Vance edition>Archive:https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg>Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg>Previous:>>25625618>Thread Questions:What's your favorite sf book that's secretly just literary fiction?What's your favorite literary book that's secretly just sf?
I have finished The Infinite State.It's a funny depiction of an incompetent evil empire. It's the most powerful nation of man, and in it technology is eschewed, rights are trampled on, and reproduction and "productivity" are encouraged to the detriment of all else. Facts don't matter, only appearances and reputations do.The story is about how the three leads get pulled around by various puppetmasters of the government waging petty battles, but one of them is an amazing character. The Minister of Information Jaroslav Droor pops up in their lives at the most random of times to make sinister implications, or to outright bully. He literally shows up in one of the characters' bedroom in the middle of the night. I don't care for what happens to him in part 2 though.I'm probably not gonna read any future books, but it's not bad as a one-off.4/5
>>25638444Dictatorships are bad? What a brave stance to take.
>>25637566>so silent was the strongest of company's wizards, right?In terms of damage potential, apparently. Both One-Eye and Goblin are tricksters by nature, and we don't see enough of Tom-Tom.
>>25638372>What's your favorite sf book that's secretly just literary fiction?>What's your favorite literary book that's secretly just sf?I think Klara and the Sun qualifies for both?
>>25638372>sf book that is lit fic dispossessed>lit fic that is sfinfinite jest
Just read D. Nathan Hilliard’s Nightwalk. Was a good niche cosmic horror/monster story. Some of the characters were annoying but not so much they were unbearable, and the creatures were creative and cool. Would recommend if you’re into that stuff
I'm starting to realize I have taste in literature that's different from 90% of sci-fi fans from the amount of pushback I get from saying things I thought were obvious to most like Dune being boring and kinda overrated or Warhammer books being straight ass.
Yev-posting and its consequences have been a disaster for /sffg/fags.
>>25639091I agree with those statements. What's your favorite SciFi?
>>25639091What are your thoughts on Howard and Vance? This determines if I think you are a faggot or not.
>>25638689Couldn't believe how bad this book was
>>25638520>hurr "dictatorship bad" amiriteWhat a shit take. It's fiction. It's fun to read about people getting oppressed, falling out of windows, or getting reeducated.There doesn't always have to be a deeper message and even if there is, you can ignore it.
>>25639232Absolutely love them although I've only read the dying earth from Vance. Eyes of the Overworld is perhaps the funniest book I've ever read. I will say the two books after Dying Earth and Eyes weren't as strong however.
>>25639250Lyonesse and Araminta Station are both great too.
>>25639267I thought Lyonesse started strong but trailed off, especially after the second book. The Ska are built up as this unstoppable force and yet they get buttblasted in every encounter by a king barely out of his teens with no ostensible military experience
>>25639106FUCK OFF YOUR "OPINIONS" ARE SHIT
>>25639091You're not wrong. Warhammer is too inconsistent and focuses on boring fights written by people who don't know how to do fights. And Dune is just interesting conceptually before everyone did it.
>>25639250>>25639267>>25639310what do you think of his Demon Prince books?
>>25638372> What's your favorite sf book that's secretly just literary fiction?Earth Abides (even Dune can qualify for this).> What's your favorite literary book that's secretly just sf?Blindess by José Saramago
GOATED FANTASY> Stealer of Souls - Mike bigcock> King of Elflands Daughter - LORD Dunsany> Broken Sword - /pol/ Anderson> King Arthur Trilogy - GOATmary Sutcliff
anything like the Southern Reach trilogy?I especially love Authority
>>25640070There Is No Antimemetics Division
>>25640083unfortunately read that already
>>25640088Then how about The Atrocity Archives or The Rook?
Starting Starship Troopers soon. Anything I should be watching for as I read?
>>25640070Roadside Picnic
>>25639310Vance's protagonists are just that good, bra
>>25640162>spends most of the first novel in a hole
Finished the first re-read of this. Goddamn I love this book.
>>25640105>>25640135thanks
>>25640178>>25640164>>25639947All great sff. Modernfags could never.
Dead general
>Summer of NightWell that was terrible, is the rest of the series worth it?
>>25640591was just about to read it. Is it really that bad? I love Boys Life by Robert Mccamon and thought it might be similar.
>>25640606It has its moments like the part where hitherto protagonist dies first but by the end it felt like nothing went anywhere. There are so many cool setups, like the giant monstrous lampreys that burrow tunnels all over the town, the cursed Vatican bell, filthy corpsewagon stalking the highway, the alluded 'great plan' and mystery behind the Old Central. And then everything is resolved within 20 pages in the goofiest action movie sequence. Instead, most of the novel is filled with flyover americana nostalgia. There's a whole long chapter of kids playing baseball. It has nothing to do with the story and doesnt lead anywhere, but I guess Simmons played baseball as a kid so there you have it.
>>25640691damn that's too bad. I like Simmon's but don't know if I can handle that ending
Forthwith she proceeded to tell him about Oolanga and his strange suspicions of her honesty. Caswall laughed and made her explain all the details. His final comment was enlightening.“Let me give you a word of advice: If you have the slightest fault to find with that infernal nigger, shoot him at sight. A swelled-headed nigger, with a bee in his bonnet, is one of the worst difficulties in the world to deal with. So better make a clean job of it, and wipe him out at once!”“But what about the law, Mr. Caswall?”“Oh, the law doesn’t concern itself much about dead niggers. A few more or less do not matter. To my mind it’s rather a relief!”“I’m afraid of you,” was her only comment, made with a sweet smile and in a soft voice.“All right,” he said, “let us leave it at that. Anyhow, we shall be rid of one of them!”“I don’t love niggers any more than you do,” she replied, “and I suppose one mustn’t be too particular where that sort of cleaning up is concerned.” Then she changed in voice and manner, and asked genially: “And now tell me, am I forgiven?”“You are, dear lady—if there is anything to forgive.”
>>25639678Loved them. Extremely fun.
>>25638372>"You have forgotten something," said Glawen.>"Eh? What is that?">"I am an IPCC officer."
kek couldnt find this shit thread for a good while, almost wish I didn't i keep thinking ill find some interesting book here but you retards just suck lmfalmao
I know it's young adult sloppa but is Mortal Engines any good? The concept sounds really intriguing
Perhaps extremely unfairly, for some reason I thought PKD was some schizophrenic, incomprehensible, junkie addict whose books would be meaningless gibberish. But they're the complete opposite, he's even hilarious.I'm sorry Phil
>>25641062>one of dick's bestKEK
erm ACKSHUALLY there's no book called blade runner, that was the film
More books that feature Luddites? Doesn't have to be steampunk
>>25641070Actually read about the Luddites, I have a schizo theory that the entire movement was psyopped by corporations and now people dismiss them, but the Luddites were actually a pro-worker union that sabotaged machines until they received better conditions and pay
>>25641063Ubik's pretty gud, yes. Better than DADoES.
>>25639106You shut your whore mouth. Yev is a national treasure.
>>25641062>some schizophrenic, incomprehensible, junkie addict whose books would be meaningless gibberishVALIS is kinda like that in a good way.
>>25641075>schizo theoryI thought that was literally what was going on
>>25641540>national treasure.In the sense that he should be locked away and not be seen by the public, sure.
>>25641639All you had to do was google "luddites."
I read Children of Strife and, while it wasn't the best in the series, it gave me renewed confidence in Tchaikovsky after the disaster that was Children of Memory.So I started giving his other series a read and picked up Shards of Earth. It is ass and nothing like the Children of Time series.Any recs for something else to read?
>>25641075>schizo theoryIt's the truth. I'm interested in the topic, especially if there are more sci-fi/fiction books about it.
>>25641070Canticle for Leibowitz.
I wonder: had there been a book that expores the consequences of a society that suddenly loses the capability to lie?think of Liar Liar, that Jim Carrey movie, but stretching to everybodyI think it'd be a interesting (and chaotic) concept
>>25641773Tchaikovsky is VERY hit or miss. Makes sense considering how many novels he writes every year.
>>25641859https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_book/1029811-sffg?book_id=218587
Tchaikovsky is the modern day PKD in almost every way.
>>25641893this sounds like the exact opposite of that request
Tchaikovsky is an endless trough of inoffensive slop. I have no respect for him as an author.
/sffg/ is an endless trough of slop. I have no respect for the posters as a general.
>>25641945One of us! One of us!
>>25641928Walking to Aldebaran is based as fuck you gay little dweeb.
>>25641969Haven't read it. But I've read enough of the other slop he's written to not believe you.
>>25641974>I-I don't read!WE KNOW!
>>25641969Retellings are mid af, no cap, fr ong.
>>25641859do NOT watch that movie The Invention of Lying, it may sound like what you want, but it isn't
>>25641773I really liked cage of souls, and guns of dawn. Currently listening to Shroud and it's Ok.
>>25642154I remember two things about this movie:1. "Sorry, I was masturbating."2. How boring it was.That's it.
There really is nobody who creates quite the same atmosphere as Dick. Nobody else captures that deep, unyielding sense of abject terror that comes from not knowing whether you're perceiving reality as it truly exists or something far more sinister. I keep chasing to no avail, I always come back for more Dick.
>>25642461Most of what he wrote was complete trash that had minimal to no editing and was churned as quickly as possible for bottom dollar payments. He tried doing a literary novel and it was an absolute failure. His work degraded over the years from consistently intense drug usage and continous mental breakdowns. He didn't live to see his worked adapted. A lot of it has been since it was so cheap to acquire. It's too bad we were deprived of the sane, sober, and financially secure author he could've been.
>>25642461>>25642482Sorry I thought you were talking about Harlan Ellison when I said all that, PKD is brilliant.
Started reading again Malazan and having a pretty good time. I was having a rough time the first time just cause the way they throw you into the middle of everything was kind of weird. But approaching it differently now.I downloaded the Fictionary guide to help me look up stuff but I remember someone recommending a spoiler free volume summary guide but forgot to bookmark it. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Dont want to search for it again myself because trying to avoid accidental spoilers.
How do we feel about the 2001 series? I'm nearing the end kind of curious what the consensus is on the sequels? I just started 3001 and I'm enjoying it more than I expected it to be definitely some weird creative choices though I'm having a blast learning about the origins of the Monoliths. I thought 2010 was on par with the first book the third one was slightly weaker with some mildly interesting moments here and there but it wasn't on par with the others in the series. It's definitely the weakest entry.>>25642704I need to get back to Malazan there's just too much shit going on all at once and too many factions and characters to keep track of.
I don't know how many anons here read Bakker's Neuropath but I've finished it tomorrow and will rant about it for a bit because it's the dumbest book I have gone through in quite some time. Not that I read much. What I mean by this is that his Kellhus idiocy from his fantasy novels seems like well thought out narrative device compared to what we have here. Namely, Bakker is eliminative materialist. He debates (explicitly, in the afterword) the mind as existing in a vaccuum in order to push his blind brain theory (I guess he wanted to be a big brain philosopher) to prove that consciousness is just a wrapper between our neurological system and reality, and post-hoc reasoning that strips humans of all meaning, morality etc. Explains his fetish for helpless women being literally mindfucked which is something that also happens to Esmenet in his shitty fantasy novels. But what Bakker does not give a fuck about is admitting that in order to do this post-hoc jig, we must ignore that his antagonist literally saws people's skulls off and starts manipulating their neuro...paths. Which of course ignores the fact that brain is an unknowable sponge and just supposes science will magically achieve all these fancy bits, and also ignores the fact that minds need bodies to function and these bodies need to act in certain way to obtain resources needed for the brain to stay alive, and these actions are not divorced from common decency, let alone moral judgement of others. My point is that you should not let someone this dumb graduate you need to figure out that he's unironically promoting the most obvious fallacy in epistemology.
>>25642862*yesterday
>>25642862>Which of course ignores the fact that brain is an unknowable sponge and just supposes science will magically achieve all these fancy bitsThis. If science can't do something today, it's literally impossible for it to ever advance to the point where it could comprehend something new. Science is bad and scientists are all ungodly.
Gene Wolfe must have creamed his pants when he read Borges for the first time
>>25642862Just admit you self inserted as Kellhus and got mad at the NTR bro.
>>25642935books for this feel?
>>25642961That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
>>25642935Bakker are you making ironic purposely obtuse posts on the basketweaving forum in the specialized /lit/ thread /sffg/?
D E A D G E N E R A L S P A M M E RF A G G O T S K I L L E D I T
>>25642984Pagespammer hasn't been here for days, his lack of presence is why it is a wasteland if anything
>>25640591Holy shit, he's fat.
>>25643012he's dead
>>25643019That's what happens when you're fat.
I have just finished this, and it was fantastic. The opening had me sceptical but my expectations were absolutely shattered. I will most certainly read more from Eddison.
So Steven Erikson appeared on Philip Chase's YouTube channel and mentioned he's writing a series of short stories about the Vandals and "a space opera".He's also 500 pages into Walk in Shadow.That is all. God be with you.
>>25638372Premier (The Grand Illusion #5) - L.E. Modesitt [2026]Eight years have passed and Steffan Dekkard has become the most effective and influential councilor. Every piece of legislation that the Craft party passes into law angers the Commerce party and the corporacions that support them. The Equal Pay and Responsibilities Act that required equal pay and titles for women made Dekkard business enemy number one. Undeterred, he pushed through workplace safety regulations. Each year there were more and more actions taken against corrupted businesses that sought profit at the expense of all else. Now with elections quickly approaching and Dekkard being the favored candidate to become premier, the apex of political power, matters have come to a head. Dekkard is also coming for the corrupt government officials who believe themselves to be exempt from the law. He's survived several assassination attempts already, but matters have never been this dire for the corrupt and greedy.The preceding paragraph suggests this is a political thriller, but it's surely not. Premier probably has the least action of the series and that's saying a lot. There's a lot of drama, but it really is more than ever Dekkard's daily life. Almost every chapter that isn't a newspaper excerpt begins in the morning of the next day. It really is his day-to-day life of being a father, husband, and councilor. His superpower as a political representative is that he sincerely cares about his constituents. He visits many places where he attentively listens to their concerns and honestly tries to do the best he can to resolve their problems. This isn't as difficult as it may seem because very few people are eligible to vote, though he also listens to the worries of non-voters. As was often the case up until relatively recently in historical terms, only property owners or those who met taxpaying requirements could vote.Dekkard's political campaign and the lead-up to the elections are a full two-thirds of the book. The majority of that is discussing politics in some form or another. I don't think it's a coincidence that this was published on the day of the Midterm elections. This is easily the book that has the most parallels to current day events and political figures. Primarily in that corporacions have unsuitable priorities and that politicians aren't being held accountable.Premier seems to be the final book in the series and I'm satisfied by how it ends. I see how there could be another book, but Modesitt says it's unlikely to happen. This may be the series with the worst ratio of how much I've enjoyed it versus how much I believe the general SFF readership would. It really is very much for a specific interest and would likely be dreadfully boring and repetitive for many readers. Though, at this point you've either just come across this, read the books, or are reading the reviews for the entire series to see whether it remains worthwhile. For me? Very much so.Rating: 4.5/5
Any of you guys ever read The Food Of The Gods and How It Came To Earth? I’m working my way through the complete HG Wells catalogue and I’m surprised I’d never heard of this one nor of any film adaptations. It’s not his best work, don’t get me wrong, there is a character with a lisp who has way too much dialogue and Wells insisted on writing in the lisp so that it’s a chore to decipher what he’s saying, but still it’s a fun enough read despite minor nitpicks.
>>25643263>prepubescent term>thinAre adult Canadian women so fat that he naturally rejects the possibility that adult women can be thin or is he just coping?
>>25643396He's coping. That man is a whaler and too ashamed to admit it.
>>25643263Why do modern fantasy authors write like this?
>>25643001Shut up, pagenigger. You are a CANCER. NOT the cure.
>>25643263>write about thick, curvaceous slampigs>erm this is the male gaze>write about scrawny petite girls>erm this is prebuscent and creepyis there any winning for male authors? can i just be pygmalion in peace?
>>25643449The winning move is to ignore anyone complaining and just blatantly put all your tastes and proclivities on proud display
>>25643456one million words dedicated to grimdark rape and lolimance it is, then
>>25643471>or should bePoor George...
>>25643484No Gilly for ol' Sam...
>>25641835Thanks, but I read that before The Difference Engine.
>>25638689stop with the uptalk, faggot?
>>25643502>uptalk
>>25643512I accept your concession.
>>25642984Sorry too busy reading to post often.>>25643001I bet he's fucked off to play wow forever.
Reading Joe Abercrombie for the first time. I’m actually enjoying it but the snarky reddit edgelord dialogue is painful.
>>25643591What are you reading? The Devils largely fell flat.
>>25643596NTA but I liked The Devils a lot, it was just pulpy fun.
>>25643598same, you have to read it as Abercrombie doing Suicide Squad though (which it literally is)
VURTanonI'm not feeling Vurt D: I haven't dropped it but I have slowed down and am not far. I think there has been too much focus on the inter-politics of the Stash Riders, thus far, rather than the overall story at large. I'm like ~20% through.
Chinese cover of Cyberiad goes hard
>>25643599Them's good comics too
>>25638372>SF isn't literature
>>25641064Furthermore, there is a SF novel called The Bladerunner but no relation to PKD at all.
>>25641861 He has that really bad book with the indian tranny and his lesbian girlfriend saving the world from aliens. I stopped reading anything by him after that.
>>25643591>>25643596none of his books are good and theyre all reddit-tier garbage.
>reading novels 400+ pages long
>>25643755>not reading stories 7,500 words or less
>>25643399This. First sexual relationship he wrote in his books was between a teenage boy and a fat-arsed woman several times older than him.
>>25643263Knowing how much of a bugman Erikson is keeps me from reading Malazan. But then again, Bakker is also an ultraliberal schizoid, and his books are incredible. But I don't believe in lightning hitting the same way twice
>>25643321your """reviews""" are SHITFUCK OFF
>>25643755>>25643756>reading
>>25638372Who illustrated that? it's not even covering her hairy bush
>>25643881Doug Beekman
>>25643755shrink the font size
this is such a snoozefesthalfway through this and I feel nothing has happenedthe characters aren't enjoyable: can't even distinguish one from the otherauthor can't stop throwing you some social/history lore I can't push myself to careI don't think I can bear this any longer
>>25643327I read the Food of the Gods years ago, but I've mostly forgotten it. That's the one that makes people big, right?>>25643707This. Abercrombie is nothing special.
>>25643755I've read an entire 540 book in under 24 hours. You are just a weak lil BITCH.
>>25644127Why try to read anything new that hasn't been vetted for several decades? The newer it is, the less safe of a choice. Give yourself over to the megapopular classics.
>>25643263How does he manage to write every single clause in that post in the gayest possible way?
>>25644155Yes, we've all read a Harry Potter book in a day.
>>25644166>Why try to read anything new that hasn't been vetted for several decades?I want to feel how does it feel to latch onto the next trending book before it gets too popular, even if that means leafing through mediocre literature
>>25644134>That's the one that makes people big, right?Yeah, that’s the one. It’s a fun little parable about the dangers that come along with scientific progress and a warning about how easily we can open up a Pandora’s box that can outpace our ability to control, and how it can be impossible to put the genie back in the bottle once it’s out etc…
>>25643707> I hate anything written in the last 35 years that isn't created by one of 3 authors I deem acceptable.
>>25642984No one replied to my delightful Bram Stoker post. Why come here if there's no engagement? Also instead of whining I just created a userscript to auto filter that guy's posts.
>>25644611Interesting, you said what I was thinking, but in a clumsily sarcastic way, whereas I am more intelligent, capable, accomplished, and adaptable than you. Quite a curious little pattern.
>>25644616>Where did all my fellow /pol/ go!?
>>25644623I don't communicate with people who can't use their words. Greentext is not a genuine expression worth addressing on this board. Just informing you of this once, for your benefit.
>>25644624I crave your dislike and disapproval.
>>25644624You write like a 10th grader trying to pad out a 2000 word essay... Perchance?
>>25644628Doesn't seem likely. It seems more likely you have a fragile personality and a predisposition to obsessive tendencies. A fairly typical type for this place that is incapable of clearly distinguishing the fact that he is the one with unresolved problems, and no one else.>>25644631Lions, ants, et cetera.
>>25644611Most of /lit/ only reads their favorite megapopular book or series, yourself included.
Goodreads Awards Nominees have been announced.
>>25644387it's a skill Canadians are born with
>>25644611>defending joe abercrombieHe's so fucking bad and Reddit-tier is an apt description. I encourage everyone reading this post to go read the The Blade Itself preview chapter on Amazon just so can laugh, righteously, at people recommending him.
>>25643512Whats uptalk? Is it like updog?
>>25644682is it when you raise your pitch at the end of the sentence but aren't asking a question?
>>25643321>the buttons on her jackettopkek.webm
>>25644682What's updog?
>>25644778Not much, what's up with you?
>>25643321Is that Vin?
I've never, never, never, never, NEVER EVER seen ANYONE discuss the Starfist books here.
>>25645171Nah, that's not true. I got them recommended on here. The problem is that all the potential gets shredded by turning every idea into a boring retelling of a US war with Rambo-like protagonists who sadly never go fully unleashed, leaving the stories stuck somewhere between slop kino and interesting sci-fi.
just thinking how the Nonmen in the Aspect Emperor series were based off anglos.got cheated by a jew racelost their wives and daughtersturned into faggots
Our Lord-and-Prophet R. Scott Bakker!
>>25643844Even though the guy has his weird kinks and fetishes, he's pretty chill (at least compared to Bakker)...
A fantasy without overtly detailed food and feast scenes is like an RPG without fishing! If there's no scones being cracked open, no fancy broths and stews and platters of boar, not a single mention of cheese in the book, its soulless. Not a real fantasy.
>>25645579Wiping away the bacon grease from your plate with your bread before setting off again on your adventure, there's the ticket
>>25645586got a little chub from this. that's the good stuff
>>25645579I think I've read a fantasy where all they ever ate was bread and cheese
>>25644686this
>>25644611There are a lot of good modern authors (e.g. Tad Williams, Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher, R Scott Bakker), however Joe Abercrombie isnt one of them.
>>25645763You've confused "living" with "modern".
>>25645763>Bakkerfag postLOL
>>25638372Why are so many vampire novels complete ass? I can count on one hand how many I've enjoyed.
>>25644166It's not really vetting as much as how incestuous genre literature has become. Unless it's your very first something 95% of modern novels are derivative of other fantasy novels.
>>25646095because they're largely gateway into romantasy or just fantasy with vampires
>>25646097That's what happens to any mature culture. In the beginning there's nothing else so external sources have to be to used. After time has passed a seperate culture has formed and internal sources are primarily used.
Is the WoT worth reading?Im 30% into book 3 and I like it, but I don't love it like LOTR.I picked it up for it's length, the possivility to teleport at night in a new world for a long time and to follow characters you appreciate is valuable.But is there a much better fantasy saga? I only read sf so...
>>25642728I have only read the second and third one, and parts of the first, it is fine, inoffensive stuff. I liked the travelogue styled third one and the second one, I would rate them as a 7out of 10
>>25646468It sounds like you're enjoying it, so why not keep reading until you're not enjoying it at the very least? You're in what most people consider the best part of Wheel of Time, the first 4 novels or so, but it's a matter of opinion what you consider to be the dropping off point for the series. I finished the whole series, and I like the whole series, but I do take issue with the quality of parts of it. Sanderson finished it, writing the last 3 books, and without him it would never have been finished, but I still have a lot of problems with his take on some characters. The characters are ultimately what kept me going through the sloggier parts of the narrative. Maybe it's just that I was reading it while it was being published, so I did a lot of re-reading and waiting for books, so Rand, Perrin, Matt, Lan, and all the rest became familiar to me like friends.
>>25646468If you're on book 3 and still not enjoying it that should be a clear sign that series is not for you.> But is there a much better fantasy saga?That's completely subjective. How are we supposed to know what you'll like, especially without more information.
>>25646468You can drop it before it is too late.The longer you continue the harder it will be to stop because you already are too far and the series is finished so you might as well finish it.Better just finish it and not have regrets later.Or just drop it now and forget it.Hard decision, your life depends on it.
>>25646488He said he likes it, he just doesn't love it. I doubt he would have finished book 1 if he didn't enjoy it.
>>25645579>>25645586umm yikes that's a very white Eurocentric view of fantasy food... maybe think outside the box like roasted cat or dog in a muddy shit filled pit. Do better next time.
I would like to point out that Abercrombie hater a number of threads ago told me that nothing happens in The First Law trilogy books.I read them and by now I am on the last half of the third book and he totally lied about it.Things definitely happen, the farther it goes the more things happen.Abercrombie hater lies about things, should not be trusted.
>>25646498If you're going to do it a parody why not do it properly?
>>25646468Wheel of Time is okay but I got bored before I could finish it too. Try Elric of Melniboné. They are a reaction to LoTR sometimes described as anti-Tolkien. Visceral and adventure focused. Socially critical. Very influencial in the dark fantasy genre. There is a three book omnibus that collects all the stories into a series.
>>25646095Why do you keep reading them if you find them categorically awful? I've only read 1 vampire novel in my life (Dracula) and felt no desire to read the imitators.
Do I need to read the prior books from this series to understand this one or are they independent of each other, only being in the same universe?
>>25646538Just go for it. I read that one first and was so captivated I went back to the 'beginning' of hainish cycle and read them all in published order.
>>25646538It's only marketing and the author disliked it. They're all standalones.
>>25646557>>25646559What did you think of the other books in the series?
>>25646559Yea, they are only loosely associated. Some of them forget how the world works like completely dropping the idea of psychic abilities because it's convenient for the story. Reading the dispossessed first makes sense in a way because it chronicles the development of the technology that many (maybe all come to think of it) of the other books reference.
>>25646562Tell me if you want to know more.
>>25646572From that list the only other one I had heard of is The Left Hand of Darkness. I guess for a very good reason.
>>25646562I loved almost all of them. Le Guin likes to explore big ideas in her books and that is what captivated me most. Planet of Exhile was the most mediocre to me, but that is only in comparison to the rest. It was decent in and of itself. Each book is very different from the rest so it comes down to a matter of personal taste too. Rocannon's World is like a mid century sword and sorcery novel; essentially Conan the Anthropologist in Space. The Word for World is Forest is like an action film that James Cameron directed. I enjoyed the diversity quite a bit. In the end, The Dispossessed might be my favorite.
