seduce some lord and poison him. do cowardly things that women do. we need unhonorable characters

>>24039137
Like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7VTq_OTpvs

>>24039149
yes. look how much more fun that is than blasters shooting at each other.

>me when I reached the part of Stormlight archive's latest book where Sanderson introduces a literal troon.
The gay subplot doesn't bring joy either.
The quality drop >>24037304 mentions is noticeable, but isn't this written by a Mormon?
I'm not really an expert, I guess it's safe to assume Mormonism is another modern church whose corpse was hollowed out and worn by the modern, fancier, secular successor ideology?

>>24038577
Severe case of mental health issue. I don't understand how he couldn't just look at his royalties checks and tough it out and write an ending with a decade of time though.

>>24038577
same thing as all atheist libcucks. Mental illness from the modern world. They don't see beauty in anything, that is why their books are so ugly and can never finish them. While all the best fantasy writers have been happy Catholics.

>>24034604
That's a very good book and the whole thing with the fairy with the thistle down hair favoriting a black slave was extremely tongue in cheek and accurate to modern day politics.

>>24039175
Sando's fans are leftists, and he's pandering to them bigly.

>>24039192
I'm a religious catholic. Erikson is an agnostic atheist and he wrote the best 10 book series epic fantasy has to offer IMHO. He did it as fast as publishing allowed. Don't think religious or political view has to do with output. Maybe it's bodyweight.

>>24039010
Before AI slop it was stock art slop and that's what you're seeing here. Steve Stone used generic fantasy man #4 and slapped it onto generic fireball explosion #9 for the Crippled God cover. The worst ones are the MOI and Midnight Tides covers though. Just awful. The Reapers Gale and House of Chains ones are nice though. And now look at Steve Stone back at it with the sequel covers looking like dogshit

>>24039216
well that's a wrong opinion sorry not sorry
also religious and political view has very much to do with output.

>>24039175
Mormons come in a lot of political flavors. They trend a little right of center as a group, but a ton of them hated Trump (they see him as crass, Mormons value politeness above almost all other things) and it's not uncommon to find Blue Mormons who consider themselves progressive. This isn't a recent development; Joseph Smith was a rabid abolitionist and their religion includes a lot of rhetoric about accepting all people into the fold (even moreso than baseline Christians).

Finished Wind and Truth. Some thoughts

>Skimmed through most of Shallan's chapters, no interest in her at all at this point
>Skipped virtually all the Renarin and Rlain stuff. Missed absolutely nothing of importance
>Don't agree that most of the book is flashbacks. Szeth's flashback are alrights, and Tanavast's flashbacks were a good change of perspective. Of course, people complaining about the flashbacks are really talking about the Spiritual Realm trip, but I don't consider a character travelling to a vision of the past to be a flashback.
>Absolutely ruined Szeth's spren, his best scene was when he told Szeth to hold as he was being chocked. Making him practically a comic relief was a shitty choice
>One of the best scene of Taravagian was him destroying his old city, the reveal at the end he saved nearly everyone in it is ridiculously bad
>Good ending to Dalinar's story, honestly. I feel his death came at the right time, and the third option he took was surprising but not ridiculous
>Our boy Kaladin and Syl lived, can't say I expected that, good for them.
>Adolin's plotline almost save the book
Overall 6,5/10, it's not Rythm of War, thanks fuck, and at least he went easy on the magic techno-babble, but holy shit he needs to stop writing like a teenage girl. When it's not italics or all caps it's both at the same time, Jesus Christ. It's like he assume his readers are too dumb to pick the important words. If I read book 6 I might grab it on a shitty ripped file with no formating just to see if it removes the italics.

>>24039270
>i don't consider most of the book to be flashbacks
>yes, they do go to the flashback dimension to either watch flashbacks, or watch people watching flashbacks, or kill people watching people watching flashbacks, or give a first person omniscient narrative to the flashbacks
>but no, it isn't mostly flashbacks
Between szeth, shallan, renarin, rlain, dalinar, and navan, 3/4 of the pov are flashbacks. The only ones that aren't are fucking kaladin therapyblessed and adolin chessmaster

>>24039297
>forgetting Venli, Jasnah, and the interludes
Be reasonable. Only 2/3 of the book is flashbacks.

>>24039297
Not flashback, time travel at best

>>24039303
>forgetting Venli
That's an easy one. Personally, I've never cared for her.

>Unironically reading Sanderslop.
I know /sffg/ doesn't have the best taste but that's a new low.

Why do slop-spammers roleplay as if they read at all?

>>24039367
they've always read this shit what are you talking about. They read harem chinkai shit all the time too, lowest of the low.

>>24039175
Who are you talking about? There's been one since the first book.

Made him want to lash out.

>>24039387
>There's been one since the first book.
I don't believe there was?

>>24039382
I just like to reas fantasy where the fate of the world doesn't rest on who had sex with who, which is a common element in the lowest isekai webnovel and the highest /sffg/ recommendations

>>24039391
"King" of the Reshi isles that are giant walking crabs

>>24039396
I forgot if that was in book 1 or 2. But honestly, at the time, it seemed more like a cultural title than anything, though IIRC she shows up in a later book having become a Radiant and healed her body into a man

>>24039396
that sounded like a joke about inflexibility of official nomenclature, so that even an occasional female monarch must be called king

>>24039402
>having become a Radiant and healed her body into a man
I *definitely* don't remember that, and I read the books like a month ago. Unless this was in side novellas?

>>24039405
It's an offhand single comment about thier leader transforming in oathbringer

I expected more of a story than just a narration of scenes

Oooh so we can have two men from different species kissing and practically buttfucking each other on the pages, but no Kaladin passionately making sweet love to Syl while flying in the night sky, I see how it is

>Mormon writer's book
>look inside
>troons and interspecies sodomy

>>24039102
Where do I find more like this? Most stuff on these websites (with smut, I haven't tried others) is either litrpg slop or anime inspired.

>>24039432
You don't. Niggas looking to read smut aren't looking for whatever else that story has. Anime and its tropes are easily digestible by the autistic who wants to read their porn.

It's not like the prose is that good anyway. Reads pretty ameature and you can tell the author was branching out when writing anything that isn't sex or violence.

>>24039102
Futa on girl or guy?

>>24039444
futa on girl

>>24039441
But there has to be an audience right? I feel like smut is either written for incestuous creeps (Literotica) lonely out of touch women (romantasy) or autists (litrpg/anime smut). Why can't I have fantasy, good writing, fun adventure, AND smut? I feel like it's so easy to write that everything should already have been written.

>>24039449
In theory that exists. There are thousands of stories on royalroad/substack/scribblehub that anything you want COULD be out there. But noone is going to actually troll through all the garbage to find it. The drow futa fic gets posted here probably by the author stealth advertised it months ago (or more likely still does but I doubt it as the story was obviously dropped)

>>24038889
If people writing LitRPGs actually knew how to write they'd be writing novels instead.

>>24039010
TOR covers. I've found the UK Bantam ones to be better.

>>24039449
write it yourself

>>24039137
I don't really wanna read about these characters, they can sour a whole book for me. Like, I read The Long Ships recently, and there's a section in the middle where the protagonist's wife lies to him and abuses his trust in her to cuck him with a vile side-character and she never gets any comeuppance for it. But I guess that's life.

>read sci-fi from the 1930's until about the mid to late 1980's
>there's a pretty kitty species

>>24039367
I've red most of the good stuff that is out there and sometimes read the popular stuff just to know what is popular.

>>24039449
Joe Abercrombie's sex scenes aren't enough? A lot of fantasy books have sex.

>>24039566
Is it written with the intention to arouse the reader?

>>24035696
Gideon was alright, but YA feeling as another anon mentioned. That said I would have been happier to have read Harrow without having read Gideon the Ninth first. The unreliable narrator was more interesting without it being a blatantly obvious contradiction from the first book.

Nona does much the same thing where the narration consistently adds confusion or characters purposefully avoid speaking about things in a remotely sensible matter to muddle things before the big reveal at the end. Reading sequentially the hidden information is frustratingly obvious but the book acts like its a big, completely unsolvable mystery all the way through.

>>24039394
>the highest /sffg/ recommendations
name them

>>24039581
A reader can be aroused by whatever, whether the author intended it or not.

>>24039633
Lurk for a few weeks and you will see all of what the normalfags here discuss.

>>24039703
Where can those who aren't normal be found?

>>24037269
>Opinions on Neal Stephenson
when he's good he's really good, but he's also written some stuff i really didn't care for (reamde, termination shock)
>where to start with his works?
snow crash, anathem, or cryptonomicon. just pick whichever of those sounds most appealing from the synopsis.

>>24039508
In all seriousness aliens used to be fun and the deranged products of sheer imagination but they've become as fucking soulless and bland as the rest of sci fi these days

Eastern fantasy with romance and tragedy as the main themes?

>>24037615
I really liked that book. Then I started mistborn. Terrible.

Whats the Bone Tomahawk of sffg? Is there one?

>>24039973
Dark fantasy is a dime a dozen and not very good. Most books try to be dark by just raping all the female characters.

All right I finished Farts and Shit. The primary theme of the book seems to be that the greatest good is to live according to your own choices. I think Crowley had a similar belief, but whatever. My biggest gripe with the book is that Taravangian presents a giant gaping hole in the theme. Everyone's character arc in this book hinges on the realization that they have the right to choose their own desires, including Taravangian. Yet Sanderson never directly addresses why following your own desires is bad when Taravangian does it. Are we just supposed to accept as an axiom that killing millions to conquer the world is a bad decision no matter how you come to it? That's fair enough, but then how does Sanderson account for his theme leading to bad decisions? When it comes to Szeth it's revealed that every bad decision he ever made was a result of following orders and that every decision he ever would have made of his own free will would have been good. Could it be that Taravangian is just inherently bad? Other writers might frame it that way, but Sanderson has gone to great lengths to emphasize that nobody is inherently bad in this series.

It's just disappointing. I like a good thematic ending, but it seems like Sanderson was more interested in teasing his next Mistborn trilogy than in saying anything interesting.

>>24040039
I mostly loved the western horror aspect. However what are the dimes? Prince of Thorns was pretty lame, I enjoyed Glotka in Abercrombie but thats about it. Baker I enjoyed but I never finished the third book I lost steam for some reason. Not sure what else is consider "dark fantasty". I haven't really read in a few years honestly.

>>24040070
>I mostly loved the western horror aspect.
The genre you're looking for is weird western. Louis L'Amore's last book is a good example of it.

>>24040075
I know of Louis L'Amour because of my grandfather. He has like all of his books. I assumed his work was just light boomer reading?

I can't believe this nigga's written 6500 pages of this series.

Finished the first one today, it was OK but very average writing. Now and again it'd be solid prose but mostly it was Black Library (warhammer slop) tier. Characters were paper thin, common tropes, despite having some engaging (if classic) conflicts. But the world building was really strong, enough that I can confidently say the series would have been better as fictional historical texts.

A buddy said the second one has better plot, so I'll eventually get to it. This one was OK as a pallete cleanser between denser books, though a bit long for that, and everything beyond the setting was mind-numbingly generic.

Are any of his other series better written? The dude clearly has some interesting ideas, but I am not terribly excited about 650 pages of B movie in a unique setting. The author comes up frequently in "modern top tier spec fiction" discussions - maybe that's just the state of modern fantasy and scifi.

>>24040075
Also any other "weird western" you would recc?

>>24039508
Picrel is pretty good if that's your thing. More modern than 1930s, but weird "pov of an alien" setting. I enjoyed it.

>>24040089
Robert E. Howard wrote a few weird west short stories. The Horror in the Mound comes to mind.

>>24040086
He's one of two western authors who got really popular, the other being Zane Grey. And the modern genre industry doesn't like to talk about Grey because he sometimes used Mormons as antagonists, so L'Amore is pretty much the most famous western author who ever lived.

>>24040092
oh nice I like conan ill check it out thanks

>>24040054
>teasing his next Mistborn trilogy
That tease is for the 4 new mistborn books that are already out.

>>24040089
NTA but check out Blood Meridian.

>>24033184
Now I want to read about Santa Claus battling both Halloween and Turkeys to deliver presents to children

>>24040133
I tried it a while back. I felt illiterate trying to read it. Ill have to try it again.

>>24040104
This seems strange to me considering mormons are a pretty small population but I will take your word for it. He has written a ton of books any in particular you would recommend?

>>24040149
>I felt illiterate trying to read it. Ill have to try it again.
Maybe try it as an audiobook. I prefer actually reading usually, but I liked it narrated - the prose is probably very dry if someone isn't speaking it aloud.

>>24040091
that man is drowning in pussy

got 5 books for $8 at the local thrift store
weirdly they didn't have books 2-3 of the Asimov series. do you think someone donated only 1 & 4, or someone before me bought only 2&3 while leaving those two behind?

I think I'll read the Wolfe first. Maybe it'll inspire me to pick up Book of the New Sun too.

>>24039382
>harem chinkai
can you recommend any harem free, monogamous, chink isekai slop?

>>24039651
well golly why dont i just put down the novel and go masturbate to the tile patterns in my bathroom then?

>>24038224
It seems to me he has failed to mentally get out of his YA mode he had when he wrote his separate space opera YA book, because some of first 300-400 pages of WaT felt very different from the other 1000+ and very young-adultish, cringe and oversimplified to get digested even by 11yo.

>>24037304
What is the spoiler tag? I cant black out the lines for gods sake.
Anyway spoilers, so dont look if you dont want to get spoilers.
>Kaladin has died few pages worth of the time after gloriously achieving 5th Oath, undermining the previous moment and the whole excitement from doing that. Also he didnt really die though so *shrug*? The whole therapy part with Nale and Ishar was speedran unnaturally.
>Dalinar spent what felt like 50 pages repeatedly questioning is it okay to kill a boy or not; said boy got 20 years of development offscreened and Sanderson didnt establish any connection between new him and the readers for them to care. The whole final duel ended up being Dalinar and Odium saying 'No U' and explaining to each other why Odium cant lose over and over and over again.
These characters arcs' conclusions were garbage.

>>24038921
>I don't understand the hatred towards female protagonists. Females offer something different and a unique experience men can't replicate.
Most female characters in fantasy are literally just men but with fewer character flaws. There's a reason Red Sonja and Dark Agnes will never be as popular as Conan or Solomon Kane.

>>24040118
>but it seems like Sanderson was more interested in teasing his next Mistborn trilogy than in saying anything interesting
The next Mistborn books are gonna be the modern era books. Then the cyberpunk book(s?). THEN we'll get to the Roshar/Scadriel space war shit.

>>24040553
Yeah, but that ending was before the wax and wayne books, not after.

I've read Wind and Truth and people said that Shallan is pregnant at the end of the book. Did I miss it? I admit I read her chapters VERY fast

>>24040414
You certainly could. For all you know I'm doing so to all your replies.

>>24040054
>seems like Sanderson was more interested in teasing his next Mistborn trilogy than in saying anything interesting
>Sanderson
>saying anything interesting
Nigga please. Sanderson has nothing interesting or insightful to say. Never has, never will.
He is not smart. He is not educated. He is not witty. He does not understand subtlety or moral complexity. He has no particular insight into human nature, society, science, philosophy, or any other nontrivial topic.

Sanderson does every single thing by the numbers.
He learned that characters need to have flaws and arcs where they overcome them. So every character gets a clearly delineated and spelled out flaw (often lifted verbatim from DSM) and a neat hero's journey in which they deal with it.
He also learned that stories need to have themes, so he will take a family-friendly theme from tvtropes (like "murder is bad") and invent a little subplot that demonstrates it. And in case someone didn't get it, he also spells it out for you.
That is why people like him - it's straightforward and easy to follow, along with autist-pleasing "worldbuilding", "magic systems", and anime-style flashy fights and plot twists.
I don't judge you for reading the literary equivalent of popcorn, but why would you ever expect to find fine dining in there?

>>24039175
does the "troon" actually change sex or is it one of those lgbtqwtfbbqbicpoc cancer with a crossdresser on hormones? very relevant because i love genderbender transsexual fiction but absolutely hate anything resembling irl "transgender".

>>24040671
In an earlier book there is a mention of someone that used magic to change their birth gender into their "true" gender (it's pretty hidden, you have to remember that a minor character was a female before, and now is a male)

In this book there are two
>One is a woman priest, a scholar with a shaven head (though that part is connected to their religion), who expresses interest at someone (I already forgot who, to be honest, might've been one of the fairies who have no concept of gender anyway) not living as a man or a woman
>Some tall and strong woman who did the necessary paperworks of her culture (she's from a bureaucratic countric) to become legally a man, at which point the narration changes from female to male pronouns.

Both of these are not important at all to the plot, I guess at most they have like... two pages in the whole book, if you put all the moments where they appear one after the other.

>>24040675
>In an earlier book there is a mention of someone that used magic to change their birth gender into their "true" gender
at this one is integrated into the lore somewhat cleverly, radiant healing being constrained by subject's self-perception was pre-established

please stop spoiling books. i don't want to stop coming here just because i haven't read every book in existence.

>>24040685
just read them drunk so you won't remember anything other than the vague sense of approval or disapproval

Sanderson's worst flaw is overly modernizing his fantasy, and it seems to only get worse.
This, combined with his urge to handhold and overexplain produces some really cursed results, like certain character becoming theRapist

>>24039010
The Malazan series actually look great in my bookcase with their unform black spines. A whole spectrum of rainbow colors for one series is worse because that looks gaudy and gay.
>>24040396
Red Mars is very lame.

>>24040647
There's a part near the end where she "holds her stomach" but it's fairly vague and it could simply be a regular action given the context.
>>24040663
>saying anything interesting
I think about this often. If I want to read a book that is going to 1) introduce new words into my lexicon or 2) be presented with some well-argued philosophical claim, I know I will NOT find this in a Sanderson story.

>>24040738
present me*, rather

>>24040039
Gurm has done irreparable damage to Dark Fantasy.

>>24040738
what do you find in Sanderson stories? I've not read any of his books. I watched one of his youtube podcast things, him sitting there with his friend, spamming signatures on pieces of paper like a robot. then they both agreed that hey couldn't tell Merry and Pippin apart in LOTR (two characters who are VERY easy to tell apart if you're not legit retarded). also he is morbidly obese and puts his face doing :O-face in videos everywhere. there's like a dozen red flags here.
yet people read his books? why?

>>24040871
>then they both agreed that hey couldn't tell Merry and Pippin apart in LOTR (two characters who are VERY easy to tell apart if you're not legit retarded)
I can't do that either, unless I run the entire plot of Two Towers and RoTK on fast forward in my head until they split up.

>>24040871
When people say he's the Marvel of fantasy they aren't joking. His books are adequate, and very popular because they're basic.

Are there any stories that focus on themes of characters struggling with the temptation to give up?
Tolkien is the only one I can immediately think of but his characters are often shallow enough to not be particularly distinct, like >>24040879 said

>>24040926
>Are there any stories that focus on themes of characters struggling with the temptation to give up?
me whenever i decide to give wot another chance

>>24040926
The Temptation of Saint Anthony

>>24040871
I'm a biased person to ask but my initial interest was the meta -- bear in mind, I started following back around '09/'10. This was before MCU became big in of itself, and 'popularized' (invented to normalfags) the concept of a meta-verse will all of its subsequent derived 'inspiration'. It was also a realized world he had conceptualized since the 90s or so; a dwarf galaxy in which a 'god' was Shattered into 16 pieces and the subsequent results of what happened. I weep for what the cosmere could have been and do not ardently follow as much as I did.
On an unrelated note, I normally read often and a Sanderson book is not a difficult or slow journey to traverse. It's been enjoyable shitposting about WaT with you other boys.

I love Dragonlance, I love the Minotaurs

don't hate me but i read alien the cold forge and i really enjoyed it...

>>24041020
me too but I fucking hate Knaak, his Huma novel was absolute dogshit with zero mythical quality or even sensitivity to the significance of that character and Weis and Hickman are going to outright retcon it in a new book they're doing.

>>24040738
>1) introduce new words into my lexicon
Infinite Jest. I'm a sesquipadelian academician and that book still has me going to the dictionary every 5-20 pages.

>>24040089
Though I rarely read anything modern, Red Rabbit was good.

>>24040879
Just remember that Merry is not merry while Pippin is and it should be really easy.

I read Wind and Truth
>Sanderson said for years that Honor's shard was broken and no one will ever be able to do anything with it
>Lmao turns out it isn't, it was just hidden, Dalinar grabs it at the end
>The "Honor is dead" catchphrase from Kaladin now makes retroactively zero sense in the narrative
What the fuck? I knew Sanderson wouldn't write good prose, or good Shallan chapters, but I expected him at least to stay autistically consistent with himself

>>24041096
Agree to disagree I guess, me personally, I love Knaak, I enjoyed all of his books

Don't read short stories. They're inherently less complex.

>>24040926
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

>>24040685
spoilers aren't real. a GOOD book (not litrpg or sanderson) is just as good even if you've read a plot synopsis and know every major event before it happens

>>24040729
>Red Mars is very lame.
Oh is it? That's unfortunate. I picked it up because I kinda recognized the series but I don't know too much about it. What didn't you like about it?

>>24041205
Honor is dead, just meant the god they called The Almighty/Tanavast. I remember him specifically saying the problem was different from being broken the way others already have been. The power becoming its own agent and vetting potential bonds doesn't break anything I remember him saying.

>>24040663
Fiction revolves around exploring a handful of universal, timeless themes and in this sense it's not possible for Sanderson, or anyone else, to reinvent the wheel. Here he at least deserves praise for dusting off abandoned by mass media themes like honor.
But yes, most of his flaws as a writer are in one way or another connected to this 'mass market orientation'.
Which is too bad, once you're this big you have a lot more space for maneuver.
On the other hand, maybe he really lacks the facilities for something more ambitious.
Him bragging in the preface to the newest book that this is the longest one yet and apparently not considering that this might not be a good sign is telling something.

>>24041349
Don't worry too much, anon. The sf writer John C. Wright says Red Mars is excellent, but the sequels are bad.

>>24041349
It started out ok with lots of science, but halfway everything went fuck you to everyone and any sense of credibility was quickly lost in ensuing conflict. Struggled to finish the book.

Finished the Zimiamvian trilogy and I don't know what to think of it. Eddison was a weird guy. I can see how Tolkien felt disgusted by it, or rather Eddison's philosophy. I feel the same but I'm also weirdly fascinated by it. What an unusual series.

>>24041277
dont worry i only read 1000+ chapter webnovels

>>24041527
Good!

>>24041527
I'm almost 1k into ISSTH. Genuinely enjoying it more than I did WaT.

>>24041581
that's like 10 wind and truths worth of pagecount, did you really read all of that in less than 2 weeks since finishing WaT?

>>24041598
No I've been reading it off and on for a few months but I'd say I've been reading consistently for several hundred chapters now.

>>24041581
After western (and traditional) novels, 1000+ chapter webnovels can feel pretty refreshing, like a slice of life tv show, where not every little thing is a checkovs gun or important to the overarching plot

Is there any genuinely good homo-ish scifi or fantasy?

I feel like I'm being gaslit. There's no way people are shidding and farding over wind and truth. It's terrible and the more I think about it the worse it gets

>>24039211
>That's a very good book
>>24036267
>Very long winded at times, but also very good.
How so?

>>24039192
>While all the best fantasy writers have been happy Catholics.
Gotta believe in fairy tales to write your own.

>>24039051
Play Call of Duty. We know that's what you really want.

Don't read books without fandoms.

>>24041747
*tips fedora*

If you write a fantasy novel long than 300 pages you should be forced to write in your own blood.

Why has no one ever called out GRRM for stealing half of his ideas from Tad Williams?

>>24042103
>The York's and the Lancaster's were two rival houses that fought over the English throne
>The Stark's and the Lannister's were two rival houses that fought over the Iron throne
wtf GRRM is a hack!? Wow. I didn't know that, you're telling me now for the first time

>>24042121
That's the other half, and people talk about it constantly. GRRM is a hack btw, but only cause he'll never finish.

>Kaladin is suddenly a therapist.
lol wut?

>>24042103
That's 1/3, The other two thirds are Dune and The Accursed Kings.

>>24041643
>genuinely good homo fantasy
read danmei wuxia novels.

>>24041643
The Spear Cuts Through Water
The Book of Skulls

>finished 4 books this year
>dropped 2

>>24042197
>nale, ishar, i know you're ten thousand years old and spent most of that in hell being tortured by the devil or his legions, or on Roshar, fighting said legions, so you have more baggage than a train in Mumbai. But... have you tried not being mentally ill?
>wow kaladin I never thought that killing and eating babies was a bad thing, thanks, ill be good now.

You ever get in a fight with your family and then you get put in too much of a bad mood to read and then it makes you feel even worse

>>24041643
Just read danmei like 2ha or tgcf. Western slop including stuff like the Spear Cuts through Water is either garbage or political.

>>24042247
But you see, the fact that it is so dumb and the fact that even Aux comes to Kaladin for therapy, is what makes it comedy gold.

>>24042103
he was quite up front about his "inspiration" from Memory Sorrow and Thorn and Williams basically absolved him anyway

>>24042381
It's just bizarre to read MST, cause it's like a prototype for what GRRM is trying to do with ASOIAF, but it seems to be way less popular or well known than it should be, even compared to its contemporaries like Wheel of Time

Currently rewatching True Detective and during Rust's interrogation scenes he reminds me of Kellhus the way he almost reads a persons soul.

>>24042228
It's quality that matters, anon.

>>24042448
To an extent true, but I definitely could have read more

>>24042247
In fairness, it doesn't actually work in the story.
He only get to Nale because he got magical help from the Wind to make him see his memories (and Nale had moment where he was breaking down as far back as the first novella), and he only manage to reach Ishar because of magic as well.

>>24041737
There are "footnotes" that last several pages. Interesting footnotes, but still, by the time you're through with the footnote you've almost forgotten what was happening in the actual story

>>24042420
>it's like a prototype for what GRRM is trying to do with ASOIAF
Did you even read ASoIaF? The structure, style, and overall mood is nothing like MST.

>>24042197
>Man it really feels like Shallan is just learning the same lesson over and over again
>Shallan, two thirds into W&T: "Why do I keep learning the same lesson over and over again?"
Well gee sandy if you address criticisms in your book diagetically then I guess they don't apply anymore

>>24040054
I feel like you're ignoring the massive caviat that Taravangian literally gave up his mind, body, and soul to become a vessel for Odium, which now influences his every action. He effectively gave up his free will for that power.
Wind and Truth isn't great but that element is reinforced pretty thoroughly throughout.

>>24042611
Thanks, god

I need a series with vast, detailed, expansive worldbuilding. Can be the autistic kind. Setting doesn't matter.

>>24042908
The Stormlight Archive

>>24042126
His wife knows all too well

Any news on Bakker?

His last post was 5 years ago.

>>24035366
how bad is the translation and why do people even like fang yuan

>>24042908
Erikson

>>24042909
>>24042942
I'll check them out, thanks.

>>24042680
The footnotes are good because holy shit does the book drags on until Strange's wife dies. You need something short and sweet sometimes