>Recommendations:
>Fantasy
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/4chanlit/images/a/a8/1307836551252.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110612005642
>Sci-Fi
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/4chanlit/images/a/a6/Scifilit.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100710233344
http://imgur.com/r55ODlL
>What you readin?
>What's your favorite religion from SF and Fantasy?
>What's your favorite work in these genres dealing with religion?
>>7401096
nice try faggot i saw you post this on /mu/ you'll carry that shame with you for the rest of your life
>>7401096
I just started Dune. All's good so far the pose isn't great. I struggle to take Sci-Fi seriously, but it still has my interest.
>>7401096
Again with these shit lists
I have finished, just this dawn, Abercrombie's Half a War, and it's his usual fare - characterization through endless grimacing and posturing of characters, ansamble cast large enough so you can play several 'who dies next' games, stronk womyn, blackhearted rogues etc. Funny thing is, it seems he's trying to avoid stereotypes with small predictable tweaks.
Not the worst he's written, but far cry from good. Better than Martin's take on the Vikings that's for sure.
...
Again with those grimaces. Everyone pouts, winks, nods, scrubs beard, nods respectfully towards you... it's like watching R-rated Dreamworks flick, you constantly think about everyone making stupid faces.Still, those sketches are better characters than China Mieville could ever write.
>>7401351
Why'd you read it if you don't like Abercrombie? Also you know it's a YA novel, right?
They may call it YAtever they want, it's classic grimdark/low fantasy setting, he even had a gritty Gandalf before. I read it because I feel like I'm learning something about storytelling from his haphazard attempts. And can't deny that he can be entertaining which is not a small feat in fantasy.
>>7401525
sorry, not low fantasy, too lazy to think about denominations, it's basically viking sandals and swords with some magick thrown in that might well turn out to be science.
Just finished Ruin by john Gwynne, so much suffering by the end of it.Delicious.
Starting Malazan, seeing how that'll pan out.
>>7402544
>you do it better if you think it's shit
How about you don't just put "infographics" that are just an onslaught of covers?
>>7403318
Plebs gonna do, what plebs gonna do.
>>7403318
alright thanks for the input
>>7402000
Yeah, i think the only fantasy books that don't have that tacky Games Workshop warhammer feel are Tolkien books
>>7403428
Even though they're going for a more hipstery art syle recently. Even though Kullervo technically isn't fantasy.
>>7403452
>Even though they're going for a more hipstery art syle recently.
Better than that tacky 'pictures-and-bad-photoshop effects' style.
>>7401096
Reading the Demon Accords series after reading the Iron Druid Chronicles after reading the Drood series all magic/paranormal books. I love them all. Been on a lit binge since I have all these free times.
>>7403618
Will post the series I'm talking about.
>Demon Accords
>Iron Druid Chronicles book 1
Drood books, Can't remember what book one is called.
>>7403622
Speaking of tacky covers...
![Revelation_Space_cover_(Amazon)[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/VgDvYPE.jpg "Revelation_Space_cover_(Amazon)[1].jpg")
>What you readin?
The Revelation Space Series is good. I've only read the first book but it's quite different from most of the others I've read.
>What's your favorite religion from SF and Fantasy?
Sith
Thread Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JZB86xIVLM
>>7403633
Yes but the book is uncommonly good, honestly. I'm listening to them now.
I like all four series I posted because they all have to do with magic, vampires, and paranormal entities of every kind and they are all in FIRST PERSON which is immensely immersive to me. I highly recommend them all although the drood chronicles strongest book is the FIRST so maybe I don't recomment that.
Sanderson is suck a fucking hack, how can anyone even read anything he writes? His books feels like reading the plot of a >bad< video game.
>>7403627
Those druid books went to shit, real fast.
Just like the Nightside books, and I read 13 of those.
>>7403637
what an absolutely shit book
>>7403712
He's found his niche by appealing to gamers.
>>7403734
But video games literally have better plot than his books.
>>7403720
I disagree.
>>7403742
Which ones save New Vegas?
>>7403755
I won't name all the games i know that are better because i have to leave, but there are some : The Witcher 3, Shin Megami, Tensei:Nocturne (and the whole series), Legacy of Kain series, Planescape: Torment and thats just the fantasy ones.
>>7403774
>Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
fix'd
>>7403712
>plot of a >bad< video game.
>look him up
>"The story of the Cosmere is about a mysterious being called Adonalsium, who existed on a world known as Yolen. Something made Adonalsium shatter into sixteen different Shards, of which each bears immense power. The sixteen people who took these Shards created new worlds, populating them with people and different types of magic. However, each Shard has an Intent, such as Ruin or Honor, and they became molded to it. A man named Hoid travels these so-called Shardworlds, interfering with the people of those worlds when they become heroes and come in contact with the Shards."
>literally the plot of the Ultima games
lol
I feel like I have an easier time taking sci-fi seriously than fantasy.
I'm not sure why, maybe it's something about the setting.
Anyone else feel the same?
>>7403774
>Shin Megami, Tensei:Nocturne
>(and the whole series)
I hope you're not including Persona 3&4 in that.
The only appeal of those games are self inserting.
>>7403856
The problem is Fantasy has more hacky writers than Sci-Fi.
Any books that are similar to the broken empire trilogy?
>>7403856
Nah, you're right. Fantasy relies too heavily on existing tropes that have already been done to death: elves, medieval castles and strategy, the same laws, same magic, etc. Sci-Fi has a lot more wriggle room that makes for more creativity.
>>7403861
>Not wanting to fuck Rise.
>>7404039
Fantasy got worse as time went on and sf got better as time went on. Strange.
>>7403712
You jelly is showing.
The dude is making a living from writing (got that 2.5 million dollar deal for 4 books).
You are just a frustrated writer who never made it, and you are projecting all your self loathing onto him.
Please I love your tears.
>>7403733
Take that back fagget.
>>7404039
you're just reading shit fantasy m8
Bust out the Burroughs, Vance, Howard, Leiber, etc.
Weird, bizzare, fascinating, original shit
>>7404100
I do like The First Law series, which is relatively recent, but otherwise I can see why that's the case. Fantasy settings are primarily based on the past, the medieval period above all. Sci-Fi is based on the future, in which case the author has no point of reference to draw his conclusions, meaning he will have to use his imagination in order to create his world. Usually (unless they're hacks), when asked to use their imagination, writers will do what they can to make their worlds as unique as possible instead of just "Kingdom A, Kingdom B, Kingdom C" as most fantasy worlds turn out. Even then it doesn't always turn out too great, but there is definitely a greater variety of settings in Sci-Fi than in Fantasy.
Just finished reading this kinda annoys me i have to buy the brother book to get the full story but I liked it. Didn't delve deep enough to the setting in my opinion though.
What is a good book about Dwarfs?
I know they are cliché as fuck, I just really like them.
>>7404046
I said those games have shit for story.
I did not mean to imply that I wouldn't 'self insert' into Rise a thousand times a day.
>>7402000
how is the gardens of the moon?
>>7405247
If you are an autistic adhd case, malazan isn't for you.
It starts you right in the middle of it, and you don't fully understand what's going until you reach the end.
For someone who has read literally hundreds of fantasy books, I cannot explain the feeling that is not having a predictable ending.
Fair warning, if you thought GURM was the master character killer, think again. I think Erickson has a snuff fetish, it shows through in his work.
He finds more and more creative ways of killing his characters.
Wlso not the fag you replied to.
Started reading the Millennium Rule trilogy, about half way through the second book so far. It's a mixed bag. the first book is really jarring, it opens with all this interesting shit, the male main character is a Sorceror Archaeologist who makes mechano-magical insects and finds a sentient book that was created out of a woman, real neato. But then it gets hijacked by the female protagonist, who is a bratty teenage rich girl whose biggest concern is what goes on between her legs and is constantly getting into trouble because she's a stupid idiot.
Every time I was reading about Ayan thought it was great, but even time it switched to Rielle, I hated it.
The antagonist is great though. He's not even really the bad guy, just ungodly powerful and busy doing his own research.
>>7405971
>I think Erickson has a snuff fetish, it shows through in his work.
He actually has a fetish for fat chicks. Every single time sex is implied between any two or more characters, the female is fat. Every time.
>>7405975
Read the first book, at the start loved it, at the end, promised myself not to get book 2.
>>7405977
Rumjugs and sweet lard, hell his description of them, and how guys couldn't leave them alone had me hard when they were ready to be mounted.
Made me want to find a fat chick and ouch her pussy.
>>7405975
>Millennium Rule trilogy
Yeah,I ended up skipping most of the females chapters towards the end because it was a pain to get through.
Just started reading this
>>7406236
When I found out the second book was mostly about her, I dropped the series.
It was betting good with the steampunk thing that was going on.
>>7406552
I find that multiple perspective books have a problem with these kinds of things have this interesting person doing shit but next chapter were focusing on captain bland.
Started looking for new books after catching up inASoIaF, got 1/5 of the way through Dune but kind of lost interest. Might finish later. Picked up a bunch of other crap from various recommendation lists and finally stuck with Dying Earth. Half way through the first one and I like it despite myself.
On a less /lit/ note, I finished pic related and boy did it hit me hard.
The Dragonbone Chair, and all the rest of that series, by Tad Williams.
>>7406329
t. Hogg
Currently reading Mistborn, I didn't realise it was a young adult novel. I dove straight into it after some maps and infographics in these threads piqued my interest. It's kind of a shock after reading the Book of the New Sun.
Anyway, any recommendations? I am an absolute noob in fantasy/sci-fi, having read little. I did kind of like TBOTNS, although it was quite difficult at times.
>>7403856
>>7404039
Fantasy suffers from two problems a lot of the time, being derivative and boring or being dumb. The first is caused by an okay writer trying to do something that has already been done before a whole bunch of times with nothing to offer in the way of his writing or emotions, when he tries to write pure escapism essentially. The latter happens when an author is trying to get away from the "baggage" fantasy has by engaging in frivolous "world building" and making up green three eyed not!elves and grey not!dwarves to take up those stock roles.
Good fantasy requires a good author (a good poet too hopefully) who understands that the fantasy creatures are archetypes and the stories are supposed to be mythical in nature, and that there needs to be a sort of diction used when writing fantasy that you don't use when writing SF.
What I'm trying to say is that GRRM is shit fantasy and that people should stop trying to write in that tradition of thrillers and instead go back to adventures and mythmaking.
>>7401096
Why do people not like A Song of Ice and Fire? is it too popular?
>>7407794
Prose
Unsatisfactory read
Relies on cliffhangers too much
Mediocre characters
5k pages with no end in sight
>>7407794
It's thriller that's not even as interesting as the histories it's based on
>>7407157
More Wolfe
Tolkien
Fritz Leiber
Lovecraft
That's it with my good fantasy experiences.
I know that this probably isn't the best place to ask this, but it seems like it'd be better than starting a thread about it:
Tolkien's recent releases, the ones where he adapts and retells myths (his Beowulf, Fall of Arthur, etc.)
Are they good?
>>7407794
I like it a lot, though I'd agree that the prose isn't very good.
How is Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles? I know it's not strictly fantasy, but I've been wanting to read some Arthurian fiction besides The Once And Future King, which I loved.
I'm rewatching the Lord of the Rings movies after just finishing the books, I don't think I was pronouncing any of the made up words correctly.
>>7403318
I wish I believed that. The thing is that's what sells fantasy books--to autists with no taste, but still, it's money.
>>7402000
I read the first book and honestly didn't like it much. The characters were pretty good, but their names were ridiculous (Tattersail? Whiskeyjack? Really?), and the worldbuilding sucked. The author was in a bit of a hurry to get to the action, and didn't lay enough groundwork, I went through the book being confused by the cultures and races, the mechanics of religion and magic, and such. None of it was explained thoroughly from the beginning.
I read the Wheel of Time just before that, and I can't go back. Now I'm always disappointed with books that don't exhaustively explain the cultures and nations, the magic system, the religions, and all of that pretty early on. Malazan failed to do that at all.
>>7408326
>he likes the Chapter 2 fantasy world treatise
>>7407157
I just finished Mistborn, and was left kind of... meh. Loved some parts of it, hated others. Magic system was perfect, I love a magic system with clear rules. The characters and plot were both pretty well done, though the female main character made it almost uncomfortable to read as I am so much more used to putting myself in the shoes of the typical young male adventurous type protagonist, and I can identify with them a lot more. The background and worldbuilding was very creative, though it had some holes and unanswered questions in it. Didn't like how fatalistic it was, always only barely saving their people or the world from certain doom, that just starts to feel cheap and redundant. A little too basic YA writing style.
Before that, I read Wheel of Time. You'll either love it or hate it. It's ridiculously, redundantly long. The characters are repetitive, and a little predictable, lots of them have the same personalities. The descriptions of human interactions are drawn out and repetitive, almost cringeworthy. However: The worldbuilding is fucking unparalleled. Move over Tolkein, you old meme, Robert Jordan laid out the best, most intricate set of nations and cultures I've ever seen in fantasy. The writing in general is just comfortable to read, it feels like an old grandpa telling you a story by the fire. The magic system is excellent, detailed but still mysterious. The point of view of the young, male characters raised in a small town is spot fucking on. If you're a worldbuilding junkie with a fuckload of time on your hands, you'll love it. If you're impatient or don't want to read whole chapters on the different fictional cultures and their histories, don't bother, maybe read Malazan instead.
Other than that, I recommend Patrick Rothfuss and, fuck off elitists, ASOIAF. It's not perfect traditional fantasy, but it does everything Mistborn does, only better.
>>7408380
Is that a problem? You have to admit the worldbuilding was well done, even if you don't like that kind of book
Reading the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss right now. I'm impressed, really like it so far. Just got done with the Mistborn series before that, I liked it overall but it was a bit too thriller oh shit the world's about to end throughout the whole story, that got a bit tiring.
Favorite religion might just be the one from the Malazan series, even though I only got through one book and couldn't keep going. I liked the concept of a set of "roles" of deities, filled by different beings at different times, that could have their own sort of intrigue and play around with mortals in interesting ways. That was one of the book's only good features for me.
I actively avoid works that "deal" with real life religion, they always come across as too preachy, it gets tiring even if I agree with the message it's preaching. I just want to enjoy my goddamn fantasy.
>>7408390
I don't mean it specifically in Wheel of Time, but it's a general problem in Fantasy. It's horrible exposition (so is random name dropping without proper context) and horrible pacing (you don't talk about some mighty god emperor and then directly switch to some little peasant girl playing with a mouse, nobody will care enough)
>>7407774
That's a little too black and white. "Good" and "Bad" fantasy is a little more subjective than that. Some people like ridiculously detailed worldbuilding, I'm one of them. I thought ASOIAF was good, and WoT was better. Just because it isn't a traditional pattern of fantasy doesn't mean it's shit. Mythical-sounding fantasy with that so-called "diction" is only one type of fantasy that people enjoy, and it's not the only type that can be good. I bet you're one of those people that rates all fantasy in how much it's like Tolkein.
I do agree, though ASOIAF reads a bit like a TV story, it's just paced a little too perfectly for every death to feel dramatic, so it feels cheap and planned out. I enjoyed it anyway, for the detailed characters and worldbuilding, and the slow, descriptive pace, but it's not perfect.
>>7408529
My point with the diction wasn't that there's a specific style but rather that you can't write fantasy like you would write a television show as you said. Also you can't act like mythical sounding (or fairy tale) fantasy is at all the majority of works or necessarily the tradition anymore, it used to be the tradition, but it's fallen out of popularity because most of the people aren't writing fantasy anymore because of an unfortunate social climate associated with it.
>>7408053
Anyone?
>>7408594
Oh, you can. It will just please a different audience, just like ASOIAF did. My point was that it didn't ruin it. I didn't particularly like the way the plot was paced, but I still enjoyed the series because other than that it was quite excellent. I just dislike the common mentality here that any fantasy that isn't all mythical and Tolkein-esque is automatically shit.
>>7408326
they're using code names
in the past couple of weeks I've read
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Blindsight by Peter Watts
The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
re-read Neuromancer by William Gibson
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Enjoyed them all enormously.
currently reading The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu and just ordered the sequel as well as The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
pic unrelated but it's a good album to go along with muh sci-fi
>>7408996
Not codenames, just nicknames. Whiskeyjack was named Whiskeyjack because his real name sounded similar but was hard to pronounce. Quick Tom is Quick because of his backstory, Toes collects toes, and Deadsmell is pretty self explanatory.
>>7407157
>YA
>bad
You're going to miss out on wonderful YA literary ~masterpieces~ likeSABRIELif you keep up with that narrow-minded view!!!
>>7407794
It's superior to most epic/high fantasy of the last 20 years but it's popular now because of the TV series so it's shit.
>>7403804
>who existed on a world known as Yolo
>>7409576
Quick Ben you fagget, not quick Tom.
>>7409716
>It's superior to most epic/high fantasy of the last 20 years
Citations needed, and not from plebbit's core fan base.
![509784[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Ex0rmC9.jpg "509784[1].jpg")
Just finished The End of Eternity and I can't decide whether I liked it or not.
I guess I really liked the time travel stuff and I found the conclusion very satisfying, but the first half of the book just sooooo dragged on. I think Asimov thought it would be a good idea to give the story a "hook" by telling it out of order but what it resulted in was the reader not knowing the main character's motivation for like 55% of the novel. He did it a lot in the Caves of Steel, but there the gaps between "character gets epiphany" --> "audience finds out what it was" are pretty small, while here's it's half the book.
That red herring with thememoirwas fucking genius, though. I could have bet money that there would be a twist that never was. Sasuga Isaac.
>>7403637
Does it get better? Storm Front was meh.
I'm reading The Way of Kings right now. I've never read any Sanderson and his style is super fucking gay. This is Reddit fantasy.
>>7409804
You're wrong. Opinions don't need citations.
>>7409983
What I've read up to has been more of the same and it's why I stopped reading them. If you like the Harry Dresden formula they're alright, but don't force yourself.
>>7410017
Most people here agree that his prose is pretty bad. He writes like an engineer, always infodumping and explaining the rules of his super cool and balanced magic system.
>>7410190
He goes too far. I mean, logically its nice that he creates rules that I'm sure will play larger roles in later situations, but its like I'm reading a wiki of a book instead of the book. But the world building is nice creates some nice imagery in my head canon
I just finished all of Feist's riftwar stuff
never see anybody talk about that, anybody else enjoy it?
>>7410190
I actually liked that aspect of it. My problem with his writing was how overboard he went on the suspense, and how simple and ya-oriented the descriptive writing was.
>>7410451
People try to ignore those books here.
>>7411437
why's that? aside from a few issues I thought they were pretty good
messed up minor continuity, and wonky sentence structure at times, but otherwise entertaining
So was Echopraxia worth reading? Or should I pretend it doesn't exist?
Trying to get into books, was recommended Of Mice & Men as my first book and didn't like it too much. I do like stories with a good message, and while I also did like the ending, I thought the build up to it was weak.
Anyone got something more "gripping" for me that isn't too difficult to read?
>>7411903
Where the Red Fern Grows
>>7411903
I liked The Pigman but I read that twelve years ago so your mileage may vary. Odd thread to ask this in.
Magician and the empire series by Fiest was rad. Why does lit hate? Loads of shit filler books though....perhaps thats the reason?
Have any of you guys read Greg Egan? I'm looking for some mind-bending SF and he seems p cool
>>7411903
The Iliad - Homer (Trans. by Fitzgerald, Lattimore, or Merrill)
Reading Iain m banks Consider Phlebas....its pretty shit so far, page 52....maybe too early. Still not impressed after finishing Dune.
>>7406329
I fucking love that book
>>7413610
I kind of wish I knew more about Hindu deities and Buddhism going into it, but it'll probably spur me to learn some stuff.
>>7408326
>and the worldbuilding sucked
stopped reading there
>>7412713
Some shit on Fiest, if you like his books read them.
If you like eragon, read it, you live for you, not no one else.
>>7410451
i liked magician but thought a darkness at sethanon was super dull
>>7410190
I don't agree. If I'm not distracted by the writing style and I can enjoy the story, that means the writing itself is fine.
>>7415479
Yeah, I reread Magician a while back, decided to read the sequels and was severely disappointed. Magician was a lot of fun, had some cool ideas, but the sequel was so, so boring...
I remember a lot of people on /lit/ really liking Sanderson's stuff a few years back and as soon as it starts getting popular everyone's yelling how shit it all is.
SA's fantasy world is probably the most well built world we've had in a decade and the characters aren't typical bland high fantasy characters either.
>>7401096
glad to see the eye of the world made it in the fantasy list. the whole series is really good.
>>7401096
Well, I recently read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and then I watched Blade Runner right after. I really enjoyed the book, but I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the movie. Probably shouldn't have done these both on the same day
>Love Military Science-Fiction.
>Have read Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and Ender's Game (It may not have been particularly militant, but I still loved it.)
>Someone recommended "Armor" to me.
>Can't get past the fourth chapter because of how terrible the main character is.
People have told me he gets "better" but I don't really think I can slog through his inanely edgy shit much longer. I'm thinking of just dropping it for Old Man's War. Any other recommendations for the genre?
>>7416071
They also hate him because he got that multi-million dollar deal the other day.
/lit/ is filled with a lot of old professors and disgruntled frustrated writers, whose eyes turn green, and whose back becomes a saddle for the green eyed monkey to mount upon.
If someone makes a living from writing, they start to spew vile gossip because it didn't happen to them. Typical humans tearing down their fellow man, for want of what they got.
>>7416423
Neal Asher's books and the Undying Mercenaries series.
I just finished fifth head of Cerberus today, what really happened in the book? I'm confused as hell.
Who really killed the pimp master, what happened to the brother, where was the gay i was promised (that fag said there was rape, gay and incest, only got 2 of the three).
What's the worst fantasy writer you've read?
I tried Salvatore and he's so fucking bad, there's being cliche and then there's this shit
>backstory of the dwarf character is literally Thorin from Hobbit
![delany-babel-17[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/hpgDDfW.jpg "delany-babel-17[1].jpg")
Does anyone have a good quality .epub copy of Babel-17? I tried every book on genlibrusec (and I do mean every one) and all of them were riddled with typos on every page, if not completely broken and illegible.
inb4 just buy it
>>7416897
Since Delany wrote Babel, I'm guessing it is as fucked up as Hogg?
>>7411708
Please respond, brethren of /lit/.
>>7416953
No idea. I only picked it up because it combined sci-fi with linguistics, both of which I really like. Once I read the words "phonemic and allophonic differences", I knew this was going to be good, but I can't keep reading it if every 10th word is fucked up.
>>7416897
>genlibrusec
That site works again? Last I checked all it gave me was errors when I tried downloading something from the Fiction section.
>>7416808
Number 5 kills his "father" self in the same pattern, the brother may or may not have shipped off to be an officer in the third novella, inconclusive on that, and the only gay in it is Borski's interpretations, much better off sticking to Aramini. http://ultan.org.uk/variance-reduction-techniques/ or https://youtu.be/esAjkChAy7M?list=PLzlbiFMwxeYCQwAzzyXpr3l3zAo4NBQ1c
>>7410473
This so much for Mistborn at least. I definitely appreciate the effort he goes in to developing a world, but holy shit the writing-especially the dialogue- was ass
>>7417968
>the brother may or may not have shipped off to be an officer in the third novella,
That scene makes so much more sense now, it would explain why he would "destroy evidence", had a feeling it was the brother.Was I right in assuming that the half abbo killed the Marsh? Are they really shapeshiters? that would mean that Marsh killed his mom(the bear or tiger) and the abbo was fucking that cat(his gf) am I right?
>>7418101
Clute and a lot of critics like Borski assert that what you claim is true,that the abo was doing something or other with that cat and that he shape changes as abos do and takes Marsch's place. Aramini has a more sophisticated and complicated reading, where both abos and shadow children are used as two different alien species and the bite of the shadow child which switches eastwind and sandwalker is actually doubled in the final novella with the cat bite, that the shadow children are actually microscopic infections, and that the scene with trenchard's death occurs as written rather than being a fabrication.. You need to read his essay or watch the video for the full argument and see for yourself, but he argues that Wolfe wanted a second reading to figure out that Marsch is replaced by trenchard, and then the "real" truth would be hidden - that EVERYBODY is an abo except number 5, and Marsch a shadow child.
Is there any good sci-fi erotica with an emphasis on xenophilia?
>>7403861
>Persona
>SMT
>>7413361
it's great, slow starter, keep at it anon
>>7405247
Gardens of the Moon is probably the worst book in the series. If you push through, however, Deadhouse Gates (the second book) is freaking awesome. The Chain of Dogs chapters are unforgettable. Some of the best fantasy I've ever read, and I only ever read fantasy.
>>7407157
I liked the first Mistborn book. The contrast in atmosphere between a dead, ashy world of the peasants and the gothically opulent parties of the Upper Classes was striking. Also, the mystery of the God Emperor kept me reading.
The second book lost me though. I read Mistborn after reading Sanderson's Way of Kings books. Those were just fantastic (especially the second) and I was left feeling quite let down.
>>7407794
Best fantasy series ever. I've enjoyed it since the 1990's. Too bad fatass is never going to finish it.
>>7408326
Agreed that Gardens of the Moon sucked. I'd never recommend that book. The books that follow though are quite good.
I do, however, agree that Erickson at his best is not as good as Jordan at his best.
>>7416953
How do you go from Babel 17 to Hogg??
Delany wrote some fantastic, relatively mainstream, sci fi novels back in the 60's. Babel 17 is among his most renown and popular. Nova, and the Einstein Intersection should also be mentioned.
Starting in the 70's he started to take more risks. Dhalgren (my favorite novel of all time) is one example. Other examples are Triton (not as good as Dhalgren, but worth a read), Stars in my Pocket, and the Neveryon series.
Finally, throughout his whole career he wrote some really disturbing, experimental fiction. Hogg, I believe, was written around the same time as Dhalgren. Another novel worth mentioning (and reading) is Tides of Lust.
Rereading this. What a feat, what a beautiful space romp.
>>7409441
This anon knows what is up. Stories of Your Life, Blindsight, Neuromancer, and Hyperion are all A++. I will read Fifth Head of Cerberus because you seem to have patrician taste of SF.
Let me recommend Peter Watts' short story collection "Beyond the Rift" - really awesome stuff
>>7408384
>>7408326
You seem like the worst of the fantasy readers. Not because you've read those series and liked them - many of us have. Your error is in thinking that they are better than base-level heroes journeys. After you've read all that shit, as some other reader in this thread has said, quality means something new, refreshing, and more than old tropes. I can only categorize your thinking that the "male characters raised in a small town but who go on to bigger and more epic things" is special or interesting as satirical.
>>7411708
Echopraxia is nowhere near as good as Blindsight. It's much slower and kind of strange. I think you should read it to see for yourself, but it's definitely on the skippable side of things. As mentioned above, check out Watts' short story collection instead if you want some of his shit.
>>7418607
the second i had to slog through, but the 3rd was pretty good again.
>>7407774
>go back to adventures and mythmaking
God, I wish. It's so hard to find good, recent stuff that isn't just trying to pad out a story with a dozen different characters for a quick GRRM recommendation cashgrab.
>>7418937
its staring at me from to-read stack. ive been working through horus heresy books when im in the mood for 40k.
fuck ive heard good things about this.
What does everyone think of Jack Vance? Was tihnking of reading Demon Prices
>>7418413
Mass effect
Did aanyone read the Magic The Gathering novels? The Kamigawa series had the coolest system of religion/spiritualism in my opinion.
>>7419642
Jack Vance is god-tier and Demon Princes is a great place to start with him.
>>7419475
I know, I feel like a lot of authors might lack the confidence/skill to write like that, as if they're afraid to be simple and have a sense of wonderment. It's horrible to see Fantasy become the very thing it was against.
>GRRM is shit fantasy
GRRM sas needed for a brief period of fresh air. At this point LOTR cliches were so overused that anything that didn't try to create an apic or a myth was bound to become successful. Martin has a shit prose but he knew how to bring something new to the table. Hating him is vased purely on the popularity of his works and his obnoxious fanbase.
>>7420012
GRRM has been a victim of his own success. The first ASOIAF books were must-read fantasy in the 90s, which were probably the nadir of hackish Tolkienism. People still thought Shannara was good. The series (like GRRM's mortal vessel) has been declining, probably again a victim of its own success. But it's not GRRM's fault that so many authors switched from half-assedly mimicking Tolkien to mimicking him.
>>7420012
I have no idea what you're talking about, LoTR made fantasy popular, but most fantasy authors weren't actually copying Tolkien (maybe taking an idea or imagery here or there, but not stylistically) and they were basing their works more on Dungeons and Dragons adventures and being autistic about magic systems and whatever.
Hating George R.R. Martin is based on the popularity of his works, because his works don't warrant popularity and they are setting the bar lower.
>>7420021
Yeah O know what you mean and I certainly do know that his last two books were pretty bad and filled with unneeded worldbuilding. It's safe to say his later works are shit but the hate against his works as a whole is dumb since AGOT to ASOS was fine. Not great, but fine.
>>7420023
There are so many people who wrote books which could be described as fan fiction of Tolkien that you'd have to be blind not to see them. Orcs, dwarves, elves, Tolkien made all these races popular and therefore all works including these races in their tolkienesque form are part of the tolkienism wave. Be it eragon, elder scrolls, witcher, WoW.
The genre grew stale because even though new ideas were developed, a vast majority of these ideas were actually based on tolkien races, tolkien cultures etc. GRRM got his success by simply doing something that's not high fantasy in its most clichèd form and that's where his popularity came from.
I think it's safe to say that he isn't setting a bar. He wrote a few books that are a fun read but no one I know prefers it over LOTR.
>>7420037
>Tolkien made all these races popular and therefore all works including these races in their tolkienesque form are part of the tolkienism wave.
That's retarded, that' be like saying that because I mention an automobile in my story a few times that it's part of a trend of books about racing. There's more to Tolkien than just his races and world, and that's the fact that he was trying to emulate the feeling of reading old myths and the like.
Most fantasy is based on Forgotten Realms DnD, which to your credit borrowed heavily from Tolkien, but by the time it reaches this point it becomes only superficially similar. High Fantasy ended up taking less from the Inklings or Pulp Authors of the first half of the 20th century and decided to take more from tabletop games, even down to the books reading rather like rulebooks as opposed to novels or myths.
Also there isn't anything fresh and exciting about supermarket-tier political thrillers in medieval paint.
>>7420054
He made them popular in their current form. You can google elves and dwarves, none of them were associated with the traits tolkien gave them before he published his books. Dwarves weren't bulky warrior types and elves weren't tall beauties. Tolkien made them that way.
As you said, DnD was inspired by tolkien. Most tabletops like warhammer for example are. Most videogames are.
>also, there isn't anything fresh about [...]
Well that's just your opinion. If it wasn't at least somewhat new GRRM wouldn't be rich by now.
>>7420072
I never said DnD was inspired by Tolkien, I said Forgotten Realms was, DnD wasn't High Fantasy and doesn't work as High Fantasy to this day.
But back to Tolkien's influence, that's still superficial, and not really quite right. His Dwarves weren't particularly bulky warriors either, most of them were just business and craftsmen, and a lot of them could be quite nasty and strange (if you read the Silmarillion) and the elves being beautiful goes back all the way to Norse myth, but even if they're beautiful they weren't all tree hippies like how it became.
>>7418607
I was kind of in the same boat with Mistborn. I liked the trilogy overall, but the first one was definitely the best one. I wasn't too big of a fan of the whole LETS BRING DOWN GOD scenario.
However, after reading the Stormlight Archive books, all of Sanderson's other works just can't even compare. Words of Radiance was so fucking good.
Is there something like a crime thriller in a fantasy setting where the protagonist solves a crime, collects evidence etc?
From reading these past few generals, I've come to the conclusion that you guys like fantasy books that hide shit.
If you have to read it 3-4 times to find something, then it's a work of art.
Like when you buy a whore, you don't want her just laying there like a dead fish, you want her to put in some work.
>>7403640
Alastair Reynolds is fantastic. Centruy Rain is one of my favourite stand alone from him.
>>7420392
House of Suns is a great stand alone by Reynolds too. I didn't think it was mindblowing at the time, but I enjoyed it, and for some reason, several of the scenes have stuck with me even though its been years since I read the book.
>>7419987
I read the Ravnica ones around what, a decade ago? I remember liking them but I don't remember shit about them.
>>7420392
Pushing Ice was neat too.
>>7419860
But the aliens in Mass Effect are very dull.
>>7420003
How does it compare to Planet of Adventure? They both seem like cool pulpy scifi
Recommend me some books with psykers/telekinetic stuff. I've read Dan Abnett/wh40k stuff. Sci-fi, not fantasy.
>>7401096
What book is OP's picture based on?
I would like to read that, looks like a book I read where all these different deities were healing out a mortal(and it was an elephant God who was on his side).
>>7421284
You might like Slan, if it's not too dated for you.
While not /lit/ related check out the comic Harbinger, sounds like you might enjoy it a lot.
>>7420054
i remember reading that Jordan structured The Eye of The World to be more tolkienesque to appeal to the public at the time that were going crazy over LOTR. as the books go on they get less tolkienesque.
>>7407774
>>7420010
What are the best classic fantasy must-read books? I realized lately that I've been growing increasingly frustrated with fantasy because so much coming out seems to be trying to mimic GRRM, Rothfuss, and other current big names and feed of their popularity. I recently re-read the Hobbit with my nephew, and now we're going through the Belgariad and I'm realizing why I enjoyed fantasy so much when I first started to read it. Now I'm trying to get through as many classics that I missed that I can.
So far my list basically just The Broken Sword, some of the early Riftwar stuff, possibly Shannara though I've been told many times that's straight-up LotR reskinned, and possibly trying to finish Wheel of Time.
I'd love to read more classic adventure, mythical fantasy and more sword and sorcery. Sadly most people these days just assume sword and sorcery means any fantasy, so every recommendation list for s&s or "heroic fantasy" always ends up being LotR, GRRM, Malazan, Rothfuss, etc. None of which are sword and sorcery.
>>7422220
Word of advice, if the Author has Terry ANYWHERE in his name, do not read.
>>7422229
Unless you like chickens being the embodiment of all evil.
>>7422220
the first 5 Amber books by Roger Zelazny.
Vurt by Jeff Noon for modern fantasy.
>>7422220
If we're talking classic fantasy as in back at the beginning I say you should look at The King of Elfland's Daughter, the Worm Ouroboros, Lovecraft, and Norse Mythology.
>>7422252
Why only the first five?
>>7422220
My nigga you are looking for Amber Chronicle and Lankhmar series
>>7422220
SABRIEL
A
B
R
I
E
L
I've never done that before but it sure as fuck deserves it. Everworld is right up along there with it. The Pendragon Adventure was surprisingly good for YA and it becomes dark as fuck during the last two books.
I thought Shannara got decent after the first novel. He ends up repeating his formula often throughout the series' but those first few were enjoyable enough. I remember being fond of when my main niggaWalker Bohhad to fightthe Four Horsemen.
Plus I think the world of Shannara beingpost-apoc North Americawith some of the races being caused byradiationordemon influence from Knights of the Wordis neat.
>>7422282
the second series, books 6+, honestly weren't as good. i still liked them. less-good zelazny is a lot better than most writers.
What are some good fantasy books with a horror bent? More existential dread, less skeletons popping out.
>>7403625
I've heard that guy made fat bank online, are the books any good?
>>7422736
fuck yeah dog elantris was the shit
The Buried Giant is great. If that counts as fantasy.
>>7422220
>best classic fantasy must-read books
None of:
>The Broken Sword, some of the early Riftwar stuff, possibly Shannara though I've been told many times that's straight-up LotR reskinned, and possibly trying to finish Wheel of Time
Where did you get this list from?
>>7423771
Elantris was surprisingly well-done for his first published novel. I think that the consistent tri-perspectives really helped a lot of things out.
I need to read the ~10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION~ but there are only two sections out of it that I want to read and I already know details from one so eh.
To satisfy my urban fantasy itch I went through this https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/26494.Best_Urban_Fantasy_SERIES
Jesus christ since when is urban fantasy the same as romance with vampires/werewolves with STRONK INDEPENDENT PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR HARDASS FEMALE protagonist?
And why is everything the same?
I've read untill about nr 40 on that list, dropping most series halfway the first book, but everything is so much the same that everything has become blurred.
/blog
I started re-reading Dune (I've finished the wholer series before) and I noticed something.
After Paul's test of humanity Gaius Helen specifically mentions that all males who've taken the Truthsayer drug have died in the attempt. That coupled with her saying that the Bene Gesserit rarely even give males a test of humanity on the first place, and the implication that a male Truthsayer would be immediately assumed to be the Kwisatz Haderach.
A few thousand years of Leto II's conditioning later, male Truthsayers are commonplace enough that a random isolated Jewish planet which intentionally keeps itself off the radar has one, and he was instructed on a whole school of male Truthsayer. The more obvious effect of Leto's meddling beyond everyone having strength and reaction times which would have been superhuman in other ages is that large-scale violence is almost unheard of. So it could be said that the whole point was making it so that most of mankind could pass a test of humanity.
>>7409965
that reminds me I really need to re-read it
>>7422220
Pick up all the original Conan stuff and the Lankhmar/Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books. The first one is conveniently gathered in a book called The Complete Chronicles of Conan (sometimes it's listed as that name plus "People of The Black Circle", "Hour Of The Dragon", it is basically these 2 books gathered in one, it's about 30€ at a certain dominant online retailer and probably around the same in dollarinos) and the latter one is gathered in 2 books called The First Book of Lankhmar and The Second Book of Lankhmar, which are around 15€ each.
>>7422220
>sword and sorcery
Fritz Lieber' Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series is the swordest and sorceryiest shit you will ever see
>>7401113
Stick through it. Dune is worth the read.
>>7426510
I read the first three books a few years ago. while I am generally intrigued by its lore, the dune series came off as pretty boring to me.
>>7406646
Out of the ending or the fact that the journey ended was it sad for you
What in the fuck
Dune????
Roadside Picnic???
get ur shit together who's pictures are these
>name my main in MSReboot Taldain
More tales of huge faggotry
Does Coldfire trilogy ever get into sci-fi later on? I'm getting the teases through brief mentions of the galaxy and space-travel technology being lost and I need my fix.
Are there fantasy novels that captures the atmosphere of Dark Souls or Berserk?
>>7427857
A Song of Ice and Fire
>>7427923
not even close
>>7427857
Try The Black Company. The average soldier in the setting is very mundane, but there're men who've become more like monsters and wield soul bending magic and can reshape battlefields just by presence. Everything's got the same sort of drained atmosphere to it that Berserk has.
>>7427752
Did you get hot bestiality sexual tensions?
>>7427857
I wonder how it would feel, putting a black penis in that lustrous racist body.
>>7408326
>he likes Wheel of Time
>I DONT' WANT TO GO ON AN ADVENTURE, I JUST WANT TO FARM PIGS
>four books later
>I DON'T WANT TO BE THE GOD KING OF THE NEW WORLD WITH MY HAREM, I JUST WANT TO FARM PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGS
Literally the worst fantasy series ever written. Even Eragon was better than that garbage.
>>7422736
I want to try Sabriel so badly, but female protagonists just don't jive with me. It's not that I don't like women or anything, it's just hard to get into the point of view. It's suffering.
>>7428004
>Eragon
Come on.
>>7428004
Belgariad did Wheel of Time better than Jordan.
>>7428012
Just read it you nipple trigger, Sabriel is the slammest jam to ever glam, you literally don't even know
Just look at this icy fucking stare, literally Garth Nix's Athena to which nothing else ever compared and all subsequent sequels and prequels are but pale shadows
>>7428182
that image has jpg cancer, what did you do to it
>>7428182
Honest truth opinion: It's not that good. Concept is fine, but the writing is just so bleh, and the worldbuilding doesn't do it for me. Beh heh eh.
>>7427965
this
>>7428087
No, I don't even care. Eragon is a more entertaining main character than Rand. Do you know why? Because Eragon at least acts. Rand just reacts. No one wants to read about a protagonist who is dragged to every new set piece of his development kicking and screaming about wanting to farm pigs.
>>7428012
Aside from the inevitable, not even in-your-face romance bit, Sabriel is more manly than many Fantasy protags. She even goes into Death, for fuck's sake.
>>7428182
Abhorsen had some good ideas but I felt like the ending was a bit... not rushed, but wrapped up very quickly? Also wish Mogget as a character was explored a bit more.
a bit surprised by the positive comments on Sabriel here
My first contact with that book was when I was around 14, and I loved it back then, but after picking it up as an adult I felt like I wasn't the target audience anymore, it's very girly and clearly written for adolescents, admittedly very good in that category
>>7429957
Its a good book.
Good books transcends the young old dichotomy
>>7426836
If the first 3 books bored you then you'll probably hate God-Emperor of Dune (that one will probably be the driest soft sci-fi you'll ever read until the last few chapters) and like the 2 last books (for some reason Herbert's writing style changes very noticeably on those, and they're far more character-driven than the first 4 with very little world-building).
>>7430891
Oh yes, and if you have any hopes of the series' ending making any fucking sense, better abandon them now.
Any good worldbuilding guides? Not necessarily physical like the pic.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/618177.Legend is this any good?
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23444482-the-traitor-baru-cormorant
Lots of problems but some interesting ideas, sadly I think it will just get worse
>>7432332
I've always heard so much praise for Gemmel, but I've never been able to get through Legend. It starts off good with an interesting main character and premise up until a few chapters in when the MC meets a woman and they both fall in love with each completely a scene later. PoV shifts a bit, gets interesting again especially when you are introduced to Druss, but then it switches back to the two characters being all lovey-dovey and shit even though they barely know each other.
It all comes across incredibly contrived and ruins an otherwise promising story. I understand Gemmel wrote to basically deal with the fact that he might be dying of some incurable cancer, but I just can't get through it.
>>7403640
make sure you check out chasm city, probably his best book in that universe, although it's not a part of the revelation space tril
i would also highly recommend house of suns, probably my overall favorite of his
>>7413361
it gets a lot better, but is quite a bit different than the rest of his culture novels.
hello
i'm trying to remember a book that i read ~15 years ago
i can't remember the title or the author, but it was a fantasy novel set in medieval times about a man who found a battle axe which was imbued with magical(evil) powers. he went on to wage wars and win battles with it and became a hero. i remember it being pretty epic and there was a lot of emphasis on the savagery of his battle prowess.
i really can't give specifics because it's been so long, but does anyone have any idea what book i'm thinking of? it's really not a big deal though
>>7432449
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_magical_weapons
Try there.
>>7431742
When you make up magic, make it follow it's own rules. Establish them early and always follow them.
>>7420165
>Is there something like a crime thriller in a fantasy setting where the protagonist solves a crime, collects evidence etc?
The closest I've seen is Glenn Cooks Garrett series. It is about a detective in a fantasy setting, but it's more noir, with more talking to suspects and chasing down missing people, than it's great detective with clues and deductions.
>>7425849
>https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/26494.Best_Urban_Fantasy_SERIES
Rule of thumb with urban fantasy is to avoid anything written by women, unless it comes with good reccomendation from a reviewer you trust.
Urban fantasy also gets a lot of sameitis from the need of having the magic world be a hidden thing, and the predilection for having main characters be detectives.
I wrote a fantasy novel. I showed it to some other writers and they liked it.
However nobody seems interested in publishing it, I've tried like 30 agents already and a few of them seriously considered it past the query letter point but nothing came out of it.
I'm starting to feel like it's hopeless though.
I don't know. Does anyone know of any agents or publishers who are looking for fantasy? I only know of Tor and Gollancz, one needs an agent to liase (which I don't have) and the other is physical letter to a country I don't live in which isn't something I can afford to prioritize over sending envelopes to agencies in my country.
Also, is it worth paying 500+ bucks for a manuscript appraisal? Are they going to tell me anything useful I couldn't already find out for myself? I did a bunch of research on how to target genres and present my proposal but I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels here.
>>7432709
checked this out but didn't recognize anything
thanks anyway senpai
>>7432858
>encouraging magic system autism
>>7433193
You've already made more progress than anyone here
Any book with an asshole character like the prince of torns?
>>7434258
I guess that's true. Maybe I'll keep going with this infernal crusade.
>>7434899
Character or protagonist??
There are a bunch of books with cunt characters, First Law series, Malazan, Black Company, the magic goes away, etc, etc.
Finding an asshole protagonist though, that is tricky.
People like to write good overcoming evil.
They rarely write about the bad oppressing people, and having a fun time out of it.
>>7433193
unless you have $500 to burn, i'd say no on the $500 appraisal. even if they like it, they're still not in a position to publish you. the best they could do is if they really liked it, send it on to someone they know.
the fact that you've had interest beyond the query letter means there's some value to your work already.
did you have your book critqued by friends/writing group?
>>7435714
I had it critiqued by a couple of local writing group members, not as an official function or anything but by contacting them privately. They don't write fantasy and couldn't help much with the agency part but did help me with stuff like the writing itself and so forth.
>>7404313
>I love/relish//bathe in/lick/drink your tears
The people who use these phrases are invariably stupid.
>>7435860
i think that's actually good. getting crit from people outside the genre put their attention on the nuts and bolts of characterization, prose, etc.
have you read donald maass' writing the breakout novel / workbook? it has informed tips on how to take an existing work and fix weaknesses. maass runs an agency.
have you given thought to strategies of standing out? i'm trying to write fantasy novel for hopeful publication. some of the things i've focused on are catching attention with:
strong opening sentence
strong narrative drive
story gets going quickly
a distinctive voice (instead of typical the formal tone of fantasy in fantasy)
characters with personalities instead of traits. (still working on this with two of my primary characters however)
>>7435962
I think I qualify for most of those. Though to be honest I wonder what the balance is between quality of work and how much it fits in with whatever trend the publisher is looking for at the time. Every time I've tread to check out what's popular it's always the same urban fantasy stuff.
I've not heard of Donald Maass, but I'll look him up thanks.
>>7432410
>not Redemption Ark
>>7436117
If you want to be instantly published write a YA post-apocalytpic novel or urban fantasy novel with a female lead. Bonus points for vampires and bows and arrows.
I've started re-reading the Belgariad again after someone mentioned it in this thread. Every few years I break it out and go through it again, always around Christmas. Something about it is just really comforting, even if it is all a bit cliched.
I've been trying to find new stuff to read, but nothing's really stuck lately. What does everyone use for finding recommendations and new books? I gave up on Goodreads a few years back when ASoIaF, Rothfuss' stuff, and Dresden Files started showing up in every sub-genre listing on top of the overwhelming amount of trashy romance urban fantasy listed everywhere. Also most of the reviews on there aren't so much reviews as they are shitty blog posts full of Doctor Who and Supernatural reaction images. God, I hate that place.
>>7436864
The Belgariad is one of my guilty pleasures too.
I look at staff picks at my local bookstore, Amazon's other books recommendations on books I've enjoyed, and award nominees.
What books/series do you like?
>>7432449
Druss the Legend - David Gemmel's Drenai series.
I just read the three Dunk and egg stories yesterday. I thought they were great. any similar books that i can get ? it reminded me so much of the stuff id read as a kid with knights just fucking around and travelling
>>7432858
worst advice
>>7437342
How so?
>>7437367
magic isn't magic when you make it a tool with set ironclad rules
LOTR never had a magic system nor did it need one, it would just distract from the story. Neither did sword&sorcery stories where magic actually is mysterious and terrifying because you don't know what to expect
>>7437372
This. Making rules to everything like you're writing a tabletop guidebook does not make good fantasy and ruins imagination. It only encourages elementary school level "who can beat up who" fights between people too.
>>7436864
As one of those shitty blog posters.... why should I put a lot of work into reviewing some fantasy book ??
You want me to examine prose, characterization and public appeal, while comparing it to classical works, and looking for it's foundation?
When the only books I read are fantasy and sci-fi??(read 100 books so far for the year, and each got a "blog post")
You could say I do a postmodern review of books, I explain what I liked, what I dislike, and hint at the book/books that the one I'm "reviewing " borrows from.
I don't use pictures and gifs though, that pisses me the fuck off when i see it.
Also the key to using Goodreads is, the higher the stars you gave a book, the more similar books like that will be recommended to you. Give your Belgariad 5 stars and you will get books similar to it.
Read the 3 and 5 star reviews, if it has pictures, skip that review. A lot of books look like shit(shitty cover design) but they have a vem inside.
What you look cor in books? I might be able to help you out.
>>7437372
Well thank god people stopped imitating LOTR.
You don't need ironclad rules, you just have to set boundaries early on.
Like in Dresden files for example, his magic is force and will power.
The Irondruid chronicles, unbinding and binding natural chemicals/compounds.
Etc, etc
The trick is using these boundaries to write an engaging story, and having fun trying to figure out how he could solve x problem when he only has y tool.
The boundaries don't have to apply to everyone, limit your character at the beginning and expand on him later, while following your boundaries(see Kvothe as an example when you don't establish boundaries, he gets labeled a Gary Stu by most fantasy fags in these threads), the mark of a good writer is giving each character it's own voice and limitations.
Stay away from the "I ain't got to explain shit" cliche/tropes, that leads to deus ex machina, and with the current era of readers, the fastest way to lose a fanbase is to do nothing but ass pull. This isn't Tolkien's era, and nostalgic faggets need to stop forcing "it was like this in the past" and let people come up with something original.
Writer like to say it's the worst thing to set rules in stone, because they wouldn't be able to pull an eldritch demon out their ass, when the world's best army has them cornered. They are just lazy fucks, who don't want to put work in.
Also not the guy you replied to but >>7431742 >>7432858 can use this advice.
