Thread 24637070

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:
>>24626025

>Thread Question:
What upcoming SF&F books are you excited for?

>TQ
This and LYSANDER MUST DIE

It's dogshit

>>24637070 (OP)
Upcoming 2025 books that I'm aware of and have interest in
Legalist (The Grand Illusion #4)
All That We See or Seem (Julia Z, #1)
The Blackfire Blade (The Last Legacy, #2)
This Brutal Moon (The Kindom Trilogy #3)
The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2)

2026
Red God (Red Rising Saga, #7)
Steel Gods (The Great Silence, #2)
A Trade of Blood (Shadow of the Leviathan, #3)
Platform Decay (The Murderbot Diaries, #8)
Carl's Book of Boom (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #8)

TBA
Alecto the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #4)
The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6)
The Doors of Stone (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #3)
Untitled (The Masquerade, #4)
Judge of Worlds (Kithamar, #3)
The Infinite State

>>24637070 (OP)
>What upcoming SF&F books are you excited for?
I'm patiently waiting for Scott Lynch to get off his ass and get those Road to Emberlain novellas out

>>24637127
>winds of winter
Just give up anon. Gurm certainly has…

>>24637077
You don't like disabling clowns, anon?

At first I was excited to hear that Larry Niven was writing a new book until I found out that it was just more Gil Hamilton slop.

>read this expecting cat love
>main guy ends up with some boring ass human chick
Do any books with space cats actually have the main hero get with one?

>>24637070 (OP)
So people are split on Empire of the Vampire?

>>24637276
Is it pozzed?

>>24637297
It's about vampires so yes

>>24637276
this looks like a romantasy novel

>>24637070 (OP)
>What upcoming SF&F books are you excited for?
I have been waiting for the third book in The Burning series for like 5 years.

Atlas might be the most interesting Gold to me. He's not even evil, he's just doing his job.

Welp...

>>24637655
All of the Rim Golds were very interesting, especially him and Romulus. Atlas was 100% autistic though which made his interactions funny.
]>does not care about his son being a victim of incest grooming
>just wants to sit around with his obsidian spook friend and get drunk and laugh about the old times

>>24637691
An author's estate is always a terrible thing

>>24637297
I've heard there's gay shit in it, so yeah.

>>24637070 (OP)
>TQ
No Man's Land - Richard Morgan
sequel to Thin Air - also Richard Morgan (I thought this was done and releasing this year but can't find jack shit about it)
Shadows Upon Time - Christopher Ruocchio
The Blackfire Blade - James Logan
The Strength of the Few - James Islington
sequel to Artificial Wisdom - Thomas Weaver (might be 2026)
Cathedral of the Drowned - Nathan Ballingrud
A Few Odd Souls - John Fultz

>>24637276
>431 uses of the word fuck
That's a no from me big dog.

>>24637691
>estate
you are morally obligated to pirate this stuff when an estate starts getting involved

>>24637274
I've read one but the protagonist was female, it was weird.

>>24637127
That korean epic fantasy series is getting an english release in december, "The Bird That Drinks Tears"

I started reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep as my first PKD, currently 70 pages in (around 1/3), and I think I really dislike PKD's writing. It feels like such a downgrade coming from Bester, Bear and Le Guin as recent reads... his ideas may be good, but the writing, world and characters feel so flat and lifeless. I'll probably slog through the rest because it's a short book anyway, but I doubt I'll pick up another PKD anytime soon :( Pity really, was very interested in Ubik before

>>24637954
I don't think his style is really that bad. Unusual but not bad. And it's worth wading through the clunkiness.

>>24637881
when did everyone become such prudes. people hate sex. they hate cursing. they hate violence. what do you faggots like

>>24637954
I found it to be quite a page turner but I also understand you, it was very bleak and I'm not sure what PKD story could I read next.

is red rising just racism 2.0 or something

>>24638089
NTA but it displays poor writing. The only acceptable reason to use the word "fuck" that frequently is in dialogue, which in this genre begs the question "why are they using a contemporary English expletive in a fantasy world?"

>>24638138
Why do they use any English in a fantasy world? Why be pedantic about it? Also fuck has been used similarly as it is now for hundreds of years

THE FREMNIGGERS ONLY HAD ACCESS TO HAND-TO-HAND WEAPONS SUCH AS SWORDS AND DUMB LITTLE MAULA PISTOLS WHICH ARE LITTLE MORE THAN PELLET-THROWERS.

THE FREMNIGGERS DID NOT. I REPEAT. DID NOT. EXTERMINATE SIXTY BILLION PEOPLE AND COMPLETELY DEPOPULATE THOUSANDS OF WORLDS AND DESTROY DOZENS OF RELIGIONS!! EVERY SINGLE SOLDIER IN THE LANDSRAAD IS ISSUED WITH A PERSONAL SHIELD THAT RENDERS THE USE OF LAS WEAPONRY NOT ONLY USELESS, BUT UTTERLY SUICIDAL TO USE!!

IT IS LITERALLY NOT POSSIBLE GIVEN THE TECHNOLOGY THEY HAVE AT HAND!!!! THE MUAD'DIB JIHAD DID NOT HAPPEN!!!! MUAD'HOAX!!! MUAD'HOAX!! MUAD'HOOOOOOOAAAAAAXXXX!!!!!

SHENANIGANS! I CALL SHENANIGAAAAAANSSSS!!!!

>>24638138
When I write any story that isn't first person (even if it is first-person really) I typically don't have them curse in the narration. Only in the dialogue. It feels more natural.

>>24638194
>"Stilgar," Paul said, "you urgently need a sense of balance which can come only from an understanding of long-term effects. What little information we have about the old times, the pittance of data which the Butlerians left us,
Korba has brought it for you. Start with the Genghis Khan."
>"Ghengis . . . Khan? Was he of the Sardaukar, m'Lord?"
>"Oh, long before that. He killed . . . perhaps four million."
>"He must've had formidable weaponry to kill that many, Sire. Lasbeams, perhaps, or . . ."
>"He didn't kill them himself, Stil. He killed the way I kill, by sending out his legions. There's another emperor I want you to note in passing - a Hitler. He killed more than six million. Pretty good for those days."
>"Killed . . . by his legions?" Stilgar asked. >"Yes."
>"Not very impressive statistics, m'Lord."
>"Very good, Stil." Paul glanced at the reels in Korba's hands. Korba stood with them as though he wished he could drop them and flee. >"Statistics: at a conservative estimate, I've killed sixty-one billion, sterilized ninety planets, completely demoralized five hundred others. I've wiped out the followers of forty religions which had existed since -- "
>"Unbelievers!" Korba protested. "Unbelievers all!"
>"No," Paul said. "Believers."
>"My Liege makes a joke," Korba said, voice trembling. "The Jihad has brought ten thousand worlds into the shining light of -- "
>"Into the darkness," Paul said. "We'll be a hundred generations recovering from Muad'dib's Jihad. I find it hard to imagine that anyone will ever surpass this." A barking laugh erupted from his throat.
>"What amuses Muad'dib?" Stilgar asked.
>"I am not amused. I merely had a sudden vision of the Emperor Hitler saying something similar. No doubt he did."

>>24638198
Cursing in the narration by an omniscient narrator is very annoying. It feels like the author suddenly decides to yell at me.

>>24638204
Didn't happen, C U C K

>>24638089
Neopuritanism has been on the rise for quite a while, across the entire political spectrum, especially among Gen Z and younger. It's more nuanced than what you've stated though.
Millennials came of age in a time where everything became widely accessible. Not knowing what to do about this, they indulged without restraint. So much so, that they forgot what boundaries were of any sort and tried to normalize everything. Nothing was forbidden and everything was permitted. The millennials in this way exceeded even the now mythological 60s generation.
The neoliberal response, the nominal left, to this was Wokeness, a neopuritan movement that said the fun times were over, no transgression was allowed, and you're all cancelled, among much else purity related. Straight white men were the most impure, and therefore the worst. The opposite was the most pure regardless of the individual involved. It was a very simple and reductive purity system.
On the right, there were multiple responses, which which were all neopuritan as well. None of these new movements were interested in freedom of expression aside from using it to attack the other side.
Of course, the vast majority of people didn't belong to either side, but online they were the loudest by far, and the most influential. What they had in common was that they were both symbolic capitalists pushing identities to become. They provided the script for the role.
However, need for release was too much, and the neoliberals chose cursing as their allowed, even encouraged form of transgression. These days among the neoliberal youth, performative cursing is an identity marker. The more you do it, the more you belong. This is why so many books by older authors do it. It's a marketing strategy.
This is only a very brief summary.
How this has transformed 4chan over the decades has been extraordinarily disappointing.

>>24638217
>sends you back to the stone age

>>24638129
Nah, it's Eugenics 1.0

>>24638229
>UOOOOOOOHHHHH.... I'M... I'M.... DIVERSIFYIIIINNNNNGGGGGG.... I'M SCATTERINGGGG!!!!

>>24638229
Do Dunetards truly not get how retarded this is?

>>24638253
seems more reasonable than end of eternity was

>>24637987
>>24638095
It's not about bleak vibes or unusual style, those are usually fine with me... I just find his writing to be bland and lifeless somehow. It's the first book in a while where I have to force myself to pick it back up and keep reading, despite being a fan of the blade runner movie(s) and noir-ish cyberpunk in general. I may have spoiled myself a bit by reading several bangers (with strong writing) right before this, because in direct comparison PKD just falls off and feels disappointing

>>24638253
more like how BASED it is. get rekt faggot lol

>>24638253
also fremen in dune are literally the UBERMENSCH so it works out

>>24637274
Believe it or not, this same author has another book (faded sun: kesrith) where the human hero gets ordered to spend the night with a free-use catwoman whore, then proceeds to fall asleep with his head in her lap and not fuck her.

>>24638089
You're so right! I apologize for being such a spunk brained twatwaffling fuck weasel. Zero defense for this kind of writing.

>>24638273
The issue here isn't the cursing. It's the Reddit essence that infects it. You could remove all the cursing and it'd still be just as cringe.

>>24638267
>turns you into LARPers
Nothing personnel Fremen, just part of the Golden Path

>>24638273
This reads like a parody. Is the whole book like this? I may have to read this for anthropological purposes

>>24638273
this is gay because it makes the assumption that hardasses are like this over the top persona presented, realistically they achieve their status without being boisterous

>>24638294
>>24638281
>>24638273
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4174581109
This book sounds incredibly based

>He isn’t there. He’s slipped aside, a flash of gold, as fast as a sunbeam, evading you at the speed of light.
>But you, you move at the speed of darkness.
FUARK

>>24638273
>>24638305
I didn't pay attention to the reply chain and didn't realise it was the Empire of the Vampire book. Is that what the whole book sounds like? Because it gave me second hand embarrassment.

Language is funny.
"Based" originated from black men in the ghetto freebasing cocaine and described the feeling of having done so as being "based". This was then popularized and given social approval by a rapper. The social approval part remained and the rest fell away, so here we are now. What happened with woke is the same. All modern slang is fundamentally nihilistic, increasingly so as time goes on.

>>24638281
The cursing and the Reddit essence are born of the same impulse. They are intended to convey casual, off-the-cuff wit; however, the writer based this on the speech of people who deliberately talk this way attempting to make a show of how casual and off-the-cuff witty they are.
As >>24638221 pointed out, it's a generational problem.

>>24638270
What the fuck is wrong with reddit anyways.

>>24638314
wait until you learn about the word travel bro your mind is gunna melt

>>24638314
Have you seen the zoomers absolutely butchering acronyms? It used to be you could casual refer to some things as "This shit", and shorten it to "ts", but there's a shit ton of kids on TikTok and Twitter who are adamant that "ts" stands for "this." You ask them to explain it, and they can't. They're just like "it just is."

>>24638339
"Travelling", as part of the Sovereign Citizen movement? I don't see the relevance. That's not nihilistic at all.

>>24638348
That's true. This may interest you.
https://youtu.be/pMjwGQtAz68
Read the video description.
The video itself is also quite something..

>>24638305
I think all fantasy should be at least a little bit misogynistic.

>>24638357
There's nothing wrong with that at all as long as it's you're personal preference rather than an enforced command that all others must follow.

>>24638291
>>24638310
A snapshot doesn't really do it justice. It's over the top edgy and full of angst. I found it very enjoyable

The Stars my Destination has been cool so far. I want to go for a jaunt, and kill that bastard Vorga!

>>24638376
This

>>24638338
Upvote culture
They do/say whatever they think will gain the most approval.

>>24638454
It's not all that different here.
There's just not a formal system.
Approval is gained differently as well, but it's sought out all the same.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/08/brain-computer-interface.html
One step closer to brains alone being viable. The time of brain only cyborgs draws nearer.

I feel like some Sci-fi authors have an overly tame idea of the absolute bullshit people would get up to with high-level gene editing and surgery.

>>24638645
They have to be, because it's not an allowable topic. It's only a step away from eugenics for most people, which is in step with nazism.

>>24637274
this one.
now, the cover art portrays the alien princess as basically human. however, the text is rather explicit that they're humanoid aliens, covered in fur, with large purple eyes.
there's a rather titillating sex scene, though it's a bit shy with explicit details.

>>24637954
I really do like PKD but yeah his prose has never been his strong suit - it was always his "woah, dude" ideas that were his strong suit especially in the 60s, 70s, 80s. Dick was very original I believe. he started as a pulp sort of writer and just grinded out books fast and hard and well that sorta shows with his writing. I'd say finish the book if you can and at LEAST read A Scanner Darkly (then watch the movie, I think it's pretty good) and read his final boss: VALIS

Lysander MUST die.

Do poorfags/midfags actually spend 70% of their day thinking up fantasies where they mog heggin rich people who they don't even interact with?
Based on genre literary output this seems to be the case...

Anyway, I'm starting to realize that despite being the best audience reviewed title in recent many and refreshingly free of globohomo agitprop besides vauge class bitching, the MC in this is 100% a Mary Sue and guilty of every sin most of the girlboss romantasy MCs are. I'll give it 30-40 more pages but if there's one more then-everyone-clapped moment im dropping it.

>>24638850
bitch, publishers want to sell books and authors want to "have something to say" but also at the same time appeal to a specific demographic and so in summary to answer your stupid question: YES!

>>24637070 (OP)
>What upcoming SF&F books are you excited for?

I haven't been excited in over a decade.

>>24638856
What were you last excited for?

>>24638855
I guess my question is why, for poorfag wagies who can't usually do abstract thinking, are they seething about rich people (who they've never met), and not middle managers who ride them about hurrying up on the fries.
The average poorfag generesloppa reader has not been slighted or talked down to or been denied entry to a country club by bill gates or musk. They will be lucky if they're on a first name basis with a regional manager.

>>24638868
nta
>Why are people mad at the person who shot them rather than the gun?
>Why do people hate the puppeteer, not puppet?
>The executioner was at fault, not the noble who ordered it!

>>24638880
and yet they can't tell you what it would be like to have skipped lunch.
curious.

>>24638883
Non Sequitur

>>24638194
They also had nukes dumbass

>>24637596
For some reason people prefer it and that cover is posted more often than this one.

empire of the chuds

Are romantasy novels as bad as I imagine them to be? They literally have zero good waifus do they? It's all just self-insert for roasties?

>>24637691
I never understood this. The estate wants more money than anyone is willing to give them, so they'd rather have no money at all?

>>24638959
Sadly, yes. Maybe Guy Gavriel Kay has a couple of okish books.

>>24638979
maybe they have a lot of copies of previous prints and want to drive prices up as collector items.

>>24638983
GGK does not write "romantasy". Romantasy as a genre is not "fantasy that involves a love affair", it's a genre of porn for women.

>>24637070 (OP)
Not sure where else to ask this, and I didn't see a chart for it: are there any fantasy novels WITHOUT women warriors? I get so tired of the trope of 'the woman who can fight as good as any man' even in the grimmest settings.

>>24639043
Try the Lyonesse trilogy by Jack Vance.

>>24639044
I've actually already read and enjoyed those books. I really liked the parts with Dhrun exploring the forest after the fae cast him out, and his father's escape from the bone pit.

>>24639045
>>24639045
Yeah those books are really unique with Vance's excellent prose. Id also recommend Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams and Bakker if you havent read his books.

>>24639053
>Id also recommend Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams
This goes into the cuck-fantasy trashpile with Hobb and Rothfuss

Thjs copy of gormenghast has accumulated a significant amount of cobwebs in its time functioning as a doorstop for discontinued public arts funding.

>>24639057
You either havent read the book or just connected with the virgin Simon instead of the chad Josua. No one cares about Simon and he doesnt get anywhere in the story for a reason, it isnt about him.

Recommend me late 19th cent influences to Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E Howard, pulpy sword and sorcery and proto-sci Fi
Edwin L Arnold has Phra and Gullivar but they are hard to track down
Looking for stuff that would fit in with the League for Extraordinary Gentlemen. Like 1870s-1910s. In English.

>>24639103
>No one cares about Simon and he doesnt get anywhere in the story for a reason, it isnt about him.

I don't know this book, but based on that, I feel that he shouldn't be a main character at all in that case.

>>24639115
>Looking for stuff that would fit in with the League for Extraordinary Gentlemen. Like 1870s-1910s. In English.

If you know LOEG you probably already know him but H. Rider Haggard

mogs your favorite fantasy author

>>24639132
Of course! More like him pleyse anon-kun

>>24639103
>No one cares about Simon and he doesnt get anywhere in the story for a reason, it isnt about him.
Then Williams shouldn't have given him so many pages. God, I almost dropped the series because of that niggertard Simon.

>>24639174
seriously. Was not expecting much going in but the ease and playfulness of his writing combined with the occasional philosophical musing is just too good.

>>24639115
>>24639185
Surely you've read Jules Vernes novels about Captain Nemo, what with Nemo being the best character in LoEG?

Pierce Browns recommended sci-fi novels. Thoughts?

>Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
>A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr
>The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
>Hyperion - Dan Simmons
>The Stars Are Legion - Kameron Hurley
>Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
>A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
>Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents - Octavia E. Butler

>>24639223
>Octavia E. Butler
into the trash

>>24639120
Simon isnt the main character. Its one of those books that doesnt have a single main protagonist.

>>24639232
I didn't say the main character, I said a main character. Just based on what was said, it seems like a waste of pages that could be spent on a character that actually does get somewhere.

>>24639223
Gene Wolfe and Edgar Rice Burroughs (maybe Hyperion too) are the only ones worth reading. The rest are crap, especially the women authors.

>>24639193
In a way, he was kinda like the british equivalent of Robert E. Howard.

>>24639057
>>24639053
While I don't like women warriors I'm also no fan of cuck stuff.
>>24639174
The Jerusalem Man books are so fucking kino.

>>24639223
Performatively curated list. Octavia E Butler, really? Too bad he's made it big, now we'll never see his true list.

I finished The Carpet Makers. Really good collection of loosely connected vignettes about the way of life, history and functioning of a huge interstellar empire. The writing was nothing special, but it was to the point and managed to convey the atmosphere of each place and action really well. The pervading air is... I'm not sure what to call it, perhaps bleak or harsh. Not really hopeless but the characters and the reader constantly carry at the back of their minds the weight of a history of tens of thousands of years which translates either into a horribly monotonous existence or into a monstrous search for something more. I've seen complaints about the greatest revelation being anticlimactic and all, but I think it's precisely the pettiness of it that makes the entire thing horrifying and baffling. The epilogue was bittersweet but a good ending that circled back to the very first story.
The exposition is a bit clunky in the very beginning, but the story/stories flow nicely afterwards. The worst thing to me was the absolutely unnecessary and badly written romance right in the last/revelation chapter. I got the point of it but it was horrendously crafted and almost ruined what was supposed to be the climax of the entire book. Thankfully it was followed by the touching epilogue.
Really good book all in all.

>>24639223
>Gene Wolfe
>Burroughs
>Hyperion
Based. I trust his judgement on the women authors.

>>24639431
go read Octavia Butler and dont waste our time.

>>24639223
>Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
>A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr
>The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
>Hyperion - Dan Simmons
>The Stars Are Legion - Kameron Hurley
>A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Based.

>Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
I can see the poor influences.

>Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents - Octavia E. Butler
Oh god it all makes sense now...

>>24639223
>Octavia E. Butler
Grim.

is mustang just a jobber? constantly gets outmaneuvered and loses every time

>>24639120
>I feel that he shouldn't be a main character at all in that case.
Indeed. If the whole series was about Josua, Binabik, the swamp man and the princess, it would've been a vast improvement.

>>24638909
They had an arsenal of 92 warheads dumbass. 92. That's it.

>>24639531
>>24639548
Any particular reason she's bad that doesn't have to do with her being black and a woman?

>>24639553
I don't think the Jihad involved much actual nuking, but 92 warheads are just the Atreides family atomics. After bending the Emperor over, he would get hold of Corrino and Harkonnen family arsenals as well, which would both be substantially larger, especially the Corrino one.

>>24639557
I am 100% fine with women authors, black authors and black women authors. The problem with Octavia Butler is that she's a really, really shit author with exactly 0 talent, skill or imagination, who uses her race and sex to deflect any attempt to point out these facts.

>>24639557
She was an uggo.

>>24639560
That sounds like a pain. Though at least she's dead.
>>24639561
She fits right in the sphere then.

>>24639558
>which would both be substantially larger, especially the Corrino one
Prove it.

>>24639570
They are repeatedly described as the largest and most powerful House Major.

>>24639223
>A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Makes sense. Both series are about ubermensch dabbing on Red Men of Mars and Mustang's ship being called the Dejah Thoris was a fun nod.

Should i read M. Harrison? Where to start?

>>24639589
No, don't.

>>24637276
his previous series was shit, i assume this was no better

Any really good "picking over the ruins of an advanced ancient civilization" books out there?

>>24639549
Just a woman. All women are fuck ups in red rising.

>>24639604
I liked this one

>>24639589
Yes, definitely. Id start with the first Viriconium novel (Pastel City).

>>24637127
>Rothfuss
Lol
Lmao, even

>>24639651
>>24637172
Thank you for going along wiith the obvious replybait.

>>24638489
Here attention is what's sought out. Not just approval, but negative attention too.
A (You) is a (You), whether it's agreed or appalled.

>>24639636
Thanks i’ll check it out. Any comment about it?

Fellow Italics, is the Meridiani edition of Philip K. Dick worth it? I just finished Ubik and I am amazozed.

>>24639701
Yes, but often getting many (you)s is a sign of approval to others, regardless of how they were garnered. "I wish I could get that many!" They think. Unlike many others places, trolling, funposting, transgression, contrarianism, and other frowned upon activities both get attention and approval. Seeking attention without approval isn't well regarded though. Examples of this are ritual posters, spammers, self-promoters, and others who either have an agenda or otherwise are only concerned with their self.

Saw some youtubers shilling The Will of the Many.
Has anyone read it?
Last time I fell for youtube shilling I read poppy wars and felt scammed so I trust you fags better

Im halfway through howling dark now and I can't help but be annoyed by some very obvious story loops, even if I like the overarching plot.
>Hadrian sets his mind to something
>Bad shit happens
>Bad shit happens
>But think of the gorillions!
>Do something crazy and risky, yet suspiciously egotistical
>It pays off, brief moment of respite
>"But dear reader, I did not know how wrong I was!"
>Bad shit happens
>Bad shit happens
>But think of the gorillions!
>Hadrian sets his mind to something

Please tell me it isn't 5 books of this

>>24639871
>He didn't read the discussion about it in this thread, let alone search out anything else

>>24639894
I read the thread after I posted, yes

>>24639871
https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search&ghost=false&search_text=%22will+of+the+many%22

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_book/1029811-sffg?book_id=58416952

Every single military science fiction classic is absolute trash. Starship Troopers, The Forever War, Armor... ALL utter SHIT. I got memed HARD and I'm genuinely mad about it.

>>24639902
Because they're either too much about ideology or are too pulp? What were you hoping for?

>>24639902
Read Muv-Luv. Sergeant Jinguuji gives it her seal of approval.

>>24639938
>Read Jap comic books for yellow manbabies!
Never. You fucking DEGENERATE!

>>24639364
thanks just picked it up im interested

>>24639964
It's not a comic, it's a voice-acted slide-show with all the endless military autism one could ever hope for

>>24639982
That sounds even worse. The Beta did look mildly interesting though. Still not bothering, sorry!

>>24639982
It's a no go if it isn't Anglo.

>>24639987
They are pretty cool. That aside, what led you down the path of looking for military sci-fi if it all turned out so unappealing to you?

>>24639994
>>>what led you down the path of looking for military sci-fi if it all turned out so unappealing to you?
It's mostly just in retrospect honestly.

>>24639987
>>24639990
>They don't want to read about cute anime girls in skintight outfits
homosexuals

>>24639557
She wrote a whole series about women betraying humanity so they can get fucked and mutated by tentacle monsters

>>24640014
I checked /m/ and this is the OP image on their thread for this show lol
What is the /lit/ equivalent of this? I am very interested in the concept of using robots to fight evil aliens and having chicks dressed like latex fetish models do it, but I'm not aware of it being a particularly common trope in books.
Although I'm mostly a fantasy reader so maybe I just don't know enough about sci-fi novels.

>>24640032
whoa she sounds kind of redpilled about women desu

>>24640032
That's not what happened. Humanity destroyed itself, and the aliens were vultures who mindbroke the remaining survivors into being slaves. No human has any choice in the matter. By the end of the trilogy the aliens regret it because the human genes and spirit is too powerful, even on the brink of annihilation.

I have terminal chinese cartoon enthusiast porn addict fatigue

>>24640049
Same, minus the fatigue and irony.

>>24640045
She also has book about a preteen* girl who seduces adult men.


*50 year old vampire

>>24640054
Oh sure, the "she's actually super old but looks like a little girl" trick, fucking weebs

I'm finishing "Gardens of the Moon". I'm a descpriptive guy, I like descriptions of nature, vivid landscapes (it's fantasy, mate, give me a fantasy world), scenes and scenery, vibes and atmosphere (Tolkien, Lovecraft, for example). But "Gardens of the Moon" is more like about pointless talking and fighting scenes, that's all. Are other books in the series the same? Or there will be more descriptivism there?

>>24640103
Gardens is the weakest of the series. The later books will meet what you're asking and Eriksons writing and prose increases tenfold. Gardens was retrofitted from a movie script into a book and there was a 10 yearish gap between that and the second book so things were tidied up and improved.

>>24640103
>But "Gardens of the Moon" is more like about pointless talking and fighting scenes, that's all.
based. adding this to the list. i hate descriptions.

Do you guys prefer short or long chapters? And what do you think constitutes as a long chapter? 10 pages? 15?

>>24640120
Short to medium because I generally read in chapter bursts and before I go to sleep. Malazan had an average chapter length of an hour and some even reached two hours. I use a kindle and it tracks my reading speed and when I would see that it took that long to finish, I'd be demotivated.

>>24640123
>I'd be demotivated.
I hear this a lot. And I totally get it.

What's medium length to you? Like 7 pages?

There's no difference between posting "based", "goated", "awesome", "cool", "groovy", "lit", "keyed", or "upvote".

>>24640136
>What's medium length to you?
something that takes 15-20 mins to read. Those are a good length for a chapter for me.

>>24640152
do you want us to say jolly good show or something

>>24640120
Either short-ish chapters (10-25 pages) or add scene breaks or whatever subdivision during your longer chapters so that you have a logical point to stop if you want. Though some stories may be hard to break up into smaller chapters. I'd say no matter what you do, DO NOT have a long chapter without REGULAR scene breaks because it's hard to tell in advance when the next one will come up. If you have a long segment without scene breaks, put it into its own chapter so that it's clear that it might be a big chunk.

>>24640152
Based.

>>24640152
Blased.

>>24640152
came here to post this

>>24640152
badabingbadaboom

>>24640152
>schway didn't make the cut
schwaysed

>>24640160
Just swell, old fellow, just swell.

>>24640177
It wasn't meant to be comprehensive. That's only the 25th time or so it's been posted on /lit/ in 10 years. I didn't include "lindy" either or much else.

>>24640118
Why so? I was in my country house recently and there was unbelievable atmosphere there at night, and I understood that I never read any good or proper description of "rest at a bonfire in the night wood" scenery even in books with the quest trope.

>>24640198
I'm a character and plot guy, and often times authors really suck at describing stuff. Long paragraphs to paint a dogshit picture in your mind that makes no sense, but they keep doing it over and over again, either because they have to, or they think they're good at it.

I only appreciate it if the author can do it well, and because of those who cannot, I have been conditioned to do without it.

>>24640118
This reminds me, I swear Erikson wrote somewhere once what he thinks is a good and a poor description and his idea of good description sounded like ass. I'm sure someone knows where that thing is.

Fahfrd and Gray Mouser, Y/N?

>>24640292
Yes

>>24640292
Y

Redpill me on this no spoilers.

>>24640379
I loved it.
Very interesting. Very tricky. VERY ambitious. Very political. Lots of stuff I've never seen before going on.
Borderline experimental style choices as how to tell a story.

There's a lot of things it tries to pull off, that doesn't work. Or only somewhat works.
If the book was tiny bit worse, it would have been super bad. Does that make sense?

>>24640408
Yes that makes sense

>>24639749
Its arguably the best Dying Earth book out there.

>>24640379
Avoid books written by a woman.

>>24639589
>>24640435
For me, Vance's Dying Earth, Viriconium and BOTNS are basically "the big three" of the dying earth genre, with Vance's being my personal favorite.

>>24640488
>BOTNS are basically "the big three" of the dying earth genre, with Vance's being my personal favorite.
lol
You listed two great dying earth books and one alright one

>READAN
>Chinese comic book
You people DISGUST me.

>>24640503
this nigga again

>>24638850
I feel like one day I'm gonna write a story and people (read: tankies) are gonna get mad at me when I depict the rich characters as either people with extreme work ethics who neglect their social life or normal people who just know how to use their time wisely and efficiently- like the rich people I actually know.

>>24639223
I'm about to cave and buy that shirt. But while I was on the website, I just learned there's a Red Rising board/card game. And Antonia looks like THAT. Has anyone played it and is it any good?

>>24639223
good list

>>24640542
horsebros…

Also I didn’t know there was a card game though. Seems interesting I might check it out. Also on his website he says there’s an event starting today to reveal what’s next for the red rising universe. No idea what that could mean.

>>24640584
https://www.lit-escalates.com/collections/hazard-bedlam-4-0/products/cover-gamepiece

It's a fucking gacha?

>>24640542
>>24640584
I never understood why everything has to be turned into a card or board game.

>>24640584
not my horse

>>24640597
I was running through the /tg/ archive looking for reviews, and according to one poster, they made this board game because one of the Dune boardgames was out of print. So they just remade it with Red Rising characters and art instead.

>>24640596
No I think the randomness here is the ARG to figure out what the project is before they announce it. I'm sure some redditor has pieced it together

>>24639197
I was really surprised to see him show back up in the new Aquaman series. That book has been good.

Dying Earth LITO (shame about the sequel, and the cartoon)

>>24640152
"kino" is by far the worst
if only /tv/ had been nuked after they gave us baneposting

>>24640721
>>24640152
Frankly this generations bastardization of of spoken language depresses me to no end. I realize that's an old man thing to say but it's really gotten bad. This is way worse than the shit we used to say that pissed off our parents. This isn't even language anymore.

>>24639115
Any of the Wold Newton family universe stuff. Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke, and
Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life were the blueprint Alan Moore used to create LoEG, so I imagine that they might be of interest to you.

Some books which are part of Wold Newton-

The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Living Shadow
King Solomon's Mines
The Amateur Cracksman

>>24640152
Someone here once asked what to call something bad other than slop.
>>24640721
lol I can't imagine enjoying a book or game SO MUCH that I call it a fucking film. Some people are unfathomably stupid.

I never understood why people would compare BOTNS with Vance's stuff
it's SOOOOO different

It's wild that people talk about them, as if they're "the same kind" of books.

>>24640820
Genre fiction on the whole tends to get swept under the same rug.

>>24640820
>literally describe vance as your biggest influence,referring to dying earth as your "golden book"
>WHY ARE PEOPLE COMPARING BOTNS WITH VANCE
Why are wolfe fanboys so retarded?

>>24640844
Just cuz Wolfe said he really really likes Vance's book, doesn't make their books similar.
Look, if it sounded like I was throwing shade at Vance. I did not mean to do that. I love Vance too.

I understand that there as similarities in the setting. (Mostly aesthetic?)
And of course people made-up this term "dying earth" for that setting.

I don't know how to put it. Just very very different books for me. Like comparing apples to strawberries, cuz both are red.

>>24640725
I concur. Among my many problems with it is that it's become so decontextualized. As I previously posted, it's arguably nihilistic, aside from it does all have a stable social meaning in terms of signalling, if not in informational content. In linguistics, these are called phatic expressions. I believe there relative occurrence is ever increasing. I don't like this, which is somewhat ironic since 4chan is one of major foundations of this phenonom. My thoughts on that are a separate matter though. What really has made it terrible is the competition for influence and subsequently money on major social media networks. It's a confluence of a lot of trends and developments, especially since the advent of the Internet has allowed for far greater spread in far less time.

>>24640893
don't worry that anon your talking to is trying to make some non existent hate between vance and wolfe fags. Which is retarded because if you enjoy one you're very likely to enjoy the other

>>24640764
>what to call something bad other than slop
offal

>>24638194
Based jihad denier

>>24640901
>if you enjoy one you're very likely to enjoy the other
This kinda sounds like evidence in favor of the books being similar

>>24640920
They are definitely in setting. But everything else is very different. The most similar they become, and I assume Wolfe's big nod to Vance, seems to take part in book 3 when Severian goes from one picaresque adventure to the next in an episodic format.

>>24637297
Not only is it pozzed, but it's the most cliched pozzery imaginable.
>gay interracial male couple who are good guys? check
>not-Christian Church bad? check
>savior character descended from not-Jesus a crossdressing lesbian? check
>every single evil character is White while the good guys are racially diverse? check

>>24640893
>Just cuz Wolfe said he really really likes Vance's book, doesn't make their books similar.
It literally does though
Vance was the biggest influence on wolfe. Both the books are picaresque adventures with male protagonists in a dying earth setting. How are they not similar?
>>24640901
Wolfe fans repeatedly say vance sucks despite wolfe being a fan of vance.
I'm not the one making a rift between them, Wolfe fanboys are

>>24640379
Ada Palmer said her favorite author was Wolfe. And it shows, because the book is confusing as fuck to what's supposed to *really* be going. Mixed up with a dash of unreliable author and a bunch of references. Author's personal identify being... peculiar.
The Greek chorus start talking back.
Does that make Terra Ignota similar to BOTNS? Uhhhh.... Tiny bit, not very similar.

I think I got a thing for books that are not told straightforwardly, that there's a gimmick.

BOTNS's gimmick: Autobiography by a person that never understands what's going on around him. Also he don't forget anything, except when he do.
Soldier of the Mist gimmick: Diary of a guy who forgets literally everything, every day,
Long Sun gimmick: Secretly a biography by the MC's sidekick, that makes stuff up and tries and fails to be unbiased
Short Sun gimmick: Diary of a guy who is constantly struggling with his supply of paper to write on. Also dies and turns into another guy in the middle of the book.
Wizard Knight gimmick: Isekai. Book being a letter from the isekai'ed MC back to his brother in America. Kinda underutilized.
Peace gimmick: Memories of a confused ghost that looks back at his life. + all the weird alchemy stuff + the murders
V.R.T. gimmick: Travel log of a researcher that is replaced with a shapeshifter in the middle of the story. Extreme case of identity theft.


I looove stuff like this, and wish it was more common. That the weird way the story is being told aways serves some clever purpose to the plot, not just merely being an stylistic choice.
Things not being what they seem. Even the narrator.
So good.

>>24640899
>4chan is one of major foundations of this phenonom
It was so fucking weird to me when "normies" started saying "slop". People who are otherwise trying to be politically correct.
And all I can think of the kinda.. antisemitic "goyslop"
(while back before everyone started talking about AI slop, etc)

So bizarre.
As if you'd have equal rights activists call people who annoyed them, "NIGGER". Being totally unaware that the word has been used as a racial slur.

>>24640952
>picaresque adventures with male protagonists in a dying earth setting.
So are Vampire Hunter D, Mad Max, and Fist of the North Star, and I wouldn't consider them to be the same thing as BOTNS.

>>24640057
Based weebs

And so I continue on typing out my thoughts as I'm thinking through them.

Overall, to me this is market-driven semantic shift. We're ever more transitioning into recognition rather than meaning as the foundation for everything. From a consumerist perspective, this is a good thing. It allows almost everyone to participate as its has a nearly non-existent bar to entry, is highly repeatable, and provides quick and reliable dopamine hits. There isn't any need for media literacy if there's no meaning present. Fandoms become a matter of remixing, quoting, and circulating their preferred memes rather than discussion or anything else.

The recognition becomes the core that everything is built around rather than the themes, plot, characters, or anything else. It's an attempt at engineering virality so that the maximal audience can be reached in hopes of generating more revenue. When the reward is for recognition rather than understanding, everything becomes performative. Worse yet, the audience accepts the performativity as the actual thing because it's about recognition, not understanding. In this there's no difference between the imitation and original. This then ties into AI generated content.

This is much more evident in movies and television than books, but it's still present. The most obvious example is tropification, which is most readily found in fanfiction, though also in romantasy, and to a lesser extent in all genre fiction. I'm uncertain about fiction in general or nonfiction. As long as the preferred elements are included and recognized, their quality doesn't really matter. It's like eating for the condiments rather than the meal.

The problem to me is that it's becoming the dominant means of interaction with media. If it could be done in moderation, then it wouldn't be a concern. I'm not going to pretend that I don't engage in or enjoy some of this from time to time. This also relates to wider cultural trends, which is to expected as everything becomes more interconnected at a high level while also becoming more fragmented at the lower level.

That's all I have to say for now.

>>24639223
>The Stars Are Legion
never heard of this before
sounds kinda interesting, like exactly the stuff I'd enjoy

>>24641071
https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-the-stars-are-legion-by-kameron-hurley/

>>24641036
Post Apocalyptic settings aren't the same as dying earth
And none of those settings have the same influence from vance that Wolfe does
Not an argument

>>24637073
>>24637077
Picrel

You ARE going to the r/Fantasy moderator meeting and greet, right Anon?

>>24640988
its awesome because it uses the medium of writing to make art that no other medium can portray. This is why Wolfe will/should never be put onto screen. It's antithetic to the entire process of his stories.

>>24641175
You HAVE gone to IRL /lit/ meetups.
You DID go the 4chan meeting

>>24641175
would it be fun to ask a bunch of questions about AI and PROBLEMATIC stuff in xianxia to make them seethe or nah

>>24640034
There unironically is no true equivalent
Muv-Luv is unique in that the first novel is basically a slice of life story that foreshadows the cosmic horror-nihilistic/nationalist themes but ultimately is about nothing more than character drama.
The second 'novel' being the character from said slice of life story now facing an alternate reality where everyone he knew from the first novel now have forgotten him, as he's thrust into a dystopian sci-fi setting and the bulk of the story is him acclimating to his new alternate reality, training in a military academy in a world where the war-machine meat grinder has gone so far they now must conscript children to man the front line
The final 'novel' in the trilogy being Starship Troopers, only backed up with characterization and worldbuilding of two previous books, one of which where we got to see the characters living normal goofy SoL lives, before now being subjected to a grimdark sci-fi hellscape
All 3 Muv-Luv entries in the trilogy work in tandem with each other, and the story loses its punch if a single entry is skipped.
No western story could ever get published with the premise of "The first one is in a completely different genre and tone from the first, and then it becomes a grimdark dystopian sci-fi military story"

So we all agree that Lysander must die, but how much of that is because he's working against Darrow. Is it because he's a pussy? A hypocrite? Has no sense of loyalty?

>>24641262
It's not that he's working against Darrow, it's that he's the inverse of Darrow. Where Darrow gets betrayed by everyone, Lysander betrays everyone. Where Darrow has honor, Lysander has none. Where Darrow strives to be better, Lysander constantly makes excuses while he gets worse. He is scum.

>>24641262
Because he deliberately set up Cassius for death. Simple as.

Nukitashi has been a very entertaining science fiction dystopian novel

>>24641315
based
>>24641308
This is true. Pierce Brown really crafted an absolutely detestable character.

>>24641262
>>24641308
>>24641315
>>24641379
>have no honor, betray your friends, become a worse and worse person as the story goes on
>love interest gets bisected and a scary promiscuous woman rapes you multiple times
This is what being evil gets you, anons.

>>24641054
>The recognition becomes the core that everything is built around rather than the themes, plot, characters, or anything else
I feel like a lot of media today has this kind of self-referential aspect where it's self-consciously inspired by some kind of codified genre or trope or form. So you have bands that will form to with the explicit purpose of playing blackened progressive death metal, and they will stick within that genre. Video games are designed to be Soulslikes or roguelikes or 4x games. Fantasy novels try to either self-consciously ape or subvert the tropes of fantasy novels. Each movie or game or book is inspired by other movies, games, or books of the same genre, whereas before a sci-fi movie might be inspired by a novel, a historical event, and the author's real-life experiences. I feel like those awful litRPG books where everything is self-consciously trying to be like an MMO is kind of the culmination of this trend. The horizon has been narrowed rather than broadened.

read picrel, expected depths intrigue but it the most interesting part was like the typical ghost story of a dead woman scaring a town (was not scary tho)
is there some thalassophobia kino out there (no, not looking for lovecraft; looking for more recent stuff)

>>24640936
Thanks anon, dropped.

>>24641458
Have you read Kraken by China Mieville?

>>24640576
man looks like a fable 1 character
comparable story?

>>24641436
In either sense it does seem like one way or another fiction in general has become to self aware for it's own good. Nothing seems to have any purity to it. Something made without concern for defying or clinging to convention. It's certainly all but impossible to be completely original but no matter which side it's own it calls too much attention. When Campbell wrote his fancy book I never got the direct impression that the observations of story telling he made were all the way they were by design. But now it seems like people look to the heroes journey as kind of a cheat sheet.

>finish reading series
>feel sad cause I'm no longer gonna be with those characters

gotta remember to stop reading a series before the last book

>>24641261
So it's like From Dusk Till Dawn but longer?

>>24641262
Lysander is extremely unlikeable which is why he has to die. He has convinced himself that he has to rule the society because only through him can the society be at its best. Instead he’s a mentally ill schizo hypocrite. He’s incredibly entitled, arrogant, and elitist and believes he has the right to rule because reasons. He spends his entire time convincing himself that he’s a good person when he knows he is not. He is duplicitous, cowardly, sly, weak and pathetic and because of this Lysander MUST die.

>>24640936
Jesus is quite literally revealed to be the devil at the end of the second book.

Tolkien tricked me into believing that I like fantasy literature. So I tried reading a book by the most celebrated fantasy writer of our time (pic related), and utterly DESPISED it. It reads like a Marvel comic without images, or a script for a Disney+ teen action show.
>But but you're not the target audience
I'm not the target audience for The Hobbit either, but found it thoroughly enjoyable.

>>24641715
Sanderson writes bottom of the barrel slop for people who want marvel movies.
Try the Curse of Chalion by Bujold instead.

>>24641715
Just go read Robert H Howard already. Crom.

>>24641715
Either 2/10 baitpost or 7/10 persecution complex.

>>24641513
This is why I don't mind stories that don't have an ending. I've never once been happy to read an ending to a story I liked. The only times an ending has improved a story is when I was forced to read it and wanted it to be over.

>>24641728
>>24641744
Thanks for the recs.

>>24641751
Neither.

>>24641436
>I feel like those awful litRPG books where everything is self-consciously trying to be like an MMO is kind of the culmination of this trend.
But they aren't trying to be like an MMO very hard?
Proof: MMOs have bikini armor. Bikini mail, bikini plate, bikini robes, but these fantasy novels never do, therefore litrpgs are not trying to be like MMOs!

>>24641779
>Neither
No.

>Tolkien tricked me
He did not. If you experience a single thing and then want to believe everything else is similar, then that's either astonishing ignorance or hyperbolic bait. If you don't believe Tolkien tricked you, that's been overdramatic with hints of persecution.

>most celebrated fantasy writer
He is not, not even for men. Popular and celebrated are two different concepts and he's not the most popular either. Again, ignorance or sensationalism, which is bait.

>not the target audience
That's true. However, you were an intended audience for The Hobbit.

>>24637127
>The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6)

>>24638089
what do you care, nigger?

>>24639223
funny how you can tell apart what he actually enjoys and what he added to the list for good boy points

>>24641845
Yet another data point showing that the post was read. Thanks

>>24641858
glad i could be of help

>>24641856
No, all that says is what you believe can only be listed for reasons other than enjoyment.

>>24640749
>Wold Newton
Thank you for this, that's sending me on the right track.

I just bought a sword and sorcery book for 70 dollars. Am I a colossal fucking retard?

>>24641902
What book, anon?

>>24640437
>woman

>>24641458
I actually really liked it. The description of the fisherman bound to a rock hauling in the beast from the depths went hard.

Recommend me fantasy with weird, esoteric and unique magic

>>24641916
On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers.

>>24641908
7 novels of the John Carter series in one nice book. I'm no 'murican so the price is extra steep.

>>24641923
Its in the fucking public domain. How retarded do you have to be to pay that much?

>>24641923
Those are good books but you could have probably gotten them for way cheaper. At least tell me it was a spiffy hardcover version. Because I've purchased plenty of books in the past that were more than would be considered financially responsible

>>24641925
But the book was very pretty and I liked how it felt when I held it!

>>24640152
It's people thinking that the fact alone that they like or dislike something is interesting and worth saying aloud.
They never explain why they like or dislike anything, just that they do.
>>24640160
Here's a 100 dollar writing tip. If you can describe it, you won't even need to say whether it's good or bad in your opinion.

>>24640152
>groovy
People who dislike Evil Dead cannot be trusted.

>>24640936
Thanks anon, picked up.

>>24641831
You sound like an intended audience for Abilify.

This is my fault for lurking reddit like a faggot but how do I cope with the fact most modern day readers are endlessly tapping their foot for a story to "pick up"? Like, really? You can't just let yourself go with the flow of the story, even if it's slower? Does it always need heckin twists and heads rolling for a midwit to guffaw and clap his hands? Don't get me wrong, I love pulpy or fast paced genre slop but imagine having that mindset for everything.

>>24641916
>weird, esoteric and unique magic
Define this

>>24637127
>The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6)
>The Doors of Stone (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #3)

>>24639103
>No one cares about Simon and he doesnt get anywhere in the story for a reason, it isnt about him.
>>24639186
>I almost dropped the series because of that niggertard Simon.
What is it with plotfags getting filtered by Simon, of all characters? Simon starts like a bumbling idiot, suffers like a motherfucker through some of the worst stuff and still came out on top while piling bodies. It's kino.

>>24637127
Welcome to www.reddit.com/r/scifiandfantasygeneral :DDD

Anyone got a fantasy book about people struggling in a big, strange and unknown world? I hate it when a fantasy setting isn't at least somewhat mysterious.

Bonus points if it has an audiobook so I can keep reading it while doing chores.

>realize it's been three or four years since I've last checked in on the work of one of my favorite fantasy authors
>check his social media
>he's become a tranny
Damn this shit never ends huh?

>>24642050
Which one?

>>24642052
I didn't want to bring any negative attention their way but fuck it. It's Tim Pratt.

>>24642050
>>24642052
>>24642053
Trannyism hit nerd communities like crack hit blacks in the 80's.

>>24642053
>genderfluid
The seeds have been planted, but it looks like he hasn't gone full-on tranny yet.

>>24641175
a den of pedophiles

>>24642074
I didn't realize any men went the genderfluid route. I've only ever seen women do it.

>>24642074
>>24642079
he's dressing like a woman and wearing wigs and makeup
and yeah I've never seen anyone call themselves genderfluid and not start their hormone treatment, fluidity implies there's some back and forth but none of them go back, they always commit.

>>24638194
The fremen had a monopoly on FTL and precognition at that point. Every enemy of fremen was isolated and all their plans were already known to Paul. Also, the landsraad armies were tiny professional forces whereas the firemen mobilized their whole society. BUT you do have a point I’ve always wondered at. The fremen didn’t use shields and weren’t experienced in fighting with or against them. The landsraad forces should have had an edge there.

Anyone read this? Thinking of getting it. 1960s Australian sci fi by former merchant marine about horatio hornblower-esque guy having adventures in space

>>24637070 (OP)
>mfw Hugo award winners this decade so far
A Memory Called Empire
Network Effect
A Desolation Called Peace
Nettle & Bone
Some Desperate Glory

I knew things were bad, but holy shit. This bad?

>>24642204
wildest thing is they're all female authors

>>24642012
You can't. People fetishize drama and relationships these days. Basically, if they don't care about characters in the first 50 pages the book is shit.

ruin of kings has a decent premise but its framing device sucks ass and its constant switching between past and further-in-the-past every other chapter is even worse

>>24642095
My mistake for only checking the homepage of his website and not any of his socials or whatever.

>>24642204
When's the last time the Hugos weren't infested with pseuds and pretentious leftists?

>>24642240
pre-2000s for sure

>>24642204
Reminder N. K. Jemisin won THREE of them back to back.

>>24642247
N

>>24641916
the mask of the sorcerer

>>24641502
It's not even originality that I'm thinking about as much as sincerity. To riff of your example, there's a difference between someone writing a story that unconsciously uses tropes or story structure versus one that is self-consciously referencing or avoiding those tropes. When you start looking at your own work in this kind of meta-critical way you start to lose your soul.

>>24642247
first you had to be a black woman, then you had to be chinese and if this decade is anything to go by you just need to be a woman

>>24642247
I read The Fifth Season a few years ago. Had so many issues with it.
Obviously a big focus of the series was worldbuilding. But then it's important to be consistent and play by your own rules- as you've laid them out. But there was so many plotholes, that could easily have been avoided.
Also I think by far the more interesting part of the setting was before the apocalypse, while there still was a society. Rather than holed up in cave or wherever the book spends most of it's time.

Character motivation was off, people sorta just flipping binary switches between being good or bad. Actively disliked characters. (why are you brining a baby on the pirate ship while plundering? then getting mad when you get blown up. This is YOUR fault)
What the fuck was even the morale? When shit sucks you're justified in taking everyone else down with you?
Also the book was pushing some motif of there being wisdom in tradition. But in practice, all their traditions were dumb and retarded and make life awful for everyone. Book's values were all kinds of schizophrenic.

It's probably the 3nd worst fantasy book I've ever read. Which doesn't make it super awful. It makes it - barely passable (I could have quit it, right? But I didn't). Would not recommend.
and I think it's just ridiculous to heap awards on it

>>24641916
Rats and Gargoyles

>>24641947
based saar

>>24642484
Imagine wasting your time on a book written by a black woman.

>>24642426
Islam is right about women.

>>24642744
Back to your goats.

>>24640034
The problem is that you can't really do "sexy outfits" in books.
I mean, obviously you can, but typically you're either describing the sexy outfit or describing the action the sexy pilot is doing.
Then, if you resort to "simultaneously describe action and sexy" you end up sounding like a cheap skin mag.
>Then she reached for the gun command and pulled, hard, sending her full breasts bouncing with each recoil. Her toned legs pushed down on the accelerator as her plump ass strained against the shiny, skin-tight material of her booty shorts.

>>24642024
you're not supposed to like Simon or care about him. These low IQ anons got filtered into thinking its all about him, when he was written to be hated and the plot goes by without his input.

For me?
It's Araminta Station (Jack Vance, Cadwal chronicles)

>>24637127
>Alecto the Ninth
When the fuck is this coming out?

>>24642773
Sell me on that series.

>>24642870
I don't think there's even been a writing update since the last book

>>24641513
When you have a series you genuinely love like that you can always reread it to return to the story.

>>24641916
Seconding Mask of the Sorcerer. Protagonist is the son of a sorcerer and basically stumbles ass over elbows into magic, has people calling him a "terrible and powerful sorcerer" when he has no fucking idea what he's even doing and is like 14 years old.

>>24642880
This. I love doing rereads of my favourite series. It feels like coming home but it's also nice to find new things you may not have picked up before.

>>24642909
Very true. I remember my first reread of Wheel of Time and heavily enjoying the insane amount of foreshadowing and incredibly subtle hints of what was to come that you skip right over the first time but jumps out at you on the second.

>>24642909
He also met Mervyn Peake IIRC

>>24642751
this is still better writing than most harem fantasy series tbqh

>>24643021
Obsessed

>>24642751
that's just as fucking retarded in video form anyway desu

how good are the percy jackson books?

just finished rereading the narnia and harry potter series and want something similar

>>24643337
The entire first series is good (especially battle of the labyrinth). The first two of the Heroes of Olympus series are good too, but that series really didn't stick the landing. It had a lot of promise, but hardly delivered on any of them. It's one of those stories where the idea of it, and where your imagination can take these characters and their story-lines are better than what you actually ended up getting.

Also it gets quite pozzed past a certain point. Like after The Last Olympian the gay shit just gets turned up to eleven.

If you read the first five and like them, and want something more to scratch that itch, the Kane Chronicles are pretty underrated and deal with Egyptian mythology. They have the benefit of also being from Rick's pre-pozzed era.

>>24643365
sounds good

thanks

>>24640598
Victra best girl

>>24643337
>>24643365
>>24643376
Why are you reading kids books?

didn't read today because I've had a headache for most of the day

>>24643408
Indeed. I would love for her to get a POV chapter.
Kind of disappointed she didn't get to kill Atlas or Fa for forcing her off her ship to have her baby in the woods. Sharing vengeance with Lyria didn't seem fair to either of them.
Also disappointed Mustang didn't send Sevro a video of Victra outplaying and killing Ajax to tide him over for the ride out to the Belt. He would have fapped himself silly to it
Just some minor grips since I finished LB recently

>>24643500
I've been reading Wheel of Time and I wonder what the sequel books would be like if it was closer to that model rather than set POVs with no deviation. Like it would still be the same ones we got, but every once and a while you'd get the perspective of a character like Victra or Orion or Alexander.

imagine Rhonna's perspective of Lysander killing Alexander

>>24643504
I'd love to know what Sevro's inner monologue is like

>>24643514
Apparently LB was supposed to have Sevro chapters. Like in the first version that he scrapped. I think PB said something like Sevro is one of those characters where you think you want to be inside their heads until you actually are. Also it didn't connect very well to the rest of the book.

>>24643500
As much as I enjoy Victra I think she's better as a side character. Her personality is strong enough that I know her feelings and motives without getting into her head
>>24643504
Alexandar POV would've been kino. His perspective would've been unique, him being a Gold knight from a storied family serving under a non-Gold who studied with Lorn. Lysander MUST die

>>24643522
Good decision on PB's part, Sevro is understood well enough from outside. A more detailed treatment of his escape from Apollonius would've been nice rather than the asspull, however entertaining, that we got in LB

>>24643531
>>24643538
That's kind of what I mean. I don't want Victra or Sevro to be main POV characters, but a random chapter or two of them doing some cool shit instead of being told about it secondhand and after the fact would be nice. For instance, Lysander's account of Ajax's death was really lacking and Ajax was a major player on his end of the storyline. Even the trap Victra set was only vaguely described. They said Ajax was worth four Olympic knights in battle and came to surpass Aja in skill and we don't even know how Victra and Thraxa beat him.

>>24643564
I love chapters where the POV character is allowed to die, and the only time we really got that in Red Rising was with Ephraim

I'd love to be inside the head of that cocky bastard Ajax when he died.

>>24643582
The supreme cockiness slowing turning into surprise and then despair over a chapter would have been amazing. I know PB could pull off that tension too

darrow spends like most of the series casually chopping through people with the willow way, with no one being spared whether they are praetorians, knights, or olympic knights and then suddenly we are told it is countered by some hobo out of jail?

>>24639902
Have you tried not being brown?