/lit/ - Literature

What's some sf with weird religious stuff that isn't PKD?

>>11179371
>want to dick the elf
>transform into one so no can get upset
>still get friendzoned

This is now the “discuss how shit Eragon is” thread.

I’ll start, it’s badly written even for something made by a 17 year old. Literal fanfic from Ao3 is generally better than Eragon.

>>11179396
Didn't he end up realising that he loved the Dragon and then he got cucked by her too?

>>11179389
Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds

sanderfag a hack

>>11179375
>Are squid and trains overused?
Not until we get a train that's also a squid - so far Mieville's only done a guy that's part squid, a squid that's a god, a train with golems, and a train with giant moles

What is the Blood Meridian of fantasy novels?

>>11179474
The Hawkline Monster by Richard Brautigan

If you read in English, make sure your version is the 2011 translation.
Download: https://share.soupwhale.com/bibliotik/files/Solaris%20-%20Stanislaw%20Lem/

>>11179474
I have read neither of them (yet), but I bet it is Solaris.

Fantasy is shit, sci-fi for lyfe

>>11179498
count me in!

>>11179446
Elaborate on this

When Ummon is talking about the AI ultimate intelligence fighting the human ultimate intelligence he's referring to God isn't he?

what’s a good fantasy book that’s easy to read
t. never read a book

Anyone know any stories in which the villain is CUTE with someone pure or the hero? I don't care if it's /u/, /y/, M/F or F/M to be absolutely honest famalams.

>>11179751
The Hobbit

>>11179415
Eragon is already basically a Middle-earth/Pern crossover fanfiction. Not surprising it belongs in the trash with other fanfic.

Amazoncore chart WHEN

>>11179375
Jeff Vandermeer is new weird right?

>>11179474
You really don't want fantasy authors to get full of themselves and think they can invent their own grammar rules

Can somebody a fantasy book that feels like an adventure/slice of life anime? Something similar to Log Horizon

>>11180063
recommend*

Why doesn't anyone ever talk about Three Body Problem here?

>>11180063
codex alera

>>11180074
We did 2 threads ago.
(And unfortunately, someone spoiled me on it.)

>>11180076
Too bad it's badly written

>>11180125
It or the sequels?

>>11180074
Because Chinese people aren't humans, they're insect bug people

>>11180074
people talk about it all the time, you're just coming here at the wrong times

>>11179924
Just starting Hyperion's prologue now and definitely not.
>"Words words words," the Council thought and went to the window.
He does this consistently, like it's a real grammar rule. Already annoying.

>>11180152
What's wrong with that sentence? It's an epizeuxis.

>>11180168
That was filler text. The annoying shit is to the right.

>>11180127
Isn't that what was asked for?
>slice of life anime book

>>11179905
Definitely, he and his wife edited two huge anthologies for old and New weird fiction. Reza Negarestani is too

>>11179389
Too Like the Lightning

no offense but science fiction is boring as fuck. Swords and magic are way more entertaining

So how is the whole throne of glass series? Heard it was shit but the reviews seem fine. Typically I dont venture into young adult lite but I need long series since my work involves me sitting on my ass for 12 hours of the day and watch construction equipment move back and forth.

>>11179520
Pleb. Science fantasy is King.

>>11180416
>Swords and magic are way more entertaining

>>11180500
i'm reading the first book
it's silly
>but i'm enjoying it anyway

Is Dying Earth the beginning of the plebfilter for fantasy? I'm not really enjoying this.

>>11180074
Because people who have never read it call it 3-meme due to reddit embracing it. Too bad, great trilogy. Not very hard, but insanely imaginative.

>>11180562
gud, sometimes I need something stupid to clean my palate.

>>11180063
Brandon Sanderson

>>11180416
Don't worry anon, no one thinks you're offensive, everyone just thinks you're stupid and tasteless.

>>11180873
>muh pew-pew rockets vs muh swords and dragons

you're right there's such a gap in taste in these children's hobbies

I have one more chapter in the crippled god and I don't want to read it because I don't want it to be over.

are any of the spinoffs good?

Anyone here who read A Court of Thorns and Roses series?
Any good?

>>11181064
>A female writer writing about a female lead character who somehow looks exactly like her
I can already tell this is self insert jerk off porn. Hot author though

>>11180930
Wow you so manly anon. The way you told thous nerds on the anonimus image board really made me wet.

Any cool novels with a girl protagonist?

>>11181032
Erikson's other stuff is pretty good, haven't tried Esselmont's though.

>>11180564
It's something pseuds recommend because they hate fantasy and want other people to share their disdain of the genre. They pretend to like really boring and shitty books in the hopes it convinces people that "real" fantasy fans are all pretentious cocksuckers.

>>11179415
>it’s badly written even for something made by a 17 year old.
Was written by a 21 year old though.

>>11181076
>looks exactly like her
>except young and not fat
>And has friends and no cats

>>11181196
Nah, he just aged a few years in the years between his books. He was a teen at the first book.

>>11179375
Why are we in such a drought /sffg/?
I can't remember the last good book that came out.

I miss Bakker-posting and Vampires in Space.
There's nothing to read.

>>11181293
>Thinking that bitch is fat
Know how I know you're an actual virgin?

>>11181392
Kings of the wyld was pretty good and I found it amusing. I've literally never seen it shilled here before though

to the anon that suggested listening to that book of the new sun podcast, thank you. there's so much stuff i missed on my first read through of botns. it's unreal how wolfe has managed to hide so much stuff in the subtle prose.

>>11179389
Book of the New Sun
Hyperion
Dune
all explore religious themes in various ways.
BotNS in particular is a must read for SF fans.

>>11179751
A Wizard of Earthsea

>>11180564
I have owned a nice hardback edition of the Complete Dying Earth for ten years and I still haven't read it lmao

If I enjoyed Book of the New Sun, will enjoy Soldier in the Mist?
The premise sounds intriguing.
Give me a quick, spoiler-free rundown.

>3 body problem
>counting the planet, it's about the movements of 4 bodies
What did he mean by this?

What did /sffg/ think of pic related?

>>11181806
Definitely one of the better SF books of the last few years. Recommended.

>>11181474
Probably. Like BotNS it's a book that demand some effort on your side. It deals heavily with Greek mythology, aspects of different deities and does not always name them so it's good to have some prior knowledge. Latro is a foreigner in Greece, so there's some play with words when he mishear or translate something wrong (Sparta = Rope, for example).

>>11181429
link?

>>11181831
might dip into it after reading Iliad and Odyssey

>>11181831
sounds like just my thing. i've got a good knowledge of greek mythology, so it will be nice to put it to some use.

>>11181064
>Sarah
>Female protagonist

>>11179375
Can we get a new weird chart?

Anon, i have a very strange request maybe, but i need an old book from 90x:

1.Renegade's Honor by William H. Keith, Jr
2.Damned If We Do …, Frost Death, and Monsoon, all by Peter L. Rice

May you help me?

>>11181064
Why is this shit so popular?

>>11181926

>>11181392
See >>11181064

Is pretty good.

>>11181936
?
I`m new here

>>11181950
Go to your library and look up the books in the catalog. If they're not in the catalog ask a librarian for an interlibrary loan. If you still can't get the book go to the /lit/ sticky.

>>11181947
>

>>11181931
The author is a young "perky" female, she's part of the demographic (YA readers) her books are targeting.

>>11182380
>Sarah lives in Bucks County, PA, and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for Disney movies and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales and ballet, drinks too much tea, and watches an ungodly amount of TV.

>>11182451
I could not have written a more accurate description of the modern YA reader if my life depended on it.

I enjoyed Kingkiller Chronicles.

>>11182451
>Ballet

She doesn't deserve it.

>tfw too many ideas
I've written intro chapters for like 15 different stories by now, fuck

>>11179890
Has anyone reviewed this title?

>>11182880
https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Metal-Modern-Science-Fiction-ebook/dp/B01MQ4GWPI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1477410826&sr=1-1&keywords=cold+metal

>>11180074

They do, incessantly.

I want to get into cyberpunk, but many of the books in the sticky seem to pretty action heavy and I would prefer something that goes deeper into the challenges/low life aspect of a cyberpunk world. Can anybody rec something?
Till now Ive only read
>Neuromancer
>Do Androids...
And, even though its not really lit
>GitS

>>11183081
read more Dick tbph, cyberpunk or otherwise.
most of his novels aren't action-oriented

I can't stand generic good guy stories but I also cannot stand generic anti-good guy stories like The Black Company.

Anyone got anything that's "realistic" without being grimdark?

Bonus points if it's from a non-traditional perspective. I don't mean sandniggers and womyn, I mean monster protagonist or something similar.

>>11183382
Have you read Lord of the Rings? I know a lot of people don't because of the stereotypes but Frodo is a wonderfully complex character, realistic and pretty dark but not grimdark. In my last reread the way he feels after Weathertop floored me; I saw what Tolkien was trying to say, about the way things lose color after the first time you've been in combat, and how it leaves something in you for life.

>>11183441
>Have you read Lord of the Rings?
No, and I do need to get around to reading it at some point but I'm really looking for light on-the-bus reading at this stage. I'm too busy with my drawing, writing, work, and uni to sit down for proper books.

>>11183446
Maybe Orphans of Chaos
We do meme it but the protagonist is a multi-dimensional squid creature unless certain people are looking at her and while she's good from her perspective her crew are arguably the bad guys from another.

>>11183382
maybe the dark lords handbook is something for you.
its about a kid who is supposed to become the dark lord. gets a magical handbook thats supposed to guide him. its more on the humorous side of things but the mc is basically comic book villain evil but doesnt shy from enslaving people or killing people off.

>>11183115
I planned on doing that anyway, his novels really are great. A Scanner Darkly should be delivered to me in the next few days. That style is exactly what I want, but more cyberpunk-y, if you know what I mean.

>>11183446
Diana Wynne Jones' stuff tends to balance light and grit well. Deep Secret was really good.

>>11183461
>We do meme it but the protagonist is a multi-dimensional squid creature unless certain people are looking at her
>protagonist
>her
No thanks.

I'm sorry to be fussy but this is actually the reason why I'm desperately begging for recommendations in the first place.

I cannot find fucking anything that I actually want to read.

I even tried just saying "fuck it" and getting a bunch of books that I wasn't really super interested in but thought that reading something is better than nothing, and I dropped all of them after like two chapters for being mindnumbing.

>>11183475
That's the other problem. I'm more interested in things being played straight with middle-of-the-road stakes involved.

To give an example, a book I'd really like to read would be about bandits from a "designated evil" race in a Dungeons and Dragons world somehow ending up with the magic save the universe artefact and having to be the good guys that they really aren't while everyone, bad and good, is trying to hunt them down and kill them.

I dunno I'm not a (good) writer, but that's the kind of slight twist played straight on an old story with nontraditional characters that I'm after. Just an example to try and get across exactly what I want.

>>11183382
W O R M
O
R
M

>>11183490
you sound like you want some sort of deconstruction type story. The only ones I can really think of that are very aware of the cliches of their respective genres are Name of the WInd (which youve probably read) and W O R M which you should try because it's free and one of the best sff type stories I've ever read. Also maybe bakker but hes probably too edgy for you.

>>11183382
>that pic
Look kids, dialectic!

>>11183549

>>11183514
>>11183540
What is this W O R M you speak of?

>>11183575
https://parahumans.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/

the only decent web serial ever written.

>>11183588
>first person
Strike 1.
>set in a school/child protagonist
Strike 2.
>female protagonist
Strike 3 and you're out.

I'm going to keep reading it though.

>>11183603
its a lot better than youd expect from that, it has a bit of a slow start but when shit starts going down you'll realize it's nothing like the YA fanfiction you'd expect from the premise.

Nothing fucking annoys me more when im listening to a series of audiobooks and they change the narrator mid series. Considering just dropping it right now im so annoyed, new narrator fucking makes me want to slit my wrists.

>>11183645
>listening to audio"books"

>>11183667
I do it before going to sleep and while going to the gym. Most books i read on Kindle.

>>11181884
https://alzabosoup.libsyn.com/category/The+Book+of+the+New+Sun
alzabo soup podcast. recommend following along with the book as they talk about it.

Just bought this.

Anyone read it?

>>11183729
she cant right a decent monk to save her life, but apart from that its not bad, i enjoyed it.

>>11183716
They're kinda weird and their theories go off the rails often. Worth a listen if only for the fact that they're genuine Gene fans and you don't find those often

>>11183729
this shit sounds boring as fuck. This is why I can't get into sci fi over fantasy. Just boring "what ifs" about the future. Fantasy all the fucking way

>>11183890
My understanding is that it's more an exploration of the author's own faith and spirituality than it is a story, though I'm sure it is a story as well.

>>11183890
You should try science fantasy.

Science fiction, when defined in any way that actually distinguishes it from fantasy, has integral to it commentary about society. Although this is of more "academic merit" than simple storytelling, the storytelling does suffer from this need to be applicable.

Just finished Dune and thought it was alright. My favorite sci-fi so far has been the Foundation series. Even the last few where they're searching for the original earth is really compelling to me.

What are some good kind of planet hopping books?

>>11183908
Red/Blue/Green Mars

Second Foundation is best Foundation although I liked The Mule better than any of Asimov's characters so far

>>11183908
Hyperion

At least the first two books if I remember correctly and Audiobook is good tier

rest of Asimov books
his robot cycle is also good

Just picked up Blood of the Four by Tim Lebbon and Christopher Gold. Anyone here read it?

>>11183894
That includes Dune, BOTNS and Hyperion. What else?

>>11183908
also remembered:

The Mote in God's Eye
by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

Starship Troopers
by Robert A. Heinlein

>>11183939
I agree about The Mule. Such a terrifying character.

>>11183946
I read some of the robot series but couldnt find some of the others online. I'll have to look again because I enjoyed it a lot.

>>11183961
Cool! I'll look into them.

I looked at that NPR flowchart and The Culture Series and Ringworld but seem up my alley. I tried to read A Fire Upon the Deep but I couldn't get through it really.

>>11183961
i love how starship troopers was intended to be a parody of fascism and miltiary states but ended up as a guidebook on how its actually a good political system.

>>11181931
Teenagers have bad taste. Case in point: Eragon was super popular back in the early - mid 00s.

>>11184007
eragon flew completely past me when it came out. still havent read it.

>>11181299
No he wasn't.
>born 1983
>Eragon published by Knopf Books 2003
So he was 20, not 21, but still not a teenager. He self-published the book when he was 19, but the version published by Knopf is a rewrite he did for copyright reasons. I doubt you or anyone else has actually read the version he published at 19 because he never sold it anywhere, it was all a marketing stunt to get a real publishing gig. That's why he spent a year relentlessly touring libraries and anywhere else he could get a venue until he met Knopf's own son who got him an interview with his dad. That's how Eragon happened.

>>11183985
>I tried to read A Fire Upon the Deep but I couldn't get through it really.

Trouble is the actual space opera turns out to be a few chapters short, the rest of the novel is a children's dog story.

>>11184026
Lol thats what it seemed like in the beginning. Just wasnt interesting to me. I also read Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy and loved it but I figured thats most people

>>11183490
Just read Swords Against Death you tremendous faggot.

>>11184026
How young are you? Cause most of the fantasy scene in the early 00s was all abuzz about it. I remember it being mostly popular with teens, but even some adults were getting on the hype train because of "omg he's so young!".

>>11183985
The Mule isn't as much terrifying as he is the kind of unstoppable force that you better not get in the path of. He always seemed to me like a benevolent dictator that you have to live with until he dies. In his late 30's. Poor sterile fuck.

>tfw your waifu kills your chance to build an everlasting galactic empire right in front of you

>>11183985
try searching here if you look for:
audiobooks :
>abbaudiobook.com/

regular books:
>gen.lib.rus.ec/foreignfiction/index.php

for bigger pack recommendation try
thepiratebay.org/torrent/6804125/The_Top_100_Sci-Fi_Audiobooks___(1-25)


if you liked Heinlein
try:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Stranger in a Strange Land

both are good thou Stranger in a Strange Land is harder to get in

>>11184070
Not sure if this is what you were pointing me towards but I ended up here and it looks interesting so thanks regardless.

>>11184068
Hitchhiker's is the most beloved book I have ever heard of, in SF at least

>>11184075
26 born 92. i was much more into military fantasy back then for some weird reason. when eragon came out i was 12 or so.

>>11184106
Yeah you'd be right in the target demo then, weird it passed you by then.

>>11184046
this, in a book whit elder entities and cthulhu tier gods and space ships its a book about a teenager and a child whit puppies

>>11184094
Yeah I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk bad about it. Theres no reason to dislike unless you don't have a sense of humor. I never finished the last one and don't have a huge desire too really. How similar is Terry Pratchett? I've hard a lot of people compare the two.

>>11184088
You have any big packs like that but epubs instead of audiobooks? I've never really gotten into them but should probably give it a try.

>>11184117
Yeah I was born in 91 and loved Eragon.

>>11184183
Terry Pratchett made me forget about Douglas Adams. Way funnier, way smarter, way more sympathetic characters, and plots that go places.

>>11184183
>Yeah I was born in 91 and loved Eragon
I was born in 90 and eragon is fucking shit. Ever consider the fact that you're a disgusting pleb with shit tier taste?

>>11184041
That's still nowhere near as bad as the artificial hype behind Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The publishers basically bought her an award for her book

>>11183959
lord of light

>>11184263
I was born 96 and think it's pretty unoriginal, but no worse than Wheel of Time, Sanderson, or most popular fantasy really. It's a bad genre.

>>11183892
You're right. The book is more fiction than scifi. It was a good book though

>>11184235
Wheres the best place to start with him?

>>11184287
Guards, Guards!, Mort, or Equal Rites (for his City Watch, Death, and Witches books respectively). The Rincewind/Twoflower stuff from the early books is ok for a quick laugh, but they don't feel as fleshed-out of characters.

>>11184183
I don`t have epub pack, try looking thru that pack in pirate bay and search in lingen

>>11182885
Congratulations your entire book is just a rip off of bungo stray dogs

>>11184287
Going Postal.

>>11184308
Ah yeah, this is also good. Forgot about old Moist von Lipwig. (You could technically also do Good Omens, which is supposed to be a Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman cowrite, but feels like about 80% Pratchett)

>>11184296
>>11184316
Cool. Thanks guys. Just got a torrent for 41 of the discworld books.

>>11184308
Will do

Reading Solaris
Does the part around page 120 about the "life froms" produced by the living ocean go anywhere
Its getting tedious to read and if it isn't relevant it seems like a waste of time. Why is there a chapter about him reading a fucking book in the book? At least the books relevant to the story earlier were relevant.

>>11183588
>>11183603
>>11183620
>>11183575
>>11183514
>>11183540
>WORM

I skipped around for a few chapters to test the waters. The writing sucks hard.

I'm leery of /sffg/'s recommendations since so many of you unironically read Sanderson.

>>11183382
BOOK
OF
THE
NEW
/sffg/

>>11183989
>starship troopers was intended to be a parody of fascism and miltiary states
you're confusing it with the film.
the book isn't a parody. it doesn't even depict a fascist society imo

>>11184432
i remember the book being pretty much the same as far as politics and miltiary go. i agree though on the parody part. i remember the book being more serious. the similarities to the movie are staggering though. i dont think anyone expected that the movies would become a cult classic like the book was.

>>11179498
>I have read neither of them (yet)
Blood Meridian deserves every bit of hype and praise it gets, which is incredibly rare. Absolutely recommend reading it when you get a chance

Why does nobody ever talk about the Books of the Long Sun?

>>11184432
Right, there's nothing about Starship Troopers Earth that's anything like fascism except maybe the military being popular, and that's because it was wartime, and even then Johnny's parents disowned him because he joined the army. Limiting/expanding the franchise was something of a hot topic at the time, John W. Campbell also talked about it in his editorial "A Constitution For Utopia," and of course the groundwork was being laid for the 26th amendment. I've never heard a cogent defense of the claim that ST is fascist. A lot of the time it's from nutballs like Moorcock that think LotR is fascist too.

Does anyone have that review that btfo'd Robert Jordan saved?

>>11184458
UotNS didn't really leave me wanting any more. It was an interesting character more than an interesting world.

>>11184442
it's hardly fascism though.
the militaristic hierarchy, and limited franchise aside, the populace in the setting enjoy pretty much the same freedoms that people in the western world do today.
maybe people see fascism in the novel, because most of it takes place in a marines boot camp, which is quite a 'fascist' environment to be in regardless of the general politics of the nation itself.

I'm on a re-read of A Feast for Crows and I'm enjoying it a lot more the second time round. There's something about the creepiness factor and how it goes into the lore and affected areas that King's Landing are neglecting that make it so interesting. It also feels like a solid reboot of the series too. I can see why a lot of surface level readers wouldn't enjoy it at all but the only chapter I've actually detested due to how boring it was would be Ser Aerys.

Crackpot theory while I'm at it: The Drowned God is The Great Other and imprisoned beneath Winterfell. The Iron Born will raid the crypts in one of Asha's chapters and discover this. Both Jon and Catelyn were resurrected by The Drowned God.

>>11184458
very few people have read them it seems, and even less have read Book of the Short Sun.
i fall into both those categories, but i am planning on reading Long Sun after I get done with little Middle-English stack.
Still, it's been almost a decade since I read BotNS, so maybe I will read that again first, lel

>>11184480
thats fair but often people see fascism as synonymous with racism which isnt the case. fascism is more nationalism rather than racism. if you are part of my people then i dont care who you are kind of thing if you get my meaning. thats probably what i was trying to get across.

>>11184487
>The Drowned God is The Great Other and imprisoned beneath Winterfell. The Iron Born will raid the crypts in one of Asha's chapters and discover this.
>implying GRRM will even finish the next book

>>11184278
>unironically comparing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to fucking Eragon
Did Susanna Clarke kill your parents or something?

>>11184450
>Absolutely recommend reading it when you get a chance
It's on my to read list, will probably read it this year.

>>11184487
It isn't nearly as annoying now as it was when it was released, keep in mind it was the only ASOIAF book for 11 years(keep in mind the first three books were released in four years) and it barely touched a lot of favorite story lines or didn't mention them at all

When you can go straight into Dance of Dragons it doesn't hurt quite as much

>>11184498
>implying GRRM will even finish the next book
>next book

Wild Cards?

>>11184576

I fondly remember waiting the whole six years for ADWD. That was torture. I can see why people would be pissed regarding AFFC not including Jon, Dany, or Tyrion but there's a lot of interesting content in that book which I think will be regarded as underappreciated years to come after the series is over.

>>11184595
It got even worse in DoD when you realized it was just the same book as AFFC and the overall plot wasn't going to be pushed forward

I've more or less given up on the series at this point, 18 years and we've had one book split into two parts,

>>11184694
>18 years and we've had one book split into two parts

well hopefully you've made good use of that time

learned new skills, built a career, started a family

>>11183729
>that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human"
woah.... never heard that one before!

I updated my selected scifi favorites chart, if anyone cares and/or would like to add it to the next OP.

>>11184530
I just hate fake books that buy their success because they have no literary merit bro beans

>>11184088
>liking Heinlein
Better cleanse your mind with pic related.

I trust amazon reviewers more than the posters in this thread

>>11184762
What are A Planet for Rent, and Nekropolis like?

>>11184800
A Planet For Rent is interconnected stories set on Earth after it is taken over by aliens and essentially becomes a third-world tourist destination, as all other alien races are better off than us and all that Earth has going for it is that it's incredibly cheap for the other races to come and fuck around with us. The author is Cuban so there are clear parallels between the world and Cuba, but I thought it was well done.

Nekropolis is a story about a romance between a servant girl whose mind has been altered through technology and an artificially created man who serves as a slave in a futuristic Morocco. Under the new wave of Islam the artificial people aren't considered human and the servant girl isn't really free, so it's almost a take on Romeo & Juliet, but it gets pretty dark. Most people are still dirt-poor and so their lives largely aren't made that different by advanced technology, but it's a pretty well-constructed setting. I bet a lot of people won't like this one, but I did.

>>11184793
Stop shilling this cheap attempt at copyright infringement. Bitch is a thief

>>11184839
Thanks, think i'll check out A Planet For Rent

any classic space operas out there?

>>11184770
Even if you were right (you're not) and Jonathan Strange lacked all literary merit you're still comparing a somewhat original setting to fucking Eragon, the most uninspired, generic story in fantasy. It's absurd.

>>11184839
Planet for Rent sounds cool. How long is it?

>>11185027
A little under 300 pages.

Is there any good Steampunk? I tried the Difference Engine and dropped it because it was boring.

>>11185044
Cool. You don't happen to have an epub link or anything do you?

>>11185056
I don't, sorry.

>>11184992
>the tone and diction of your post
You could be any more reddit if you tried

How often do yall hit up the local library?

>>11185110
Not nearly enough. But I'm also materialist trash that likes to have his own copies of books especially if they're new or like-new

>>11181193
You are a strange one.

>>11179389
The Book of the New Sun
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Dune
Hyperion
Too Like the Lightning

>>11185110
I don't even know what libraries are nearby, I just hit up the old irchighway whenever I need a book.

>>11180564
Dying Earth was pretty influential and is a cool setting. However, it's also kind of disjointed and amateurish, especially by the usual standards of Vance. This is because it's his first novel. Don't feel bad if you don't like it.

>>11181392
Count to Infinity by John C. Wright came out in December. N.K. Jemisin shows some promise, I liked the Fifth Season books. Ada Palmer will release the fourth and final book of the Terra Ignota trilogy next year. We're due for another Ted Chiang anthology.

>>11185301
Thats what I do too. i think my library is trash though i've never really been in.

>>11183908
>What are some good kind of planet hopping books?

The Demon Princes

>>11184345
Yes, although the point that it makes are relatively subtle.

The simplest answer is that the infodumps reveal how fucking weird Solaris actually is to the reader in stages without having to have the narrator "discover" stuff he should already know.

>>11184458
I have, but clearly not many people have read it. It's good, but nowhere near BotNS-tier. Then, once you reader Short Sun, you realize that it's pretty much just a 1200 page long prologue to the much better Short Sun.

> Hyperion
> Neuromancer
> Ninefox Gambit
> The Three-Body Problem
Which one should I read first? I'm kind of mildly interested in all of them but neither of them stands out to me. I'm thinking of checking out one from the library this week.

>>11185110
I used to go every week. Now I just buy used books.

>>11184470
Some Golden Age SF arguably was fascist, but Starship isn't anywhere close to being an example. Even if you take its message 100% straight, it's not some insane fascist idea that the franchise ought to be restricted to "stakeholders" in a society.

>>11185053
>Is there any good Steampunk?

No.

What are some fantasy books that feature a villain as the protagonist? And I don't mean some faggot-ass anti-hero, I mean a mean dude looking for world domination, or some evil shit.

>>11185346
3BP probably has the broadest appeal. Most people either love or hate Hyperion, also it ends on a huge cliffhanger to the extent that it's basically only half a book. Neuromancer is dated but is more of a standalone than the others. Wasn't a fan of Ninefox.

>>11185053
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitty_Chitty_Bang_Bang

>>11185316
You're better off drinking bleach than reading Ada Palmer

>>11185365
Thank you, friend.

>>11185365
It's not half a book, it's thought provoking and open ended. The sequel craps all over that with mundane overexplaining.

>>11185362
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

I know this isn’t really per usual, but I wrote some short stories, snippets really, for my posthuman ttrpg setting on /tg/ today: >>>/tg/59840403

I wrote most of those, other anons did the rest. Critiques? Rip me a new one fellers.

what's the Dorohedoro of /sffg/?

>>11185488
>Benign-a48
Decent, but falls off at the end. It starts out sounding like a jargon-filled technical description, which makes phrases like "would just turn around and" or "had no idea who they were" sound awkward.
>Ourobon
This one is the worst. Please don't use "??!", and learn when to use "its" versus "it's". The word choice is off, too. "As it were" is a completely unnecessary filler phrase. "Unphased" and "steadfast" don't work great together, since they have different connotations: you're steadfast if you resiliently withstand danger, but if you're unphased there isn't any danger at all and you just don't give a shit. "Leaking and punching" also clashes: "leak" implies something slow and passive, while "punch" is fast and violent. Overall, I think you're trying too hard to be fancy.
>Tipareth
Not as bad, but inconsistent. Half of the time you're again using fancy words like "sordid" and "throes" with an attempt at (I assume) poetic style. Then you mix in random slang like "kaijus" and "supers" and it messes everything up.

>>11185576
That looks interesting. I may have to read this.

>>11184496
Fascism is neither nationalism nor racism.

The predominant distinguishing characteristic of fascism is a veneration of violence. Fascism is obsessed with the "purifying" (for want of a better word) effect of violence - whether it is the survival of the fittest culling the herd or armed conflict between nations driving the people to their highest effort, the power of naked violence to cultivate human virtues (and the virtue in preparing and executing violence) is central to Fascist thought.

Nationalism and fascism are inseparable, yes, but I wouldn't call nationalism more central to fascism than the exultation in violence.

Fascism is veneration of violence. You can be a nationalist pacifist but you cannot be a fascist pacifist.

This is why it's fucking HILARIOUS to me that fascists have lost the only war they ever fought.

>>11185599
the first few chapters are really rough but it's one of the few universally liked manga on /a/

>>11185685
Really? I have it pulled up now. What are some others? I mostly have just read popular shonen outside of some staples everybody has. 'm always looking for new long good manga.

>>11185702
Vinland Saga, Black Lagoon, Dungeon Meshi, Eden - It's an endless world, Berserk, Historie, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

>>11185584
Thanks, appreciate the crit. The only thing is, for Benign, I wanted it to seem like their life had been very studious and fact filled, like an entry out of a field guide, but in the end they were still clueless, or at least felt like it.

What about the rest, any opinions or crits on those?

>>11185702
>>11185730

Fire Punch and Ajin are also good but both are acquired tastes. Especially Fire Punch. I find people are put off by the nearly attempted rape in the first volume but it's pretty interesting.

>>11184353
all genre fiction is trash. If you judge worm as a piece of genre fiction its better than the vast majority of other works. Much MUCH better than sanderfag. the prose is mostly invisible, whats good is the plot and deconstruction of capeshit.

>>11185730
Man Dungeon Meshi is great.

>>11185811
The dog rape? Does it get better after that? Thats about where I stopped.

>>11185813
why would you read something that long if it's trash
nobody here likes sanderson, he's a YA mogul
what are you doing with your life man

>>11185819

Goes into a lot of meta places which is kind of fun and a little like the movies of David Lynch which is why I enjoy it a lot.

>>11185824
idk why we do it. If i had the willpower to read /lit/ books all the time I would. Genre fiction is fun though.

>>11180063
The three/four series by Will Wight:
>Cradle
>Travelers Gate
>Elder Empire: Sea and Elder Empire: Shadow

>>11179575
>dude gods lmao

all his books

>>11183588
You haven’t read Ra or Fine Structure, I guess.

https://qntm.org/ra

>>11185376
Best sci-fi author in years, my friend. It’s ok not to like her I guess, but you should keep your venom to yourself. What about her writing makes you say that.

>>11185931
wtf is genre fiction

>>11186059
everything that isn't on NYT top 10 lists I believe

>>11186029
obvious bait

>>11184902
Antares Dawn?

>>11183603
Wow those are your conditions for not reading something?

>>11184183
Belated response, but Terry and Douglas are quite similar, although Terry's characters are way better written, Death and Granny Weatherwax are two of the best characters in fantasy

>>11186059
Fiction written to fit a mold and interest fans of a certain genre, the opposite being literary fiction. Sandersons books are perfect examples of genre fiction, they almost nothing innovative with the genre, they are produced en masse and are very easy to digest.

Nowadays, especially on /lit/, all SF&F is counted as genre fiction. However a book can be more or less genre, for example most people probably agree that BotNS is more literary than Oatbringer.

>>11186029
Kys

Any cool novels with a powerful girl protagonist?

>>11186535
What do you mean by powerful?

>>11185576
Dick

>>11186544
Being far stronger than the rest of her surrounding.

>>11186535
pic
>>11186518
oh well I enjoy that mold. I read for fun and the whole "young hero training and making friends to defeat the evil" is fun. Literary fiction sounds like pretentious contrived garbage

>>11186548

>>11186559
In what way stronger?

>>11186561
Thanks.

>>11186574
In a fight.

>>11186561
>genre fiction
If you read it and don't understand it that's the author's fault.
>literary fiction
If you read it and don't understand it that's your fault.

>>11186561
Literary fiction is great. However, there's absolutely nothing wrong with liking genre fiction. It's basically only used as an insult by insecure pesuds who read because they want to feel superiour to everybody else.

>>11186635
Genre fiction is of no lasting value because it is written to cater to the ephemeral tastes of the mob.

Literary fiction is written to expose a deeper truth.

>>11186641
>no lasting value
Time will tell.

>>11186647
It already has.

Point me to a penny dreadful that became a classic. You can't.

"We just don't know it true value yet!" is a horrible argument.

>>11186641
or maybe genre fiction is just the tried and true version. If it aint broke dont fix it. And its obviously not ephemeral if its been around so long. If some people want to write a bunch of deep metaphorical stuff and others stick to the mold with a few original twists and turns who cares.

>>11186649
I just wonder on how many of those classics we read today were actually pop pieces of the past, with no goal for seeking deeper truth.

>>11186571

You know what I hate Rothfuss for?
Skipping the sea travel shit in book 2 I love me a good ship journey filled with storms and pirates, it was glossed over and sounded like the best adventure in the entire series so far.

>>11186641
>because it is written to cater to the ephemeral tastes of the mob
And what is wrong with that?

What deeper truth does Moby Dick expose? The Three Musketeers? Great Expectations? Or even The Metamorphosis?

>>11186764
book 2 was a mess anyway
no wonder he can't seem to shit out the third one in time because he has to unfuck everything he did in 2

The universe is just a (relatively) tiny pocket of space, where the worst creatures, criminals and computers are sealed in super massive black holes. Planets and suns are just there so the galaxy centers don't expire through radiation and humans are merely a coincidence

Why does Jack Vance describe magic so beautifully in his The Dying Earth but cannot write an interesting plot to save his life? This is "nothing happens: the book"

Any fantasy set in places like Wales or Scotland?

>>11185413
I share the same sentiment. The prose is so good that it took me a good while to label shrike "a big sharp dude", before he lived in words and not concepts. Still, I sort of want to read 3 and 4, do they retrospectively shit on enjoyment of Hyperion or can they be at least somewhat enjoyed for what they are. I just believe that the world as it was left off by the end of "Fall" can be pretty interesting to explore.

Anyone use RSS to follow specific authors or series they enjoy? I'm trying to find a way to get a feed with releases and book announces only, without it almost entirely being blog posts

>>11187193
The Grey King is set in Wales but it's book 4 of 5 in the Dark is Rising series, a young adult series. It's pretty good tho and won the Newbery Medal

>>11185068
>You could be any more reddit if you tried
Why would he want to be more reddit?

>>11183716
thanks based anon

>>11184487
I too enjoyed it on a re-read. ADWD was still mediocre though.

>>11186787
this is bait.

I think I hate Robert Jordan as a person now, I'm glad he's dead, hopefully it hurt.

>>11187671
Why?

Reading the postman right now, fuck its good; but I've noticed that its taking place in Oregon again just like the Emberverse series couple of questions as an non-american; wtf is going on over there in Oregon or just lighting striking twice?; is there other post-apocalypse books set here? and anything simpliar since im dreading the end of the postman

would recommend both but the emberverse gets progressively shitter as get to the latter half kind wheel of time-esk ptoblems dont read female pov sections

>>11187653
>there's something wrong with entertainment
>unironically claiming that literary fiction is written to expose a deeper truth
>implying my post is bait

>>11186787
>What deeper truth does Moby Dick expose?
Sailing is complicated.

>>11186787
>What deeper truth does Moby Dick expose?
Whales are fish and the sperm whale is the biggest animal on Earth. The politicians and scientist DON'T want you to know this!

What books would you recommend from this list?
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/92192.Empire_building_conquering_ruling
(Each person recommend at least 10 books)

>>11187841
There are a couple of decent books but in general I'd say avoid every book on that list.

>>11187841
most of the books on that list are pretty bad. personally i enjoyed dune, super sales and spellmonger on that list particularly. the rest arent very good. havent read demons of astlan but i heard mixed things about that.

>>11187841
>(Each person recommend at least 10 books)

>>11187841
The Folding Knife is absolutely based

Should I just start with this?

Is the Quantum Thief trilogy worth a shot, or is it another case where only the first novel is worth a read?

I really don't understand the point of YA. Read real novels! I was reading Stephen King when I was 12, and I turned out just fi...okay I think I understand now...

>>11187933
No.

>>11187933
No.

>>11187966
>>11187980
Why?
Are you that incel woman hater?

>>11187982
It's been shilled here without any discussion at all, indicating that it's either bad or that the person recommending it have not read it.

>>11187989
That's a horrible leap of logic.

>>11187992
No.

>New Weird
>What if there was a guy who had a bug for a head and he had sex?

This isn't a real genre, it's a buzzword used to push books.

>>11188018
The girl had the bug head.
You're talking about Perdido right?

>>11187982
I think we're two different people.

What do you think of this guy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AixyMk0p8tg

>>11187982
see >>11182451

>>11188132
>ad hominem
I don't know why you hate woman writers so much but you should really try to form an actual argument instead of this childish shit.

This is basically me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht8kyDw35as

>>11188146
Think you're confusing me with someone else.
Are you underage?

>>11188159
Do they put EPO in onions?
How does he have so much energy?

>>11188018
It doesn't even push books, Mieville's career is finished after releasing 4 books with abysmal sells in a row, a failed adaptation and political career being in the dumpster.

>>11188174
Then why did you link to that post if you didn't want to communicate anything written in it?
Did you know Sarah J Maas graduated magna cum laude?

>>11188018
>One author's book is representative for the whole "genre"
Iron Dragon's Daughter has less buzzwords and the story is stranger.

>>11188196
>Did you know Sarah J Maas graduated magna cum laude?
Couldn't care less, with a bio that shit.

>>11188210
So basically an ad hominem.

>>11185576
Dorohedoro was such a trainwreck most people dropped it years ago.

>>11186649
Varney the vampire and the string of pearls you disgusting fucking pleb. Please refrain from posting comments for the sake of hearing yourself speak when the things coming out of your mouth are idiocy

>>11188195
>four books with abysmal sales in a row
I'm assuming you mean his most recent ones? Kinda surprised he hasn't improved. I forced myself through Perdido Street Station because my brother was raving about it. Good ideas and neat concepts but boy he sucked at writing. The epitome of not caring about the reader or their enjoyment and just telling the story with stale sentences. Anyway, I figured his newer stuff would be more enjoyable as he wrote more and got feedback, but if his newer books are tanking, he's probably just getting more up his ass with his super unique concepts

>>11188282
He didn't listen to feedback, he thinks any criticism is bourgeoise hatred of him. He went full commie and his book about the communist revolution is full of historical revisionism

>>11188196
>graduated magna cum laude
From where? MCL from some Podunk college is worth much less than a cum laude from a real uni

>>11179924
But I do.

>>11188325
Hamilton college.

I'm legit triggered enough to spend time making this image, well done and fuck you Mass shill.

>>11188159
>play it
>5 seconds in
>close it
>regret the whole thing
Do I have aids now?

>>11188440
NO seriously why isn’t this bitch getting sued? That character is clearly just stolen intellectual property

New thread:
>>11188458
>>11188458
>>11188458

How does it compare to the rest of his works?

>>11188463

I liked it, had the same unreliable narrating in all of his books, does not whitewash how shitty the golden age of piracy could be, the main character has an interesting moral conflict about him.

s'good.

not ashamed to shill for this

This is a love letter to kung-fu fantasies, with a setting whose inspiration comes from Morrowind, Hinduism, Buddhism, and certain Gnostic sects.

good shit, imo.