The Weather Man edition>Recommended reading charts (Look here before asking for vague recommendations):https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb>Banned Authors:Joe AbercrombieA.A. AttanasioR. Scott BakkerC.J. CherryhGlen CookSteven EriksonR.A. LaffertyMark LawrenceGeorge R.R. MartinPatrick RothfussGene Wolfe>Archive:https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg>Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffgPrevious:>>25478124
>>25485235hehe, anal
Fuck yevFuck baynefagFuck goodreadsgroupfagsFuck youreviewsareshitfagFuck antiyoureviewsareshitfag (possibly baynefag)Fuck pagespammerFuck bakkerfag
>>25485235>A.A. Attanasio>wrote The Last Legends of Earth>dimensional entity from the center of the galaxy pops out into normal space>creates a solar system populated with humans in order to lure out and genocide the zōtl>intelligent sapient flying spiders who pith your brain, releasing chemicals that keep you in constant lucid agony and pain while they feed and control your bodyThe only people who would hate this are Jews.
>>25485235Any Korean fantasy novels out there?
Who are your favorite sci-fi and fantasy authors? Personally and in no particular order I am a big fan of Joe Abercrombie, A.A. Attanasio, R. Scott Bakker, C.J. Cherryh, Glen Cook, Steven Erikson, R.A. Lafferty, Mark Lawrence, George R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss and Gene Wolfe.
>>25485323So you keep saying >>25461524
>>25485336Yes, several have been translated into English, especially in recent years.
>>25485374Posting a statement twice instead of once does not reduce the veracity of said statement.
finally time to read a new book today, hopefully i dont hate it enough to not finish it. ive only not finished 3 books so far
>>25485471Cool story pagebro.
>>25485480thanks
What do I read now that I have finished Bakker’s second apocalypse? I have already read Dune (mid) and asoiaf (good) Second Apocalypse has been my favorite fantasy series so far. I like the light horror themes. Are there any other fantasy series that have those uncomfortable themes and aren’t reddit, 40k-tier trash?
>POV: You are Bakkerfag and struggling to imagine another fantasy series outside of asoiaf
>>25485506>Dune (mid) and asoiaf (good)
>>25485343Greg Egan. KJ Parker. Dennis E. Taylor. Guy Gavriel Kay. Terry Pratchett. Dan Simmons. Eric Flint. Robert Heinlein. Aaron Dembski-Bowden. Martha Wells.
>>25485343Anyone published before 1990. It's where the masterworks are.
>>25485511Seems he just like gay cringe edgy shit and thinks thats cool
>>25485343Brandon SanderGODGODbert JordanH.P. GODcraft
>>25485513>>25485565Yeah sure u guys have better taste than me idc but can you give recommendations instead of being fags?
>>25485506>I like the light horror themes.
>>25485616Great rec.
>>25485616good luck finding this anywhere physically, though
>>25485616Thanks king>>25485635I’m a kobofag so it’s ok
what's the best scifi from year 2000 onwards?
>>25485666The last two Solar Cycle books came out in 2000 and 2001.
>>25485683>mfw quarter of the century has passed
>>25485666>year 2000Sorry Satan, but SF died in that year.
>>25485447You're now a ritual poster and, therefore, my enemy.
>>25485751You can easily see when they kicked the old guard out and replaced them with propagandists.
Bakker is an uber-fag and still mogs your favorite slop writers. How does that feel?
>>25485666Cleave the Sparrow. But it's light scifi and heavy ketamine trip.
>>25485122>Last issue published in 2024>feels bad man
>>25485235Add Dunsany to the banned authors chart. That is "your reviews are shit" faggot's favorite author and beatings will continue until morale improves.
I normally hate sci-fi books and written stories, prefering fantasy instead. But pulp era sci-fi ain't nearly as boring or dry as the sci-fi from other periods I am used to. Rather than being laser focused on making sure the speculative tech is realistic they instead just try to tell a entertaining action packed adventure that has sci-fi elements in the background that they don't stress about explaining in any detail. It's refreshing. The rocket ship. Oh, it's just the thing to get from point A to B in the story. The laser gun is just a gun. The transmitter is just a communication device not described in any detail and is more or less treated like a phone. No need to stop the story cold to explain in agonizing detail how it works. We don't need to stop the story cold to describe the evolutionary biology of the Martian ape man who kidnapped the dame. The hero just focuses on kicking the ape man's ass and saving the day.
>>25486373>man discovers he enjoys sci-fi over hard sci-fi
Honestly, this feminist kate elliot might be a decent writer, the first prologue chapter is really strong and nice to read despite basically giving little context to anythingbut to be fair the first prologue chapter of leviathan wakes was also really good.so was the first chapter of the darkness that comes before, and Id say Bakker's use of words is probably better than both. I still remember Kellhus' descriptions of the surrounding trees and nature, and remember being engrossed by that alone, despite knowing nothing of the rest of the story.I wonder if its considered a good sign of writing to not know/understand any of the context but still find it interesting. Obviously it shouldnt be the most important sign of good writing, as things can go so so wrong after that first chapter.All I know is that its given me a much stronger initial impression than Jennifer Fallon's Wolfblade. I seriously dont know why that book was written so...cringely for lack of better word, Marla literally acts like a 2000s teenage girl, and the other characters, like less ridiculous, just don't sound like people of their time and context. They sound like they're larping.
>>25486388You'd know, pagelarper.
>>25486403larper of what?
>>25486413Being a good poster that is liked by others.
What are some good adventure books where the hero just travels from place to place in an almost episodic manner, getting into all kinds of cool/fun situations, like The Hobbit or Dying Earth
>>25486457I'm sorry, we're not allowed to talk about Gene Wolfe
>>25486457Unironically you would enjoy Invisible Man (Ellison, not Wells)
>>25486457Have you read the various Elric of Melinbone books?
>>25486457Conan. And Solomon Kane. And pretty much everything Robert E Howard ever wrote.
Why does it seem so much easier to world build fantasy than sci-fi? If you're building for fantasy, you can take from just about any source as inspiration, but for sci-fi every world runs on something different so melding those sources together turns out a lot less uniform.
>>25486578because assumed generic fantasy just works better. I guess your brain fills in the blanks more easily.
>>25486578>Why does it seem so much easier to world build fantasy than sci-fi?It's really not but the word SCIENCE gives people the idea you need a phd in math and physics. People also automatically think you need to be HARD Sci fi and don't get there are degrees.
I need an action packed well written fantasy book about adventurer(s) going on an adventure. I've already read the pulps, dying earth, and botns. Give me something more obscure! No I won't read sanderslop or anything else reddit recommends.
Does anyone remember Terry Goodkind's books. I remember I liked them back when they were coming out but that was ages ago. They tried to make it a TV show that I don't think ever took. I think I've been mentally mixing it and Wheel of Time up a lot for the past couple decades.
>>25486594>he's ready for it
>>25486640Legitimately awful books.
Why do people praise Blindsight so much? I finished reading it the other day and felt irritated to have wasted my time on it.The characters are all one dimensional with no development. There are so many exposition dumps, instead of demonstration. Wow, vampires and aliens are so intelligent. Let's just say this repeatedly. The plot is simply a vehicle that's barely coherent enough to serve as the author's confused statement about consciousness, which he commingles with empathy and self awareness.PKD had a much more nuanced exploration of empathy and inhuman intelligence in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Roadside Picnic shows how how its aliens are so much more intelligent, despite their utter absence. Solaris is a far more interesting exploration of communication with an alien being beyond your comprehension, and all the mind-fuck that entails. It's obvious that Watts started out with the conclusion of the book in mind, and hamfistedly wrote a story with that end in mind, but he forgot to include anything that actually supports it or makes it an entertaining story in the process.Watts also enjoys drawing making up bullshit about neuroscience and throwing in false factoids. I'm beginning to think that "hard" sci-fi fans are pseuds with no taste.
>>25486660>Watts also enjoys drawing making up bullshit about neuroscience and throwing in false factoids.Give some examples
Thoughts on Dark Matter?
I'm reading Conan for the first time. Using the 3-Book collection from Del Rey on my e-reader, I finished the first 5 stories so far. I'm actually quite surprised by how articulate and nuanced Conan is when he isn't engaged in combat. My only exposure to the character before were the Arnold movie and the innumerable pieces of power fantasy artwork he stars in. Even the artwork on this first book doesn't really convey that this is a man that's struggling with his status as an outsider no matter where he goes, or the fact that he's caught between the civilized world and the growing need to cause pure, unadulterated physical violence, either for pleasure or because it's simply unavoidable in his life.
>>25486666Not seeing something because it only moves during your eyes saccades immediately leaps to mind. Hemispherectomies also don't alter behavior like they do to Siri.> He turned to face me. "And you know what's really amazing? If something only moves during the gaps, your brain just—ignores it. It's invisible."It's a tremendous stretch to say that something moving only during saccades will render it invisible. This is some Jurassic Park T-Rex bullshit.> Don't even try to talk about the learning curve. Don't bother citing the months of deliberate practice that precede the unconscious performance, or the years of study and experiment leading up to the gift-wrapped Eureka moment. So what if your lessons are all learned consciously? Do you think that proves there's no other way? Bad faith what if argument that only works by shouting "IGNORE ALL EXISTING EVIDENCE."> Most of the psychoses, syndromes, and hallucinations described herein are real, and are described in detail by Metzinger20, Wegner21, and/or Saks22 (see also Sentience/Intelligence, below). Others (e.g. Grey Syndrome) have not yet made their way into the DSM23—truth be told, I invented a coupleStraight from the horse's mouth.> Sentience isn't even necessary to develop a "theory of mind". That might seem completely counterintuitive: how could you learn to recognise that other individuals are autonomous agents, with their own interests and agendas, if you weren't even aware of your own? But there's no contradiction, and no call for consciousness. It is entirely possible to track the intentions of others without being the slightest bit self-reflective107. Norretranders declared outright that "Consciousness is a fraud"115.If you bother to read his citation, nothing in it supports his statement that it is possible to track the intentions of others without being self-reflective. Instead, it talks about some parts of the brain that are required for theory of mind. It makes me question every other citation of his. More on his reference to Norretranders there in a second post.
>>25486728Yeah, it can be pretty interesting going to the source of an archetype and seeing just how different and more nuanced it is from what "everybody knows" about it. I also experienced it when reading the James Bond books. Truly, the popular consciousness is trash.Also, if you like Conan, I recommend checking out Howard's Kull stories as well. He was basically the proto-Conan, but more thoughtful and brooding, to the point where one story involves him almost fading away into a mirror pondering the nature of reality and shit.
>>25486728Yeah the actual stories are a lot different than most people realize. He's still an ideal force of power and violence but he has dimension and intelligence. REH was in a lot of ways really ahead of his time I think.
> Norretranders declared outright that "Consciousness is a fraud"115.This had no bearing on his argument about theory of mind. It is a complete non-sequiter. There is no relevancy of this quotation to theory of mind. If there's a more relevant section about theory of mind in this book, he has failed to cite it entirely.
>>25486744Kull's weird. Good but weirder than you'd expect.
>>25486737valid points I'd be angry about this too
What kind of common 'magic' would be the most OP, assuming people would try to abuse the shit out of it?Teleportation? Spatial storage?
>>25486875Mind control?
>>25486388>>25485235>descriptionsI know some people find descriptive language and imagery boring and just want to read about muscular dudes and robed wizards beating eachother to death, but I feel that descriptions help bring a fantasy world to life.The author of The prince of nothing really created captivating scenery when first introducing Kellhus in The Darkness that Comes Before (his name is now banned apparently), Jack Vance in the Lyonesse books, and Moorcock in the Elric saga.Which other authors really bring fantasy worlds to life? Please share, this thread is too dead for my liking.
>>25486875Anything can be overpowered if you don't put any limits on it.Combat wise teleportation is pretty OP if the targets can't defend against it. Just teleport people into space or next to the sun.Overly strong healing potions could give you wolverine/deathpool powers and make you unkillable while in effect and also immortal if they heal aging.
>>25485506>>25485616Please recommend more fantasy series with light horror themes
>>25485323One of the most enjoyable and nuts sci-fi ever written. We now have the technology for HBO to turn this into a series. The episodic storytelling is perfect.
If Haplo doesn't believe in semen retention then why should I?
Any recommendations for Chinese sci-fi that isn't Three Body
>>25487344https://warosu.org/lit/thread/22040654#p22041968
>>25486373>>25486379Oh, is that why people don't like brandon sanderson? Because he's secretly writing hard sci-fi while claiming to write fantasy with extensive rules?
>>25486457The Sun Eater series
>>25487434More because he ran out of good ideas decades ago and pumps out mindless video game combat slop.
What author do you think writes the best battles/fight scenes? I feel like I skim through most of these types of scenes when I read because they aren't written well enough for me to imagine them in my mind.
>>25487497The problem could be that you don't have enough basis to imagine them in your mind rather than the author not writing them well enough.
Finished this a while back but the ending is so lame that I didn't even bother posting about it. The initial part where they do terrorist acts against Soulcatcher is fun, but it turns out that having the last 10% of your book be just exposition with nothing happening is extremely boring, who'd've thunk?The buddy who got me into the series confessed he gave up after the original trilogy and the Silver Spike, and honestly at this point that's what I'd suggest to others. The first book in the series is still the best one, but the original trilogy and the spinoff were fun. The India arc had promise but it has overstaid its welcome by a lot. More or less everything in India (except the assault on longshadow's fortress) has paled in comparison to the original trilogy.Not to mention that "oh those silly believers and their religions, amirite fellow atheists" and Cook's fascination with women in charge is kinda starting to grate at this point. Water Sleeps literally lampshades that (p.239 according to my kindle). Dude, the psycho bitches were exciting the first few times, but while Sahra is fine, you've repeated "Soulcatcher gets away" like 4 times, it's just boring by now.In a prior thread here anon said that Soldiers Live has a pretty good ending so I'll push onward, sunken costs and so on. I'm not impressed by the beginning. Croaker, buddy, what are you doing? "Oh no our magical prodigy daughter was stolen by an evil cult," well then, have five more. You married the LADY of all people and you wouldn't keep her constantly pregnant? Are you crazy? Murgen, what are you doing? "I love my wife so much, I was forcibly separated from her and spent a whole book trying to get back to her, and then she spent another book doing the same, and our son is a magical prodigy destined to save the world or some shit", well why not have five more? She ain't too old, make up some magic bullshit for it.If Tobo redeems the Daughter of Night by fucking the crazy out of her (which someone should have done with Soulcatcher by now, btw), this would make it worth it. Cook seems to have a predilection for cute endings despite being allegedly '"grimdark", which I like, so here's hoping.
>>25486578People think you need to know a lot of science and try to make it like a prediction or logical progression. May be i'm personally a bit more borderline sci fi and fantasy enjoyer, where sci fi just starts to intersect with fantasy, but i think people get hung up on the science part.Think about it this way. How would you describe to someone from thousands of years ago, what cell phones are. Remember, they don't know what you know and they don't know the progression from their time to ours. The easiest way would be to say that we carry a slab of rock around that allows us to talk to others who have their own slab. Think of sci fi like that, but we're the Stone Age guy instead of the guy from the future.
>>25486642oi. u posting ponies outside of /mlp/, mate?
>>25486744Same with Starship Troopers. People really say it's fascist and obsess over the bug war then they have the audacity to talk about media literacy. To be fair even chud types focus on the concept of fighting alien bugs in space, but the book isn't even about that. It's just a vehicle to discuss topics and as an example of how their society works and what it means to fully be a part of it. Reading the book made me realize how fake people are. A lot of the "intellectual well-read" types who love to bash others for being ignorant are completely full of shit.
>>25487505You've captured the true essence of the book and author. Your summary of the book will be a guiding light for generations to come.
>>25487542ntaPeople who accuse people of being fake are among the most confused, Mr. Caulfield.
>>25487505pol reviews
>>25487540I don't see any ponies, and it's what op asked for. >Divorced dad highschool English teacher runs through a bucket list of every short story he ever wanted to write, with the same cast of characters, on one continuous timeline.
Didn't like it. I really enjoyed Claw of the Concilliator and Sword of the Lictor (and also the first one, though I was more confused by it than anything), but imo the series jumps the shark when Terminus Est broke. Before that it was pretty great, that entire scene was sick, but afterwards I could never be rid of the impression that something was missing, as if I myself had lost a part of myself at that point.Being so preoccupied with that mindset, all I could do was observe the remaining events dispassionately. The laser rifle cavalry batallions are out there, yeah, but the whole thing felt hollow and Severian's ultimate fate struck me as unearned and random. The revelation about the coin was great though. I was also disappointed that the whole Dorcas identity thing was spelled out plainly. Guess I must have missed the point.Would reread. Will reread at some point.
>>25487599Will you be reading Urth?
>>25487553I wasn't trying to say i'm not fake, but i felt like everyone was better than me and that they just knew more and had actually read more and had more knowledge because that's how they presented themselves. Then i realized i don't need to feel bad because some of them are bullshitting.
>>25486737If this upsets you then the shit he pulls in Echopraxia would give you an aneurysm. The vampire in that one can write magically invisible graffiti that rewires your brain to have a seizure when she says a trigger word.
>>25487602Forgot about it desu. I suppose I should, hopefully it will help me get a better understanding of everything, especially the events of Citadel.
>>25487603I didn't say anything about you being fake. I said you were confused and you still are. That's why influencers are so successful. Many people take everything they see online or in media at face value.
>>25487618It will. Whether you'll be
>>25485235Any good books with a complete paradigm shift in the plot/world? Not just a surprise plot twist but a drastic change in plot and therefore tone.
>>25487584There are 9 ponies in your picture, and you know exactly where they are.
Who read Alchemised? It's actually sick, very pulpy. Reminds me of Tanith Lee's stories.
>>25487698What is it about?
>>25487726It's that femslop dark fantasy with an alchemy and necromancy based magic system. Body horror with the protag being restrained, imprisoned, injected, that kind of thing. Body horror in a fantasy political conflict. I have a suspicion the author is into bdsm a lil bit.
>>25487732Sounds hot, but a lot of red flags in that description
>novel has a cool concept>but there's just something slightly off about itit really bothers me
>>25487726It's Harry Potter fanfiction that has the names changed, similar to Fifty Shades of Grey being Twilight fanfiction. There's a fanfiction that does that now.
>>25487768*lot of
>>25486457Might be a stretch but the Avery Cates series. The situations aren't that fun but somewhat cool. I thoroughly enjoyed them for what they are, not too deep, slightly misanthropic, and still somewhat comfy in a post-apocalyptic kind of way.
>>25487768Maybe it would be worth it to write my Death Note and DBZ fanfic
>>25487603>some of them are bullshittingThe only way to at least somewhat accurately tell if someone is bullshitting is if you know them REALLY close or if you know as much about the topic as they do and can instantly tell when they're bullshitting.If a product is in some way involved I wouldn't trust anyone blindly.
>>25486457Solomon Kane>>25486988Solomon Kane
>>25486737>it is possible to track the intentions of others without being self-reflectiveIs he drawing out his own conclusions, things that the article is not saying - if parts of the brain does the tracking of other minds, then that's not the whole brain, and the parts of the brain doing the tracking wouldn't be conscious? That is my guess at what Watts is thinking and why he's citing the article Which *I* think is very flawed reasoning. I'm not a brain scientist. But I know when people talk about parts of the brain doing certain functions, it's nearly always misguided and wrong. The brain is not something that should be understood in individual parts, it's not a car.I don't think the amygdala would be tracking a lot of intentionality if you're in an unconscious coma. Or if it was removed from the rest of the brain. Not like a car horn, that would still be honking without the rest of the car.Still, I think it's a very mild claim. Depending on what is meant by tracking the intentions of others. Watts is right, there's no contradiction. I mean, just ask Grog. It will be fairly successful at telling you what someone is thinking and guessing at how they will act.
just finished this. not as good as star king, and the killing machine i feel has been the best so far.
>>25487900I read this series last year. The Face is the funniest and The Book of Dreams is the best overall.
>>25487840I would expect much better from someone with a Ph.D. in STEM. It makes me suspicious of his other citations, and think that he has put on the appearance of conducting much more research to back himself up, with the hope that nobody would ever seriously investigate it. What's sad is the number of people who think that he's told them some irrefutable truth, who think they've had some mind-blowing revelation made to them by him. Nice meta-joke telling me to ask Grok.
reading an avatar the last airbender fanfic right now and it's... unironically fun? i know it's juvenile, and the prose isn't good, but it's just an entertaining ride and it gets me back into reading
>>25488089>and it gets me back into readingNo. No it doesn't. No more than this thread does.
>>25488089>back into readingNigga just read or don't. You don't have to "get back into it" any more than watching TV or eating dinner.
>>25485235Analog is a truly great magazine.my father began subscribing when he was a boy, and i will continue his subscription as long as i live.
Bit over halfway through Against All Gods so far. I think I'm going to end up finishing it as it's an easy read, but it's really not doing it for me. Leaning toward 1-2* rating by the end of it.>book starts with a whole essay about how the world runs on barter and there's no set units of measurement or maps or distance, but then everything seems to be paid for in coins or precious metals, nobody has any problems getting around, and everyone knows where all the other major cities are>plot is pretty generic, ragtag group of wronged mortals try to get macguffin to fight decadent gods>the gods all talk like retarded teenagers. I get it's sort of the point but it's also grating.>characters are flat and so far have had zero development, just events happening to them>minor continuity errors and incongruous descriptions. One goddess starts the whole story telling mortals to do things, then suddenly she's described as the "silent goddess" and doesn't talk.>related to the above, lots of mid-to-poor quality writing.This gets so highly recommended. I should just learn my lesson and stop reading anything traditionally published after 2013.
>>25488089> unironically fun... the prose isn't good, but it's just an entertaining ride and it gets me back into readingwelcome to the world of webnovels.
>>25488161>This gets so highly recommendedBy who? Certainly not here.>stop reading anything traditionally published after 2013All cutoffs are arbitrary and not really meaningful.
>>25488201everything written after 3400 BC is shit
>>25488220>Not just sticking to cave paintings
this book felt like it was meant solely to appeal to dark souls players whose only experience with reading is the berserk manga.
this book felt like it was meant solely to appeal to dark souls players
>>25486660Watts is, in fact, a very poor writer, with all your examples towering miles above him, and the Firefall duology's thesis has less ground to stand on than fucking Altered Carbon or something. But this thesis is also cool, original and pretty good at provoking discussion, plus Watts wrapped it in some rather intense vibes, for how much of a talentless hack he is.I suggest simply taking it way less seriously than poor Peter tries to sell it.
>>25488201I've seen it recommended by various sff blogs that have given me decent suggestions in the past, and it's well reviewed on Amazon and goodreads.You're right cutoffs are arbitrary, but you've got to admit that western publishing has declined noticeably since domestic propaganda was legalized in the US.
>>25488284>it's well reviewed on Amazon and goodreads
>>25488284>but you've got to admit that western publishing has declined noticeably since domestic propaganda was legalized in the US.no we dont you schizo retard
>>25488250Only book I DNFd in quite some time. Just seemed so pointless.
>>25487993>I would expect much better from someone with a Ph.D. in STEM.Why though? I hold a very similar PhD to Watts', and some shit I pulled out of my ass and right through a Q1 peer review would make Blindsight seem very sensible. If anything, academic background teaches one to apply less scrutiny to his writings, as there are endless droves of those who'll professionally apply it for you against your will.
>>25485235>>Banned Authors:>Joe Abercrombiewhy?
>>25488296Theres this one girl who has a youtube channel, and she has a PHD in psychology or something, and she made a video on narcissism that was some of the worst buzzfeed tier, appeal to conventional retarded terminally online notions of narcissism that think the disorder has the same meaning as the word it borrows the name from. In some sense Psychology fucked up immensely for even borrowing words from normal use to define disorders, but at the same time I don't know how much it would matter, because "schizo" was popular some time ago and nobody uses it in any way that actually reflects any understanding of schizophrenia.My point at the end of the day is that you'd be surprised the amount of disappointing normie surface level understanding level knowledge of things that people with PHD's will express. You'd think they'd have a more nuanced view, but the reality is that bias doesn't disappear with a PHD. Any psychologist who ever demonizes any disorder ever, is just not a respectable psychologist that understands the history, and current day purpose of psychology.
>>25488259
>>25488296Lol once in a grad cog psych course I took, we had to read a (several pages long) argument involving two men's opposing views on a memory theorem, and I can only describe it as professional expert shittalking.>>25488312This thread is crashing out early. Narcissism is evil. If you don't have to be around someone with it, then be grateful.
>>25488292Post books worth reading published in last decade
>>25488299Please refrain from discussing banned authors. Thank you for your cooperation.
>>25488317Think people would do well to understand that psychological stuff is not natural kinds, just because we use nouns for them in English language - it's endlessly reified But that would be an admission that psychology is kinda silly and a super soft science, so you get the opposite where people talk about these things as if they have a real existence, instead of being generalizations for a collection of traits and behavior, heuristics Don't know how to put it. With other medical disorders there's something real and concrete, like the presence of a certain virus, or the body being incapable of producing a protein.Narcissism is not like that, it got no essential feature
>>25488357You've never met a genuine individual with narcissistic personality disorder in your entire life and it shows.
>>25488322I thought it was alright
>>25488368Second, Parker writes fun books. Nobledark played for laughs, sorta.
>>25488354I will always discuss Wolfe.He writes very dense stories that are merely OK.
>>25488322 oEverything from K.J. Parker Cleave the Sparrow BobiverseThe Seven Kennings WarhammerThere Is No Antimemetics DivisionChildren of Earth and Sky
>>25488322>A Dance with Dragons turned 15 this yearfuck>>25488368I read Making History and I thought it was great up until the last like 20 pages when he decided to do a double fakeout on the twist which I thought ruined the ending. I'll probably pick up Sixteen Ways at some point though.
>>25488416A fellow Sparrow enjoyer! It was indie published though, I'm pretty sure. Bobiverse was, and Antimemetics was originally (but better after the editing before tradpub). Warhammer has their own press so sorta doesn't count.Seven Kennings, KJ Parker and GGK are good shouts though.Any other suggestions?
>>25488418I need to read the other siege books too. 16 ways is very conclusive on its own so I wonder how the latter two connect
>>25488416>The Seven Kenningsdid some reddit digging and anytime somebody's praise of a book is "it was enjoyable" i think that it means it was trope slop, but not done obnoxiously.
>>25488416Oh, grim. I was going to try that Sparrow book based on your rec from last thread. But your post has convinced me not to bother.
>>25488438The second one follows closely, the third is barely connected other than being contemporary (and is the weakest of the three). They're all good, though.>>25488445The core conceit is that there are six existing forms of magic, gifted by a god in a ritual that kills at best 50% and at worst like 95% of people attempting it. Using the magic irreversibly ages you based on how much you use. The plot is one known-but-missing God reawakening and its results, then appearance of a dangerous invading force from across the seas. Competently written, solid characters, interesting plot that isn't just common fantasy tropes stapled together. It's very "modern audiences" coded but in ways that nearly don't matter at all, e.g. race is directly tied to culture but otherwise irrelevant, and gays come up only in one fairly minor plot point (and there's no sex scenes or anything of the sort.) 4/5
>>25488449NTA, but all those except Warhammer are at least pretty good.
>>25488427Huh, I thought you'd notice.
>>25488467There is No Antimemetics Division is probably the worst, most half-assed book I've read this year. That was the most obvious offender.
>>25488473I enjoyed it. Did you read the edited version, that doesn't use stuff like military ranks?Different strokes.>>25488468Picrel
https://youtu.be/efCG6fKBOr8thoughts on the booktube goat's video on why grrm is taking 15 years to release a book
>>25488416I'll follow up with books you shouldn't read.The Malevolent SevenKings of the Wyld The Kaiju Preservation SocietyFahrenheit 451Acts of GodI Have No Mouth & I Must ScreamThe Stars, Like Dust A Choice of GodsDune
>>25488496
>>25487748I thoroughly enjoyed the first few books and novellas but it kinda shits the bed in the second series. Definitely a case of the author ran out of good ideas and didn't know when to stop.
>>25488509As expected of a Sanderson protege.
>>25488322if you think nothing after 2013 is worth reading that just means you are a tourist who doesn't read enough
>>25488567>queer, race-focused fiction
>>25488567>newfag promoting faggot shitsasuga
>>25488603>>25488609>snowflakes can't handle a little bit of gay in their super serious manchild genrejust stick to warhammer slop kek
>>25488632>slop slop slippity slop*laughs at you*
>>25488296Grim. I already learned in my undergrad that retards can earn Ph.D.s with enough determination, but I guess every doctor should be looked at with much more suspicion than I thought
>>25488161I dropped this one partway through as well. I can't remember how it got on my radar in the first place. It was bad in all the ways you listed but its worst sin is that it was just boring.
I want a book about slaying dragons.
>>25488632Big difference between a little bit of gay and having the key focus be "queer issues"
>>25488711that's not the key focus. you just think that having gay in it makes it the focus because you are a reactionary retard.
>>25488704Drifting Dragons
Without using the words "world building," "magic system" or any variations, synonyms or permutations thereof is this shit actually getting into.
>>25488725Maybe you can explain why you liked it instead of making excuses for hamfisted queer tokenizing?
>>25488749That depends. Do you want to experience politicking and petty bickering, all while the world decays with the remnants rallying around the chosen one, who descends further and further into madness?If so, have I got the book for you.
>>25488749First book is dull. The second half of the series undermines the first and is ultimately trash. Avoid the series if you have a compulsion for completionism. The character development is good in books 2-4, and there is enough intrigue in the story to draw you into the world. The author ruins it all by adding too many characters and systems and undoing character development to draw out the series. Also all the women are the same annoying harpy with different degrees of violence and stupidity.
>>25488772>>25488766sounds like a hard pass. crimeny.
>>25486457Sword of Bayne
Any fantasy books that are like Final Fantasy, especially X? Something like a semi-lighthearted adventure with a party of characters and a setting that isn't as derivative of Tolkien or D&D?>>25488322The Reverie (aka Hyperion-lite)Larry Correia's books if you're just looking for fast-paced action. >>25487748The author tries to write military fantasy without understanding how the military works. The amount of insubordination and chain-of-command issues in this series is staggering.
>>25488863You mentioned a Japanese game for a reason. Western authors are too concerned about issues that make want you want nearly impossible given your restrictions.
I haven't read these book since I was a kid and while rereading them again now is enjoyable my immediate thoughts were if Tolkien and Lewis had a baby out of wedlock and it was for some reason Welsh.
>>25488759you don't even know what "tokenizing" means
>>25488894The Book of Three borrowed a lot but I think with The Black Cauldron Lloyd Alexander started bringing his own ideas
I have been listening to chinese history all day instead of reading fantasy. I feel as if I have failed myself somehow
>>25488925The High King pretty obviously took a bit of inspiration from Return of the King but it's different in execution. Aragorn and Gwydion have very different stories. I wouldn't say it's a ripoff in any way. More an observation. Tolkien himself is pretty transparent with his own inspirations.
>>25488889>Western authors are too concerned about issues that make want you want nearly impossible given your restrictions.FFX is one of the tamest examples of japanese storytelling. Stop virtue signaling.
>>25488940>RapeLay centers on a vengeful repeat sexual offender who stalks and rapes a mother and her two daughters, who are 17 and 12 years old. >effectively banned worldwide as of 2026Yes, yes, nice vice signalling
>>25488945What does RapeLay have to do with Final Fantasy X?
I like ignoring all the big famous names (John Carter, Conan, etc) but reading all their copycats and pastiches.
>>25488925Those are nice covers but I can't imagine Taran with anything but red hair.>>25488894They're very wonderful. Taran Wanderer hit me hard as a kid and made me think about a lot of stuff.
>>25488954Have you ever read Gor?
>>25487900My favorite was the one where he went to the medieval planet.
>>25488957I've been rereading a lot of, for want of a term, children's Fantasy like these, Narnia and the like and quite a few of them give me a stronger impression that a lot of more adult fantasy I've read. A lot of it is the quality of writing I suppose, but when you write for a younger audience there's a certain directness and morality to it. It's kind of hard to put in words ironically but I get a feeling of longing.
>>25488954Name them, i'd like to read some
>>25488966Not him but off the top of my head you got Gor which is John Carter via Bondage Slave fantasy. Karl Edgar Wagnar's Kane is actually really good. Famed Plagiarist and vulture of REH's work had his Thongor of Lemuria series which almost got picked up to be a comic Instead of Conan if Roy Thomas hadn't taken a pay cut to pay for the REH stuff.
Do you like youtuber books?
>>25488991no
>>25488966Gardner F Fox was a productive "we have X at home" writer for multiple subgenres, especially his lusty mighty-thewed Kothar the Barbarian character.L. Sprague de Camp's prolific Viagens Interplanetarias/Krishna series features a wide range of earthmen protagonists engaging in John Carter-like swordplay adventure on a comedically violent world of hotheaded greenskinned aliens, including con men, entrepreneurs, private detectives, arms runners, xenobiologists, ghostwriters, and interplanetary trade inspectors.>>25488958On the list
>>25488991I've read Philip Chase's Edan trilogy and The Amazing Atheist's Sexbot Uprising, they were surprisingly alright.
Might just be my own ignorance, fair enough, but apparently L Sprague de Camp was a big deal yet I almost never heard him talked about today. He was definitely inspired by Burroughs for his Krishna books but he's a very wry witty guy who wrote a ton of variations on the theme and made his own thing. His sci fi stuff is pulpy on purpose but he's very literate when he writes fantasy and delves deep into poetry and mythology. Apparently Asimov considered him a mentor, and de Camp would host naval wargaming parties for his fellow authors in his apartment, turning the whole floor into an ocean map. L. Ron Hubbard would invite himself to these parties but it sounds like he wasn't liked very much. A lot of authors wrote their own stories for de Camp's Harold Shea fantasy-science adventurer character, and many were acknowledged as official continuations, except Hubbard's.
>>25488929I got way into Chinese history because Dynasty Warriors. Do not Pursue Lu Bu.
>>25489021>except Hubbard'sKek, brutal
>>25489021He was a grave robbing cunt who basically made his career off REH's corpse.
>>25489032if the dude didn't want other people to write conan stories he shouldn't have -ACK!!ed himselfsorry but i don't feel any pity for the fact Conan became a household name as a collaborative effort
Since google is useless and searching through goodreads just returns female smut, I figure I'd ask here in hopes of saving myself time and a headache. I'm looking for a fantasy book series I started a few years ago. As of a few years ago, the series was unfinished. Here's what I remember of the plot:>low fantasy with multiple younger protagonists>prologue starts with a "church" hunter killing a small child for being possessed/having magical powers>one of the girls can charm/mind control men>another of the girls is a church girl from a well off family, her dorm friend eventually gets molested/raped by a higher ranking member, she has healing abilities>one of the guys is a soldier/noble, he has great strength/agility, and he can affect other soldiers around him during battle, he also gets mind raped by the first girl>the other guy is a savage from a nordic-like raider tribe and is weaker/smaller than the other men, he falls in love with the village's outcast girl and they run away, at the end of the last book I read, a church explorer finds him and beings to convert himThe premise is that all these kids are all reincarnated, and the so called church is trying to kill them all.
>>25489054>reincarnatedTragically this is going to make searching google pretty useless too. Thanks a fucking lot, Japan.
>>25489054Do you remember any names at all?
>>25488749Tried reading the first book, but I didn't like the characters and it all seemed boring to me.>>25488958I have. It's mostly just bdsm fapfiction. I will grant to the author that he put much more thought on the lore building aspects than most would, especially for erotica. For example, a good explanation on why there is technological stagnation in specific fields and ways. Even regular fiction fails this, often. However, fetishism seeps too much into everything, kind of telling when children don't figure much in the setting.>>25489021I have read some of his Conan books, that is all.
I like luscious babes in fantasy/pulp fiction but i'm not into extended bdsm/torture
>>25489068>It's mostly just bdsm fapfictionIt only gets like that in the like 5 books into the series. It's pretty restrained up until that point.
>>25489021>L. Ron Hubbard would invite himself to these parties but it sounds like he wasn't liked very much. A lot of authors wrote their own stories for de Camp's Harold Shea fantasy-science adventurer character, and many were acknowledged as official continuations, except Hubbard's.Lol
>>25489086Is Hubbard actually a good writer? Putting aside the whole Scientology insanity, I've never actually read his stuff.
>>25489056Even ignoring the reincarnation part of the story, all the shit is impossible to search for. Girls that charm or mind control returns smut, healer girl returns smut and christian fantasy, the savage dude just returns every warrior MC book in the universe, and swordsman isn't even worth searching for.>>25489058Unfortunately no. Some of the other plot elements I remember is that each of these four characters can sense each other from a distance. The charm girl's story starts off with her mother dying and her asking for aid from one of the clergymen whom her mother used to whore herself out to. She calls for said clergyman for help and kills him when he tries to rape her. She eventually makes her way to the swordsman's part of the world where she charms a noble. She mind rapes the swordsman soon after. As for the swordsman, at some point he abandons his duty for some reason I can't remember. The savage is the one who's most aware of his past life, and uses his memories as a military leader to conquer and subjugate the other tribes.
Are there any sf/f books with a protagonist like this?
>>25489121Dungeon Crawler Carl
>>25488567This book is so frustrating. I liked the framing device and the world was really cool, but literally everything was more interesting than the two protagonosts.
>>25489128I might like jrpgs but even I have standards.
>>25489129Wouldn’t say you’re wrong but I think the strength of the plot and side characters is what makes it enjoyable despite the MCs being kinda weak.
>>25489136Not him, but DCC is ten times better written than 99% of JRPGs. Jap popculture writing is fucking dire to the extent it's almost fascinating.
FUCK it is good
>>25489087Not.. really. Disclaimer, I only read battlefield earth. But even as a twelve year old I remember the evil psychlo psychiatrists and the saucepans of kerbango (or whatever) and the other weird plot points, like fort knox, the simulators, the bank and the not one single examination of the lead lined nuke going to their homeworld. For fucks sakes, radiation destroys breathe-gas with explosions and you people still exist without checking everything going to what's apparently your only settled world? It was not well strung together.
I get bored of science fiction in novel form. I think it serves better as short stories or novellas. It’s supposed to be the genre of ideas, and that’s usually done better in shorter prose.
>>25488515I didn't realise they had a connection. Was he actually his student? I tried Sanderson once and read a quarter of the book and thought it was really bland.
>>25488958I read the first six or seven of them I think? I was pleasantly surprised by the setting, it was actually interesting. The first book is fine as a standalone, but the setup for the continued series in book 2 is a bit shit, though the aliens are interesting too (there are actual aliens, yeah).On the whole the several ones after that are enjoyable and have some pretty fun adventures. There's a port city ruled by an assembly of pirate captains a little later, which I thought was pretty fun and had some adventures with politics and turmoil. There is some retarded shit like having tribes of not!Mongols where one of their leaders has a Mongol name and the other a Germanic one for no reason, but generally the setting is well developed, and the adventure with them was pretty cool too.The women slaves thing probably gets worse later, but at the start it's mostly just>I am a cultured Englishman on this strange planet>Women are slaves here?! How despicable!>Oh no, I have become a warrior and I must take slaves too? How despicable!>... okay, okay, to cope with social pressures I will take a slave but treat her lovingly! How scandalous and tantalising!>In the next books I will continue liberating girls from evil men by taking them as slaves and treating them lovingly! How scandalous and tantalising!>But I am actually looking for my lawful wife who was taken from me long ago, and who is the only one I love! Honest!I can imagine it gets worse later though. During his stint with the not!Mongols in book 5 or 6 or such, the protagonist finds and liberates an American woman also transported to this world from Earth, but then between books they get into a fight and she leaves him. Right at the start of the next book, he finds her serving as a bar slave (because if you buy a pint you can throw in one extra coin to fuck a slave barmaid), and he's vengefully gleeful when he imagines her getting railed by every paying customer who desires her, and abandons here there. I read this in disgust and stopped right there and then. Way to ruin my warlord harem fantasy with your gay ass cuck shit.I can see myself "recommending" the first few ones, just be aware you may want to jump ship whenever you get bored or decide you've had enough.
Amazon sells these for $100+ each but eBay sells them for pennies. What gives?
>>25489325amazon sellers inflate book prices for some reason
>>25489325Signed copy, different edition / condition, or seller has limited stock. Amazon is actually kind of a shit bookstore now.
>>25489305The first 2-3 books are legitimately worthwhile imo. The rest of the series is 1960s Patreon abuse. It's amazing he still writes them.
Man, this was good. I can absolutely understand why it inspired a movie and several video games. The descriptions of the Zone alone just really makes you want to explore it and learn more about all the weird artifacts and phenomena hidden inside it. It was much more philosophical and character driven than I expected, though. I especially loved the discussions about what the Zone actually means. The idea that humanity might basically be a bunch of ants picking through used tissues, spilled oil, and random garbage left behind by aliens who didn't even notice us is just hilarious. I also really liked how quickly humanity manages to commercialize everything. Even completely incomprehensible alien artifacts that can kill you, mutate you, or basically give you turbo cancer just by being near them eventually become things people study, sell, smuggle, and fight over. Which I probably would've rolled my eyes at in a more modern book, but hey, this gets a pass because it was written in the 70s It's kind of a shame the they never wrote more books about the Zone because I would happily read more stories set there, but I also understand why they left it as a standalone novel. The mystery is probably stronger because so much is never explained. That's also why I didn't even mind the open ending with the Golden Sphere. It felt very fitting. The most hilarious part, however, was probably the afterword, which was basically just one of them complaining about how long it took to release the book because the Soviets and their publishers just kept demanding that they change things. Seriously, he even reads out a list of every profanity and bad thing in the book that they wanted removed. Anyway, I really enjoyed it, and now I desperately want to play STALKER again.
>>25489054>>25489094Hours later, finally found it. Illborn Saga by Daniel T Jackson. God damn I hate goodreads.
>>25489540The games are awful.
>>25489411>nowAmazon has been sending books for years in thin garbage quality paper envelopes, almost every book I order directly from Amazon has some slight damage on the edges.And the reprint situation isn't great either.
Just finished the last book of the Belgariad, and I think the series was pretty good. Does anyone know if the sequel series is worth reading?
>>25487505>If Tobo redeems the Daughter of Night by fucking the crazy out of her (which someone should have done with Soulcatcher by now, btw), this would make it worth it. Cook seems to have a predilection for cute endings despite being allegedly '"grimdark", which I like, so here's hoping.Oh boy. Not going to spoil it for you, but OH BOY.
>>25488749it's a cliche at this point, but wheel of time was basically published at the right in the right time. there's probably half dozen serious that could've taken its place before jordan got the momentum on his side by publishing more sequels. it left no impact on fantasy at large as such.
>>25489892>it left no impact on fantasy at large as such.Not true. It allowed Brandon Sanderson to go from midlist author to one of the most popular fantasy authors.
Blood over Bright Haven
>>25489955No.
>>25489955hehehe, wang
>>25488957Taran Wanderer is great. I liked each book better than the last and while the last book isn’t my favorite, it still did what it set out to do well and surprisingly tugged at my heartstrings.
>>25488965I read Narnia this year and while I’m still not sure whether I liked the ending, it still fascinated me and I respect CS Lewis for making such a weird decision for what is otherwise a pretty hopeful children’s book. I still think about the ending months later.
>>25489955I may be a feminist, but I'm also the queen of racism
So why do trannies and "queer" women win every book award?
>>25490061awards are about appearances. They're not about actually recognizing talent. Harlan Ellison was ranting about how many of his contemporaries and seniors didn't get their due as far back as the late 90s.
>>25490061Because you are only a small minority of readers and more so because you don't participate, let alone influence the awards. They do.
>>25490075Nah publishers have always been whores for government and the rich. If you take over the Nebulas and Hugos they'll simply stop talking about those and make new awards.
>>25490077>If you take over the Nebulas and HugosWhat do you mean, "if"? They have already been taken over. It wasn't even recent.
>>25490082Try to read what you're replying to.
>drinkingCold Cranberry Pomegranate fruit juice>eatingRice with diced chicken + vegetables>readingSerpent Mage, Death Gate Cycle #4>playingNeopets
>>25490061Awards are about marketing. Primary market for books is liberal white women. Liberal white women love to support the "underdog" their social media artificial consensus tells them is oppressed, in order to feel good about themselves and virtue signal. On top of that, there has been a decades long systematic push to replace men in every traditionally male dominated space and interest.Pretty straightforward.
>>25490167>drinkingMonster Ultra White w/ 5-hour energy poured in (3rd of the day)>eatingFamily sized bag of Cool Ranch Doritos>readingBorn under a Black Sun - Paul Grady>playingWith myself
>>25489892>it's a cliche at this point, but wheel of time was basically published at the right in the right time.It seems like so. I feel like I haven't heard a single actual coherent reason why Wheel of Time is good besides empty vacuous "It has good character development" every single retard whos a fan of a big fantasy series think their shitty series has good character development, go look at how Sandersons talk about Mistborn, and it's the closest thing to western Shonenslop this century
>>25490167>drinkingblack coffee>eatingpasta w/ beef sauce and veg>readingBlack Company>playingUnderRail
>>25490167>drinkingwater>eatingleftover slop from the papa john's I ordered yesterday>readingBlack Company>playingBattlefield 6 and Rance 03
Haven't played videogames in a while partly because reading has taken up that time I used to use to play game inbetween mindless youtube and social media scrolling
>>25490254Video games fucking suck
>>25490167>drinkingI almost exclusively drink water.>eatingBacon >readingColors of Chaos >playingHorizon Forbidden West
>The Killing StarSucks. Its glazed by le ebin deep thinker youtubers. The dark forest shit is cringe. Its repacked mysticism and "deep terror" for people who dont want to be religious or associated with the metaphysical. I think alot of "hard sci fi" regarding the Fermi Paradox is just that
>>25490340I guess you could say, it's not "fer mi"!
>>25490356Pretty much lol
>>25490061because outside of a handful, most straight men writing fantasy are objectively dogshit writers
>>25489208I am a fish, you smegging game head.
>>25490370As opposed to the glut of quality foid and POC writers?
>>25490370>pic unrelated
Why haven't (you) read this paragon of insanity?It has:>'Nam era weapons in the hands of LOTR orcs>Classic fantasy trope subversion parodies>A fairy giving a public, sloppy hand job to an orc general>scope creep that makes Dune look simplistic>ayylmaos and dragonsProof you can't be trying too hard with a concept if you stick the execution.
>>25490370Dinniman is the most obvious uncle Schlomo I've ever seen. This is a guy who spent 25 years doing AI tier writing for the mockingbird and selling art to Target on the side. The odds of him doing anything to go against the system are so small it doesn't warrant thinking about. My man makes JK Rowling look like Andrew Anglin.Reality is people who would have been published authors 30-40 years ago aren't engaging with the system because it told them in no uncertain terms they won't get paid. That's men and women of all sorts. If you don't fit with the upper class cult of sluts, mud people, and fags, you're not welcome. Some of them are doing web novels or games where they will never reach their full potential as novelists, and others stay in applied sciences, finance, or engineering where there's still some semblance of meritocracy.
>>25490411>MaryDiscarded.
>>25490411>'Nam era weapons in the hands of LOTR orcsThat's stupid>Classic fantasy trope subversion parodiesI don't like the sound of that at all>A fairy giving a public, sloppy hand job to an orc generalNot a cock sleeve? Pass>scope creep that makes Dune look simplisticWhich will no doubt be hard for the writer to keep track of>ayylmaos and dragonsStupid
>>25490411Why would a boomer woman even write something like this? It sounds insanely disrespectful.
>>25490509>>25490474This is one of the few female authors that actually is worth reading. It's written like a man wrote it. And despite sounding incredibly stupid, it somehow sticks the landing and is a true classic. >>25490457This is a wise take. Book recs?
>>25490550I dunno anon, you made it sound kinda trash.
>>25488567This, Wonders Will Never Cease, Between Two Fires and Our Share of Night are the only post 2010 fantasy books I've read and enjoyed. Spear was my favourite.
>>25490411It can't out-insane >>25485323
>>25490580You're like a little baby.
Am I missing anything if I don't read modern fantasy
>>25490669missing out on gay relationships ;_;
>>25490669Not really.
>>25490669No. Or at least not any of the popular stuff. WizardKnight is good if you like Wolfe, actually.
god this place is shit
>>25490734Did you forget what site you're on?
>>25489054You reminded me of the book i read as a kid that alludes me.
https://parade.com/entertainment/best-selling-novel-by-brandon-sanderson-is-named-the-greatest-fantasy-book-of-the-last-20-yearsRepeat after me:BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!
>>25489281I don't mind some long ones, but some are way too long. Massive ones have their place, but i see many that i just don't want to bother with. Even the standard sci fi novel usually runs longer than a standard novel word count, but at least it's still relatively short. I'm not reading a full novel just to finally get to the good parts and then have to read a full novel to finish it. I also don't want to slog through a fictional bible or history book. I'd rather just read about Earth.
>>25490201I can't judge sanderson because i've never read any of his work, but seeing snippets of his writing and lectures on writing makes me not want to. I'd rather try Wheel of Time. I know he doesn't write fantasy, but comparing Mormon authors Card and Sanderson, i'm going to just assume that Card wins over Sanderson for Ender's Game alone. I've read Ender's Game and thought it was good.
This is weirdly profound for a fantasy novel
>>25490741sometimes I take things as advertised and expect people to be talking about books and not how much the whiteman is supposedly not favoured by publishers while calling black people mud people.
I like when women are degraded in fantasy books. My first boner was the green slave girl in Star Wars squirming and crying in her skimpy fishnets while begging for mercy from Jabba only to get sent down to the rancor while everyone laughs. Any recs for me bros?>>25490411The fairy part intrigues me a little.
>>25486988Read this shit bro you will not regret it. It’s awesome.
>>25490812In The Barn - Piers Anthony
>>25490816Hell the first story from this is free online. Check it out http://yogsotheria.wikidot.com/ringard-y-dendra
>>25488749>is this shit actually [worth] getting intoAs the first guy said, depends. The characters are interesting and develop well, the politics is interesting sometimes, there are some pretty cool battles, and there's random crazy shit like an army of Chinese from over the ocean that wants to conquer the world and enslave female mages (among which some POVs). The first 3 books are very interesting and engaging, but then it starts slogging extremely hard until it picks back up in the last 1-2 ones by Jordan + all Sando ones. I did not regret reading the whole series. (Talk about damning with faint praise)If you go in, be prepared for ample amounts of:>skirt-straightening, braid-tugging, folding arms under breasts, drinking punch>wool-headed, thimble-brained, milk-faced buffoons>walking like gliding, that trick that makes you not sweat, drinking some more punch>women arguing>MC, the great leader, moping around doing nothing>MC, the great leader, moping around doing nothing for a second book>women arguing>MC2 chased around a table by a big tiddy slut that wants his cock>MC2 arguing with his hook-nosed wide-mouthed cunt of a wife until he spanks her, which she provokes deliberately because she likes it>women arguing>MC3 being hyper annoying for 3 books>MC3 used as a boytoy by some hag for 3 books>MC3 becoming a great general and having his most important battle off-screen>women arguing>two female MCs doing nothing for 1-2 books while travelling incognito with a circus>women arguing (civil war edition)>MC and great warleader moping around doing nothing a little bit more for good measure>MC not wifing up his beloved princess and getting into dramatic standoffs with her, for no reason>MC not wifing up his beloved commoner seeress when she's already in his camp waiting for him, for no reason>MC not wifing up his beloved exotic dark_skin fremen personal bodyguard who is destined for him, for no reason>women arguing>number of bad guy minibosses that need to be killed to unlock the final boss, half are interesting and half aren't>post sci-fi setting that had lasers and flying vehicles in the distant pastI wish I could have handed out repeated and unrestricted beatings to many of the POVs, many times.Honestly, Rand's vision of abandoning his destiny, his vision of the world if the Dark Lord wins, the fight at the end of book 3, the arrival of the Seanchan, "kneel or be knelt", Eg's conduct in Tar Valon near the end, Aviendha meeting the woman in the desert, and probably a bunch of other scenes are all exceptionally good, but I'm not sure worth the price of admission by themselves. It's a lot of diamonds in the rough. The diamonds are pretty fucking good, but the rough is very rough. I'd say it's a good series on the whole, but the chaff is so fucking much man.If you HAVE a completionist streak and you WANT to get angry at arguing women (and men), this is THE series for you.
>>25490804>calling black people mud peopleNobody said that cunt. There's a difference between fetishizing people of color because they're not white and hating black people.>>25490550Fuck it; read Fledgeling. Vampires want the power of melanin.
Goddamn. I don't know why, but this Crown of Star #1 read has been slow and tough. Can't remember the last time a read felt this slow. But then again, I didn't have reading stats on my phone ereader
>>25490817Industrial farming…but le people?? I already read Gantz and thought that part was cool but gross so I’m good brah. I sorta just want like hot girls being forced to wear skimpy outfits and be publicly humiliated by orcs, and maybe they get eaten by an ogre or something
>>25488749I read the first one last year, just a slog to get through. It starts off alright, comfy fantasy adventure, whatever fine. But then it's just 600 pages of the characters going to a new inn and then escaping from the not-ring wraiths, over and over, until the very end when they basically teleport to Mount Doom and have the JRPG final battle bullshit. I have no clue how he could scrape out another dozen books of that boring garbage.
>>25490909Orc Massage
>>25490906Move on, yet again. Only more disappointment awaits.
I finished Serpent Mage. The end was cool. Our friend, Alfred, "fainted" and turned into a dragon, gripping the king dragon-snake and dropping his body against the mountaintops. Unfortunately, the Death Gate is open and the dragon-snakes -- embodiments of chaos -- are loose! Onward to book #5 we go.Dolly's dead, kids
>>25490922I didnt say it was bad.
Only in Ohio by Caligari Creepswood
What are your favorite books with stealthy protagonists?
>>25490928It's only a matter of time before you do. You always do.
>>25486457Unironically the strongest point of most of the better chinese xianxia is just that, even if they often have arcs where they're stuck someplace for a while.Other than that Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser and REH's Conan comes to mind.Also don't forget about Vance's other adventurer stories like Planet of Adventure (human on an alien planet) and Demon Princes (interplanetary revenge-adventure story). Barsoom (not really my thing but it has it), Clark Ashton Smith's short stories like Door to Saturn. The Incomplete Enchanter by Pratt and de Camp.
>>25490884I'll give it a shot. I've also put >>25485323And>>25490617On my list.Is there a subgenre/label for mind bending and/or really off the wall sff? Not actively offensive or counterculture, or "lol randumb", just the sort of thing that makes you go "wow that was fucking weird but made a twisted kind of sense"?
>>25490979Are you thinking of weird lit? Usually leans more horror tho
>>25489835Going solely by memories from my teens Belgariad, Malloreon, Belgarath, Polgara and the Redemption of Althalus were worth reading. Very stereotype-y but enjoyable. Weird to think they went to jail in South Dakota during the late 60s for severe child abuse.
>>25490931Go home, Gary.>>25490996That might be what I'm looking for. Thanks.
>>25490061Because the awards are incestuous cliques.There are unironically nebula (or might have been tiptree they all blend together at this point) winners who are not writers at all but award organizers who, when it was time for them to step down, suddenly had their one and only book ""co-written"" with the actual author win the awards the same year they stepped down.
>>25490926>Dolly's dead, kidsNot the place I'd have liked to have found out...
Well, the day has come. I think I have read every single good fantasy novel to ever be published (until No-God is out)
>>25491027We're past bump limit. You can drop the mask, Bakkerfag. Your spam has swiftly ushered us toward page 10.
Jerk sword
>>25491032Bumplimit is 307, newfriend :)
>>25491014If you want some good weird lit I recommend Brian Evenson (Collapse of Horses is my fav)Thomas Ligotti (I’d start with My Work Is Not Yet Done)Robert AickmanChina Miéville maybeAnd if you want some real old school shit do Algernon Blackwood
>>25491057I'll give those a look. Not usually into horror but willing to try. Doing more research, I think Slipstream might also be a term for what I'm looking for?
Let's say I did read a modern fantasy book, how do you know beforehand what is crap and what is good?
>>25491258You shouldn't be afraid to read crap. I think this is a big problem have nowadays. They're scared of reading or watching crap.
>>25491258Just be ready to abandon ship and not be a completionist
>>25491258Fully 80% of the stuff I enjoy is crap.
>>25491280ntaThat's such a dumb perspective.
>>25491351It's a better perspective than someone who can't even tell or is willing to risk it.
>>25491359got that bum
>>25491359No, thinking what you enjoy is crap is dumb.
>her fresh young bodyI miss when writers weren't afraid to be huge perverts out in the open. Now they do it in secret like Neil Gaiman.
>>25491387What you mean? That's currently more the case than ever before. It's just that it's women being the open perverts now.
>>25490001I was pretty shocked by the last one too. I never read them all when I was a kid, and that was one I'm sure would have absolutely DEVASTATED ME if I read it when I was much younger.
>>25491409>Base your protagonist on your IRL niece.>Have her get murdered by Muslims at the end of the final book.What did CS Lewis mean by this?
>>25491409I liked how one of the former reoccurring girls didn't get to go to Narnia heaven because she grew up to be promiscuous.
>>25491435It angered many women because it hit too close to home.
>>25491438Pissed the hell out of Neil Gaiman too.
>>25491351Maybe good but deeply flawed or only good for <autistically_specific_demographic> would be a more politic phrasing. It's sophistry to say there's nothing you can be objective about in literature. You may not know which books will be remembered in 100 years, but you can identify a 99.9% of the ones that won't with high certainty.
>>25491458>you can identify a 99.9% of the ones that won't with high certainty.Obviously you can because that's how many won't be remembered.
>>25491496You are a special kind of illiterate
>>25491520You're a special kind of dyscalculic.
>>25489835I prefer the Belgariad, but it's okay.
>>25491027>until No-God is outAnon.....
>Pagespamtranny has thoroughly switched back over to his bakkerspammer schizoid personality It's all so tiresome.
>>25490979>On my list.Don't sleep on it!>really off the wall sff?>made a twisted kind of senseGive Inside/Outside a try. Don't look it up first because cunts like to spoil the book and, somehow, wrap it in lies. Its wikipedo article spoils the thing outright before describing shit that didn't happen at all in the book. Anyway.The story follows the daily life of a man stuck in Hell. And if not Hell, it's a close approximation of it.You've got to love how the blurb doesn't tell you jack about the book:>DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS A TUNNEL UNDER HELL?>That this Universe is a toy? That the hideous Saviors rule, and have ruled, since Time began three Time-beginnings back? That they formed Man and Earth, body disc and soul print, and alien too?>And that they made mistakes? Oh, they made terrible mistakes! With such teeth...>>25491799I also nooticed.
>>25490793how so?
>>25491899The dunyain parts about how people are all just an endless procession of one thought after another, never realizing the origin of their chain of thoughts, or the influences on them, or the bigger picture of what makes you you made me stop and think about myself. Usually fantasy books are just cool pastimes for me
The dang-ol' most annoying character in Death Gate is back in book #5, the annoying snotty cunning manipulative child prince. His name? [TRIGGER WARNING] Bane
>>25492118>>25492118>>25492118
>>25487698I've read it and I'm not seeing how it can be considered dark romance. It was leaning that way at first with her falling for the male lead despite the rape and mind rape, and then the author busts flashbacks out near the end that actually, they were promised childhood lovers (and he was a double agent for the resistance) all along and she gets her memory back and they start gushing like school girls before he deals with his decrepit boss.It was disappointing, but I know I'm not the target audience.
>>25488250Haven't read this one. I enjoyed his vampire novel and glad he didn't write any ass pulls that would break the sense of disbelief by ignoring the hard rule about vampiric strength gain he set. Still don't know how the protagonist is weaker than the Irish woman despite only being 6 months younger in vampire years.
>>25488958Dropped it because he was buck broken like a bitch by some girl early on in book SIX! Only read the first one before that and it wasn't too bad. Would've kept going but for some reason the Protagonist decides to go out of his way and save his short-term mistress while her people are getting slaughtered and enslaved.
>>25489305>cuck shit.What? That's not cuckoldry, she's not his woman.
>>25489540Anon, press ENTER.
>>25490793You got scammed into buying an unfinished series with an unsatisfying cliffhanger.
>>25491982I thought Foundation and Birthgrave did a better job with the low tech mind control thing. Prince of Nothing was fun for 3 books though. Need to balance the empty calories in your literary diet.
