/lit/ - Literature

>>10458761
Abercrombie - First Law trilogy. Shame westernshit has a dearth of actually good villains like a certain whitehaired faggotron.
Bayaz is a shadow of what a villain should actually be and parts of the entire trilogy seemed completely unnecessary and/or gratuitously shit but characters like Glokta and the ending made the series worthwhile in some ways. It still isn't a great series.

>>10458795
Jemisin is actually capable of writing a better book than Asimov. Capable is not the same thing as actually writing better than Asimov. In any case, I like them both, but Asimov's writing is so beige that it makes Jemisin's prose look purple and yet Asimov is capable of delivering his ideas with far greater results than Jemisin. One only needs to consider the ending of the Obelisk Gate to see that the ideas are definitely there but poorly executed in the subsequent book.

Asimov's writing is also far more concentrated than modern books which attempt to tell ideas that are suitable for one book over three books -- less bloat and more plot. And he also eschews the trappings of style that allow mediocre writers like JCW, Mieville and Scalzi to disguise their inadequacies.

Of the modern female sff writers, Ada Palmer is most definitely better than Jemisin, versed in philosophy and the dialogue, characterisation and prose flows as smooth as butter. For the modern male sff writers, probably Peter Watts or Egan would be my pick, but I do feel that Egan is taking ideas from the more classical authors. I still have not found THE definitive modern writer.

=

Anyway, inching closer to the conclusion of Cloud Atlas. It's pretty experimental, which sometimes works and often fucks up
1. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
Goodish. Might have mentioned this but this seems to take direct inspo from Conrad's heart of darkness (he does use the horror, the horror line later on in the book )
2. Letters from Zedelghem
I've already forgotten what it was about. Pretentious and mediocre. Especially if you have something of a musical background and know that the author is just inserting phrases for wikipedia in an effort to sound knowledgeable
3. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery
Insofar -- goodish.
4. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish
Rick and Morty was much better than this. Absolutely shit tier unless you think that the main character having his buttocks smacked is absolutely hilarious. The author does not understand humour and should not attempt it. Reading this was a ghastly ordeal.
5. An Orison of Sonmi~451
Excellent bread and butter scifi with unusual narrative. Ending reminded me slightly of PKD's Minority Report short story ending fucking Somni deserved better.
6. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After
Unreadable suicide tier garbage with good ideas. Sample paragraph pic related. "Harukami" my ass.
>>10458889
Memorise my chart >>10456374 mobilism = epub, MAM = pdf following it