/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

[Anonymous No.23443042]

Magic Castle Edition

>Recommended reading charts (Look here before asking for vague recs)
https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb
>Archive
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg
>Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg

Previous Thread: >>23425174

[Anonymous No.23443158]

You know what's cooler than a magic castle? Sewers. Sewer sections are so cool.

[Anonymous No.23443214]

is it good?

[Anonymous No.23443369]

What did Frank Herbert mean when he wrote the teen male using his sexual prowess to subdue and subordinate the middle aged prostitute?

[Anonymous No.23443370]

>galbatorix used to tell murtagh stories of that time he won his war by kicking vrael in the nuts
based paolini, thank you for continuing the cringe kino tradition

[None !SFFG.n1h7M No.23443421]

I Who Have Never Known Men (1995,1997/2022) - Jacqueline Harpman, translated from French by Ros Schwartz

Thirty nine women and a child are imprisoned. The guards never interact with them other than to warn, punish, or feed. None know how they got here, why they're here, or how long it's been. The thirty nine women remember what life was like before they arrived, but the child doesn't. How does a person develop bereft of society, culture, family, and almost all other signifiers of what it means to be human? What sort of person will they become? How will this person function if they're freed? This is science fiction in the sense that it explores a singular idea to exclusion of all else. The speculative elements give the story an absurd and surreal feeling. I have experienced other works that have similarities and I can say without qualification that this explores it the best and most thoroughly of anything I know.

This is a profoundly sad story about alienation, or at least that's closest word I know for what it's about. The title is a bit misleading, as there are men in the story, though they are unknowable. However, it's a vast improvement over the original English title, The Mistress of Silence. If it were to be more emotionally accurate to the contents, it'd be I Who Have Never Known Humanity, which would work in multiple ways and be ironic. This is a philosophical and psychological novel and nothing else. There's essentially zero plot, most of the characters are irrelevant, there's literally minimal worldbuilding, and almost no action. There's mystery, though it's existential and unresolvable.

I may have cried more reading this short novel than I have with any other work of fiction. That's rare unless I'm experiencing something that's especially emotionally resonant, in which case it's not uncommon. What sense is there in reading fiction if you don't emotionally engage with it? Intellectual engagement is important, but I think it leaves a lot to be desired if that's how you solely interact with entertainment. When it's both, that's even better, as it was with this for me. I found it be extremely meaningful and due to its relatively short length it's likely that I'll read this again in the future, which is unusual for me.

I read this because it was the monthly book selected for me to read. If it hadn't been recommended to me, then I don't know if I would have ever came across it, let alone read it. So, thanks J, I greatly appreciate what you chose. I may have enjoyed this book more than any other personal recommendation that I've been given. It's also the best translated book, from French in this case, that I've ever read. That's wonderful, but it also makes me wonder how many other great books there are that I may never find without the help of others.

Rating: 5/5

I read the 2022 revised translation, read the link below for more details
https://www.transitbooks.org/postscript/2022/ros-schwartz-on-a-sentence

[Anonymous No.23443431]

>>23443214
It's a sapphic enemies to lovers romance novel that focuses on teasing and poetry. Opinions are very mixed.

[Anonymous No.23443487]

>>23443431
Only troons say sapphic

[Anonymous No.23443501]

Pre-tolkenian brotherhood when?

[Anonymous No.23443502]

>>23443042
Been replaying a lot of 80s CRPGs lately and doing so has made me want to get into some stereotypical high fantasy genre fiction books. What are some essential books/series that one should read if they're approaching the genre in this regard?
Currently reading The Hobbit for the first time. Gonna start the LotR when I'm done with it. Never seen any of the movies so I'm going in pretty blind, but enjoying it thus far.
I've looked into a few suggestions from the charts mega, but I'm trying to weed through anything that's too "high art" or whatever. I'm just looking for the most pulp fiction-tier fantasy books, if that makes sense. Should I be looking into just beginner-tier fantasy books? Epic fantasy? High Fantasy? Any and all suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.23443516]

This book title is a magic castle, and no anon can find it hidden in the misty pocket fiction mountains.

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

[Anonymous No.23443552]

>>23443487
It's the twitter/goodreads crowd that uses the word sapphic, troons just happen to be a significant percentage of those websites userbase

[Anonymous No.23443555]

I still feel dirty after reading the final bit of Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon's epilogue. I'm slowly reading Godclads at the moment but it hasn't sucked me in yet. It is novel for being fucking weird, in a world of same shit different author.

[Anonymous No.23443556]

>>23443501
Why don't you like Tolkien?

[Anonymous No.23443654]

>>23443421
kill yourself

[Anonymous No.23443657]

So is this really about a dying fetus earning his way into heaven?

[Anonymous No.23443675]

>>23443421
your """reviews""" are SHIT. fuck off

[Anonymous No.23443711]

>>23443556
I believe the archetypes and extensive mythopoeia of Tolkien in particular had been a corrupting influence on the creation of fantasy literature, hence the name "Pre-Tolkenian".

[Anonymous No.23443736]

I know this is a really stupid question comparing a movie to literature but are there any good sci-fi novels that have the same 'analog' sci-fi feel and aesthetic as Alien?

[Anonymous No.23443746]

Check out Fritz Leiber. Just read this and his prose is great. The plot is very by the numbers but he really has a more literary edge than other SFF writers.

[Anonymous No.23443768]

>>23443746
If you like that, you might like “The City we Become” it has lovecraft elements but by a modern setting

[Anonymous No.23443770]

>>23443736
like that clunky, lifeless, dirty feel the cargo ship has? The Sten Chronicles has similar technology but it's not horror it's an anti-monarchist/capitalist space opera from the 80s

[Anonymous No.23443815]

>>23443768
You mean 'Became?' That's what shows up on Google. I'll try to find it but English language fiction is rare where I live. The Leiber book I got from a torrent and converted to PDF.

[Anonymous No.23443823]

>>23443657
Nah, I never bought that interpretation. It requires you to ignore all the explicit "real world" stuff and put vague symbols before explicit plot points. Classic over-interpreting.

[Anonymous No.23443826]

>>23443823
>I am not Able

[Anonymous No.23443836]

>>23443487
troons this troons that
shut the fuck up faggot

[Anonymous No.23443838]

>>23443657
I don't think so. The protagonist is a Minnesota Vikings fan.

[Anonymous No.23443842]

What are your favorite literary themes in scifi and fantasy?

[Anonymous No.23443858]

>>23443842
Power of love (but specifically mother/son love or perhaps older woman/younger man love)

[Anonymous No.23443990]

>>23443042
Read Starships Mage.

[Anonymous No.23443992]

>>23443990
Why should I read Starship Mage?

[Anonymous No.23443996]

>>23443836
YWNBAW

[Anonymous No.23444023]

>>23443736
Probably any scifi written before 1990. Digital is as old as hell, but the idea of software that can change the state and context a machine is running it is quite new.

[Anonymous No.23444026]

>>23443992
>Magic
>Space
>Magic battles in space
>Male main character
>Codes of honor
>No trooning

[Anonymous No.23444028]

>>23444026
This Starship's Mage sounds good. I should check it out.

[Anonymous No.23444030]

>magic castle edition
whats your favorite magic castle

[Anonymous No.23444044]

>>23443214
It's got the most horrendous purple prose I've ever read. Some cool imagery here and there and an interesting idea as a backbone, but the character voices become indistinguishable after the first couple of back and forth messages.

[Anonymous No.23444311]

>>23443502
>Never seen any of the movies
LotR movies are great. More action , war focused. A different feeling from the books but still feels like a great adaption.
>Recs
I would say look at the classics or most popular and pick what looks good to you.
Maybe a Game of thrones. I know its never going to be finished and you might find the later books too long but its pulpy.
>>23443421
>improvement over the original English title, The Mistress of Silence.
The original had me thinking of a anti man book. Not sure the original works well either. It sounds like a story about prison, does it have many new elements beside a kid?

[Anonymous No.23444389]

[Anonymous No.23444397]

>>23443502
>>23444311
>LotR books
10/10, unironically the most important English lit of the 20th century.

>LotR movies
Also great and an achievement in their own medium. Read the books first though cause the movies are so well-made that you won't be able to unsee them. Trust me on this.

>Game of Thrones
Absolute midwit shit. Incredibly boring and narcissistic. Plus there are ten of them or something and they're pretty long.

[Anonymous No.23444460]

So when does The Belgariad actually get good? I'm at book 2 part 2 now and so far it's all just been a boring travelogue with some very basic plot happening for like 10% of it. Is it really worth sticking with it? I see people praising it and saying it's essential reading but so far I just don't see it. Is it just nostalgia or does it actually get good if I just stick with it a bit more?

[Anonymous No.23444509]

>>23443736
Alien is my favorite movie
The Invincible - Stanislaw Lem
It's very good, written in the 1963. The technology is analog and the atmosphere is great. Very different to alien, at least aesthetically, but still similar it how it helps the story to seem more grounded.
There was a slop videogame based on the book, pic rel
I read it before the game and they've done a great job at capturing the same atmosphere that the book does in regards to the technology.

[Anonymous No.23444598]

>>23444026
so it's shounenshit

[Anonymous No.23444648]

>>23444044
>It's got the most horrendous purple prose I've ever read
examples?

[Anonymous No.23444663]

>>23444311
>The original had me thinking of a anti man book. Not sure the original works well either. It sounds like a story about prison, does it have many new elements beside a kid?
The title in French is "Moi qui n'ai pas connu les hommes". When it was first published in English in 1997 the title was "The Mistress of Silence". Later English editions of the book use the literally translated title "I Who Have Never Known Men". It's not anti-man because the women grieve for the lack of men. There are several reviews I saw that dislike the book for its supposed outdated and conservative views about women, though I think they don't understand either. It is a story about prison, literally so for the opening, and then metaphorically for the rest of the book. I don't know what you're asking when you say "does it have many new elements beside a kid".

[Anonymous No.23444666]

>>23443487
Sapphic is the appropriate word to use for postgender beings.

[Anonymous No.23444668]

Thoughts on kate elliot? Leddit seems to like her. Would recommend?

[Anonymous No.23444714]

>>23443421
>I may have cried more reading this short novel than I have with any other work of fiction.
You're a faggot.

[Anonymous No.23444737]

>>23444666
Cant dispute that, Satan.

[Anonymous No.23444764]

>>23444460
If you aren't into it by now It's best to drop it. The rest of the series is more of the same travelogue in the same style but he gets better with his powers and his relationship with the hot girl develops

[Anonymous No.23444807]

>>23444397
>ten of them
Did you confuse GoT with Malazan or is my reading comprehension failing me

[Anonymous No.23444836]

Medieval fantasy with lovecraftian undertones. Does such a thing exist?

[Anonymous No.23444846]

>>23444836

[Anonymous No.23444866]

>>23444836
Read the Averoigne stories by Clark Ashton Smith, they're part of the Cthulhu mythos.

[Anonymous No.23444884]

What are some books with meat worlds?

[Anonymous No.23445042]

>>23444460
You posted this several threads ago, are you genuinely not entertained by road-trip adventures?

[Anonymous No.23445089]

>>23444836

[Anonymous No.23445186]

>>23444807

[Anonymous No.23445224]

>>23445186
nta
It fascinates me when it's not possible to tell the intent of the poster. Are they ignorant? Inattentive? Trolling? Some combination thereof? Is there only purpose to get replies and nothing else matters? Why else would they post something so obviously and easily disproven due to being so incorrect?

[Anonymous No.23445235]

>>23445224
>so obviously and easily disproven due to being so incorrect?
Okay, go for it. Give it your best shot.

[Anonymous No.23445308]

>>23445089
There's barely any Lovecraft influences (a good thing), but it's a based book nonetheless.

[Anonymous No.23445340]

>>23445235
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons

That's 5. Not 10 or 7, let alone 17. You've misunderstood what the numbers mean.

[Anonymous No.23445343]

My gf's probably getting me A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for my birthday in a few weeks. What am I in for?

[Anonymous No.23445389]

>>23445343
3 fantasy novellas about the adventures of Dunk and Egg

[Anonymous No.23445417]

>>23445389
Thank you, anon

[Anonymous No.23445490]

>>23445340
Do you think i made that screenshot?

[Anonymous No.23445492]

you guys told me lightbringer was worse than dark age, what gives? its a noticeable improvement in almost every metric.

[Anonymous No.23445606]

>>23445492
No I didn't

[Anonymous No.23445620]

>>23445490
Based on its filename, yes.

[Anonymous No.23445643]

>>23444648

[Anonymous No.23445662]

>>23445492
>Why are my feelings different than others? I was told that I ought to feel a certain way when I read this, but I didn't. Why was my experience with it different? How come I enjoyed Light Bringer more than Dark Age? That's not how it was meant to be. How can I reconcile the differences of what others told me with what happened? Is there something wrong with them or with me? We can't possibly have different experiences. Our opinions must be the same or else we will no longer be the same.

[Anonymous No.23445670]

>>23445643
Looks cool, honestly.

[Anonymous No.23445723]

>>23444884
Dogscape. it's actually pretty good too

[Anonymous No.23445790]

[Anonymous No.23445800]

>>23445790
Delete this image right now

[Anonymous No.23445814]

>>23445800
I tried to but it says it says I have to wait longer

[Anonymous No.23445906]

>>23445790

[Anonymous No.23445910]

>>23445814
Deletion is 10 minutes minimum.

[Anonymous No.23445935]

>>23445906
>looking at fingers when female genitals are showing
tell me how I know you're gay

[Anonymous No.23445966]

>>23445340
>A Storm of Swords
remember to stop reading here

[Anonymous No.23445972]

>>23445042
Yeah last time I had read the first one, now I'm reading the second one after people told me this is the one it picks up in but I'm not really seeing any improvements so far. I'll probably just finish this one and see if I feel any different about it by the end of it and if I don't I'll most likely drop it.

[Anonymous No.23445992]

>>23443042
"Let the boy die!" Merlin shouted from the ladder. "He's nothing to you, Arthur. A by-blow of a King, a bastard born to a whore."

"And what else am I?" Arthur shouted, "but a by-blow of a King, a bastard born to a whore?"



great scene and I did not expect that this was coming

[Anonymous No.23446048]

>>23445935
>female genitals

[Anonymous No.23446082]

>>23445966
Feast has some of George's best POVs though

[Anonymous No.23446091]

Read Tenebroum

[Anonymous No.23446125]

>>23445492
Apart from him seemingly completely dropping both the parasite and abomination storyline I agree. I felt dark age was a bit too drawn out at times and light bringer was a lot tighter paced, I still loved them both though. He might revisit those two plot points in the last one but right now it feels like he just changed his mind and dropped them which was a bit jarring.

[Anonymous No.23446130]

Entropy always wins in the end.

[Anonymous No.23446180]

>>23443042
Read the Belgariad/Malloreon
>>23444460
if you aren't into it when Aunt Pol goes berserk to save Garion at the end of the book then just drop it.

[Anonymous No.23446186]

Just finished mistborn book 1, ending was a bit rushed so was a little disappointed rip Kell but liked it for the most part.

Really like how book 2 is dealing with the consequences of their actions though. At first i thought this was gonna take multiple books due to the pacing. It's easy to overthrow an empire, impossible to run one. Funny enough it reminds me a lot of Black Company in a way that the only way to successfully run an immortal empire is to be an immortal yourself.

Not sure how well Vin can carry the story by herself. Kelsier was really the reason why I kept reading but I did like Vin in her role as the student/prodigee.

[Anonymous No.23446188]

Sanderson improved since Elantris

[Anonymous No.23446197]

>>23446180
forgot pic

[Anonymous No.23446210]

Sci fi and fantasy being blended is pretty based IMO.
Laser revolvers and magic and sword fights in space and druids is neat.

[Anonymous No.23446223]

>>23446210
name 5 (five) books like that are NOT webnovelslop, chinkslop or YA

[Anonymous No.23446235]

[Anonymous No.23446367]

>>23446223
The Shadow of the Torturer
The Claw of the Conciliator
The Sword of the Lictor
The Citadel of the Autarch
The Urth of the New Sun

[Anonymous No.23446373]

>>23446223
Just started Malazan. What am I in for?

[Anonymous No.23446389]

>>23446373
I would say an eternity, but at least its finished unlike ASOIAF

[Anonymous No.23446391]

>>23446367
>>23446373
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Anonymous No.23446408]

>>23446373
No you haven't.

[Anonymous No.23446441]

>>23446373
girls with big butts and femdom

[Anonymous No.23446458]

Really liked The Broken Sword what else would you suggest I pick up next from Anderson?

[Anonymous No.23446463]

>>23446458
queen of air and darkness

[Anonymous No.23446466]

>>23445662
>post uses quantitative valuation
>anon responds with discourse on qualitative valuationg
uh... kill yourself?

[Anonymous No.23446503]

>>23446466
>erm... like... le heckin kill yourself???

[Anonymous No.23446513]

>>23446503
your """replies""" are SHIT. fuck off

[Anonymous No.23446515]

>>23446223
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire
Star Wars: Dark Force Rising
Star Wars: His Last Command
Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia
Star Wars: Jedi Prince

[Anonymous No.23446537]

>>23446515
>The Courtship of Princess Leia
huuuooohhh red headed amazons and gothic milf witches, erotic!

[Anonymous No.23446578]

i need to quit reading. when i enjoy reading i ignore everyone and everything else and just read. its amplifying my autism

[Anonymous No.23446583]

>>23446578
I only recently got back into reading and I agree. But... it brings me a lot of joy.

[Anonymous No.23446613]

>>23446466
>thinks there's a difference between the the two in terms of entertainment

[Elephant No.23446617]

What are we reading tonight /lit/?

[Elephant No.23446619]

>>23446617

[Anonymous No.23446628]

>>23446613
>in terms of entertainment
the thing i never mentioned?

[Elephant No.23446634]

>>23446619

[Anonymous No.23446647]

>>23446628
The Red Rising Saga is a book series and is entertainment.

[Anonymous No.23446684]

>>23446466
Alright little buddy, let's hear your "metrics".

[Anonymous No.23446689]

>>23446647
Youre using two different definitions of entertainment interchangably.

Entertainment is a qualitative measure of a subjective experience of a given work.
A work is an objective result if craftsmanship and is therefore able to be quantitatively measured.

Entertainment, as in a thing that is meant to entertain, is just a synonym for a work.

[Anonymous No.23446692]

>>23446684
I'll get back to you in a bit. Working atm.

[Anonymous No.23446698]

>>23446689
There are no objective results. All quantative measures are shorthand for the qualitative.

[Anonymous No.23446702]

>>23446698
I'll adress this when I respond to the other anon. In short though, youre a fucking sophist and no argumentation or evidence of quantitative measurments of art is capable of disabusing you of your delusions. They are, after all, delusions.

[Anonymous No.23446882]

>>23446223
I can't, but I want to see them

[Anonymous No.23446910]

>>23443502
if you're looking for something that's in the same vein as the CRPGs you're playing it's hard to go wrong with the early Dragonlance novels, as many of those games are based on them.

While many don't enjoy the series The Wheel of Time is one of my favorites, it does for me what Tolkien doesn't (I just don't like the writing style)

[Anonymous No.23447063]

Finally finished this tonight. Very dense novel that spans a whole generation of lives. Apparantly the other books are really hard to find 2ndhand so I may never get to read the others.

[Anonymous No.23447076]

>>23447063
Ebooks exist.
https://annas-archive.org/search?q=Duncton+Quest
https://annas-archive.org/search?q=Duncton+Found

[Anonymous No.23447180]

i always think of this when i read about The Lady in the black company

[Anonymous No.23447321]

>>23443815
Good luck finding it.

[Anonymous No.23447472]

>>23444598
I'll admit there are a couple of mage fights that have talking as a move, but it never gets anything remotely close to shounenshit levels.

[Anonymous No.23447555]

>fans donated over $1.25 million to fatfuck rothfuss for a charity and he didn't even manage to edit the chapter he promised he would release for that money
>it's now been like a decade since the last book
How do authors get away with this shit without having GRRM levels of wealth coming in from side projects?

[Anonymous No.23447572]

Can you recommend something with a strong humanist message like Kurt Vonnegut or A Canticle for Leibowitz?

[Anonymous No.23447573]

>>23447555
Because the industry and community at large is ran by women. And in spaces ran by women, tone matters most. It doesnt matter who you are, or what youve done so long as you maintain a gordial tenor and contextually appropriate tone. This sort of social environment allows one to get away with anything so long as youre not rude. Even if you offend someone, if you do it from the position if weakness, youre golden. And Cuckfuss has done this very well over the years. Watch his stream where he excused the charity situation. It's a master class in tone politics.

Rothfuss will be torn to shreds the moment he gets kicked out of the ingroup, just wait.

[Anonymous No.23447588]

Cultivation chads, what we reading?

[Anonymous No.23447622]

I just read pic related and holy shit you guys weren't joking. This is the best fantasy book I've ever read!

[Anonymous No.23447641]

>even rothfuss's editor bitches about him on facebook

[Anonymous No.23447660]

[Anonymous No.23447707]

WoT or Witcher?

[Anonymous No.23447752]

>>23447707
WoT. The first Witcher book with the short stories is entertaining, the rest sucks.

[Anonymous No.23447769]

>>23447707
witcher is just amateur hour work propped up by the polish govt so they can claim they have some kind of cultural export that isn't slags, maids, and slag-maids

[Anonymous No.23447814]

Just read 'The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth' - 10/10.

[Anonymous No.23447867]

>>23443654
>>23443675
>>23444714
Weird to keep coming back and replying to this guy over and over again.

[Anonymous No.23447887]

>>23447867
it's called ritualposting, newfag. way to out yourself.

[Anonymous No.23447937]

>>23447641
This was like 5 years ago already. Dude is basically the biggest hack there is. Many of his normie fans even hate him now, between the charity thing and rewriting a novella instead of working on book 3. GRRM on the other hand seems to somehow still have a good number of retards making excuses for him.

[Anonymous No.23447958]

>>23447937
Rothfuss is 50 and still streams himself eating pizza and playing games at 3am while whining about how hard his life is, it is unironically just pathetic

[Anonymous No.23447995]

>>23447887
It's ritual posting to samefag 3 posts? Weird must have changed the definition retard. Go read one of the gorilla posters recommendations.

[Anonymous No.23448003]

Why has he abandoned us?

[Anonymous No.23448045]

Does anyone else find Lord of the Rings to go downhill after Fellowship? The focus on the mysteries of the world and fallen kingdoms is sidelined for more action and politiking with the world of men. Not as many poems either. I'm halfway through the Two Towers fwiw

[Anonymous No.23448048]

>>23448003
Because his fans are all a bunch of cringy fags, and that reminded him too much of himself.

[Anonymous No.23448050]

>>23448003
What a fucking pseud

[Anonymous No.23448052]

>>23448050
Thats not very nice. Did you just not understand what was said?

[Anonymous No.23448083]

Yo, looking for a well written adventure story with a young male protagonist that's both heroic and nice.

Any recs?

[Anonymous No.23448101]

>>23448083
Wheel of Time

[Anonymous No.23448108]

>>23448052
it's drivel

[Anonymous No.23448111]

>>23448101
ok but good

[None !SFFG.n1h7M No.23448134]

>>23443042
Spaceside, Planetside #2 - Michael Mammay (2019)

Planetside, book 1: >>/lit/thread/23247660#p23251011

Roughly two years after the events of the first book, ex-Colonel Carl Butler has settled into a comfy corporate executive job nominally overseeing their security. He does very little and is paid very well. All's well in its boring and predictable way. That is until the CEO tasks him with a security issue regarding a competitor that's better suited for an intelligence operative. Nonetheless, he accepts and begins investigating the matter. Things go badly quickly and it seems like it may be a repeat of what came before. Even when there's a chance to back out, once he's started something it has to be seen through to its conclusion, no matter the consequences.

Once again it's mostly investigation, though not nearly as interesting, exciting, or dramatic this time. Mostly it's wandering around town and events out of Butler's control happen and he can't do much about it. There's a real lack of agency throughout the book, which tends to annoy me, even when it's trying to make a point about how common that is. The military aspect is mostly gone, though there's still some combat, arguably anyway. Butler's PTSD has greatly worsened and there's a lot of emotional wallowing in ways I prefer not to read. Aside from all that though it does well enough in presenting a logical sequence of events that I don't have any problems with. The twists provide some interesting conversations that can only happen in very specifically crafted situations. In terms of characters, the highlight for me was easily the return of Ganos from the first book. There was a lack of supporting characters when it really needed it. Butler just isn't able to carry the book on his own, especially not with his behavior in this one.

This one never really came together for me. It's at least somewhat the case that Mammay doesn't quite seem to know what he was going for either. Unfortunately it also seems to be pursuing the one narrative path that I didn't want it to follow. That really hurts its in my estimation, which isn't its fault, but also doesn't change how I feel about it at all. I didn't want to write about it like this, but that's how it is. I'm disappointed, but it isn't a bad book. It's decent in every way except for the theme that it's going for, which would spoiler both the previous book and this one to say. I'll still be reading the next book to see how it goes, though I don't expect much. As was noted by a member in a comment on the first book, I overrated the first book. He was right with his criticism and I was wrong and overly defensive. That's mostly because the first book I read from Mammay I gave five stars so I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt for this series, which it seems may have been unwarranted. Hopefully the remaining books prove me wrong again, because I'd much rather enjoy myself than be right.

Rating: 2.5/5

[None !SFFG.n1h7M No.23448141]

>>23448134
Colonyside, Planetside #3 - Michael Mammay (2020)

Carl Butler has retired to an undeveloped farming planet at the edge of civilization and wants to live out his days in peace. It's been a couple years since the last book and he thinks that part of his life is over. The arrival of his former commander, the retired General Serata puts an end to such notions. The third wealthiest man in the galaxy has personally requested Butler through the President to go to a frontier jungle planet that his corporation is developing to find his missing daughter. This has happened before and Butler is somewhat more self-aware now, so he knows he's being manipulated, but agrees anyway, with conditions. He also knows that once he starts he literally won't be able to stop because he pathologically has to always follow through regardless of the consequences. Everyone knows that and that's exactly what they're counting on, though they continually seem to underestimate exactly what that means in practice.

Fortunately most of what bothered me about the previous book has been changed. The previous plotline and themes have been dropped. There's a far greater focus on the supporting cast who are used as supporting characters ought to be. All of the characters are better in general. Butler has regained his agency. There's much discussion that specifically talks through the relevant mysteries. The military science fiction aspect that was in the first book is even more played down, to where it doesn't matter much. Each book is increasingly more focused on investigation and discussion rather than action. It's all steps in the right direction for me even though I don't know what I even want from the series at this point. If I hadn't read Generation Ship first I don't know that I'd be reading this. So goes the importance of what you first read from an author.

I don't know how many who've read this thought it was going be a trilogy. I never did because it seems like it's an open-ended series where he'll write as many books in it that can he get published. I could be wrong about that, though a fourth book will be published later this year. The main reason why I believe it's a open-ended series is because there's literally no overarching story so far and each one doesn't have much continuity between them. I think it'd be entirely fine reading only this one or any other. It'd probably be fine to read them out of order, I don't know why you would intentionally do so, but I don't think it'd matter that much. I wonder how much of structure for this series is intended versus what happened for whatever reason. In this book's acknowledgements Mammay says that the second book never really came to together until the end and that he had to rewrite 60% of this book due to its issues. That seems to have worked because I'd say I like this the most thus far of the series, though I'm wary of giving it 4 stars because of the preceding books.

Rating: 3.5/5

[Anonymous No.23448171]

>>23448083
Belgariad

[Anonymous No.23448213]

I liked house of suns anon, give me more recent sf to read, thanks

[Anonymous No.23448220]

>>23448213
>16 years ago is recent

[Anonymous No.23448224]

>>23444397
>Absolute midwit shit. Incredibly boring and narcissistic. Plus there are ten of them or something and they're pretty long.
based retard

[Anonymous No.23448236]

I want a sexy female protagonist that can do no wrong. She can solve the hardest of cases, beat the toughest of enemies with no help, solve to the most confounding problems, and has knowledge that supersedes the wises of sages.

[Anonymous No.23448324]

>>23448111
What do you dislike about WoT?

[Anonymous No.23448328]

>>23448236
we hate gynocentrism here

[Anonymous No.23448543]

[Anonymous No.23448547]

>>23443858
You are not even human. Whether bot or not, you are not even human.

[Anonymous No.23448554]

>>23448045
My rereads of the series usually peter out after Fellowship.

[Anonymous No.23448582]

Best Scifi/fantasy novels that deal with spiritual themes? I'm an introvert so i can't relate to gun/sword fights and sex having characters.

[Anonymous No.23448603]

>>23448582
The Lord of the Rings

[Anonymous No.23448607]

>>23448603
Please, no mythology. I'm not a nerd.

[Anonymous No.23448609]

>>23446091
>cool cover
I will read your book

[Anonymous No.23448610]

>>23448607
Fourth Mansions

[Anonymous No.23448650]

sex with Atiaran

[Anonymous No.23448727]

>>23447995

[Anonymous No.23448734]

>>23448650
Google Images just shows pills.

[Anonymous No.23448736]

>>23448134
>>23448141
Kill yourself

[Anonymous No.23448745]

Can you blend fantasy and sci fi?

[Anonymous No.23448748]

>>23448745
It's called fantasy science.

[Anonymous No.23448750]

>>23448727
>the samefag changes to his phone
NTA, but just stop it. You're only digging a deeper hole for yourself.

[Anonymous No.23448762]

>>23448748
I've never heard of this term before.
I'm not saying it doesn't exist or it hasn't existed a long time but I may just be retarded.

[Anonymous No.23448764]

Reading through the Forgotten Ruin series rn. Ranger-wank (as in 75th RR) isekai for those who don't know.
It's pretty enjoyable for what it is, and it's always fresh to have someone who actually knows TTPs writing combat, but goddamn does Talker's (MC) meandering rants and sudden tangents up the wazoo drive me up the fucking wall after a while.

As an artistic choice to maybe depict the mind of someone writing a journal and winging it while hopped up on 2 hours sleep, coffee addiction, and suddenly being thrust into constant combat with freaky fantasy shit, I can respect it, but I just can't stand it by the fourth book, and it makes me want to bash this motherfucker's head in for still writing like it well after they get settled down. I actually found myself cheering when Talker supposedly died and thinking now maybe we can get someone else to write this shit. AND THEN HE WASN'T FUUUUUUUUUU

/rant

[Anonymous No.23448770]

>>23448762
Just kidding. I made it up. There's nothing like that.

[Anonymous No.23448780]

>>23448770
Aw. You got my hopes up to discover something different.
Ah well. Maybe I'l create it and one days you guys will call me a fag or something.

[Anonymous No.23448805]

What are some books about male-to-female genderbending?

[Anonymous No.23448811]

>>23448805
Orlando

[Anonymous No.23448813]

>>23448607
>not a nerd
>reading books
you're a nerd

[Anonymous No.23448818]

>>23448780
Fantasy science does exist. It's not a mainstream genre though.

[Anonymous No.23448820]

>>23448813
>writing complete sentences without every word being abbreviated
We're all nerds here.

[Anonymous No.23448841]

>>23448582
Echopraxia

[Anonymous No.23448846]

>>23448780
you are not only a fag but a retard if you don't know science fantasy exists

[Anonymous No.23448851]

>>23448582
Define "spiritual themes"
About as vague of a term as "content creation" or "mental health issue"

[Anonymous No.23448864]

>>23447622
:P~

[Anonymous No.23448867]

>>23448846
I'm a writer. If I was smart I'd just be in the trades or STEM.

[Anonymous No.23448870]

>>23448846
It's generally not used in any practical context though. Works with elements of both fantasy and scifi are usually classified as one or the other depending on their overall aesthetic. Warhammer 40k for example draws as much from fantasy as science fiction, but because it's in space and the characters use guns it's just scifi.

[Anonymous No.23448871]

>prologue is more than 10% of the book
why is robert jordan like this?

[Anonymous No.23448886]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jq4RyQdnvA
is he right?

[Anonymous No.23448891]

>>23448886

[Anonymous No.23448894]

What's the most recent release that's worth reading?

[Anonymous No.23448906]

>>23448846
Can you provide any examples of note? Or even just readable examples?

[Anonymous No.23448936]

>>23444764
>>23445042
>>23446180
Alright I finished it now and I have to say it got a lot better in the last 50-100 pages or so. Feels like things are finally starting to happen now. First half had me feeling like I wouldn't continue after this one but I'll be giving at least the next one a chance too. (and by then I'll probably be sunk cost fallacied into finishing them all)

[Anonymous No.23448937]

>>23448894
i really enjoyed Islingtons Will of the Many
not amazing, but i found it to be much better than any of the other recent stuff

[Anonymous No.23448947]

>>23448891
>bald
opinion discarded

[Anonymous No.23448950]

>>23448891
>not dying
absolutely true
>receding as genres often do from time to time
Absolutely true

[Anonymous No.23448952]

>>23448894
The ones I've posted about.

[Anonymous No.23448955]

>>23448936
Yeah things really start happening (though not in ways you might expect) in books 3-10 (counting Malloreon as part of the same series which it really is). Queen of Sorcery is the real filter, if you finish that and don't like David Eddings, you never will.

[Anonymous No.23448961]

>>23448582
Dream Thief by Stephen Lawhead
and yeah, Fourth Mansions

[Anonymous No.23448966]

>>23446373
good luck trying to force yourself to finish Gardens of the Moon
i couldnt do it

[Anonymous No.23448979]

>>23448582
Literally anything by Stephen R. Lawhead. He takes Christianity very seriously and that worldview permeates all his writing but he's never transparently preaching Sunday School lectures directly at you like some (bad or amateurish) Christian authors tend to do. Same deal with Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

The first two books of Gillian Bradshaw's "Down the Long Wind" trilogy do this well, though I'd strongly recommend against reading the final novel in the series, it completely repudiates everything good about the first two.

Possibly Tim Powers' "Declare" and "The Drawing of the Dark".

[Anonymous No.23449023]

>>23443842
Devotion to a cause. Its strength, but also destructive capabilities.

[Anonymous No.23449028]

>>23443842
The importance of being willing to give your life for others.

[Anonymous No.23449034]

>>23446188
Not by much.

[Anonymous No.23449037]

>>23449028
Shittiest trope ever

[Anonymous No.23449055]

>>23449037
The only important trope ever. Our society only exists because people are willing to say, "yes, I could die, but if others will profit from my sacrifice and continue on, it will be worth it."

[Anonymous No.23449066]

>>23449028
That's not a theme. Let alone a trope.

[Anonymous No.23449069]

>>23449066
The sacrifice of the self so others may live is not only a trope but a theme.

[Anonymous No.23449078]

>>23449069
That's called heroism. Heroism is the theme.
What is this sacrifice of the self? are you stupid or just ESL?

[Anonymous No.23449084]

>>23449078
You are the ESL if you insist that the only aspect of heroism is sacrifice of one's life.

[Anonymous No.23449101]

>>23449028
the NPC trope

[Anonymous No.23449149]

>>23447937
GRRM doesn't need to finish his books, is the thing. He's already as successful as he's ever going to be. The HBO adaptation of his series was a mega hit that made him a millionaire several times over and won him so many other media deals that he never needs to write another ASoIaF book.

Rothfuss, the goober, tried to live that kind of celebrity author lifestyle that GRRM had but without even finishing his debut trilogy and having no adaptations of his work.

[Anonymous No.23449163]

>>23448745
Yeah people have been doing it for decades. Perhaps you've heard of this thing called "Star Wars", it's a pretty famous example of it where there's space ships and aliens and lasers and stuff, but also mystical wizards with magic powers.

There's more than a few books that do it too. A common premise in the sci-fi/fantasy mashup is "far future fantasy" where something happens to the earth that causes it to resemble a fantasy world, but there's still remnants of old technology lying around.

[Anonymous No.23449164]

>>23449149
I'll be honest, if GRRM is going to write anything else, he should just let SoIaF die. The adaptation has already put a dagger in the series back.

[Anonymous No.23449173]

>>23449164
My guess is the way the show ended killed a lot of his enthusiasm for the story and he's just kicking it around trying to rework things so it doesn't turn out as shitty as that.

[Anonymous No.23449185]

>>23448045
Fellowship is gripping, but Two Towers feels like a drag once it gets to Rohan. At least that's my take on it.

[Anonymous No.23449188]

>>23448083
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn

[Anonymous No.23449193]

>>23448762
It's not as popular as it was.

[Anonymous No.23449204]

>>23449173
I don't blame him.
Can you imagine trusting people with your baby, and they decide to fuck it over?
I can only assume that it was deliberate sabotage for tax purposes.

[Anonymous No.23449210]

>>23447660
I'm unfamiliar with this series. What's it like?

[Anonymous No.23449211]

>>23449204
From what I recall the show runners were offered some big project by Netflix, or maybe Disney, and wanted to wrap up the last season of GoT fast so they could move onto their huge hundred million dollar deal or whatever ridiculous price tag it had. What we got was the disaster that was season 8. The show had been shitty for several season by then, but season 8 was so bad that even the people who'd gladly swallowed the earlier bad seasons were rejecting it. Probably hard for George not to feel betrayed.

[Anonymous No.23449223]

>>23449211
Another reason why you should never surrender creative control if you sell your work.
You can always just refuse to sell it so it can't be raped.

[Anonymous No.23449229]

>>23449210
i assume its your typical YA schlock

[Anonymous No.23449241]

>>23449223
There's basically no way to get adapted if you don't surrender control. Hollywood hates having to deal with hands-on authors. GRRM didn't have that kind of clout when he was approached, best he could do was insist he be part of the production team and get 1 episode per season to write himself (his work history as a TV writer more than qualified him for that, at least).

GRRM very much wanted the adaptation to happen so he had to compromise and give up control. It's the only way it would happen. There's very few authors who are big enough that they could insist on full creative control. Rowling, for instance, at this point could fund a production out of her own pockets if she wanted to, so anyone approaching her for adaptations would need to bow and scrape to her every whim.

[Anonymous No.23449249]

>>23449241
My advice?
Don't sell the control and wait to get big.
If you don't get big, it wasn't meant to be.
Fuck Corpos and their committees of people who haven't even put a thought into making an interesting work.

[Anonymous No.23449250]

>>23449229
Cover looks more like typical high fantasy that's being produced now. Has the [noun] [preposition] [noun] naming pattern, photoshopped models on a two-tone mostly white background, and the word "ashes" in there somewhere. Feel like every third novel released in the last 5 years has "ash" or "ashes" in the title or part of the series name.

[Anonymous No.23449256]

The Emyprean Series is working out well.
I do think it's unrealistic that someone in a militant society would give a fuck about hurting people, though.

[Anonymous No.23449273]

>>23448871
Prologues for RJ mean one-off perspectives you won't see in the main story, which provide some context / clues for what's going to happen in the book. To that effect, they're as long as they need to be. Not exactly a traditional prologue.

[Anonymous No.23449274]

What's the most badass, masculine, enthralling fantasy book/series out there?

[Anonymous No.23449282]

>>23449249
This seems to pretty much be Sandersons tactic. He's stated he's had many talks and had major studios approach him about adaptations and he won't agree to anything unless he has creative control and final say. Whatever else you might think about him I think it's pretty based behavior from him.

[Anonymous No.23449286]

>>23449282
>he won't agree to anything unless he has creative control and final say
means he wants more money

[Anonymous No.23449290]

>>23449204
>Can you imagine trusting people with your baby, and they decide to fuck it over?
>and they decide to fuck it over?
that's the thing they didn't and that's why he isn't publishing shit

[Anonymous No.23449292]

>>23449282
>Religious nutjob
>Pro-life
>Opposes human rights
>based behavior

[Anonymous No.23449294]

>>23449229
>>23449250
You guys don't know. I'll wait for the anon who posted the image to tell me. In the mean time, I'm in the mood for an adventure. I've read most of what this thread typically recommends. Do you have anything worthwhile?

[Anonymous No.23449301]

>>23449292
>Opposes human rights
I'm translating this as "doesn't support bodily mutilation by mentally ill people".

[Anonymous No.23449302]

>>23449292
>religious nutjob
Citation needed
>pro-life
a Good thing. Murdering someone before they're born because 'you can't afford to raise them' defeats the point of a social safety net
>opposes human rights
Citation needed
>based behavior
Correct

[Anonymous No.23449324]

>>23449286
The dude has built a massive underground bond villain lair in his house, he has enough fuck you money to not have to care about anything else other than getting a good adaptation made.

[Anonymous No.23449327]

Something to suggest that people who read a lot of books would maybe not have read? I need something for a book club and they read tenfold more than I do.

[Anonymous No.23449333]

>>23449292
>reading comprehension

[Anonymous No.23449342]

>>23448894
This, except for scifi books only

[Anonymous No.23449350]

>>23449327
List the last ten books they have nominated as books to read for the club.

[Anonymous No.23449379]

>>23448045
>>23449185
First book of Two Towers is great, it's all battles and mystical wizard shit

[Anonymous No.23449382]

>>23449342
You wouldn't like anything listed anyway.

[Anonymous No.23449385]

>>23449350
No idea. We just started. It's the first round. They read a fucking lot of books though. I think generally I gotta find something on the newer side to recommend

[Anonymous No.23449405]

>>23449188
That is the complete opposite of everything he asked for aside from young male protagonist.

[Anonymous No.23449415]

Anybody read this? Propaganda? Any good? It sounds kind of interesting

[Anonymous No.23449425]

>>23449415
Don't know anything about it.

[Anonymous No.23449461]

>>23449382
who says

[Anonymous No.23449667]

>>23449385
The problem with new books is that unless they're from an established author they haven't been vetted by time so you've just got to hope that the few random people who've read them have similar tastes to yours.

[Anonymous No.23449684]

>tfw when you constantly tell anons about new books and it's mostly to no avail and they keep asking, even within the same thread

[Anonymous No.23449698]

>>23449415
Looks like a popular YA fantasy author's take on Twilight to me at glance. Probably more romance than fantasy with the current surge of romantasy, as to be expected of a woman. Read at your own peril.

[Anonymous No.23449730]

>>23449698
>male vampire on human female
i slepp

[Anonymous No.23449748]

>>23449274
Probably something by David Gemmell

[Anonymous No.23449750]

Is this good?

[Anonymous No.23449801]

I enjoyed this. How bad is my taste?

[Anonymous No.23449814]

>>23449801
Is his new series Decimus Fate worth reading?

[Anonymous No.23449813]

What an interesting attempt by a single anon to try to get the thread going faster again.

[Anonymous No.23449817]

>>23449750
>good
What you really mean is that is this suited towards my antiquated chud tastes right?

[Anonymous No.23449828]

>>23443042
Who started the multi-POV trend? Whenever I read a blurb with multiple characters described it kills any desire to read.

[Anonymous No.23449852]

>>23449828
Why does it bother you?

[Anonymous No.23449856]

>>23449852
because most publications are multi-pov and I hate them.

[Anonymous No.23449867]

>>23449828
Can confirm.
>>23449852
Because if you cannot tell a engaging story with a mostly single character focus you have ADHD and are trying to give it to your readers.

[Anonymous No.23449885]

>>23449852
It's phony and it's obvious it's publishers telling authors that since *insert popular series* does it you have to do it. Most authors can't handle it and even those who can still have the problem of massive amounts of bloat that is hard to avoid

[Anonymous No.23449889]

>>23449852
>BALFRUSS is a battlemage, sworn to fight and die for a country that fears his kind.

>VARGUS is a common soldier - while mages shoot lightning from the walls of his city, he is down on the front line getting blood on his blade.

>TALANDRA is a princess and spymaster, but the war will force her to risk everything, and make the greatest sacrifice of all.

[Anonymous No.23449901]

>>23449828
The use of multiple perspectives has been a feature of the English novel from its earliest days. Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), often considered the first novel in English, itself uses multiple narrators. This shows that multiple perspectives were part of the English novel from its very inception.

Richardson further developed this technique of multiple perspectives in his next novel, Clarissa (1748), which is written as a series of letters between several correspondents. Jane Austen too adopted this epistolary technique in her first novel, Lady Susan (1794?; published 1871).

Austen is, in fact, credited with moving the English novel away from the multiple points of view prevalent in the 18th century to the characteristic third person limited that became the default over the 19th and 20th centuries. As Mullan notes, Emma (1815) was a radical innovation in the history of the novel. That we can take it for granted shows how far its success has obscured the English novel's beginnings, where multiple perspectives were the norm.

[Anonymous No.23449912]

>>23449889
K I N O
I
N
O

[Anonymous No.23449922]

>>23449828
I will never forgive Anthony Ryan

[Anonymous No.23449925]

>>23449901
useless as always Chatgpt

[Anonymous No.23449945]

is red rising worth reading, it's been a decade since I read a sci-fi book

[Anonymous No.23449981]

>>23449945
>>23449814
>>23449801
>>23449415
>>23449342
>>23449274
>>23448894
>>23448213
>>23447707
>>23447572
>>23443214
>>23443657
>>23449750
What an unusually high rate of mostly asking "is this worth reading?" and similar.

[Anonymous No.23449985]

>>23449925
The single person limited POV is the anomaly.

[Anonymous No.23450024]

>>23449981
it's the whole point of this general

[Anonymous No.23450051]

>>23449981
Woah...
it's almost like.. people want to read... or something........

[Anonymous No.23450064]

>>23450024
>>23450051
You aren't good at this.

[Anonymous No.23450068]

>>23450064
the irony of this post

[Anonymous No.23450133]

If this is seriously supposed to be his best work I feel confident I can be done with him after reading this slop

[Anonymous No.23450293]

>>23450133
The Mormon church accepts two years spent shilling Sanderson online in lieu of overseas missionary work, so there's always a contingent of Mormon shills on 4chan. They even play a version of good cop/bad cop where one of them will oversell a Sanderson series and after he gets pushback from anons another shill will chime in with more modest praise that slips by the distracted gatekeepers.

[Anonymous No.23450302]

>>23449981
What a stupid, thoughtless post.

[Anonymous No.23450308]

>>23449750
Yes. First book isn't really breaking a lot of new ground and is a bit derivative and has some editing issues. Still very enjoyable if you can enjoy the tropes it uses. It goes sharply upwards from there though and book 2 and 3 are simply amazing. Don't skip the novellas either, they're great. You can start with The Fall or read it after book 1, it doesn't matter and you can get it free as ebook on his website. I started with it and I thought that worked great.

[Anonymous No.23450318]

>>23450293
Based schizo

[Anonymous No.23450328]

>>23449828
There's always been multiple POVs. What I assume you're referring to is the need to have full crisscrossing story arcs for each individual POV. My guess is that it comes from ASOIAF. I'm okay with multiple POVs so long as the author doesn't try to cram a full story for each character when most of the time it's not necessary. Even GRRM, who did a good job in the first three books of having completely different character stories suffered in the long run from bloat.

[Anonymous No.23450339]

>>23443421
Your reviews are great, anon. Keep up the good work :)

[Anonymous No.23450370]

>>23449828
>Who started the multi-POV trend?
In fantasy? Pretty sure it was dragonlance

[Anonymous No.23450376]

>>23448052
Being able to convey a complex concepts in a comprehensibly is a sure sign of intelligence (see anecdotes regarding von Neumann). Dressing up simple concepts in flowery language is pseud behaviour.

[Anonymous No.23450481]

>>23449852
Because one character invariably ends up being far more interesting than the rest (or the inverse, one is far worse), and every time the PoV switches to the shitty characters it just feels like the story is dragging and you want nothing more than to skip them, but can't.

[Anonymous No.23450565]

>>23450481
What if it was one pov instead and but it wasn't the one character you liked. Would that improve or worsen the book?

[Anonymous No.23450575]

>>23450565
The Elder Empire series already solved this discussion. It's a Multi PoV story, except the author just split it up into two different series, one for each major PoV, so you have Sea and Shadow trilogies. Sea is far more interesting. I ended up reading Shadow because I wanted to know what was happening from the other PoV.
If they had been mixed together however, both would have been worse. Sea because it would constantly be getting interrupted by Shadow, and Shadow because it would constantly be contrasted with Sea. They were better as separate stories than they would have been together.

[Anonymous No.23450576]

>>23449985
Yeah, I think people think that multiple POV = chapter titled after said character or something when in fact multiple POV has always been the norm.

[Anonymous No.23450681]

>>23450481
They do this to appeal to different demographics so that their work has more overall appeal. Like grrm's Sansa chapters are in the tradition of Jane Eyre to appeal to the female audience

[Anonymous No.23450777]

>>23447622
based

[Anonymous No.23450977]

>>23443657
No that's pure reddit. It's just dumb to reduce Wolfe's work to some sappy "it was all a dream" variant and pat yourself on the ass to say "I solved the puzzle."

Wolfe himself said he wanted to write a story of chivalry/Arthurian legend, but without Christianity.

He also said that the changeling element of the tale, with a boy from our world becoming a hero in the faerie world, was a narrative vehicle, a style choice.

You can take it from there and find more themes and little hidden plot elements, but to boil it all down to 'its about a dying fetus' is just retarded.

Maybe that angle is present (I'm not convinced), but even if so, it's of little significance compared to other angles of interpretation.

[Anonymous No.23451134]

>>23448052
I think his idea of characterizing the cognition of Tekne, the principles of Consult, and the TSA concept of the soul through Consult's relation to paradoxes is kinda fun, but not nearly as smartass as it presents itself.

[Anonymous No.23451184]

>>23450681
lmao

[Anonymous No.23451192]

In new fantasy they don't rape no more. They just act gay and appeal to women. And if you want to read about rape you have to read "lit"rpgs. Fuck this gay earth.

[Anonymous No.23451286]

>>23450977
>chivalry/Arthurian legend, but without Christianity
that's just plain old arthurian legend, though. imagine if someone said "i want to write a story based off of Greek mythology but without Christianity". sure, one might have become more influenced by Christianity than the other (and arguably that one is Greek mythology in reality), but at the core it's still a weird thing to say.

[Anonymous No.23451298]

>>23451286

I haven't read Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur from the 15th c., but I understand that he imparts Christianity on Arthur, even if "the real king arthur" was more likely Celtic/Pagan.

The only Arthur story I've read and enjoyed was Thomas Berger's Arthur Rex (so entertaining, highly recommended). Berger presents Arthur's Christianity as primitive, superstitious, alien and confusing to the characters. A clumsy new mode of thinking.

Anyway, I'd be curious to read the legends pre-Mallory, but never looked into it. Got any good books on the subject?

[Anonymous No.23451309]

>>23449828
>>23449856
>>23449867
>>23449885
>>23450481
>>>/a/isekai

[Anonymous No.23451316]

>>23451286
>Arthurian legend, but without Christianity
>that's just plain old arthurian legend
Well, no, the final form of Arthurian legend as we have it is deeply influenced by Christianity. The oldest non-Christian stuff you can get are the Welsh legends which are very different from later (re)tellings.

>>23451298
Arthurian Romances Unrepresented In Malory's "Morte d'Arthur"

[Anonymous No.23451397]

>>23443516
A little help here.

[Anonymous No.23451505]

>>23450977
>but without Christianity
the Wizard Knight literally has the Archangel Michael appear to Able as he tells him of the Most High God

>>23451286
>>23451316
>>23451298
The Arthurian legends are profoundly Christian from the very beginning. Britain had some of the highest populations of Christian converts by the time the Diocletianic persecution started around 300 AD and was pretty thoroughly Christianized south of Hadrian's Wall by 400 AD. The Britons (Welsh) took to the religion very quickly and very earnestly, the Saxon foederati less so. Meanwhile, the earliest estimations of the historical Arthur's life/reign/activities extends from 480 AD and ends no later than about 536 AD. He was a Christian warrior/warlord who worked for a federation of Christian kings against pagan Saxon invaders. The earliest direct mentions of Arthur in literature are from the 7th century, within 100 years of Arthur's presumed life.
As for the Anglo-Saxons, they were also converted rather easily; between the time Raedwald became the first king to convert in 620, there was only about 60 years before Christian monks report that paganism had been paganism had been virtually eliminated from England (south of Hadrian's wall). It is well after this time that the majority of Arthurian literature is composed, the Welsh oral traditions flourishing during the Anglo-Saxon period in both mainland Britain and Less Britain (Armorica/Brittany, in northwestern France), and only around the 11th-12 century that people actually started writing them down - and by people, I of course mean monks, or at least clerics, because these were typically the only people that could write. Christianity is totally inseparable from Arthurian legend.

[Anonymous No.23451526]

>>23443214
I read a lot of science fiction.
I hated this book so much.
It is good in that it won't take long to complete and move on with your life if you chose to pick it up.

[Anonymous No.23451549]

>>23451316
>The oldest non-Christian stuff you can get are the Welsh legends which are very different from later (re)tellings.
Culwch and Olwen is the oldest Arthurian tale, but it dates to the 11th or 12th century. It's included within the modern compilations of the Mabinogion, but the Mabinogion itself wasn't written until the 11th-12th centuries, and can scarcely be considered authoritative on pre-Christian Celtic tradition 600 years after the fact. Snorri Sturlusson's Prose Edda, Christian influenced as it was, was at least compiled within a century or two of the last living Germanic/Scandinavian pagans.

As for 'Arthurian Romances Unrepresented In Malory's "Morte d'Arthur" ' I'd recommend The Great Book of King Arthur by John Matthews and illustrated by John Howe as something eminently more readable; this compiles almost every major Arthurian tale that Malory left out that had been translated into English or French, though it neglects Italian and German tales like La Pulzella Gaia (The Gay Maiden) and Diu Crone (The Crown). However, there was an amateur translation of The Gay Maiden on reddit that proved to be quite readable.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Arthurian/comments/wpyt5v/an_english_fantranslation_of_the_gay_maiden_a/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Another book my John Matthews, "Sir Gawain: Knight of the Goddess" is a more scholarly work that summarizes a few of these untranslated texts for the purposes of examining the elements of pre-Christian religion that survived into the iconography and storytelling of the Arthurian mythos.
Incidentally, most of these untranslated works involve Gawain on account of his rather obvious pagan provenance; the conversion of such to the Christian chivalrous ideal proved irresistible to the mindset of Italian and German poets, but which the French and English of the later medieval period tended to despise.

[Anonymous No.23451550]

Neighbor is getting rid of their books. Any I should take?

[Anonymous No.23451553]

>>23451550
take everything except the Dark Tower and the Boy in the Striped Pajamas

[Anonymous No.23451558]

>>23451550
Hyperion

[Anonymous No.23451566]

>>23451298
>Thomas Berger's Arthur Rex (so entertaining, highly recommended)
>reviewers noted the changes to the Arthurian legend made by the author, evidently to enhance the story's "appeal in contemporary American society."

[Anonymous No.23451613]

Holy shit. I thought beyond apollo anon was just a weirdo. Is he still here? It's legit a masterpiece

[Anonymous No.23451666]

>>23448805
The Left Hand of Darkness
Triton, or an Ambiguous Heterotopia

[Anonymous No.23451770]

>>23451666
Of course Satan replies to the post about heresy

[Anonymous No.23451821]

>>23451505
ty for recommendation

>>23451566
got damn right, fuck the brits, Berger is very funny, using pigeon old english in a humorous way, and he clearly loves the subject matter.

[Anonymous No.23451857]

Frank Herbert is a surprisingly bad writer on a sentence level. I feel like an ass for having to point it out, I wasn't setting out to criticize him. I recognize he wrote a remarkably complex story across 5 books. But goddamn he's clunky at times.

[Anonymous No.23451890]

>>23451857
There's a reason he never won an uncontested Hugo (back when it was a serious award)

[Anonymous No.23451920]

>>23451550
Take A Fire on the Deep, everything else goes to the charity shop

[Anonymous No.23451972]

>>23451857
I've only read the first Dune, and I didn't find his prose unpleasant at all. I've certainly read worse.

[Anonymous No.23452397]

>>23452394
>>23452394
>>23452394
New!