/lit/ - Literature

>For me? It's R Scott Bakker. Intelligent, Nihilistic and with a Wicked Sense of Humor.

First for Bakker

>>20768073
>>20768125
>>20768129
first for sneed

>>20768073
Good image, OP.

I actually have no friends

>>20768073
Been trying out various fantasy titles that came out in the past few years, the first I’ve read is Malice by John Gwyne. I liked the story so far, hell, I even like the one of the POV’s, Corban, but it was pretty standard all around. Which isn’t surprising since it’s just a coming-of-age fantasy. I don’t know, maybe I expected more.

>>20768229
As long as you liked it, that's all that matter. I felt the same when I read the Licanius trilogy. It was nothing spectacular, but it was good. The ending was hit or miss for me, but it didn't detract the enjoyment.

>>20768229
As long as you liked it, that's all that matter. I felt the same when I read the Licanius trilogy. It was nothing spectacular, but it was good. The ending was hit or miss for me, but it didn't detract the enjoyment I got from it.

Are there any books about "changelings" - faery creatures that leave their children in the place of human children and the human children that are abducted and raised in fairy land - that aren't The Broken Sword by Poul Andersen?

>>20768073
how to cultivate this aesthetic

>>20768400
Try the first Lyonesse by Jack Vance. Sounds like what you're after, anon. I heartily recommend the whole trilogy, if you dig #1, Suldrun's Garden.

Is Bakker actually good or just a meme? I have seen tons of anons mentioning him in the last thread.

>>20768602
He's the Duran Duran of fantasy. Great for the time, but it's a shit time.

>>20768602
Definitely the best 21st century fantasy out there, but as the anon above said, that's not saying much. Only other series worth reading is Malazan, and my preference is for Bakker - granted I'm not totally finished with Malazan yet. That being said, he is definitely a meme in the sense that he's a controversial hyped-up entity.

>>20768602
He is what some would call, "supreme".

Any recommendations for stuff about a blithering idiot going against powers beyond his comprehension?

>>20768602
>tons of anons
One, two at most (and one of them is the author himself, who's been caught shilling here before); and no, not by any stretch of the imagination is Bakker good. Aside from being a homosexual atheist Canadian lefty larping as a lolbert tradcath, he has the most abominable purple prose ever put to paper, dogshit of the highest caliber that puts the infamously terrible The Eye of Argon, widely regarded as the worst fantasy novel ever written, to shame.

I mean the Bakkerfag had the audacity to post -THIS- excerpt as a selling point to his writing last thread.

Why do you consider sci-fi and fantasy to be the superior genres of literature?

Autistic people should be executed

>>20769050
Where else but fantasy can you have Meng Hao commit genocide against an entire species?

>>20768919
Pact by Wildbow

>>20769006
"One cannot raise walls against what has been forgotten"

What the fuck does that even mean?

>>20769080
One cannot drive on roads that are unpaved

>>20769080
Hoary furtive cyclopean gambrels.

>>20769006
This excerpt is so fucking boring.

Tho I might be a pleb that wants actual characters and conflict and my room temperature IQ brain might be able to handle this pretentious grandiose epic fantasy feel Bakker is going for.

>>20769006
>This is the guy who claims fantasy is the only true literature

what the fuck is the appeal to epic fantasy? i mean LOTR is fine in total the series is about a thousand or so pages but shit like malazan or sandershit or wheel of time where EACH BOOK rounds up to about a thousand, how do you have the time or energy to read an entire series like that. malazan is eighteen thousand pages to do what lord of the rings did in a thousand, or what the pulp authors like robert e howard did in thirty.

>>20769006
>FILTERED

>>20768073
I feel like science fiction and horror was very cutting edge from the time of Poe to Lovecraft, but it's become ossified with commericalism. Now we have goyslop like Stranger Things in its place.

>>20769191
it lasted good throughout the silver age and into the blockbuster era, you can blame Stephen "the murderer is a fucking car" King for the degradation of horror into its current abysmal state

>>20769191
I think theirs some truth to this, but some exciting things still exist in the genre, Adam Roberts, Alastair Reynolds ect.
The truth is science fiction is best in short form, it's a short story genre, something I never see discussed here.

>>20769218
>short stories
I agree wholeheartedly. But people like Vonnegut felt the short story industry (magazines used to pay a good writer more per year than a normal salaried job, which incentivised the most creative to write) died after the coming of television. After that, writers were at the behest of producers and executives rather than their internal passion, erudite editors, or the readers.

>>20769227
Yes the magazines are the domain of the hobbyist now and do sometime still produce interesting stuff.
I saw this book the other day Mickey7 that is the apex of what you are talking about. The TV was basically in production before the book went into print.

Too bad that for all the freedoms webnovel authors have, writing short stories isn't one of them. Afaik there are absolutely zero successful independent short story writers. I don't know if anyone's even tried, if you're writing a story and it pops off it's almost suicide to end it and start another one.

>>20769165
I myself appreciate elaborate worldbuilding and deep lore, it’s a big part of the appeal of the genre to me. But only to a point. Tolkien’s level of worldbuilding is perfect. Wolfe’s is a little spare for my taste. Erikson’s blathers on and on.

>>20769287
for worldbuilding
cook>tolkein>erikson/esselmount>>>sanderson>>hobb>bakker>grrm>wolfe>jordan

Found this youtube channel and he seems pretty good. He talked about an author I've never heard of it. and his description of his books make them seem really good, especially a song for arbonne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoFYvjIDaCM

>>20768073
Ahh, another unimaginative OP with no prompt question and we don't even have the comprehensive list of good links anymore.

>>20769006
The quote, of course as we all know it, is from the very beginning of the prologue and such, and especially in the case of this particular book The Darkness That Comes Before, it is quite cryptic at first as you are introduced to bunch of new names of characters and places which can be daunting to many people but the thing is with these less explicit fantasy books that you don't have to remember every name and every place and you'll eventually learn them anyways as you read more and more of the book.

My point is, there are excerpts of his books that are more approachable and perhaps more interesting to those who are reading snippets of the books for the first time. In my opinion, places where Cnaiur is shitting on Inrithi lords are some of the more enjoyable parts. I just love the character of Cnaiur, a completely broken man because of his past, yet as a barbarian he is extremely intelligent when it comes to the matters of war. A man who will never find peace.

>>20768400
Little, Big by John Crowley. It’s not a fast book so you’ll have to have patience

>>20769551
Is he a mischievous goblin or what?

>>20769166
This, but unironically.

>>20769080
>being filtered in the first sentence
many such cases.

>>20769554
No, he's a good boy.

>>20769218
What makes scfi a short story genre more than fantasy, besides the fact that a lot of 50s-80s scfi was serialized or short story format because it was a continuation of pulp fiction and adventure stories from early 20th century?

Another excerpt from Prince of Nothing. From the earlier piece of >>20769509 we saw Bakker can write riveting dialogue and from this picture we can see he writes amazing battle scenes.

>>20768602
Best contemporary fantasy author, hands down. He’s a pariah in the fantasy author community because of his courage to write about very controversial topics in today’s zeitgeist.

Can anyone help me make another thread like this https://archived.moe/t/thread/1023504/ on /t/? and then add its link to this thread's OP

>>20769603
No.

read cradle

>>20769631
I will not, rather, I will reminisce on times when no one in /sffg/ knew of cradle's existence. Like this >>/lit/thread/S17211800
I hate cultivation

>>20769639
Cradle is what got me back into fantasy imo

>>20769631
The shitty, cringy as fuck romance between Lindon and Yerin killed my interest in reading the series further, so no.

>>20769631
Work on line weight nigga

>>20768400
The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams
It seems a lot of people didn't like it, but it's one of my personal favorites.

>>20769691
Yerrin is cute.

>>20768400
I remember reading Poison by Chris Wooding years ago. It had a somewhat similar premise though different. I’ll definitely have to read it again because I think it was really good.

>>20768602
I finished the series a few months ago and it was pretty good. It has some strong points but also a lot of weak points. You can definitely tell that his quality of writing stands above mostly every other modern fantasy writer. But for some reason I just can’t imagine reading it again. I’m actually thinking of selling the books because there is probably no way I’ll put myself through this ordeal, this slog again.

>>20769086
Underrated post, this.

>>20768919
Herbert West Reanimator.
That guy just keeps reanimating shit despite it being disastrous each time.

>>20769080
You cannot prepare against a threat that nobody remembers. You’ll realize what this means once the Dunyain start acting and their true nature is revealed.

>>20769080
>Literally the first sentence of the series
>durr what does this mean
Some people don't deserve Bakker.

Is kellus a gary stu?
everything just goings his way because muh iq and charisma

>>20769805
There's more to that than IQ and charisma (telling them involves spoilers). You'd know this if you had read the book and understood it. Let's return to the subject when you have. But to say Kellhus is a Gary Stu is not only reductionist but also wrong.

>>20768073
>mfw modern fantasy
Why is it such garbage?

>>20769859
Your last mistake, but alas, there is a solution!

>>20769832
Sorry iv read all the second apocalypse
Kellus powers is basically iq so high he can predict how men think by their facial expressions

What always stuck me as dumb was how the dunyain were able to learn this living so isolated from other men, they only had failed dunyain to practice this on

>>20769859
I recently read The Hallowed hunt and it was bretty good. It's from 2005. Does that count as modern fantasy? Cus this is the newest book i've read.

>>20769867
Who is the guy between Tolkien and Wolfe?

>>20768073
Know litterally no books. Any good fantasy novels with vampires?

>>20769902
George RR Martin, author of Dune the science fantasy novel series

>>20769907
>Know litterally no books. Any good fantasy novels with vampires?
'Interview with the Vampire', but don't read further than the first book, at most read the second one. The author went cray cray. Other than than that, maybe A Journey of Black and Red.

>>20769902
Frank Herbert, author of Dune the science fiction novel series

>>20769867
who are they?

>>20769934
From left to right yes, I see it also
>R. Scott Bakker, best known for his Prince of Nothing trilogy
>Gene Wolfe, best known for the Book of the New Sun
>Frank Herbert, best known for the Dune series
>Tolkien, who wrote the Lord of the Rings

I really like the wheel of time.

>>20769975
And why wouldn't you? Despite what everyone says it is a decent series with lots of things happening and it is all (well almost all) written by the iceman himself. Good when compared to rest of YA.

>>20768229
continue the series, the following books by John Gwynne are better and book 4 ends with a satisfying conclusion.

2021 hugo award winners were all women. what the fuck.
i thought hugo awards were solid.

>>20769994
I don't read haremshit.

>>20770008
2020, too. fucking dropped.

>>20770008
> i thought hugo awards were solid
they havent been solid for decades.

Gormenghast bros: what is the significance of the Poet character?

>>20770031
He's just there to replace the villian and the old man without a son, plus it allows Peake to show off his poetry skills in that poem in the book. Honestly, the book has no real plot or hidden meaning, people just meme it here for the poetic prose.

>>20770031
Every author has his self-insert

>>20770008
Hugo awards are just diversity stamps at this point. Especially 2016 and from that on its meaningless in terms in literary merit.

>>20769994
Idk, you lot always shit on it.

>>20770031
2deep4u.

>>20770109
Yes, lit is just one person.

/lit/ as a person
>recommends Dune
>is a Bakker hating Sandersoy
>is a Sanderson hating Bakkerboi
>could not finish WoT
>either tells you Wolfe is the best author or has not read any of his works yet
>does not post with anime girl pics
>does not use discord
>likes boobies
>only picks books/series that have atleast 7/13 in following link https tinyurl com basedbooks

>>20769639
You need to go further back. Some dude was rec'ing me Cradle around mid-2019 and THAT was when maybe one or two people were reading the series.

>>20770109
>>>/v/

>>20770129
But I like the time of Bakkerchad-Sandersoy wars.

>>20770137
This wasn’t on this general. It was another /lit/ thread.

Wheel of Time is hot garbage. Even Sanderson is better. Miles better in fact.

>>20770146
True, it was this, but it was around that time and the fights would of course happen on many threads at the same time. >>/lit/thread/S17592581

>>20770153
Perplexing post.

>>20770156
The Bakker-Sando wars were only fun when Sando still published semi decent stuff. It seems that a lot of people shit on him here now.

>>20769639
I don't know how you can feel that way
cultivation is really fun

Can someone post the Pepe Bakkerchad meme?

>>20770166
I am not even aware of all the shit the publishes. Back in those days people only cared about Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, (and The Emperor's Soul which is the only actually good story from him).

on page 200 and I hate every single character in this fucking book. I do not care what happens to them, cannot force myself to. I guess it would be entertaining if they all got raped and tortured to death but that's it

Prose and pacing are good tho

>>20770171
Which one, faggot?

>>20770171
This one?

>>20770177
I will never read NotW.

>>20770178
The one with the girl in the bed on the background.

>>20770183
This one.

Thanks.

>>20770183
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu6MaN9tT_8
I'm going to read it next unless I find another better magic school book

>>20770210
Harry Potter is better.

>>20769907
The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan
The Scar by China Mieville

>>20770177
>I guess it would be entertaining if they all got raped and tortured to death but that's it
all i can say is keep reading bro... ;)

I finished The Thousandfold Thought. The conversations between Moenghus and Kellhus were pseudointellectual cringe.

>>20770246
>didn't understand what they were talking about
must be pseud

>>20770246
>took until the very end of the first series to get filtered
Better than that other faggot before who couldn't even comprehend the first sentence of the series

>>20770210
have you read Scholomance (by Naomi Novik, not the coomerbait shit)

>>20770264
No it sounded like coomerbait for the modern fantasy publisher class

>>20770246
Cnaiür is the most relatable character imo.

>The Book of Skulls
>By Robert...Silverberg....
>Chapter One
>*unrestrained Semitic vitriol*
If someone made a post here analyzing the racial differences between Jews and goyim as deeply as Silverberg does in this novel, he'd get told to have sex, touch grass, and go back to /pol/. Holy shit.

>>20770279
Yes. I love how nonchalant he is when the synthese bird comes to pay a visit.

>>20770279
t. psycho

>>20770279
What if I relate to Lord Sibawûl?

Okay so I'm reading I Shall Seal the Heavens because I have nothing better to do. I'm 40 chapters in and basically fucking nothing is happening. Does this ever pick up? So far it's been nothing but a parade is seething bugmen doing seething bugmen things.

Reading Dune, not enjoying how the Baron has basically become a clueless sap in the final third, especially during his conversation with Hawat. Feels like Herbert didn't know what to do with the character.
A shame because I've really enjoyed the Harkonnen chapters - they were a nice reprieve from the desert slog.

>book or book series gets an adaptation in the form of a film or a TV series
>old book covers with decent cover art suddenly disappear from sales worldwide and are replaced with photos of one of the shitty castings from the film or series

Any thoughts on Gemmell?

>>20770573
who this

Have you tried scheming your way to immortality with Fang Yuan yet?

>>20769509
>that
>good writing
OH NO NO NO

>>20770708
What's wrong with it?

>>20770716
>DUDE WAR DOESN'T REWARD SKILL OR DARING
you have to be a pseud to actually think this is good writing

>>20770716
Circumlocutory to the point of being incomprehensible, devoid of meaning and plot, it reads like the ravings of a schizophrenic madman at best, or a politico-religious charlatan sermonizing his cult-like radical beliefs at worst.

>>20770726
>>20770733
it all boils down to "I didn't understand it" once again...

botns mfs be like ‘im coming for that michael andre-driUSSI’

>>20770755
Buddy, you can't just stick random words together stream-of-consciousness-style like an AI-bot into "sentences" and then claim everyone who doesn't understand your meaningless drivel is "unenlightened" like some exclusive religious cult. Bakker tried turning Dianetics into a novel, and his adherents are just as cult-like as scientologists, except L. Ron Hubbard could occasionally write compelling stories outside of his sham religion.

>>20770755
War literally rewards skill and daring you pseud retard

>>20770755
Lemme see if I understood it.
>I'm not like you
>Some rambling about blasphemy but these blasphemous things are okay because we need them
>We need this other thing as well
>Can we get back on topic?
>Realisation that these people are dicks
>You're ALL idiots, war doesn't reward people who do well it just breaks people
>We're doing war anyway
>I'm old and know things
>Grandmaster going "aw fuck"

>>20770773
maybe in the womanish minds of little boys who think war is about le win and le lose

>>20770773
Not, not really.

>>20770803
Aha, I was right; this is all just a crypto-fascist reading of Mein Kampf.

>>20770733
>filtered
many such cases.

Guy G. Kay, yay or nay?

>>20770773
That guy is expressing his philosophy, that war is not all of these things it is commonly understood to be. The character is not making an argument, and the author is not stating it as a fact.

>>20770820
Yeah and it's shallow as a puddle, you can get a more profound philosophy reading Benito Mussolini's pamphlets on futurism.

>>20770824
Moving goalposts. To put it in other words, in context he's saying that the point of war is not to reward skill or daring; he's expressing a disdain for the view that war is a way to achieve glory in any sense.

>>20770824
Just cope, buddy.

>>20770833
>he's expressing a disdain for the view that war is a way to achieve glory in any sense.
Talk about moving goalposts, that had nothing to do with what was being discussed.
>>20770841
When some lame self-published literal who loser's half-dozen cultist fanboys robotically reciting the same spiels over and over to no good end (or any end at all really), it's not me that needs help coping.

I should clear out some misconceptions here. The image in >>20769509 has, in fact, two excerpts. While they are from the same chapter, they are not from same scene and such it might be misleading to read first page and then the second right after. I did not want to include whole chapter as it would have been a big picture, rather I wanted to show the the way Cnaiur talks without revealing any major plot points.

When any piece of text is posted in /sffg/, without exception, they have always been ridiculed based on subjective opinions. And as mere opinions any statements can be disregarded, unless you are looking for anonymous opinions. But we are not looking for mere opinions and statements, we are looking to have more comprehensible understanding of a writer's prose (and style). Instead on focusing here on someone's opinion as a final assessment based on observations, I will rather concentrate on these base observations.

>>20770708
No base observation, mere opinion, and likely from someone who disliked Bakker before the image was posted.

>>20770726
I think it weird to judge a book based on a novel's character's opinions. It might be different than you in this but I can read books where characters have differing opinions were they "stupid" in my opinion or not. I'll let the pseud thing slide as it doesn't mean anything and is also just an opinion.

>>20770733
Its funny you should say that because it literally is a madman raving to these Inrithi lords, who are themselves very much tied into a politico-religious holy war. Again, it is not a valid argument in my opinion to say something about someone's writings because you don't agree with the characters. Why shouldn't books have raving madmen or zealots? I'm sorry if it was incomprehensible for you. May I suggest Mistborn for you?

>>20770769
When people talk to each other, the way they talk is very much stream of consciousness. You'd know this if you ever did any writing. Also it is baseless to say the whole book or Bakker himself is something because Cnaiur is like himself.

>>20770773
I think this is a subjective opinion. See other responds above. The Scylvendi have one religion, and its war. And Cnaiur merely states his beliefs. I'm sorry a fantasy character doesn't agree with you.

>>20770783
See first paragraph of this post.

>>20770809
All hyper-masculine socities are nazis then?

>>20770824
How deep you'd think a barbarian expresses his philosophy in a heated argument?

To sum it up: No one here has been able to provide any objective statements about his prose. All is just ramblings of Bakker-haters.

>>20770867
So the way he talks is "I'm smarter than you all and here's why"?

If dubs Severian is not a rapist.

>>20770803
>>20770808
>>20770820
>>20770867
>DUDE WAR DOESN'T REWARD SKILL
>that's why a starving peasant armed with a pitchfork who has never been in a battle before can totally win a fight against an armored knigth who has trained for war since childhood
i know bakker fans were retarded but this is bad even for them

>>20770867

>>20770879
>Here we find further argument for Gotagga’s supposition that the world is round. How else could all men stand higher than their brothers?
—AJENCIS, DISCOURSE ON WAR

When you are in a verbal argument with someone else and try to convince them, do you not try to talk like you know better? Because that's how people think.

>>20770898
>War doesn't rewards skill
That is your interpretation of that, and like any builder strawmen, you then attack your interpretation as if was someone else's. Not only that, but it is a single sentence taken from a broader quote which is connected to this one statement. The point Cnaiur is making her is that the Inrithi, and in larger scale, everyone else who is not Scylvendi (or Dunyain) romanticizes war, gives is meanings and traits which do not belong to it.

>>20770905
ad hominem

>>20770818
Try asking in the next thread. This thread is derailed.

>>20770925
>quoting an elided internal philosophical treatise that you yourself wrote
That's the most boldly self-fellating thing I've ever heard of

>>20770967
It is from Prince of Nothing trilogy, one of the epigraphs. Thought it suited my post very well. Also I'd like to point out any philosophical thought, sentence, or notion is still always written or thought by someone and those people themselves wrote of thought that and such I could go to Socrates and say that his thoughts on the beauty of philosophy are just made up shit my him.

And because the thing was actually written by R. Scott Bakker, and not me, it was not self-fellating.

>>20770978
>and not me

>>20770978
>It is from Prince of Nothing trilogy, one of the epigraphs. Thought it suited my post very well. Also I'd like to point out any philosophical thought, sentence, or notion is still always written or thought by someone and those people themselves wrote of thought that and such I could go to Socrates and say that his thoughts on the beauty of philosophy are just made up shit my him.
>And because the thing was actually written by R. Scott Bakker, and not me, it was not self-fellating.
pseuds on this board actually consider a hack fantasy author who writes about gay rape and raping holes as a serious philosophical thinker

>>20770818
I think it's pretty embarrassing when authors decide that arrows are just medieval bullets. In the early parts of Tigana a character shoots an arrow out of a cane.

>>20770998
So you judge a thought by the person who wrote it rather than by the contents of that thought? If this is the best bakker-haters can come up with, I don't know what is the worst. Surely you realize the purpose of that epigraph was merely to make mockery of the fact that most people hold themselves higher than their kin. Show me any respectable fantasy author who does not convey any philosophical ideas.

>>20771020
Not him but yes, if the book is written by a woman author then into the trash it goes.

>>20769098
You have been filtered. It's normal.

>>20769098
Try reading this post
>>20769509

>>20770965
You've posted this same post in 4 threads in the last 4 days.

>>20769080
Read and find out. That's kinda the whole point of the line. But antibakker shills seem to be braindead.

@20770898
Oh yeah give me another (You) while not making an argument, you really got me steaming over here lol. You gave four people (You)s and you got one in return, how you feelin bruh?

>>20771003
>fires arrow

>>20769549
Little, Big is such a lovely book.
>>20768400
Lud-in-the-Mist deals largely with fae folk and I will always shill it.

>>20770610
Giga-based. Also super comfy.
>Got a problem? Chop some wood to clear your head
>Obligatory siege section, exciting every time
>Heroic sacrifices that really mean something, never just kills characters for le edgy grey morality realism schtick
>Seriously the best sieges in the business
>Druss, Tenaka Khan, Waylander, Skilgannon - huge chads all.

>>20771350
>Heroic sacrifices that really mean something, never just kills characters for le edgy grey morality realism schtick
wtf I love David Gemmell now?

>>20771003
But that's cool. Have you ever played Noita? You can fire arrows out of a wand and it's fun.

The Hero's Journey gets me hard as a rock, and I need more.
What are some at least decent quality stories that fully embrace it?
Already read Wheel of Time.

>>20771394
Belgariad is the biggest for sure

>>20771399
The dialogue in that is so vapid it's unreadable

>>20771430
How do you breathe with your head stuffed so far up your own ass?

>>20768400
Holly Black has a series about a changeling protagonist, and the main character's sister in Sea of Trolls is revealed to be a changeling in the sequel

>>20771399
And Codex Alara, since it's practically Belgariad fanfic

>>20771394
Given Eragon is just A New Hope and A New Hope is just the Hero's Journey, Eragon. It's not GREAT, but it IS that.

>>20771430
You know it's posts like this that tempt me to reply "have you ever interacted with another human being?" and then I catch myself because the answer is so obvious.

You guys got any good coomer recs?

>>20771527
pornhub.com

>>20771527
It's not SF or fantasy, but the Flashman series of historical fiction novels were always making me pop a boner every time the narrator started talking lasciviously about the big breasted dark-skinned sluts he was seducing

>>20771481
Eragon is a little too Self Insert for me, but I ought to read the last book sometime.
Last bits I found interesting were the bladesmithing scene that he pretty much Ctrl+V from a reference book, and the scene where he saw the Dwarven God manifest and shake him of the faggy atheist shit the Elves taught him.
I've read that he still doesn't get any elf princess pussy, so that sucks.

>>20771527
No.
Kys

>>20771626
I read the whole series and so little of it stuck with me.

>>20771457
>>20771482
>seething
It's true. The characters talk like literal robots. Brandon Sanderson tier. I couldn't continue it.

>>20771527
Sex is the anathema of good literature

>>20770783
You're missing several parts, but may be because there is missing context. Cnaiur does much to discredit the arguments made by the Emperor and Conphas, particularly: "What better way to discredit the strong man than by making a broken man his double?"

He is also emphasizing that they can trust him to wage war for them, and not politic like other men would. He isn't saying they don't know war 4reel either, but rather that it isn't the means to any end, it just is in and of itself (which reassures them, since they want a general without other designs for the Holy War.

Cnaiur is also shit talking Conphas and the Emperor, who are hated by the rest of the lords, by essentially "the traitor always accuses others of treachery".

>>20771676
didn't read niggaiur is a faggot

>>20771527
Nobody wants to read about some guy fucking fairies, and that kind of shit smut will only detract from any book. Any story that shoehorns that kind of shit in is just the author inserting his fetish and trying to poorly buck the YA label

>>20771527
Good Intentions
Erogamer (forum quest story, but incredible quality)
Fostering Faust
Blue Core
Saving Supervillains
Fimbulwinter

>>20771676
>bad writing stops being bad writing when you know the context
try again Ayn Rand

Medieval books with this feel?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aTXToluLU4&t=93s

just read patient zero, a story about a baltimore cop getting recruited by the double NSA to face off against muslim zombies

pretty bad ngl

>>20769006
>no one, not even the no-god, could besiege a secret

I am reading unbound. I am 55% in, this woman in the party keeps talking about saving some other woman held by ice people, that other woman is referred as best friend or sometimes as sister (which is it then ffs) or "something special", is this some lgbt garbage? if its some dyke shit, I am dropping this

>>20772105
>written by a woman
just drop it.

Bakkerbros, how do I take the Shortest Path?

>>20772103
It's a beautiful line.

>>20772131
3edgy5me

>>20772131
Author's male.

>>20769885
Pay more attention, they didn't know shit about how normal men thought or worked, the only thing they're good at is observational anatomy. Kellhus learned how men work by observing the hunter, and then other men. Because he has no empathy or emotions, he just looks at people, catalogs their facial muscle position, and then correlates it with the actions they take. Eventually, given enough time with any one person, he figures them out and can basically read their mind by looking at them, same deal with the voice and body language.

>>20771693
>some guy fucking fairies
Books like this? Asking for a friend.

>>20772161
Sniff ashes made of dead non-men.

>>20772103
>the no-god

>>20772236
Sorry, I only know books about girls fucking dragons

>>20772246
>Read Dune
>no-ships
???

>>20772257
>>20772246
the no-god was my nickname in middle school

>>20770925
>using ajencis quotes to subdue the seething anti-bakkers
This is peak bakker-posting. I kneel, king.

OH N-

fanfic is Blood Crest. this is 967 pages in

Finished the Expanse books. Not really sure what to expect, and they were probably never that amazing, but the quality degraded a lot throughout the series. I liked the earlier pre-ring gate "hard sci-fi" style more than the later books which were just epic high fantasy in space. Also, the dialogue for practically every pov became so reddit as the books went on. Not even trying to be edgy; so much dialogue felt like something you'd read in a reddit comment, ie. over the top sarcasm and swearing to seem "bad ass" to the point where I started rooting for the death of previously likeable characters just because they became obnoxious.

So what to read now?

>>20772308
>So what to read now?
That's for you to decide on your own.

>>20772287
I'm wondering if people have made series that're just Harry Potter but cultivation now.

>>20768400
in addition to the already named books: The Iron Dragon's Daughter

>>20770479
Some of the stuff with Hawat and the whole Secret Prison Planet gimmick with the Sarduakar feels rather silly, like they were left over from an earlier draft.
I think that Herbert was transitioning from seeing the Sardaukar as secretly conscripted prisoners to a more proper warrior ethnicity (there are mentions, for instance, that they all look like Leto (and thus that they're clearly the same race as the Imperial family)), but didn't smooth it out before publishing the book.

>>20769006
This reads like a parody of over the top fantasy naming conventions and exposition.

>>20771985
>Its bad... because it is!!
Post something better. You won't, or if you do you'll to be too scared to post anything in earnest.

>>20772437
that was my thought at first too but then I realized it was completely serious and unironic and I shuddered at the state of the world that such a man was permitted to put pen to paper and subject an innocent populace to the strappado of his "wit"

>>20772437
>>20772583
Bakker’s names and languages are based on ancient Near Eastern, Greek, Germanic, and proto-indo-European source names. Cope brainlets.

>>20772591
Please tell me you're not serious, I've had enough laughter I can take for one day, allow me to retire in peace with the understanding that you don't actually believe the monumentally ignorant absurdity what you just typed.

>>20772217
>So autistic they can read minds from faces

Sounds stupid desu

>>20772624
phrenology is a hell of a drug

>read nothing but laird barron, john langan and thomas ligotti for the past 6 weeks
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST GIVE ME SOMETHING FUN TO READ AHHHHHHHHHHHH

>>20772710
The Gunslinger 1.

>>20772710
karl edward wagner
mogs all of those hacks

favorite tropes?

>>20772437
>>20772583
Filtered.

>>20772236
just when I thought you guys couldn't get any lower, this is worse than sandersois

>>20772758
>favorite tropes?
Lost of memories and finding out what happened, the protagonist being thought dead and returning many years later, characters returning after a long time...I love stuff like that.

>>20772758
Hot older constantly teasing mentor

>>20772287
That's a good fic, updates have slowed to a crawl though.

>>20772624
>So autistic they can read minds from faces
You can't?

>>20772796
>Lost of memories and finding out what happened
what do you mean by this

agree on those others btw

>>20772758
Casual dismissal of a once-threatening foe because the protagonist has bigger fish to fry.

>>20771573
The 40k Flashman homages (Ciaphas Cain) are honestly pretty good.

Bakker unironically wrote one of the best battles in all fantasy.

>>20772920
>A-hunting we will go,
>A-hunting we will go,
>Heigh-ho, the derry-oh,
>A-hunting we will go.

BRAVO NOLAN

>>20772920
>that scene where all the soldiers valiantly fight and die and get dragged screaming into hell one by one

>>20772758
My favorite /sffg/ tropes:

>The political machinations are fun to watch.
>It gets really good in volume four when the characterization solidifies and the main plot starts.
>The magic system is very interesting.

>>20772920
Best battle scene I've read in general is the hallway scene aboard the Amnion ship at the end of This Day All Gods Die by Stephen R. Donaldson.

it's pretty good

>>20772710
>laird barron

read the croning

>>20772920
uh.... uhhh... It's LE BAD WRITING! be-because.... because it JUST IS OKAY!?!?

>>20773131
Dan Simmons and his Space Jews.

>>20773134
Read it last year. Highly varied setting, prologue and ending were great. Old Leech is kinda boring, and the protag's wife is a cunt.

Is this worth reading, if only to see what all the hubbub is about? I feel some kind of "responsibility" to read at least one of sandy's books, even though from what I've gathered, his prose is very spare and the story is full of super powered anime characters, which is anathema to my tastes.

>>20773200
>at least one of
>four (4) individual objects that can kill somebody if accelerated with enough force
read something like the emperor's soul and leave it there

>>20773210
Is the emperor's soul give a fair representation of what the rest of his books are like?

>>20768073
What are some good Science Fiction or Fantasy books which have both a child-like imagination and creativity while also maintaining a degree of profundity and depth touching on issues such as religion, politics, technology, science, etc? Also, I've only ever read Dune and thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks bros

>>20773235
Not really. It has decent pacing and actually wraps itself up without any real lingering threads of any significance.

>>20773238
Discworld? It has a sort of cynical optimism about it. Wonder and hope and joy are very potent but some people are right bastards and need to be dealt with, sometimes those bastards are necessary, etc. But people can always improve.

>>20773239
did you hateread the entire stormlight archive?

>>20773235
no which is a shame

>>20773200
He has a few chapters on his site so you can get a taste of his style.

I don’t think it’s worth it bc there are just better books out there. But if you read it and it grabs your attention then you should buy in bc the people that love SA sure do love SA and they can’t stop talking about it.

>>20773256
I enjoyed it well enough honestly, I don't have super high standards for enjoyment, but I'd definitely consider RoW a mostly banal read after the first two books were pretty good and Oathbringer was just kind of ups and downs. I just am always incredibly critical of Sanderson's terrible pacing, because it seems to be getting worse with every book. It was fine in Elantris and Mistborn book 1, but Mistborn book 3 basically didn't need to happen a lot of that could've just been wrapped up in book 2 and some of book 2 could've been easily cut. Stormlight meanwhile seems to do this annoying thing where he'll set up a bunch of plot threads and never resolve any of them 'til the last 10% of the book.

>>20773045
Those posts always give me a chcukle too.

Read Tolkien.

>>20773321
>buying fancy editions of a book that almost every family has an old copy of already

>>20773321
Why would someone take a picture like that?

>>20773339
>wasting space on paper instead of using an ebook reader

What you buy is what you are

>>20773321
he cute
>>20773379
then I am nothing

Anyone read any fantasy that uses the tarot?
Lord of the mysteries is the only thing I can think of

>>20773402
Ultima series... Ogre series... tarot is a kino aesthetic to me

>>20772710
Yes, along with Mistborn. You are correct in your judgment but imo sometimes something grips you even though its not within your preconceived "taste".

>>20773562

Meant for

>>20773200

Have any of you fine gentleman read "The Monarchies of God" series by Paul Kearney?
can ya recommend it or should I keep looking for my next epic fantasy series.

>>20773607
it's good but probably closer to ASOIAF's subgenre of sorta fantasy historical fiction than epic fantasy

>>20770031
it's whimsical anon

>>20773015
weakest attempt yet

>>20773015
What's going on here, is this a Monty Python reference?

Is Joe abercrombie any good?

I normally read literary fiction and classics.

I've been reading 'the witcher' series and enjoyed aspects of it and so I thought I'd read some more fantasy. I've bought a 3 part Joe Abercrombie set on a wild punt.

My favourite writer is John Fowles btw. Any fantasy written with a similar level of literary polish would be very welcome thought I'm basically 100% certain it doesn't exist.

>>20773718
If you bought the book, then just read it and see if you like it or not.

>>20773639
hrmmm. what about the Belgariad?

>>20773750
Here's what you need to know about the Belgariad. Eddings walked into a bookstore one day and realized that all of the fantasy getting published was absolutely nothing but cliches. He thought to himself "well shit, I can probably make a bunch of money if I just systematize that writing process." And thus, one of the most profitable and influential series of its time was born. There is absolutely nothing unique about it, every series he wrote was just a copy paste of the first but shorter, and yet it remains a very comfy, very iconic fantasy series.

>>20773718
>Is Joe abercrombie any good?
no
his writing his shit, his characters are shit (apart from glokta) and the story is shit
it's meme grimdark nihilism that has been done before by better authors

>>20773786
yeah and he was a convicted pedo

>>20773718
3/5, thinly veiled political allegories with a few decent character moments.

>>20773838
Post nose.

A trope I didn't know I enjoyed until I began reading fantasy: Kings in decline. They have lost their wits, or will to lead, and now they're doddering old men.

Just sharing.

>>20773856
>Post nose.
Post jaw

>>20773856
>Post nose.
Abercrombie is literally a neoliberal feminist who loves diversity you autist

>>20772758
>Whore with a heart of gold and or surprisingly romantic.
I hate that The Night Angel trilogy made me like this trope.

>>20773838
I think you mean by BAKKER authors.

>>20773958
Ironically that's how all grimderp writers are.

>>20773856
>Post nose.
Grimderp is inherently jewish. It's about subverting traditional epic fantasy tropes and heroism in general.

I wonder how long ISSTH would be if you removed every sentence except ones where someone is bleeding out of their mouth or snorting coldly

>>20773786
What are some comfy iconic fantasy series? Can't stand Eddings.

>>20769165
Shorter books or stories are over in an afternoon. I read LotR when I was in the fourth grade. There's only so many times you can reread a book before you want something new. That said, you should have realistic expectations. There's no "perfect" ten book epic fantasy series. That's an insane amount of writing and editing and every series has flaws. You find you that you like and that's all there is to it.

>>20773200
The first two books were easily the most enjoyable (not necessarily highest quality) fantasy reads I've had in a decade. Not worth continuing after that though.

>>20773365
I wish I was that happy about anything in life. Imagine being so happy you could smile and take a picture like that with your books. I can't.

>>20768073
>read The Thousandfold Thought with no spoilers or preconceptions
>find Kellhus Anasûrimbor and Cnaiür urs Skiötha deeply relatable
What does this mean?

>>20774079
Chronicles of Prydain maybe?

>>20774133
bug books for bug people

>>20773845
that child abuse scandal had nothing to do with sexual molestation, him and his wife basically bought a child slave under the guise of adoption and treated him like Oliver Twist, making him work like Cinderella and beating him - undeniable child endangerment but it wasn't actual pedoshit like Marion Zimmer Bradley or Isaac Asimov

>>20769509
weeping faggot

What books should I get incase I get isekai'd?

>>20774133
Means you're a gay psycho bro

Any /sffg/ approved YA fantasy I can give to a depressed teenager to cheer him up?

>>20774251
Chronicles of Narnia? A Wrinkle in Time series? I haven't read much YA fantasy but I've been looking at several series on my wishlist, like this "Prophecy" quadrilogy by Michael Rothman, a portal fantasy
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087KZS26R?searchxofy=true&binding=kindle_edition&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tkin&qid=1659417180&sr=8-1
but I'm busy with other books in the meanwhile

a little off topic but I didn't want to make my own thread:
Is Bridge on the river Kwai worth reading if I love the movie? I feel like I'm not gonna get much more out of it because from what I gather the movie is pretty much a perfect adaptation

Also a more on topic question:
Finished "I, robot", what Asimov book should I read second?

I'm going to try doing some wordbuilding, but first I have to learn climate, weather, geography, geology, world history, microhistories, technology, customs, food and drinks, chemistry, flora, fauna, biology, physics, math, astronomy, cartography, distances, calendars, number systems, languages, ethical systems, religions/spiritual/folk beliefs, population/demographics, government, politics, crime, court, law, foreign relations, war, weapons, currencies, commerce, trade, public and private life, urban v rural living, psychology, sociology, business, industry, transportation, communication, medicine, art, entertainment, architecture, fashion, manners, diet, education, games, etc.

>>20774387
I sleep

>>20774387
ok

>>20768073
https://voca.ro/1f4DOatjghml
Smeagol vs Bakkerposter

>>20774399
what in the frog

>>20774399
but how will Smeagol prevail vs RI spammer..

>>20774416
Who cares?

>>20773639
>ASOIAF's subgenre of sorta fantasy historical fiction
Are you talking about Low Fantasy?

>>20773873
The Farseer Trilogy

>>20774133
Probably means you are gay or had some child abuse issues/bullied as a kid.

>>20774502
I think he’s referring to historical fantasy, don’t know why he said fiction though. That’s another genre.

>>20773718
He’s an okay writer for what he writes.

>>20774533
Isn't Historical Fantasy just another way to say Low Fantasy?

>>20774553
No, they’re completely different subgenres.

>>20774561
If you say so, to me, they're one in the same.

>>20773873
King Gax from Lyonesse by Vance.
Although he definitely maintains an air of nobility and dignity through his age.

>>20773873
King Robert Baratheon, from game of thrones. Watching him be described as your standard fantasy hero in his youth only to see how he turn out was interesting to see and rather depressing since even he knows how low he fell.

>>20774387
No one actually does wb like that. You create the world as you write the story

>>20774572
George has a thing for that, if you check the backstories of kingdoms.

>>20774573
He’s making a joke.

I'm not too far in but it seems pretty good so far desu
Reminds me of Blacktongue Thief for some reason even though they arent anything alike

>>20774079
Sword of Truth

Almost 90% of the way through ISSTH

>>20774737
Was it worth it, anon?

>>20772920
>one of
several of

>>20774759
A) I wish Xu Qing had actually been a character
B) I've been thinking a lot about dropped plot things, like Meng Hao's lotus time sword formation that got messed up when he time skipped and had something to do with the bat that wanted revenge on him

>>20769006
I'm actually reading it right now and am finding parts of it equally interesting and boring.
Pic related made me cringe so hard that I might put it down.

>>20774825
That's fairly good for fantasy and based. He probably got help from some of his groupies to write it.

New thread
>>20774885