/lit/ - Literature

im in the thread, ruling supreme
then I hear the sandersoi scream
I tell him why are you so mad
he says Bakker makes him sad
I say Bakker rule and sandi drool
if you don't agree you are a fool

>>21459013
>Malazan
>Black Company
>Bakkerverse
>Tolkien
>ASoIaF
>The First Law
>Witcher
>Discworld
>Earthsea
I am running out of shit to read. Is there some fantasy series that's as good as the above? I didnt enjoy Sanderson and WoT.

>>21459058
Forgot to mention Chronicles of Amber, it was good.

>>21459058
once you go the way of Bakker, on other books you empty your bladder

>>21459058
New thread , let's do this!

The Wandering Inn
Practical Guide To Evil

Some Anon was bitching about it last thread so I just wanted to let you all know I am currently rereading Gaunt's Ghosts. There you go Anon, someone told you what they're reading.

Any recs if I really enjoyed this ?

>>21459058
Gormenghast, bruv

>Discworld
>Earthsea
>Belgariad
>Riftwar Saga
>Some other series
Which one should I read next, /sffg/?

>>21458998
>women ofter write "male gaze" style , I mean look at Le Guin

No way Anon, what are you talking about? Have we read the same Le Guin? Her Earthsea books were one of the weirdest fantasy books I've read in my childhood, all that talk about 'love' and 'friendship' was rather uncommon. At the time I didn't understand why it was written that way because I didn't differentiate between male and female writers, now I know that Le Guin's focus was very different from male writers. While I'm not a fan of her books, I see why a lot of people would like them, men and women alike. But it's not a usual fantasy book, nor does it appeal to 'male gaze.' It's more of a 'universal gaze' that leans towards 'female gaze.'

>>21459105
>Because people here can see through the convention politics, being unrelated to them, and can recognize her for the shit-tier misery-tourist fujoshit that she is.
>All those books are about is misery, failed relationships and abusing male relations by faggots, which are portrayed as being morally right for doing it.
As someone who was a big fan of Robin Hobb in my teenage years, I don't think I would have liked her books as much as an adult. I'm a sucker for tortured and miserable protagonists, but the way relationships were handled in the book were always weird to me, just like in Earthsea. Women just write people differently, that's a fact. I don't think Fool/Bastard stuff was off-putting, but I was surprised when reading it. Now, looking back at the story, it's clear that if Hobb was born in our age she'd write fujo fanfics and shit.

Nothing weird about it, though. Artists are always weird. You must be a bit insane to autistically spend hunderds of hours on creating fictional words about exaggerated human experiences, mostly as a vessel of writing about your interests or fetishes.

>>21459174
>You must be a bit insane to autistically spend hunderds of hours on creating fictional words about exaggerated human experiences, mostly as a vessel of writing about your interests or fetishes.

Gents, I need a ludicrous pirate adventure. Shanties, maidens, monsters. Who's got the goods?

Almost nothing in this genre captures my attention apart from few exceptions. And no, not necessarily only muh Tokien. I liked The Darkness That Comes Before, its really schizo tier but brilliant. I liked Rothfuss and Abercrombie. Otherwise, MEH.

>>21459075
At least you are reading something beyond the same titles every shitposter obsesses over. I'm proud of you despite that quippy teenage attitude that you display.

Someone recommended Walter Moers a few threads back, and I picked up his "The City of Dreaming Books" It's cozy.

>>21459058
You are lucky, because outside of Tolkien you haven't even began to touch quality fantasy. You have most of it left. R. E. Eddison (Sword of Wellaran and Other Stories), Jack Vance (Dying Earth, Lyonesse), Howard (Conan), Gene Wolfe (Book of the New Sun, Wizard Knight), Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd and Grey Mouser), Peake (Gormenghast)... You have a lot to enjoy.

>>21459058
>No Bakker
Either bait or, a contrarian retard, or hopelessly filtered.

Simple as.

Can you guys recommend me some good space opera with that classic sci-fi feel? Something with a tone and world reminiscent of Star Trek or Babylon 5? Honorverse-ish, for a book comparison?

>>21459475
anon...

>>21459475
Or maybe he's just not gay.

>>21459446
Gene Wolf isn't quality

>>21459548
Your life must be pretty pathetic if you spend most of your time posing that one image over and over again.

/sffg/ becomes ever faster with the quantity of posts while declining in quality, but that's intentional. The threads really shouldn't have to be made every 24 hours or less.

>>21459593
Be a mod/janny then pussy.

>>21459075
As far as guilty pleasure 40kshit goes, I preferred his Inquisition books to Gaunt's Ghosts. Have you tried Peter Fehervari? The Reverie and Requiem Internal were pretty nice, and he's one of the few authors to portray the Warp as genuinely weird and troubling, rather than an advertisement for specific miniatures.

>>21459593
>The threads really shouldn't have to be made every 24 hours or less.
Why? who are you to decide how often threads should be made?

>>21459112
How is Earthsea?

>>21459586
Your life must be pretty pathetic if you spend your time shilling a medicore sci fi author and saying he's better than proust
retard

>>21459689
idk that's why I'm asking

>>21459112
Guyal of Sfere

For all the complaining, what does /lit/ actually want to see in modern popular fantasy?

>>21459776
more wizards

>>21459776
smut portal fantasy

jokes aside , it's been ages since I read a good story with a true hero protagonist.No antihero , no relactant protagonist , no chosen one. Just a protagonist saving the day because it's the right thing to do and has no regrets afterwards. Doesn't event have to be white-male or whatever. I used to get this from comix but not anymore

Engine Summer - John Crowley (1979)

Engine (Injun/Indian) Summer is the first novel I've read from Crowley, though I've read some of his short fiction. Apparently I didn't find anything notable about them at the time. I found the voice in this to be siren-like: calm, soothing, and entrapping. It was easy to forget what the frame story immediately tells you, and reminds the reader at each break, about how this will all end. Aside from its voice, I don't know that's much reason to read this unless you want a nice slice-of-life story, which it is, more than you know, and can either ignore or be unbothered by the overall situation. Not much of the world is shown, though it's known to take place many centuries after an apocalyptic event. It's an idyllic world satisfied with limitations of all sorts. Almost everyone is illiterate, because there's little need for any sort of knowledge except that which is necessary for day-to-day activities, and for most anyone life is simply a matter of whiling away the years. That may be just be what the novel wanted to present rather than necessarily how it is. Depending on your outlook the societies depicted could be dystopic, utopic, or ambiguous. I think they're the the lattermost.

The narrator begins their story at seven years old and roughly ends it at seventeen years old, so it's a story of childhood and adolescence. That's not only the case for the narrator, as arguably society has regressed to that state as well, or viewed the other way, it's in retirement. As with most children and teens, the narrator only vaguely knows who they are or what they want, but they know that it can't be found where or how they are. So, the narrator sets forth to become who they will be, whomever that may be. That's the entirety of this short novel. The narrator goes a few places, meets some people, and does what's needed at the time, all the while providing their observations and feelings from a first person perspective. They aren't much more than one ought to expect from an average youth. The narrator is involved with a bit of sexual material, mostly in passing, that may discomfort some readers. There's also a peculiar story about a transwoman, which is of its time.

While reading I came across a passage that led me to the idea that the one who prompts the narrator to tell their story was doing so with the hope that if the reader enjoyed the story enough then the prompter would be freed from the book. That wasn't the case, but I liked the idea. In the dedication Crowley writes about how ideas and discursions in a story that are dead ends can be the best part. Despite liking the aforementioned dead end idea, I don't know that I agree. Engine Summer be reductively summarized as a blind alley, but even so that doesn't mean that there won't be interesting sights along the way. I'll probably read more from Crowley, eventually.

Rating: 3.5/5

>>21459813
Those characters still tend to exist, but they're often side characters because as protagonists it's a lot trickier to write just a straightforward good guy. You absolutely can, it's just easier to write a more conflicted protagonist.

>>21459885
>it's just easier to write a more conflicted protagonist
the argument i hear is always the other way around. people choose to write straightforward good guys because it's easier and they don't have to think about how their protagonist would respond to any situation.

>>21459944
It's easier to write them, but it's harder to write them well.

>>21459548
Pretty dumb to use this image as a reply to a post which recommended Vance. At best, lazy bait. At worst, severe mental retardation.

>>21459058
Try the Bobiverse, it's very entertaining

>>21459058
THE WORM OUROBOROS

>>21459872
your """reviews""" are shit
FUCK OFF

>>21459776
What I would like to see, in no particular order:
>Decent writing from a technical perspective
>Cool and/or creative uses of magic both in design of the setting and by magical characters
>Swordfights
>Use of religion in setting-building and characterization that isn't yet another (incredibly lazy) evil vaguely-Catholic-flavored church or some D&D bullshit which exists only to flavor cleric spellcasting
>A setting which feels alive and real even if it isn't "realistic"
>At least some likeable characters to give a shit about
>Protagonists who are proactive, for good or ill
>At least some primary characters who are grown adults and behave like it
>At least a hint of sincerity and playing things straight in a literary landscape that's filled with "deconstructions" and stuff that's unremittingly ironypoisoned or nihilistic
>More standalones. I don't hate series by any means, but it'd be nice to have more books which tell a complete story by themselves.

What I don't want to see:
>Protagonists who spend a huge portion of the book wallowing in anything. Self-pity, self-loathing, weakness, whatever. Unless they're just one of several PoVs, it gets boring.
>Autistic exposition and systematization better suited to a RPG sourcebook than a novel
>LitRPG/"progression fantasy" aspects
>Harem anime-tier relationship writing (not fundamentally opposed to multiple attractive women wanting a protagonist's dick, though)
>Literal cuckold+simp shit like kingkiller or gentleman bastards after the first book
>Characters who behave, speak, and think pretty much identically to (generally snarky and upper-middle class) residents of a major 21st century city even though they live in an extremely different world/society/time
>Self-indulgent (on the author's part) misery porn
>Clumsy attempts to shoehorn in real world Current Issues™ even when they don't make much sense. (See: Abercrombie deciding to turn fantasy-Ottoman superpower into a shallow stand-in for Syrian refugees because he felt like it)
>Literally anything to do with trannies
>Anything that makes the author's fetishes way too obvious unless I share them

>>21460215
shut up , mate.
I like them

>>21459058

I will be bullied for recommending it but give Sword of Truth a try. Be warned, the author has a thinly veiled BDSM fetish that is a major plot point for no reason.

>Oh damn some kingdoms want to side with odium
>Oh shit dalinar remembered his wife
>Oh fuck the parshmen are just escaped slaves not evil voidbringers
*turns page*
"Shallan became Veil"

For God's sake Brandon.

>>21459689
The first one is boring as shit i didnt read the rest. Its like this chick read a little bit of Carl Jung and had a hard on for dragons so she decided to write a book. And I say that as a Carl Jung fan.

Planning to read this later. I've never read anything by Heinlein.

>>21459776
More authors like Bakker.

>>21460390
That's his best book so if you don't like that chances are you won't like anything else. Luckily it's very polished, and snappy. That is the most absolute dogshit cover for it I've ever seen tho

I don't want to read all these anymore. I got all the hardcovers for 2 bucks a pop at a used book sale.
I'm about halfway through book number two and I've lost interest and haven't picked it up in a month.
Its not that its really bad or anything I can't quite put my finger on why it seems like a chore to read.

>>21460390
I've seen 3-4 covers for this and not one of them depicts the space armor as it's described in the book.

Nothing special by today's standards but this is THE book that defined the space marines in pop culture (ex W40k)

>>21460429
>Filtered by book two instead of book one
Weird. Let me ask you something, Anon. Are you a tits or an ass man?

>>21460429
>I can't quite put my finger on why it seems like a chore to read
It's longer than it needs to be by hundreds of pages. I opted for the audio version as the narrator does a kickass job, and got through it in about a week.

test

>>21460438
For me, its the ass

>>21460445
That's why, Anon. WoT is a certified bosom bazaar. Ass men simply won't appreciate all the vocabulary in it.

>heinlein blogpost
>threadly wot mention within 10 posts of each other
sasuga

>>21459776
Good books. I don't have something I want to see in particular.
>>21460058
I don't know about others, but I found Vance through Wolfe. Is this common?

>>21460461
And let's not forget you, the whining faggot. The circle is complete once more.

>>21460420
>That is the most absolute dogshit cover for it I've ever seen tho

I saved from Wikipedia. It's the original first cover.

21460472
sasuga

>>21460571

>>21460571
Anything else on that direction that is good or better? RI suffered from the mc being to much of a dick at times, even for chinese webnovel standards. And the follow-up chinese pokemon novel from the same author doesn´t hold up to his previous work.

Any decent zobie books? They seem to too often degenerate in to military power fantasy. I thought that I woudn't mind that but they are usualy just way too clumsy.

>>21460665
*zombie

>>21460277
Tell me, anon, what gets you to read the Fatman's books? I read Way of Kings and Mistborn both and decided he's not for me, but what gets you going about it?

>>21459689
The first one is the most uninteresting and generic fantasy I've ever seen.
The second one is pretty good.
The third one is SUDDENLY FEMINISM.
The fourth one is like the third, except way more so.

>>21460585
Rude.

>>21460663
No, RI is one of a kind. RI is also what it is because of the mc, if it had a generic dumb good boy protagonist then it would not even be in top 20 of webnovels.

>>21460252
fuck off retard

>>21460750
I do aknowledge that it´s good. It´s because of that that the asshole mc (who is by writing standards over there as I said written quite good) shines through more.

The mc doesn´t have to be a generic good boy, I just want a chinese webnovel where the mc isn´t an asshole all the time.

>>21460721
>The third one is SUDDENLY FEMINISM.
How? spoil me

>>21460665
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E4VT778/

>>21460765
>The mc doesn´t have to be a generic good boy, I just want a chinese webnovel where the mc isn´t an asshole all the time
Every other chinese webnovel has a good protagonist, I don't they are even allowed to write mc villains.

>>21460780
Thanks

>>21460800
From my experience goody two shoes seem to be the rarity. But hey, I´ve mostly been going around webnovel, wuxiaworld, royalroad, novelupdates and scribblehub.

>>21460468
>I don't know about others, but I found Vance through Wolfe. Is this common?
Most people probably find Vance through D&D.

>>21460774
Huh, seems I forgot completely about the actual earthsea 3 (Farthest Shore) - it's been over 10 years since I read it. That should tell you all you need about my opinion on it.
As for Tehanu, the little I remember is that protagonists from previous books abruptly stop being proactive, throw away their established characterization, and sit around wallowing in vague emotional issues. It's almost like a parody of stereotypical female thinking.

>>21460712
I like the world and the characters, except Shallan. I like the magic. Normally, I prefer a less "autistic" and defined magic system, but I also do enjoy knowing how everything works. Knowing what a character is capable of. I wouldn't want every fantasy novel to have a clinical magic system like stormlight, but when stormlight is the only one I'm reading like that it's a nice change of pace to have things be a little more concrete.
I mostly read nonfiction books. Histories and the like. So his simple writing style is appreciated after reading a super long comprehensive history of the ACW or something similar. Not quite "turn your brain off" more like "laid back." I also like art films but sometimes I want to watch something easy like The Raid: Redemption.
They're super long books, but I can blow through one in a few days if I'm not busy, so it's not like I'm investing all my free time into it. After I finish oathbringer, I'm probably gonna read that Napoleon bio, then another entry in a pulp series called the lost regiment. Then rhythm of war

>>21460468
I think most people go the other direction, but I was the same as you. I've met very few people who liked one and disliked the other, honestly.

>>21457098
>>21457110
That was barely a thing.

>>21460967
>>21460902
>>21460858
>>21460840
>>21460834
>>21460811
>>21460804
>>21460800
>>21460780
>>21460774
>>21460765
>>21460756
>>21460750
>>21460721
>>21460712
>>21460676
>>21460665
>>21460663
>>21460585
>>21460571
>>21460488
>>21460473
>>21460472
>>21460468
>>21460461
>>21460454
>>21460445
>>21460441
>>21460440
>>21460438
>>21460431
>>21460429
sneed

>>21460972
feed

>>21460972
Sneed-Sama, I... I kneel.

>>21460972
>only one {you)

I need to step up my game

>>21460967
It was a daily occurrence for at least a year.

Tell me about the WoT hater. Why does he complain when it's mentioned?

I found myself enjoying The White Luck Warrior. While I was worried that the dual marches across the wastes would drag, I think Bakker mostly succeeded by contrasting Sorweel's education and plotting with Scalpoi delirium. Not to mention the side plots, each with their own novel perspective, going so far as to exploit switching tenses.
The White Luck Warrior's point of view especially stands out here, more so than Kellhus' in the first trilogy.

I should have ordered the next book sooner, now I'll have to wait a bit.

>>21459475
Highest reading comprehension bakkerfag

>>21461107
The autism is strong in this general.

Read The Wandering Inn, Read Mother of Learning, Read I Shall Seal the Heavens.

Also read The Prince of Nothing, Neuromancer, Cradle, A Song of Ice and Fire, Hyperion, Between Two Fires, The Poppy War.

>>21461136
>Read The Wandering Inn, Read Mother of Learning, Read I Shall Seal the Heavens.
Sell them to me, tell me something to grab my attention about them.

>>21461103
I don't remember that, unless it was 2 to 3 years ago or earlier. And I check out warosu for Soulcatcher mentions from time to time.

>>21460390
There is only one action sequence at the beginning, all the rest is page upon page of Juan being unable to make a decision and doubting himself or the author talking directly to you about a hypothetical utopian society. It is not one the author supports or believes in, but it is terribly boring, it is the counter-point to Stranger In A Strange Land which does something similar to Marxism, only it's a magical religious sex cult that grants powers. None of his works are well written or enjoyable to read.

If you want a hard-bitten, angry marine book, get Armor by Steakley.

>>21459548
Stop posting this shit fucking meme. You dont even realize how it reveals what a slim crumb of intelligence you have for thinking its funny or insightful

>>21461149
>Mother of Learning
a training mage stuck in a time loop. Better than it should be but the writing is a bit dry.

>Wandering Inn
epic fantasy , excelent world building , great characters and good payoffs.
But , it takes a while to get going and it's a bazilion worlds.

>Neuromancer
the prototype for later cyberpunk stories. Too much misery for my tastes.

>A Song of Ice and Fire
Dynasty (the soap opera) for nerdy men , with dragons

>>21461197
cope more wolfefag

>>21461227
Gee what an intelligent response. I'm sure youre really capable of explaining why Wolfe bad. Knuckle dragging retard

>>21460429
Yes but any books like dark souls or berserk?
Also where do i start with W40K?
Also any books like gene wolfe?

>>21461242
Because he's a derivative midwit fat catholic hack?
>What struck me on the beach–and it struck me indeed, so that I staggered as at a blow–was that if the Eternal Principle had rested in that curved thorn I had carried about my neck across so many leagues, and if it now rested in the new thorn (perhaps the same thorn) I had only now put there, then it might rest in everything, in every thorn in every bush, in every drop of water in the sea. The thorn was a sacred Claw because all thorns were sacred Claws; the sand in my boots was sacred sand because it came from a beach of sacred sand. The cenobites treasured up the relics of the sannyasins because the sannyasins had approached the Pancreator. But everything had approached and even touched the Pancreator, because everything had dropped from his hand. Everything was a relic. All the world was a relic. I drew off my boots, that had traveled with me so far, and threw them into the waves that I might not walk shod on holy ground
How the fuck is this "good prose" or "based"?

>>21461255
>reductionist statement
>quote
>unquote
>"This is le bad, rite guys?"
How the fuck were you conceived by two abject retards?

>>21461136
>Read The Wandering Inn
Still waiting for the finished rewrite of the first volume.
>Read I Shall Seal the Heavens.
Dropped it twice, won't pick it up again.
I don't get why Er Gen is so popular, he just keeps churning out the same stuff.

>>21461266
I don't read books written by fat people
It's that simple

>>21461269
>

>>21461248
Mommyrathi.

>>21461271
Yeah i despise grr martin
your point is?

>>21461269
I'm going to start doing this.

Tried to stick to pre-18th century materials (not counting the recent collections of older works). If you're bored and want to know where all the modern memes come from there's a good chance it's one of these.

>>21461339
Arabian Nights is the most 4chan of all classic fantasy. Especially the 19th century translations with jingoist commentary.

>>21461339
Sir this is the scifi and fantasy general

>>21461381
Sir, some of those are more fantastical than the most autistic web novels you can think of.

why were so many sci-fi writers furries who crammed anthros into their books?

>>21461339
Might as well put 'The Complete Works of Shakespeare' in there desu

>>21461339
Bhagwat Geeta is neither fantasy nor science fiction

>>21461277
Based and incestpilled

So much of fantasy is based on their culture so why haven't they made something good themselves yet?

>>21461458

>>21461339
>Bhagavad Gita
>Scifi or fantasy
Do westerners really...?

>>21461339
Thanks.

>>21461339
and just like that the anti-literature fags come shitting their pants and yelling about how they shouldn't have to read actual classics just because they had a tremendous influence on everything that came after them

>>21461430
>>21461468
Explain how the Bhagavad Gita does not have any elements of fantasy in it, and had no influence on the genre.

>>21461518
You might as well put the bible in that list too

>>21461542
It is.

Just started By Fire Above. I didn't expect to like the first book as much as I did. Turns out airship combat + Napoleonic wars is something that greatly appeals to me. Truthfully I'm not a fan of either of the main characters but I don't dislike them enough to be turned off from the action and setting so I'm still enjoying the book.

>>21461542
Third book on the list. It also has Beowulf, The Divine Comedy, and the Arthurian Legend which were all inspired by it. I don't think the list has anything to do with whether or not the documents themselves are true.

>>21461547
I apologize, carry on.

>>21461391
>author is a furry
>crams anthros into their books
That one answers itself. Why they're furries has to do with grooming or being involuntary bummed at a young age.

>>21461518
Geeta neither has a story nor a narrative. Its a book on religious metaphysics, philosophy and way of life. Its not sffg in any sense of the word and has no influence on the genre.

Now I'm wondering if you're just as clueless about every other book on that list. Yeah that's probably it

>>21461666
Cursed reply with the digits to match. If you think the Bhagavad Gita has zero story, zero fantasy elements, and zero influence on the genre you're just plain fucking retarded.

Wow I'm really glad Bakker decided the first thing to describe about the Inchoroi was his fucking dick.

>>21461666
Lord of Light and Black Company are filled with references to Hinduism. There's even thuggees who worship their own version of Kali.

>>21461739
You got memed by faggots into reading Buttfakker, you don't need to keep going

>>21461739
>>21461768
FILTERED
Stick to Sanderson fags.

>>21461780
I'm not filtered, just waiting on the mail.

>>21461780
>readers of Bakker calling others fags
I laffed.

>It's a chinese webnovel with no cuckshit
it's gaming time

>>21461787
Sorry anon. But not everyone self inserts as a pathetic fag like Proyas. Nor freaks out over a dick.

>>21461808
There is only one.

I really thought this thread would be devoid of posts given that it’s New Year’s Eve and I thought people here would rather spend it with friends and family rather than sitting behind a monitor. But I guess I was wrong.

>>21461814
kino

>>21461559
>bennis

>>21461809
I bet you self inserted as the pomegranate boy

>>21461827
I self inserted as Conphas.

>>21461819
I've had way too much family over the holidays. My primary friend group has infighting so no big party this NYE. I could check with my work friends but I'm an introvert, I don't need a lot of people time

>>21461719
Nta. Your point? I highly doubt that it had any influence but what if it did? Many things, many people had influence on sff, so what? Should I read them all? Get fucked, I read sff, not unrelated garbage that may or may not have had influence on it.

>>21459013
>Epic space opera science fiction with the entire universe with all it's aliens and massive civilisations at stake due to some threat or whatever with wacky outlandish concepts/ideas and is actually a good read.
Can I get some recommendations/your favourites? Pic related.

>>21461885
Get a load of this effeminate sperg. I didn't tell you that you had to read anything. You were the one complaining about the Bhagavad Gita being on the list, and you were wrong. Cry more.

>>21461463
meh

>>21461814
Redpill me on this

>>21461937
People seem to like Ian Bank's Culture series. I read Player of Games and liked it but not Consider Phlebas which I dropped. Then there's a million Star Wars books

Considering that this is supposedly such a common cliche, I'm having a hard time finding a classic hero tale that isn't pozzed or complete garbage. The criteria are simple:

>finished series.
>unexpected hero who actually earns his victory through valor instead of plot armor/prophecy/outside help.
>gets the girl, no platonic bullshit, actually marries her and stays uncucked.
>travels through exotic lands and encounters diverse cultures.
>actually interacts with the world instead of cluelessly being led around by some mentor or living as a fugitive on the road.

I guess harem garbage is the last bastion of the farm hand hero archetype.

>>21462217
>I guess harem garbage is the last bastion of the farm hand hero archetype.
why is this, really?

>>21462217
look no further than Jack Vance my dude:
cadwall chronicles
maske thaery
emphyrio
planet of adventure
actually, any story set in the gaean reach will suffice

>>21462242
Because tradpub is a propaganda outlet and ignores demand areas that don't fit political objectives.

Discussion requires at least two anons if excluding self-discussions. The odds that two want to discuss anything but the most popular or newly released is very low.

>>21462403
fuck you bitch

>>21462403
Yes but when does WoT get good, just finished EotW and i don't like it?
Was severian autistic?
Any books like warhammer?

>>21460663
I think the Chinese Pokemon novel was actually the author’s first work before reverend insanity

>>21459058
Traitor Son is a pretty good series. Ignore the terminally online retards suggesting webnovels and chinklit.

>>21459729
>Guyal of Sfere
On one hand I wish Guyal had more than a novella-length story to his name, on the other I feel like his story ends perfectly where it did

>>21462307
Given how touchy that particular anon is he'd probably get unreasonable pissed off by Sessily getting raped? and murdered

>>21459058
Eyes of the Overworld, Gormenghast, and BotNS are sffg required reading.
>le guin path
City of Illusions, Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, Lathe of Heaven
>glen cook path
Darkwar, Garrett PI, Dragon Never Sleeps
>>21459067
Lord of Light is better

>>21462677
It's pretty chill for the last decade, but nothing compared to Wolfe or Vance at their height. I would unironically go for Bakker or Fallout Equestria first.

>>21462545
>Yes but when does WoT get good, just finished EotW and i don't like it?
Personally I didn't like EotW much either. I think it starts to pick up about halfway through book 2.
Personally I think EotW and the second book should have been edited down into a single book, and a bunch of Mat's characterization should have been moved forward. Mat doesn't even start to get any page time until the start of book 3, and he's consistently a highlight of the series once he does.

>>21459058
Sunrunner by Melanie Rawn of course!

>>21462545
eotw is not a good book. I hear book 2 is where the series picks up but I haven't gotten around to it yet

Such a kino book cover. Both books have such nice covers. Probably the best I’ve seen

>>21462926
I honestly despise John Gwynne. He manages to be both incredibly edgy AND incredibly PC at the same time. Ultraviolence is fine, but NO HECKIN' MISOGYNY. It's awful, I hate it. I don't like edgelord bullshit at the best of times but when you combine it with being absurdly sterile and safe in every other aspect it just becomes ridiculous and completely obliterates any attempt at suspension of disbelief.
He presents basic bitch depictions of supposedly "medeval" societies just like GRRM, but unlike GRRM he doesn't actually have any knowledge of history so it just comes across as even more contrived and inauthentic. GRRM does it too but at least he gets SOME parts right, the Heraldry and such at least.

>>21462940
topkek not everyone hates women

>>21462944
Is it too much to ask for an author to be tonally consistent? To not put in blatantly ridiculous girl power bullshit like a 15 year old girl somehow holding her own in a shield wall with full grown men? She didn't have any magic powers either, this is the girl from Malice.

anons, any links?

>>21461937
a fire upon the deep
its not-really-prequel, a deepness in the sky, is also really good, but has smaller scope

>>21462926
>big monster with small, humanoid figures in the foreground
>kino
it's photobash horseshit. Every single aspect of the cover is trite, right down to the gay little pull
quote

>>21460220
Good post.
T. Writing a book

>Raul Endymion chapter
I sleep
>Pax chapter
Finally

I hate the river tethys so much its unreal. Why does the 4th book have to be 800 pages.

Gonna try and start the Valis trilogy this year as a way of emphasizing more fiction than non fiction in my reading habits

>>21463207
Btw
>CAPTCHA: G0PG0Y

>>21462217
>>gets the girl, no platonic bullshit, actually marries her and stays uncucked.
>>travels through exotic lands and encounters diverse cultures.
kys

>>21459776
>prose and dialogue that is fun to read (Vance, Pratchett)
>plots that are compelling without stringing a bunch of cliffhangers and PoV switches together
>locales and settings that can't just be described as X with a little Y (Piranesi's labyrinth, Elfland, Urth)
>customs, cultures, attitudes and norms that are markedly from the ${current year} (Night's Master)
>uses the genre to explore novel ideas (Dying Inside, Blindsight, The Inverted World etc.)
>under 300 pages (my diary desu)

Help. I can't decide if I wanna start Mistborn or The First Law series next

>>21462953
wait a minute, if I remember right, only one faction in Malice ever used shield walls and she wasn't in it
kek

>>21463294
You don't remember right, there's multiple female PoV characters, you're thinking of the other one.

>>21463295
wasn't it Corban gf who is the fighter? their faction never used the shield wall until the very end when that lizard riding king's commander guy defects

>>21461182
>mfw ending to Armor

>>21461248
>Also where do i start with W40K?
there is no definitive starting point as there are multiple series out there. horus heresy is massive and set in 30k essentially leading up to a massive event that defined 40k.

Is Tress of the emerald sea any good?

>>21463347
Does a bear shit it in the woods? Does the Pope stick his thumb in kids butts? Was Epstein assassinated?

>>21463217
I know right, this post reeks of toxic masculinity and eurocentrism, who wants to read about a white male saviour in 2023. Yuck!

>>21460840
>drooling retard crying like a bitch about feminism doesn't know know shit
shocker

Any link to download Tress of the Emerald Sea?

>>21463207
It's not really a trilogy. Just read VALIS and if you like Dick, go from there. Then again it's not the best entry into Dick as VALIS is more autobiographical.

Is there any redeeming quality to Hyperion books 3 and 4?

>>21463447
>Traveling through exotic lands and encoutering diverse cultures
Sounds like my weekend trip to Paris.

>>21463447
>booktube community
>they all read and talk about the exact same books

>>21463682
They read?

If you think booktube is bad, check put authortube.

>>21463674
>reading past 2

>>21463691
aka catladytube

>>21463682
Sounds like the newfags here.

>>21460858

Thanks, anon. That's a pretty understandable explanation and I appreciate it.

>>21463550
I expected this to be incredibly easy to find, like I thought it'd be available on every site by 12:30am Mormon time

Apparently not. I guess the fact that only kickstarter backers have access to it results in too high of a bootlicker ratio for quick piracy.

>samefagging this hard because you've waited an entire half a day for a leak that hasn't dropped yet
it's always something

>>21461814
I want to read this so bad but the dogshit machine translation filters me everytime I start it. Maybe the next gen machine translators will render it legible.

>>21463872
Serves you right, degenerate. At least you have sense enough not to read mtl. Perhaps you might one day try real books written in English.

>>21463872
It's almost 3million words in length, the only way that gets translated is with MTL.

>>2146367
>>21463695
newfag here, is this real or a meme? In the process or reading the second book right now. Are they just not as good or will they ruin my enjoyment of the first two?

>>21460858
Shallan I still feel like she's part of an entirely different story than everybody else. Despite crossing over a bit with Kaladin and such via Adolin, she's just never really doing much that feels relevant to everybody else. Her presence in Way of Kings is genuinely irrelevant because it's just "Shallan finds out she can do magic I guess".

>>21464045
Two first were good. Writing becomes more tedious after those and the main character is a insufferable idiot. In the next two books Dan Simmons writes so much fluff it's unbelievable and the books are getting longer and longer. Go for it, if you enjoy 10 page description of various clouds in a gas giant.

I want to strangle D Simmons

>>21464056
She has her moments like the end of Radiance but I agree her story just feels irrelevant most of the time so far.

>>21463823
Fucking mormon cocksuckers. They should upload that shit immediatly for the poor.

>>21464045
just stop after the second one
the third and fourth ones are just awful and involve a man literally grooming a mary sue and just some awful ass pulls

>>21464075
Who?

>>21464082
Literally the other way around, he's being groomed to service her.

>>21464124
>>21464082
and the only reason for this is that his surname happened to be Endymion

I find myself skipping more and more paragraphs of Raul chapters knowing I am not missing anything.

>>21464133
>and the only reason for this is that his surname happened to be Endymion
Read the second to last chapter. Silenius says explicitly which character trait led him to be chosen.

My dad is into sci-fi and I wanted to gift him a new book, but he pretty much has almost every mainstream book til 2010 or so. Any tips?
I was thinking about "Project Hail Mary" or "Exhalation from Ted Chiang". What do you guys think?

>>21459872
Read The Deep.
Ka was also incredibly good.
Still need to read Little Big

>>21461248
Darkness That Comes Before
Eisenhorne
Jack Vance

Should I take a risk reading this stuff, or is it too mid? I feel like it's easier to talk to people when I'm reading stuff like Asimov and Clarke instead of books with a normalfag audience.

>>21464377
derp

>>21462829
Snuck that one in there.

I LITERALLY cannot decide what fantasy races to include in my fantasy setting.

>>21464075
I hated this fucking planet.

>>21464647
Dwarves. There's way too little fantasy dwarf action. All I can think are Tolkien and some shit series by a German guy.

>>21464289
You'll have a chance to have me read them sooner or later if you're in the Goodreads group. Otherwise, I probably will regardless, but not anytime soon. I ought to have more details posted about that later today.

>>21464647
make up a race or just have humans

>>21464678
based

>>21464647
ratmen

>>21464647
Coonkin

>>21464614
You're right. I would never seriously recommend Bakker.

>>21464647
Make one up.

>>21464647
What purpose does the race serve to the story? Pick a choice based on that.

>>21464762
I did enjoy the ending, all things considered. The second two books are a rough ride, but ultimately I am glad to have read them.

>>21464647
Big titty elves

Title: Dragon's Dilemma: A Sovereign’s Scorn
Author: Luke W. Logan
Rating:


[Plot]
A young Sovereign Dragon Typhoeus is a runt of his clutch. Among true Dragons, size is everything. Growing up, Typheous was only a quarter the size of his siblings and other Dragons of the mountains. Not being able to compete with others for territory, even with lesser Dragons, he is exiled to human lands below. After decades of fighting adventures and brushing with death dozens of time, Typheous knows his death is inevitable. Thus, he makes a dangerous gamble and changes his form into a human woman, but even his inherited draconic memories cannot prepare him for everything that comes with being a human...

[Review]
I swear by all that's holy and worthy that I decided upon this book to finally read something's that not a harem erotica...just to see this book having multiple sex scenes between the protagonist and his girlfriend. The book isn't exactly an erotica, but the romance remains a solid chunk of the plot and main driver of the events, for better or worse. If you aren't even a bit interested in romance plots, then story might not be for you. I'm a big sucker for 'secret identity' genre and for Dragons, so the book was on my radar for quite some time. Oh, a story is also a LitRPG, though it doesn't play that big of a role. and the 'System' itself is plot relevant, not just a crutch for the author.

Despite being a niche self-pub, I was more often than not positively surprised by the writing and plot. Definitely above average in this regard, although dialogues were uneven, often suffering from that amateurish flaw of characters talking in overly clinical, unnatural manner, reminiscent of theatre. Still, after the beginning I stoped noticing it, so maybe only some early dialogues suffer from this.

The story is clearly planned to be at least trillogy, if not more, and the author's planning seems to be decent. I already read the second book as well, and even though the quality dipped a bit - mostly due to an uninteresting side plot the author for some reason decided to add to the story, even though overall the story could do without and not change too much - I'm amicable towards reading another book from the author. To summarize, a solid attempt at semi-Epic Fantasy series.
IMPORTANT Trigger Warning: The protagonist is a male dragon that uses a female human form, and starting with the second book leans heavily into his/her female persona, changing pronouns and no longer being treated as a male by the story or characters.

Honestly, more than transgender elements of the story I'm frustrated that the character starts prefering human form more than the dragon form - monster characters being more human than their bestial selfes is ever the bane of monster fiction. Nonetheless, the story remains a bit undecided on this, by treating the dragons form as the 'true form,' so there's hope.

>>21465055
Fuck, the post had star emojis, but apparently they don't work when posted. Shame.

Rating: 7/10

>>21459078
what did you enjoy about it?

Important: You can skip chapters 12 and 15 of Rise on Endymion. You will only miss 20 pages of cloud and mountain descriptions.

>>21465055
>>21465066
You will never be a woman. Kys.

>>21465066
How fucking new can you be?

I read 240 books this year, what you faggots finished?

Download link to tress of the Emerald Sea? Any mormones kind enough to give it?

>>21465199
Post the whole list. I bet at least 75% of it is pure garbage.

>>21465055
>>21465066
you and the books you """review""" are shit
FUCK OFF

>>21465055
>Spoiler
Just one question: does she still has a penis? Futa dragon ladies are cool

>>21465200
Jeezus anon, wait a few days. Read a short novel in the meantime.

>>21465199
When you count a book as read for this challenge, do you also include short stories, novellas, poetry etc.?

>>21465218
>in sffg
>looking for Real Literature™®©
Take your e/lit/ist ass into outer lit fagget

>>21465238
Once it's published, I think you can list it. I've seen people post electrical engineering books and medical books.

>>21465263
So they're shit, then. Thanks for confirming.

>>21465282
>he doesn't even read

>>21465291
>if I spam greentext enough times It'll make me right

21465296
That's it. No more (you)s for you. I know you want your fix, well get it elsewhere.

>>21465226
Nope, the human is pure woman.

>>21465400
Sounds pretty gay bro

>>21465199
You beat me - I got 236

>>21461255
It's such a magnificent end to Severian's journey and possibly my favorite passage in all the novels I've ever read. It brings me to tears whenever I reach it. Thanks for posting it.

Just finished Oathbringer (>>21460858). The super long climax chapter was pure hype. I imagine this is what people felt when watching The Avengers all come in at the end to fight Thanos. And the whole book had great character moments, some of the flashbacks hit especially hard, like Dalinar drunkenly raging at his kids, then little Renarin brings him a drink and hugs him, had me near tears.

Gonna go straight onto Dawnshard, because it sounds like it follows up on some of the intermission chapters and the one about the soulcaster lady on the ship had me really intrigued with where it fits into the larger story.

>>21465519
>you cannot have my pain
>such deep
>much wow
>many philosophicals

>>21465519
>cries over a Sanderson novel
Stop eating and drinking out of plastic containers.

>>21465579
Sanderson is better than Tolkien.

>>21465465
It's shit and you're a pseudo intellectual faggot

Why is this general so bad

21465643
Terrible bait but will still get a million (You)s

>>21465519
Is this bait?

Any stories where the a british equivalent were made into merpeople or some variation of such?

>>21464647
Male your own. Be your own master.

>>21465200
It is on zlib

>>21465701
>>21465683
>>21465674
>>21465653
>>21465649
>>21465646
>>21465644
>>21465643
>>21465579
>>21465567
>>21465519
>>21465465
>>21465464
>>21465433
>>21465400
>>21465308
>>21465296
>>21465291
>>21465282
>>21465274
>>21465263
>>21465238
>>21465231
>>21465226
>>21465219
>>21465218
>>21465200
>>21465199
>>21465138
>>21465116
>>21465100
>>21465069
>>21465066
>>21465055
>>21464926
>>21464909
>>21464860
>>21464797
>>21464794
>>21464780
>>21464765
>>21464762
sneed

>>21465744
all me btw

>>21465200
It's out everywhere that's relevant now.

>>21463447
he cute

>>21465744
FUCK AND SUCK

>>21465744
>>21465779
Any books for this feel?

>>21466120
BotNS

Finished the bobiverse series recently. I was initially doubtful due to the memes but it was good.

>>21466437
Yeah, his other books are good too.

>>21466484
I was after more books in Taylors easy reading style. Good reads recommended Peter Clines. After reading ''14'' I don't think I will read any of his other books.

>>21466500
Just combing through the mega I found this, Might work on a few of these.

>>21466500
Outland is pretty good, and the sequel is coming out soon. Same with his short stories.

>>21466120
I like Tanith Lee because she knows exactly how foul she is but doesn't let it slow her down.

>>21466525
I'm really not a fan of these charts because there's no actual effort put into them, they just are a broad category with 'stuff that fits'. Are those all self-published? Probably. Are they all good? Doubtful. A good chunk of them seem to just be smut stuff which I don't think is necessarily BAD, it just is clearly not something somebody looking for 'good self-published stuff' will wanna read up on for the most part. Cradle's good though.

>>21466559
based

if I wanted to purchase a "lot" of sffg magazines from ebay, which publisher should I look for? one that puts story quality over pozzed political shit

What was the point of this?

>>21466724
Did you read to book before asking this question?

>>21466437
when you say "finished the series", are the books connected plotwise, beyond sharing a universe, and has the series been concluded?

>>21466525
Read the first two pages of the ones with the least autistic covers.

>The Dungeon Traveler
>Fimbul Winter
>Zone War
>The Blue Mage Raised By Dragons
>All Systems Red
>Unsouled
>We Are Legion
>God Touched
>Trysmoon
>Spellmonger

All of them were different levels of trash except for We Are Legion. Unsouled stood out as the most well written, but it seems like it's going to be a chink bootleg version of Avatar mixed with Hunger Games, and I couldn't give less of a fuck. If I had to read anything else besides We Are Legion it'd be God Touched since it gave me Blade vibes.

>>21459058
Faith and the fallen series by John Gwynne

Felix Castor series by Mike Carey

The Vagrant Series by Peter Newman

>>21466741
Wouldn't I be asking "what IS the point of this" if I hadn't?

>>21466774
>chink bootleg version of Avatar mixed with Hunger Games
100% wrong but it's still not worth reading. boring piece of shit

>>21460665
World War Z, unironically

>>21466786
I mean, if you read the book, you wouldn’t be asking, since it answers everything.

>>21466774
>Fimbulwinter
I personally liked Fimbulwinter and sequels. It's easy to listen and perfect to unwind.

>>21466758
All the books are connected in plot. They follow the same characters and I don't think you could pick up one of the later books and pick up the story.
I have finished the 4 currently written books. While it wasn't left on a cliffhanger, There is more ideas left in the universe to write books on.


>>21466774
Yeah, I I just read the first half chapter of All Systems Red. I'm not going to bother reading more. The quest continues.

>>21466559
based tanith lee poster

>>21466724
Mogging wolfe before that hack was even born

>>21466774
Whoops, I forgot to include Dungeon Born on the list (and yes, it was also trash).

>>21466788
So it would actually be better if my initial impression were the case? lul

>>21466809
I don't really trust reviews nowadays, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised at how bad it was given the 21k 4.5 star reviews.

>>21466525
>>Fimbulwinter
>I probably would have said no, if I hadn’t just had the most epically bad week of my life.
...dropped

>>21466850
holy kek I stopped at the same spot

>>21466559
hurr hurr religious lesbians breaking boundaries

>>21466525
how do self published works have such awful covers? couldnt they commission an artist like 50 bucks for something decent

>>21466788
Unsouled isn't great but Cradle as a whole is pretty good.

is there any good self-insert rape smut written by a woman

>>21466879
Sure, you could even find it on your own, if you didn't waste your time asking here.

>>21466868
I've read it all (except for Waybound, of course) and I thought Unsouled was the best book in the series. Only other book that even came close was Wintersteel. I wasted nearly three weeks of my life reading a series I didn't even like.

>>21466884
or I could find it literally right now if you told me instead of wasting time typing this

>>21466879
Sharon Green books, jalav the amazon, terrillian, spaceways agent etc she wrote shitty rape porn Gor-like novels but for women.

>>21466895
ok this is based
ty

>>21459013
Will I get in?

>>21466859
Pretty sure you're thinking of someone else.

>>21466966
>Will I get in?
Have you tried sending it, to know? I mean, it seems self-explanatory. Don't know why you had to make a post about it, since even a child would know what to do.

>>21466975
You don't have to act all smart jesus have a sense of humor. I hope whoever approves it and laughs at me and calls me a faggot. It's just a rhetorical question

>>21466975
He does it for attention.

>>21463207
Good luck, anon.

>>21466966
Try sending it to know. Pretty sure you get a quick response.

>>21466966
>2011+12
>reddit
get a load of this newfag

>>21467103
Yes, anon, other people visit other websites. Not that far-fetch.

>>21467107
Some people here, unfortunately, have nothing going for their lives so they try to make using 4chan exclusively as something to be proud of.

>>21465646
Because /lit/, in general, does not read. Which makes any thread on this board nigh useless for trying to discuss books.

>>21467103
Huh? I don't get it.
>>21467144
Correct.

>>21467144
Ah, thanks for clarifying. The reasoning is kind of depressing when you think about it.

>>21467176
It is what it is.

>>21467144
From what I’ve noticed, it’s mostly the fags from twenty years ago, so yeah. That does not bode well for them if using 4chan exclusively is the pinnacle of their achievements.

>>21465199
Nothing.

>>21466989
Doubt they will approve. They’re pretty strict when it comes to accepting newcomers.

>>21467189
Just really depressing to see in real time.

Tress is really fun. The prose is actually charming and likeable for a change, Sanderson actually managing to be funny in an unironic non-cringe way a few times here.

Every morning I wake up and have to reaffirm the obvious; Anglo posting hours are the worst.

>>21467238
Okay.

>>21466559
I really need to read more Tanith Lee.

>tfw want to read asoiaf but first couple of books are too similar to the show to keep my interest
I have the attention span of a zoomer

>>21467480
>he watched the electric globalist

I unironically believe that this is the worst general on 4chan. Yes, worse than the cesspits of /vg/, /trash/, /jp/, and dare I say even /x/

>>21466525
>>21466774
All trash except Cradle (unsouled) and spellmonger. I read Zone war really long time ago, I think book 1 was ok, but book 2 suddenly turned into sjw garbage.

>>21467515
I'll rape you

>>21467537
rape me instead

>>21467521
As long as you’re not a retard and try to use /sffg/ to get book recommendations or try to discuss books, it’s okay, if mediocre general.

>>21465701
Its not or at least I cant find it

How do you feel about Mistborn's use of pre-chapter epigraphs as storytelling device?

>>21467783
Why do you care about how we feel?

>>21466774
do you guys expect quality from self published works llol

>>21467815
If Dinniman can do it then yeah , I expect some quality. He's risen the quality bar for a lot of litrpg fans.

>>21467607
What are you on about man, go to Tor, type zlib in the search bar, open the long link on the right side, login to zlib and download. I downloaded and read the book, the epub version about 12 hours ago, there was a pdf version as well

New thread
>>21467829

>>21466559
Given the shit that´s said about Zimmer Bradley nowadays, I wouldn´t touch anything she praises.