/lit/ - Literature

Reading The Quantum Thief right now (just started). What the fuck is going on and when is he going to explain what the fuck is going on.

>>7048100
You never read malazan book of the fallen have you?

Did all the books you've read before hold your hand all the way through?

This is the last SF book I read, I recommend it.

Next I'm going to read The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.

>>7048132
I read Starmaker, thought It was Great.

I´m starting Solaris now.

Reading the Lies of Locke Lamora at the moment. Normally I read books in as few sittings as possible but I've been reading this one during chemo sessions and I'm trying not to read it at home.

It's good.

>>7048338
Sorry to hear bro

>>7048338
im currently on The Republic of Thieves, just over 2/3s through it, a bit toned down from Lies and Red Seas but still good i suppose

i work a night desk job auditing shit, which really means i bust out all my work in the first hour, then spend the next 7 hours reading, kek

Does anyone know if the Orthogonal Trilogy by Greg Egan is any good? I've only read Distress, but liked his hard sci fi, even if the plot was a bit shit. I wanted to try more of him, and thought his newest stuff would be a good jumping point. Is it decent?

>>7048349
It's cool bro. I am getting off pretty light compared to some of the folks I get to see.

>still no qt cancer patient to befriend and go on a John-Green-whirlwind of emotion with when she inevitably dies

>>7048361
Hope you beat it man!

>>7048127
Is there really any need to act like a prick over a fantasy book?

>>7048448
Not acting like a prick, just saying it's strange he is reading fantasy and expects his hands to be held all the way through.

The Quantum Thief is hard scifi for a reason.

The books explains itself in the end anyways.

>my cabbages below

>>7048338
>during chemo sessions
lol get fuckin rekt bro

Any fans of The First Law series ITT?

>>7048097
Finished this. Not bad, but not anywhere near as fantastic as blindsight though. Feels all over to the place a much like a re tread in part.

Feel free to skip this one, though definitely give Blindsight: http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm a read if you haven't

>>7048660
>get rekt

I get to have a long weekend once a fortnight. I usually only spend a grand total of 3 hours at the hospital but I take the rest of the day off anyway because I'm sick and no one questions it.

I even get to keep my hair.

>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?
The Red Knight, about 2/3 in so I'm going to post some impressions.

It didn't pick up very fast, but the middle of the book is pretty exciting. It's not exactly complicated but... It's a weird mix of other books. It's very close to The Black Company. The narration may be slightly more polished but it definitely needs some editing. Anyway, it's OK, somewhat lyrical, tries to be immersive but not as fine as best parts of ASOIAF.

The world is generic England, with knights, dragons, wyverns, trolls, and stuff, so maybe I'll find some references to Arthurian myths. Idk. It's an epic, not exactly High fantasy (meteors crashing down, crystal towers emitting magic light). So far I've loved the descriptions of the forest and the 'wild' better than city-like places. Idk. I liked it sense of scale, regarding the landscape and the armies.

Magic system is rather generic and reminded me of Kingkiller Chronicles (Rothfuss is a hack). It's basically a spell and mana system with a 'good' and 'dark' side. Someone mentioned that everyone ends up with 'power' in this series in a previous thread. I'm not sure how that will play out.

Plot and character wise, it's about a company of mercenaries led by the clichéd and faulty ULTIMATE BADASS OF THE WORLD who is very fedora-ish but so far passable. There's multiple PoVs ranging from a seamstress, the queen, knights of many colours, aborigines, highlanders, Sauron, etc. It's dealing the big mystery cards kind of bluntly, and sometimes that's even funny.

Even with all its obvious influences, I'm liking it quite a lot. It feels a little less retarded than The Stormlight Archive. Everything too /tg/ is subtly introduced and the aesthetics are not WoW-like.

Pros:
>military fiction
>Chivalrous knightly values
>very -sometimes annoyingly- detailed descriptions of medieval armament (the author does HEMA or medieval recreations)
>dragon fighting, 1v1 dragon fighting
>the guy also writes historical fiction
>crossbows
>believable battles and strategies. If Abercrombie wrote battles with great momentum, I liked how this book's strategies make slightly more sense and the inner monologue of some PoVs -during fights- seems more plausible and less formulaic.

Mixed:
>omniscient narrator very reminiscent of ASOIAF
>one of the wizards might be turning into a copy of Abercrombie's Gandalf.
>Catholic-like religion with a Jesu' who apparently fought a horde of dragons from the wild or something (I haven't gotten to that part of the backsetting)
>dragons cast a wave of fear (literally)
>obviously written for men so don't expect very original female PoVs

Cons:
>Very questionable PoV selection. It's off-putting at places and maybe a little too fond of multiple PoVs.
>It's length (650 pages) and pacing is beginning to bring some questions to mind.

can anyone recommend me novels where cosmic creatures (Lovecraft style or similar) invade earth and bring big consequences to the planet and humanity. like b.p.r.d.
Manga,tv series or other comics are also accepted

>>7049089
Horus Heresy stuff?

I just woke up with a crazy sci-fi like dream. I'm putting it to paper as we speak, trying to make a story out of it.

Anyone else gets the same, huge inspiration and eagerness from dreams?

>>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. It's good but develops a bit slowly. I think I'd like it more if it was shorter.

>>What is your favorite Starship in Science Fiction literature

Perhonen from Quantum Thief was pretty cool.

>>Which author writes space battles the best?

Dunno, don't care for battles much.

>>7048100

You begin to understand what's going on about half way in. The book is like a puzzle and you don't really see how all the pieces fit together until the end. It's certainly worth it in the end, but only if you pay attention along the way.

>>7049171


Ahh ohh fuck fuck, i'm starting to forget the dream. Quick, how do i keep writing without forgetting the dream?

>>7049220
Write down the dream...

Embassytown.

It's aiight. Not getting behind the writing style so much, but linguistics are interesting to me, so it'll do.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was my most recent favorite.

>>7048097
>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?
Still Exodus from the Long Sun
>What is your favorite Starship in Science Fiction literature
Terminus Est I guess? I haven't really read any actual space ship sf aside Warhammer
>Which author writes space battles the best?
I liked Abnett and Dembeski Bowen.

>>7048097
Just started the last Dark Tower book. Haven't read enough sci-fi to answer the last two.

>>7049227

I am, i am writing it down, i just hope i don't forget the ideas while i expand on the current ones

>>7049279
The Trivigauntes are scum.

>>7049292
Get the ideas first, expand later

>>7049336

Ok, so i wrote down the main ideas.

Didn't even think it would turn out like this, but my dream, which i now connected into a story, apparently is a combination of The Matrix, Samurai Jack, and my own issues with my parents, all covered in a blanket of a sci-fi techie world.

Should i go ahead and develop the plot, or is the premise just bland and stupid?

>>7048097
dat fucking ass

>>7048097
>Just finished BotNS. It was great. But not sure whether to read Urth, is it as good?
I also want to read Hyperion, and A Canticle for Liebowitz, but would /lit/ recommend them?

>>7049345
Dude, just go with it. Even if it turns out poorly, you'll have written something which is more than most people have done.
I think that most people give up because they realise that their first work isn't going to be the masterpiece they picture it as, but whose is? You'll never get to master level if you don't start somewhere.

>>7049352
Hyperion is great. Its pretty close to Wolfe level.

Looking for a fantasy recommendation or two. Not sure what to call the genre but it's something like Industrial Fantasy.

Basically it's fantasy set in worlds, real or otherwise, that are experiencing an industrial revolution.

>>7049408

The genre is called steampunk. Haven't read much of it so I can't really recommend anything though.

>>7049419
No, it's definitely not steampunk. Nothing is powered by steam in the same way.

>>7049369
Are you fucking joking? Simmons is not nearly as good. Like 3-4 leagues beneath Wolfe.
>>7049352
Both are readable and in the context of sf alone solid works. But after Wolfe it will seem very pale in comparison. Prefer Liebowitz over Hyperion, much stronger characters and a level of theology and philosophy, but neither is great.

>>7049065
I read that thing because I thought it's gonna be about monster-hunting. Disappointment ensued.

Sci Fi is so fucking stupid because in a few decades the book becomes outdated.

In fact in general sci fi and fantasy are like for the "adolescent" stage of understanding literature and moving on from becoming a plebeian.

Literally teenager tier.

>>7049408
China Mieville's Bas-Lag trilogy, particularly the third one. It's basically about people building a railroad.

The Half Made World by Felix Gilman. Again, lots of trains, except this time they are sentient evil trains.

>>7049358

The entire synopsis is that there's an evil cosmic overlord who controls entire planets by making everyone fall into a dream state, so he can control all of their dreams, thus giving him more power. The evil entity makes a proposal to a planet that they bow down to him willingly, but they refuse, so he genetically engineers a boy with super telekinetic abilities to be born on their planet, so he can subdue them using the boy's powers to manipulate dreams. But the plot twist is that the boy wakes up in his dream container and realises the planet was already conquered, but he somehow managed to wake up, and now his job is to enter into a dream state and from there, convince every sleeping citizen of the planet to wake up and weaken the power of the entity.


Looks pretty stupid at first glance, should i try to do anything out of it?

>>7049552
Keep fishing buddy boi

>>7048097
>Which author writes space battles the best?
David Weber's Empire from the Ashes often focusses on the tactical aspects of space battles, which might be to your liking. Not the very best in terms of prose, but with plenty of redeeming qualities if you like military sci-fi.

The complete trilogy is available on-line even:

http://baencd.freedoors.org/Books/Empire%20From%20the%20Ashes/Empire_From_the_Ashes.htm

Or get the physical book.

>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?
Started Oryx and Crake yesterday. Got a compilation of James Tiptree junior here as next read. Followed by some unread Lem titles.
>What is your favorite Starship in Science Fiction literature
Never got into that kind of SF. One day I'll try military SF (except Starship Troopers) but not right now.
>Which author writes space battles the best?
Again, never got into that kind of SF.

>>7049581
Nah sounds shit.

>>7049713

How would you improve the idea, then?

>>7048784
I like it, but it definitely has it's flaws. I though the first half of the first book was poorly written, but it definitely gets better. It was also the first book i read in years, so it was kind of good as an introductory to fantasy.

How do we save fantasy fam?

>>7049854
By having a nerd culture massacre.

>>7049854
We write quality stuff, viral it on reddit, and hopefully save those plebs from Sanderson and the Neckbeard

>>7049898
What could even be considered as "quality stuff"?
>inb4 lotr

>>7049923
Well written Fantasy with literary merit.

It's possible bros

>>7049960
I meant for you to give me an example of such work.

>>7049965
Lotor, Solar Cycle, Dick, Miller.
There is a lot.

Reading some short stories, some are good, most are eh. I picked it up for 3 dollars though so at least it was cheap right?

>>7049980
Godspeed, anons. Save us from those who insist on being pop-culture icons.

>>7049980
Don't forget Le Guin.
Miller as in Karen Miller as in the Innocent Mage?

>>7050142
I would have guessed he meant Walter M., though that's sci-fi and not fantasy (but since Solar Cycle and most of PKD are also sci-fi, the criteria of his inclusions aren't clear).

inb4 "Solar Cycle isn't sci-fi, it's fantasy." It's both, but if you for some reason had to choose it's more sci-fi than fantasy.

>>7049352
Liebowitz is closer to New Sun, though still pretty far off in terms of quality. Hyperion is pretty mediocre. You should read Urth. It's not as good and it's too explanatory (which was its point) but it's more Severian and that's always worth it.

>>7049369
>Its pretty close to Wolfe level
You can't be serious.

>>7049960

Little, Big by John Crowley is the only thing I unreservedly like and would unreservedly class as a fantasy novel.

>>7049552
>I can't read for sheer entertainment: the post
I hope a dictionary on the tallest shelf in your house falls on your head. An Oxford dictionary.

>>7050385
I'm entertained by beauty in writing, not by epic escapism for angsty teens.

>>7048647
>it's strange he is reading fantasy and expects his hands to be held all the way through.
???? no

>>7050392
Yeah and I don't care. We don't care. Your loved ones don't care. The cia doesn't care. The fbi doesn't care. The govt doesn't care. The nsa doesn't care. No one cares but you so fuck off. I can read look homeward angel and then jhereg with equal aplomb. Guess what? No one cares, you pretentious piece of shit.

>>7050415
I think you care. I think it upsets you because you know it's true, and that you still have quite a lot of growing up to do.

Don't worry, you can understand what good literature is too someday.

I recently read the gods themselves. First book where aliens are actually interesting.

>>7050418
I guess you can't read very well. No, I don't care that you somehow get your kicks from belittling other's reading tastes. Secondly, are you honestly trying to say look homeward angel isn't literature? I read 1600 pp a day, fuck face, from a wide range of genres, from the seventeenth century on to the present.
Have a nice, dickheaded day!

>>7050477
It's very obvious that you care quite a bit. Think I may have hit a nerve. The truth can hurt at first, but once you accept it you can improve yourself.

>>7050315
>>7049980
>>7049369
>>7049504
Wolfe is getting a lot of praise here. Are there any scifi/fantasy authors who you folks would rank above him?

>>7050487
>someone wrote 3 sentences and it means he cares massively about this
I'm not him and fuck you

>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?
pic related

>>7050487
Nah, I don't care. Now if you'd just stop shitting up a perfectly fine thread, we'd somehow, someway go on about our lives without your resentful attitude. I'm sorry you can't read for pleasure. You should try doing something better with your life than putting down others who don't have the exact same tastes as you do. Asshole.
>Nor, perhaps, will it fail to be eventually perceived, that behind those forms and usages, as it were, he sometimes masked himself; incidentally making use of them for other and more private ends than they were legitimately intended to subserve. That certain sultanism of his brain, which had otherwise in a good degree remained unmanifested; through those forms that same sultanism became incarnate in an irresistible dictatorship. For be a man’s intellectual superiority what it will, it can never assume the practical, available supremacy over other men, without the aid of some sort of external arts and entrenchments, always, in themselves, more or less paltry and base.
Come back to us when you can understand this wonderful, awesome, amazing piece of FICTION.

>>7049065
Thanks for that (I'm being sincere)

>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?

Just finished Fool's Quest, and I was really happy with it. Best Fitz book since Fool's Errand. Next up is either Clarges by Vance or Fiasco by Lem.

>What is your favorite Starship in Science Fiction literature

Nothing special comes to mind. Nostalgia for Infinity was pretty cool.

>Which author writes space battles the best?

I'm not well versed at all with this, but Glen Cook.

>>7050506
Where does it have to be a hierarchy? Gene Wolfe is the best writer of Gene Wolfe novels.

im trying to read cyberpunk classics, and get into some weird philosophy.

read:
do androids dream of electric sheep - dick
nearly finished neuromancer/count zero/mona lisa overdrive trilogy - gibson

to read:
the simulacra - dick
bug jack barron - spinrad
crash, highrise, concrete island - ballard
the penal colony - kafka
stand on zanzibar - brunner
the ghost in the machine

all that is in prep for baudrillard's simulacra and simulation. anyone read that? anything else i should read before it?

>>7050506
No, not by a long shot.
>>7050612
Because it is one. Some writers are better than others. He is better than other SF writers.

>>7049719
>>7049713

You still here or just replied out of pure boredom?

>>7050648
Simulcra is just pointless drivel. It's a mental excercise at best, but overall a waste of your time. You will get nothing from reading it.

>>7050668
the list is based on baudrillard's essay simulacra and sci fi, he mentions each of these so i at least want to have read them. will simulacra and simulatuin be drivel as well?

heres the essay
depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/55/baudrillard55art.htm

>>7050668
>>7051108
or is that what you mean, i thought you meant dick's the simulacra at first

damn op that pick is making me fucking horny

>>7051108
These fit into what he is trying to say, but the books themselves are better at telling it without being fake or losing connection with reality like Simulcra does. In those works reality does start to mix with fiction because of authors imagination or drugs, but in his work it is just a shitty French postmodern nonsense.

>>7048097
>>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?
Just finished Neverwhere, now reading Rendezvous with Rama.

>>What is your favorite Starship in Science Fiction literature
Jericho from Neal Asher books.

>>Which author writes space battles the best?
Don't really know was a big fantasy man4 u only recently started giving Scifi more than a glance.

>>7050396
Do you read fantasy books with the intention of having the Author help you cross a very busy intersection by holding your hands?

Almost done with Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. Top-tier cozy book, looking forward to continuing the series.

Thinking of reading either The Buried Giant or Perdido Street Station next. Or maybe finally get started on Book of the Long Sun.

>>7049065

The person talking about everyone getting magic might have been me. It's not everyone, but lots of characters do (or get special magic weapons). I definitely preferred it early on when magic was a low-key force.

I agree with you on the PoV and pacing issues.

Funnily enough, it's not in medieval England. It's set in some kind of rough-fantasy analogue of Earth where North America was close enough to Europe you can easily sail from France to the New-York sort of region. The Inner Sea on the map is one of the Great Lakes, and the Great River to the north is the St Lawrence. In the sequel, we see a town on that river called Mont Real.

Ender's Game ending still blow my mind.

>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?
Solaris

>What is your favorite Starship in Science Fiction literature
Killing time.from Excession.

>Which author writes space battles the best?
Iain M Banks. Sometimes it feels like he's (or rather was) the only modern sci-fi author with a sense of scale.

i'm reading Fourth Mansion by RA Lafferty, so far it seems like standard wacky late 60s era pomo scifi like GR or Catch-22 etc. and by reading it mean I read like ten pages a month ago and never got back to it, not that it was bad but I felt I should read more canonical things before reading wacked out investigation of catmen conspiracies or whatever the fuck...someone wrote in pen on the title page "too much symbolism for my taste" which seems promising...i'll get back to it one day, it has yellow pages and smells like a comic book, of course i want to take that ride, but i got some shit from classical antiquity i need to get through first

>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?
Pic related. Probably not going to read it straight through. He's better than I remember. His racism/Anglo-Saxon racial snobbery is actually a pretty important part of his style, not something to be ignored.
>What is your favorite Starship in Science Fiction literature
>Which author writes space battles the best?
I've never been into space battles when it comes to reading. That's what movies are for (favorite spaceship: the Millennium Falcon. Sue me, faggots). The Forever War probably gets my vote for best space battles, but I've never even read any of Haldeman's other works.

>>7049898
I can deal with Sanderson, but Neckbeard, good god, he's the epitome of pretension and angst. Attempting to read his novels, can only be described as cringe worthy.

Anybody here read The Pastel City?

Okay, so i'll start this with the obvious. I'm beginner shit-tier when it comes to scifi.
Anyways, I had found a book a while ago, and it was really cool, full of walking cities and airships, where predatory cities would stalk other ones and etc etc.
My thinking is if anybody here can give me the title of the book i'm thinking on i'll have half a victory, then the full win comes when I can find many similar books setting wise.

>>7053056
Mortal Engines
Perdido Street Station

I recently finished Hyperion and started the second one but left it close to the beginning

Although it's obviously a great book, they start going heavy on the lore in the end of the 1st and the second just picks up from there. The mystery got a bit compromised. Don't think I'll keep going

>>7052778
>Pic related. Probably not going to read it straight through. He's better than I remember. His racism/Anglo-Saxon racial snobbery is actually a pretty important part of his style, not something to be ignored.

Yeah, xenophobia is his entire shitik. I don't get why people seem to think you have to be a good person to write good stories.

>>7053072
Mortal engines was it. Thank you good sir.

>>7053035
Reading right now! Just finished the part when they are out of the toxic waste swamp.

>>7053130
Neat.
Play Caves of Qud while you're at it. Oldschool type roguelike that takes place in a similar setting.

Currently reading The Liar's Key by Mark Lawrence. Part of The Red Queen's War trilogy, sequel series to The Broken Empire trilogy.

It's pretty good post-apocalyptic fantasy.

>>7053142
>Caves of Qud
I've been resisting getting into games like this. But I will for you, because I love you.

>>7052914

Part of that seems to be their attitude. Sanderson seems to know that he's not writing literary masterpieces, but he's trying to entertain people and immerse them in his worlds. He comes across as rather down to earth; someone who just enjoys telling stories.

You're right about Neckbeard; he's pretentious as hell.

Why are so many SF&F authors Mormons?

>>7053836
>>7052914
>>7049898
Is Rofthuss's writing style as bad as Sandersons? I've never been picky about quality of writing before, but I read Mistborn and cringed so much I don't want to read any more sanderson. I won't touch Rofthuss if he's comparable, but people bleat on about him.

>>7053924
I've only read Rothfuss and the prose itself was passable.
It's everything (and yes, literally everything) else in the novel that makes it a piece of shit that it is.

>>7053861
Because Book of Mormon is basically a shitty fantasy novel.

>>7053932
Are you telling me you didn't like 80 pages of steamy sex with a goddess of sex?

>>7053978
I dropped it after the first novel, thank God.

Getting into book 2 and everything turns upside down.
Did the guy originally mean to only release 1 book and then had to make shit up for the sequel?

>>7053986
are these any good? ive only read his book the butterfly tattoo and it was kinda meh tbh

>>7054007
Its whimsical fantasy, not much edge, with a touch of organized religion bashing.

Hey guys, I've got store credit to get one free audiobook from Audiable, any suggestions? Fantasy and scifi are equally welcome, and I've read the majority of the classics from both genres.

>>7054062
Wolfe and Dick are my recommendations

>>7054074

Read the majority of Dick's stuff, the only things that are left are the 2nd and 3rd Valis book, and Exegesis. From Wolfe, I've read the first 2.5 books of New Sun, but it's probably been too long to continue, so I'll have to start over again.

The sci fi Art is very problematic and represents everything wrong with science fiction. It was probably done by an old white straight cisgender male.

>>7049540
There aren't really any good monster-hunting stories out there, except maybe the Witcher stuff. Even that gets less about monster hunting as you read later books.

>>7049898
I know two people irl who read Rothfuss and is both of their favorite authors. I don't even

>>7054007
They're enjoyable adventures. The only part I vividly remember is how they unintentionally killed God.

>>7049089
Kekkai Sensen

>>7054062
Use of weapons, the guy who reads it does good voices.

>>7049408
The Powder Mage trilogy, if you like the Sanderson style. The recent standalone Mistborn novels, if you like Sanderson himself. Girl Genius. Tweeny Witches.

>>7050648
Concrete Island is not Ballards best, you;d be better to read Crystal World or The Atrocity Exhibition, especially the former, given that is the basis for Baudrillard's phrase "revenge of the crystal" and has a lot of relevance to his work

In prep for Baud u should read Walter Benjamin, "on the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" (it's really short) and Society of the Spectacle by Debord (a full length book but you can get the gist of it pretty shortly)

>>7048132
Olaf Stapledon is the dopest out, Star Maker is the best science fiction book, no jest

>>7049552
a lot of sci-fi is poorly written but there are obvious merits to discussion and extrapolation of future conditions which grants sci-fi unique ontological significance

I was sort of hating it in the beginning but I am very into Red Rising now

It definitely has its flaws but I am hooked to the story and I stillchave 400+ pages to go

>>7049350
THIS

>>7054715
excellent, thanks anon

>>7053924
Yeah, Rothfuss is better, at least he knows his poetry and has a thesaurus at hand. He manages to convey color to meaningless things. Sanderson's exposition is as boring as listening to a poorly-read dungeon master describe a new cavern for the 14th time.

>>7048127
I tried malazan, so many characters and places and made up words and exposition. Then suddenly , after all this invested effort into learning the world the author switches to some complete stranger named kruppe. Dropped it after that.

>>7051477
How could you not see it coming?

>>7049049
>not taking RSO oil
>not taking RSO oil when you have cancer
>taking chemo to fuck up your body even more
>2015

>>7054613
Final Episode never

>>7048097

some Star Trek Voyage novel I picked up at Ollie's that I read during lunch sometimes

can't remember the title - pedestrian writing but reads like a long Voyager episode

Is Dalinar our guy?

>>7053986
He clearly intended to write multiple books. I think what actually happened is that he bit off more than he could chew--the first book was fine dealing with Lyra's personal adventure, things fell apart when he tried to scale the story up and increase the stakes.

>>7054007
The first book is legitimately pretty good, but Pullman couldn't hold it together through two more books.

>>7049089
guy davis is a master

>>7049089
u've probably seen evangelion already but neon genesis evangelion

Well.

I just finished Gene Wolfe's last book in the Solar Cycle. Short Sun was incredible and it just might be my favorite part of the series, with Long Sun being the weakest.

Then I jumped to the other end of the high/low brow spectrum and started reading HORUS RISING. I am not familiar with the WH 40K lore other than brief forays into video games but this seems fun enough.

>>7048097
How does SFFG feel about Le Guin? I'm new to her and I'm on my 11th book in a month by her, I think she's great.

Working my way through the Dorsai novels. Just finished Soldier, Ask Not. I'm liking his take on man as a social creature, not so much liking his pat onesided romances. The magical mystical pseudoscience is also a minus. Not being an autist, I love the Destroyer series, despite being a martial artist of over two decades and knowing most of the chinky magic tricks of Sinanju to be bullshit. It just bugs me when a guy is clearly writing fantasy but insists on calling it sci-fi just because there's spaceships in it. So maybe just a little autistic. Still, looking forward to starting Tactics of Mistake, tonight or tomorrow.

Finishing up Starship Troopers for the first time. Some things are head to grasp as I have no idea how military organization works, but the writing is really effective and I am enjoying it so far.

>>7055910
I think he is speaking of the alien sex and implied incest.

>>7053861
Mormonism is one of the only religions that acknowledges the possibility of other worlds with intelligent life.

Only recently getting into scifi. Just finished foundation and empire, waiting for second foundation in the mail. I've really been digging asimov, but want to move on to other, similar authors

>>7057465
i'm in a similar boat to you. read the foundation trilogy and wanted more like it, so i went and read everything asimov that the local library had. While it wasn't much, i did get to read some of his non fiction essays, which were just as good as the rest of his works. I don't know of any authors similar to asimov, but if you're new to scifi i'd say read some of frank herbert, start with dune, read his other stuff if you like it

>>7056268
>can't even read
Sounds about right.

>>7056268
No cuz Sanderson sucks shit

>>7057563
>how can a fat double chin be more successful than me
>the same publishing house that accepted this pretentious hack's work turned mine down

>>7048127
>>7048647
>>7051185
>using Malazan, mediocre trash seriously written to supplement the faggot author's tabletop RPG setting, and written to be pointlessly obtuse so as to disguise its mediocrity, as an example of a legitimately difficult book

fuck off back to /tg/

it's fucking hilarious how he goes on and on boasting in the AN about how challenging and unique his story is like he's actually accomplished something impressive

>>7056268
i can't call a hack's character my guy tbh fam

>>7057582
>implying jealousy

>>7057613
that was literally days ago, dude
let it go

>>7048349
>>7048437
gb2reddit

I got this as a gag gift after telling a friend how excited I was for the Green Lantern/Star Trek crossover comics. I finished it last night and it was amazingly terrible. 10/10, will recommend to everyone.

I'm considering starting The Dark Tower soon. King's stuff has never interested me except for these books.

>>7054201

I really love those pulp covers.

just read and loved the fountains of paradise
reading rama
looking for similar

>>7056926
I've read Left Hand of Dankness and I liked the idea and the writing, but it failed to give me more than a fictional society which isn't really what I look for in books.

>>7056654
Be sure to skip everything after the first trilogy not written by Aaron Dembeski Bowen and Dan Abnett. And keep in mind it's just entertainment and don't take it too seriously. Enjoyable series if you read it like that.

>>7056268

This drawing is the opposite of how he's described. He's got epicanthal folds and dark skin. He'd look like some kind of Chinese-Samoan hybrid.

What's some good fantasy that keeps things realistic with women and their physical ability to fight?

>>7058258
Tolkien?

>>7058260
Well I mean, who hasn't read any of Tolkiens work?

>>7058268
Read more Tolkien

I never been big into fantasy stuff, can anyone recommend me some good dark fantasy books in the same vein as berserk?

>>7048354
The orthogonal trilogy is by far the hardest sci-fi in existence right now, but it isn't (and isn't intended to be) fun to read. It's based in a fully realized fictional universe and the focus of the books is the characters' development of physical theories from their experiments. You probably won't enjoy it much if you don't like doing physics homework.

Try schild's ladder if you want ultra hard sci-fi that is actually entertaining. Diaspora is easily his best book imo, check that out too.

>>7058496
The Black Company, if you can deal with the prose.
I couldn't.

>>7057613
Please stop, a high salt diet is unhealthy.

Speaking of His Dark Materials, is The Book of Dust ever coming out? I think it's safe to say no by this point but there was always that glimmer of possibility.

>that feel when re-reading Sabriel
Holy crackers I really love the concept of the bells.

>>7057796
Anon you recommend books that are good.... not trash.

>>7058260
Tolkien doesn't have any women......
Its one big sausage fest.

Any reccomendations for anyone who really likes Stanislaw lem?

I recently read Legend and am now reading The First King of Shannara.

I'm trying to get into fantasy because I really like the setting, but all the stories I've read so far are incredibly superficial.
I feel that there is no deeper ground to these books.
No ethical problems: it's clear-cut good vs. evil.
No big life questions: friend dies, person is sad, but doesn't raise any significant thoughts..

Are there fantasy books that dig deeper and pose bigger questions? That have a philosophical level beneath the story?

>>7058258
Wheel of Time.

>>7058496
Try the old pulpy Sword and Sorcery stuff. Anything by Robert E. Howard. Just don't try searching for lists of Sword and Sorcery books, these days everyone thinks anything with a little bit of fantasy is Sword and Sorcery, and they usually only recommend of A Song of Ice and Fire.

I'm usually not a big fan of science fiction, but I really enjoyed the City by Simak. What should I read next?

>>7059001
Confirmed of not reading Tolkien

>>7053861
Mormons believe white people are aliums

>>7059001
Is there a problem with that? "The Thing" doesn't have any women in it. Would it have been better if Kurt Russel wore a wig?

>>7059427
>all people

>>7059181
Did you like it for the mournful imagery or the sweep of time? If the first, Bradbury. If the second, Van Vogt.

>>7059678
>"The Thing" doesn't have any women in it
The Howard Hawks one did.

>>7059044
Yes, literally everything not by Terry Brooks.

>>7059678
It would have been better.

>>7059711
That's why it wasn't as good.

>>7059718
Tokenism makes everything worse.

>>7059758
Actually having a woman in the team could have brought the issue of alien assimilation through sexual contact.

>>7059903
I assumed they avoided that because they wanted to differentiate The Thing from Alien, which is all about weird alien sexuality. Did they do a sex angle in the prequel?

>What Fantasy and Sci-Fi are you reading right now?
Star Wars Episode 1. You know the book that describes the movie

>What is your favorite Starship in Science Fiction literature
The Millenium Falcon obviously. no other spacecraft can come near it, not even Star Trek

>Which author writes space battles the best?
George Lucas did great on the movie script of the original trilogy. Spacecraft going whoosh and lasers going pew pew was fantastic!
I love every part of the original movie books, I don't even read anything else. Tried the other SW books but they never got made into a movie and I don't like books that don't have movie versions.

>>7059987
No. A missed opportunity in the prequel. Also what I meant by sexuality was not alien sexuality but human sexuality as a weakness like in subterfuge and espionage.

>>7060018
OK that's true. Maybe they didn't go for that angle in the first Thing because they didn't want the movie to be a corny analogy about aids.

>>7060018
Prequel aside, one of the reasons why I doubt there truly was a woman in the Norwegian camp, they would have been assimilated completely with no chase, and instead of a dog it would be a lone woman/imitation who encounters the American team with no chopper in pursuit.

>>7060053
Even if I knew Mary Elizabeth Winstead was really an alien that would eat me through her vagina... I still would bang her.

>>7060015
>Star Wars Episode 1. You know the book that describes the movie
I still own that book in my childhood bedroom back home. It had stills from the movie in it. I miss those times. ;_;

>>7048097
>reading now
Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. The prose and thematic concerns are pretty similar to his other stuff, especially all the Buddhist cultural references and emphasis on the interconnected nature of social, economic and ecological environments. The splintering of ideologies and civil war which occur on Mars immediately after independence from Earth seemed remarkably believable.

>favourite ship
I like a lot of Iain M. Banks' Culture ships, but if I had to pick one probably GCU Grey Area.

>best space battles
Peter F. Hamilton's The Night's Dawn Trilogy has engaging, but I guess somewhat realistic, space battles. I generally find it hard to take space battles seriously in most sci-fi because they seem so ridiculous and depend so much on the reflexes of individual pilots (when we've invented AIs why the fuck would we have to rely on WWII bomber style manned turrets and such bullshit), when I doubt a human could adequately process the speed and distances involved.

>>7059044
That's disheartening

I used to love his Star Wars: Episode 1 book. I always meant to read something else of his

>>7061648

>>7060015
>>7060595
oh shit
my brothers

Here's what I've read so far, are my tastes patrician?

Frank Herbert:

Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune

Douglass Adams:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, the Universe and Everything
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Mostly Harmless

PKD:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
A Scanner Darkly


Asimov:

I, Robot
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation

Neal Stephenson:

The Diamond Age
Snow Crash

Dan Simmons:

Hyperion
The Fall of Hyperion


Been loving Hyperion so far.

>>7061828
Close. Read Gene Wolfe.

>>7061841

Where should I start? Book of the New Sun?

I want that "reading Dune for the first time" feeling.

>>7061862
Yes.

>>7061828
Read Destination: Void (and its sequels), also by Herbert.

The Forever War by Haldeman

and more PKD.

>>7061862
You will never have that feeling again.

>>7061965

>You will never have that feeling again

>>7061828

The books you listed are pretty good, but I don't see where you got the idea that reading genre staples makes your taste "patrician".

I'm reading Ringworld

did he really think Tanj was a good idea

bretty cool otherwise. oddly kind of refreshing to see a cookie cutter girl-as-obvious-love-interest character. i'm sick of Stronk Wymyn

>>7054007
The ending is a tearjerker besides the retarded as fuck climactic battle. Holy shit that was a let down after setting up an interdimensional fortress of atheistic friendship

>>7058258
None. Those books don't exist because it would be blasphemy for any author to imply that women aren't super strong and better than men in every single respect.

I just read the first two Stormlight Archive books, not knowing anything about them, even how long they go for. I thought it ended with the second book. I don't know if I can handle 8 more 1000+ page books plus the wait time.

What's so bad about Patrick rothfuss? I haven't read anything by him, am curious

>>7051477
Ender's Game is probably the only book I have actually read from cover to cover more than once, or even twice.

>>7062377
I've only read the name of the wind, but its absurdly cucky. There is a whole page towards the end where the main character thinks about how the guy his crush is with isn't as good as him, how he would be a better boyfriend, etc. But meh, other than that, its a pretty fun dumb adventure story. But very standard fantasy.

I fucking love books guys

Where should I start with China Mieville?

>>7060741
Oi, Meatfucker!

>>7048338
Have you tried DNP?

Never posted on /lit/ before so I'm not sure about the no-gos
anyone got any solid recommendations for hard(-ish) sci-fi? I'm just getting into the genre. I just finished the martian and enjoyed it. I'll assume you all hate it because the characters were cardboard cutouts who were just there to make a novel out of space-macguyver chemistry wank but I'm into that I guess
I'm about to blow $10 on another book but I want to make sure I don't pick up something shit

>>7062602
Asimov?

>>7062628
Tossing it up, but I'm not sure whether to go with some of his stuff or Rendezvous With Rama first
tbh I might just read dune, because I feel bad that I haven't yet

>>7062068
Didn't she become more beautiful as time passed?

Wasn't he some type of old pedobear who liked the nubile vigors of youthful, untreated, unaged female flesh?

>>7062602
>>7062633
>hard scifi
Quantum theif, then Rendezvous with Rama.

Although just finishing Rama I wouldn't call it hard scifi.

>>7062364
its easy reading though. you can breeze through it quick.

Starting book 5 of L Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth.

>>7062377
The story and characters.

>>7062537
Perdido Street Station.

I started reading Wheel of Time earlier this year. Most of the first book was pretty dull, then it got really interesting near the end. The second book was much better, but then I got about a third of the way through I got so bored I put it down one night and never picked it back up.

Is it worth finishing, especially if later books apparently get worse and the series isn't even finished by Jordan himself?

>>7063008
Wheel of Time is Shannara-tier high fantasy. Despite being bloated pulp garbage, it can be fun if you really like the genre, but there's nothing in the whole series so mandatory or good that you should force yourself to read it.

>>7062502
>>7062909
Name of the Wind was pretty enjoyable when it first came out. It was so absurd with how perfect the main character was that I think I viewed it as a sort of parody of typical fantasy stuff, especially since the story is essentially the main character dictating his life story to someone else - of course he'd embellish and make shit up. I thought once the second book came out it'd started toning it down a bit and get around to what really happened, but sadly that never happened. The MC is the definition of Mary Sue.

Also it's pretty clear Rothfuss has no idea where he's going with the story. It sure as hell won't be wrapped up in the third book, that's for sure. Too much untouched stuff in the timeline he originally proposed. It'll be one of those stories that just goes and on and on as long as he can cash in on it.

>>7063016
I feel like he just gets a random idea and implements it into the book.
>and then he becomes a bounty hunter
>and then he fucks Felurian
>and then he goes to kung-fu village and learns kung-fu

>>7063248

You forgot the part where he fucks all the hot chicks at the kung-fu village.

>>7063255
Oh yeah, fucking kek.
But tbh I'll probably pirate the book 3 when it comes out. Just to see how the fuck is gonna end it.

>>7063264
It's not going to end with book 3. He's nowhere even near the king-killing part that gives the series it's name. It's like >>7063248 says. He'll keep adding stuff and getting way sidetracked.

Honestly the books are like a guilty pleasure. They're so absurd I can't help but see it through.

>>7062602
Revelation Space, my dude.

can anyone reccommend some sf novels with an asian or middle-eastern setting along the lines of the windup girl and the grace of kings

>>7059044
Acacia by David Anthony Durham. I read that while I was locked up, and thought it great. Think Game of Thrones meets Arabian Nights.

What's so bad bout this guy? Haven't read his stuff yet, am curious

>>7063694
We've been through why Rothfuss is awful more times than we've sucked Gene Wolfe's dick.
Read the fucking thread.

>>7061862
Not even dune could give me that feeling, I got it reading other authors earlier in life. (not that dune wouldn't have given it to me had I read it first)

I'm going to recommend the Drizzt books.

What books are similar to LotGH? So, galactic war books, I guess.

>>7049898
>>7049854
>>7052914
>>7053924
>>7053935
stay made nerds

>that second duel with a rival after almost dying from the first
I will never, ever not love this everytime

>>7064632
Fuck off back to reddit

>>7065207
You should watch "The Duelists".

Is there any good fantasy that isn't about a small group saving the world from big bad evil figure or fulfilling prophecies? Something along the lines of the old Fafhrd and Grey Mouser or Conan stories where it's about more regular people just dealing with small-scale villains and problems?

>tfw you wasted your reading time the entire Book of the Fallen

>>7065745
I'm on the second book atm.
Should I call it quits ?

What's the sci fi equivalent of ASOIAF?

>>7065745
I'm so sorry

>reading anything more than 3-4 books long

Instant red flag the author dosent know what the fuck he's doing, and I'm being generous.

>>7065485
>fantasy
>not wanting the big triumph

>>>/Ulysses/

>>7065790
this tbh

I pay very close attention to how people recommend trilogies or series. If they mention book or the first book by name, I at least read that.

Ender's Games showed me that the first book can be drastically different from the rest.

So not quite sci fi but pretty similar...
I've recently read Gibson's 'Bigend' trilogy and just today wrapped up pic related.
I really liked all their world building but with all of them the endings felt a bit too easy, or maybe just dealt with too quickly.

Any suggestions for similar 10 minutes into the future semi-sci fi kind of stuff?

>>7065485
Sword & sorcery is what you're after. Just Google sword & sorcery reccs.

>>7056195
>taking RSO oil when you've already got cancer
Fireproofing a house on fire does nothing, dude.

>>7049089
BPR
>...
Fuck.

>>7049687
>David Weber

>>7048097
>>Which author writes space battles the best?
The most realistic space battles I've read are by Niven, which tend to include things like months-long flights of random maneuvering trying to get to the warp point.

>>7051396
I just finished the Farseer Triligy and it's the best book series I've ever read, glad to see a fellow fan

>>7065775
Dune

>>7065987
Every time I try all I get are lists with things like Game of Thrones, Malaxan, Rothfuss, etc. Majority of fantasy readers are too stupid to comprehend subgenres.

I just assume sword & sorcery is dead at this point.

>>7064600

Honor Harrington, but it's shit. But good fun if you dig over-the-top perfect action babe protagonist

Just finished Fool's Errand from the Tawny Man Trilogy. Closest a book has made me come to actually crying, so I have to give points to Hobb for actually dealing with loss rather than just letting it happen for shock value and then moving the story forward. Is it just me or does this book feel more like a coda to the Farseer books than the beginning of a new trilogy?

Is it worth continuing if I liked the ending or is the rest of the series a step down?

>>7064600
>What books are similar to LotGH?
war and peace

>>7065875

Bruce Sterling, especially Heavy Weather, Zeitgeist, and Distraction; and the anthologies Globalhead, A Good Old-Fashioned Future, and VIsionary In Residence.

>>7068037
Not really

Are there any books about hunting monsters?

Either fantasy or science fiction would be fine.

>>7051477
I'm almost finishing the second book, and so far so good, things are getting hectic. The movie really did no justice to the books at all.

Anyone here have a goodreads acct they wanna share?

I have no friends ; ;

Anyone else find Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy boring? There's far too much nonsense about how all the girls are dressing and boring shit like that. I found the first trilogy slow but entertaining, but this takes it to another level.

Hey /lit/ how do you feel about fantasy races? (Dwarves, elves etc etc)

>>7068521
If you're still using dwarves and elves then what the fuck are you doing?

>>7068529

Fantasy?

>>7068533
you can still do fantasy without resorting to hackneyed races

I honestly see very little distinction between sci-fi and fantasy already. Only thing that keeps me from going extreme with that opinion are things like hard sci-fi

>>7068540

is fantasy the genre where its rational to have a fear of hackneyed devices?

>>7068386
Care to post yours?

>>7049011
Blindsight is great, but Echopraxia is sticking with me. Far eerier.

>>7068550
For all genres tbh

>>7068529
Basically this,

Dwarves and Elves are so far out of fashion that it's just pathetic.

>>7057796
I was gonna read that for a bullshit read after I finished Book of the New Sun.

>>7068589
Agia is best girl

>>7068589
Nothing like fucking your own grandmother

>>7068529
>>7068540
>>7068572

What about the Riyria Revelations series?

>>7068807
None of those fags, but I think they were talking about using Elves in the Tolkien sense.

In Riyria everyone comes from the same source

>>7049247
I just bought The Moon is a Harsh Mistress the other day. Just paused at the book 2 mark. Really enjoying it so far. Definitely going to be recommending it to my space libertarian friend.

>>7068807
Oh, people still do it, I was just saying that it's definitely not in fashion.

In the last ~5-8 years there has been a huge shift away from classic fantasy elements toward new(er) ideas, different geographical/religious/magical inspirations, more widely varying technological eras, and of course the shift toward politics instead of farmboy vs the evil overlord.

Not saying all of those things are good, just saying that I'm glad to see the backs of elves and dwarves for a while.

>>7069261
>farmboy vs the evil overlord

Speaking of which, anyone else ever read any of David Eddings work? He's nothing amazing, a lot of his stories are pretty predictable and simple, but there's something about his writing that I find incredibly enjoyable. He's really great at writing enjoyable characters and pretty natural dialogue. The Belgariad in particular is a nice rainy-day read.

>>7067996
I've heard contrary opinions, but in my mind Fool's Errand was the best book in the trilogy. I'd stil urge you to continue; I'm enjoying reading the latest trilogy very much.

>>7069468
Eddings (along with W & H and Salvatore) was my gateway fantasy. Very fond memories of the Belgariad and the Elenium. Agreed about Eddings being very good with characters.

Old Man's War has been pretty good so far.

Hoping there's something more interesting in store than slotting floppies in space with futuristic weapons, though.

>>7069642
It's one of the worst books I've ever read.
It's full of progressive propaganda, bad writing, shallow characters. But I guess it's somewhat entertaining and since it took me an hour and a half to read it it wasn't a massive time waste.

After hearing praise for David Gemmell for years I picked up Legend. I don't think I've ever been tempted to drop a book so quickly. The first few chapters were good, and then suddenly at the end of chapter 4 the main character is in love with a woman he just met and slept with. I laughed when he started going on about destiny and fate thinking it was just the character trying to get laid. But no, next chapter was all about two priests leaving their bodies and using their spirits to watch these two have sex then talking about how the two of them complete each other and it's their destiny.

Is the whole book this damn cheesy?

>>7053072
Mortal Engines sounds way too good to be a YA book.

>that moment when you realise your tastes are really juvenile

Has anyone read anything by Brent Weeks

>>7066717
Pretty much. The Lies of Locke Lamora might be up your alley.

>>7067996
That's the only scene in a book that has made me tear up.

>>7068409
I liked it but it's years since I read it.

>>7070051
Yes. Night Angel and Lightbringer, waiting for book 4 of the lightbringer series.

>>7070457
Do you find him comparable to Sanderson or rothfuss? If you've read them as well

>>7070465
Naw different strokes from those other two. Sanderson is kinda scared of sex, Rothfuss lost his way in his storytelling.

GURM is going to finish the Song of Ice series before Rothfuss finishes Kingkiller.

>>7070494
I can't wait for people to lose their shit when GRRM dies before finishing.

>>7070644

Don't worry, they will simply publish the unedited, unfinished work, ala go set a watchman or later Dune novels.

>>7070644
I don't think you get the joke I was trying to make, Rothfuss will never finish the series.

Too many loose ends and too little pages. Don't forget the autistics who compile everything into a data base, will go through that book with a fine tooth comband call him out on every misstep.

>>7070678
That would require him to actually sit down and write something first

>>7070713

I am concerned with the amount of time he's been spending on vines and at the Hugo awards.

>>7070465

I've read Sanderson and most of Weeks.

Weeks is much better at creating at filling out his worlds, where Sanderson goes wider and flatter, kind of like playing Civilization.

I have to say I much prefer Weeks, he'll mention tidbits of different cultures, happenings and people and you won't know what is relevant until it smacks you in the face. Sanderson you can see the plot coming together whereas Weeks is a lot more along the lines of strap yourself in and get on the fucking hype train.

>>7070457

Also fuck me there a book 4 of Lightbringer? I cant get a hold of 3

>>7069974

Lets talk about progressiveness in fantasy for a sec.

Not in a complete /pol/ paranoia of propaganda wag but in the sense of can it ever come off as natural storytelling rather than the author trying very hard to do something or make a point by making the entire story or a major subplot reflect an overt theme of contemporary issues

I think you can read Narina without being made aware of Christianity or have to come to think atheism is bad.

Also on a bit of a side note are you being complex and deep if a theme of the story is organized religion is bad?

>>7054779
It only gets better friend. I really enjoyed it.

>>7066018
They're my favourite books. I've read them all half a dozen times along with the tawny man trilogy.

The character development is ridiculously deep. Nighteyes feels like a friend I've known for years.

The bingtown stuff is crap though.