/lit/ - Literature

Which is your favourite Tolkien book? For me, it's the Beowulf translation with Sellic Spell.

>>20394132
Lord of the rings.

>>20394158
That's a book? I thought it was six books.

>>20394132
I never managed to truly enjoy Lord of the Rings, read it only once. But Hobbit I read several times, plus listened to the audiobok. That book is mad comfy, concise and enjoyable.

Wasn't the The History of the Hobbit excised from the body of The History of Middle-Earth as bequeathed from Chris Tolkien's mouth because according to Chris The Hobbit originally was indeed not part of the list to get in the beta branch of Legendarium and was patched in the Legendarium by J.R.R. at the behest of his publishers or perchance am I forgetting wrongly?

Any Fantasy or Science Fiction books that are similar to the Sopranos? And what I mean by that, have various characters struggle to deal with their social life along with their life of organize crime.

>>20394165
How is it that LOTR fan art has managed to avoid the pitfalls that have come to dominate fantasy aesthetics over the last 20 years? That kind of post-blizzard, chunky armor/clothing, oversized weapons, everything with gold trim, that continues to dominate. LOTR art continues to be so tasteful compared to most things out there.

>>20394226
>How is it that LOTR fan art has managed to avoid the pitfalls that have come to dominate fantasy aesthetics over the last 20 years? That kind of post-blizzard, chunky armor/clothing, oversized weapons, everything with gold trim, that continues to dominate. LOTR art continues to be so tasteful compared to most things out there.
Probably because a lot of LOTR art was made within the last century, and a certain style is associated with the series, so if people look it up they are allowed to say how good art looks like, and then emulate. It's more like a precedence, people wish for more of the same. New fantasy series unfortunatelly are forced to have their art made by contemporary artists, so the art is uninspired and cringe, more often than not it's anime garbage that everyone is doing these days.

Is Fang Yuan amoral? and is that a bad thing?

>>20394311
Wtf am i looking at

>>20394326
Ancestor of Fang Yuan, Shang Abi

>>20394132
The Children of Hurin. very melancholy and beautiful

finished PGTE vol 6.
shit's depressing man. i cried when robber died.
things keep going to shit but i hope the last volume is more upbeat.

I'm probably gonna say fuck it and delve into a completed webnovel after my current book, because I've been reading a lot of unfinished series lately. I should probably give Mother of Learning a shot, right? Practical Guide to Evil seems more my 'thing' though. I have relatively little interest in Worm. Not sure which one to go through with first. Or maybe something by Maxime Durand for shorter stuff...

>>20394488
I thought Mother of Learning was pretty decent, although it was longer than it should have been. I'd also recommend Paranoid Mage, but that isn't actually completed yet. I hated Worm.

>>20394311
>>20394488
What happens to webnovels after they're big? Do they publish it as a book with a publisher or self publish it? I've never read one, just curious what the author wants to get out of it besides telling a story.

>>20394499
A lot are eventually released as individual volumes on something like amazon.

>>20394500
>>20394499
Sometimes published with traditional publishing (Aethon for example picked up He Who Fights With Monsters which is just split up into books that are vaguely arc-based), some I think move from being written as a webnovel to being written as just books (Dungeon Crawler Carl's doing this I believe), and some just keep going to the end. There's a few on Royal Road that have their first parts cut out because those parts are all published with KDP, and one of the rules of that is you can't have your book up anywhere else.

>>20394507
>(Dungeon Crawler Carl's doing this I believe)

In this case, it's more like the author uses webnovel platforms for their drafts, and then turns it into an actual book to be released on Amazon. It's interesting to be able to watch someone else write in real time, things getting cut, rearranged, and changed all over.

>>20394513
You'd probably need to watch the start of a webnovel for that, then. Some authors go back for edits on earlier chapters that they feel are a bit too crappily-written for their skill now (I think The Wandering Inn is planning on doing this), others just never touch them. That said, TWI's author does apparently livestream the writing sometimes?

>>20394500
>>20394507
Okay, thank. you for letting me know. It sounds exciting, if it does end up influencing the way content gets out. Do you find there are drawbacks or even benefits from webnovels? As in, do you think the writer should get so much constant feedback from the readers' comments or messages, to the point where they might even influence an arc, character, or idea, etc?

>>20394528
I think it depends on the author. Some authors clearly swerve things a bit (like having liked characters show up again) but have a clear outline in mind, some just kind of write by the seat of their pants and take in some feedback and go from there, some just have their entire thing in mind, feedback be damned.

>>20394488
I seem to recall that one of the ones in the pastebin recently finished, Retribution Engine I think.

It's mine. I'm shilling.

Can anyone find me a copy of Huanzhulouzhu's books? Trying to get into OG Xianxia

>>20394572
Can't help ya, but I can recommend something of similar quality: Pistis Sophia

>>20394564
That cover art really changed tone from Arc 1 to Arc 2 huh. Also I was gonna say it didn't seem too long and then Arc 2 was like 5-6 times the size.

>>20394582
I have the Nag Hammadi Library. Will that do?

>>20394589
I ended up folding ARC 1 into ARC 2's fic page because I completely failed trying to separate the two fics, so the completed first two books come out to a bit over half a mil words, with ARC 2 being around 50% longer than ARC 1. Here's to not fucking it up a second time with the sequel.

>>20394619
Ah. So the separation point is just... Not where it is?

>>20394626
For all intents and purposes the fic page for Retribution Engine just covers the first two books in their entirety, with the Volumes function being used to show both covers. The old fic page is clearly labeled as deprecated and links to the new page.

>>20394634
I meant... I meant the arcs for the main one. They have different covers. I didn't even notice the two different fiction entries.

pretty comfy

>>20394564
Still says it's ongoing on RR. Haven't flagged it as finished, or what?

>>20394132
For me its the Silmarillion

>>20394326
A good way to fuck up your back/spine

>>20394430
sort?

>>20394128
there's a Bruce Sterling adaptation in the new season of Love, Death & Robots FYI.

Two days ago I said I'm starting Nice Dragons Finish Last, and now after reading the two first books of the series I must say I'm pleasantly surprised. This isn't the story I was expected to read, it's also technically a dragon shifter romance (one of the more popular romance (porn) genres for women). Imagine my relief when it turned out the romance is barely in the book, even if it partially drives the characters actions. The focus of the story is on prideful, arrogant Dragons endlessly scheming against each other and other magical beings that life in the world (which is Earth around year 2100, so I guess it's Urban Fantasy). I believe the best of the series so fall is the plot and characterization, especially the Dragons, the author done right by them, even if it's a bit over the top with how they act, but that's important to the plot as it's all about one young dragon that's, as the title suggests, a Nice Dragon™ and everyone hates him for it.

I assume an average 4chan reader would lack the abillity to appreciate the characterization of someone supposed to be the ultimate nice guy, but I am sure more mature and experienced readers will have at least some enjoyment out the series, even if they, like me, diagree with a lot of the protagonist's decisions. But then his weird actions are what drives the plot, so it's hard to argue with the story's premise.

Anyway, I rate the first book 7/10 and the next one 7.5/10, but keep in mind I tend to be harsh in my ratings. If you are looking for an Urban Fantasy with authentic Dragons and fascinating story, check this out. I've heard usual books from Urban Fantasy, especially those written by women are kinda shit, but the first two books in the series get my seal of approval.

Damn, this thread is a graveyard today, barely anyone posts. Most likely due to the irresponsibility of no one posting a new thread before the last one was closed.

>>20395123
So? If no one wants to post just let thread die, no need to keep it artificially alive by bumping.

The third part of a wuxia manhwa I follow finally released after years and it's in webtoon format. Fucking ridiculous.

>>20395322
The breaker? Yeah it's disappointing so far. Seems like it's just treading the same ground as the first series with the mc now takign on the teacher role for a wimpy highschooler.

>>20395337
Yep. Sad to see. Considering the creators took a break after NW because they were bored with The Breaker, after all the excessive NW padding, I wasn't expecting much either way.

What are some books about being lost in space or on a desolate planet for a very long period with only a couple of other people at most? Preferably with no aliens or fantasy elements

>>20395421
Why are you asking for this on /sffg/ ?

>>20395421
Look for "Science fiction robinsonades"
The Martian is a popular one

>>20395421
The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis, more specifically the first two books.

>>20395421
>>20395483
Forgot to mention The Martian by Andy Weir

>>20395421
A Maze of Death by THE DICK

>>20394311
It's objectively impossible not to be amoral because morals are self-contradictory spooks for controlling poor people. Criticizing Fang Yuan for pursuing his goals over the goals of others, AKA being self-interested, can only be done in self-interest. Indeed, choosing the right or wrong as a third party is still something you do in arbitrary self interest, even when told how by someone else through spooky reasoning it's still self-interest as you arbitrarily chose to believe that reasoning. It's impossible not to, and this is further backed by the is;ought problem. Calling Fang Yuan evil is so infantile that only the kind of manchild that lives all day in a genre fiction general seething about chinese people could do it because the rest of the board is already far above this kind of low IQ nonsense.

>>20395507
>If I define morality as amoral I win morality arguments

>>20395512
Good luck getting any other definition that isn't pure sophistry.

>>20394132
Fellowship.

>>20395532
>sophistry
>>20395507

>>20395549
>no u
Only took 2 posts for you to give up. Embarrassing.

Does Anon know how he wants a book to end before he starts writing it? Or does Anon let the chips fall where they may?

>>20395599
If you don't have a general idea then I'd have to wonder if the story is going to be thematically consistent. Something written entirely by feel without an overall direction would be in danger of going off on tangents or being overly influenced by temporary factors IE current mood.

>>20394128
>Read good /sci/fi book.
>Enjoy it.
>About 200 pages in, the author pulls the shitties plot-twist imaginable.
>Ruins the whole fucking story and what made the story interesting, like revealing mc's secret to a female love interest.
Why the FUCK do they do this? WHY WOULD YOU REMOVE WHAT MAKES THE BOOK INTERESTING. 200 Fucking pages of relying on that good plot-point then you throw it away.

>>20395599
>5.) Do not start a story unless you have an ending in mind. You can change the story's ending if you wish, but you should always have a destination.
http://www.brianbiswas.com/blog/2015/wolfewritingrules

Which one would you guys recommend I read first:
- Conan the barbarian
- Elric saga
- Legend of Drizzt

For context: I DM DnD in my spare time and my favorite writer is Vance.

>>20395864
>- Legend of Drizzt
Unironically the worst book series I have ever read, and I've read thousands.

>>20395870
alright, so that's at least one scratched off the list

>>20395659
How about when instead they carefully arrange the characters and story to reach a high intensity climax, every piece perfectly placed for a total blowout, and then right beforehand chicken out, undo everything, and have a wet fart instead where everything returns to the status quo, rendering the entire story a completely pointless waste of time that went nowhere?

>>20394132
my favorite Tokien book is the fanfiction I wrote myself :^)

>>20395864
Elric is incredibly edgy and really, really, REALLY REALLY REALLY EXTREMELY GAY. Like imagine if Prince and Liberachi fused into one being and used his magic homo powers to transform himself into a gay vampire, but STILL didn't entirely come out of the closet. Like "oh my one true love is a fair maiden, who's been kidnapped and never shows up in the narrative and I also never think about her, because I'm too busy wrestling with all these muscular sweaty pirates on my fabulous vacation-I mean rescue ship". It's also 100% "fuck logic and plot, I do what I want" to the point of the MC making absolutely batshit retarded decisions on a whim that ruin everything for everyone and make no fucking sense.

But it's got some great imagery and writing, and while the explanations for WHY anything is happening is a total shitshow it somehow flows together nicely.
Also it's WAY shorter and faster to read than Conan.
Probably you should read both since they're practically diametric opposites.

>>20395659
>>20395916
What books are you guys talking about?

>>20395970
Alright, i'm going to go with Conan for now then

From your summary, I might not read Elric at all. I saw it recommended in some of the /lit/ charts, but it seems they led me astray.

>>20396033
It's surprisingly good actually, in spite of all the problems.
He's like reverse-Conan, an effeminate feeble evil wizard who uses dark magic to put his shoes on. But he goes out and fights other weird evil wizards and gets into weird magic duels that usually result in horribly calamities killing everyone, especially his own side.

If you're looking for inspiration for cool creepy settings it's the place to be. Dark towers, portals to hell, flesh dimensions, invisible flying fortresses, magically isolated ancient cities, etc...
Also more evil sentient magic items than you can shake a stick at.

Hello lads, I’m looking for the Kull the conqueror short stories by Howard, I know there’s a website where they’re all listed along with the Conan stories et al but I didn’t bring it with me on this train
Anyone got anything like that I could read on my phone?

>>20396063
Wasn't Elric almost deliberately written as a sort of subversion of the glorious sword and sorcery stuff like Conan? Elric is a frail, effeminate man who relies on an evil weapon to even walk, constantly fucks up and causes more problems than he solves, and ultimately dies in a really inconsequential way.

>>20395970
>Prince and Liberachi
This has triggered some hyperspecific nostalgia but I couldn't tell you what from.

>>20396071
Read ebay and get yourself a used e-reader so you don't burn your eyes out, dumbo.

>>20396063
That's an interesting pitch.
i'm mostly looking for something fun to read, so I'll go with Conan. But if an edgy mood strikes me, I'll give Elric a chance.

I'm not really a 'creepy' setting kind of guy, I like the classic fantasy stuff more (at least for DnD)

>>20395864
>>20395970
>>20395870
Thanks for the advice everyone, Conan collection is ordered and on the way.

>>20396100
Robin Williams standup?

>>20396106
That’s not what I’m asking for at all mate

Dark Fantasy is so overdone it's becoming stale.

I think it's doubly pathetic because it's the easiest setting to depict clear black vs white, good vs. evil but authors typically take the GoT route and try to add moral relativity to it and end up making the world just bleak and hopeless and offering little else.

Retvrn to form.

>>20396148
But I worry about you.

>>20396191
Then why are you not helping me pass time on this train trip? You are making me stare-rape the girl next to me. You forced my hand

>>20395864
Elric is an homage and inversion of Conan. So read Conan first. They're quite similar, it's just that Howard showed vital barbarism and Moorcock showed the decadent end state.

Also read Moorcock's essay Epic Pooh. It really gives you some insight to what type of boomer he is

Euegene Wolffe

>>20394132
>>20394132
I found LotR so boring I couldn't get past the birthday party. I actually skipped to the second book and started reading from there.

I actually enjoyed the Silmarillion. It's written much like real legends, so he can't be super wordy and dull.

>>20395864
Read Conan first, last, and only
Elric is mega gay weeniemobile cuckshit and Drizzt is just retarded

Requesting more cute and funny recommendations.

The Jabberwocky was an innocent victim and did nothing wrong. Change my mind.

>>20396361
>I found LotR so boring I couldn't get past the birthday party. I actually skipped to the second book and started reading from there.
This has to be bait

>>20394128
Why were almost a hundred posts deleted last thread? This new janny is getting too big for his paycheck

>>20396579
It is literally the truth. I did go back and read the first book later.

>>20396703
the new janitor is a redditor intent on making this place exclusive to litrpg posting and bans any opposition

>>20396703
When someone is banned it deletes every active post from that IP address. If a single anon posted 100+ times then 100+ posts will be deleted.

>>20396766
sounds pretty pozzed

>>20395864
Conan all the way. Drizzt will make you feel bad afterwards, maybe not right away, but once you've read good writing you'll realize how much time you wasted on those fucking tomes.

>>20394128
Thoughts?

What do you think of Naruto's magic system?

>>20394311
Even Fang Yuan knows he's evil, he told Chang Fan that.

>>20396835
Low effort, low quality.

Reject edgelord protagonists, embrace gay ghostbusting Mr. Rogers wandering the world having cozy adventures.

shoot me a title where the world has basically become one world government, but kind of on the the down low
that's the way i think shit is now

>>20394128
Terrible illustration. The composition is unsalvageable due to the large gap in the centre. These "artists" should learn basic rules of composition before wasting their time on this crap.

>>20395544
It's just so comfy

>>20394128
>>20397075
What book is it describing?

>>20397090
It's not a book, it's Bloodborne, a video game.

>>20394132
Fellowship is best

>>20397094
So it’s off-topic then? Ironic considering it’s the same janny that makes every single thread, and deletes other people’s threads when they make a new one

>>20397075
>unsalvageable
It is but only because there is a woman depicted in the pic, and the coomer op put it in the op. Coomer, pozzed and tranny trash should not be allowed in op or anywhere in the thread.

>>20396791
Where do I start with Conan?

>>20397193
>>20397075
neck yourself, retard

>>20397193
Based and Supreme

>>20397203
The Coming of Conan and it’s sequels are a compilation of all the original Conan stories
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-coming-of-conan-the-cimmerian_robert-e-howard/298030/#edition=4644406&idiq=10379249

>>20397203
Pick a story.

>>20397216
Only the true will Reign Supreme!
No matter how long chuds scheme
Only the true will Rule in might
No matter how hard chuds fight

>>20397240
The litrpg dweebs have lost steam, now is our chance to reclaim the thread for King Bakker and reign Supreme

Oh no we were discussing actual things and he can't have that.

>>20397292
Gonna cry?

>>20397240

>>20397324

>>20394128
Just finished love death and robots 3. I thought about writing about each episode, but decided it wasn't worthwhile. Most of them are meh at best as usual. I considered reading the stories they were based on and then compare them, but nah.

>>20394974
Yeah, that was the only one I've previously read before. All of them except one is based on a previously published story.

>>20397324
>>20397333
Trips prove Bakker reigns Supreme
*bows down*

>>20396089
There is no "almost" about it; Morecock specifically wrote him as a GOTTA SUBVERT DEM EXPECTATIONS of Conan.

>>20396112
>i'm mostly looking for something fun to read
If you're not a poorfag then purchase and read Rogues of Merth. It's a blatant ripoff/homage of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (two bros going on S&S adventures together), but the writing is less heady and artsy so it's easier to get into.

>>20394128
So did David Gemmell write a gay character into one of his books or not? Every time I ask nobody can tell me the specific book

>>20397333
Trips of truth
T R U T H - S H I N ES

>>20396165
You should check out pic related. It's "dark" fantasy stories written by a non-preachy Christian guy.

>>20396346
>It really gives you some insight to what type of boomer he is
A retarded one.

>>20397203
See: >>20397228
These are the absolute best collections of not only Conan's stories, but REH's other creations as well.

>>20397412
dark as in vibe or dark as in downer misery porn?

>>20397398
There are several gay characters throughout his novels, but none of them are the superfags we get in fiction these days. There's a gay couple in Quest for Lost Heroes, but they don't do anything gay on-screen at all. White Wolf has a gay character in the backstory for the MC who also does nothing gay on-screen either.

>>20397424
Vibe; which is what I consider dark fantasy. I mean bad stuff absolutely happens (especially in the last story), but it's not amoral nihilistic grimderp.

Bakkerchads dominate the crowd
Among the peasants standing proud
Bakkerchads dominate them all
Those who dare to resist will fall

>>20397447
3 noble Bakkerchads are enough to dominate 56 peasants, men are not created equal.

>>20397436
Thanks for the answer, it seems like any time I ask a question about a book around here all I get is meme responses

>>20397481
Go to /lgbt/ and ask your questions there. Why are you shitting up the board with with this lgbt nonsense?

>>20397459
i wasn’t originally a Bakkerchad, but after seeing how pozzed and full of litrpg garbage this general became i knew that Bakker was the only thing that kept the thread from spiraling out of control. Bakkerchads are back in charge now and we shall purge all morm*n and litrpg filth back to the underworld from which it came

>>20397506
>Bakkerchads are back in charge now
Yes they are, and /sffg/ is already healing, the hordes of pozzed will be no more.

>>20397538
fuck off lmao

>>20397538
lol the tranny janny already deleted my post, that just goes to show how much they fear us Bakkerchads

>>20395561
>t. didn't go to college and desperate to prove he's smart

What is the appeal of A Canticle for Leibowitz? I found it boring af

>>20395507
>unbacked claim, unbacked claim, non-sequitur, ad hominem

>>20395507
>spooks for controlling poor people
Based, the poor are human scum that don’t even deserve life

>>20395507
How about me giving you a 12-gauge facial, is that a fucking spook?

What does everyone actually want out of a fantasy book? Or a science fiction book? Like say if I was to start writing a book tomorrow and promised it would be a series, what would people want to see out of it?

>>20397690
>Like say if I was to start writing a book tomorrow and promised it would be a series, what would people want to see out of it?
You asking the writing general >>20391186

Our time is coming once again
You can’t stop us

>>20397690
Girls getting their tits out

>>20397757
Based

>>20395659
Are you taking about The Gone Away War? Because that's how I felt at first. Then I got over it

Need big large sweeping space opera, post recs

I've been trying to plough through Poul Anderson's collected works and I just need a break, there's a lot of cool original ideas in there but all the stories boil down to the same 1950s "there's the main guy, he's smart and strong and courageous, and there's a beautiful women who falls in love with him, and then they save the day" formula. They're in chronological order and I'm only in 1954 and I'm dying.

>>20397778
xeelee sequence

>>20397690
Straight white (or honorary) male protagonist. A well spoken, intelligent protagonist, Not some sperg. Little to no women, no romance, no sex, no porn. No sjw, no gay etc. No ya.
Story with a ton of adventure, exploration, political intrigue, fighting, war etc.
Well though out magic system that has close relationship with the world, excelent world building. A plot with twists and turns.
You better deliver, anon

>>20395507
I can't tell if this is a meme or not. Saying something is amoral is using morality as a baseline, dumbass

>>20397857
grimderp dogshit

>>20397690
Follow through with the punch. If you ever think of an idea that would be really cool or interesting, but then think "but that'll fuck up the story and change everything" do it anyway. The original idea was probably nothing amazingly brilliant in the first place, and if you decide to have half the cast in your political thriller die in an explosion and the rest of the book be about hunting for pirate treasure it'll at the very least be memorable.
In other words, FUCK status quo! Don't write like a syndicated TV show.

>>20397778
>there's the main guy, he's smart and strong and courageous, and there's a beautiful women who falls in love with him, and then they save the day
If you think your problem with that could be solved by adding eugenics and planet-sized antimatter bombs then try Doc Smith. Otherwise A Fire Upon the Deep. The first few Expanse books for a modern sensibility. Vorkosigan for military. Star Force for cheeseball military.

>>20395870
shit taste, Salvatore is max comfy

>>20397778
Count to the Eschaton

>>20397885
it's expansive, you twit

>>20397778
Jack Vance Planet of Adventure.

>>20397690
swordfights. everything else is optional

>>20397917
I kind of liked Destiny's Children, I loved The Light of Other Days and thought Evolution was a masterpiece but then I read another book by him that I hated so much I forgot the name and edited him out of my to read list forever. Is it time for me to forgive and give Xeelee a chance?

>>20397920
>Servants of the Wankh

>>20397954
For me, it's Ring. Timelike Infinity was good and Vacuum Diagrams was a nice short story collection that adds/explains a lot of lore. I'd read those before getting into the later stuff.

Does anyone else like Michael G. Manning's books? They're extremely YA but I still enjoyed reading them. Read everything he has written except for his short story.
The only shame was how short they were - I could read one of the novels in 4-5 hours.

>>20397858
Damn, better get to work

>>20397894
Good advice, though most people seem to want to read that sort of book these days.

>>20398006
I've read the first four Mageborn books and like them well enough. Art of the Adept is alright but it has gotten worse as it has grown along, with the romance, dumb MC, and worst of all, potential killing off of the best character.

>>20398006
Also, if anyone knows of similar series/authors (besides the grossly obvious ones, like, Brandon Sanderson or Robert Jordan books, e.t.c), I'd love to get some rec's. Sort of the mix of fantasy/young adult/darker settings.
>>20398027
They kill off a LOT of the characters in the first series, but not as bad as the later one. I really won't say its an A-grade series, more of a guilty pleasure but I still liked it.
The ending was satisfying too.
Also, yeah, art of the adept hasn't been...Great? The main character is really edgy and the romance is so thick it feels like I'm reading some sort of Isekai novel series.
I actually read Art of the Adept (all four) before Mageborn.

>>20398034
I think the relationships between the characters and the humor was decent. I didn't like how what happened to Marcus was handled, mainly so suddenly, and I read some anon a while back complaining how in some later book, Penny was retconned into cucking the MC. Which sounds gay as hell.
Also same.

>>20394128
What is the most reliable and unbiased place for book reviews? I know Amazon and Goodreads are no go zones because they’re full of shills and leftist freaks

>>20398050
Uh, if you want some spoilers (since I literally just finished the last book), read these I guess. Just a short synopsis of what happens throughout like, the final 10 books.
Marcus stays dead, Penny doesn't cuck the main character and they get married. They have kids, stuff happens, there's 3 books that take place way in the past, then back to current era. Rose and Dorian have some kids, Dorian dies, stuff happens, Main character's kid(s) end up in another dimension that's basically future earth, somehow retcon a grey goo alien race into existence, time travel shenanigans, Penny dies and main character at the end of the book marries Rose (both like 50 years old at this point). Then he basically becomes god, refuses to become god, makes the previous god stay god so as not to reset the universe. Stuff happens, and at the epilogue of the final book it mostly tells what happens to the characters. Rose likes to 92 and then dies, and main character has a lot of grandkids at that point. Eventually great-great grandkids. After like 500 years his original children finally die and he makes a stasis enchantment that wakes him up every 100 years, and creates a few talismans to awaken him temporarily in an emergency. Eventually every 100 years is too short, so he sets the stasis to every 1000. Then 5000. After like 40,000 years the heat death of the universe happens and he wakes up and walks into what seems to be an afterlife, but its probably him dying and becoming the new center of the universe, the god, aka "dreamer"
i summarized that terribly
but at least he doesn't get cucked

>>20398068
I never planned on reading more than the original five but that does sound quite wacky, in a fun way. Don't see it very often.

>>20398006
Choice of magic book 1 was kino, book two was ok, book 3 went sjw route, and book 4 was absolute rushed garbage.
I tried reading his earlier series, but couldnt even get past the first book. The issue with him is ( and there are several issues) is that he wants to write ya and wants to write love stories and romance, but he simply doesn't know how, if there is man a woman in same room he basically can't write them or it comes up cringe af, totally unbelievable and unrealistic. This is why choice of magic books 1 and 2 were ok, but the moment brought out the wife it went to absolute cringey dog shit.

>>20398071
I enjoyed it. The ending was fun and its what I was hoping for.
I guess I liked how simple and easy the books were - None were heavy on the prose and just sort of got to the point. It feels rare to have a series where the main character is still alive along with his kids, then grandkids, etc.
>>20398074
Yeah, I'm not gonna disagree. I feel like in the first series he only peaks halfway through it, and even then its not high - But it was to the level that I enjoyed it. If you read the spoilers in my previous post, it does get pretty complex later on.
The books are basically japanese Isekai without the Isekai. Ordinary guy gets superpowers, gets the girls, becomes a badass, all the ladies love him blahblah. But without the garbage Japanese writing (which may simply be stuff lost in translation but while I enjoy some japanese media, their "light novels" are atrocious).
Like, here's an example from the Konosuba LN:


Speaking of which, there were plenty of beautiful girls in the Home of the Crimson Magic.
And that made me a little nervous.
However, the two of them seemed a little tense too, or maybe it was just my imagination.
Megumin who was watching our conversation suddenly threw a bomb.
“Hey, I understand you don’t have much chance to meet guys and are lonely, but please don’t flirt with my man.”
“!?” x3
When they heard that, all three girls except Megumin were shocked.
“Hey, hey, what did you say…!? So you were serious when you said you like me last night!?”
“!!” x3
This shocked the three of them even more.
Dodonko and Funifura were at a loss and asked in a fluster—
“Ma-ma-man!? That Megumin who didn’t care about anything other than magic has a man!? Is that a lie? It is right?You like him as a boyfriend?”
“That-that-that’s right, it must be. Megumin who isn’t concerned about such thing, suddenly having a man… is impossible huh?”
Reading this shit is like a word diarrhea. Formatted so strange.

What do you guys think of main characters that already have an existing romantic relationship at the start of a story? Does it matter to you or do you prefer a buildup to the relationship?

>>20398090
honestly I prefer zero romance in a novel, since unless it was made specifically for that, the author is generally terrible at it and it just comes off as cringy self-insert smut.
But if I had to pick, the former I guess.

>>20398097
Tremendously based, even Tolkien fell for the romance meme

>>20398087
The absolute state of LN translations

>>20398087
>But without the garbage Japanese writing (which may simply be stuff lost in translation but while I enjoy some japanese media, their "light novels" are atrocious).
Definitely some stuff lost in translation since onomatopoeia is used so often and translated awkwardly to English. That said writing for LNs is pretty shallow since they're made to be easy to consume.

>>20398109
Learning Japanese would be great if it wasn't such a cuntfuck language. Then again I'd much rather learn Latin or German first, or, hell, honestly Mandarin.
>>20398114
I love that word, onomatopoeia. It sounds so funny.

>>20398090
Why is she in the story? Why are we reading about her? That's what I want to know. If she motivates the plot by being raped to death or by being his Watson then fine, but if she's just there then fuck off -- I'd rather see the MC demonstrate his seductive powers on a gril he encounters later.

>>20398087
I got into a pet-raising browser game a few months back for around a week and binged Konosuba on my other monitor while playing. It looked pretty but was complete trash.

>>20395421
the dying of the light

>>20398124
What game? Sounds cute. Actually, I'm taking this way too off topic as it is.
Any good novels about Dwarves except for...well, "Dwarves"? I need my short, drunken assholes going "lmao 2cat".

>>20394128
Does Black Company get better or worse as it goes on?

>>20398134
Worse

>>20398143
Is it worth starting or just skip altogether.

>>20398130
Flight Rising. I haven't played since but I'm waiting for next month to flip a bunch of eggs for fat stacks then I'll figure out what to do from there. Some dude is slowly reviving neopets one page at a time so there is a neopets classic but it is (obviously) slow and you have to join the gay discord to get an invite. I miss neopets, bro.

I can't track the current book I'm reading because volume 4 of Infinite Realm doesn't technically exist yet and it makes me butthurt.

>>20397778
jack vance:
planet of adventure
demon princes
caldwal chronicles
emphyrio

grrm:
dying of the light
windhaven
tuf voyaging

>>20398134
Bell curve. Peaks with White Rose/ Silver Spike and it's a steady decline from there.

>>20398147
Dude, neopets was the shit. I think my account got hacked or stolen somehow, I barely remember. Lost my runescape account too way back then.
I think I'll check that out, thanks.
Discord is anti-user and I hate it.

>>20398146
I thought it was a great series and don't regret reading it at all. It just sort of comes apart later in the run. But not in the way that invalidates the earlier books.

>>20398154
Good luck. There's a fucking thread about minmaxing the various games for daily currency profit and some dude created a fucking algorithm to break some game. Something like 70k/day for maxing out that one game alone. I love how autistic and in-depth everything is documented in this game by the fanbase but it also makes me laugh. Trans are a diamond dozen there too and the forum is super-friendly or get out. Lots of stuff to do though but I can't get into it like I did with neopets. Granted, I haven't bothered too much into the dragon raising aspect or RPing my dragons.
Good luck.

>>20398173
Whewf. The community sounds like it'd be absolutely toxic to me (and I them) so maybe I'm a bit more hesitant. But, well, I'm bored and I can put on the veil of a normie if I have to.

>>20398154
>>20398173
Fuck off to /v/ already, you off-topic fags.

>>20398180
They are very helpful but just a warning. You do get people complaining about pronouns.
>>20398181
I complained about my book tracking woes and you know what's worse? I may have somehow lost my notes of what I read when I was without internet!!

>>20398034
This story follows the rise of a prophesied evil, starting off with a sympathetic view of the mc as he initially does questionable deeds with torturing people in the second book for blood magic.
The writing in the first book is a bit amateurish, though it tightens markedly in the second.

>>20398034
>Sort of the mix of fantasy/young adult/darker settings

>>20398195
That honestly sounds like exactly what I may be looking for. Damn, thanks anon! Just from your description I'm definitely interested.
I'll check it out tonight.
>>20398203
Never heard of this but I'll peruse libgen and grab it too. Thanks!

>>20398203
Is this the one about necromancy where the fmc ressuructs her childhood friends as her servant.

>>20398210
>fmc ressuructs her childhood friends as her servant
Not at all.

>>20398210
That sounds based
do you remember the book?

Jolenta was asking for it

It’s so annoying when the same two losers shit up the entire thread with their brainless drivel

>>20398236
?

>>20398239
You’re almost as retarded as they are if you can’t see that the entire thread has been not more than 4 people talking to each other about the same boring shit

>>20398243
I see 68IPs which is pretty good.

>>20398054
>What is the most reliable and unbiased place for book reviews?
There isn't one. Your best option is to find a site that reviews books whose tastes line up with your own as much as possible.

Trying to recall a novel I read back in the day. It may have been the mc or another character, but he was a human taken in by an elf and she raised him then eventually married him? Anyone know which novel I'm referring to?

>>20398244
Yeah and most of those are only one or two posts, the vast majority of the thread is the same small group of people talking about the same shit thread to thread. You’re probably one of them

>>20398252
My first post was here.
>>20398006

Sorry if I got excited about a series I just finished. More threads can be made, /lit/ is a slow board as it is.

>>20398247
but how do I find my taste? All I’ve read so far is the hobbit and LOTR

Question for Bakkerfags about The Warrior-Phophet: Why havent the skin-spies/Consult pieced together the connection between Kellhus and Anasûrimbor Celmomas II? I'm aware that the Mandate are the only faction that still acknowledges him via their Celmomian Prophecy, but given that the Consult fought him during the First Apocalypse, why does it take them months to connect the two figures? Maybe I'm just missing something, but the potential plot-hole is bugging me.

>>20398239
>>20398244
>>20398254
Jesus Christ, ignore such blatant bait, you fucking retard.

>>20398250
The closest thing I can think of is The Broken Sword, but he didn't marry the elf chick who raised him; he did fuck her though.

>>20398262
Sorry.

>>20398262
>t. has posted over 50 times ITT

>>20398255
You taste deez nuts.

>>20398195
Sounds good, please tell me it's not po**ed?

>>20398265
Just looked it up and that's the one. Thanks, anon.

>>20398293
it is not, the mc is a garden variety orphan who bends rules to suit his needs or to help out his friends, though later with no checks in place, this attitude morphs into a darker desire for power. The issue, if anything, is of quality and character motivation, like i said before the second book is more polished as compared to his first, there is some emo drama (which initially forms the basis of plot progression) but then again the cast is of primarily teenagers

>>20398195
>Master Artificer is a 7mb epub file
Holy shit that's a thick book
god damn she thicc

>>20398294
I fucking rock.

>>20394128
Fantasy novels with no ultimate goal? I never like it when novels have some ultimate evil to be stopped, some place to be, some people to save. Can't the protagonist adventure for the sake of adventuring and bettering himself? I know this type of formula is better suited for webnovels but webnovels are shit.

>>20398359
It may just mean that it has image files in it as well.

When the few active posters disappear the thread gets like a few posts per hour at most.

>>20398648
so?

What's some good Chinese fantasy? :3

I just finished i shall the heavens book 6, it was good.

>>20398986
Journey to the West

>>20397412
>Christian guy.
no thanks

>>20399045
Already ordered, but thank you for getting me even more excited for it! I might try read the Tao Te Ching, some sutras, and the Confucian Analects and the Wobbling Pivot in the meantime to understand its embrace and satire of these belief systems.

Why does Bakker love the word 'phallus' so much?

>>20399430
It's a good word honestly. I need to get into him because I promised I would like a year ago, but goddamn was I filtered by his style. I know, I know, tigerstripes, but daddy sometimes just wants to be seduced rather than blathered to.

I want to like sci-fi, but I just can't get into it. I think it's because I grew up reading fantasy. I spent too long dwelling on LOTR, the elder scrolls (yes even though that's a video game series) etc.

Was thinking of writing sci-fi, but it's completely out of my comfort zone and abilities. Can't even get through a sci-fi book. Guess it's fantasy or horror for me (or a hybrid of both of those).

Is there such a thing as not being able to enjoy a genre because you're too old for it to be new and exciting? Something tells me that sci-fi authors or fans (surprise surprise) grow up reading sci-fi. Just can't get into it at 25.

Just read what you enjoy, retard.

>>20399454
Most Sci Fi tries too hard to be autistic as fuck. The harder the sf the more autistic it gets.
Try Undying Mercenaries by B.V Larson. It's kind of the opposite, instead of being autistic it's just retarded (and fun).

>>20399454
Most sci fi sucks balls imo. I suggest reading Poul Anderson's Star Fox; it's an easy military sci fi with plenty of music, humour, action, and personality. He also wrote fantasy fwiw. But he was also a physics major so lots of his sci fi is seen as hard sci fi. If you don't want to study the sciences and write sci fi, then you might find a niche of soft sci fi or genre blending to write to, but I'd advise against it if you don't want to embrace at least some scientific understanding (though that doesn't have to be outright materialism, nor humanism - which was historically bound up with sci fi). Another easy author is Kurt Vonnegut because his stuff is quite funny and accessible, though he later disparaged himself for being labelled a "for teenage boys" sci fi writer.

>>20399454
sci fi is very broad. there must be some author you'll like

>Please, Esmi! Y-you're so beautiful... Almost as beautiful as me! But you're smart too!
Serwë is easily his worst written character. Shits atrocious.

>FitzChivalry Farseer
I'm supposed to take this character seriously? I want to read the trilogy but what is that god awful name?

>>20399483
Fitz is a prefix indicating that he's a bastard. The royal line are named after virtues, his father was Chivalry, so he is the bastard son (fitz) of Chivalry.

>>20399484
Why is the patronymic the first name? Are they like Russians?

>>20394128
MAGNA

>>20397075
yeah it's garbage

On my LitRPG binge to find anything particularly decent or even good (which mostly stands at Dungeon Crawler Carl is great, most other stuff is good in parts but otherwise a let-down), I just finished this series. It's... Something. Strong characterisation, people are pretty distinct as characters even if they're all a tad archetypical. Plot is... Not a thing, the book almost points out that the plot doesn't really happen until the end of book 3 and throughout all of book 4 where it's basically on a speedrun. The comedy occasionally lands, though it's clearly 'dumb' comedy (for example one joke is when a main character is kidnapped by cultists and ends up talking to and befriending one of the nicer ones, and later the cultist leader is reprimanding the cult, and then turns to the nicer one and goes "Not you, we appreciate you and you're amazing", it's just the tonal discrepancy is the joke). It feels like the few plot threads that exist prior to book 4 are never really touched upon until then, either. Enjoyable enough at any rate, and I admittedly have a pretty low bar for humour but a decent majority of the jokes landed or at least had their intended effects (there's a few deliberately awful puns because one character likes to spout them off to everybody's annoyance). So overall I'd give it like a 7.5/10 for what it is.

>>20399464
>>20399466
>>20399472
Thanks for the advice. I think I'll give up on the idea of writing sci-fi (no point writing something I'll horribly mess up, even if it's solely for myself), but I took a mental note of those book titles. Maybe I could enjoy them. Cheers.

i got the black company book of the south and apparently silver spike is about darling but i just dont care about them at all just wondering when it get back to croaker and lady

>Kinda want to start GoT
>Know it'll never be finished by that fat fuck author

>>20399678
>even those who haven't read his books are sick of his ways

>>20399678
it really is extremely sad
i can't think of any book i'd rather have than the rest of ASOIAF

need rec
loved malazan
loved black company
mistborn was ok, i thought stormlight was better

>>20399749
you might like The Prince of Nothing. I'm reading through Malazan atm and i think they have a similar feel

Haven't been able to get much reading done since becoming a wage slave. Recommend some audiobooks that's will get me though a monotonous 8 hours.

What are the best "adventuring duo" stories? I was told that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were good, and they were, for a time, but they got really horrible near the end

>im going to trick them into killing each other
>what would do this?
>I know, I'll make myself look like a ten year old girl so they try and kill each other over who gets to fuck me first!
>they actually fight over this
>random lesbian BDSM everywhere
>for absolutely no reason the books talk in great length about ghoul titties and mouse-girl having sixteen books

Basically I'm looking for something a bit more consistent in quality.

>>20399779
Gotrek and Felix.

>>20399769
Wheel of Time

>>20399816
Great show. Glad they're doing a book series on it!

>>20399820
with a literal ghostwriter at that

>>20399827
pretty sure he had alot of notes before he died

Been reading Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices) lately. Wanted to share my thoughts. It's chinese cultivation WN, and frankly, the novel is at best decent at worst prone to stating the obvious, but it does so with such theatrical aplomb that I can't help but admire it. Fascinating and unusual in that for all it's flaws and deficiencies I kind of want to keep reading because it actually made effort to set up a world filled with people whose motivations whilst relevant to what protag is up to does not revolve around him, which make for far more interesting reading than usual crap you can expect where protag has nice things and people want to take nice things from protag you see in a lot of CN web fiction, which isn't bad in and of itself if done well but much like LitRPG, hell probably most crap that gets published or posted, is too often just routine without any colour to it.

So far I'm on chapter 183, right after the tournament arc of sorts WN has been building to, and most of the novel is focused on cultural, tho that might not be exactly the right way to put it, and social interaction driving forces to pursue their objectives and a protag who has his own stick up the ass. In a way it's very dull, but also, in a way, hillarious. Very unusual novel is all, would recommend checking it out if you like cultivation novels and want something different within the
genre, tho I will repeat that writing isn't actually that good and prone to stating the obvious over and over.

Anyone seen the anime? Apparently there is one, not gonna look for it but curious if it's any good.

I'm reading the Tide Child trilogy. I enjoyed the first book a lot but I just started the second one and since when were Joron and Dinyl butt pirates? They were just friends in the first book right? I remember some homoerotic accidental hand touching but nothing more than that. Did I miss any more gay subtext in the first book? This revelation has blind sided me 4 chapters into book 2 but I'm glad there wasn't anything even slightly more explicit since I feel any kind of romance plot would have detracted from the book 1's story.

>>20399840
book series created in 2019 what else do you expect

>>20398550
yeah it had some big maps and stuff
wasn't used to that

>>20399678
That's what you get for reading an unfinished fantasy series. Imagine how we felt when Robert Jordan died without finishing WoT. lol

>>20399990
thats totally different

>>20399454
Try reading some sci-fi that is just fantasy in space. I feel like the Star Wars books are essentially this. If you like LOTR and hate Dune, there's something wrong with you.

thoughts on The King of Elfland's Daughter?

>>20397690
I want something with the depth of King Lear. I want to read it ten times and still find something new or worthwhile. If you can't manage that, then be a master of your craft like John D. MacDonald. His Travis McGee books would make a great template for a fantasy writer. Too bad writers like that don't seem to exist anymore.

>>20400020
How so? If you start reading GoT and he dies, it's the same fucking thing. WoT is only complete because they hired Sanderson to write some fan fiction of questionable quality. It's better than nothing, but just barely.

What are good 40k books to start with?

>>20400055
im saying its not fan fic when it had alot of notes from RJ himself and they had his editor helping him as well

>>20400082
Suicide is a good start.

>>20400043
>John D. MacDonald
you and me could be frens
if they only knew
never be another like that one

>>20400082
the first 3 books of the Horus Heresy form a trilogy, they're a good and mostly self contained read. Eisenhorn is where a lot of people start, Xenos. And the Gaunt's Ghosts series. Nightlords is also good.

Is there any black library book that is well written and worth reading or is it all trash cash in lit?

>>20400135
it's all written to appeal to subhuman grognard consoomers
it's even below the schlockiest of LN trash

>>20400154
I find tabletop gaming to be at least a little stimulating and I have some interest in the lore and stories behind the game, but I've tried a few of the books and definitely felt this way about them. That kind of sucks desu

>>20398328
thanks, I will look into it

>>20398195
Read some of the first one last night and this morning, whizzed to chapter 21 in about two and a half hours. Really great read, thank you.

>>20400135
>>20400154
>>20400163
some of the warhammer fantasy novels are alright
gotrek and felix are good, brunner the bounty hunter is alright

>He didn’t choose to kill her, even though she wasn’t real. He felt it would impact his personality if he heedlessly killed like that. If he started wholesale slaughter of innocent people in a dreamscape now, then before you know it he might feel it was okay to do it in real life.
Imagine being this much of a pussy, jesus.

>>20400348
>Character makes moral choice based on empathy
>"Ugh, pussy"

>>20400353
>empathy for an illusion
That's called schizophrenia, not morality.

>>20400348
indiscriminate killing is counterproductive

>>20400348
You're the type retard that kills all the friendly NPCs in an RPG and then gives it a 1/5* because you locked yourself out of progressng

>>20400379
Then give a productive reason, not pearl-clutching bullshit that doesn't even make sense.

>>20400380
You're saying is he should've been nice to the illusions in a nihilistic metagamey way, not done it because illusions have rights.

There is no moral validation here, it's internal optics over practical consequences.

>>20400408
Feeling bad over hurting the feelings of a fictional game character is the default, psycho

>>20400408
its so unreal how many unironic sociopaths there are trying to fit in on this ironic website

>>20400420
Video games are played for leisure. If you think the treatment of a video game character has any weight when there's real world consequences at stake then you're pretty much a sociopath out of sheer failure as a moral agent. It's hard to find a lesser good in existence than the rights of a fake person.

>>20400436
>If people are free, they'll just murder each other senselessly!
Lord of the Flies tier argument

>>20400436
Don't ever write. You might inadvertently create a story of someone that gets hurt. Don't ever read. You might inadvertently imagine a scenario in which a person suffers wrongfully. Actually don't use 4chan at all, because it's blatantly obvious that you're underage.

>>20400439
>projecting this hard
accusing me of being what you are won't work here, retard

>>20400446
>strawman
>no u
Ok reddit.

>another thread where newfags respond to newfags responding to newfags
sasuga

I was pleasantly surprised when I ripped the beginning of the to-be volume 4 of Infinite Realm, to its current progress, and already being several chapters in, I have 20 hours to read. Granted, some of what is currently available may be eventually segregated into volume 5.

>>20400452
why don't you go blow off some steam by killing friendly NPCs buddy

>>20400443
Gotta use it when it's fresh in his brain from this semester's required reading list to show how intellectual and mature he is on the 4chinz literature board.

>>20400348
Where's this from, again? I feel like I might know, it's a familiar line, but I wanna be sure.

>>20400460
>>20400445
>neither of them recognize that ANCIENT mspaint image from 2010 /v/
wew lad

>>20400457
>strawman
>holoen
Dude epic...

>>20400473
I do miss me some troll science. Not that the crossboarders know what that is.

>>20400472
DotF, Zac stealing a disguise to get into the KILL ALL MEN sect to become the Lord of Cycles' disciple. I honestly just interpret it as him being very weak on pretty girls, which he does have an unspoken history of, but someone's nerve evidently got touched big time by my comment.

>>20400493
Oh, huh. I thought it was from something with a much better protagonist, nevermind. Zac's characterisation is basically whatever the fuck the author decides at the moment, though he's generally on the line of "probably won't murder people who just bother him".

>>20400502
He's ridiculously soft considering the setting is anything but. It's a big part of what makes him so dull, the author is clearly terrified of him being potentially offensive in any shape or form.

>>20400518
I don't mind him being moral or whatever, he's just supremely boring. He has no personality one way or the other. Like, my two other big reference points for longer-running LitRPG protagonists are Jason from He Who Fights With Monsters and Carl from Dungeon Crawler Carl. The former is kind of a dickbag, and he clearly only gets along with certain kinds of people, and is otherwise abrasive as hell. He also goes down a slippery slope of murder as a first resort far too often as the series goes on. Carl, meanwhile, remains ferociously moral against killing people who're in the same situation as him, but anybody else can burn for all he cares. He's notably extremely reluctant to put down even major problem Crawlers. He feels a little bad about killing NPC characters in the dungeon but he rationalises that it's probably better for them than to just be mindwiped and used somewhere else. Meanwhile, the people running the Crawl and all that, he actively plans to kill as many as he can.
Zac, meanwhile, is... Sure just a grumpy guy I guess? He went from confused everyman to grumpy strong guy and he just kinda stuck there. There's no characterisation, no arc, no development, not really.

>>20400538
>I don't mind him being moral or whatever, he's just supremely boring. He has no personality one way or the other.
These things are more related to eachother than you give them credit for. Han Solo shooting first matters for a reason. Characters need a combination of good and bad to have contrast and texture. If a character can do no evil they get very boring very quickly, like wise if a character is an edgelord that can do no good they also get very boring very quickly. Zac is very tightly bound to his "unsociable neutral good" personality with little variation.

I like trophy women in fantasy and fiction and I like to self insert as the guy who have a happy life with them after adventures. Sadly, there's a worldwide vendetta against these type of characters because now it's the rule to have powerful strong women who defy society's norms and hates men.
You guys are the only people I can share this without feeling afraid.

>>20400580
They really aren't. There are moral paragons who are well written and there are relatively amoral protagonists who aren't. Zac falls more under the latter, but he's hard to judge because he HAS no fucking character.

>>20400598
I like stronk female warriors who turn into jello at the end of the story when they fall in love with the hero

What are some great Space Opera? Something akin to Dune and Star Wars or even Legend of Galactic Heroes

>>20400657
>great space opera
>star wars

>>20400603
Calling Zac amoral is a very strange take. He's the champion of earth and pretty much everyone he kills is some comically evil bandit/mass murderer/serial rapist or accessory to such. Ogras "influences" him but only making him less trusting. Maybe there's a prolonged development into more of an amoral direction but 250ish chapters in he's still capeshit tier vanilla. Also I overall disagree on well written paragons, pure good/evil main characters/antagonists tend to come across as very masturbatory at best, cynically patronizing at worst, and utterly banal in either case. Ambiguous characters respect your ability to form your own opinion, while unambiguous characters tend to be forced and condescending.

>>20400626
These are even rarer to find

>>20400668
I didn't mean to imply it was great I was just using it as an example

>>20400672
Amoral's not really the right word, but he's not really a morality-based character. Again, this is because he's NOT much of a character.

>>20399138
>no thanks

High fantasy stories greatly focused on relations?
Kings, consorts, lieges, levies, squires, sworn knights, royal guards
These sort of stuff but with a big emphasis on just mundane scenes, lots of dialogue, people mingling, something to fill in the void of loneliness

>>20400806
realm of the elderlings

Any good modern cyberpunk? Last 10 years or so

>>20399808

nigger did you just reccommend to me shitty books written for money by games workshop

>>20400657
I'd not necessarily call it great but if you are looking for something current I'd recommend Spiral Wars, the first book can be hard to get into as it does a lot of world-building and quality dipped a bit lately, but it seems to have recovered. It's the only scifi I keep up with religiously despite being on fantasy binge lately, for what it's worth, mostly because I find the world very interesting as it consists of multiple alien factions pursuing their own agendas, which can result in enemies becoming friends and vice versa.

If it's not up your alley, check out Ark Royal, Undying Mercenaries, Frontlines, they are all fairly decent, so they might be of interest to you.

>>20400833
>i wanna read stories about a technocratic hellscape
>from the last 10 years
just turn on the news

Is The Expanse worth reading? I've heard mixed reviews. I have seen a couple seasons of the show and thought it was ok. Maybe I'll just listen to the audiobook.

>>20400903
The first 2 are good, but after that it gets worse and worse

>>20400903
also, could anyone recommend me something space related? I think I have already read all the good military sci-fi but I'm jonesing for more.

>>20400911
yeah that's what I've heard. that sucks

>>20400877
no thanks nigga, i don't like being lied to

>>20397858
would def buy

>>20395934
post it

>>20400873
Thanks

>>20397858
>Well though out magic system
Bottled it right fucking there. You fucking nerds can never hold back your autism. It's magic you don't have to explain shit it just works. Also the pussy thing is mad gay.

>>20400903
>>20400911
I disagree, I never finished the series, in part because it was not released at the time in par because I lost interest, but I wouldn't say there's all that much of a quality drop later on, just issue maintaining interest brought upon itself by the fact that it's flirting with different genres.

>>20400915
>>20400873
I suspect you might have read them already, but maybe not. Kloos has a new series I haven't checked out but if it's anything like frontlines it might well be worth reading.

>>20400956
If magic just does whatever the fuck you want, there's gonna be some situation where magic does something that was never seen before and it'll feel like an asspull.

>>20400956
This post is mad gay.
>But why?
It just is.

Fuck you I liked it

>>20400956
>>20400964

Not gonna argue one way or the other, tho I do largely fall on the Hard Magic end of things, just thought I'd recommend a WN that has a very decent mix of soft and hard magic. It does so by establishing fairly clear power levels, w/o becoming litrpg, making it clear what abilities characters possess, by tying it up to their, or their patrons, names, and manages to maintain both behaviour largely within expectations and sense of wonder people like soft magic for. Plot's probably got a number of holes, but honestly I was so pleased with the world and people in it I didn't bother looking to closely. Would recommend, tho I warn you it's a slow burn.

>>20400903
For me it worked because I read it as they were released. Ups and downs but I recommend you to try reading book 1 and give yourself a time before, and if, you try book 2 and so on

>>20401002
How do you actually define soft and hard and how does that story split them? My personal definition would be hard is restrained, and tends to only have clear 'things' it can do and paradigms through which it can do them, whereas soft can still be a system, but it's a lot less clearly restrained (Wheel of Time has a soft magic system pretending it's a hard magic system, for example).

>>20401036
>How do you actually define soft and hard
Hard is clear and consistent rules, in extreme cases no magic that haven't been signalled in advance is allowed to be used in story. Soft is nebulous approximations weight given by the narrative importance of charters and events when magic occurs. The soft definition is kind of crap because usually NOT hard is sufficient to explain it, but I hope it gets the message across in so far as how I view them. Most stories are at least somewhat of a mix between the two as even the most soft magic work is unlikely to have the virgin holy maiden of purity randomly starting mass demon summoning ritual.

>and how does that story split them?
It doesn't that's the wonderful part, it uses power levels and concepts, both individual and universal, to lay a foundation of the magic system while letting the narrative have enough room for interpretation of that power and direction it can be taken in so it's still able to provide mystique and fuzzy boundaries for what's possible enabling system to retain some of the wonder associated with under defined magic system.

>>20401072
That's not really a mix, then, that's just a hard magic system that hasn't fully explained itself yet.

>>20400956
No you retard, magic in bible just works, its that type of magic that shouldnt be a part of good fantasy novel. Good fantasy has to have a well thought out magic system, doesn't have to be fully explained but it must have hard underlying principles and mechanics and it should be a part of the story and world building.

>>20401096
No, not really, honestly it's easier to explain it visually. If hard magic is a solar system with clear planets and gravitational relationships, and soft magic is a nebulae of gas clouds loosely tied with each other, then the way this book does it would have a system of planets in precarious balance each of which has an ousized and very light atmosphere.

Another way to try and explain it is probability. Hard magic has certain outcomes, soft magic has very broad distributions, this is more of a bell curve but with enough give on the sides to keep readers from being able to just figure out and force author into constraining character behaviour completely.

It's not that system is ill defined or not completely defined is that part of the definition is left loose on purpose to allow for more leeway, while having some constraints so the author couldn't just go rocks fall everybody dies.

The magic system argument is getting old, especially when it happens every other thread.

>>20401171
We haven't had this argument in like twenty threads.

>>20401180
It was four days ago, and it was basically the same arguments as now.

>>20401171
Systems are gay. If that's the only interesting thing you can say about your book, it's fucking trash.

>>20399430
I'm pretty early into Bakker but I've noticed his love of the word "unaccountable / unaccountably".

>>20401234
It's just the same old arguments being repeated, at this point, why even argue.

>>20401254
Magic thats just an asspull is even worse

good books about zombies?

was resident evil a novel series?

>>20400455
>another thread where newfags respond to newfags responding to newfags
Always surprised they don’t ignore the shitters.

>>20401389
I was just playing state of decay and I wonder why there hasn't been good zombie novels.

>>20401470
You know, you have stupid shit in litrpg that has base building or some stupid bullshit, yet, why won’t those idiots write about a zombie apocalypse base building story?

>>20400956
>>20400964
>>20401002
RI, as usual, has an interetsing take one this.
Cultivation is tied to Gu, and Gu are tied to "paths", which are basically just themes of synergistic Gu like fire/ice/strength/wisdom/etc...
But while at the low end, with singular Gu and low rank Gu Masters you get extremely hard limits "This gu shoots a 1 foot wide fireball in a straight line, that's it", at high levels with lots of Gu affecting each other and powerful Gu Masters with lots of experience you start getting things like "use fire to create a solid wave of explosive force compressed into a high speed cutting jet" and "use strength to understand and predict the physical forces and perform trajectory calculations". So it becomes much more conceptual and each "path" is more about a methodology/specialty or point of view, with extremely powerful Gu Masters being able to even imitate or copy the effects of water with fire and the absolute pinnacle being the ability to do basically anything in any path using only your own element.

But even when it gets all wishy-washy at the top, there's still the ironclad hard rules about exact magic expenditure, material costs, etc... So while a top tier fire path cultivator can create an ocean of sentient liquid fire or form it into a giant golem that can throw mountains he's only got 100 magic units and his move costs 20 of them a pop and leaves him entire immobile and defenseless for 10 seconds while he casts it so a theoretical enemy called Johnny Lightning Hands, whose only ability is to shoot lightning out of his hands, is still a lethal threat to him because he can shoot out extremely powerful lightning bolts for less that 1 magic unit a pop and can do it on the fly with no casting time multiple times a second.

>>20401490
>RI
And already stopped reading.

>>20401499
Alright, now start reading again.

>>20401490
how much does the RI publishing company pay you? because you're not doing a very good job

The guy's right about RI having all these cool systemic ideas but none of that fixes the shit protagonist

>>20401470
I had an idea for a zombie novel. A group of survivors would take over a cruise ship. So they'd have a safe base to operate from, but would still have to go into the wastes to gather food and supplies. Eventually they'd get it running and could sail around the coast recruiting others.

>>20401528
Protagonist is literally the best part of RI. Without Fang Yuan RI would not even exist.

>>20401490
This is correct. What RI does best is it splits magic into energy, tools, skills/knowledge.
Cultivation is there for energy, gu worms for magical tools/scrolls, and there is also experience and knowledge in using gu worms.This is not a new concept in the west. MP or mana has existed for years, yet it seems these days western magician characters don't have to learn spells and don't have to increase their casting ability/mana, they just asspull almost any amount of required mana and then make spells on the fly and are able to cast pretty much anything. This is the problem with many western fantasy stories, the lack of any even rudimentary system.

>>20401562
>Protagonist is literally the best part of RI. Without Fang Yuan RI would not even exist.
He's the most boring type of immoral murderhobo possible
Like a 6 year old playing an open world RPG

>>20400987
I like anime too, but you dont see me professing my love for it

>>20401470
http://www.bobbyadair.com/slowburn

It starts out well but then in later books turns somewhat into that american walking dead survival type drama, which I personally didn't like but if you are an american and like those type of dramas you will probably like it.

>>20400750
I'd moreso say he's pretty much morality-driven but in a very shallow and unconvincing way, with the caveat that the author includes family values in morality.

>>20401470
Out post by Adam Baker was pretty good but its been years since ive read it

>>20401567
Nothing to do with boring, you are one of those moral butthurt type of people, if Fang Yuan was was genuinely funny and did many exciting things but was still evil and murdered countless people for personal gain, you still wouldnt like him.

>>20401603
Nobody likes shadow the hedgehog tier edgyness.

>>20401567
>Like a 6 year old playing an open world RPG
And now you know why he appeals to edgelords and underaged fags.

>>20394128
hello does anyone have the chart that has a bunch of cyberpunk books and media on it? I checked the chart mega and couldn't find it, all I can remember is that it had a dark green background, and mentioned lain from Serial Experiments Lain

>>20401624
Shadow wouldn't be inexplicably popular if that were true. The existence of such people is just a sad fact of reality, like the existence of incurable plagues and unkillable pest insects.

>>20401698
Yeah, but you still have large number of people mocking shadow for being that edgy.

Any decent fantasy/sci fi centered around a protagonist with regenerative powers that grant them pseudo-immortality?

The bot just keep asking the weirdest question.

>>20401719
They are pozzed, their opinion is irrelevant.

>>20400257
glad you are enjoying it, anon

Started Gormenghast recently and I generally like it so far, however I've heard that author wasn't able to finish series the way he intended. Does it leave loose ends, or books are self-contained? I don't want to end up going through yet another huge but unfinished story, there are enough of those.

>>20401794
Well, anon, you have to read it and find out, so don't waste any time here.

>>20401794
Problems with Titus Alone were mainly down to editing.
Bad initial edit since Peake was declining with dementia by then and the better re-edit was done via notebooks so it's not necessarily as Peake might have intended had he still had all faculties.
They're all distinct plots so even if you don't like Alone, it won't really detract from the previous books.

New thread when? I don't want a repeat of the previous situation. I'm going to slepe, so someone please watch the thread.

>>20401855
When this thread reaches Page 10.

>>20401855
>I don't want a repeat of the previous situation.
What previous situation? If you're talking about the last threads, pretty sure mods force that thread to the archives because it was barely in page 3 when it disappeared.

>>20401584
>http://www.bobbyadair.com/slowburn
>>20401602
>Out post by Adam Baker
Thanks you guys. I'll be reading these two soon.

>>20401896
Don’t know if this helps, but I remember there’s a small publishing company that does survival stories, like post-apocalypse, I’ll try and find them for you.

>>20401480
I feel as if some of those litrpg stories would be better if they weren’t litrpg.

new thread
>>20401961

Any good fantasy books with lolis or zombies? OR both?

>>20401984
>both?

So, is no one going to mention the bot that’s been here and the previous thread? Asking inane request?

>>20402035
>bot that’s been here and the previous thread?
No, I notice it as well, just ignore it, or report it, but it is astounding someone would go that far for here.

>>20400987
I liked it too, then read the second one, and the third one and started the fourth one but it's just not so good anymore. Death by over milking, should have ended it sooner.

>>20402024
>>>/b/loli
?

>>20402101
Sanderson seems to have an issue where character arcs finish in a single book but the characters persist and so he has to keep making the same arc again and again because he can't make new ones for these characters.