/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15737006]

pic related, just started reading. I kinda like the prose, am I a pseud?

[Anonymous No.15737025]

I also want good sci fi recommendations, because something about the setting of interstellar space just gets me

[Anonymous No.15737033]

does it matter?
just read what interests you, who cares what a bunch of dolts think

[Anonymous No.15737048]

>>15737006
You're not a pseud, OP. Keep reading. Love you.

[Anonymous No.15737079]

>>15737048
thank you guys sm :-)

[Anonymous No.15737287]

>>15737025
Hyperion is cool

[Anonymous No.15737682]

>>15737006
>am I a pseud?
You absolutely are. For asking strangers on the internet for their opinions on your subjective literary tastes.

[Anonymous No.15737819]

The prose is pretty awful. Herbert writes like he wants to sound smart. Great sci-fi storytelling though.

[Anonymous No.15737974]

>>15737006
I don't know, I think it was fine. I finished it recently- are the sequels worth reading?

[Anonymous No.15737978]

>>15737006
Read! We are all superior for reading!

[Anonymous No.15738015]

I hope you like Duncan Idaho because...

[Anonymous No.15738177]

I always knew Herbert was a pseud who wrote decent sci fi adventures with a dose of pretention. Figured that others read the stuff the same way. Then I realised that a lot of readers took the nonsense stuff like the Irulan quotes seriously. As an IQ 135+ guy that happens a lot, you read with three levels of detachment but forget that the normies only take in the surface.

[Anonymous No.15738255]

>>15738177
>as an IQ 135+ guy

[Anonymous No.15738273]

>>15737819
Yeah I kinda felt like it was a bit over the top in certain areas, the irulan quotes especially, but in my opinion he did a really good job with the internal dialogue of the characters

[Anonymous No.15738284]

>>15738015
Haven't really gotten to him yet, he's only been mentioned by other characters

[Anonymous No.15738316]

>>15738177
In all seriousness though I agree, the Irulan quotes have generally been eh, (except the one about Yueh and a million bodies or something) but outside of that nothing atrocious

[Anonymous No.15738628]

I honestly can't understand how someone would enjoy Dune's prose or even some of the dialogue. It's as if Herbert was trying to combine islamic mysticism with an americanized style of writing, resulting in either an underwhelming sense of self-indulgence cloaked by appatent spiritual importance or just an abortion of language.

[Anonymous No.15738639]

>>15738628
I think that's a bit unfair, though I've never read islamic literature

[Anonymous No.15739412]

>>15737006
i liked the book. its the last book i finished and i think its awesome. maybe i will read the next books after i finish the books i bought. also many of the fantasy name in it are from arabic language.

[Anonymous No.15739809]

>>15737974
I read dune messiah and it's is alright. it wraps up paul's story nicely. I just wish he stopped whining about hating being the emperor of the universe so much...
the other books I couldn't find at a library, but I heard good things about the god-emperor

[Anonymous No.15740282]

I have been STRUGGLING to finish this DOGSHIT EXCUSE FOR A BOOK since FEBRUARY.

I just checked, I literally have 45 pages left and I CAN'T FUCKING DO IT because each page is like pulling out my TEETH with a fucking pair of TWEEZERS.

I've never been so mad at a collection of pages before. Someone fucking kill me.

[Anonymous No.15740369]

>>15737025
>the setting of interstellar space just gets me
I recommend the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds. Classic space opera on a massive scale.

[Anonymous No.15740709]

>>15740282
Don't worry about finishing it, brah. I know people say the last third is the best but I actually find it by far the most infuriating. Stop investing emotional labor into this shitheap

[Anonymous No.15741800]

>>15740282
>>15740709
oh my god you have got to be SHITTING ME.

i just finished it and there's a fucking GLOSSARY AT THE BACK OF THE BOOK

why didn't anyone tell me about the fucking GLOSSARY? do you know how many times i had to google some dumb fucking frank herbert proper noun and tiptoe through a wiki article as to not get anything spoilered for me?

oh my god. i want to cry.

at least i'm finally released from this hell.

[Anonymous No.15743002]

>>15741800
Does he really never give meaning thru context for any of the proper nouns he uses? That makes this far more daunting to read.

[Anonymous No.15743024]

>>15737006
>I kinda like the prose

Got a sample? I kinda remember reading it in middle school and mostly only remember the plot.

[Anonymous No.15743041]

>>15737025
got to the thread dedicated to the literature you seek >>15727646

[Anonymous No.15743228]

>>15743002
It's pretty clear from context. I read it at age 13 or so and don't remember any major problems.

>>15737006
>I kinda like the prose
What do you like about it? From what I remember it's serviceable at best, sometimes actively clunky.

[Anonymous No.15743270]

>>15743228
The internal dialogue of the characters is what I most enjoyed, carried the drama of it a lot more adequately then when he was going on about the setting

[Anonymous No.15743281]

>>15743024
The internal dialogue of Yueh talking to Lady Jessica and Paul for the first time, plus the Irulan quote about Yueh, the rest of the irulan quotes have just been over the top

[Anonymous No.15743287]

>>15743041
ty anon

[Anonymous No.15743327]

>>15743270
Huh, the italiic lines were the really clunky parts for me. Not sure why- I guess maybe it feels artificial and stagey. I don't remember well enough to judge, though.

>>15743281
Other than the litany against fear (obviously), the other Dune line that sticks in my head is an Irulan quote from Dune Messiah.

[Anonymous No.15743884]

>>15737006
Asking if you're a pseud is a red flag that you're a pseud.

[Anonymous No.15744064]

>>15737025
the left hand of darkness

[Anonymous No.15744076]

>>15737974
Dune Messiah is the best in the series in my opinion. I wouldn’t bother with anything past God Emperor

[Anonymous No.15744113]

>>15737006

Yes.

Read Mechwarrior.

[Anonymous No.15744270]

>>15740709
what about cool knife fight doe. Finish it nerd

[Anonymous No.15745119]

>>15737025
Rex Nihilo's pretty fun.

[Anonymous No.15745165]

>>15737033
/thread

[Anonymous No.15746128]

>>15743327
>Irulan quote from Dune Messiah.
which one?

[Anonymous No.15746527]

>>15741800
im sorry but your misfortune made me laugh lol

[Anonymous No.15746723]

>>15741800
if you knew Arabic that wouldn't be a problem you fucking infidel

[Anonymous No.15747132]

>>15746723
Exactly. Just get some basic literacy in Arabic, Sanskrit and Aramaic before posting on /lit/, proles

[Anonymous No.15747465]

>>15737006
>I kinda like the prose, am I a pseud?
The prose is probably the worst part, objectively, so yes.

[Anonymous No.15747497]

>>15738316
What's wrong with Irulan quotes? They are meant to be over the top and a bit of propaganda, right?

[Anonymous No.15747579]

>>15737025
As people already mentioned:

Hyperion - retelling of the Canterbury Tales in space. More literary. A clone of John Keats is a major character in the series. Has some cool mystic stuff. Generally considered a classic of sci-fi.

Alistair Reynolds - hard sci-fi. Has a kind of spooky grandness. The main Revelation Space trilogy is good but gets very space opera like and losses some of the mystery vibe. Chasm City and the Perfect, which are related standalones are better IMO. I would skip Pushing Ice.

I will say that his flat engineer like characters do get a bit tired but not for 5 books or so.

Finally, is you like Dune there is The Darkness That Comes Before. It is fantasy, based loosely on the First Crusade. It has a character who is like a mental and can fully control the uninitiated people of this low fantasy world. It gets into the question, how would someone like Maud'Dib see regular people? As peers, or as children. It also gets into some interesting moral ideas regarding free will. It starts off a bit slow and peaks in the initial trilogy. The later four books are solid fantasy but a noticeable drop of to just interesting genre fiction.

Finally, there is Redshirts which is a sci-fi novel sort of based on Star Trek but with a very meta plot that emerges. It does some interesting stuff with shifting perspectives and self reference.

[Anonymous No.15747644]

>>15737006
It's okay to like things anon. Plus Dune is pretty rad.

[Anonymous No.15747718]

Guys I just stuck my penis in the Gom Jabbar, what do

[Anonymous No.15747738]

>>15747718
I am sorry to inform you but your only choice now is to become an eunuch

[Anonymous No.15747921]

>>15747718
U da messiah n sheeeiiit

[Anonymous No.15749363]

>>15746527
I'm glad, I was honestly shook.

>>15743002
Context clues make most of it vaguely apparent if you're not an idiot but I am an idiot so there's that

>>15743228
Yeah between chapters I was discussing with a friend who had read it as a kid and they basically shrugged and told me it made sense when they read it, but they've also had many re-reads into adulthood so fuck that

>>15743228
It is clunky as hell. Sometimes i would be excited that something i was reading actually seemed subtle and then Herbert would just beat it into the ground for half a page, and it would make me lose all my steam.

>>15744270
yeah so the "cool knife fight" was such bullshit and then there was like NO falling action. He basically stabs him and turns to his mom and lover, says "you know this is what I have to do" and it's over. I understand this is a series but no way in hell am I reading any more if the first one was this trash.