/lit/ - Literature

>>6850284
>Who is your favorite "Barbarian" of Science Fiction or Fantasy?
Gor......no just kidding. It's Talon.

Predictions?

>>6850299
Only seen the show, haven't read the books yet

It'll probably be good.

>>6850284
>tfw the only fantasy novels you've ever legitimately enjoyed are Stephen King's Dark Tower series and China Mieville's works
Why is fantasy such generic shit? Sanderson, Rothfuss, Martin, Abercrombie, Butcher. All fucking hacks with bland ideas and stories.

>>6850309
How about Gaiman?

>>6850314
Gaiman is a shit novelist, though that says nothing of his work on comics.

>>6850318
Hmm, most of his novels would've worked better as comics, wouldn't they?

Reposting
>>6848310
What if Kaladin went on a ship
Attracted one of the great shells(the thing that is attached to that giant eyeball that looked at Miss "Muh Secrets")
Use his bind powers to bring it out of the water(lash it to the sky)
Then bonded it to some mountain(lashed it to some mountain)
Used his Blade to kill it and take it's heart
How big would that heart be?
What could they build with it?
Would Sprenfu leave him for killing it
Also if Sanderson at some point doesn't do some Deus ex Machina to make Syl flesh and blood so Kaladin could fuck her imma be pissed.

>>6850309
>Why is fantasy such generic shit?
No need to ask. You know who's to blame for it.

Are Guy Gavriel Kay's novels set in alternate China any good?

>>6850309
Where should I start with Mieville?

>>6850352
Perdido Street Station

>>6850284
nah

>>6850342
Tolkien?
A lot of modern day Authors are stepping away from the mold that Authors of Ole used though.

That Anon needs to up his reading game and stop being a fagget.

>>6850361
It took a LONG time to step away from it. And it's saturated with knockoffs to this day. People keep buying it.

>>6850370
Honestly the kind of knockoffs I'm seeing the market saturated with are more of Robin Hobb/Raymond Feist on the one hand and Glen Cook/Steven Erikson on the other.

>>6850390
Right now I think it's more people aping off Gurm or Erikson when they want to do a gritty fantasy, and Jordan and Sanderson if they're doing an adventurous High Fantasy.

>>6850370
Hardly. Just look at all of those New Wave fools, like Moorcock and Harrison.

reply to this post with actually good scifi recommendations

>>6850449
The cyberaid by Stanislaw Lem

>>6850476
Name a slightly better and a slightly worse scifi book

>>6850252
>He will find a way to put it over, probably subtly.
>I thought Shallan was raped by her father, before the reveal, how he kept her in the house away from other people, his sons mad at him.
>I thought after his wife died, she took over her mother's Wifely duties.
>He is cleaver enough to put in a vague innuendo or double entendre, that with a sincere look of shock on his face that you would even think such thoughts say: "No, it wasn't sex, it was "z", but deep down he would be smirking, while fumbling with his fedora so he could pass out sweets to the class.

Nigga what?

>>6850421
>New Wave fools, like Moorcock and Harrison
Please elaborate.

>tfw can't find The Judging Eye and White Luck Warrior in the same paperback format

Fucksake guys, I'm too poor to afford hardcover

>>6850304

> It'll probably be good

Nah, the books are getting steadily worse after A Storm of Swords

>>6850284

>>What SF/F books are you currently reading?

Storm Front (The Dresden Files #1)

Any thoughts on the Dresden Files? I read Skin Game prior to this and, while it was nothing special, it was a pretty fun beach read. Which are the best books?

>>6850449
Revelation Space.

>tfw nobody draws fantasy art as good as Frazetta
>tfw your favorite modern series will never get art by Frazetta

>>6850449

Quantum Thief. Might be daunting at first as it is very technical but Hannu is a good writer and it pays off in the end.

Is The Grace Of Kings worth reading if the only epic fantasy you like is game of thrones?

>>6850669
They're better when you have the full backstory. Changes is fucking amazing for several reasons

>>6850694

boobs

>>6850763
Frazetta did indeed love boobs

Reminder that we are the best thread on /lit/

>>6850670
Hey cosmere fag this is for you >>6850328

>>6850694

i liked whoever did that conan reboot the really realistic one. love old fantasy art though with the sexy booby women and badass barbarians

>>6850347
>are Guy Gavriel Kay's novels any good

After Lions, I can't stand to read that garbage.

Is there anything worse in fantasy than a reluctant, subdued, "noble" protagonist? Holy fuck, why are people still writing that garbage?

>>6851124
>liked whoever did that conan reboot the really realistic one
You mean the shitty movie starring Khal Drogo?

>PhantasieBooktube bro hasn't uploaded a video for 3 weeks.

I hope he hasn't been discouraged.

>>6851103
You need to find the correct terms for whatever you're trying to describe because a lot of that sounds vague as hell.

Im reading polaris by jack mcdevitt. Its a pretty good sci fi mystery type novel.
Some of my favorite are
Ring by stephen baxter, hidden empire by kevin j anderson, armor by john steakly, and childhoods end by arthur c clark.

>>6850825
He liked asses more.

>>6851744
He obviously loves both. And who could blame him?

Any surrealist fantasy or scifi you guys would reccomend? I'm in love with the strange and melancholic atmosphere of Book of the New Sun

>>6850309
If you enjoyed the Dark Tower, give The Talisman a shot. Sequel is called The Black House, I think.

It was been years since I've read them. Might be remembering them more fondly than I should.

I'd also recommend giving Imagica by Clive Barker a shot. He writes like a pretentious cunt imo, but I like it.

>>6850449
The Stars my Destination

>>6852003
Play Nier, read Tsutomu Nihei manga

>>6851728
How's Polaris compared to A Talent for War? I was so disappointed in the mystery behind that one, and haven't continued with McDevitt since. I do have Engines of God on my shelf somewhere, though.

>>6851184
You didn't like Lions?

>>6852003
Last Dragon by JM McDermott gave me Wolfe vibes.

For something completely off the wall, Vellum & Ink by Hal Duncan.

>>6852184
Specifically looking for books

>>6850284
>What SF/F books are you currently reading?
Two of Swords by KJ Parker
>Who is your favorite "Barbarian" of Science
Cnaiur Urs Skiotha, most violent of all men.

>>What SF/F books are you currently reading?
Anciliary Justice
Seeing what all the fuss is about + getting closer to having read every Nebula winner
>>Who is your favorite "Barbarian" of Science Fiction or Fantasy?
Eric John Stark
>>What is best in life?
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.

>>6850309
Cause you're reading people cashing in on the success
Read Lord Dunsany, E.R. Eddison, Evangeline Walton, Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Jack Vance, Roger Zelazny, Ursula K. LeGuin, M. John Harrison, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Tim Powers, Gene Wolfe

>>6850694
Frazetta was classically trained
He got into commercial art cause of the depression

>>6852003
Jack Vances Dying Earth, M. John Harrisons Viriconium

>>6852406
>Eric John Stark
>Queen of the Martian Catacombs
how can you argue with a title like that?

>>6852414
Dont matter. His art was good

>>6852260
I think that series got better later on. His first few books where good but not great. They are all pretty much just sci fi mysteries though so i spread them out

Bump

>>6851562
>You need to find the correct terms for whatever you're trying to describe because a lot of that sounds vague as hell.

How is this vague?
Kaladin uses his powers to bring one of the creatures, Shallan saw in the Ocean onto land.
He then uses his Blade to kill it.
What would they be able to make with a gem heart that is probably the size of a ship?maybe in the future this is what they did to power their space ships

and would Syl leave him for killing the creature.

I also want Kaladin to fuck Syl.

>>6850328
You're relying on Brandon "Mormon" Sanderson to deliver nonsensical masturbation material?

Is there such thing as a tie-in novel that doesn't blow dick?

>>6851773
Oh damn, now I want to re-read the Flashman Papers... again.

Scott Bakkers 2nd Apocalypse stuff is pretty cool, I like the worldbuilding and the atmosphere.The characters are fun to watch too and very nuanced

But his prose is fucking annoying with endless 'dramatic' sentences like this.

So are there any good books in the same vein as the Gentlemen Bastards series?

>>6855061

Aaron Dembski-Bowden's 40k works are pretty good, if you're acquainted with the lore first at least.

>>6855061
2001. But that's it.

Reply to this post with a similar book to The Lies of Locke Lamora
basically thieves and crime and funny dialogues

What are some fantasy stories featuring Neanderthal girls.

For real

>>6855061
Eisenhorn
Ravenor
and
Gaunt's Ghosts

>>6855648
>All memehammer

Get fucked

>>6855626
The Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel.

>>6850284
>Who is your favorite "Barbarian" of Science Fiction or Fantasy?
King Kull
>What is best in life?
Battle-axes and bitches

>>6855657
all good, abnett is a good writer. embedded is also a fine novel.

>>6855671
Abnett has problems though, and the Gaunt's Ghosts series begins to fall apart later on, especially with the books Straight Silver, Armour of Contempt, Only in Death, and Salvation's Reach.

That all said, he did write Sabbat Martyr, Traitor General, and Blood Pact, all of which were exceptionally good (especially Traitor General). Probably some of the best of the Gaunt stories.

>>6850694
there are others that drew fantasy art as good as Frazetta. But nobody drew women as well as Frazetta.

>>6855454I tried reading some of those but i didnt understand what was going on. Is there a good website to get info about the lore?

Anybody else think we should make some new essential charts?

>>6856112
What would you add?

I read Ender's game
Shadow of Ender
Speaker for the dead

and I bought children of the mind for 2 dollars on a whim

I got bored of Xenocide's over explanation and stopped. Every character became mopey as shit. Like shit "what if the the mystery is like this? Oh but even if it wasn't how can you be sure it even do and even if it do why would it even in the first place? EMOTIONAL OUTBURST! All other plot lines stop temporally!" I can only read about a girl staring at floor boards and being mad at her maid for so long.

Is there any other golden nuggets in Orson Scott Card's arsenal? I want to keep reading about "POLITICS, IN SPAAAAAAAAACE!"

>>6850304
Winter still won't be here. Danny McTittyDragon will stay in the desert trying to SJW and all the likable characters will die. The end.

If the books make any sense this is at least what will happen with Danny.

The city is getting fucked, she flees but gets caught by whatever that pirates name is who's coming for her. They don't know she's Danny or some bullshit because she cut her hair, so she ends up sucking a dick or two and we here pages and pages about how sad yadda yadda whatever bullshit Danny is going through akin to "It's like being lost in the desert all over again, only know I'm surrounded by water and instead of my feet blistering its my vagina. IRONY!"

Something something something. Either she just dies or que Deus Ex Dragons suddenly Drogon gives a fuck or whatever, magic rainbows and tumblr is pleased.

>>6850309
>>6850342
>>6850352
>>6850361
>>6850370
>>6850390
>>6850410
>>6850421
>>6852085

what is it that is so bland about fantasy? i'm trying to figure it out, but i'm having a hard time. Like, what made it work before and what makes it work now? If it works at all, for that matter.

I can understand when it comes to over used tropes, but what else is there?

>>6856213
Zero concern with the real world. Even good sci-fi manages to be relevant.

When you finish a fantasy novel you have gained absolutely nothing.

>>6856213
It isn't a difference in authors. Your first few fantasy novels can keep you going on stuff like lore. Then slowly you realize lore is an ever deep web of knowledge that some other mother fucker just made up.

If the characters don't hold up, or there's no deeper sentiment it gets stale.

>>6856230
then what would a fantasy novel need have to be relevant, political commentary?

>>6856272
so the story and characters contained in the book needs to be more interesting than the lore and world that has lead up to the current events?

>>6856213
Fantasy tends to go through periods where one kind of storytelling dominates the genre. Toliken, a solid writer, inadvertently started this when people started to copy him.

Overall the fantasy genre just tends to be very stale and many stories feel incredibly similar. It doesn't help that since the 'same-old, same-old' is what people buy, then that's what publishers are publishing, which is what people are writing for, etc.

And a big push by fantasy writers to 'world build' at the expense of the story and characters.

>>6856289
>then what would a fantasy novel need have to be relevant, political commentary?
Yeah. But for it to be good you would have to be operating on a higher intellectual strata than straightforward allegory.

A thoughtful examination of the mechanisms of power and oppression, for example.
>tfw hungry and broke and 4chan is making me select pictures of delicious pizza

>>6856289
No it's just that every time you read a novel about fantasy your capacity to give a shit about the fluff decreases. You want more and more DEEP meaningful shit.

Why do you think old people read so much history? It's because it's about shit that actually happened.

>>6856319

Capcha eesh pyure ideologeesh, inschteeling you with deshires for brand-appended quashi-noorishment.

I wish my taste in fantasy wasn't such shit

can we also agree that a key thing in fantasy is being as original as possible when it comes to names, items and characters?

take for example this one book i picked up from the library. this book, having been released in 2012, is a story about a prince who has to lead and army of dwarfs against an unstoppable army of dragons in an area under a mountain called "the deep roads." the lead dragon is named Fafnir.

it's way too identical to dragon age, a fantasy game released in 2009. The player can be a prince of sorts, if he so chooses. The army they are fighting is called the darkspawn, and they are lead by a corrupted dragon. They come from a place once owned by the dwarves, this place being called "the deep roads."
these similarities are way to common, right? i'm not the only one seeing it, I can't be.

also, Fafnir is from Norse mythology. He's a dragon in that too.

>>6856517
Dragon Age was just another bland Tolkien knockoff

>>6856694
not saying it was a completely original work of fiction. It's got the three basic races, though i'm glad it decided to change it up a bit with the elves. rather than being elegant bad asses, they're either filthy second class citizens, or a bunch of hermits with a case of old world blues.

however, in addition to playing off of tolkein, it also adheres to RPG tropes religiously. like how every lesbian character in the games and books is a tomboyish rogue.

>>6856707
Changing some minor things thematically doesnt make it any less of a clone

>>6856694
Shit gameplay shit story.

Only reason it was popular was because you could be gay.

What would you guys add to pic?

>>6857030
good space opera books

I read Time Enough for Love earlier this summer. You can summarize it as "a dude travels through time fucking his descendants". I loved it.

I'm super into older science fiction right now, any recommendations for the old school shit?

>>6857030
Add Riddley Walker and Canticle for Liebowitz to Post-Apocalyptic

>>6857030
Clarke belongs in the trash, not on a chart.

>>6850284
I have an idea for a comedy fantasy fiction I want to write later. You guys will probably hate it but here goes.

A vagabond knight in his mid thirties travels with two women dawning fox maks. One of the girls is an innocent woman and the other is a complete slut (for the sake of the "plot", she will only be a slut towards mc). Both women love him but he feigns sexual ignorance and basically acts like a kid when asked about things pertaining to love or sex. He does this in order to avoid making either of them depressed or sad and because he sees them as family. The girls kind of catch on later in the story and do crazy shit to run him into a corner. They always fail at getting him...or maybe plot twist? Who knows.

They just go on a bunch of adventures and have silly antics and always manage to piss eachother off. The main character also likes to over dramatize things. For example in one scene he spends an entire lengthy paragraph explaining why he loves green apples. When the two are pushed back by his enthusiasm he only grows more passionate about the topic, exclaiming how he can't believe his dear friends don't understand his love for green apples. It will have serious moments in them, but probably revert back in half a chapter.

Moral of the story could be seen as just enjoy life. You don't have to have love anyone, fight or even take life seriously to live a good one.

Thoughts? Please be gentle. It's 2am and I'm somehow hyper.

>>6857722
And why the fuck would those two women love the mc? Especially if he acts like some mentally retarded child-like person who doesn't know what is sex, what the fuck? Sounds like a gay stu / self insert whatever, where women just love the mc for no reason other than that you want them to love him, sadly it just doesn't make any sense.

>>6857812
>gay stu
*gary stu, lel

>>6857722
Make it fantasty scifi and now you have the spiritual sucessor to Book of the New Sun

>>6856712
i never said it did.

>>6856126
the Eddie LaCrosse books are pretty good. they'd go under mystery.

A while ago I started noting which short stories I liked in anthologies and magazines.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E4u3QsSINqj92JNoMcscLSxnwuQAqqf4JYUgesOdd8w

Presented in a way more suitable for its limitations, I have it different. Probably should sort by last name, but eh.

>>6857512
Why?

>>6850304
>Only seen the show, haven't read the books yet
Why would you defile your experience with reading the books by watching the show first?

>>6857812
I'll make it a reason for it, of course. It's just a rough idea. The main reason is for the comedy.

Besides he can't be a gary stu if he isn't cool or perfect.

He isn't cool or perfect.

>>6857812
Also if I wanted to self insert I wouldn't make him act like an idiot

>>6857812
I think I got it down.

They we're hunting down a villain they saw on a bounty board. They stumble across a young wizard who knows him, so they try to beat the answers out if him since he won't talk. Being the coward that he is, he tells them everything and says he is no longer friends with the villain and as a peace offering gives the girls two vials of potion and a the main character a giant wizard hat. He insits the reluctant women to drink it saying it will increase their intelligence and charisma.

They drink it out of good faith but the wizard falls onto the floor, laughing like a madman exclaiming that the potion will make the two irreversibly fall in love with the main character. The women look at eachother in fear and turn to the wizard, steal all of his clothes, money and magical items instead of killing him. That's how I'll do it. It doesn't have to make sense, because it's going to be a silly book!

>>6859094
>love potion

Good enough I guess. If you don't mind me saying, if you modified the story a bit it sounds like a decent children's book. Otherwise it's just too silly and stupid. If I had kids I'd gladly read to them about the antics of some wacky knight and co.

>>6859155
Thanks...I don't know how to make children laugh though. Would have no idea on how to form the story.

i read Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams when i was a kid and i liked quite a bit; the only bad thing i remember is that it was slow at the beginning

anyone know about it? i'm thinking about revisiting it

>>6859165
>I don't know how to make children laugh though.
They laugh at silly things, Id say you're set
>it's going to be a silly book!

>Would have no idea on how to form the story.
Like any other story, just no sex or violence. Or nothing too complicated with over 9000 characters.

>>6859094
This whole post is perfect kids material (maybe don't beat the wizard, just threaten him).
>steal all of his clothes, money and magical items instead of killing him.
See that's pretty good right there.

Just skip the part where the other woman is slutty. I'm telling you, medieval fantasy is the thing right now thanks to game of thrones and lot of parents who are into that would buy this for their kids. It's kinda like Dunk & Egg for kids.

>>6859199
Alright, after I finish my first novel I'm working on I'll give it a try. Thanks for the motivation, anon.

>>6859185
I know it inspired Gurm but that's really all I know

>>6852366
I read Lions.
It was fucking tedious.

>>6857030
>my chart finally gets posted
the day has come

Anyone else joy Rothfuss?

I think he'll probably go down as an all time great in a dozen years or so.

>>6860179
Nah, his beta white knight cucks of readers will turn on him when the book doesn't come until 2017, and then it ends up being pure shit anyway since there's literally zero chance he can wrap up everything remaining in one book after the second was pure filler.

People will have been discussing it and coming up with theories for over 5 years by the time its out, theres actually no fucking way it will live up to the hype. The bigger the hype bubble that is popped, the harder the fall and these peoples fall is going to be much worse than FoC or DwD ever was for AsoIaF readers

>>6855472

Robert Asprin's Myth series.

Michael Shea's Nift the Lean.

>>6860273

What's there to wrap up anyway? Only thing left is basically he opens the stone doors and gets kicked out of school. And loses his powers because CRAAAAWLIIING

>tfw just reread name of the wind/wise man's fear
next book when?
also anything you can recommend that's similar? really loved those books

>>6860874
The Magicians

>>6860910
that's helpful
do you mean magician: apprentice and :master by RF? can't remember his name, just the initials
from riftwar?

I just read this today, /lit/.

What in the absolute fuck?

>>6860971

>The Magicians

Probably means the book by Lev Grossman rather than Raymond Feist.

>>6856517

I've been reading the Wheel of Time recently, since I never got around to it when I was younger, and even though I know most of it is shit I'm still loving the twists on the usual high fantasy cliches.

How people seem to fall in love with ASOIAF is beyond me, since most of GRRM's stuff seems to just be the same generic fantasy cliches but with more sex bolted on a la Eye of Argon.

hey /lit/ I need fantasy recommendations.

I like the dresden files, fevre dream, the golem and the jinni, the paper magician, and something more than night

Has Glen Cook written anything good other than The Black Company?

So other than Robert E. Howard, GRRM and Robert Jordan, who are some other fantasy authors who's fetishes appear plainly in their work?

>>6861623
Andrew Hussie

>>6861164
>Wheel of Time
>twists

It's the same old shitty reluctant hero story told a billion times over and over. It's garbage.

>>6861623
Wait, what's Howard's fetish? All I can gather from his work is that he has a healthy love of fucking shapely women.

>>6861623
Uh, all of them? How can you seriously ask this.

I've never seen an author, literary or not, whose personal fetishes didnt seep through in some way to his work

>>6859422
I know that feel

I really thought I would love GGK since I loved the asian history class I took in college, especially the parts about ancient China, and he is really highly recommended as this sort of amazing mix between fantasy and history but holy fuck was it goddamn tedious to get through.

>>6860972
I've had the first one on my to-read list for awhile. I'm pretty sure it was because I saw it posted in one of these threads

So how are they? Worth moving up the backlog?

>>6861197
Am I right in guessing you're a girl?

>>6855423
I like his prose for the most part, but he uses certain words way too much; namely, "phallus" and "grated". He also overuses Italics when he wants to emphasize something.

>>6861804
In Slithering Shadow Conans girl of the week gets whipped by a Stygian woman whos also hot for Conans dick

>>6860179
I agree.

Kvothe is one of the best and most original main characters in Fantasy for a long time.

>>6850299
I don't know man with the way the series has been going it might suck.
Also I have a feeling the author is planning to die before finishing the series just to spite his fans who tell him he writes to slow

What fantasy novel is the most well written? It's a difficult thing to ask, people think I'm asking "what's the best fantasy novel?" And they just lost their favourites.

I like fantasy, if it wasn't for fantasy I wouldnt have gotten into literature but now that I'm older and have read a lot more than just fantasy I tend to notice that fantasy is just too cringey.

I would guess that Dune is the best scifi/fantasy novel based on literary merit? What comes after this?

>>6862479
Read some Gene Wolfe m8

Can anyone read some Swords 'n' Sorcery?

I've read some Conan, the first one of Elric and the first Fafhrd and Mouser.

>>6850449
The Fifth Head of Cerberus

I have been going through a spell of reading Arthur C. Clarke at the moment.

I've only read Childhood's End, and am currently working through The Fountains of Paradise.

Of the two, I think I dig The Fountains of Paradise more, but I enjoyed the other greatly.

I currently own The Songs of Distant Earth and Rendevous with Rama, and I plan on tackling them next.

Other than that, I would really like suggestions on stuff from him.

I made my own thread but i'll ask here on the off chance since its kind of similar - I just finished Mythology by Edith Hamilton, which is basically a collection of norse, roman and greek myths told in such a way that its like a novel/collection of short stories.

Do any of you guys know of other books on religious mythology like this? I'm indifferent to the flavour (celtic, hindu, christian, islam etc, doesnt matter). I'd appreciate any.

>>6862479

Gormenghast is great fantasy if you're looking for something that isn't Tolkein inspired, very original too especially with how architectural the thing is.

>>6862479

On literary merit, you have a hard time finding one better than Gene Wolfe; The Book of the New Sun is his masterpiece, but the Book of the Long Sun is also excellent.

>>6862803
Well there's these, but I gotta warn you that they're pretty much B-list action movies in book form. Alright if you're up for a light as fuck read.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/61709-pantheon

There's Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and the Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan which both feature a bit of the ol' Sumerian mythology.

These books are some kind of sci-fantasy version of Norse mythology (I haven't read them):
http://www.tor.com/2011/02/07/elizabeth-bears-edda-of-burdens-cycle/

For Christian mythology (angels vs demons) I'd recommend God's Demon by Wayne Barlowe and Escape from Hell! by Hal Duncan. There's also The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari but I found that kinda lame.

Lord of Light is some kinda Hindu sci-fi, it's another one I haven't read but it's highly rated.

>>6861335
Dread Empire and probably more out of slew of his other works

>>6862479
Gene Wolfe is the only great writer working in the fantasy field. My other favourite would be first book of Black Company by Glen Cook.

As for sci-fi, I didn't read Lem but he's revered and PKD is a visionary.

Funny but horror has the most literary greats. Sci-fi and fantasy cannot come close to comparing.

>>6862943

For sci-fi, Samuel Delany and Christoher Priest are also excellent.

>>6862479
If you want literary merit you should get into M. John Harrison and J. G. Ballard.

>>6862972
Didn't read them, might look them up. Bacigalupi seems to be heading in the right direction from what I've read from him.

>>6862976
Ballard is a tad bit overrated though I have yet to read crash; I liked some of his short stories and Drowned World was excellent, but his other work is pretty shoddy and it's painfully obvious that he paraphrased ideas from popular science magazines (nothing wrong with that, it's just that it jumps at you from the page and I even read a book that collects his trivial ruminations on science and the world state in general), and that he can't write characters at all.

>>6861916

If you like weird fiction, then >>6860972 is right up your alley. If it's your first foray into that area of sci-fi, like it was mine, then you'll be confused as fuck. Like I still am. Definitely worth the trip, though.

>>6862943
I would've said sci-fi has the most great authors, at least at first glance.

>>6863125
poe alone towers against all sci-fi and fantasy authors put together

>>6863131

Even Lovecraft?

>>6863135
lovecraft is just a visionary, he's a shit writer otherwise. wolfe is great but he isn't also a master poet and didn't invent genres.

I just borrowed The Complete Conan Chronicles from the library.

Do I have to read the whole of it? What are the best stories?

>>6863193
>I borrowed a book
>do I have to read it all

why the fuck would you get a book, especially fiction, and not read it all? at least if it were a textbook you could just get what you needed and dump it, but what you're asking boggles my mind.

>>6863193
It's not that long and it's all worth a read if you're interested. My personal favourite is Beyond the Black River.

>>6863201
Because it's a collection of short stories?
Published in pulp magazines? In 1933, you would just pick up a magazine and read whatever's in it, you wouldn't wonder whether it's the first or fifth of twenty-sixth story. Which was the entire point.
And also it's widely accepted that the stories are unequal in quality, as the dude had to write for a living even when he wasn't inspired?

Also I'm too lazy to read 1000 pages of it to find out which stories were actually worth reading, and I'm asking those who have done so to do the job for me?
Also I have to give it back in three weeks and I won't read 1000 pages in three weeks?


I can go on all day with reasons like this.

>>6863219

>Can't do 1,000 pages in 3 weeks.

Step up your game, anon.

>>6863252
Quits being a prick, his reasons are legitimate. I wouldnt expect anyone to absorb both of those Lovecraft tomes in a linear fashion, if they asked id juat give them a couple stories to start and they can skip around

>>6863254

>allowing yourself to be so thoroughly rused

Oh well.

>>6863219
So you'd rather just absorb the opinions of others rather than form your own. Got it.

>>6863271
I'll bite.
Two things.
- I'll eventually form my own opinions, asking about the stories considered the best and reading them doesn't mean I'll automatically like them.
- Also I don't believe my taste and my opinions to be somehow special, if there is a consensus on stories which are considered the best, there must be reasons for that and I trust the consensus.

>>6861916
I'm a guy.

>>6863131
Poe has a load of terrible stories and his prose gets grating. I prefer scifi's I won't bother trying to poe's trying too hard.

>>6855626
CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR

>>6850284
>What SF/F books are you currently reading?
Just borrowed pic related from a friend; it's pretty easy to just blow through Dick's stuff, usually sub-200 pages and you can tell he's writing at 5 cents a word, but Jesus Christ is there something about the madness, psychedelia, and relevance of his worlds that just keeps drawing you back.
>Who is your favorite "Barbarian" of Science Fiction or Fantasy?
Does Riddley Walker count? Or maybe the brute from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream...
>What is best in life?
A good Can-D fix.

>>6863664
Forgot pic.

>>6862972
Just read pic related by Delany; I love his short stories, and was really really taken with Empire Star (only 90 pages, but it was just energetic and vibrant in a really great way). Couldn't get very far into Babel-17 though, it just didn't hook me. It was pretty poorly written, actually.

>>6862752
Childhood's End is pretty crazy.

>>6862569
Besides Conan, though, what Sworcery stuff has actually been really good? Or had much literary merit? Genuinely curious, I've read mostly scifi and after people have been obsessed with GoT and whatnot I've become a little cynical about fantasy.

>>6862479
The first Earthsea novel by Ursula K. Leguin is poignant.

>>6862484
>>6862815
>>6862943
Gene Wolfe, despite the achievement of his works as a whole, is a very mild prose stylist at best.

>>6854349
>tfw cosmere fag didn't come in the thread for 2 days
>tfw my question left unanswered
cosmere-san I hope you are o-okay kya~

>>6863690
Conan, along with Princess of Mars, Elric, and Fafhrd & Grey Mouser are the big classics that pretty much BTFO out of 90% of the rest of the genre
Of course im a firm believer that all S&S of at least decent quality is good to read while wasted

>>6863696
>Gene Wolfe, despite the achievement of his works as a whole, is a very mild prose stylist at best.
You're so pleb it hurts.

For example, Gene Wolfe is one of the only anglophone authors to ever have a firm control of authorial voice. And this is just one example, there's more. (Like his uncanny grasp of historical and social context of vocabulary.)

I just finished book 8 of Black Company, I was really disappointed. It seems Cooks only way of continuing his series is to dumb down Croaker and Lady so they won't defeat their enemies, just capture them and keep them close under pathetic guard.
Cook really fucked up with the end of book 8.

>>6855061
In memehammer you get the pure fucking gold that is Skarsnik. It's a kind of humourous book though, nothing really serious, except for some really really disturbing scenes.

>>6857030
Add some John M. Harrison and Peter Watts to modern

>>6863690
I loved it, the ending was just fantastic. I am really eager to dig more into his stuff

>>6863681

Fair enough. I greatly enjoyed Dhalgren, although I'm not actually sure I could tell you what it's actually about in a thematic sense. I never have anyone to discuss these things with.

>>6863898
What makes him have firm control of that compared to others?

>>6864191
The prisoner stuff does feel contrived, but there is at least some reason for it [spoilers]Kina's subtle manipulation[/spoiler] and there's a little bit of explanation for SC in the final two

>>6864191
>tfw you will never be able to take the virginity of a 300+ year old woman

>>6856154
Seventh son of a seventh son

I'll recommend the Jhereg series for you guys.

>>6850449
Ventus

How do you make a "child from the modern world finds themselves in a fantasy world" plot work?

The very simplest storyline would be a hero's journey, but the tired old role of chosen one is overdone, so maybe the protagonist is just a background character in the greater struggle/war/peacetime? I always liked the episodic adventures Howard featured in his Conan series, but maybe spin it around cleverness(think fables) in lieu of Conan's strength and tenacity?

Finished the first of Brian McClellan's Powder Mage series. I thought it was good enough to keep me interested but it wasn't mindblowingly good. Any series with a similar setting worth reading?

>>6866248
Go read The Magicians, Neverwhere, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, or American Gods.

>>6860179
I don't like his books at all. You can feel his contempt for European/American society seep through his work.

Sometimes I hate having my worthless Poli Sci degree. If I didn't have it I wouldn't notice this garbage and I could enjoy literature again.

>>6862815
Peace is far superior to Long Sun.

3 stories into the Dying Earth. Way more feels than I was expecting.

>>6865315
>Seventh son of a seventh son
Oh sweet fuck what is this from?

>>6866248

The Magicians is pretty cool because it's a deconstruction of the whole "ordinary guy finds himself in magical world where he is destined to be the hero". An eternally-dissatisfied protagonist has grown up reading not-Narnia and he discovers he has magical powers and gets a place at not-Hogwarts, so off he goes feeling that he's finally discovered his destiny. Except it doesn't actually fix all the shit in his life because he's the same guy he was before, just now he can do some magic, and it turns out that a lot of the magical community are chronically bored and fairly jaded people because life is just so fucking easy for them. He's always slightly disappointed that the fantasy world he's stumbled into was puttering along just fine without him, and wasn't waiting for his arrival so he could be the hero and walk straight into this wonderful life of adventure that was waiting just for him. It's a pretty interesting read for anyone who grew up reading books like Narnia. Harry Potter, etc.

>>6861916
>So how are they? Worth moving up the backlog?
Annihilation sets up a great eerie atmosphere, though if you're read the Strugatsky brothers, some aspects might seem familiar.

Authority and Acceptance don't live up to the first book, though Acceptance is at least better than Authority. For much of Authority, it was just tedious, though there are some aspects that are more interesting once you read more about them in Acceptance. Still didn't make me want to go back and reread it, though.

tldr: Just read Annihilation and stop there

Has anyone read Ancilliary Justice? What did you think?

I fucking loved the idea of a grief-crazed, broken warship out for revenge, and the human bodies slaved to an AI was interesting, but the actual book disappointed me a bit. Can't put my finger on why, I just felt it could have done a lot more with everything.

Has anyone read Ancilliary Justice? What did you think?

I fucking loved the idea of a grief-crazed, broken warship out for revenge, and the human bodies slaved to an AI was interesting, but the actual book disappointed me a bit. Can't put my finger on why, I just felt it could have done a lot more with everything.

>>6866991
Literally SJW garbage

>>6864589
Clarke's novelization of 2001: A Space Odyssey (written in conjunction with Kubrick's script, not before or after) is not only great on its own, but goes very well with the movie. If you were ever confused by it, the novel makes it much clearer while still letting the film stand on its own as a distinct work.

Rendezvous with Rama is also of note; the sequels which follow aren't particularly interesting (most of which, I believe, were ghostwritten anyways) but the first is really interesting, sort of like Ringworld but with more urgency and religious overtones.

Any Harlan Ellison fans here? Most people know him from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (which is awesome) but I think he was an even better editor than he was a writer. Dangerous Visions and the other collections that he put together are just that, almost dangerous in their outlook.

>Favorite collection of short stories edited by somebody other than their author?
>Favorite anthology editor?

Anthologies are integral to the health of science fiction, if not fantasy. I feel like we should lend 'em a little more attention.

>>6864987
I haven't read Dhalgren yet, but the title keeps popping up everywhere. If my backlog wasn't so huge I'd go pick it up right now, I see it all the time at a local bookstore. And yeah, guys like Delany, for all their import, just sort of got left in the dust. Like most late 20th century scifi authors that weren't writing cyberpunk or digital stuff. Hmm.

>>6855061

Suprisingly some of the early halo books were decent.

>>6850299
I wish George had just stuck to writing short stories. Sandkings was so cool.

Check it out:
https://forwearemany.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/sandkings.pdf

>>6852165
severely underrated post. goddamnit why did Alfred Bester not write more novels

>>6867895
THE STORY TO END ALL STORIES
Written by Philip K. Dick for Harlan Ellison's anthology "Dangerous Visons"

In a hydrogen war ravaged society the nubile young women go down to a futuristic zoo and have sexual intercourse with various deformed and non-human life forms in the cages. In this particular account a woman who has been patched together out of the damaged bodies of several women has intercourse with an alien female, there in the cage, and later on the woman, by means of futuristic science, conceives. The infant is born, and she and the female in the cage fight over it to see who gets it. The human young woman wins and promptly eats the offspring, hair, teeth, toes and all. Just after she has finished she discovers that the offspring is God.

THE END.

Write fag here

Been wanting to write a traditional fantasy story all my life (elven dwarf races mythical creatures etc etc) I get some of the tropes are tired but I just want to tell a story

But the fantasy market seems to be trending in one direction

So to get in the field do I have to jump on this grimdark fantasy train or will I be forced to right for established franchise tie ins like forgotten realms if I want to get anyone to read traditional fantasy

>>6867895
I've got a great anthology edited by Kingsley Amis, half the introduction is him slagging of Billy Burroughs for cheapening scifi, then the opening story is 'Killdozer!'.

>>6867923
Literally just about to post this.

Say whatever you will about the games (the art, music, and style are cool), backstory stuff like The Fall of Reach was awesome.

>>6867944
Holy shit.

But yeah, that's Dick for you.

>>6857260
Both top notch, how is the sequel to Liebowitz?

>>6859199
Kids love violence

>>6857260
>Riddley Walker
Broke totally free of 'genre'.

>>6862811
Gormenghast is also wonderfully surreal and gothic, though I'm not the biggest fan of the third book.

>>6863219
They're all pretty good aside from the unfinished ones, which are unfinished.

>>6867844
Ghostwritten?

>>6866295
I'm just reading that and thoroughly enjoying it so far.

It's like Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe with some magic.

>>6867966
yeah then they changed the writer for the one about the Flood and it was fucking terrible. i didn't read anything past that but i think they brought back the good one

Could l get some thoughts on Glen Cook's The Black Complany series?

>>6867948
Write what you actually want to write instead of chasing fads. While I dislike Stross's prose and personality, he makes a solid point here:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/01/the-next-big-thing.html

Reviving

>>6867996
I started on the audiobook once and it was pretty neat. It was after Miller lost his faith so the church isn't all good all the time. There's weirdo vatican politics (one pope made hundreds of new cardinal seats and all the successive popes have to deal with it) and a kind of regular adventure team with characters from all across the setting.

What are some legitimately hilarious scifi/fantasy books that aren't written by terry pratchet or douglas adams?

>>6870928
Old man's war was bretty good. I found myself grinning ear to ear more than a few times. Not so much the sequels though.

>>6870928
Strangely enough, 2001: A Space Odyssey has plenty of humor in it. Possibly not hilarious, but the chuckles are fairly frequent for the first two thirds.

Then there's the Hero of the Imperium series if you're into 40k.

>>6870954
>>6870973

I should have clarified, I don't mean books with a few funny moments, I mean books that are as much about the humor as they are about the scifi/fantasy. Something like This Book Is Full Of Spiders or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I made a horrible mistake. I read some very good, classic Sci Fi before jumping into some pulpy literary junk food.

Does the writing in Lost Fleet: Dauntless get any better after chapter 2, or should I set it aside? As it stands, I'm not sure I can subject myself to dialogue this poorly written.

Good fantasy tier:

Ursula Le Guin's earth sea books
Lloyd Alexander's books
Merlin series by T.A. Barron
More historical fiction, but the King Arthur books by Bernard Cornwell

>>6870988
Ciaphus Cain: Hero of the Imperium chronicles the exploits of an unrepentant coward who stumbles his way into military accolades in a setting that tends to be grimdark in the same way Ted Bundy tended to be a bit odd.

It's pure comedy with the setting as the straight man.

>>6854349
>>6863713
Cosmere-kun why you ignoring me
kya~

>>6871024

I read the first of the Earthsea trilogy recently and I didn't enjoy it particularly.

>>6871268
>kya~
what the fuck are you doing
stop that

Someone give me a SF that's like Titan AE or Treasure Planet. Young kid goes off on his own, gets the aliengirl, finds the treasure, saves the day, etc.

Not all Science Fiction has to have 2deep4you themes.

>>6871271
fuck you then i loved it

the second book switches focus iirc; it focuses on a priestess girl in the first half of the book and only then introduces Ged. i mean it's different than the first one so you might like it more but if you didn't enjoy the first book's world i don't know if its worth it for you

>>6871325
Watch Knights of Sidonia

>>6870928
The Cyberiad by Lem

>>6867895

The invention of the internet was such a massive culture-shock that we still haven't really found ways to reconsider our thinking around it. It's really quite telling that, in almost a century of sci-fi preceding it, there were very few (and no major) works predicting anything like it.

Consequently, when it did come around, people ate up works commenting on it. Not that some of those works weren't great literature (they are, and literature is of paramount importance during those times when it gives insights into the fundamental changes our society is going through) but I reckon in 50 years, when (hopefully) we'll have dealt with the internet culture shock and can look more objectively, other authors from the time will be reevaluated.

>>6867948

While I have to say I've grown tired of that, like the other guy said, write what you want. If you truly enjoy writing, then people liking it will be a bonus.

If you want to use traditional stuff but not seem tired, how about reframing it from a different point of view? Instead of making the Elves and Dwarves and monsters from a Western European perspective, make them from an East Asian, or Polynesian perspective (like Hawaiian Menehune).It's new and recognisable at the same time.

The grimdark fantasy train, as you described it, is overblown. There's is a bit of such a trend, but there's also a reaction to it, and all sorts besides.

Besides, maybe you'll be successful in Germany. The Dwarves series, the most generic fantasy imaginable, is HUGE there.

>>6850695
>Hannu

Why the fuck nobody else mentions this jewel?!

> pun intented

This shit should be in the wiki.

>>6874116
Because it's under HARD Scifi.

The talks of peco tech(or w/e it's spelt) is just crazy.

I liked how the used Autism and Memes in the book though.

Only read book one, don't know if I want to read the others.

>>6866789
You are here so I can discuss my weekly Sanderson dosage.
So answer >>6854349

the buried giant was feel as fuck, that ending man

>>6855061
>Is there such thing as a tie-in novel that doesn't blow dick?

No there isn't, The First Law tie-ins suck.

>>6874290
They're not tie-ins, they're stand-alones and The Heroes is good. I agree the rest suck.

>>6870988
Bill the Galactic Hero

hey /sffg/, how would you go about writing dwarves in a way that's original but still recognizable?

My idea would be to go back to tolkien and base the dwarves on the Ashkenazi and Sephardic peoples rather than nordic and germanic cultures. Overly sweet wines are replaced with overly-sweet beers, and meads. Of course, this has probably been done before.

>>6874989
Don't. Come up with something original.

>>6874989
>original
>go back to tolkien

>>6874116

I really enjoyed reading this book but still have no idea what the fuck happened in it

>>6875317
>>6875347

Literally nothing is 100% original. With dwarves this counts double. Everything in existence draws off pre-existing ideas, and in the case of dwarves, we have such a clear idea of what they are that changing them too much makes them a dwarf in name only. What would YOU do to make them original while still having them be recognizable as dwarves?

And by recognizable, i mean that if you change their species name you still know that they're dwarves

>>6875392
short in height and temper, with people, skilled craftsmen, living in fortresses under mountains, etc

I'm reading the Dying Earth and I must say, I really like Vance's writing style.

>>6868078
As in, Clarke handed his ideas and notes to another author who wrote them while he worked on other stuff.

>>6875392
>Literally nothing is 100% original so I can get away with writing trite garbage

>>6868976

Thought the whole series was great

>>6875353

Guy that first mentioned it in the thread here. Would be happy to shed some light on the plot if you want. I have a very technical background so I was able to follow mostly everything (I think. And not from the beginning, things get clearer as the story progresses), but I can see how that might not be the case for most folks.

I'm about two hundred pages in and almost every chapter has some banal paragraphs stating out some character's traits or background information. It slows the narrative down pretty effectively.

>>6877836
Was le Roi the defector? How did the defector get out of the prison?

I've been into sc-fi forever, looking to get into some fantasy. Read through the chart and a few posts here but there's a lot to choose from. Looking for the typical dragons and wizards and epic magical shit. Throw me some good entry-level suggestions.

>>6878167
Death Gate Cycle is cool.

>>6866789
It was wrote by Orson Scott Card. Pretty good, too.

>>6878167
The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone

>>6878201
>words of radiance
Fuck off tbh

>>6878201
I'm basically convinced Sanderson really wanted to make vidya but could

>fantasy book
>its a sailing sequence

>>6865854
Interesting setting, but the supposedly superhuman intelligences acting so retarded killed suspension of disbelief.

>>6878268
You talking bout Red Seas Under Red Skies amirite? Shit sucked.

>>6878166

> Was le Roi the defector?

No, the all-defector is a separate entity, created by the Archons if I remember correctly.

> How did the defector get out of the prison?

Inside Jean le Flambeur I believe. Anway, the all-defector plays a larger role in Fractal Prince and Causal Angel than he (it?) does in Quantum thief.

>>6878330
no im talking about the odyssey

>>6878201
Fuck off cosmere fag, can't even answer a fan's question.

I'm dropping Sanderson because of you, enjoy your guilt.

>>6878533
Yeah nvm I misread your post, thought it said sequel not sequence.

>>6874267
>don't know if I want to read the others.
not that anon but i recommend you do, books 2 and specially 3 explain a lot of the hierarchy of the archons and give you an idea of different factions operating in the galaxy. they are as interesting as the first one and the more you read the more you understand. they are also as entertaining, i only remember being a bit bored by that girl in the earth arc

>>6878673
Tell you the truth, the book seemed as if it was 4chan personified.

The Asian fetish, memes and Autism all being used in one containment novel(lel) just made me feel comfy.

I still don't know if I want to touch another one.

>>6878716
Why's that?

>>6878716

Errm Autism is used in a completely different context in the book and I can't say I remember any memes or Asian fetish unless you are referring to the Zoku culture, which IMHO was one of the weakest parts of the book (but also not that important)

>>6878731
>I can't say I remember any memes
Weaponized memes

>>6851744
>>6851773
He preferred beefcake.

>>6879433

Right, that too is used in a widely different context than the 4chan memes. Think of the term "meme" as used in Quantum Thief as a sort of a mental virus. Note that the term meme predates 4chan by about 30 years (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics))

>>6879531
Memes are like ads or Uncle Sam "wants you"
You play it enough times other people will come around to your thinking.

I know it's not used like how we use it here but it's similar enough to matter.

Autism is a different way of thinking/ obsessing on one thing, meme's are repeating something over and over. I think they used memes to overwrite someone's personality, and the autism to battle with(tunnel vision).

>>6863219
Oh, okay. Don't bother reading it, then. I'm sure reddit has a sub-board that can tell you which stories are loved and which are hated by people who vote for the same party and listen to the same music that you do.

>>6863625
But she's Cro-Magnon, dope. Shit, man, he asked for Neanderthal bitches specifically. If he wanted Cro-Mags, he could go to the club.

Found a first edition printing of the Silmarillion today for $1.50

Feels good man.

>>6878167
Lord of the Rings is the obvious starting point.

>>6874267

> 2015
> not going HARD mode
> not reading more about weaponized memes and combat autism

pleb

>>6880479
been there done that
maybe something slightly more whimsical?
other suggestions look good though, I'll try those out

>>6878330
Don't say that, I've just bought it :(

>>6881130
Too bad. I bought all the three parts at once when the last one came out, I had heard so much good about them I was sure I'd love them. The first one was great and I did enjoy it, and eagerly jumped at the next part but holy shit that was bad. Now I just can't get myself to read The Republic of Thieves, I'm sure it can't be worse but I don't even care anymore.

>>6880833
Dragonlance series
Drenai Saga by Gemmell
Temeraire series
Stormlord series
Tales of the Kin
The Powder Mage trilogy
Mistborn
The Belgariad
The Mallorean
Codex Alera


I'm sure there are many more but those are all I can think of off the top of my head.

>>6880833
Earthsea by Le Guin.

Seriously.

Has anyone read Smiler's Fair? I read it this summer and it's quite a nice little fantasy book. It has a fairly interesting setting in which all towns have buildings set on tracks, and many people live nomadic lifestyles or live on boats that move regularly, due to the fact that staying too long on one spot draws underground creatures that will tunnel upwards. It's not anything groundbreaking, but I thought it was an enjoyable read, and I think I'll get the sequel when it comes down in price.

>peruse several /lit/ fantasy threads
>see lots of reccs for Stormlight Archive and Malazan
>read them
>first is mediocre at best but cozy on a braindead level, second is mediocre at best and unbearably annoying
>now wary of everything recced in these threads

Shit, I don't even have high standards. Why is it so hard to find something both entertaining and not three kinds of retarded?

>>6881723
Book of the New Sun and LOTR, if you don't like that don't try any other fantasy

>>6856358

>>6881657
>I'm sure it can't be worse
All reviews I've read have said it's the worst one so far.

>>6874116
>I think he's better at this stuff than I am

Could Charlie Strauss gag on a cock any harder?

>>6881766
I read LotR ten years ago. Dry and meandering to tell a wholly simple story. Not that it didn't have some enjoyable elements, but now that I'm familiar with that bit of fantasy history, I don't think I'd read it again. Actually, I think I would've been fine with the classic, predictable tale aspect if there wasn't so much waffling about the scenery and whatnot.

Any anons want to give me their pros and cons of BotNS?

>>6881922
I reccomend just reading the first book of it then seeing if you want to continue (theres 4 in all)

>>6881922
Pros:
Has incest.

Cons:
You have to read it 3 times or look it on the internet to understand what's going on.

>>6881928
Alright. What about the newer fifth book and the other two four-book series?

>>6881956
Good thing incest adds re-readability.

>>6881956
What incest?

>>6881982
Severian x Dorcas

>>6881967
>What about the newer fifth book and the other two four-book series?

What about them? You haven't even read the first four so why ask about the fifth one anyway.

>>6881998
SPOILER THAT SHIT

>>6882001
Because you/that anon only mentioned four books when this fifth one is part of the series and also part of the torrent I got. I was seeing if there was a reason for excluding it, like if it was shit and I was better off just reading the first four and not tainting my perception of the series with the fifth. It happens often enough.

>>6882024
No hes not that anon

i'm just saying to keep it simple and read only the first book, since if you dont like it then you dont need to bother with the others. Otherwise you keep reading.

See? Simple

>>6882024
As fore th fifth book its more supplementary, if you want to read it then go ahead. People have mixed opinions on it

Have anyone read this books?
Are they good?

>>6882067
I think is a case where you can actually judge a book by it's cover.

Someone make a new thread

>>6882124
There's no hurry. We're on page three and this is a slow board.

>>6882067
I liked them, his Lightbringer series is better though.

>>6882067
If you are a fan of having living, sentient armor, that shares a symbiotic relationship with it's host these books is for you.

I can understand why people say(and people who didn't even read the book but parrot others to seem "well read") it's Gary Stu-ish.

The protagonist is taken in by the "best of the best", then he himself becomes the "best of the best", but the way Weeks tells the story it seem's plausible. /lit/ just has an aversion to characters who are better than themselves and are going somewhere because, "it can never be possible".

I wonder if someone writes a novel, about the worlds greatest minds merging their intelligence into some advance form of AI. The AI then becomes the smartest person(subjective) in the world, and goes around fucking shit up for the better of humanity with the use of the many NSA spy devices that are now distributed throughout the world. I wonder if this AI will be called a Gary Stu?

>>6881766
Thanks for the BotNS recc, I'm only a few chapters in but I quite like it.

>>6881956
As far as books that throw you in with all kinds of fictional terms and let you figure it out, this one's much better than I'm used to. Three chapters along and there's been enough subtle context that I understand or have at least a general grasp for everything that's happened and been mentioned/hinted at, which is a first for me with this kind of narration. I'm more accustomed to bearing with a bunch of unexplained gibberish for ham-fisted mystery value until it's spelled out plainly halfway through the novel.

NEW THREAD
>>6882928
>>6882928
>>6882928