UH OH! editionPrevious: >>25612894>Archive:https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg>Banned Authors:Ty JohnstonKarl WagnerStephen KristiansenDavid GemmelKazuo Ishiguro>Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg>Thread Question:Do you ever go back and reread books from when you were younger?
Read darkstalker over three days.Got embarasingly floored from from what I guess can be called whiplash of not having anything in the way of expectations or maybe just expecting something more action adventure related rather then what I actually got which was a setting largely constrained to nobility court romance. (but they're all dragons)I then get slapped across the face by it also being this tightly executed tragedy romance novel where there's a rolling dread throughout for the reader to bite their lips for as Anakin nightchad over here threads the needle towards being a supervillain inspite of his lover and friend moving heaven and earth to avert exactly that.I think what made this part of story so successful is not so much the story of Darkstalker, but the plight of the three friends who try so hard to turn him from the path of evil. The fact that they are not successful makes it hit richer. (Uh spoiler for a prequel/villian origin story but the titular villian does in fact origin)Setting has certain fantasy-isms to let one know repeatedly that these whole dragon nations have depth that is unseen and trusted to not been needed for the story. It's a tight ship and doesn't have the pages to waste time or effort on going over vestigial information about ther dragon's world outside the limited look at three dragon kingdoms who actually matter at all for this story with the night and ice wings having their war and there being a scattering of seawing politics as well theough the first half since 1/3 of three pov's are of the seawing prince/friend to darkie.
>>25625618I just reread Mistborn. It's been a few years since I read it, but it was one of my first modern "adult" fantasy novels.I remembered it being better. With all the emdashes and "it's not x -- it's y" in the book, if it came out today I'd start a witch hunt. I guess this book was in the training data.For the book being 500 pages, the side characters feel simplistic and made of cardboard; everyone has only a couple defining desires. I'd forgotten all the side characters except Breeze, Sazed, and Kelsier.The plot itself is probably the best part, and it's what I remembered the most from before.
>>25625638We know, you already posted all of that.
>>25625638Out of all the books in the world, what made you decide to read Darkstalker?
>>25625665Just being obnoxious for you.>>25625668Goodreads actually because it bumped up a place to by hatever metrics they judge by to bethe 20th best fantasy book, which is yeah, that’s a borked system but again the thing did leave an impression.
The Magic Kingdom of Landover is good and I'm tired of pretending otherwise
PRAISE THE PROSE!!!
>>25625708Yev? Is that you?
Reading The Last Wish (Witcher). Not sure why my impression going in was that Geralt is an anti-hero because he's the most morally black and white character I've read in a while. He also seems to have zero agency in several of the stories, the plot just sorta happens to him and then something solves the central conflict and he moves on.Idk it's been fine so far but I'm probably not going to read the next book.
>>25625795No, I don't have any interest in reading that. I do need to be reading more though. Due to life events, playing games, and other priorities, I only read a single book this month. The games were Alan Wake II and Gnosia. Next I'll be reading The Anguished Earth. It's only a novella so I could finish and write about it today, but I don't feel like. Tomorrow I will.
>>25625825Good, at least you don't read scaleshit.
>>25625618>Do you ever go back and reread books from when you were younger?Yeah, I bought the Delatora Quest books and loved the reread, though I don't remember the books being so short.
>>25625618>Do you ever go back and reread books from when you were younger?I haven't. I read slop like Ranger's Apprentice and The Last Apprentice in my elementary years. I think the "best" book I read as a child was The Thief Lord.
>>25625759 Mashallah
>>25625618Why is it always Science Fiction "AND" Fantasy? We all know these two genres are not equal. I hate that they are completely grouped together as if they have anything to do with one another.
Judt finished The Stars My Destination. Amazing book, I wish I had read it when I was young.
People have been ripping off lord Dunsany stories for 100 years and never giving him his due credit.
>>25625920Provide your personal brief definition of both.
>>25625920>why are the future and past lumped together???gee i wonder
>>25625920Yea, science fiction is way less popular and mooches off of Fantasy to keep the thread alive. There's been like half a dozen separate attempts to split up the general and create a science fiction general by uppity twerps like you, and you always come crawling back here because you can't even last a week without fantasy chads to bump for you.
>>25625618>Do you ever go back and reread books from when you were younger?I did that years ago, went through my old book collection and reread stuff from when I was in school: Redwall, His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, the Hobbit, and the Riftwar Saga. Some of it held up, some of it didn't.
I want to like this since I liked the anime but it's written in a really annoying manner.
Haven't read a page in a day or two
>Do you ever go back and reread books from when you were younger?It was so long ago I've forgotten a lot of it. Borrowed a lot of stuff from libraries too. Next year I'm focusing on re-reading stuff that I read 10-20 years ago in my collection.
>>25625920Most people think science fantasy (or more charitably, space opera which isn't far off) when they hear science fiction - Star wars, dune, star trek, etc.It should really all be under speculative fiction if you were trying to group genres, which includes alt history (non-romance, fuck that foidslop).
I'd like to extend a warm thank you to the anon who recommended the Penric and Desdemona stories. I've read the first four, these are exactly what I wanted out of stories of magical adventure. Gives me the same feelings of light-hearted wonder as watching Stargate or similar shows, as a kid
thinking about getting this one any opinion?
>>25626856No.
>>25626856>If every reader’s big worry in the 2020s is that generative AI will take over such creative pursuits as art and writing, it must be said that Paradise-1, a wannabe space opera/horror mashup by David Wellington (presumably a human), is exactly the kind of soulless, mechanical exercise that reads as if it was spouted out of a machine. I’m thinking specifically of those very old school computers from the ’80s that used obnoxiously loud dot-matrix printers.I laffed.
>>25625824>Not sure why my impression going in was that Geralt is an anti-heroLol, probably because he usually looks kinda mean in fan art and game screenshots. But yeah, Book!Geralt is a goody two shoes who tries (and fails) to larp as a cold-blooded professional.
>>25625824sounds like a side character in his own book
>>25626863>>25626906thanks I was just looking for space horror and this was ranked okayish on goodreads, just looking for something mildly entertaining
>>25626977He sorta is. He's present, but not actually driving any of the events (in most).Poland was just a mistake, I guess.
Got to reading Kim Newman again. Due to the infinite references to other fiction, I decided to just buy a copy of the book (in this case Angels of Music) and annotate the fuck out of it
>>25626133Most LN translations are abysmal. Not that they're high art in the first place, but even the fun ones can be ruined by stilted prose
>>25627155Have you read The Hound of Dubervilles yet? I thought it was pretty cool.
Are there any steampunk books from before the late 90s? Is Micheal Moorcock's warlords of the air series good?
>>25627247That might be part of it. It's also just really meta with Lina pointing out tropes: "Ugh, that tired old line" and stuff. I have to put myself in a 1989 mindset when this was probably less done-to-death
My God this one took me so long to finish, my statistics says it took 16 days. I'm sad. I don't want my interest in books to die.
>>25627340Mortal Engines is from 2001 but I liked it.
>>25627391Didn't this one get a dreadful movie sometime recently?
>>25627385Whatever gets you to leave.
>>25627340Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter
>>25627403Yes, but the book was good.
I'm so glad I stopped reading series slop decades ago
>>25627529What's your preferred slop flavor?
>>25627537Scifi
Series slop is like subscription to a service you don't need and rarely use.
I just need one series slop to be good. Just one.
I'm reading Words of Radiance.I think Dalinar's anti-alcohol stance makes sense given the prologue, but why isn't he EVER shown struggling with it? It's weird to have him not be an alcoholic.
>>25627557Standalone self-published sci-fi slop? Understood.
>>25627642Nah, classic scifi.
>>25625638isn't this for elementary school kids
>>25627340The Difference Engine was from 1990
>>25627634You'll learn more about the extreme lengths Dalinar went to after that incident in Oathbringer.Suffice to say, he truly hit rock bottom.
>>25627716It's to be expected from some here.
You will see how Grodnarg revealed the machinations of Zodrhrek and the Sharzhjyrik Empire
>>25627830Doesn't seem based on a real language. Immersion ruined.
>>25627340Rats and GargoylesThe Iron Dragon's DaughterCity of the Iron Fish
>>25627858It's obviously Polish.
>>25628073Anon, he said a "real" language.
>>25628202God I wish Poland was fictional
>>25628202kurwa pizda
>>25628213American website.
>>25627562>>25627529yes, standalones, novellas, and short stories are the way.
>>25628377In which way do you read short stories?
>>25628472collections. Recently ordered this. Excited to finally read some Clive Barker.
>>25628480That is an anthology.
>>25628229Strayan, m8. Tough titties
>>25627391I read these growing up. I still think about them with some regularity.
I'm glad I stopped paying attention to the opinions of lackwits who use the word "slop" as an unironic argument.
>>25628635Reply slop
What new books are people reading lately?
>>25628648>newsnrkt
Finished Between Two Fires and it was pretty entertaining, even if the dialogue occasionally felt just a bit too anachronistic. Not sure what to read next, thinking either Wolfe's Wizard-Knight books or Neuromancer or something still in the historical fiction vein. You guys got any recs?>>25625618>TQI read a shitload of Star Wars and Halo novels as a kid and both of those franchises have been butchered over the past two decades so not really. A couple of them probably hold up well but it's hard to justify going back to them when I'm already overwhelmed with choices.
>>25628648>Legacies of Betrayal>Splintered Sun
Anyone have any urban recs?that's not noir?like city stuff.
>>25627467>>25627722thank you
dead and shit thread. a combo.
>>25628692>anachronisticare you joking? Sounds too modern at times especially with all the annoying cussing could have been a perfect little book. Now you may not like Wolfe because of his archaic words.
>>25629124That's what anachronistic means, retardkun
>>25625618How is Crowley's The Deep?
>>25628714What kind of city stuff?If you like weird shit: Perdido at stationIf you like early magical industrialization: city of last chancesIf you like late stage magical industry: city of last chancesIf you like thieves an shit: lies of Locke lamora
>>25629433Perdido Street Station*
>>25629433if you like late stage magical industry: The Gutter prayer* Christ I should think before I type
>>25629428I didn't like it and DNF'd it. Maybe it was good for its time, but it felt extremely barebones in its storytelling and hard to care for any of the characters
>>25629428his inaugural novel and you can really tell. also, anon above is correct. no one has a name so its difficult to feel connected to anything.
>>256294284 have written about it, each with a different rating https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_book/1029811-sffg?book_id=694119
>>25625950examples?
It's over. Peter F. Hamilton is partnering with an outfit that generates films from books using AI.https://bsky.app/profile/eidyngray.scot/post/3mxm7jg4ums2e
>>25629428One of my favorites. It's iron giant meets game of thrones but more is said in 200 pages then mist could write in a thousand.
>>2562734090s but Avram Davidson is very underrated and more people should read him.
>>25629433>r*ddit.postThe typos weren't the problem
>>25629598Is there any social media site more performative then Bluesky?
You guys memed me out of reading this and Bakker and they're both actually good. Why does /sffg/ say everything is trash?
>>25629762Inauthentic post
is Blindsight any good?
>>25629961It's mostly just weird. Main character is a retard though I don't remember much else about him, and him and his buddy scientists and vampires go make first contact with the ayys.Vampires are assholes and ayys are scary.
>>25629961Stealth rec post
Reddit has better taste that /sffg/ because Reddit at least likes some things.
>>25630005Bait post
>>25630005then go back there
>>25630005Why does R*ddit constantly have "this but female" posts?>Can I get some female author recs?>Can I get some FMC recs?>Looking for a book with a female MC and ...You never see the opposite.
>>25630018This, but a Black Mormon Transman with polydactylism and prosopagnosia. Bonus points if they're alloromantic.
>>25630034You made up half those words didn't you?I do find it funny when they're debating the straightness of characters and guys who only like women get put on demisexual or some shit.
Just finished all of Banks' Culture novels. What are next?
>>25629762>BakkerTruth Shines.>Steven Erikson*spits*
>>25630139Nothing. You've reached the end.
>>25630174Guess it's finally time to leave this plane of existence. See you all on the other side.
>>25630139finding out he had died and there would never be another one was not fun anon
>>25629961It's pretty good
>>25629979Pretty sure he's retarded because half of his brain is missing.
>>25629428made for BBC (big bowie casting) adaptation
is the foundation series worth it? I haven't read anything from asimov yet
>>25630431I just couldn't get into it personally, too detached from the human element imo. I really liked H. Beam Piper's vaguely organized Terro-Human Future History series instead.
>>25630139I DNF Excession, and never read another.
>>25629762Because people like something specifically and expect everything to be like that one thing they enjoy. It's a weird Highlander mentality you see online.
Joe Abercrombie is one of the best selling fantasy authors around, it's a bit surprising seeing him using ugly AI slop for his cover art. There are so many cool things you can do with fantasy cover art but most of it is butt ugly these days
>>25630018because incels love 4ch
>>25628714Vurt by Jeff Noon is very Manchester
>>25628648When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory
>>25630266and then he's gay space raped by a vampire and it makes him not retarded any more?
rape
Am I supposed to be lost upon reading all the proper names of people and places in LOTR? Currently reading Fellowship and while I'm enjoying, it can go on for pages about places I have no idea about, Gandalf especially, and the elves, ramble on about bullshit I have no frame of reference for. Are we supposed to feel like Frodo and be completely lost as well?
>>25630882A little yeah, a lot of the places are ones that will come up laterIs there anything specifically you're curious about
>>25630886I feel like I've missed something vital about Rivendell, the way people keep going on about it, but I don't think I have. It's presented as this place they need to get to urgently, but I either have glossed over that part or it wasn't explained yet. This isn't to say I'm a total tard that needs everything explained, I like the mystery, just making sure I wasn't speedreading.
>>25625920Based off my vigorous research of googling it for microseconds, apparently it's because fantasy and sci-fi readers are seen to have major crossover audiences. Whether that's true or not is debatable, but marketers seem to think so.
>>25630583He's an ugly AI slop writer if we're being fair. To be ever fairer, book covers are notoriously sloppy so why even care about AI, it literally can't get any worse.
>>25629428It's great, it creates an intriguiing world in less than 200 pages. You get used to some characters not having actual names. In fact only one major character doesn't have a name, most of the rest are just variants of "red".
>>25630889Rivendell is important because Elrond is there and because it's the meeting place for everyone. Have you read The Hobbit?
>>25630913I have, The Hobbit was great.
>>25630889It's one of the last elven strongholds in Middle-Earth which is important when you're dealing with evil machinations spanning back far longer than any mortal has been alive. Tolkien's elves are (iirc) near-immortal and have histories dating back to the origin of the world, but they aren't native to Middle-Earth, they came from across the sea a long time ago and have gradually returned there so there aren't a whole lot of them left by the time of LotR. Rivendell is a neutral meeting space for the various factions who need the Ring to be dealt with because everyone knows they're fucked if Sauron gets it, and it's also probably the safest place there is at the time.
>>25630920Elves are native to Middle Earth, some left for Valinor and some stayed behind. Then the fairest and bravest of the Valinor Elves returned to Middle Earth to fight Satan, leaving behind seething cowards and false gods.
>>25625618>>25618385wanted to give my thought to (you) after finishing it yesterday. I like this series a lot, intriguing setting and fantastical elements, magic always feel unique and weird. The highlight, like in the first book is the dynamic between Galva and KinchIt was an enjoyable read. Some points that comes to mind, good and bad.-some chapters, while entertaining and presenting interesting encounters, felt like fillers or random encounters in a TTRPG sessions. Not like everything has to advance the plot ect but it was frustrating sometimes due to the stakes established at the end of book one.-Still relying too much on "and then a crazy thing happen, but I won't tell you about it now" (said crazy thing will be told in the very next chapter or even the next paragraph).Happened a lot in the Daughter's wars too, and I can't unsee it now. It does fits the tall-telling style of narration; so that could just be a nitpicks of mine.-Tries a bit too hard to be funny, vulgar, quirky, that's Kinch personality after but it ends up feeling like its just bloating the word counts, and its not a very thick book. Some very funny part still, which mostly comes from Kinch and Galva back and forth.-On the other hand though, Bulhman often manage to make the emotional beats works well, very good stuff near the end of this one, and I have fond memories of some chapters in the first two books, such as Kinch remininscing about Norrigal, or anything regarding Galva and her younger brother.-English not being my first language some parts, or the way Buelhman writes are a bit confusing, don't know if that's just on me, but some chains of events, descriptions, Kinch-ism and turn of phrases made be double back quite a lot-Goes in a direction I didn't expect after how big the ending hook of the first book was. Big spoilers ahead getting rid of the book that early and having the rest of the book be about the duo being prisoner in the half-giant city. Very intense conclusion on that part, loved how Kinch pulled his plan off, and how guilty he felt about it later. Kinch getting the book, and Galva "back" was predictably set up thanks to the three faced god chapter so I was mostly waiting for it to come back into play. It works, and doesn't take away from first Galva death much; but it still feels like a fillerFourth book should be the laster apparently, eagerly waiting for it but Buelhman shouldn't fuck around too much with his random encounters chapters. Would love to see some more art rendition accross the whole series, some good stuff in the big illustrated version, but very scarce fanart onlineSo all in all good read, I was maybe too hype for it though.
>>25629428Really weird, wasn't expecting something abstract when I first read it.
If you read French, this a very good pick.
is Phantoms scifi?
>>25631264why doesn't he write in English
>>25631264Got too much on my pile, but I keep it in mind, seems up my alleyfrench wise, I liked Gagner la Guerre & Noon du Soleil Noir (three books) a lot.
>>25627315That's next on the list yeah. I'm sure I read it but I can't remember much
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/nov/03/sarah-j-maas-court-of-splintered-harmony-uk-fastest-selling-adult-fantasy-novelAnother win for /sffg/
hot take: I think angel-demon hybrids are more interesting than fallen angels
>>25632126Obvious take: you don't know what a "hot take" is.
>>25632126what's the difference?
Does Children of Earth and Sky count as a series?
>>25632272No it's stand alone but GGK writes a lot (all?) of his novels in the same world, albeit at different times.Sailing to Sarantium is the start of a trilogy and is also very good stand alone.
Read A Desolation Called Peace. Kind of meh on it honestly. Preferred the first book, this one has some interesting ideas but plays into boring emotional drama that wasn't there in the first one and also both drags on then concludes too quickly. >>25625867Australian? I too read all those.
>>25632450FISTING
>>25632452Yeah... I don't really care about the lesbian stuff but it was weird that the author tried to make it subtle by not talking about it until it actually happened, and then it happened bigly
>>25630669At first I read that as A Dark and Husky God Arises. It's false advertising if the god isn't a nignog
>>25625920any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic
>>25629428Very cool, not long and tending towards minimalist in style. Includes some phenomenal medieval worldbuilding alongside scifi, plus some other stuff about a girl thief or something, who has sex in the grass maybe, which I found less interesting.
>>25632546any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology
>>25632549>girl thief or something, who has sex in the grass maybe, which I found less interesting.Which of these are you: gay, asexual, gen z, autistic
>>25630669I dropped book 2 pretty early on, is the sweet sweet rape worth continuing for? I got quite sick of subvocalizing the names of the two rapist brutes the hot blonde is ping-ponging between, and Rape Donaldson's prose is a little too simplistic to keep me from getting bored.
>>25632552Just the opposite, the sex is the only part of her story I remember. Felt like a side plot. Maybe if the robot man had sex with her in the grass, I'd be singing a different tune.
>>25632555I liked the whole series, it's all Wagner Ring coded. Been ages since I read it.
Need new good series slop to save my impression of Fantasy or Else I will soon start shitting on every standalone slop, and it will be frequent and relentless because they are generally shorter.
Anyone here read these? I watched the movie yesterday and was unaware it was adapted from a book series. I really liked the movie but my main issue was that it had some really bad pacing problems but it being adapted from a book kinda made that make more sense.I want to read the first book to see how it compares but then I just found out that it's a trilogy so I was wondering if anyone knows if buying the collection is worthwhile or if this is a situation where only the first book is any good.
My first got me onto Dungeon Crawler Carl and I'm really enjoying it. It's easy to ready and entertaining. I'm currently on Book 3 and if the quality stays up I can see myself finishing all the released books quickly. What other series should I look at after I'm finished? I have Snow Crash on my list.
