Mists Edition
Recommendations:
>Fantasy
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/4chanlit/images/a/a8/1307836551252.jpg (embed)
(For the Computer illiterate) http://i.imgur.com/igBYngL
>Sci-Fi
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/4chanlit/images/a/a6/Scifilit.jpg (embed)
(For the Computer illiterate) http://i.imgur.com/gNTrDmc
http://imgur.com/r55ODlL
http://imgur.com/A96mTQX
>What are you reading right now?
>What is your favorite stand alone fantasy novel?
>What is your favorite work, either genre, of the last 10 years?
>Which living author are you most afraid of dying?
PERFECT
>>7766218
>I ain't even mad
>>7766218
>>What are you reading right now?
Resurrection by Tolstoy and Ethics by Peter Kreeft. I'm honestly not sure when I'll get back to sff, probably when my Kobo arrives to finish Book of the Short Sun.
>>What is your favorite stand alone fantasy novel?
Book of the New Sun as it's one work split into 4 for publishing reasons.
Assuming that's not a valid answer Lord of Light.
>>What is your favorite work, either genre, of the last 10 years?
The Wizard Knight. I'm weary of any other contemporary authors. John C. Wright sounds like a fun author from how he's been described by anon in the last thread.
>>Which living author are you most afraid of dying?
Wolfe of course. I don't know any other for whom I should care.
>Sel and Threnody in the same system
Think Threnody was a moon of Sel? Think Threnodites are refugees from Sel?
>>7766258
Nigga I have not read Elantris in many years. I don't remember any of that stuff.
>want to read Stormlight Archive because people say it's the best thing ever
>only 2 books out, a total of 10 to come
I fucking hate cucking myself and the wait for a new book to come out, and not just one, but eight more. Like I'm gonna be in my fifties or something when it finishes. Fuck that.
>>7766275
Stop crying, they hold together as complete novels pretty well.
Reading Into the Storm, the first of the destroyermen series
Glory Season, is actually a sci-fi but whatever, was pretty good, wonder if Brin will make a sequel
Tie between Uplift and Mortal Engines
I'm not so sure, David Brin
>>7766218
>What are you reading right now?
The Pirate King by Salvatore
>What is your favorite stand alone fantasy novel?
...have to dig deep for that. hmm, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende I guess?
I've read so many multi part stories, there's hardly any single volume story around.
>What is your favorite work, either genre, of the last 10 years?
The End of Eternity by Asimov, no contest.
>Which living author are you most afraid of dying?
Iain M. Ban.. FUCK
Can't say I care about the current bunch.
I don't know, whom of the good writers is even still alive?
>>7766238
mentions Wolfe so I guess I'll go for him.
>>7766218
>>What are you reading right now?
Pic related. Two chapters in and it's a pretty solid Aztec magic detective story.
>>What is your favorite stand alone fantasy novel?
Recently, Dying Earth. Not that it's a "novel."
>>What is your favorite work, either genre, of the last 10 years?
Count to the Eschaton.
>>Which living author are you most afraid of dying?
Stephenson. I want him to pull the Baroque Cycle treatment on the American Civil War/Taiping Rebellion/Triple Alliance period, show the intrusion of industrialization into everyday life and the rise of modern warfare. Maybe start in Crimea and end with German unification.
Thoughts on The Library at Mount Char?
>>7766218
>What are you reading right now
Anti-Ice by Stephen Baxter, rises above most steampunk I've seen.
>What is your favorite stand alone fantasy novel?
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, I love me some digression footnotes
>What is your favorite work, either genre, of the last 10 years?
Embassytown was seriously impressive; I don't always get along with Mieville's books but that one nailed it.
>Which living author are you most afraid of dying?
Hm... tough one, everyone I like is either fairly young or already dead. I guess Moorcock?
>>7765402
Not him and it's not a judgement but in my country Gormenghast is published by the most patrician publisher.
>>7766407
How can a 'publisher' be patrician?
>>7766412
Because it publishes the best things that the biggest publishers don't publish..
>>7766412
http://www.nyrb.com/collections/classics
Thats like asking how a film distribution company can be patrician.
>>7766440
They look like pretty boring books desu. Obscure does not equal patrician.
>>7766440
Fuck the New York Red Bulls man!
Does someone knows more books like Do Androids dreams of Electric Sheep?
>>7766479
Other Dick books?
>>7766446
>Obscure
Have you ever considered that mybe you're just ignorant?
Just finished what Mistborn books there are, decided to read the rest of Sanderson, starting with Elantris, but I'm having a hard time getting into and understanding it.
>>7766659
It's shit just read stormlight archive
>>7766479
Neuromancer
similar themes and pacing
both felt dream-like when i read them
>>7766218
I am illiterate. How do you make those mini jpgs big?
I really fucking liked this. Any series or author that has a similar style/feeling?
>>7766693
how were you even able to submit this post?
>>7766218
Why isn't The Black Company listed in Epic Fantasy? Serious question, as I don't understand all the hairsplitting with subgenres.
As to what I'm reading, 3rd book of Black Company, per /lit/'s recommendation wiki.
>>7766698
His other books in the same universe. I also like it, but haven't come aross similar things.
GOOD selected Fantasy chart when
>>7766720
When you make one
>>7766720
When you make one anon.
>>7766720
What we need is a good horror fantasy/sci fi one.
>>7766218
>>What are you reading right now?
The Double by Dosto. I was reading The Foundation Pit, but either the writing or the translation is very stilted.
>>What is your favorite stand alone fantasy novel?
The Lord of the Rings (because I categorize The Book of the New Sun as sci-fi)
>>What is your favorite work, either genre, of the last 10 years?
Nothing springs to mind, but I thought Annihilation and The City & The City were both pretty good.
>>Which living author are you most afraid of dying?
Gene Wolfe
Good job with the OP.
>>7766315
are you implying a newfag would actually check the old thread first? laughable.
>>7766218
>>What are you reading right now?
Son of Man by Robert Silverberg
>>What is your favorite stand alone fantasy novel?
I'm just gonna say The Pride of Chanur by C. J. Cherryh
>>What is your favorite work, either genre, of the last 10 years?
I don't read a lot of new stuff... Only ones I can think of are the newest Foreigner books by Cherryh
>>Which living author are you most afraid of dying?
C. J. Cherryh. Obviously.
>>7766218
>Shitty Sanderson edition
FUCK OFF
>>7766302
>last 10 years
>The End of Eternity
Woops,it's not like anyone noticed anywaymake that City of the Dead (Forgotten Realms) by Rosemary Jones then, the most recent fantasy/science fiction book I really really enjoyed.
I'm watching that Starship Tropper movie from 1997 with my little brother, showing him some good old movies. Anyway, how good is the book and how much it's different from the movie?
>>7767194
pretty much no fights, more of a life story of the main character, a bit more philosophical, still tense.
>1997
>good old
now you make me feel like a grandpa.
>>7767219
Well, my little brother is 10, so 90 is old for him(so is for me, being born in 91). I'm watching all old sci fi movies, so I'm going from early 00 to whatever year I can download the movie.
Will read the book then.
>>7766263
Then why respond?
>>7766302
I thought you were done after Orc King, anon.
>>7766659
What part are you having trouble with? Elantris should be easy to grasp. It's
>Raoden is a homeless immortal doing homeless immortal things for like what, half a book
>>7766698
Read The Prefect and everything else in the universe. I don't know about Chasm City; don't care to read it. Most short stories and novellas add so much detail to the universe and explain a lot of stuff.
Pushing Ice was nice too but that is stand-alone.
I intend on writing a low-fantasy series that will hopefully include a nice Lovecraftian influence permeating the series, the first instalment will involve a small cult and a group of Jedi-like knights who are not quite zealous but are more and more being seen as the Church's lapdogs, they will struggle with their identity.
Anyway here is the opening of the first chapter, I want to post more but only if people care. Just seeing what people think of it.
__
He thought of the inside of the forest might as a cave. The trees withheld their oxygen greedily and he had not taken an unfought for breathe in a long time (nor had he seen the sun or felt a breeze or spent any length of time not drenched in sweat). Like all the others he had eventually given up the idea of modesty. He lived naked in this twisted growth of fauna and at the sudden sense of any cool pocket of air he huddled against the moss of the forest floor and rolled in the dirt like a pig. Rainfall was bitter-sweet; during he would go to the stream (his own, the one he knew of, not so much a secret just nothing he spoke about to others and so on and so forth, let them find it if they did) and lie in the mostly empty creek bed and enjoy the fresh flow of the new rain that came from somewhere north if his understanding of north was not mistaken. It was pleasant to pair the undeniable sensation of the chilling temperature with the idea that the water was fresh, it came from the sky and brought with it a new air that was still imbued with the essence freedom and if not that (platitudes could drive a man mad in the forest) then just some welcome spaciousness or something worldly anyway. If this lasted a day he was happy until tomorrow when humidity had sunk inside the place and in waves its heat emanated through the forest, routinely propulsed by some heartbeat through each of their bodies which they felt in the same the way a deaf man still senses the thrum of music. In this aftermath he returned to his tree (his own, the one he knew about etc.) and burrowed deep into its ancient roots grown from an earth that was so fertile here that its moisture had begun to decompose the still living wood. He could tolerate the heat there and if he was patient enough he mostly just sat until it passed.
>>7766700
He had his brother type it.
>>7766701
>Why isn't $LIST perfect
Because we are all sinners, far from grace, constantly crapping out imperfect list jpgs.
>>7766231
I don't understand the purpose of the contraption that unfolded on that thing.
>>7766218
>What are you reading right now?
Nothing fiction related but am gearing up to read Ancillary Justice after some anon's recommendation here.
>What is your favorite stand alone fantasy novel?
Forever Peace
>What is your favorite work, either genre, of the last 10 years?
As someone who's never been to America, I very much enjoyed American Gods. It read like a biography of a tourist but with fantastical characters. It was pretty bloated though.
>Which living author are you most afraid of dying?
The guy that wrote Song of Ice and Fire. I'm not really a fan but I've read Wheel of Time since I was a kid and don't want to wish the same shit that happened there to happen to them.
Any of Mark Laidlaw's stuff worth trying?
>tfw you wrote Wolfe a letter last July
I hope he's feeling all right. I hope he reads it before he dies.
>>7768117
I don't think you'll get a response.
>>7767157
I noticed, just didn't think it was worth being a dick about.
>>7768156
But you can imagine that he read it and that it influenced whatever he writes next, which is pretty cool, though it'd be cooler if he weren't on a streak of mediocre books.
should i continue with this lensman series thing after finishing triplanetary or no?
>>7766218
>using unoptimised pngs
>>7768392
>sperging over pngs
>>7768409
You're killing me.
>The Apocalypse Guard series is set in a world parallel to that of the Reckoners, and an organization of superpowered individuals is at its center. Their collective objective is to save doomed planets, until the day something goes horribly wrong and it is up to one young member of the guard to fix things before time runs out for her and the planet she calls home.
Hey I've never posted in any of these threads before, but I was wondering if you anons could recommend me any SF or fantasy books focused on:
>harems
>slavery
>BDSM
>unconventional sex
This is purely for research purposes of course. Is Kushiel's Dart any good? Should I just read Gor? I'm afraid the writing will be as cringey as the fans. Thanks in advance :3
>>7768420
I recommend Patrick Rothfuss. Any other answer is objectively shit.
anyone read this?
>>7768420
>harems
I think you'd have more fun with LNs.
Really like low and dark fantasy but I'm really desperate for some great prose as well. I used to love fantasy but I just need some high quality writing to get me through it.
>>7768441
Gormenghast
>>7766258
Where do you pull this information from?
In what novel is Threnody ever mentioned? Or are you just theorycrafting based on shit the author says in interviews?
>>7768363
It gets much easier to follow, but it is a product of the time. Take that as you will.
>>7768431
Yes.
>>7768441
Lord of Light
Ghormengast
Book of the New Sun
>>7767577
>I thought you were done after Orc King, anon.
I forced myself into the next. it really isn't bad compared to all the orc shit.
>>7767953
isn't Forever Peace a sequel of Forever War?
>>7768543
You're thinking of Forever Free which had a Twilight Zone ending. Forever Peace is the one with the mini-Evangelion drones.
>>7767235
Just make sure you don't introduce him to anime, you don't want your brother running into your room late at night in girl's pantsu and a frilly tol, asking for your help because his penis is stuff in the pantsu.(you know what happens after that )
Is there any books that have very little attention (let's say 5k ratings or less on goodreads) that you think are great?
>>7768419
So Sanderson taking another break from stormlight to write a side project?
Scratch me finishing the cosmere books in my late 50's, I will complete that bucket list in my late 70's. Fuck Sanderson.
>>7768420
>tfw no qt asian slave
Why live to be quite honest with you familia
>>7768420
The previous OP had a list with what you are asking for.... but this OP deleted it. Too bad.
>>7768694
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5111133-dragon-in-chains
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250295.Voice_of_the_Fire?from_search=true&search_version=service
>>7768678
Poor anon, why would you introduce anime to your little brother? But I'll take your advice and not make the same mistake, thanks.
>>7768712
http://i.imgur.com/FaU8eYs.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/oPLOaVO.jpg
?
Thoughts on The Night Circus?
>>7768774
I liked the rape, gay and incest in Night Circus series.
>>7768782
>he's back
Is Red Rising worth reading? Lots of people seem to praise it but >Young Adult
>>7768409
>not sperging about the quality of the images on an imageboard
Go back wherever you came from.
>>7768707
>tfw no qt asian slave
Heresy! A qt asian has to be the dom.
>>7768420
Bleargh, they look awful, especially the one on the far left, she looks like a second Jabba.
>>7768614
oh okay
>>7768694
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1316830.Giftwish
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1316827.Catchfire
those are seriously secret club books. I've read the first, it's enjoyableYoung Adult Fantasy
>>7768420
The entire Gor universe is nothing but BDSM in a fantasy setting. Back then in the 70s there even was a Gor subculture with BDSM conventions.
Everything that guy pumped out turns into BDSM at around page 12, even the non-Gor stuff.
>>7768462
Threnody is the planet that the novella "Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell" takes place on, newfriend.
>>7768702
It's aggravating.
>gets into writing for the SOLE PURPOSE of creating Cosmere
>I'm gonna create a bunch of side projects so I don't get burnt out!
>>7768824
I thought it was an enjoyable series. I find that Brown has a nice writing style. There is a ton of violence in it but none of it is cheesy like the Hunger Games.
Also some sick space battles on par with the Halo series space battles
>>7768824
The prose is first-person present-tense and YA-quality. Not gonna try to hide that. But the author is way more classically informed than usual. The first book turns into an Iliad/Anabasis kind of Hogwarts with rape and cannibalism. And it's meaningful rape and cannibalism.
Just finished Wizard and Glass. Easily my favorite of the first four Dark Tower books.
Now onto Little Sisters of Eluria and Wolves of Calla.
>>7768363
If you actually like Triplanetary and weren't just slogging through it for knowledge of SF history you should absolutely go for it.
>>7769808
I read all seven books and I implore you to stop here and retain a good memory of the series.
If you go on you will find only pain and disappointment.
>>7769847
Yeah that's what I've heard. But comments make like that make want to keep reading. I have to know what all the hubbub is about.
>>7769854
Alright then. Don't say we didn't warn you, in fact fucking King himself has a section in the last book begging you not to read the finale. I'm not joking.
hey /lit/, I need some advice.
I'm writing a fairy-tale style story and I'm worried it's one silly, talking animal away from going full disney. I already have harmless, goofy animal companion in the story, but if I don't change this giant rat into a smol, dorky mouse it's going to be way too obvious [spoliers]he's evil and actually part of a rat-shaped, festering mass of squirming rat bodies the size of a small house[/spoilers]
Should I change him or should I leave him as is?
For writing sci-fi, does I need a good knowledge of physics or I can just bullshit my way into ignoring to explain the technology my characters use?
>>7769896
Sounds like a rip off of Shin Sekai Yori.
>>7769915
I've only seen the first episode, so it's not
>>7769905
not him but the series is one of the best sci fi series i have ever read
>>7769919
Sure bud. 'Only the first episode'.
>>7769932
you do realize rat kings exist outside your chinese cartoons right?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king_(folklore)
>>7769970
Ah, PS:T memories.
The animal thing in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is so good and well done, probably one could do a great novel upon this idea(animal being expensive, but everyone wants one since most of them are all dead and whatnot) unless there's already one/ones about it. Still, the lack of this in that Blade Runner movie is what killed it for me.
Is there a book like The Cube movies?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_%28film%29
If not, what's something similar?
>>7770088
The Boy Who Reversed Himself.
Alternately, Flatland.
>>7770088
a lot of the popular YA novels are like that.
>>7769904
You don't need to know or use real science to write sci-fi. Most of the great works of science fiction are soft science fiction.
>>7770284
But if I have my characters traveling over a gold salt bed of a dried-up sea that was gold-saturated, and there aren't any gold compounds that dissolve in water but don't break down in sunlight, the entire book will become a wallbanger for someone.
>>7770302
Perhaps the sea wasn't just brine and was composed of other solvents that do maintain gold compounds intact? Or maybe the atmospheric conditions allow for it or something?
>>7770315
aka useless brain masturbation
just watch movies for that
>>7770380
they're akin to detective novels, where the reader has to pay attention for clues. less masturbation than hunting.
u stupit anon, u stupit
>>7770406
W E W
E
W
L A D
A
D
>>7768694
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22327263-the-pendragon-protocol
>>7770315
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. Characters could be fleshed out better (first-novel syndrome) but it's conceptually awesome.
Any recommendations in the vein of the Spirited Away movie?
My favorite part of it was Chihiro exploring the place. There was this tension and eeriness in the place that really drew you in. I also liked the different creatures and the No Face plot.
>>7769684
No, he fucks, cusses, rapes and gays, all the things Sanderson doesn't, and what makes a book great.
>>7770485
Coraline and The Graveyard Book are known to be pretty good, but neither of them can stand up to Miyazaki's finest work in terms of awe and atmosphere.
Honestly Spirited Away lacks a literary competitor of the same quality. You might be better off trying a visual medium. Try the following
>Dennou Coil (it's literally spirited away as a scifi)
>Pan's Labyrinth
>Coraline (the movie, not the book)
One-third of the way through this and I'm a bit concerned. There's nothing new or interesting so far, it just feels like the same old rehashed ideas in a faux hard sci-fi package. Is there some kind of shift later on or does it stay this way?
>>7771661
Which same old rehashed ideas? What kind of novelty would impress you?
>>7771661
Nah, he's a bit derivative on the whole. I gave up halfway through his Night Land one.
>>7771683
The interstellar travel is boring, the alien artifact is boring, the intelligence augmentation is boring, the new world order is boring, the artificial intelligence is boring.
The one thing I thought was mildly interesting was the gun duels. Not that there was anything new there with guided bullets and that kind of thing but just the over the top level that it was taken to is something I didn't expect. Everything else is pretty trite.
/sffg/ help me pick what character to write about next
>angry manlet who has the power to change anything's flavor
>homeless girl who was raised by cats and doesn't know she's human
>nerdy girl who's trying to study mysterious four-dimensional landmarks
>>7771753
He keeps building on them. It's a story about scale. But generally you either love or hate Wright.
I personally have not seen those things done in this way, or in the same story, or woven together in one story, and I'm attracted to the philosophical underpinnings - Montrose desperate for the future Star Trek promised him, Azarchel always finding new ways to be a cynic. I love how their frenemyship constantly escalates over thousands of years. I love how he takes pulp archetypes, the ultra-competent Texan, the wicked, handsome, wickedly handsome Spaniard, the space princess, and plays with them, puts them in settings where they don't belong and makes them belong. The whole thing is a love letter to pulp/Golden Age SF, through a Catholic lens. Like I said, you love it or you hate it.
>>7771753
Man, you must be disappointed in everything.
re reading one of my favorites right now... its a bit challenging the first read through but its the kind of book your meant to explore
>>7771856
It is? I was rocking all the way through. It's a high-octane novel. Second read-through I picked up on a lot more of the references, put down the book and read the Katha Upanishad when they start quoting it at each other. It's surprisingly short.
>>7771856
Okay, I've been looking at this cover off and on for almost 10 years now.
What is it a picture of?
>>7771861
>It's a high-octane novel.
Leave /lit/ whenever it's convenient
>>7769896
Do it then wait for Hollywood to buy it from you so you can spend it on what's important to a writer: hookers and lsd.
>>7771757
#1 sounds ridiculous on the face of it, but it's the most original of the three, so maybe that's best? Depends what you do with him, of course, sounds like he'd be suited to comic hijinks where he makes the King's soup taste like shit or something.
#2 isn't bad, but there's quite a few "human child raised by animals" stories out there so you'd need a really interesting plot to put her in.
#3 isn't a character at all, really. Just female-ness and nerdiness aren't enough. But on the bright side, four-dimensional landmarks are a good idea (and you can even stretch it to five).
>>7772006
Alice isn't ominous and I assumed everyone's already read it at some point. I'm a pleb and I read it
>>7771661
I liked the idea of the Galactic Council being made up of Dyson sphere brains that just didn't notice us until we did interstellar travel, and the idea of all the cool astronomical things going on in the galaxy being war and industry.
>"Surely your astronomers have noticed the war damage near your star: the Crab Pulsar is the remnant whose shock wave reached Sol in A.D. 1054. It is only 6500 lightyears from you."
>"We thought it was a supernova."
>"So it was."
And I like the premise of a libertarian using psychohistory.
>>7771619
I've already seen Dennou Coil and I wouldn't really say it's similar. It lacks a lot of the tension and atmosphere (still a great show though). Not a fan of Gaiman. Pan's Labyrinth looks pretty spooky from Google images, but I don't really like 3D movies.
>>7772538
It's trash
I usually don't read and I quit reading because I'm retarded, but after a bet with a saleswoman at a fantasy book store some years ago, I read Mistborn book 1 and ended up reading all 3, plus Warbreaker, The Way of Kings and 8 or 9 books of the Wheel of Time. Also the Farseer trilogy.
But I must say the first book in The Stormlight Archive has to be the best thing I've ever touched, even though it took a while to build up and was slightly boring at first... Without spoiling, those who know, know. The most epic event in the book made me want to kill myself as I had completed maximum emotion and nothing ever will be able to top that(I don't have kids so wtf do I know)
I guess what I'm trying to say is, keep it up, what you're doing is fucking awesome. ie funding writers.
>>7772579
Story about the bet, for hopefully at least 1 person who would care.
The saleswoman tried to sell me a book where the protagonist is a teenage girl(Mistborn), and I'm like there's no fucking way I'd be interested in it. She says she'll personally give me my money back if I don't like it. I bought book 2 and 3 the day after.
I get a special feeling some would call nostalgia but it's kind of different, when listening to music I listened to while reading certain books. So for example I read World War Z while listening to an awful aquired taste band with super clean super sweet female vocals contrasting offtune offbeat "death metal", might sound like any metalcore but it wasn't, it was very different and ugly but I liked it. Now whenever I listen to it I move into the feeling I had while reading the book, which is an awesome beautiful chaotic post-apocalyptic feeling which is wonderful and makes me feel like nothing is "running" anymore, feels like anarchy.
I love doing this actively, moving back into certain moods and feelings. I'm not sure if it's healthy though as it reminds of dissociating
>>7772594
Give me a short book list, I'll save and try get back into reading, would appreciate it a lot.
I can't even remember the last time I read a fantasy book that didn't constantly switch between protagonists.
What's wrong with focusing on just a single character?
>>7772625
Gormenghast
Book of the New Soon
come back when you're done
>>7772630
Very promising, thank you!
>>7772627
People think it's "too boring", but some authors managed to pull it off like Frank Herbet.
I honestly prefer a single POV myself, so I'm sticking with that in my own work.
Do you guys think it's worth paying for a manuscript appraisal to get noticed or would fantasy agents care more about finding a book that sits in a sell-able niche as opposed to being well-written?
>>7772538
It's not bad. Would recommend it over other multi book series like WoT etc.
>>7772627
There's a shitload out there. Read one if you want. Don't complain because you've been choosing not to.
>>7772538
First four books are excellent.
Books 5 to 7 get really wonky but I would still recommend it, King does an outstanding work at making you genuinely care about the characters.
By the end I was thinking of them like my own friends.
>>7772792
>WoT
I keep thinking I should read it.
But I don't know if it's worth the enormous amount of time it's gonna take to finish the whole thing.
Any Jordanfag wanna weigh in on this?
Is it just me, or is Sanderson essentially writing Young Adult lit?
I've tried Mistborn and it's pretty much a comic book in written form.
>>7771826
Yes I get the impression that it's trying to straddle the line between Vance and a more serious writer (Watts maybe?) but it just came off as glib for me. Too many of the crazy technical-sounding descriptions of things can just be replaced with some abstracted, symbolic form of themselves with no real consequence on the story; their description is merely to give a sense of hardness which is why I called it faux hard.
Thinking back I think the main reason I liked the gun duel is because there was a kind of simple but deep logic behind the technology, developing from a kind of arms race in a world where people wanted to prove their mettle in a way that hearkened back to past glory days. It was like a perversion of the past, a tradition that got escalated into something very brutal and visceral by new and constantly improving technology. It had an important place in the world and the actually nitty-gritty details of how it worked held greater meaning.
>>7771838
I don't think I've ever read a sci-fi novel that I was completely satisfied with. Or even watched a sci-fi film that I was completely satisfied with (two that come close are District 9 and Under the Skin).
>>7772810
Nah. The first one is a cheap LOTR rip off. 2-5 are pretty decent, then it turns to shit and 99% of people drop it.
>>7772838
>Is it just me
No.
>>7772863
>that Schwarzenegger movie
Which one?
>>7772838
It's better than any other YA and a good entry into fantasy really. Of course you don't start with Wolfe or whoever and then move onto Mistborn, it's the other way around.
>>7772908
The one with the race, The Running Man.
Oh, shit, just discovered it's taken from a King book.
>>7772922
It has nothing whatsoever to do with the book tho.
I know it's strange considering it's King, but it isn't a bad book.
>>7772909
I guess Sanderson is a bit like Eddings.
It feels pretty awesome when you are 15, but rereading it at 30 feels just silly.
I'm exaggerating, of course, but I was seriously struggling with Mistborn books 2 & 3. The author is obviously infatuated with his protagonists, so they are cloyingly, sickeningly "cool".
>>7772982
So as a 26 yo who has already read Wolfe, I probably wouldn't enjoy him?
I ask cause I have a friend who's been shilling Sanderson to me for the past 5 years and I never caved. I may read The Way of Kings just to get him to shut the fuck up about how fucking awesome it is.
>>7772989
>So as a 26 yo who has already read Wolfe, I probably wouldn't enjoy him?
Mmm, I would say that you should read the first book, Final Empire, and then decide for yourself if you want to continue.
That book 1 is pretty entertaining, it gets worse later.
>>7772810
First one was a very good introduction to the series but after the third book, it quickly went downhill. There are books you can skip and not miss a thing which should never happen in an epic like it.
Skip it. Dark Tower is better but it too went to the shitter fast.
>>7772989
It's just Mistborn that is like that. Way of Kings is really good
>>7772843
I don't think I've ever read a sci-fi novel that I was completely satisfied with. Or even watched a sci-fi film that I was completely satisfied with
I feel similarly. What criteria would you choose in a novel that would fulfill your threshold for quality?
>>7772838
Wasn't Mistborn essentially written when Sanderson was a young adult and only pieced together 30 years later?
>>7773039
>Way of Kings is really good
That's good to know.
I hope to God it's not the same trite shit with a group of heroes that must recover an ancient artifact to defeat a dark lord of evil etc, please don't be like this.
>>7772843
Wait till they're talking about the only interstellar war between humans, where they set up massively expensive braking lasers to decelerate their enemies' troopships, because if we blast their men out of the sky, they'll do it to us!
>>7773084
>>I hope to God it's not the same trite shit with a group of heroes that must recover an ancient artifact to defeat a dark lord of evil etc, please don't be like this.
The point of Mistborn was Sanderson trying to do something different with that. It starts a thousand years after the heroes fail. And yes, Way of Kings is different. It's about a kid who runs away from his doctor father to join the army and winds up in a penal unit that charges the enemy without armor or weapons, and a nobleman trying to get his friends to have faith in his epileptic visions. No dark lord.
>>7773186
>It's about a kid who runs away from his doctor father to join the army and winds up in a penal unit that charges the enemy without armor or weapons, and a nobleman trying to get his friends to have faith in his epileptic visions.
I have to admit this does sound interesting.
>No dark lord.
Sold.
So, /sffg/. After reading and loving Blindsight I decided to get started on SF by reading the Nebula winners for Novels (as a start, I will read other stuff when I'm done).
So far I've read only Neuromancer (1984 winner), Flowers for Algernon (1966) and I'm finishing today Babel-17 (1966).
From the list I posted, which ones you recommend I learn next? Note that I intend on reading them all during the year, so I'm just asking which ones you'd prioritize.
>>7773246
I've heard good things about Chabon's novel, so perhaps check that out for something more modern.
>>7773084
>I hope to God
Speaking of God I'm extremely unimpressed with the religious elements in his books, they're underdeveloped as fuck.
The Fedora's at Tor are probably to blame but still.
>>7773246
>Nebula winners
Prepare to be massively disappointed.
>>7773246
Almost all sound like shit.
>>7773246
Why do you seem so obsessed with the list? Look up some of the titles, pick the ones that sound interesting to you. I definitely would not say that everything there is worth reading, there's a couple decent ones but you'll find better by manually searching.
>>7773264
So far I've been pretty impressed by the ones I've read. Do they get worse with time?
>>7773252
Thanks. The Yiddish Police Force was one that i wouldn't have picked by it's name, but I'll check it out.
>>7773267
It's a starting point. Just like some people follow charts like the ones on the OP. I'm pretty new to the genre, so I'm not really sure which kind of novels I'm looking for. Picking them semi-randomly helps me check stuff i wouldn't have otherwise.
I feel like this qualifies, so I'll ask here:
Can /lit/ recommend anything in terms of "Cape" novels or serials? Things like Soon I Will Be Invincible, or Worm. It's kind of a difficult sub genre to search for.
>>7773265
Which ones don't, then?
>>7773330
Algernoon, le Guin, Clarke, Wolfe.
>>7773277
>I'm not really sure which kind of novels I'm looking for
Avoid 99% of the shit the general mentions and you're good.
Try Book of the New Sun, Dying Earth, Foundation trilogy.
>>7773056
I read sci-fi/fantasy primarily for the concepts, I think that's the whole reason the genre is interesting. But a cool idea really isn't enough. You need to ground it by carefully analyzing what place your cool idea would have in the world. How would it change things, what kind of structures would develop around it. This analysis needs to be very logical and realistic for your concept to have any kind of weight to it. This
"weight" is the MOST critical aspect for sci-fi/fantasy. Even if you take an old idea (dragons) and do a good job of giving it weight (ASoIaF) your story will feel satisfying.
That's my two cents.
>>7767600
The opening paragraph is a bit hard to read as a block of text. It would be helpful to put paragraph breaks after sentences that lead into each other.
Also. Why is your protagonist nude? Is this manuscript sample depicted in a Sci-fi nudist colony?
>>7767600
>He thought of the inside of the forest might as a cave.
Lost me on the first sentence
>>7773259
No, it's him being a Mormon and Mormons are a scam religion, you really see that it's an obvious prank gone way too far.
>>7767600
i have written some utter shit in my day, but this is absolutely horrible.
>>7768431
I read the first book, it was great right until they started talking about sophons and I fucking threw a shit fit. I stopped like 10% into book 2
>>7773259
He's just a Mormon. I'm pretty sure Tor have published Wolfe before.
>feel when Sel and Threnody aren't in the same system after all
>>7773279
I've never read it or anything else similar, but in a similar discussion someone said a book called "A Once Crowded Sky" was pretty good.
Is Titus Groan / Gormenghast worth reading? When people describe it (fixed to one location, basically just people living in a castle with no magic happenings) it sounds kind of boring. Is the lyrical prose the only reason people like it?
>>7774155
What kind of literature do you read if you find that boring?
When the fuck is The Unholy Consult coming out?
>>7772579
Way of Kings and Farseer are some of the best modern fantasy around. Pretty good choices. Wheel of Time is mostly shit, so you should've dropped that about 4 books in.
Don't listen to the Gormenghast and Book of the New Sun faggot. They're great, but they're by no means entry level. Save them for later.
Try these:
Hobbit
Lord of the Rings
Lies of Locke Lamora
Black Company
Small Gods
Picture of Dorian Gray
Tigana
Name of the Wind (not a fan, but good chance you'll enjoy it)
>>7772989
My reading order for these went Mistborn trilogy, Book of the New Sun, Way of Kings, lots of other Wolfe, and then Mistborn Wax and Wayne.
I think they're all great, though BotNS and Stormlight are light years ahead of the others. Easily my two favourite fantasy series. You just have to accept that they're very different and Sanderson is simply trying to build an interesting world without all of Wolfe's allusions.
>>7774262
>Discworld
Haha, no.
>>7774331
Discworld is better than the hobbit or botns, honestly.
>>7774341
Haha, no.
>>7774342
[ ] argument
[x] not an argument
>>7774348
Discworld is more intelligent, funnier, longstanding, enlightening, complex, and philosophical than hobbit or botns. also, it has better prose.
>>7774352
>Discworld is more intelligent
Already wrong, didn't read the rest.
>>7774355
>didn't read
must be a habit of yours, not reading.
>>7774352
>Discworld is more
intelligent
Lol fuck no
funnier
Yes because it's a comedy
longstanding
How do you judge how longstanding a novel is while both are well known and generations that read the first edition are still alive?
enlightening
In what way?
complex
IFIEBDKIFJDKCODJHDBDJD ARE YOU MENTALLY HANDICAPPED
and philosophical than hobbit or botns. also, it has better prose.
This is bait
Reading Magician from Raymond Fiest:
>timeships, timeships everywhere
>random dragons giving random people golden arms and armour
>three identical women
>crazy emperor under the influence of evil french duke guy gets tricked into sending the good guy as general into the fight against some random japanese race from another dimension
>timeskip some seven years later, good guy is still in stalemate with same japanese race, and STILL IN COMMAND while crazy emperor and evil french duke guy are planning to marry some random nobles daughter to the evil french duke guy
All this happens in some 600 pages with various filler in between.
There is something seriously wrong with american fantasy writers. I thought I'd give another of them a go, but I guess they are totally hopeless. Speedtyping and random plot elements thrown together, that's all that I ever saw with the exception of Martins first two novels, and Robbin Hobb.
>>7767577
The names all seem similar to me, so I'm having a difficult time putting faces to them. I genuinely don't understand how Raoden gets turned into an Elantrian, what is even going on.
I'm at the part discussing Sarene's paintings and I like the concept of the politicking and I like Raoden's adventures inLordranElantris but I can't follow. I'm considering doing what the other guy said and just getting a synopsis and moving on to Stormlight
>>7774170
When the "prophet" stops cucking his best friends.
I know that author's fetishes sometimes bleed through to their novels, tell me, is Bakker's fetish to befriend people then fuck their wives?
That shit happened too much in the first trilogy, not sure if I should continue.
He killed my granny rape fetish before it could begin.(i need you, you are the only one i could trust)
>>7774392
I know Fiest's stuff isn't that great but I enjoyed Magician, and the first trilogy. For some reason I dropped the saga after the first trilogy, then like 4 years later picked up starting on Talon of the Silver Hawk, and read the series all the way up to the book where they go into the dark shadow realm to destroy that evil god/demon possessing someone with the help of the trickster God who reveals herself at the end. It was a wild ride but I found it fun
I fuckingenjoyedMogworld.
I'm probably going to be told to go back to /v/ but...
Are there any novels that take a similar approach to human-alien interaction asBloodborne? I.e. incomprehensible aliens doing incomprehensible things that deeply fuck up a comparatively primitive human civilization and inspire everything from worship to horror.
I don't even play games but I'm kind of enamored with the lore of this one just from watching videos of it.
And before you say Lovecraft, no Lovecraft.
>>7775073
Roadside Picnic, funny enough the Russians misinterpreted it and gave Stalker (the film), Metro 2033 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R the games
>>7775079
Nice, I'll check it out.
>>7774553
The cuck shit stops after that. Don't worry.Achamian winds up with someone better anyway.
>>7774170
July probably.
>>7775125
My phallus is tumescent.
>>7775073
If you're talking about VaatiVidya's videos he barely gets Bloodborne. A lot of what he says misses some important things and it's clear a lot of the game flew over his head.
It's better to play the game yourself and get a better handle on it, forming your own opinion.
>>7774994
You skipped the Serpent War Saga?
I assume Talon comes after that (have not yet read). I also enjoyed the Daughter of the Empire trilogy he wrote with Wurts.
>>7775175
No just normal videos of playthroughs (sans commentary, of course).I don't play video games you filthy manchild.
>>7775365
>being LP cancer
wew
>>7775366
What other recourse is there for someone who admires the art and stories but doesn't want to sink hours upon hours into gitting gud?
>>7775377
Getting good.
>>7775377
Playing the game and not dying. Souls games arent exactly hard. And you're spending the exact same amount of time.
Besides, the best part of playing Souls games is jumping in blind and making sense of things yourself. Pre-digested infopackets defeat the purpose.
>>7775383
Nah.
>>7774427
It's more a loosely-connected set than an actual series, most of them work as standalones. The early ones are parodies of High Fantasy cliches, but he went more toward black comedy and social satire later on. Overall pretty gud.
>>7775392
lol if you insist.
Just read more sci-fi if you want more humans meeting aliens shit, its a concept thats as old as the genre itself
>>7775398
I plan on it.
I also plan on watching some stranger on YouTube play Dark Souls 3.
>>7775403
Might as well read the wiki and call it a day, cant imagine any bigger waste of time.
>>7775408
>cant imagine any bigger waste of time.
Getting flustered over "Let's Plays" comes to mind.
>>7775419
More like pity, you're deciding for an inferior experience with the illusion that you're saving time.
Its like reading a Emoji version of Shakespeare and acting like you're getting the same effect without all the "old talk".
>>7775433
I'm pretty sure my saving time is not illusory, but that's honestly aside the point. I simply do not enjoy playing games. Sure it's a different experience but you don't need to play music to enjoy listening to someone play it.
>>7774393
There is a clear reason why people are turned into Elantrians but I cannot be fucked to find it right now. Check coppermind.
Elantris is pathetically simple to follow.
How about a series with young protagonists/YA story in an adult setting? Something like The Magicians.
>>7775073
Solaris
any of you read the name of the wind? My friend lent it to me but i haven't started it yet
>>7775723
It's garbage but a lot of people seem to like it. It's Twilight for boys, basically.
>>7775723
I saw the blurb in a bookshop and I thought the premise was going to about a demi-god reflecting on his past life through a memoir filled recollection of regrets and reverence for the life of common banality. According to the many discussions I've seen about the book, what we instead get is him reflecting on all the great shit he did, all the chicks he's banged and how satisfied he is with it all.
Shame really I was interested
>>7775723
Honest to God, one of the worst novels I've ever read.
>>7773246
Do not read Doomsday Book. It's boring as hell, and even though it's set in the future, half the plot is about people trying to reach each other on landline phones(and failing). Apparently '92 Connie Willis never heard of a cellphone. Now that i think about it most of the book is "trying to talk to someone but can't". And nothing happens plotwise.
It's just the worst book i've read(well.. i stopped at 3/4) in the last decade. I just can't how it got all those awards.
>>7775746
It's easy to read. You can also read the plot on Wikipedia and pretend you're read it, you will enjoy it more.
