Recommended reading charts. (Look here before asking for vague recs)https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb>Archive:https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg>Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg>Previous:>>24796095>Thread Question: How ethnic do you like your SFF?
>>24809828>tqit doesn't matter to me because it's usually just window dressing. spree of "african fiction" only affirms that.
>>24809828None of you read contemporary science fiction or fantasy. It’s the current year!
Ethnics are already impeding us from exploring the cosmos. Why would they be in sci-fi, unless as an antagonist?
>>24809898Good morning saar!
>>24809890was thinking of giving this a look
>>24809910Do not redeem spaceflight saar! Remember the £47 trillion saar, Bengali famine koh-i-noor 1857 Amritsaaaar
>>24809890I do and have posted about a few recently.
>>24809898saar you have shown benchod basterd very good!!! vishnu bless you with many vagenes on facebook messenger saar
>>24809828I like my SFF very ethnic. The more races the better
>>24810143are barghast just barbarians?
>>24809906goodreads "community" are sadly retards for the most part
Okay brazas very important question. Is being attracted to goblins pedo/hebe coded or no?
Should I read The Name of the Win if I’m only going to bother with the first book?
>>24810445Not more than it signals you're into Indians
>>24810445Whether it is or not, asking the question itself is.
>>24810466>We live in a societyCan't even jerk it to gobos>>24810465I imagine my gobo gf as pink skinned.
>>24810476If you're asking, then you think it may be and that others could think so as well. What you're really asking is whether it'd be obvious that you are one, or if you'd have plausible deniability.
>>24810487I get where you are coming from. But suppose I merely wanted to talk about my gobo masterbation habit, and needed some pretext to bring it up.
>what are we, some finna Book of the New Sun?Urth is honestly a little overly straightforward with showing how all the pieces fit together, but it makes the rest of it make more sense. Not sure that more sense makes the whole thing better. Surprising it wasn't written and released immediately after the original books, regardless.
>>24809906When you see comments like this, then you know the book is good.
I'm reading Ratner's Star by Don DeLillo and feel like this is what sci-fi should be.>signal is received from deep space, assumed to be sent by an alien civilization>bunch of smart weirdos are gathered together to decipher it and come up with a potential response>the smart weirdos are weird to the point of dysfunctionality, one of them couldn't handle the stress of thinking about the universe continuing to expand indefinitely and decided to live in a hole in the ground and eat grubs>MC is a kid who won the Nobel Prize, is a math savant and one of the first things he does after arriving is spy on a woman taking a bath with the help of an epileptic janitorPlease read this book, it's from 1976
>>24810577There's a way for you to have me do so
>MC is a kid who won the Nobel Prize, is a math savant and one of the first things he does after arriving is spy on a woman taking a bath with the help of an epileptic janitorHe's just like me fr fr
>>24810597Pretty please?
>>24810437I always thought of them as Firbolg-like.
Recommend me some ambience/atmosphere fantasy, descriptive and medetative.Skyrim_atmospheres.jpg
>>24809890>None of you read contemporary science fiction or fantasy.because it's drowning in identity bullshit. I stopped after running across pronouns bullshit in couple of them.
>>24810864Not all of it is that bad, Alistair Reynolds, Neal Asher, M John Harrison and Adam Roberts still write good stuff without the pozzed crap.
here's the best sci-fi short story ever, hands downhttps://sfss.space/old-mechwarriors-never-ken-st-andre
Red God news doko?????????????
>>24809890I do, but only selectively and rarely anything that wasn't originally self published. There are the occasional bright spots in the mountains of award winning drek.Picrel is one I enjoyed, even with the requisite "every culture views race and sexuality like 2010s Cali".
>>24810933Never ever. Pierce Brown fell for the GRRM side quest books. It’s over
>tfw reading a visual novel atm50+ hours of pure PLOT
>>24809828Negroes smearing themselves with fecal matter is nobody's fantasy, except the Germans, who are a defeated people.
>>24809828Even reddit is turning against sandersoy kek
>>24811069He’s been criticised on there ever since rhythm of war, especially on /r/fantasy
There's not much difference between the userbase of /sffg/ and r/fantasy. The biggest difference by far is that the moderation wants to enforce their worldview on the unwilling populace of the the subreddit, which hasn't worked. They're like an occupying force disgusted by the natives. Meanwhile here, the mods are more like neglectful parents who if you cause too many problems they lash out with violence and hope you learn your lesson. An example being the time and an anon went to IRC channel and complained, which resulted in the thread being deleted when it was created for two weeks as the solution.
>>24811126I can say nigger faggot here. And don't need to make an account
Any male mage MC story suggestions? Preferably ones that involve adventure of some kind, like delving into dungeons or filling adventure guild requests.Bonus points for being in some relationship. Romance and harem are both fine as long as the focus is on the magical adventures.I've read Mage Errant. It was nice. I asked in /wng/ and got nothing, so web novels and fan fiction are welcome too.
I'm simply rereading my old favorites since I haven't enjoyed the new authors I tried recently. Currently reading Shadowplay by Tad Williams, book 2 in one of my all time favorite series. Love this series' take on mythology.
>>24809890That cover and that author name does not inspire any desire to pick this up. Looks like romantasy, or conspicuously Indian-themed fantasy. I've never been able to get into the former, and I've soured on the latter recently.
>>24811287>series of door stoppers>published in the '00sOh yeah, it's fantasy time
>>24811296Tad Williams series are always very meaty, yes. Coming back to him after reading modern authors is a huge "vibe shift" as younger people say. Modern fantasy has an almost frantic pacing to it, leaping about from set piece to set piece, from critical scene to critical scene, with barely any time to breathe. Hardly any time for a real journey to happen.
>>24810453yes.
>>24809828Why is she smearing curry on her face?
>>24810445Depends If the gobo is flat (cringe) you're a pedo If the gibo is a shortstack (based) then you're a high Test man
>posting porn on /lit/>ai generated slop no less This is why we don't like jeets around this place
>>24811126Great description of the r/fantasy mods. They really are true believers to keep it up for this long despite everyone bar the cliquey powerusers disliking their rules. Such dull people.
>>24811581The powerusers are collaborators.
>>24811255The Colour of Magic, and The Light Fantastic
>>24811663All power users are sponsored by someone.
>>24811296The last decade fantasy was even a little good. The last decade before romantasy and woke shit took over the mainstream genre, and before litrpg and wuxia garbage took over online communities.
>>24811255I actually really liked the first 8 books of Spellmonger. It ticks basically all your boxes. I can't speak as to how the series continues past book 8 because he stopped publishing them in print which is the only way I read fantasy. If you are into audio books or ebooks though you'll have no issues with it.
>>24811693Last decade most things were good. I'm sure legalizing domestic propaganda in 2012 had nothing to do with that.
>>24811569It's not even porn bro that's like half a nipple. Also I'm white. Also ai is only good for porn and googling.
>>24811569If that image qualifies as porn to you then you are either a muslim or absurdly sheltered
>>24811682Thank you for the suggestion. I've never read Discworld before (didn't even know these were the first books). I've always thought that Discworld was one of those big fantasy epic series. I've kept them in mind to read at some point in the future when I find I have nothing else to read. But looking into these... is Discworld an absurd comedy like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Because that's what the descriptions of the books sound like - the plot takes a backseat. Even the names of the characters sound like somebody was writing a parody. Am I mistaken? Do they get more serious later on?>>24811711I swear I read the start of the first book years ago, but I stopped for some reason. I think life got in the way and I forgot these books existed. Thank you for reminding me of them. These are the books where MC was a veteran warmage in a jungle (before the story), right?>>24811504If goblins looked like that I would have a much harder time imagining a party of heroes killing goblins.
>>24809828>How ethnic do you like your SFF?very ethnic, white specifically
>>24811757>These are the books where MC was a veteran warmage in a jungle (before the story), right?Yes, those are the ones. Starts off focused on warfare but gradually a lot more politics and kingdom-building stuff gets mixed in. There is a lot of autistic focus on medieval economy and society which I greatly appreciate. You can tell he did a lot of research into medieval England which is the basis for a lot of this stuff. Never fear, though, he always keeps magic fairly centered in things. It's not just about medieval economy and society, but how a burgeoning new trade in magical tools is reshaping it, and how an emerging magical aristocracy is also changing the political landscape.
>>24811757>>24811865Oh, also, the main character does eventually settle down to rule his domain with his wife and kids, and focus on leadership stuff, and so we get some books that focus on his apprentices who are still young, unmarried men free to go on adventures and romance young women.
Any scifi books about piloting giant robots? Think Pacific Rim or Gundam.
>>24811569I have seen saucier renaissance sculptures than that AI slop, you fucking prude.
Holy shit
>>24811721>Also I'm white>T. Pradesh Sukdip
>>24811951That's not a goblin, that a buxom elf child!
Why is Iron Gold such a pleb filter
Finished Before They Are Hanged. The conclusion of Bayaz little trip was lazy and predictable holy shit. The whole thing was uninteresting compared to Glokta and the North stories and it reads like Abercrombie is nudging this is the main storyline for the trilogy. Jezal is an infuriating character, the apprentice might as well not be there, Ferro could be replaced by an animal for all her personality and character development and the author made the part with magic and a grand motive worse than some colonel dude winging it against northern barbarians.The book is not bad but I still don't see how this whole thing is a milestone in fantasy books a lot of people say it is. The last volume needs to be really fucking good.
>>24812273Abercrombie is extremely lazy as a plotter and a world builder. He only really excels in creating characters like Glokta, but as you noted he can't really carry the whole series by himself. The other thing about Abercrombie that I cannot stand is that he insists on pretending to be interested in battles and warfare but cannot write it to save his life. He is absolutely awful at anything related to military. It's like a parody of how an idiot would write fantasy warfare.
>>24811865>>24811877>There is a lot of autistic focus on medieval economy and society which I greatly appreciate.In a way I'm glad that I didn't finish reading them back then, because I get to enjoy them now. Thanks a lot!
>>24811757Discworld is primarily a comedy, sometimes the books tackle more serious matter but it never stops being a comedy. The early books are pretty rough honestly. It gets better.
>>24812296Any “fantasy warfare done right” recommendations?
>>24812595Malazan
>>24811957Realtime 1 is fucking insane. Realtime 3 is interesting but only thought provoking. A Deepness in the Sky might be his best bookRainbows End is interesting, especially for being published in 2007, but it sadly needs a plot and a ending which sours it a little bit.
Any oriental fantasy recommends? Stuff with simple vibe to Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, and other 1001 Nights classic tales. Deserts, Sorcerers, Thieves, Treasures, Princesses, Djinn, and all that exotic middle east goodness.
>>24812952>simple*similar
>>24812952Child of an Ancient City is a short story/novella by Tad Williams that's very much in that vein.
>>24812952The Old Testament.
>>24812595Glen Cook's stuff is pretty good (Black Company, Instrumentalities of the Night), as well as Steve Erickson's Malazan Book of the Fallen which was pretty inspired by Cook. Both of these are particularly good at portraying a professional military and the type of soldiers in it, and how they'd work if magic and other various fantastical things were real. Instrumentalities of the Night is a lower-magic fantasy setting, so it's more of a straight portrayal of high medieval warfare that eventually starts having to deal with supernatural threats instead of mundane ones. So you have fantasy-Italian mercenaries in the 13th century going from fighting Papal state wars to fighting demons and godlings. Spellmonger actually does a pretty good job at portraying war as well. I don't have anything bad to say about Tad Williams either, but his books are less focused on warfare overall. Battles do happen, but they're not always given pride of place in his stories. Sometimes they even happen mostly off screen because the main characters weren't really involved. In that he's similar to Martin, or rather GRRM is similar to him since he takes after Tad in a lot of ways.
>>24813144Looked it up, seems kinda preachy desu.
>>24809828I like when brownness is a proxy for evil/stupidity.
>>24813186I like when fantasy has zero allegory or real world analogues at all.
>>24809828I actually read the book OP’s pic comes from. >its the far future>mc is an oppressed black girl held down by whitey>one day aliens board the shuttle she’s on and murder all the passengers but her.>but it’s ok cause the aliens are oppressed too>she befriends one and they both go to uni.
>>24813188>>24813186>>24813191Any scifi books about worlds with no women? I guess fantasy is also okay.
>>24813188Agreed. Chudpilled books are just as off-putting as wokeslop to me.
>>24813195Ethan of Athos
>>24813195>incelmaxxing so hard he refuses to even imagine women.Based.
>>24813213>"Athos? The Planet of the Fags?"Um... t-thanks.
>>24809828I want to write a fantasy story starting with a group of academics exploring something ruin-like and finding something artifact-like. What are some good opening chapters like that for me to plagiarize?
Did Marrowanon ever finish the book?
>>24811957solid 3/10
>>24810453There is nothing Rothfuss brought to literature that nobody else has. You are better off spending your time elsewhere.>>24811255Mage Errant would have been better without the sixth book side quest and all that weird emphasis on underage gay sex. I made a recent post in /wng/ about this and I rec'd Mageborn as well but if you decide to read Mageborn, you should only touch the original five-book series.
>>24810453Read The Narrow Road Between Desires instead, it's short, works on its own and is more fun than the main books
>>24812952Thieves World by Robert Asprin, to some extent
>>24813195Wasp by Eric Frank Russell has, unless I'm mistaken, zero female characters
Are there any urban fantasy/alternative history books with action/warfare set in the 1890-1940s? Something like The Order 1886, Trench Crusade, Lovecraft with guns, Wolfenstein/Hellboy during the WW2 (I have read The Keep).
>>24813646The Wolf Hour by Robert Mccammon.
>>24812952The Zothique cycle by Clark Ashton Smith The Flat Earth series by Tanith Lee
>>24813191I forgot to mention the aliens were of the tentacled variety so I bet she fucked it in the subsequent books. My experience of female sci fi is that if there is a tentacle alien, the MC is going to fuck it.
>>24813653Thanks, I will check it. Still I'm open to any other recommendations, especially about the period around the WW1.
>>24809828>>24811043>>24813191>>24813671https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_book/1029811-sffg?book_id=40382407
>>24813361Thanks
Anyone here read Bloodsworn Saga? I am torn on the first book.
>>24814126If you're torn, don't waste your time with the series.
Can I read The Judging Ey without reading his other books?
>The jeet posting his Al slop porn got both of his posts deletedPuritan bros, we won
>Start reading Hyperion after several recommendations>Part one>Immortal space downies>Guy tortures himself to get to heavenOkay, this is pretty neat so far>Part two>Weird cyber sex but that's fine>Cool space battles against robo monkey dudes>Lovey-dovey sex with the start crossed lovers>Weird tine dilation chrome power suits>AAAAAA WTF THIS BITCH IS CRAZY WE'RE USING BLOOD AS LUBE AAAAAAA SHE'S GOT KNIFE TEETH AAAAAAA THIS INSANE HOE HAS A GRINDER PUSSY SHE TRIED TO BITE MY DICK OFF WITH HER SNATCH AND I NUTTED ON A DEAD BODY AND RAN AWAY>story just continues, and none of the characters comment on thisUhhhhh, what the fuck? Why do we just move on from this
>>24814222oh, sweet summer child
>>24814260Just keep reading, huh?I actually just finished the jewish guys story, extremely depressing
>>24814272That one's a doozy as well. In terms of fucked upedness I'd rank themPriest>Jew>Poet>Warrior>Detective>Diplomat>TemplarThe way the wife dies is so contrived and cliche it would be almost funny if not for how awful the rest of the story is.
>>24813659DO NOT READ FLAT EARTHDO NOT READ FLAT EARTHIt OPENS with GAY INCEST PEDERASTYDO NOT READ
>>24814126This book was boring and I dropped it
>>24814299>>24814132Is there any book released in the last 5 years you liked, and is either standalone or the first of a series?
>>24814126Read the entire first book. Nothing happened and everyone was forgettable. Asked myself if i cared about knowing the end of the story and decided i didn't.Also heard it doesn't get better in the other two books so dropping this slog was an easy choice.
>>24814126>unputdownableI'm not reading any book with that "word" on its cover
>>24814319>>24814322See >>24814300I'm going through the highest rated books out there. That's how I discovered the Bloodsworn series, and many other books like The Will of the Many and Stormlight Archive. But none of them turned out to be good. I am about to give up, finding good books is just too hard.
>>24814335>highest rated
>>24814335If you didn't like Stormlight Archive you may be shit out of luck
>>24814348Most high rated stuff is bad. But nothing that's good has a bad rating.
>>24814367>nothing that's good has a bad rating.
>>24814354Has anyone read Sapkowski's new book, Crossroads of Ravens ? It feels like it dropped sans hype or fanfare.
>>24814335I actually agree with you. I think the YA bleed-over has dragged adult fiction down. But, as long as it's what's selling, and the next generation of readers is looking for more accessible work, this is the direction we're heading.I'm writing a book now, and I think it's pretty good. I'm hoping it will get picked up by a major publisher and I can get it out next year. So, I'm doing what I can, rather than just complaining about it. But we'll see.
>>24814402Writing a good book is difficult. Good luck!
I finished How Are the Mighty Fallen and it was interesting, I guess. The writing itself not quite so, but I was really curious how the premise of Minoan gods and other fantastic creatures would fit in a Biblical context and it worked, surprisingly. I think more pages/detail and better writing would have made for a better book in general, but it was all right for a light read. The cover does illustrate a scene from the story but it's not really representative of the main plot at all which took me by surprise because I was expecting simply a blend of mythologies, not a blend of mythologies and David and Jonathan (gay).
Test
>>24814362Stormlight gets annoyingly preachy and pedantic in the 4th and 5th books, and I think somewhere along the way, Sanderson just assumed none of his readers have any critical thinking skills because he just starts telling you what each reference and theme means and how it should be interpreted
>>24814444And that is the best thing that came out recently. Grim.
>>24814420It's torture. I wish I could just wear pajamas with a big mug of coffee and kick my feet up and discovery write like the romantasy girls.But, instead, like an idiot, I chose to plot this stupid thing and getting through it sucks. I'm at 90k words of the planned 100-110k, so I'm getting there.
>>24814444>just assumed none of his readers have any critical thinking skills because he just starts telling you what each reference and theme means and how it should be interpretedNice quadsAlso, this this is a problem plaguing the entire fucking industry right now. There is not a single hint of subtlety in the messaging and themes of anything released in the past few years. It's genuinely infuriating.
>>24814444I give him the benefit of the doubt and blame on his autism because he already has shown he likes this kind of stuff with his gigantic hard magic systems. Like, i won't say it is a flaw but something he intentionally does.I get what you are saying though.
>>24814489I'm not even mad about his autismsplaining about the fabrial system or the different kinds of light and rhythms, its more the different ideas he's trying to get across or even easter eggs he puts in his books.
>>24814297That's a shame.I was hoping it'd be gay incest korephilia.
>>24814300Picrel is the only one I've read that was published since 2020 that was legitimately great. It's like a Buckley political satire mixed with parody of "srs philosophical scifi" as told by a street corner preacher addicted to ketamine.Bizarre, fast paced, engaging, funny, and legitimately unique. One of the only novels I've ever read that could absolutely, 100% never be created by sufficiently advanced AI.
Hello,I am trying to challenge my own "old good, new bad" way if thinking and keep more of an open mind. I think there are interesting books coming out these days that maybe go a bit under the radar.I wonder if this is an issue for me because I don't have good information streams as to what new works are coming out, and so it is often the case I am being influenced by people...here, really, or by the odd friend who happens to overlap my tastes now and then.So, how do you guys follow your interests and explore subgenres you like, or stay up to date with new books coming out?I'm not that well-versed in the culture here but IIRC there is/was a goodreads group and an anon posts reviews here frequently. Maybe there's something there?Thank you for your consideration.
I am reading Perdido Street Station right now.
>>24813355But enough about your posting abilities
>>24814126 I really liked his other series (The Faithful and the Fallen as well as the follow up books), didnt read this one. He isnt a bad author by contemporary stabdards.
>>24814777>So, how do you guys follow your interests and explore subgenres you like, or stay up to date with new books coming out?Volume. I just try everything and drop it immediately if it sucks.I drop a lot of stuff. Like about 35% of anything I pick up I've dropped within the first paragraph. I read a lot so it's become quite easy to tell what's going to be worth reading by the first few lines.
>>24814126>a huntress on a dangerous quest>a noblewoman who has rejected privilege in pursuit of battle fame>and a thrall who seeks vengeance among the famed mercenaries known as the Bloodswornnot for me
It's hilarious how much similarity there is by the "prose" generated by gemini 2.5 pro or claude 4.5 when you ask it to write a fantasy scene, and the recent Sanderson novels
>>24815408Sounds fun.
In the mood for some vampires, what am I in for?
>>24815461Something something something pozzed.
>>24815461If you want vampires like the matrix food slop you found it.
>>24815461Starts off kind of good but quickly gets derailed by the author being unable to stick to the rules he establishes at the start, or keep his asinine woke brainrot out of it.
>>24815461drugs and gays
>>24815513eh, I don't like reading books that hit so close to home
>>24815250NTA but I need to get better at this. I finish nearly everything I pick up - think I've only dropped two or three books in the last five years - but if I'm not enjoying it I cut way back on how much I read.
>>24815461>jay kristoffI don't remember why, but this guy is on my "do NOT read anything from this author" list
>>24814335>>I'm going through the highest rated books out there.According to whom?
>>24815511Is Kristoff actually woke or is he just riding the coattails? I remember tumblr raging over his Japanese steampunk series.
>>24815675He's woke.
What am I in for ?
>>24813191It’s one of the most boring books I’ve read
>>24814402Good luck brother!
>>24814126>John GwynneGuy cannot write compelling stories for shit.
>>24809828>How ethnic do you like your SFF?I hate the use of neolanguageswhat the fuck do you mean "ethnic" in this context? are you asking if I like niggers in my book? well I will give you an example, if you are asking me if I like niggers, I don't mind dark skinned guys like the ones from Gurkhul in the First Law world because they are organically introduced into the narrative. If you ask me if I like what the nigress Jemishin does, then no - I fucking hate it to the core.In any other respect, fantasy MUST be diverse to be fantasy, otherwise it wouldn't be fantasy
finished reading the following:>first 7 books of the first law universe>broken empire trilogy>almost done with manifest delusions I need something like this, raw and fucking unforgiving, just death and sadism for the sake of it. Any recommendations?
>>24815861Surely this is bait to get someone to post about Bakker
>>24815861Malazan
>>24815858Ethnic seems to be American for black which is crazy to me because black people aren't ethnic to the Americas. Or maybe I'm wrong and it's some random people of random colours except for 99% of European fantasy inspired stuff.
>>24815787Looks like Earth, a novel by David Brin
I think its finally time I read the rest of the Sun Eater short fiction (besides Dregs since I read it before book 6) since book 7 is coming out in a few weeks. Does anyone know of a good recap for Disquiet Gods? I know Ruocchio made his own for the first 5 books but there still isn't one for book 6 yet.
>>24815861A Harvest of Ash and Blood
Is this decent or am i buying a meme?
>>24815987It's really good. The first quarter is slow. Once you get past that, though, it's a good mystery fantasy story. It's best to know as little as possible about the actual story going in.
>>24815945I saw him reply to a comment on his most recent monthly update thing that he's going to make one but hasn't had the time bc of irl stuff
>>24815987>((Susanna)))
>>24809828I'm looking for sci fi that get's weird and out there, like this art. Most of the sci fi I find is so grounded... it never feels very strange and dangerous.
>>24816118Sisyphean by Torishima Dempow
>>24816118https://warosu.org/lit/thread/24796095#p24803918
Tolkien creating multiple languages for his books is the most boring factoid about the man.
>>24816135>36 ratingsYou've piqued my curiosity.
>>24816132>buglit about oppressive work environmentI'm guessing the author has fled China or disappearedNot reading buglit regardless. It always fails to have a human perspective.
>>24816172Why would a Japanese man be writing from China?
>>24816224>>24816172
>>24814294nta but i dont even remember the Templars story anymore, definitely the weakest entry.
>>24814378I don't think people really care too much about prequels
>>24816103>MethodistIdiot
>>24816235>TorishimaYou sayin' he's le ocean?
>>24809906Neal Asher's books are fun to read but weirdly forgettable. I read a lot of his Polity series but can remember almost nothing that happened. I think it might be because the level of SF tech is so advanced that every weapon is infinitely destructive yet everything is made of indestructible magic alloy so nothing happens.
>>24815987https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_book/1029811-sffg?book_id=50202953
Why is so much of the Wheel of Time fanart so ass? A Song of Ice and Fire has art that is ten times better. Like renaissance paintings.
>>24816143you could probably do this in like two hours with chatgpt
>>24816489look at this
>>24816508compared to this
>>24816489Fits the quality of Wheel of Time
>>24816508Because GoT was adapted to a bunch of successful board games that paid professional artists.
>>24816555good series
>>24816508This looks uncanny to be honest. I'm not sure what it is, it looks like a photo manipulation or something.>>24816518This looks simply amateurish but less uncanny.
>>24816489>better. Like renaissance paintingsThis is an old painting masterpiece and it is shit.
>>24815987>susannawhat do you think?
>>24816604It’s only shit because you can compare it to hundreds of years of thousands of paintings. Put yourself in the timeframe with the limited resources of that particular artist and you can see it is a masterpiece.(Unless this bait and it’s AI)
>>24816563
>>24816623It is just shit. That painting is a national swedish treasury from 1770. Diego Velazquez painted this 150 years before that.
>>24816668>swedishThere’s your answer bro. Places with better weather made better artists
>>24816753Nah dude. You need to understand that it doesn't matter how a painting looks. Alexander Roslin, another Swedish painter, painted this in 1768.
>>24816768I am only giving my opinion. Sorry you're a contrarian.
>>24815461If you can handle a couple secondary characters being gay, and can endure or skip over a vampire having a hedonistic bisexual threesome in one plot-irrelevant chapter during book 2 then it's pretty good. It's got vampire Bloodlines, action, and battle priests.
>>24816772I think it looks good sure it’s a more primitive style but the color coordination and composition is nice. I bet it looks better in person as well. Not as good a Cranach but it’s similar
>>24816143It comes off as a shallow attempt to hype up the man's work. It would ring less hollow if the people who mention it could speak elvish or dwarf.
>>24809890>contemporary science fiction or fantasywhy would i when old books are so much better?
>>24816824Not a contrarian, I've read the whole series. It's very average, at best.
I recently rewatched Over the Garden Wall and now I'm hoping to find some recommendations for books with similar vibes, stories of young children and teenagers coming face to face with eerie otherworldliness. I remember reading Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising back when I was in school and I think that's sort of an example of what I'm looking for? Despite it being fan art for Deltarune I think pic related helps explain the vibe I'm talking about? Portal fantasy is a bonus, so would be any books with illustrations with simple black and white illustrations.
What are some books more about countries than actual people?
>>24817487>stories of young children and teenagers coming face to face with eerie otherworldlinessYou'd probably like this series. I remember enjoying it in Middle School.
>>24817491The Divine Cities trilogy focuses on the socio-economic relations of two countries. One country had gods and used them to rule the world and another country that was enslaved by them, killed the gods and now are the military occupiers of their former imperial owners. There are core characters who appear in them but the overall background plot focuses on the tension between people from these two countries and the legacy of the dead gods and their worship which is still idolised by the former imperial power, but outlawed by the new one.
>>24817551Thanks for the recommendation.
>>24817069your opinion
holy fuck i hate amazon is there a database of books that i can sync to audiobooks using their apps because i've bought two books and neither can, they were cheap, but stillwhat a dogshit service
>>24816604That's not Renaissance.
>>24809828Why does nobody update those lists it has been the same for a decade
>>24817781So update them>n-not me, s-somebody else!
>>24817781Anything good came out since then?
>>24815868have you read manifest delusions? malazan doesn't even come close to it
>>24815985thank you this makes sense
>>24809828Where should I start with Vance's Gaean Reach stuff? Is it any good? I've heard people say Demon Princes was quite rough.
>>24818015>I've heard people say Demon Princes was quite rough.Haven't read Gaean Reach yet but I thought Demon Princes was great. The protagonist wants to hunt down the people that murdered his family, but he barely knows anything about the killers, so he has to work as a sort of sci-fi detective to figure out who his enemies even are before he finally kills them.
Redwall is peak fantasy
>>24818015With the exception of the second book, which is a little worse than the first, Demon Princes gets better with each entry. The last two are among his best stories.
did Sauron win? we only have Gandalf's word on it that the fires of mount doom will destroy the ring and his track record on stuff like that is more comedy than tragedy... everyone else in a position to know is carrying a ring or a palantiri....
>>24815787A slog. Don't waste your time.
>>24815987You're buying a meme.
>>24818412Tolkien was, according to his letters, writing a sequel in which bored youths in Gondor were starting Melkor/Sauron cults in the Fourth Age, but abandoned it because he thought the tone of the story would have been too different from the ones he wanted to tell (or something along those lines). But the implication is that whatever elements remained of the Shadow of Melkor was at least driven into hiding.
>>24818436>according to his lettersI've read some of the stuff he wrote for that, it was collected in one of those History of Middle-Earth books.
>>24818438I'll have to look into this, it's a very interesting idea and I think it's a shame he gave up on it. Ultimately he knew best though, so maybe he felt like it damaged the impression of Middle Earth by being too mortal in context or something
>>24818450I think he felt it would make M-e too mundane. The end of the Third Age is the end of myth and turning the Fourth Age into simple political stuff would have been kind of boring and depressing.
>>24818463>>24818450He referred to it as a "thriller" I recall.
>>24818436Gandalf as a Melkorian 5th columnist makes a lot more sense than Gandalf the 5d chess master who gets incredibly lucky. He's bearing a ring, juuuuuust so happens to sponsor the ventures that flush the last few rings out of hiding, etc"yeah bro let's go through Moria"it's way more likely that he and the Balrog had a good chuckle off-stage, ("you think they bought it??") than that he won a sword fight against the thing. we're even given hints that he may have been corrupted in the same way as Saruman.
>>24818483What hints?
>>24818483A Melkorian fifth columnist that saves each one of the major remaining realms of Man (Dale/Laketown, Rohan twice, Gondor) at critical junctures and whose intervention via escaping from Isengard saved the Ring itself from being plucked from a defenseless Shire?
>>24818483>>24818493Not to mention, with the fall of Sauron, Gandalf is almost certainly the most powerful individual on Middle Earth (the Greater Rings having lost their powers) and doesn't abuse this fact at all, leaving West to report to the Valar after his task is completed.
>>24818483
>>24818492he comes back in whitecomments made by Galadrieletc>>24818498another interpretation might be that everyone with a boat and a clue gets off the continent like it's on fire
>>24818493You just don't understand 29847932D chess.
>>24818516Two more ages. Trust the plan.
>>24818520kek
>>24818510If you're not going to answer properly, why reply at all?
>>24818561spoonfeeding season is over :^
>>24818572>teehee, I have this idea but I'm not going to explain it to you ;)Well whatever, Gandalf returned to Valinor anyway
Currently in at the final half of Bakker's The Warrior Prophet.Will Achamian ever stop being a bitch, and how the fuck is the Holy War supposed to succeed???It feels like the desert fucked them over way too bad.
I finished Book of the New Sun and loved it. What other top tier sci-fi novels are there, preferably ones with amazing world building and unique concepts?
>>24819082If you haven't already, Vance's Dying Earth is a must. One of Wolfe's favourites, which if you've read Wolfe first you'll quickly pick up.
About to start a new book, here are some of the ones in my collection I'm considering, any suggestions? The Wolf - Leo CarewEmpire of Silence - RuocchioThe Will of the Many - James IslingtonAssassin's Apprentice - Hobb
>>24815461I'm the fag from the last thread that asked about this. I bought it, and uuh, it's alright. It's UNBELIEVEABLY cringe, however. I'm talking about straight up anime in written form as far as the content goes, but it's written in a more competent fashion than most other trash novels today, and perhaps more importantly it's not boring so there's that.Before you throw money at it I would say read the prologue on Amazon, and if you can make it through that without dying from how hard your eyeballs roll back into your head on occasion then you could probably survive the rest since it's just more of that.
>>24819183Also, I'm only 100 pages in btw so there's still a good chance I'll end up launching this tome out of the window.
Apparently this sold 100,000 copies. It must be good right?
>>24819269Official blurb didn't inspire much interest in me. Multiple PoVs, an empire ruled by literal gods but the conflict is some game of thrones-esque palace intrigue shit with lots of navel-gazing woe-is-me garbage.
>>24819269Where's your evidence? Everything I see about it is that it's a current year book that sold almost nothing.
>>24819435>>24819269Apparently this is an Italian author who has self-published his first book in English in April 2025, which isn't selling well, and his 9 self-published Italian books didn't sell either.
>>24819269From the author, literally yesterday."I'm so close to selling a thousand copies of The Crimson Fire"https://x.com/monteroauthor/status/1980317172921688495
>>24819495just take away 2 zeroes. close enough.
>>24819509You said my salary was $100,000!Jus tayk of 2 0s, clos enuff
youre alone in bed, a little down. cant sleep. which sci fi / fantasy book do you reach for? or other genres if you struggle to think of one
>>24819495So... One thousand, not one hundred thousand.One thousand is a good number for a self published author, particularly outside of romantasy. But nothing about it makes me want to read it.That said, I picked up a couple from the Fanatical build-a-bundles today that looked decent. Antigone by Phil Hore (picrel, ignore his pen name) looks decent, and given I've been writing a "myth reimagined" book, it piqued my interest.Yes, I probably should have gone to Anna instead of paying $1.50 for it.
>>24819094No I haven’t, I’ll check it out but I was asking for something massive in scope with some really interesting scientific concepts that don’t appear in much other works. These restrictions can be loosened if nothing really matches what I asked for.
>>248195521000 is still an amazing number. most self published fantasy authors probably sell 10 copies tops
>>24819143Suggestions anyone?
>>24810862the Myst reader
>>24819143>>24819621It's what you're feeling anon. Assassin's Apprentice is a really good slow burn story from one PoV. It's the only one I've read out of those. The Will of the Many is high on my list.I would go Assassin's Apprentice > The Will of the Many > The Wolf > Empire of Silence.
>>24817487>Deltarune >Over the garden wall You need to go back
>>24819183>It's UNBELIEVEABLY cringeI warned you
>>24819599Maybe Banks' The Culture?
>>24819599>massive in scopetends to come at the expense of >really interesting scientific conceptssimply because the larger your scope is, the more hand-wavey you have to get with the science. some things that strike an alright balance;zones of thoughtiain m. banksjohn c. wrightthe uplift war charles strossCJ Cherryhetc
>>24819732I like how you act like neither topic is discussed on 4chan. Do you have any book recommendations or not?
>>24819143Empire of Silence. I need more Suneaterfags in this general. The RRfags are chill but I prefer Sun Eater.
>>24820049what's RR...
>>24820225Red Rising
>>24820225Red Rising. It gets much better after the first book which is derivative YA slop but still important for the series, and it induces a lot of seethe in those who refuse to read anything that's remotely YA.
>>24819143>The Wolf - Leo Carewdidn't read it>Empire of Silence - Ruocchiochudslop>The Will of the Many - James Islingtonredditslop>Assassin's Apprentice - Hobbkino
>>24820265>>24820267Oh i got that on my list. Currenly reading Sun-Eater and so far this shit is just a copy pasted Dune 10 chapters in.
>>24820273I thought it was a fun read and I'm looking forward to news of the next book red god. Others refuse to read it probably because it's often discussed here and they can suck the shit right out of my butt
>>24820269>ChudslopHadrian "Billions Must Die" Marlowe is the most based character in an ongoing SFF series.>>24820273Keep at it. EoS sets the stage for a lot of important developments, and Howling Dark is a huge step up.
is the Night's Dawn trilogy cringe or nah?
>>24820273Christopher Ruocchio is the most successful plagiarist of this millennium. Zero original ideas, entire passages lifted verbatim from other books and nobody calls him out on it, I feel like Frank Grimes as the only person who's actually read the books he steals from
>>24820336his target audience are chuds who don't read, watch anime and play videogames
>>24820382I thought Sanderson had the anime-vidya market cornered, but I guess the "based and trad" catholic larpers need their own niche.How do they feel about all the gays in Sun-Eater though?
>>24814199no
>>24819911Guess you are right. How about books that just blew your mind?
>>24820273>this shit is just a copy pasted Dune 10 chapters in.That would be somewhat ironic
>>24820524Left: HerbertRight: Ruocchio
>>24820557Where's the evidence that he copied passages verbatim?
>>24820693You may wish to compare the opening of H.G. Welles' war of the worlds with a certain passage from Demon in White.>what page, what chapterI don't remember anymore. It will probably take a long time to find a single passage in a physical book you read a long time ago. I'll get back to you.
>>24820524>>24820273>>24820336i heard an interview he spoke about his favourite books. they were similar to mine so i read the start of one of his. it was literally dune. in the podcast/ interview i remember him saying he loved dune but he wanted the main character to actually be a hero. this was his cope / defense.
>>24820693>>24820703I give up. The book is way too long. I stumbled on the "leopards, lions and wolves" thing that's both a reference to Dante and an echo of Dan Simmons' Hyperion but I can't find the War of the Worlds thing.I will withdraw my claim and accept Ruocchio as an original thinker
/sffg/ opinions on Arkady Martine and her novels?
>>24820811I've read A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace. Both of them are 40% bituminous exposition, 40% the protag having panic attacks about everything, and 20% protag and the other characters gossiping. Nothing ever happens, but like the Empire is like bad, but the protag finds it sexy and is an Imperial weeb, but it's like bad, although ultimately we don't really know anything whatsoever about le Empire other than that they make like korean doramas and wear cool dresses. I group them into a genre I call "Flowerpunk space opera", which is a type of story that is just a fujo worldbuilding her "verse" that has like spaceships and lasers and other scifi trappings, but those are basically irrelevant, all the actual content is just what sci-fi-styled type of modern Asian media forms the centerpiece of the fictional culture described, plus the hot bisexual space aristocrats and gossip concerning them.
>>24820822got it, sounds disappointing
>>24809828is there any chud-coded fantasy and scifi in 2025?
>>24820843can you explain what you mean by chud-coded?
>>24810551Unfortunately not. People like this are extremely intolerant of deviation to the point that what they write about in their reviews is often deranged imaginings. I have dipped into a fantasy series thinking it will at least be free of petty politics only to find the author writing a comical out of place virtue signalling spiel once a chapter minimum.
>>24813350Still working on it anon, it's been very slow-going for me. I'll read some of it on my lunch break today. Kindle says that I'm 75% of the way through.
>>24820917something that could be written by a chud, or panders to chuds
>>24820467Permutation City by Egan
>>24820467>How about books that just blew your mind?Anathem didn't blow my mind but it might blow yours
>>24820336He's a modern day MLK
>>24820811>herHard pass
>>24820985Who's the modern day Malcolm X in the sffg space?
>>24821003Dennis Taylor
>>24820918>I have dipped into a fantasy series thinking it will at least be free of petty politics only to find the author writing a comical out of place virtue signalling spiel once a chapter minimum.Did you read the reviews? You probably missed the 5/5s from the she/theys praising it.
>>24820843Sun Eater is all about a man realizing that you can't reason with the enemy and have to exterminate them. A planet of space commies is aligned with maneating aliens. Cyberpunk bodymod space anarchists are a metaphor for trannies.>Inb4 gay charactersWritten out of the plot in book 2, once the author got more latitude.Red Rising is implicitly pro-eugenics and anti-democracy, though the author is clearly uncomfortable with the ramifications of his own work.
>>24820382>source: my assIf he was writing for illiterate gamers and weebs the prose would be a lot more streamlined. It's too purple as it is.
>>24810864Yes, that or bland smut for loser nerds. It's impossible to make any of that shit fun to read, except Iain Banks, who wrote that everyone was so degenerate no one cared how many dicks you had eaten.
>>24819545Eye of the World if I want to get into something long, The Novice (black magician trilogy book 1) if I want something quick and enjoyable.
>>24820918>I have dipped into a fantasy series thinking it will at least be free of petty politics only to find the author writing a comical out of place virtue signalling spiel once a chapter minimum.Sounds like a modern fantasy author problem.
Red God WHEN
>>24819545A short story collection will do.
>>24821316Small indie author, please understand Pierce if you deny me my House Arcos revenge plot there won't be anywhere in the solar system you can hide from me
>>24821460>spoilerWho would be leading the revenge? Aren't most of them dead except the daughters/wives? Either way, justice for Alexander and his race mixing future and fuck red rising and it's bad fan art
>>24821469Lysander au Arcos, after being psychoSpiked by Mustang, kills Atalantia and then himselfAnother scion of the house would be cool too
>>24821493Would be based but I need him to die by Darrow’s hands
>>24821509Fair but I feel like PB's gonna cuck you out of that even if my fanfic is wrong
Finished Urth of the New Sun. Ended as it lived: confusingly and full of symbolism. I think BotNS actually suffers a bit from Urth's existence, because it spells out a lot of what was otherwise implied, but Urth was also probably the second or third best of the five. The whole cycle was quite the trip. I'm not in any rush to read more Wolfe, but I'm glad I read this one.Gonna unironically read some Kafka or Virgil as a mental pallete cleanser.
>>24821565>the whole cycleAnon, you've got another 7 books in the Solar Cycle
>>24821565I need to reread BotNS and Urth. A lot of the symbolism and worldbuilding in the former went over my head and Urth filtered me hard. The scene of Severian at the shrine to him and his fellow-travelers was insanely kino though.
>>24821529I think he will too. I’ll settle for Rhonna killing him but as long as he dies I’m all good.
>>24821583Yeah cycle was probably the wrong word. The New Sun & Friends.Are the rest of the solar cycle connected directly, or just set in the same setting? Written in the same style?
>>24820330It's worth reading, the SF elements are excellent and autistically detailed. It does have a slightly cringe supernatural theme but it's worked in fairly well. A Second Chance at Eden is a short-story collection set in the same universe, it's some of the best SF I've ever read.
>>24820843>>24821194speaking of anti-democracyI'm reading through Mistborn right now and damn, The Well of Ascension has gotta be one of the most blatantly "democracy bad" books in the genre. Elend's whole arc is about him trying to tard rangle the people into not voting to commit suicide via opening the gates to one of the many bloodthirsty armies outside of the city, and nearly screwing everything up because he explains a legal loophole to vote himself out of office. The character literally blackpills himself on democracy.
>>24821863Stormlight also has characters that are skeptical of democracy, cause back when he still put a semblance of real care into the world building for that setting he gave characters fairly believable political opinions based on their upbringing, morals, and experiences, so naturally they all believed that natural hierarchies existed and ought to exist in any ideal society. I have a feeling that if present day Brandon Sanderson rewrote the first couple Stormlight books he would've had his precious main characters simp for democracy since inserting incongruous progressive beliefs and attitudes has become common in his books, now.
>>24821194>though the author is clearly uncomfortable with the ramifications of his own work.I'm still going through Morning Star but did he say this in an interview/blog or what? Kinda curious to hear what he said about it after I finish the books
Hook me up on some bronze age fantasy kino bros. Something that feels epic and mythical, without being too flowery and overly descriptive, like Homer's stuff.
>>24821863>>24822133Democracy is never going to look that good up close in a story, because the main characters are usually competent. Democracy just slows them down or prevents them from doing what needs to be done. The upside of democracy is that you're much less likely to be stuck with a complete buffoon for decades. Imagine Biden or Trump (whichever political persuasion you care about more) being a dictator for 20 years. That's what democracy exists to prevent, but democracy, typically, is not the best way to get shit done, which is what a story is about.If you think about it, we're not all that into "real" democracy in the real world anyway. We don't let people vote on issues, we let them vote for a person who then decides on the issues. We just pretend that representative democracy is the same as a pure democracy.
>>24822145iirc PB expressed some pretty generic concern about nationalism circa the release of Iron Gold. He seems center-left to me, and probably doesn't oppose democracy or support eugenics, but he has enough artistic integrity to ground political developments and character perspectives in his worldbuilding rather than his own views.
>>24822203Based and true. Democracy in SF should only be a vehicle for sociological themes. Democracy should never exist in fantasy because it's lame as fuck.
There is a non zero chance we could die before Red God is released
Marrowfag, I am resolved to finish the book tonight. Kindle says I only have 45 minutes to go, so I should be able to knock it out in one sitting!>>24822469Good; at least one of us will be guaranteed to avoid that slop.
>>24822203>The upside of democracy is that you're much less likely to be stuck with a complete buffoon for decadesYour view of democracy is skewed because you exist in a state, presumably America, where it's possible to elect someone who is not part of the political class.I exist in a two-party state. It is impossible to elect someone who is not part of one of the two parties. Under our democratic system, we are guaranteed to be run by a complete buffoon not just for decades, but forever, because both parties are buffoons and they are the only ones who could change the system such that a non-buffoon could be elected. As such, we will never have someone who is not a buffoon.
>>24812952Nights master by Tanith Lee
>>24822502>Marrowfag, I am resolved to finish the book tonight.Nice. It's a great book. Sequel is decent as well.>Kindle saysnvm kys
>>24822717>the only way to read is by killing trees and giving jews 60% of sticker price
>>24812952the goat
>>24810907Uh what? Reynolds started writing afrofuturism nonsense ages ago.
>>24822717>Paying for booksA fool and his money are soon parted.Anyway, tell me why you liked the book. I have to be honest, I did not care for it. The scope of it felt way too wide, and I could never catch what the internal logic of the story was or what the overall point or theme was supposed to be. It just felt like paper-thin characters randomly doing stuff and saying things with no clear connections between what one character does/says and how another responds. It did have the memorable phrase "the distinct and enriching smell of an individual fart," so I'll give it that.
>>24822771>A fool and his money are soon parted.A fool and his revocable electronic content can be parted by (((sociopaths))) at any time.It has been ages since I read it (20+ years). I just remember some of the core world building ideas being very bold. A ship so big it's unfathomable. Humans who live forever, and have genetic modifications that allow them to survive the most ridiculous injuries. And the ship itself is a grand BDO, which is a subject I just always found neat.
>>24822779Tell me more about how these (((sociopaths))) are going to make me get rid of my 50 gigs of epubs that are downloaded from Anna's Archive and backed up on an external hard drive.Guess we are looking for different things in sci-fi, as I found a lot of the world building ideas that you liked to be too farfetch'd for my taste. Still it was interesting to read something that I probably wouldn't normally pick up. I haven't yet hit gold with "hidden gem" recommendations on /lit/, but they've always at least been memorable.
>>24822797That kindle isn't going to last forever, and someday all you'll be able to buy is DRM locked down bullshit that won't load them.
>>24822811Tablet + EPub File Reader. Problem solved. Plus I have about 1K books, a library card, and I'll inherit my Dad's library when he passes away, so I'm not too worried.
>>24822830It's ok. Someday you'll find a way to fill your hollow zoomer soul and actually read like your ancestors did.In the meantime, another hidden gem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Ocean_of_NightThe first 3 are amazing. #4 takes a huge leap in time and changes the storyline. After that it kind of goes off the rails. But fantastic ideas.
>>24822846I'm 32 lol. I literally went to the library today to return some books.I may check out that book once I get done with some of the other sci-fi/fantasy novels I have on my plate. I recently bought several Larry Correia novels and the anon's fantasy novel he had been shilling in these threads, so I feel obligate read those soon...plus the nine or so books I have checked out from the library...plus the ten or so books I got from the thrift store this weekend...when does the addiction end?
>>24822865It doesn't. Although cheers for keeping up with it during your working life. It was always hard for me to dedicate time to it like when I was younger.
>>24822797>>24822830>50 gigs of epubs that are downloaded from Anna's ArchiveSoulless. You haven't actually read it unless its physical. Facts.
