/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General - /lit/ (#24615650) [Archived: 27 hours ago]

Anonymous
8/6/2025, 12:12:20 PM No.24615650
yYvMcMhrYn7VGfu7qaAQYi
yYvMcMhrYn7VGfu7qaAQYi
md5: b67d19fb6a80bef9ddd9cb91472a9f57🔍
Recommended reading charts. (Look here before asking for vague recs)
https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb

>Archive:
https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg

>Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg

>Previous:
>>24605413

>Thread Question:
Do writers really only write what they know? Is that why so many settings are entirely underutilized?
Replies: >>24615653 >>24615672 >>24615681 >>24615825 >>24617006 >>24619125 >>24620840 >>24622550 >>24623675 >>24626032
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 12:14:20 PM No.24615653
>>24615650 (OP)
>tq
genre literature specifically has a problem in that it has become too incestuous. everyone is drawing from other sff works rather than their own experiences.
Replies: >>24615672 >>24615724 >>24615845 >>24616316 >>24617049 >>24617555 >>24618370 >>24623631
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 12:28:21 PM No.24615672
>>24615650 (OP)
>Do writers really only write what they know?
Yes, which is why all good writers do ungodly amounts of research.
>>24615653
This is a major problem as well. Case in point: Sun Eater and its fisgusting plagiarism.
Replies: >>24615724
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 12:34:48 PM No.24615681
>>24615650 (OP)
>TQ
I think the issue is that there is nothing truly original. Everything is an inspiration of what has come before and that’s the case for every story created by humans. Underutilisation of settings/themes/characters etc is because people are afraid or lack the imagination to step out of the familiar.
Replies: >>24615724 >>24620018
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 1:02:01 PM No.24615724
>>24615653
>>24615672
>>24615681
Problem is also that new authors are clearly chasing financial success over writing anything of quality that will stand the test of time. Just look at romantasy novels as a whole. They're just writing porn for women and raking in the money.
Replies: >>24615731 >>24616762
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 1:08:20 PM No.24615731
>>24615724
Most romantasy makes no money, a couple of franchises make a lot of money. Romantasy is litrpg for women, they write a lot of it because they like writing it, and a very small portion of it is financially successful. Most of it doesn't make anything.
Replies: >>24615840
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 1:59:12 PM No.24615825
image_7b551f0c-4bce-4ac8-9bac-c98a5071fba4_1200x1200
image_7b551f0c-4bce-4ac8-9bac-c98a5071fba4_1200x1200
md5: b1e2b2d1f105084ee785d23aaf22bd4e🔍
>>24615650 (OP)
good intro to wolfe?
Replies: >>24615837 >>24615853 >>24616146 >>24616179 >>24616323 >>24623645
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 2:05:21 PM No.24615837
>>24615825
Just read New Sun.
Replies: >>24615843
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 2:07:58 PM No.24615840
>>24615731
That's a very compelling argument anon, however I hate women and therefore strongly prefer imagining them as achieving entirely undeserved success (is they are romantasy authors themselves) or being personally responsible for the perceived degradation of the medium (if the authors in question are men writing for women).
Replies: >>24615854 >>24615929
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 2:09:27 PM No.24615843
>>24615837
let's be real. new sun is too much for your average reader. they might READ it but understand or retain very little form it.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 2:10:28 PM No.24615845
>>24615653
FPBP
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 2:20:38 PM No.24615853
The Devil in a Forest
The Devil in a Forest
md5: 0c5bc043c1d71e81de21476d66e5fa85🔍
>>24615825
You're going to be confused. Read this instead.
Replies: >>24615981
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 2:22:20 PM No.24615854
>>24615840
Have sex incel
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 2:32:53 PM No.24615864
>World has magic that individuals can utilise.
>The protagonist only uses bladed weapons.
For what fucking porpoise?
Replies: >>24615919
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 3:09:17 PM No.24615919
>>24615864
Allegorical, Metaphorical, Metaphysical, Practical, Symbolic, Thematic, and various other reasons.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 3:13:11 PM No.24615929
>>24615840
My post and your own are not mutually exclusive, both can be simultaneously correct. A small portion of it is successful, undeservedly, and most of it is unsuccessful, deservedly.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 3:45:59 PM No.24615981
>>24615853
Not him, but whats wrong with Soldier of the Mist?
Replies: >>24616135 >>24616310
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 4:45:18 PM No.24616101
Lysander MUST die.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 5:00:49 PM No.24616128
>>24614857
>Disappointing that I couldn't claim another convert, but I'm glad to have helped. Out of curiosity, what sort of SF do you read? I've found Sun Eater to be a love it or hate it series and I'm trying to discern why. I'm an epic fantasy reader at heart so I prefer space opera to hard SF. My fellow RRfags here seem to like Sun Eater so I'm presuming it's more SF oldheads who dislike it
I have a very difficult time finding science fiction that I enjoy - it's much easier for me to indulge in almost any other genre. The few successes I have are Star Wars and Star Trek, which are licensed works or novelizations and therefore hardly original. Other than that, I enjoyed John Carter of Mars by Burroughs, Lewis' Space Trilogy, HG Wells' War of the Worlds, the first Dune by Frank Herbert, the Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke, The Stars My Destination, and Dream Thief and Empyrion by Stephen R. Lawhead. That's pretty much all the "space" books I've read and kept. I also have a couple of oddballs nobody's ever heard of like The Ophidian Conspiracy, Avengers of the Moon, Target, The Road to Roswell, and Project Pope. But as yet I have not been convinced to pursue any serious SF series.
Replies: >>24616897
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 5:06:47 PM No.24616135
>>24615981
Not that guy but I'm assuming the jumbled narrative can be a turn off to some and come off as random shit happening every chapter.
Personally I really liked it because it really put you in the shoes of Latro and his amnesia.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 5:12:31 PM No.24616145
Sword of Bayne
Sword of Bayne
md5: f05a9b18ad020e02e19223716c790447🔍
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 5:13:02 PM No.24616146
>>24615825
You need to read Herodotus first to properly enjoy Soldier of the Mist. It's not a hard book but it does expect you to have read Herodotus.
Replies: >>24617164
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 5:27:03 PM No.24616179
>>24615825
>Herodotus
no
Sorcerers house, or Fifth Head of Cerberus, or doctor death novellas as intro to wolfe.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:09:33 PM No.24616258
IMG_2536
IMG_2536
md5: 67675ec92802267632c69c90b0ab03c7🔍
How modern do you allow dialogue to get before it becomes a turn off?
Replies: >>24616261
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:10:15 PM No.24616260
Which of the WoT books had a bunch of Aes Sedai appear before Rand with a gaggle of Two Rivers girls and one of them forcefully made Rand into her warden?
I was reading the series a good decade ago before some stuff put me off reading at all until just recently and I'm trying remember exactly where I stopped.
Replies: >>24616266
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:11:47 PM No.24616261
>>24616258
As long as theres no modern slang or terminology I don't care. Leaning too far into ye old english can be equally as annoying as well.
Replies: >>24616275
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:14:12 PM No.24616266
>>24616260
I think that was 6
Replies: >>24616273
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:17:34 PM No.24616273
>>24616266
That was it, thanks.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:19:05 PM No.24616275
>>24616261
That’s what I'm thinking. I can write natural sounding dialogue, but not if I'm trying to ape an ancient dialogue I don't speak
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:25:33 PM No.24616283
Finally finished the last 60 pages of Unholy Consult. One of the most intense stories I've read. Wish we got to see more regarding Kellhus's statement that he intended to conquer Hell. Kind of demands the sequel series.
Replies: >>24616660
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:26:48 PM No.24616284
GIzwz87XUAAAuDE
GIzwz87XUAAAuDE
md5: 8463f0cd1ce8f7d3bff74a8160f35a32🔍
They did NOT kill 60,000,000,000 people and depopulate entire planets with armies full of towelheads using glorified KNIVES. It's literally not possible no matter which way you slice it.

I call shenanigans. SHENANIGANS!!
Replies: >>24616666
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:33:17 PM No.24616304
EfXCE01UYAA8csO
EfXCE01UYAA8csO
md5: cb9d9af357caec0a0446ef1369fb5709🔍
>Muad'Dibian Jihad denier
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:36:42 PM No.24616310
>>24615981
I didn't say there's anything wrong with it. I said he'll be confused. He'll have a better time not being confused. Easing into it.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:39:28 PM No.24616315
I've gotta tell you the truth folks, I gotta tell you the truth. I just finished Joe Abercrombie's The Devils. I think it was his best novel yet. Yeah, sorry. That's just how I feel. I was especially disgusted and aroused by Brother Diaz and Vigga. Some of the twists were painfully obvious and telegraphed with all subtelty of a monster truck show, but damn if the leftovers wasn't the most awfully horrible thing Abercrombie has ever written.
Replies: >>24620901
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:40:49 PM No.24616316
>>24615653
While that is an issue, it's hardly unique to SFF. MFAers with no real life experience are hardly any better.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:48:02 PM No.24616323
>>24615825
Kinda late but I agree with the others. Just read Fifth head of cerberus, it really is a great intro to wolfe.
Latro completely filtered me. There must have been so much going over my head. I felt even more lost than when I read New Sun fifteen years ago. I still enjoyed it, and it may even be a good view into how lost Latro himself felt, but I will read Thucydides, Herodotus and some general stuff on greek mythology before I read Latro a second time.

That said, any recommended reading for Wizard Knight? It's been a few years and I made the mistake of listening to an audiobook instead of reading it, which you just shouldn't do for Wolfe, but I felt like I missed a lot of what was really going on.
Replies: >>24616331
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 6:51:08 PM No.24616331
>>24616323
I think it helped me with Latro that I had read Mika Waltari's Turms, kuolematon (I think it's called The Etruscan in English?) which is a historical novel about a man with amnesia living through the turmoils of the same time period, though he only got amnesia once and not every day lol
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 7:06:05 PM No.24616363
1738261503827538
1738261503827538
md5: 24b9a01c3cff321dc9ca7af144305c45🔍
I liked it but i kind of wish it went more into autistic detail about how Will works in terms of mechanics/actual application, and the internal politics of the senate.
I'm a bit of an idiot and I don't get the ending, though.
So Luceum and Obiteum are parallel universes that Vis went through in the labyrinth, Ulsicor's brother is stuck in one of them and there's some ancient evil that's about to awaken?
Replies: >>24616465 >>24616913 >>24616955 >>24617882
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 7:40:09 PM No.24616425
13245
13245
md5: 292bff7e55b8582f93442862af14ad49🔍
thoughts on this?
Replies: >>24616483 >>24616499 >>24619357
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 7:57:58 PM No.24616465
>>24616363
Is it better than his previous trilogy?
Replies: >>24616499
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 8:08:35 PM No.24616483
>>24616425
The first Matthew Stover novel I ever read was filled with homosexual and/or child sex scenes
Like literally every other page was talking about fags, lesbians, and pedophiles in graphically masturbatory detail
Needless to say I didn't finish the novel and put it where it belonged: in the fireplace.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 8:17:24 PM No.24616499
>>24616465
I don't know what his previous trilogy was, sorry.
>>24616425
Edgy in a (mostly) fun way. I think the author just wanted to write scenes where his MMAfag DND character stomped all over fantasy shitters.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 9:18:20 PM No.24616660
>>24616283
One thing that bothered me was how did Kelmonas get into the Golden Room, did Cnaiur's skin-spy take him up there before coming back down to get strangled? Was it a different skin-spy who met Kelmonas after his eacape? This might be obvious especially once a reread but couldn't figure it easily on the first read through
Replies: >>24618945
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 9:20:16 PM No.24616666
>>24616284
Why am I supposed to think killing imperials is a bad thing when the only thing we see of them is they're all terrible?
>Oh no the hero killed all the villains!!
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 9:52:45 PM No.24616762
>>24615724
Newly published authors are chasing success, because that's what gets published - the "sure thing" books that are close to something that's already been successful.

You can find some good stuff self published, but it's wading through miles of shit to find the one gem, so may not be worth it.

Luckily there are thousands of good books that were published prior to 2015 to occupy yourself with.
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 10:34:30 PM No.24616897
>>24616128
Now I'm even more confused. Sun Eater has more in common with Star Wars and space opera at large than hard SF. Ruocchio is a big pulp enjoyer, channeling the high stakes and drama of the form in his best moments. And the series' high-level conflict is similar to that in Lewis's Space Trilogy.
Replies: >>24616982
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 10:39:04 PM No.24616913
>>24616363
I really enjoyed it as well. I think "Will" might be explained in more detail in the latter books. It seems that the people don't really know about all the rules etc. themselves, with Vis not being initiated by those artefacts that allow to use/give will to begin with, thus being immune to those torture devices in the beginning (listened to it in German, there they were called Zappers [before I get shamed for listening to the audiobook: the German actor reading it has the best voice I know of, listening to him always is a pleasure]), and noone knowing about that fact.

Really looking forward to the stuff you mentioned in your spoiler, and yes, that's how much I got from that scene as well. And it ramped up a) my interest in the next book and b) the level of depth to be expected by quite a lot
Replies: >>24616955
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 10:51:03 PM No.24616943
Any /sffg/-approved dark academia books (besides Harry Potter 3)?
Replies: >>24617046 >>24624996
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 10:52:41 PM No.24616950
What if there are no Lysander POVs in Red God
Replies: >>24617054 >>24617559
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 10:54:31 PM No.24616955
>>24616363
>>24616913
What the hell is Emissa's deal
Replies: >>24617557 >>24617620
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 11:08:51 PM No.24616982
>>24616897
>Sun Eater has more in common with Star Wars and space opera at large than hard SF
it absolutely does not, I only made it 150 pages into the first book and I can tell you the only thing it has in common with Star Wars is the fact that there are humans traveling through space, and there's an emperor
and the puritanical apologist Lewis would spit on you for comparing Ruocchio to himself, unless it were a critique of his plagiarizing attitude - the nihilist gnosticism and baldfaced anti-monarchical screed of Sun Eater would have appalled Lewis, as much as Warhammer 40,000 would have
Replies: >>24617276
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 11:19:28 PM No.24617006
>>24615650 (OP)
is there any sci fi book that merges the worlds of Bioshock, The Handmaid's Tale and The Purge kinda?
Replies: >>24617034 >>24617042 >>24624996
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 11:31:03 PM No.24617034
>>24617006
nigga write it
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 11:35:05 PM No.24617042
>>24617006
How do you square an Objectivist u/dis-topia with a pseudo-religious totalitarian state?
Replies: >>24617401
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 11:36:31 PM No.24617046
>>24616943
Deadly Education by Naomi Novik is basically the ur-example of that pseudo sub-genre.
Replies: >>24621766
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 11:38:11 PM No.24617049
>>24615653
It's hard to get published being original.
Replies: >>24621773
Anonymous
8/6/2025, 11:40:44 PM No.24617054
>>24616950
Then it means he is dead inshallah
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 12:26:40 AM No.24617164
>>24616146
>ou need to read Herodotus first
any suggestion?
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 1:35:09 AM No.24617276
>>24616982
You've read 150 pages. I've read the entire series. Believe me when I tell you that Hadrian's antireligious and antimonarchical attitudes in Empire of Silence are rebuked by Demon in White, as he comes to believe that the Empire is humanity's best bet against the Cielcin and that the Quiet has a plan for mankind. His view of the Chantry becomes less "I hate my dad" and more circumspect, grasping its social utility but disdaining its earth mother cultism in light of the Quiet's nature. Fundamentally Sun Eater is the story of a deeply naive man facing inescapable truths that cut against his nihilism.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:02:39 AM No.24617323
Women make awful fanart. Every one is hit with the midstick even if they're described as drop dead gorgeous. Straight woman wouldn't know a hot woman if their lives were on the line.
Replies: >>24617325 >>24617380 >>24617413
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:05:57 AM No.24617325
b4e1008adf2a15b4cb5e748640a270e2
b4e1008adf2a15b4cb5e748640a270e2
md5: 020c52c5774461df3440f67c131b3bf5🔍
>>24617323
like wtf is this
Replies: >>24617329 >>24617413 >>24618250 >>24618294 >>24621398
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:06:54 AM No.24617326
First for horse
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:07:58 AM No.24617329
>>24617325
Not this horse though
Replies: >>24617338
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:12:04 AM No.24617338
>>24617329
look at how they massacred our girl
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:44:55 AM No.24617380
>>24617323
Some of my favorite porn artists are women. Actual women. But they're disgusting degenerates who can't post their smut on social media cause they'd get banned. Social media is a great filter that only allows groided artwork to survive.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:58:30 AM No.24617401
>>24617042
Through dialectics
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 3:10:50 AM No.24617413
>>24617323
>>24617325
To be fair, image search suggests this image was drawn by one of the most stereotypical tumblr types out there. There are plenty of female artists who draw great fanart and pinups of game and tv show characters. But books don't really get a lot of that in general and instead attract those tumblr types because publishing houses have been aggressively catering to them for quite some time.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 3:38:17 AM No.24617448
firethorn-9781416588474_hr
firethorn-9781416588474_hr
md5: cb9b1b230b6c3489adc6ef13dd2b0521🔍
What do you think of the first page of this early 2000's fantasy book?
Replies: >>24617667 >>24619253 >>24621783
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:30:21 AM No.24617555
>>24615653
That's why genre fiction is DEAD.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:31:32 AM No.24617557
>>24616955
Checked

||She|| definitely knows something or is up to shenanigans with regards to the ||parallel worlds, maybe||. I mean, ||throwing a knife at Viz 'because she saw him having a sepsis and wanting to release him from his suffering'? Nah, not buying that. I'd guess she realized his arm was related to the passing of the portal.||
Replies: >>24617558 >>24617709
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:32:36 AM No.24617558
>>24617557
Looks like I am too stupid for spoilers, god damnit...
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:32:59 AM No.24617559
>>24616950
As much as I despise Lysander and think he MUST die, the book would probably be worse off without his POV.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:15:44 AM No.24617620
>>24616955
Secretly some agent for Veridius maybe?
Replies: >>24617707
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:43:51 AM No.24617665
1749785875999565
1749785875999565
md5: 64a885701f5b345157a42b02684376cf🔍
>reading way of kings
>scenes with jasnah and shallan religious debates feels like im reading a religious argument on reddit
>look it up, find out the author is mormon or something
>okay whatever as long as its not overly preachy
>next scene the atheist girl kills 2 street thugs for no reason because they were le bad anyways, doesn't it make ya think!?

other than that im enjoying the book
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:44:29 AM No.24617667
>>24617448
feels too authentic, where's the dark lord and ziplining shadow mages?
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 7:19:03 AM No.24617707
>>24617620
Yeah, I got that vibe. I was surprised that a lot of readers didn't really like her. I don't really hold it against characters for being bland, though. They have to be annoying for me to dislike them, and she wasn't that at all.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 7:20:37 AM No.24617709
>>24617557
I'm excited to see where she's taken in the next books.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 7:21:38 AM No.24617711
What's with /sffg/ authors and putting their main characters in torture boxes?
Replies: >>24617736 >>24617737 >>24617749 >>24618624
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 7:49:17 AM No.24617736
>>24617711
It's a sex thing
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 7:49:35 AM No.24617737
>>24617711
Self inserts ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:02:26 AM No.24617749
>>24617711
This is why I refuse to read another book by Robin Hobb after the Farseer trilogy.
Replies: >>24617781 >>24617784 >>24625216
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:33:09 AM No.24617781
>>24617749
>female ""author""
shan't be reading that
Replies: >>24617784
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:35:21 AM No.24617784
>>24617749
>>24617781
What's wrong? Can't handle your precious MC getting eaten alive by parasitic worms and getting replaced by his in every way superior daughter as the MC in the new books that are being written years after the fact as a cash-crab?
Replies: >>24617787
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:38:04 AM No.24617787
>>24617784
>What's wrong? Can't handle your precious MC getting eaten alive by parasitic worms and getting replaced by his in every way superior daughter as the MC in the new books that are being written years after the fact as a cash-crab?
eh, not even surprised
public reminder : never read anything by a woman
Replies: >>24617823 >>24617824 >>24619007
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:01:13 AM No.24617823
>>24617787
Fuck you I'll still read Janny
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:03:43 AM No.24617824
>>24617787
I just think Rob Hobb is just a freak. I would recommend The Complete Chalion and the author Lois McMaster Bujold seems well adjusted. Time-Marked Warlock, at least the first two books by Shami Stovall are also pretty good.
Replies: >>24617846 >>24617907
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:23:29 AM No.24617846
>>24617824
>Bujold
I only read one book by her and it had cuckoldry and a gay romance
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:45:52 AM No.24617882
>>24616363
For spoilers , either that or timetravel.
Also most people missed that the girl that came before the protagonist in the village at the end is his classmate that ran the Labyrinth before him.if you notice her sceleton ramined in the original dimension and was not consumed. Her original copy died on the way back.


Good book but the concept has been done way better before ( Practical Guide to Evil wipes the floor). Thankfully saved on the third Act where the writer figured how to be good or something.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 10:09:16 AM No.24617907
>>24617824
Life is too short to waste reading books by women.
Replies: >>24618022 >>24619963
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 11:52:02 AM No.24618022
>>24617907
What about Le Guin, Russ, T. Lee, Kavan... just saying, there are some pearls to be found amongst the heaps of slop written by women
Replies: >>24618206 >>24619218
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:27:55 PM No.24618206
>>24618022
All slop. Women need constant supervision, even when writing.
Replies: >>24618242
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:54:37 PM No.24618242
>>24618206
Easy there Abdulah , not everyone has a burqa fetish
Replies: >>24618528
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 2:57:43 PM No.24618250
>>24617325
Self-insert for Darrow's BWC
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 3:19:26 PM No.24618294
>>24617325
The Red Rising fandom has some of the worst fan art I’ve ever seen
Replies: >>24618353
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 3:46:37 PM No.24618353
>>24618294
Coomers and trannies ruined the series.
Replies: >>24618361 >>24618365 >>24618382
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 3:51:29 PM No.24618361
>>24618353
Don’t forget the worst group, straight women
Replies: >>24618365
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 3:54:33 PM No.24618365
>>24618353
>>24618361
Are you guys done circlejerking or do you need an extra hand?
Replies: >>24621035
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 3:58:14 PM No.24618370
>>24615653
Fpbp. Read lots of different books (genre, literature, history, religious texts) and literally live life. You'll have much more interesting things to talk about than a nerd who endlessly consumes modern MCU sffg slop
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 4:02:41 PM No.24618382
>>24618353
How does fanart ruin a series?
Replies: >>24618393 >>24621035
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 4:09:00 PM No.24618393
>>24618382
>who's going to tell him?
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:12:21 PM No.24618528
>>24618242
Islam is right about women.
Replies: >>24620341
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:14:58 PM No.24618537
tor
tor
md5: a0a434e7a02c4e07057f118fa2cbc99b🔍
Other than the Lord of the Rings, are there any examples of "unnecessary" sequels that were good?
By unnecessary I mean where the original book didn't end on a cliffhanger or have any major loose ends; if the sequel never came out, people wouldn't call it an unfinished series.
Replies: >>24618581
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:39:37 PM No.24618581
>>24618537
Red Rising unironically. The first trilogy was ok and ended without cliffhangers or a tease. The sequel books are far better and make the world more interesting similar to LOTR to the Hobbit.
Replies: >>24618587
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:43:49 PM No.24618587
>>24618581
Sell me on it. I finished the first triology, and the last book was a slog. I liked the first the best, because it was at least honest about what it was, instead of the bad attempt at misery to keep the tension going which the later books did.
Replies: >>24618607
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:52:10 PM No.24618604
file
file
md5: 656870d16bcda427e5493f15eec404bd🔍
Gygax's prose kind of sucks, but I find it entertaining.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 5:53:34 PM No.24618607
>>24618587
>better world building
>better characters
>established characters developed further and all are improved
>more mature series
>plot is more space opera/game of thrones in space akin to Golden Son
>has best boy and most hated villain
It’s just good easy reading. Odd that you prefer Red Rising the most when Golden Son is the probably the peak of the series. That said, the most recent two books are on par with Golden Son for me

Golden Son (b2) > Dark Age (b5) = Lightbringer (b6) (both really good but feel like one book to me) > Iron Gold (b4) > Morning Star (b3) > Red Rising (b1).

Red God which should be released next year is the final one and I have high hopes for it.
Replies: >>24618642
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:00:52 PM No.24618624
>>24617711
edgelord gen-x post-modernist post-ironic nihilism
or sexless female author
take your pick
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:06:22 PM No.24618642
>>24618607
>Odd that you prefer Red Rising the most
Honestly you're right. I had two paragraphs typed out, then remembered the Eo opener in the first book, and the bodymod arc, which was pretty much just misery to kickstart the story. So I guess the first book wasn't that much better after all. I would still put it way above the third.
I don't know, I just dislike authors going so hard on this forced anti-protagonist misery. It just feels like bad writing. Writers that use overuse that also tend to not really have characters, just plot devices. And I usually like miseryporn a lot. If it is done good, which it isn't here.
It's hard to imagine the books being a game of thrones in space if people are just classic archetypes or straight up exist so the author can advance the story. I mean the jackal, really? He worked in the first book, but later on it was laughable.
Replies: >>24618663
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:14:09 PM No.24618663
>>24618642
I describe it more as game of thrones as there are political factions pulling the characters all over the place in an ongoing war between two large warring parties. There are schemers in both advancing their agendas, undermining major characters and there are houses similar to the major ones in ASOIAF. The Jackal was more of a psychological villain. His entire thing is creeping people out and he’s not a physical one which is a nice foil to Darrow who is a physical character. Miseryporn exists still in the series and I’d argue that it’s more prevalent in the sequel series, but I don’t find it gratuitous specially compared to something like Malazan where it’s just chapter after chapter of torture.

The sequel books also introduces more protagonists outside of Darrow who are more interesting as well. They all suffer in their own way but it’s a world where there is an extreme and violent caste system so it’s not like it’s out of the blue when it happens.
Replies: >>24618673
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:19:57 PM No.24618673
>>24618663
The Jackal was a comic book villain. That is my main problem with him. Give me someone that actually makes sense as a villain.
As I said I don't mind misery if it is done well. Saikano, Eden, Hitsuji no Uta? Kino. I dislike Malazan, but there it was at least everyone suffering the same.
In red rising the author just hypes the main character too much, then has to smash him down somehow, which just feels contrived.
Replies: >>24618686 >>24618728 >>24618807
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:25:26 PM No.24618686
175441909563824841
175441909563824841
md5: 2fed6fe20ec21997e27d4ca337e72d21🔍
>>24618673
The sequels have better villains.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:45:23 PM No.24618728
>>24618673
>Saikano, Eden, Hitsuji no Uta? Kino.
I mean, this here is why many believe that RR discussion should be moved to a containment thread, or out of /lit/ altogether.
Replies: >>24618732
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 6:46:48 PM No.24618732
>>24618728
Can you try that again in a more coherent way? And who are these "many" you're speaking for, are they in the room with us?
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 7:14:38 PM No.24618807
>>24618673
In RR the only POV is Darrow so all the suffering is on him. The sequel books have more POV characters and everyone shares in the misery :)
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:24:41 PM No.24618945
>>24616660
Not sure. I thought Kel was Ajokli, but then Kellhus and Cnaiur were both Ajokli.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:27:06 PM No.24618954
It's time, guys. Give me your cozish autumnal herbal fantasy.

fallbounty.jpg
Replies: >>24624996
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:44:05 PM No.24619007
>>24617787
we read ursula here, anon
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:45:17 PM No.24619009
doctor strange
doctor strange
md5: 1433ab3b6e583a57923e8ef0470b10be🔍
I wish Alex Ross made art for fantasy books.
Replies: >>24619019
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:48:18 PM No.24619019
175446387902743641
175446387902743641
md5: 3dc945aca3864b7a0301df73b9914300🔍
>>24619009
Michael Whelan is as close as we’ll get.
Replies: >>24619023 >>24619270
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 8:49:26 PM No.24619023
>>24619019
Indeed. I would find a good artist and commission some if I had the cash.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:18:44 PM No.24619090
BUUURSAAR
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:34:05 PM No.24619125
barely
barely
md5: 16eeb455f9bf7e013db0ee0586754fba🔍
>>24615650 (OP)
name the book
Replies: >>24619133 >>24619149 >>24619187 >>24619257 >>24619530 >>24620235 >>24623553
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:36:00 PM No.24619133
>>24619125
The half of Dune that isn't talking about how dogshit a planet of 90% sand is.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:37:41 PM No.24619137
1744127658051998
1744127658051998
md5: 6802ecc3dc28201cc7a0d7883f2b71ff🔍
Finished Book of the New Sun and Urth of the New Sun. It was top kino, my favorite part was Sword of the Lictor and Urth.
I want to read all of Wolfe's stuff now.
Replies: >>24619334
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:43:12 PM No.24619149
>>24619125
Every solo penned Wheel of Time book
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 9:59:50 PM No.24619187
>>24619125
Chronicles of the Black Company. Almost every book has rape and rape of underage girls as well.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 10:12:30 PM No.24619218
>>24618022
>T. Lee
Assuming you mean Tanith Lee, her most popular book opens with gay quasi-incestuous pederasty in the first chapter. Never dropped a book so instantly in my life. Don't call that putrid trash a "pearl".
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 10:26:57 PM No.24619253
>>24617448
women cant write
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 10:28:06 PM No.24619257
>>24619125
Gor series
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 10:34:02 PM No.24619270
>>24619019
shame it's wasted on such a shit book. SHIT!
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 10:56:48 PM No.24619334
wolfefags
wolfefags
md5: 819990b8193222e0857b02c32946a4b9🔍
>>24619137
Replies: >>24619374 >>24619593 >>24623293
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 11:00:55 PM No.24619357
>>24616425
It's a solid introduction to what is one of the best post-2000 sff series. Stover's writing quality is up there with the modern greats. Caine's Law in particular is the best experimental narrative I think I've ever read.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 11:05:08 PM No.24619369
800px-Edda
800px-Edda
md5: 5338e0903ddc7ccf88de8926908c2318🔍
I finished the Prose Edda. It was one of those books I was very sure I'd already read because I knew so many of the myths in it, but it turned out I hadn't read it at all. It was interesting and not dry at all. Perhaps the most shocking thing to me was Sturluson claiming descent for his gods/humans-that-became gods (?) from Troy. It's honestly insane and kind of funny, he equated Thor was Hector and made all kinds weird etymological connections that would probably be derided nowadays. Anyway, the stories themselves are fun, it's always interesting to see how people have tried in time to explain the origin of the world, the natural phenomena and so on. The gods themselves feel rather ordinary and I'm not sure whether it's due to whatever Sturluson adapted or whether they really are meant to feel like normal people who happened to gain powers. Intriguing either way. It was also really nice to see the origin of several English words as personified in old Norse deities or concepts.
Replies: >>24619385
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 11:06:24 PM No.24619374
>>24619334
Peeved
Replies: >>24619449
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 11:11:33 PM No.24619385
>>24619369
I finished this recently. I have a hunch that the whole Thor is Hector introduction part was only written as a CYA to prevent the Vatican from coming for his ass. It's literally not relevant to the rest of the translation.
Replies: >>24619433
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 11:31:19 PM No.24619433
>>24619385
Huh, that never even crossed my mind. At one point my translator mentioned that the list of kings/lords in the beginning corresponds to the Anglo-Saxon one, so I figured he lifted the whole Troy aspect from that and applied it to his own mythology. It's all a bit of a mess anyway.
Anonymous
8/7/2025, 11:35:42 PM No.24619449
wolfefags1
wolfefags1
md5: 3973a058b45b96e5331f5ccbd89e46f1🔍
>>24619374
Replies: >>24621454 >>24623293
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 12:02:27 AM No.24619530
>>24619125
>anything by Jack Chalker
>anything by Piers Anthony
>anything by MZB
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 12:34:36 AM No.24619593
1655353804091
1655353804091
md5: 2cd9f441f38a3b9d04a9d8e23892c7ca🔍
>>24619334
yes, catholics are better thinkers than atheist pseudointellectuals
Replies: >>24620477
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 1:03:34 AM No.24619646
062e5f85db55f66eab3f83913c60a7ef_w200
062e5f85db55f66eab3f83913c60a7ef_w200
md5: 3dd99a418bc691c00a432e33bb4167bb🔍
are there any book characters like Robocop
Replies: >>24620052 >>24624996
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:46:33 AM No.24619791
Almost finished with Dark Age, just starting part IV. I am now convinced that by the end of Red God, there will be no named characters left in the series. The epilogue will be a crowd of vaguely described people watching the funeral of the last two named characters who raped each other to death while poisoning each other with the very essence of war crimes condensed down into a liquid.
Replies: >>24619798 >>24619853
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:51:29 AM No.24619798
>>24619791
Would be kino as long as the indistinct crowd starves to death afterward
Replies: >>24619830
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:11:57 AM No.24619830
>>24619798
Of course. It's what they deserve
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:19:58 AM No.24619853
>>24619791
>reading Dark Age for the first time
>get to that same part
>gotta be a fakeout somehow
>gotta be
>immediately go skim through my Lightbringer copy for a single chapter starting with Ephraim's name
>there's none
>despair
Good times
Replies: >>24622921
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:37:25 AM No.24619892
apps.45242.13568632792554292.fea70ec4-25b5-4014-996b-52c5abc58b71.3631a6a8-0f15-49b7-8ffc-b7ddb5d0dd2a
Any fantasy like pic rel?
Replies: >>24619900 >>24620344 >>24620362
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:43:28 AM No.24619900
>>24619892
Malazan
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:55:41 AM No.24619914
Just started iron gold, I agree Lysander must die but because he's retarded
Replies: >>24619917
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:57:27 AM No.24619917
>>24619914
You'll get plenty more reasons to think that soon enough
Replies: >>24620095
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:32:33 AM No.24619963
1000023312
1000023312
md5: 4ff40f3fdf75de08c7d61013f3b1883a🔍
>>24617907
Picrel is the best argument they deserve a shot.

Fucking bizzare, fun ride. Not!LOTR orcs get 'Nam weaponry and USMC memes, with gratuitous sex, all while making fun of SFFG and spiraling down the path of greater scope villains.

Fun book. Never would have believed it was written by a woman, except it says it was.
Replies: >>24619984 >>24621382
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:50:32 AM No.24619984
>>24619963
Rats and Gargoyles, another by her, is also great.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 5:12:33 AM No.24620018
>>24615681
I think the opposite is true. Everything ends up as original because there are too many ways to diverge from the norm. It's a question of how original something is.

If shuffling a deck of cards almost always creates an ordering of cards that has never happened before, then chaining together 50,000 words will do that with certainty.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 5:42:22 AM No.24620052
>>24619646
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?4922
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 6:15:48 AM No.24620095
>>24619917
Off topic but I wish this stupid book could just start with a win or two. It's just bleakness for 200 pages so far and it's missing balance.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 6:32:34 AM No.24620112
What are the best multivolume pre-2000 fantasy series? Besides Tolkien and Jordan obviously
Replies: >>24620118
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 6:40:56 AM No.24620118
1725719624009
1725719624009
md5: 54f743904c03917ff0d6d23fd926f3ef🔍
>>24620112
The Belgariad and The Mallorean
Replies: >>24620133 >>24622682
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 7:05:24 AM No.24620133
>>24620118
this and shannara are pretty much THE fantasy stories of the 80s
Replies: >>24622268
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 8:30:35 AM No.24620235
>>24619125
Drow matriarchy in R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books
Replies: >>24620249
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 8:37:50 AM No.24620249
>>24620235
I read every book of his that was published before I graduated high school and I never considered that angle.
Replies: >>24620256
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 8:43:21 AM No.24620256
>>24620249
I started reading them in middle school and turned out they were very relevant to my interests.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:23:28 AM No.24620332
Does anyone else vaguely recall some wrestling themed fantasy book where the main character was a preacher of some sort and had to win a wrestling tournament to beat demons or something?
I haven't actually read it, I remember seeing a cover somewhere online and thinking it was a shitpost but now that I think about it I think it's a shitpost I'd like to read.
Replies: >>24623697
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:29:35 AM No.24620341
>>24618528
Islam is barely right about itself , lol
Replies: >>24620856
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:29:46 AM No.24620344
>>24619892
Eisenhorn series
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:42:05 AM No.24620362
>>24619892
Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series
Dark Sun (Prism Pentad series)
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 11:26:58 AM No.24620477
zoomers
zoomers
md5: 5b8e8ecf711401d73291edf36ab1db2b🔍
>>24619593
>yes, catholics are better thinkers than atheist pseudointellectuals
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 1:05:10 PM No.24620667
1721029387
1721029387
md5: 9ac33e7107f07535a7223149df252820🔍
Anons, suggest me elven or fae centric books. I'm new to books so suggest even the ones you think I might know (I don't).
Replies: >>24620706 >>24620815 >>24620820 >>24620960
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 1:24:34 PM No.24620706
>>24620667
Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett
War of the Flowers by Tad Williams
Replies: >>24620812
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:23:54 PM No.24620812
>>24620706
I was thinking more of an elf or fae protagonist instead of something that depicts them in negative light. I like elves...
Replies: >>24620827 >>24620829
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:24:37 PM No.24620815
>>24620667
The King of Elfland's Daughter, The Silmarillion, Thomas the Rhymer
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:28:08 PM No.24620820
>>24620667
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:31:02 PM No.24620827
elves
elves
md5: 75b44be91abc218b12238ee70380503e🔍
>>24620812
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:31:20 PM No.24620829
irwin elves
irwin elves
md5: 4b31b6121efc91f91b231caf9b36881e🔍
>>24620812
You shouldn't. Elves are the worst. THE WORST.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:38:07 PM No.24620840
>>24615650 (OP)
What site you use for download books
Replies: >>24620867 >>24620925 >>24620994
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:51:34 PM No.24620856
>>24620341
Ok Shlomo.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 2:56:58 PM No.24620867
>>24620840
Amazon.com
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:09:31 PM No.24620885
I knew going in that His Secret Illumination would have a BDSM / muscled sugar mommy focus but hot damn the protagonist is more of a sub than Stockton Rush ever managed to create.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:23:53 PM No.24620901
>>24616315
>telegraphed with all subtelty of a monster truck show
That's a great simile. Definitely going in my novel.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:32:25 PM No.24620925
>>24620840
I dont download books. I buy them and read them off printed paper. Because I'm not a faggot.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:43:52 PM No.24620960
>>24620667
Bernhard Hennen wrote an elven-centred superseries (a couple of subseries, ~20 thick books), but it is mainly in German

The first book
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25581147-the-elven
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 3:58:24 PM No.24620994
>>24620840
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_library
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:19:08 PM No.24621035
>>24618382
>>24618365
Hmm you seem kinda defensive
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:20:33 PM No.24621037
Unironically how pozzed is red rising? I really wanna get into it
Replies: >>24621043 >>24621057 >>24621221
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:23:29 PM No.24621043
>>24621037
What is pozzed to you because it’s a schizo buzzword. There’s a gay character in the series who is incredibly based. There are women who fuck up. It has a white blonde male x white blonde female romance. If you live in a shitty pozz mindset you’ll enjoy nothing
Replies: >>24621697
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:27:36 PM No.24621048
175435974220180444
175435974220180444
md5: 56f0c7ee3629a02dd2821db26509fd7c🔍
Horse
Replies: >>24621226 >>24622858
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:32:18 PM No.24621057
>>24621037
It has women in it so it's automatically terminally pozzed
Replies: >>24621076
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:35:10 PM No.24621063
1754663698095
1754663698095
md5: 46c4cfa424a1828fe127b006a020d7ca🔍
>reddit
Replies: >>24621117
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:43:03 PM No.24621076
>>24621057
Young attractive women are the opposite of pozzed
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 4:54:57 PM No.24621117
>>24621063
Did you take up the offer?
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 5:36:06 PM No.24621221
>>24621037
Some gay characters. The only gay POV character lost his significant other before his story sets in. There's only one explicit sex scene in the series and it's female on male rape
Replies: >>24621273
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 5:37:57 PM No.24621226
>>24621048
Victra best girl
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 6:02:06 PM No.24621273
>>24621221
>There's only one explicit sex scene in the series and it's female on male rape
I don't remember that at all
Replies: >>24621283
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 6:06:11 PM No.24621283
>>24621273
Lysander and Atalantia
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 6:31:02 PM No.24621325
harem fantasy rec where the harem are useful, do something beyond appealing to the male gaze, and have goals and conflicts of their own?
Replies: >>24621352 >>24621501 >>24622024 >>24625363
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 6:45:34 PM No.24621352
>>24621325
If your okay with absolute slop:
Dungeon Diving 101's harem is pretty divers while most of them feel like actual characters. Bonus points for a decent number of the cast actually leaving the harem from time to time to follow their own plans.
De'vas chronicles smaller harem and their mostly just background fighter but their personalities are decently written and interact well
Mob Sorcery... okay basically all the characters are just 'animal but a sexy woman that will shank you' but the harpy is a complete bitch and I'm here for it.
Replies: >>24621671
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 7:02:05 PM No.24621382
>>24619963
Really loved that book as a teen, and it's the book I re-read the most (like, 10 times or so). Once I finished it I even restarted to read it. Fun times.


Barashkukor best orc
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 7:11:12 PM No.24621398
1753697545751727
1753697545751727
md5: 10bde11f877a5bc6b09305559296cb6c🔍
>>24617325
It was a really bizarre feeling to look up character art to see how other people visualize them and seeing a bunch of nappy haired mulattos on the """official""" wiki. Like lmfao, it's not 2014 anymore, these fags are out of touch.
This Darrow's pretty good, at least.
Replies: >>24621403 >>24622409
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 7:14:23 PM No.24621403
175379922874897535
175379922874897535
md5: 04e1c614032c08f718451e40e7366ee0🔍
>>24621398
It’s the self inserts who need to make everyone black and brown cause they are, whilst completely ignoring a lot of the already black and brown characters in the universe. This is official art of Mustang and she looks the opposite of every shitty fan art out there aka white.
Replies: >>24622409
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 7:41:42 PM No.24621454
>>24619449
Wolfe mogs your favorite sff author ngl brotatoe.
Replies: >>24621568
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 7:59:48 PM No.24621501
>>24621325
Blood & Fur. no furries included, though one girl can shapeshift into a giant wolf
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 8:23:58 PM No.24621568
>>24621454
No he doesn't
The authors he takes from are far better than Wolfe himself
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:12:17 PM No.24621671
>>24621352
dungeon diving 101 is doodoo like all of bruce sentar's output, though I'll admit not getting far enough to actually see more than two obvious heroines
haven't read de'vas
Mob Sorcery never shows the mob actually doing anything, after three "books" absolutely fuckall has happened to advance the plot, and there's one (1) scene of "conflict" which is just about which of the beastgirls fucks the MC harder
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:19:54 PM No.24621697
>>24621043
> There’s a gay character in the series
Dropped.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:45:34 PM No.24621766
>>24617046
Yes. Deadly Education is superb. However it is also romantasy from a woman's POV, just fyi
Replies: >>24621929
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:47:17 PM No.24621773
>>24617049
Yep. It's an industry like any other, and risk-taking rarely makes lots of money. My current plan is to shit out some cozy-mysteries, score an agent, then slowly start to transition towards more original stuff once I'm a proven earner.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 9:50:29 PM No.24621783
>>24617448
It's fine. Those names are dogshit though, single-syllable names need to have a closed vowel, like Bob, or Pat. Rob. Sam. In point of fact I defy you to think of one real-world common single-syllable name that has an open vowel sound
Replies: >>24621898
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 10:34:07 PM No.24621898
>>24621783
Beau, Dee, Flo, Lou, Sue... Joy, maybe, I can't be fucked to remember the rules around the y being a vowel or not.
Replies: >>24621918
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 10:39:24 PM No.24621918
>>24621898
Y can function as a vowel or a consonant, depending on the word. With "Joy" it is a consonant.
Bo, Lou, and Sue are good ones, though I notice they're all abbreviations of longer names.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 10:43:29 PM No.24621929
>>24621766
>El’s father is a Marathi-speaker from Mumbai, but El has no personal connection to Indian culture. Her father’s family prophesied that El would be a destroyer, and other than that rejection El has nothing to say about India or half of her culture.
>Making El biracial seems like an afterthought, not something that affects her character in any way. It just creates some truly unfortunate optics, like when El goes on a three-paragraph description of how unnecessary she finds showers and how dirty she is at any given time.
>All this adds up to a character (and a world), that reads as nothing so much as colonial. El feasts on the languages of others for her own edification, power, and survival, but she doesn’t see her classmates as people, and she doesn’t see language as a living thing related to real cultures.
>Other cultures and peoples exist, but only to serve the aims and needs of white (or mostly white-coded) characters. Novik has no empathy, no care and apparently no ability to Google anything about the cultures she wants to draw on.

This one star review makes it sound either unintentionally hilarious or like a veiled fuck you to diversity quotas, is the story at least interesting though?
Replies: >>24621964 >>24621971
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 10:58:09 PM No.24621964
>>24621929
It definitely feels like a diversity-quota thing to make her half-indian, yeah, but it works its way into the story sorta-well in the third book.
I enjoyed it a lot. It's like the anime Kill La Kill, it is simultaneously a parody of the genre and an exemplar of the genre, in this case the genre being wizard schools. Elphaba is a broody loner nerd who has special mary-sue OP powers and is destined to destroy the world, but she's very droll about it.
The coolest part by far is the setting. Magical hell-monsters infest the world and love to eat wizard children, so they finally built an automated highschool in the void where they can learn to be wizards or die trying, which brought the wizard-infant-mortality rate from 90% down to like 50%.
I'm not exactly a high-brow intellectual (that's why I post in sffg!) but I couldn't put it down.
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 11:01:17 PM No.24621971
>>24621929
also this review is just some hyperliberal doing mental gymnastics to make Novik out as a racist, fuck we doin here
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 11:19:31 PM No.24622008
I liked empire of silence
But man, will this series be just a long loop of making decisions that will eventually blow in his face for Hadrian?
I got this misery porn loop vibe in this first book
Replies: >>24622064
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 11:24:21 PM No.24622013
IMG_4435
IMG_4435
md5: d546760c193d97773f166682daa1dfcf🔍
> KNOW, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars. […] Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen- eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."
Replies: >>24622053
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 11:27:50 PM No.24622024
>>24621325
Give a try at Mike Truk.
Replies: >>24622294
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 11:43:39 PM No.24622053
>>24622013
For me it's the Road of Kings poem

>When I was a fighting-man, the kettle-drums they beat;
>The people scattered gold-dust before my horse’s feet;
>But now I am a great king, the people hound my track
>With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back.

>Gleaming shell of an outworn lie; fable of Right divine -
>You gained your crowns by heritage, but Blood was the price of mine.
>The throne that I won by blood and sweat, by Crom, I will not sell
>For promise of valleys filled with gold, or threat of the Halls of Hell!

>What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie?
>I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.
>The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing;
>Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king.

Phoenix on the Sword is such an incredible introduction to Conan that I pity anyone who starts with another story.
Replies: >>24622275
Anonymous
8/8/2025, 11:51:26 PM No.24622064
>>24622008
It's a fundamentally bittersweet story. From page one we know that Hadrian ultimately wins (or at least achieves his objective) but loses a lot--of himself, of his friends and family--in the process. For the most part it gets weightier and more compelling as the series goes on.
Replies: >>24622191
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 12:47:50 AM No.24622191
>>24622064
Oh yeah I definitely noticed what the writer did here.
Since we already know hadrian succeeds by some degree, even if he lost the things he loved in the process, the author is free to throw shit at him and it becomes more about the journey than the destination
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 12:56:08 AM No.24622209
books where the main character is a bungler, shirks honing his abilities, wastes his potential and power, but figures out practical ways to defeat enemies
Replies: >>24624996
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 12:57:20 AM No.24622214
35905252
35905252
md5: f7a504ee6c3d1467d060af15c47cc119🔍
I finished The Twenty Days of Turin. While at its heart it's a metaphor about the post WW2 years in Italy, it can be easily read with no historical knowledge. Very atmospheric and unsettling.
It's basically about a man who wants to write a book about the twenty days of mass psychosis/insomnia punctuated by gruesome murders that took place in Turin ten years back and that nearly no one wants to talk about. What he unearths from various witnesses is very creepy (this is where the fantastic part kicks in) and not as over as he had thought. The air of the city itself gets more and more oppressive and heavy and the protagonist starts having one strange encounter after another, while the final chapter downright feels like a fever dream, in and out of the story.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 1:19:51 AM No.24622268
>>24620133
>how fantasy died in the 1980s
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 1:22:45 AM No.24622275
>>24622053
>Phoenix on the Sword is such an incredible introduction to Conan that I pity anyone who starts with another story.

>find https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?258410 in a second hand shop, like new
>it has no index
>there's no "Phoenix on the Sword"
I'm still mad.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 1:31:21 AM No.24622294
>>24622024
Surprisingly passable fantasy schlock for smut. Shame it seems he's on hiatus.
Replies: >>24622361
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:00:40 AM No.24622361
>>24622294
Yeah, he started doing some non-smut western cultivation/progression/level crap now.
I couldn't manage to finish the first book, and the problem is that his protagonists were more interesting than the non-smut one. Also, the setting is probably one of the worst I've ever seen, even chinkshit and koreanslop are miles better.
Which is really puzzling, considering I loved the settings of the smut ones...
Replies: >>24622383 >>24622385
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:08:23 AM No.24622383
>>24622361
>Yeah, he started doing some non-smut western cultivation/progression/level crap now.
Really? I don't see anything on kindle other than his smut stuff.
Replies: >>24622431
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:08:43 AM No.24622385
>>24622361
What psuedo name is he using for that?
Replies: >>24622431
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:09:46 AM No.24622389
starfish
starfish
md5: cadb3877ec1601bc91020aa9be9cd2f5🔍
FYI

Because I have noticed there is a lot of bad taste and misinformation in the community

Blindsight is very overrated and not an "intellectual book"

Starfish is Peter Watts's masterpiece

Chronicles of Amber sucks dick and Zelazny wrote it cynically for money

Zelazny has some good stuff though like Lord of Light

Jack Vance and Poul Anderson are the best /sffg/ authors and don't get talked about enough

Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Malazan are works of genius BUT Mieville and Erikson are turboshitlibs and the books do have retarded stuff in them

Jeff Vandermeer sucks; he is a turboshitlib like those guys but his books have no redeeming qualities

Maybe I need to make an infographic because a lot of the ones in that mega link are stupid as fuck
Replies: >>24622483 >>24622749 >>24622752 >>24623905
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:14:55 AM No.24622409
>>24621403
>>24621398

Been a long white since I read, what are the various colors described as looking like again? The only thing I recall for sure is that Obsidians are extremely pale, and golds have gold hair.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:20:48 AM No.24622431
>>24622383
>>24622385
He's using his real name, since he doesn't want to be associated with his smut writings. Which is stupid, considering they're much better than the non-smut ones.
Replies: >>24622438
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:23:57 AM No.24622438
>>24622431
Are you being intentionally obtuse? Just give us the name.
Replies: >>24622464 >>24622465
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:31:36 AM No.24622455
81IIc433V7L
81IIc433V7L
md5: aa6ed2d744ef1b526d7d70620fa800e4🔍
So I'm 30 chapters into Empire of Silence, and an issue I'm having is that the MC really doesn't do much of note. Like I get it, he goes from being a prince type whose life is controlled by the whims of his father, to being homeless and helpless.

And I get the vision, this section of the story is supposed to highlight his lack of power and agency to contrast with his eventual rise. But it still doesn't make up for how it feels that in 30 chapters he has only made a single impacful decision and everything else has either happened to him or been inflicted on him.
Replies: >>24622625
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:37:13 AM No.24622464
>>24622438
nta
Michael A. Cox
Probably anyway
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:39:22 AM No.24622465
>>24622438
The name of the first book is Bastion.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:47:32 AM No.24622483
>>24622389
I thought Erikson was some kind of libertarian
Replies: >>24622518 >>24622518
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:08:17 AM No.24622518
karsa
karsa
md5: 275f7589261877efdcb4f13c4541caf8🔍
>>24622483
>>24622483
He's a big lib/socialist. If you can tolerate that, then you'll love Malazan.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:23:14 AM No.24622550
>>24615650 (OP)
Can you write fantasy for males now or should you just write women getting dicked by (monster of the week)?
Replies: >>24622562 >>24623965
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:27:49 AM No.24622562
>>24622550
you sure can make write fantasy for males but if you want to make fuck all money from it you'll have to serialize it on webslop
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:40:15 AM No.24622586
Does anyone have a chart with a list of classic fantasy essentials? I went through the mega and there isn't really anything comprehensive
Replies: >>24622603 >>24622682
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:53:06 AM No.24622603
>>24622586
The Dying Earth
Lyonesse
The Broken Sword
Three Hearts and Three Lions
The Wizard Knight
The Shadow of the Torturer
Fafrd and the Gray Mouser
Conan the Barbarian

off the top of my head
Replies: >>24622931 >>24623293
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:11:13 AM No.24622625
>>24622455
It's probably as pronounced as it is because of the book's troubled editorial process. I've heard Ruocchio talk about having an editor quit on him and the book doubling in length relative to the manuscript he initially sold.
It's really a shame. I liked Empire of Silence well enough to continue reading the series but it's perhaps the weakest installment, which turns off some readers who'd probably enjoy Howling Dark onward
Replies: >>24622659 >>24623487
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:45:42 AM No.24622659
>>24622625
In that case, I'll stick with it, it does feel like a book that got stretched out, but I'm used to liking series where the first book isn't the best.
Replies: >>24623487
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:02:10 AM No.24622682
>>24622586
See >>24620118
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:53:19 AM No.24622749
>>24622389
>Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Malazan are works of genius

Rats and Gargoyles, Viriconium and The Iron Dragon's Daughter are much better than those.
Replies: >>24623560 >>24623560
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:55:50 AM No.24622752
>>24622389
I also really enjoyed Starfish and it's one of my favorite novels of all time.
I also like the next two books but only because of Starfish.
Replies: >>24623560
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:33:04 AM No.24622803
Reading WoT while not having the tiniest exposure to the TV show aside from the fact that the chick from Gone Girl was playing Moraine has been an interesting experience.

You read about these characters and then see who they chose to play them in the show and you almost can't believe your eyes. Like what do you mean that's Siuane Sanche? There's not a single quality shared between the character on the page and the actress they chose.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5AeC7eGAjjQ

When it cut to who she was motioning to I just bust out laughing
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 7:12:45 AM No.24622858
>>24621048
UMA MUSUME?
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:00:09 AM No.24622921
>>24619853
I remember when the senate scene happened, I skimmed through the entire rest of the book to see if virginia survived.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:06:31 AM No.24622931
>>24622603
How is The Wizard Knight "classic fantasy"? It's from THIS millennium
Replies: >>24622942
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:11:17 AM No.24622942
>>24622931
anything written by Gene Wolfe automatically qualifies as classic.
Replies: >>24622944 >>24623293
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:13:22 AM No.24622944
>>24622942
A lot of his later books are lame though
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:41:59 AM No.24622990
any xianxia focusing on sibling relationships or friendship?
Replies: >>24623083 >>24623111 >>24623653 >>24624876 >>24624996
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 9:40:37 AM No.24623083
cradle legos
cradle legos
md5: 7b98f4ac18db07fbdc920eb891b33905🔍
>>24622990
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 9:55:52 AM No.24623111
>>24622990
uh I guess Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, there's a focus on raising a legion of randos up the various realms
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 10:42:41 AM No.24623158
Anyone noticed how similar the slog of slogs in the Second Apocalypse is in comparison to Blood Meridian?
>thinking sffags will read anything else than sff
>thinking people are not filtered by Bakker
Replies: >>24623162
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 10:48:42 AM No.24623162
>>24623158
Literally everyone has read Blood Meridian. It's the most mainstream, most normie book imaginable. You are not special for knowing Cormac McCarhty, an author with multiple Hollywood movie adaptations of his work. Sit down and be humble.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:49:34 AM No.24623248
41iNrO+1tML._UF1000,1000_QL80_
41iNrO+1tML._UF1000,1000_QL80_
md5: 9c4031b69a3d208266ac110d44dff45a🔍
I'll let /lit/ decide the on order in which I read my latest book haul; currently already reading The Stars My Destination (2/3 through) as first pick and like it a lot, it genuinely feels like a cyberpunk-ish retelling of Count of Monte Christo, and I like Bester's writing and sardonic wit.

The rest of the haul includes: Blood Music (Bear), Inverted World (Priest), Ice (Kavan), House of Suns (Reynolds), High-Rise (Ballard), Stories of Your Life and Others (Chiang); plus a couple more, but mainly interested in the ones listed
Replies: >>24623268 >>24624945
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:58:39 AM No.24623268
>>24623248
I've seen the movie adaptation of High-Rise, so I'd go for Ballard next. Crazy shit.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 12:13:35 PM No.24623293
>>24622942
>>24622603
>wolfe
>classic
LOL
see >>24619334 >>24619449
Replies: >>24623321 >>24623435 >>24623648
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 12:34:13 PM No.24623321
>>24623293
Filtered
Replies: >>24623598
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 1:48:44 PM No.24623430
33835
33835
md5: 1a727a205e4bfd1f3a9d43da9fce61c7🔍
Kept going with Coldfire, everyone says the ending is worth is but man... it's such a slog. I like the world building and it has interesting characters but by God the whole 'Quest' part of it is so mind numbing. It's just, walk in this general direction, get on a boat for a while, then keep walking in the direction of some vague evil we need to defeat.
Replies: >>24623449
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 1:50:55 PM No.24623435
>>24623293
>heh this meme totally proves me right
Holy filtered
Replies: >>24623598
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 1:58:30 PM No.24623449
>>24623430
Who is this "everyone" and where are they from?
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:16:20 PM No.24623487
>>24622625
I got the impression that the author got a lot better.. .at being an author by the 2nd book
Didn't know that the 1st book had editor problems, that explains so much

>>24622659
Howling Dark so good, and by far the most interesting book in the series. Setting was so mysterious and exciting.

Man, I really like the series. Even if it's a bit "samey" in middle with the space military parts. That maaaybe book 3 and 4 (or is it 4 and 5?) could be condensed to 1 book.
My very favorite parts are the political intrigue stuff + giga despair and overcoming it
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:30:05 PM No.24623516
Just finished The Warrior Prophet and the end "battle" pissed me off. The Men of the Tusk, while emaciated and starving, manage to defeat a force three times their size due to singing songs? The Fanim even had elephants ffs. Bad writing.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:48:27 PM No.24623553
345t5
345t5
md5: 5264d3f332c52f9b5c639ac1c15fa3d5🔍
>>24619125
Erikson really loves them chubby.
Replies: >>24623656
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 2:52:30 PM No.24623560
>>24622749
>>24622749
Thank you for the recs my man. To clarify what you’re saying, are these libtard books that are nonetheless impressive, or are they just good books full stop?

>>24622752
Thanks man. He does the biter abused woman thing so much better than Jeff Vandermeer. Lenie is an interesting and likeable protagonist. The woman in the Annihilation books is just a terminally depressed cunt for no reason.
Replies: >>24623688 >>24623692
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:15:15 PM No.24623598
>>24623321
>>24623435
Filtered by literal pulp stories from the 1930s, typical wolfefags
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:35:59 PM No.24623631
>>24615653
And..?
Are you suggesting I need to do start doing anything differently in light of your perception of these alleged flaws in the genre? Or am I free to disregard and continue reading?
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:43:12 PM No.24623645
>>24615825
You don't need an intro to Wolfe. If you aren't diving right in and suffering for it, you aren't reading him right.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:44:29 PM No.24623648
>>24623293
No one who even thinks of saving basedjaks to his harddrive, let alone posting one, ever has an opinion I need to waste time considering.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:48:10 PM No.24623653
1753907457267
1753907457267
md5: 6e3bc7eae6837cd55f0f16795eaef8d2🔍
>>24622990
>chinese people
>friendship
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 3:48:57 PM No.24623656
>>24623553
Tattersail brain’d life that.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:03:00 PM No.24623675
face-melting
face-melting
md5: 69cddeffc48dd441799b5477e7200a86🔍
>>24615650 (OP)
>mfw The Twenty-One Second God still hasn't been added to Good Reads
I miss the days when users could add shit on their own.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:10:38 PM No.24623688
>>24623560
>are these libtard books that are nonetheless impressive, or are they just good books full stop?

They are good books full stop, don't know about any of the authors politics.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:13:42 PM No.24623692
>>24623560
>Lenie is an interesting and likeable protagonist.
I agree, I don't understand why people hate her character. Not from Starfish, but from book three, I enjoyed the "friendship" between her and the deuteragonist, they are both kind of socially retarded and constantly misunderstand each other's real personalities.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:15:48 PM No.24623697
1741925588462139
1741925588462139
md5: 2918011b6ead210cbab67d8971fa2498🔍
>>24620332
>HEAVEN VS HELL, LIVE ON PAY-PER VIEW!
After a demonic possession at the biggest wrestling show of the year, the Vatican sends exorcist Gabriel Blackwell to infiltrate the company, pose as a wrestler, and expel the demon. Blackwell has a complicated history with the wrestling business and must adapt or die, fighting for his soul on Pay-Per-View.
>Vatican Championship Wrestling is a fast paced pulp novel with non-stop action! An all-out battle between good and evil with the squared-circle as the stage!
Replies: >>24623706
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:20:32 PM No.24623706
>>24623697
That not the WN I was referring to, you absolute stupid fuck.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:21:33 PM No.24623710
Any good books about exploring ancient ruins and/or caverns?
Replies: >>24623731 >>24623818 >>24624512
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:35:05 PM No.24623731
>>24623710
That doesn't seem sustainable at novel length except for horror.
Replies: >>24623757
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:47:25 PM No.24623757
>>24623731
I imagine it would require in-depth and genuinely interesting worldbuilding to make the ruins of ancient civilizations entertaining enough for the reader to stick with the exploration for a whole book, but it could be done, if only for a niche audience.
Replies: >>24624193
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 4:50:21 PM No.24623766
deepseek is so shitty when asking recommendations, it either gives you made-up names or mixes author names
also, for some reason, it thinks we're still living in 2024
Replies: >>24623905
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:08:05 PM No.24623818
>>24623710
I just finished Dragon Age: The Calling, which mostly takes place in an ancient ruin (The Deep Roads). So it can be done.
Replies: >>24623832
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:11:01 PM No.24623832
>>24623818
I enjoyed that book and 2bh the early dragon age books and games were good. It’s a shame what happened. I still find it funny that the cure for the dark spawn taint seems to be theirin cum
Replies: >>24623933
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:27:20 PM No.24623870
Tad_Williams_(2019)
Tad_Williams_(2019)
md5: 13bd503af175063f85c293ab6750eb72🔍
Fuck, he is good.
Replies: >>24623892 >>24623933
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:36:11 PM No.24623892
>>24623870
Yes. Patiently waiting for Splintered Sun.
Silently praying for more Bobby Dollar
Replies: >>24624040
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:40:05 PM No.24623905
>>24622389
Starfish was really nice. I didn't really like the sequels, but thinking about it that was probably because I wanted more of the first and was disappointed they were their own thing.
Also I took a quick look at the goodreads page and I expected a lot more outrage than there was. With Watts practically pairing rapebait with rapists

>>24623766
Because it's been trained on data from mostly 2023 and before, and just a bit of 2024. That's it until a new version comes out, and even then it will be behind in time. And is dipsy really the best for something like that? Just use claude, gpt or even gemini pro.
Replies: >>24624864
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 5:50:24 PM No.24623933
>>24623832
I wish David Gaydar had just stuck to writing Dragon Age novels and it had spun off to be its own setting, like Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance, rather than just centering around the video games.
>>24623870
Guess it's time to start. I've got Shadowplay and Otherland. Which one is best to begin with?
Replies: >>24624040 >>24624055 >>24624473
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:00:53 PM No.24623965
1754514571962
1754514571962
md5: 1bc9e640a7acb0b84fdee431681bd20e🔍
>>24622550
nothing stops you from doing both
in fact, that's what I'm doing right now: male high fantasy where the mc fraternizes, romances, and eventually lies with a monster girl
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:26:40 PM No.24624025
I just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, a brief review follows:
Pros
>funny writing style
>interesting enough to get through all of it
>mysterious enough depictions of magic
Cons
>alt-histort was hardly alternative at all
>magic was not grand enough despite gesturing at it
>overall felt small in scope despite involving both the Napoleonic wars and the idea of magic returning to the world mostly due to its personal focus on the two protagonists
Can I get some recommendations which have the same mysterious edge to magic, but which are a bit more grand in scope?
Replies: >>24624588
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:34:57 PM No.24624040
>>24623892
The premise of Splintered Sun isn't really grabbing me right now, for some reason, but I trust Tad to deliver something from the heart. Are you excited for what it's about or is it simply you enjoying a return to Osten Ard?

>>24623933
I haven't read either, though, I'd like to start Otherland this year. The classic to start with is Memory, Sorrow & Thorn but if you wanna pick between those two you gave, I'd wager on the Shadowmarch series as I've heard good things about it. If you want a standalone, my personal rec is War of the Flowers.
Replies: >>24624051
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:37:49 PM No.24624051
>>24624040
>Are you excited for what it's about or is it simply you enjoying a return to Osten Ard?
I'm excited for the next Tad Williams book, whatever it is. He's written a lot but his style reads so breezily you soon run out.
Replies: >>24624068
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:38:51 PM No.24624055
>>24623933
Depends if you want fantasy (Shadowmarch) or scifi (Otherland)
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:43:45 PM No.24624068
>>24624051
Fair enough. It's also the reason why I'm picking it up anyways, too.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:46:37 PM No.24624082
where
where
md5: 4381d276d39af07eb855303081198bbd🔍
>its a Perrin chapter
Replies: >>24624104 >>24624420
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 6:53:12 PM No.24624104
>>24624082
>read summary and skip to a Mat or Nynaeve chapter
Replies: >>24625171 >>24625917
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 7:15:16 PM No.24624193
>>24623757
I agree.
There's a considerable amount of short fiction that does this.
Replies: >>24624205
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 7:20:29 PM No.24624205
>>24624193
Examples?
Replies: >>24624247 >>24624273 >>24624283
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 7:35:53 PM No.24624247
c96a2f25845283.5634ba40d04ea
c96a2f25845283.5634ba40d04ea
md5: 198ddc7d77ec444640d0a3a7c84d7013🔍
>>24624205
Like half of the works by Clark Ashton Smith are about that.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 7:45:01 PM No.24624273
>>24624205
Naudsonce - H. Beam Piper
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 7:47:57 PM No.24624283
>>24624205
Omnilingual - H. Beam Piper
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:16:36 PM No.24624370
started reading the name of the wind
>summery is about a dude doing cool shit
>then why are we just following a bartender?
>oh he's the guy
>and he is just retelling his life story
>comfy childhood
>suddenly trauma and beggar life
better get back to the cool shit soon, i don't need more depression
Replies: >>24624390
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:21:43 PM No.24624390
>>24624370
I'm sorry anon but there is no cool shit
At all
Kvothe never does the cool shit
It was all lies (by Rothfuss and his marketers)
Replies: >>24624457
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:28:45 PM No.24624420
flight-flightreacts
flight-flightreacts
md5: d6806ec3687a5976bc10cde83df13571🔍
>>24624082
>"muh faile!!!"
>"dont kill the tar valon witches that just tortured you, rand!!!"
>"no sexy big tiddy queen with insane diplomatic capability get away from me AAAAAAAHHHH"
matt and rand clear that fraud
Replies: >>24624782
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:38:07 PM No.24624457
>>24624390
damnit, but will the depressing shit end soon tho?
Replies: >>24624513
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:43:26 PM No.24624473
>>24623933
They're both good but Shadowplay is better.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:56:59 PM No.24624512
>>24623710
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoarchaeology
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 8:57:17 PM No.24624513
>>24624457
No, it's only going to get worse once he falls in love with a prostitute and gets endlessly cucked. Someone else surely has the page saved and will post it...
Replies: >>24624546
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 9:06:22 PM No.24624546
>>24624513
That isn't what cuckolding means.
Replies: >>24625966
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 9:18:29 PM No.24624588
>>24624025
The Dragon Waiting, sort of.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 10:28:13 PM No.24624782
>>24624420
100%. I think Perrin had the potential of being the slow oafish character that slowly became truly powerful but after Faile came into the picture, holy shit.
Replies: >>24624830
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 10:40:21 PM No.24624813
sandersnoy sword
sandersnoy sword
md5: 9e8f94b3b31f3d262e7fc791fd4e413d🔍
Heckin frick he is good.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 10:45:12 PM No.24624830
>>24624782
It's like she only exists as a character to make perrin worse
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:02:16 PM No.24624864
>>24623905
I haven’t even gotten around to reading more than half of the second book. It wasn’t even bad, I just missed the underwater stuff.

Blindsight is a nice book but way overrated and the philosophy is retarded. “Dude like what if instead of thinking…you just had an extremely complicated flowchart of instructions that turns inputs to outputs…like exactly how a computer works…how fucking out there and terrifying is that…like what even is consciousness”

^bookpilled on youtube said this was the most profound philosophy that he had ever read in any book
Replies: >>24626246
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:05:39 PM No.24624868
IMG_1362
IMG_1362
md5: 14bb9a34624e7d6fc5b60d0a7edbf577🔍
Do not research The Perdido Street Station Bird Rape Incident.
Replies: >>24624870
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:06:39 PM No.24624870
>>24624868
Don't worry anon, I have no intentions of doing so.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:10:45 PM No.24624876
>>24622990
people unironically ask recomendations based on tropes now
i noticed that
when did this change occur?
Replies: >>24624880 >>24624883 >>24624896 >>24624996 >>24625069 >>24625080
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:13:04 PM No.24624880
>>24624876
Probably autism.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:13:22 PM No.24624883
>>24624876
It’s super weird and cringe. I will read the best stuff regardless of genre. Just tell me what the good shit is, but if it’s good shit and has futanari I’m kinda in the mood for that though.
Replies: >>24624958
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:17:19 PM No.24624896
>>24624876
I think it happened with the normalisation of fandom therefore fanfiction which led to people looking for more of what they enjoyed under the guise of tropes and regardless of the actual content and quality.
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:38:12 PM No.24624945
>>24623248
Chiang is really good, though none of the stories are connected, so consider reading them as palate cleansers between books
His Exhalation is also great
Anonymous
8/9/2025, 11:44:11 PM No.24624958
>>24624883
When does futanari matter except in sex scenes?
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 12:01:39 AM No.24624996
Apparently putting a lot of quotes makes it think that this is all spam.
>>24616943
>>24623599
>>24617006
>>24618954
>>24619646
>>24622209
>>24622990
These are some of the examples of what this anon mentioned, in this very thread. I had to delete a lot of them.
>>24624876

It's an interesting change, and I have my own theories on the matter. I won't be elaborating. In summary: byproduct of tag systems
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 12:35:49 AM No.24625058
I think the reason I can't get into empire of silence is because I'm a faggot that listens to audio books and the narrator fucking sucks.
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 12:39:53 AM No.24625069
>>24624876
Don't wanna waste my time on shit that doesn't interest me. It's why romance novels advertise themselves based on the ending.
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 12:42:17 AM No.24625080
>>24624876
>asking based on tropes results in a higher probability of finding a good book for you
Wow, who would've guessed? If I asked for Chinese Fantasy recommendations, 9 out of 10 would be harem slop with rape or something I've read already
Replies: >>24625084
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 12:44:11 AM No.24625084
>>24625080
I like xianxia but have to check each story first to see if it's haremcuckshit. Sad!
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 12:51:57 AM No.24625106
It's kinda ironic how the dumbest people are on the literature board
Replies: >>24625122
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 12:57:15 AM No.24625122
>>24625106
No, it's just more evident that they are.
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 12:57:45 AM No.24625125
Are there any good books about WW2, Nazis, Hitler, and his fascination with the occult?
Replies: >>24625146
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 1:08:21 AM No.24625146
>>24625125
The Keep by Paul Wilson
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 1:18:08 AM No.24625171
>>24624104
I'm only on The Great Hunt right now and prefer Perrin to Mat. I guess the latter gets better after he isn't so sickly all the time
Replies: >>24625240 >>24625261
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 1:21:58 AM No.24625182
I don't care for Perrin
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 1:37:32 AM No.24625216
>>24617749
Not totally adverse to mc suffering: it probably speaks to something unworthy in me, but I quite enjoy it sometimes tbqh (e.g. the chap in the JV Jones books who gets tortured a bunch; the mc in the Tokyo ghoul books). Fine on some level with fitz getting eaten by worms but not interested in Bee as replacement mc, not happy with Fitz's hard one ending getting thrown away (domestic life, peace, happiness with Molly), and was v put out by the Fool stuff; seemed like have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too pandering to fujos. Will not be revisiting
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 1:46:07 AM No.24625240
>>24625171
Mat doesn't really become Mat until book 3
Replies: >>24625252
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 1:48:19 AM No.24625252
>>24625240
Man, I had all but forgot Matt spends book 2 being Gollum
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 1:51:05 AM No.24625261
>>24625171
Yes. Perrin becomes this mopey dweeb who is inexplicably liked by not one, but two powerful women for some reason; Mat, on the other hand, becomes a kind of freewheeling rogue whose hijinks become more and more fun as each book goes on. Mat is the dude getting all the boys together to hit up the bars on Saturday night and Perrin is the guy saying he can't come because his wife won't let him.
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 2:29:25 AM No.24625363
>>24621325
Mage Breaker a gritty after the war story with a neo-noir feeling, very good book.
Bedlam
Feral Mage which is by the same author of De'vas Chronicles which was mentioned earlier.

Has anyone here read Warlock by Daniel Kensington?
Replies: >>24625534
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 3:39:53 AM No.24625534
>>24625363
>Has anyone here read Warlock by Daniel Kensington?
I have and I liked it. The girls are fun and he does a good job giving them plenty of characterization beyond being a new hole to fill. I haven't read any other wizard school smut to compare it to though. I read the third book on his patreon and it's almost completely slice of life about their time at the school (very little time spent on the overarching plots brought up in the previous books, but still some meaningful stuff there) which might appeal to some and turn off others so I'm looking forward to seeing how it's received when it releases.
Replies: >>24625543
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 3:44:57 AM No.24625543
>>24625534
>almost completely slice of life about their time at the school
I should clarify that it's not full of chapters about wizard school class work and in fact that gets glossed over a lot. Instead it's a lot of character work and interactions to show how women who previously hated each other learn to get along and adjust to their new circumstances, which I personally enjoyed.
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 8:45:13 AM No.24625917
nynaeve_c
nynaeve_c
md5: 9b0673e5e6168243aa3bd9c267cdedfd🔍
>>24624104
>Mat or Nynaeve chapter
Turbo based.
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 9:27:03 AM No.24625966
>>24624546
What would you call it?
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 10:19:36 AM No.24626032
>>24615650 (OP)
new thread for fellow bonobonos
>>24626025
Anonymous
8/10/2025, 1:37:44 PM No.24626246
>>24624864
>“Dude like what if instead of thinking…you just had an extremely complicated flowchart of instructions that turns inputs to outputs…like exactly how a computer works…how fucking out there and terrifying is that…like what even is consciousness”
>t. philosophical zombie
bro, do you even are