/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

Already read Devilman, really cool series for only being short. I was actually on planning to watch the 70s anime soon.

If you're not looking for manga specifically, Kobo Abe has some good scifi books.

Idiot here, I'm wondering about the "Severian is an unreliable narrator" thing

Having finished BotnS I do not trust the fucker one bit, but I can't point to any specific thing that he might have lied about
Sometimes we only learn something he knows or suspects when he reveals it to another character and there are instances where he doesn't tell someone something that I know he knows and he never actually tells me either but that's about it

Is there some specific thing that strongly suggests he is a dirty liar or is he just being a bit shady and blurry?
At the beginning I thought he had a great reason for lying, but at the end I'm not sure I feel about it that strongly anymore

I'm open to the idea that there aren't any answers to any questions I have because Wolfe decided to be ambiguous, I would be fine with that. It's also possible that Urth over explains everything, I don't have a copy yet
Can someone help me understand the end of book 4 when he explains how the grave was his?
I'm not sure how Dr. Talos is returning the coin, if it's the same one that he had and if there is something in the book that gives some further motive as to why the grave has the same imagery as the coin or if Severian just thought that would be a neat thing to put on his grave

The whole time thing fucked with me a bit, am I right to assume that the first Severian didn't live a linear life like the one of the second Severian that is described in BotnS and instead time warped all over the place?
I am thinking here that first Severian was who became known as the Conciliator, someone who seems to have lived very long ago while the grave in the necropolis seems less ancient

Is it bad that I feel like a moron not because I don't fully comprehend, but because the thing I don't fully comprehend is genre fiction?

Anyone out there read this? Or any of Stross' work?

>70s anime
Neat for what it is but it's more a Devilman-themed superhero show than a real adaption of Devilman. Consider eventually checking out Devilman Lady. Nobody's quite certain what to make of it, but I don't think it would have been possible to make a better continuation of the story. It sure beats the hell out of Parasyte if nothing else.

I don't understand the graves thing myself since I've only read it once, but it's clear that Severian isn't giving you events as they are in a few places, more because he doesn't have a solid grip himself than any kind of dishonesty. Anything involving Thecla is particularly blurry since he ends up sharing his consciousness with her and their memories become intertwined and confused together. Something which some people particularly seem to miss is that through off hand comments we learn both that Severian and Thecla had a sexual relationship and that out of desperation or possibly even madness Thecla apparently tried to attack and possibly kill Severian at least once during his visits. Their relationship likely wasn't half as friendly or stable as he puts it in a surface reading.

While I did enjoy Parasyte a lot I was expecting the ending to go in End of Evangelion or Devilman like direction.

I have, I think it was the only thing of his I have read. It's not really a "novel", more a series of short stories in the same universe with the same characters set over a long period of time. It reads very much like watching a TV show where at the start of each episode it recaps the story so far. It explores some interesting ideas but is both repetitive and disjointed.

The ending really deflated the whole thing for me. The whole thing was building up massive world-scale happenings and trying to impress this feeling of dread onto you but then everything is resolved in a fashion which felt entirely too much like straight wish-fulfillment for my liking and everything beyond the direct conflict between bad guys and the protagonist was handwaved away at the last second. Their were some almost-big ideas being thrown around in Parasyte but the ending made it clear that the author didn't really think them through, let alone have any idea on how they'd naturally tie in with the progression of the story towards some kind of resolution. It felt like just about the single most lazy ending the story could have possibly had, while Devilman's enormous influence on the industry is probably largely due to how bold, unique and intelligent its ending is.

I fell for the Veeky Forums memes once again. this wasn't even that good of a book

>who is Eowyn?

Since when is scifi Veeky Forumserature?

It's just a bunch of cheap tricks. Meek hero + sexy woman + evil badguy + weird names = GROUNDBREAKING SCIFI.

>inb4 muh hero's journey is not overdone

sci-fi is far more patrician than fantasy which is complete and total garbage

>m-muh tolkek tho...

That book sucked because it presented all humans as emasculated dumb pussies who still emptily bang. Not one trace of testosterone in the whole culture, leading me to believe cloning actually does produce totally inhuman drones incapable of true violent passion. How should I care about fools who won't even try to take some mother truckers out, especially after the first transplant? Everybody knows what the endgame is. Terrible novel. Dostoyevsky would have solved this "problem" in two pages.

>it presented all humans as emasculated dumb pussies who still emptily bang. Not one trace of testosterone in the whole culture, leading me to believe cloning actually does produce totally inhuman drones incapable of true violent passion.

Sure sounds like it was written by Jap

any good sci fi written in the past 2 years?

last two good authors were bacigalupi (meh) and chiang, anyone else break out?

>not lit reported
Nice meme

What I suggest yall don't even read, you start making excuses and using ad hominem about m-muh cover.
So no, fuck off.

hi paolo

I read The Eyes Of The Overworld, Jack Vance's second Dying Earth book. Its conceited thief protagonist, Cugel, blunders into one perilous situation after another as he undertakes a picaresque journey southwards through the continent on a wizard's errand.

There is plenty of witty dialogue and irony, much more so than in the first book. However, the setting remain perilous, full of violence, scammers, curiosities, and surprising spectacles in every section. Not too long a book either. All being considered, this book deserves five out of five dinosaurs.

Can we all agree that pic related has finally ended the "what's the darkest/bleakest/edgiest sci-fi universe" competition?

Why was Vodalus being such a dick in book 4?

This was a big influence on Soma, I believe. That and a bunch of Greg Egan books.

sure sounds like you haven't read my diary

Because he was always an asshole. Remember when he first killed innocent people to dig up a corpse to eat and then later forced severian to eat the love of his life?

Stop using dinosaurs as a unit of measurement, or I will make a macro specifically for you.

looking back on it he really was a cunt
and right at the beginning he falls over a fucking dirt pile and almost gets his head smashed in what a dip

makes me feel bad i thought he was cool you know

solid summary and review, i was wondering if i should read Dying Earth

thank you for doing a good service and i hope you will continue to use dinosaurs as a measure of quality in the future

That wasn't the issue. They didn't rebel because they were conditioned not to. They were raised to believe this is their destiny, they were raised with the knowledge they couldn't rebel.

I agree though that it was solvable in a short story of a couple pages.

Also, the problem was the slow pace of the book, and the many parts of the book that were completely unnecessary to the plot. I get it, you want to present how they were given the chance of experiencing childhood and were presented as 'human'. But jesus, I got it during the first third of the book - at this point I was always wondering... when is the inevitable plot twist finally coming?

>my day is shot
>oh? What is this? Some autist getting triggered?
>imma say something positive about the thing he was talking about
>kek
>shit. Forgot to post my pic

Also, I hated how he presented each arc.

He'd start with "I should tell you about X... but we'll get to that later, first I need to tell you about Y!"; and X and Y are completely fucking unrelated, and he does this EVERY TIME. Why?

dinosaurs are second only to NINJAstars and it's not my problem if you can't handle that

What's the best novel that has a little girl protag?

my diary to be honest

It's too late Kevin. I've started using the dinosaur system as well. Very comfy. You should try it.

She's a ruiner, desu

Dino-haters this is your mindset

Hey Vince what you reading recently?

Only 10 years old desu. Giving me the chills.
Yourself?

>read genre fiction book
>it takes me to a place very very far away, nice
>finish reading book
>fade out of it
>back to reality

A booker ruiner

hurry up and start a new one before it's too late

I'm getting a new book tomorrow

okay good. stay safe out there, it's a hard world.

When will someone invent a device that allows us to live in a fantasy world of our choosing?

bro.... what if they have... and that's... where you are RIGHT NOW

i've never read anything by Arthur C Clarke
If i was going to read one book of his, which should it be?

(my fave scifi author is Lem, if that helps)

I feel that way when I finish an rpg. The fleeting triumph resolves into the cold truth of another hundred hours wasted.

I haven't felt like that since I was a kid.

It's not the same as a child because then the biggest problem in the whole wide world is that your Bionicles might not get along and be jealous of each other because you don't play with them for equal amounts of time.

THIS, if anyone reads Dying Earth read Cugels Saga its the most entertaining, funniest, and readable Jack Vance story.

in that case I want a better fantasy world to live in.

A childmolester oddyssey.

>any good sci fi written in the past 2 years?
No, not for a long, long time.

Rama

You were supposed to

Should I read the Ender books past Speaker for the Dead? Heard it drops off after that

Why haven't you donated yet user? Every cent counts.

Is that the cunt that wrote that shite book that everyone loves.

Yeah, he wrote ASoIaF.

D-don't make me delay book 3

:3

Overly delayed book releases were not an issue before smart phones.

Stop doing Ama's on reddit you fat fucks.

Anyone here read Last Call (Fault Lines trilogy) by Tim Powers? It's the same guy of Anubis Gate.

>I see breasts
>is that.. a dick?
the fuck

Started reading Coldfire, I like the Fae stuff and other worldbuilding so far and the way it's written, but holy shit does Damien become any less of a boring shit after starting their trip? It feels like it's going to be one of those cases where every single side character is five times more interesting than the MC and his dumb girlfriend. Like she didn't even break down over her inability to help people due to her power being gone, literally crying that she has to live like a regular mortal pleb, how am I supposed to give a shit?

DUNYAIN
I need to catch up so I can meme when the time comes

I hate the fucking belters

>tfw no catgirl gf

Coldfire is a trilogy with a 99% male cast, all of the females vanish one way or another.

why?

Honestly surprised that the main characters didn't end up going full homo before the end of it

Rama

The Fountains of Paradise is his best book imo but Rama is more representative of his style while still being good.

No, and I mostly say that because I think the opportunity cost is high. If you're the kind of person that reads interminable fantasy epics on purpose go ahead.

This doesn't tell me much about the MC. At least the granny isn't an overly major one then.

Redpill me on C.J. Cherryh, /sffg/

In my subjective opinion Vryce's characterisation becomes more interesting as time goes by.

>bring your own little girl protagonist
What does this mean?

Read through the thread. Two posts already did the meme.

She is the best.
What do you want to know specifically?

Should I be adding this to my watchlist?

Where do I start? Downbelow?

I got hooked on listening to Finity's End, but I have no idea what to read first.

Yeah, for the Company Wars books you might as well start with Downbelow Station as it's the meatiest one that establishes much of the context.
Finity's End is a great book, but the style is a bit different, more bildungsroman than political thriller.
Heavy Time and Hellburner take place earlier chronologically, but they aren't strongly connected to the other books, just make sure to read them together.

Its meh catfag. There are cat people that share the world with humans, but she never passes the pussy (hehe), I think she wanted the dicking though AND I WAS SURE IT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED BUT FUCK THAT AUTHOR FOR NOT LETTING IT BE.

So are there actually any sci-fi/fantasy books with a little girl protag?
I would like to read them.

Cherryh has you covered.

planning on writing a fantasy story about the sundiata myth.

Any advice guys?

Wrong thread, this here is for consuming fiction.

>you will never create an entire species through your planet's magic catering to your sexual fetish

wolfe is just a moderately better rothfuss

ya'll have some huge cognitive dissonance over this, so much so that you attack anyone who says this

He isn't better.