/sffg/ - Science Fiction & Fantasy General

john scalzi sucks.

redshirts was the worst thing i've read this year. how the fuck did he win awards for that shit?

Why was Plum such a useless character? She literally contributed almost nothing to the plot. The only thing I can think of is her getting Quentin kicked out of Brakebrills. She has little to no personality besides"quirky genius in a school full of quirky geniuses and also she's a Chatwin". She has no purpose in the last part of of the book and her "league" friends are severely underdeveloped and poorly explained. We are given no reason to care about her internal conflict, which also contributed nothing to the plot. And to rub salt in the wound, we are given constant reminder that she is smarter than Quentin, a character who we've been following for three books. I feel like editorially fuckery changed the plot around halfway and they were supposed to stick with the group dynamic but shoved Plum into the spotlight for some reason.

>redshirts
Is it supposed to be a parody of Star Trek?

And all the trash tier space opera shows nobody remembers.

its 25% parody of star trek and 75% a bunch of people standing in a room and quipping at each other with no descriptions to interrupt the dialogue. also there is a garbage time travel subplot, which was always the worst kind of star trek episode gimmick.

Does anyone else have extremely frustrating dreams in which they obtain a book for a series that they have been waiting forever for and it takes you like 3/4 of the dream to fucking get it and it keeps disappearing and when you try to read it you either wake up before you read the ending or you read it and it reads like shit or the book just keeps fucking vanishing or you lose it or you start dreaming about the book in third person and can't actually read it or you read it and enjoy it and then you wake up and realise that it was all part of your imagination?

Does anyone else have those hallucinations before they sleep where you vividly see the book getting uploaded in front of you and then you check your phone or whatever and it turns out that you were just hallucinating the fact that a fucking book just got released?

JUST

cyberpunk is 99.999% completely gay and shit.

I get that with all kinds of things. Dreams where you keep coming really close to getting something you want are garbage.

As long as I'm not going insane.

Can anyone recommend anything similar to Clarke? I like that a lot of his stories are more about humanity just entering into space or making first contact. More Science Fiction, less Science Fantasy. I've tried Azimov and Heinlein and didnt like them very much.

Maybe Olaf Stapledon.

Thank you. Star Maker, along with Last and First Men, sounds really interesting.

Is Malazan a meme?
I see it recommended often in here.

No, it isn't a meme, but some people are pretty set against it because of how fanboys suck its paper dick.

Okay so if name of the wind, storm light archive, bakker, GRRM are all memes with shitty prose, what is good modern fantasy

There was a reprint of LOTR recently

New
Tigana by GGK
Coldfire Trilogy by CS Friedman
Dagger and Coin series and Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham
NK Jemisin's Broken Earth
The Song of the Shattered Sands by Bradley P. Beaulieu
The Golem and the Djinni

Old
Amber Chronicles by Zelazny
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Divine Comedy

Scifi has more of a problem with modern authors since a lot of them enjoy drowning the reader in a surfeit of jargon and with science fiction a lot of the best books are the classics since almost all of them are easy to read, short and very accessible.

>good
>modern
Impossible. All of the good authors are dead or dying and all of the new ones grew up on Star Wars, Dragon Ball Z and Joss Whedon.

You guys know any good Russian sci-fi other than pic related?

Its fucking brilliant, I unironically am thankful everyday people here shilled it. Most people criticising it are either brainlets who gave up after 100 pages (I almost did desu) or haven't read it.

Revelation Space

It won because the Hugo is a popular award and Star Trek is popular so people enjoyed a homage to it

Why is Malazan considered intelligent? I've never bothered with it because most descriptions of it make it sound like a DnD campaign which conflates in media res storytelling and a mountain of lore with depth.

Not him, but I don't think it's necessarily intelligent. He probably was referencing people who can't keep the varied stories and other details straight since the books dump loads of info in your lap.

>old
That's a rather shallow list friendo
Try this:
Lord Dunsany - The King of Elflands Daughter
E.R. Eddison - The Worm Orborus
Evangeline Walton - The Mabinogion
Robert E. Howard - Conan the Barbarian
C.L. Moore - Jirel of Joiry
Fritz Leiber - Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Poul Anderson - The Broken Sword, Three Hearts and Three Lions
Ursula K. LeGuin - Earthsea

More recs is always a good thing.

It's a genuinely good series, can get a bit dragged out some books in but I highly recommend it, it does go on about philosophy/criticism of real world problems etc but it's not so heavy handed, compared to Goodkind who tries to be what mazalan is in terms of just sharing a point of view with a good story behind, take into account it is based off of their dnd game but it has wonderful characters and enough shit going on to make it worth the trouble.

yeah this. He doens't spoonfeed you, and no this doesn't mean he hasn't giving you the tools, the people who say this are just ESL/lazy/dumb

it has some fairly idk not Veeky Forums deep but pretty deep moments, like way of kings or something it has lots of really hype and anime typw "teleports behind you, walking forward with the sword like 9572241 etc. Its really cool and great high fantasy though.

Hey lads! Pls recommend me an author or a book. I like Lem, Simmons (especially Ilium), Stephenson, Wotts, Egan aand that basically it. Nothing else was able activate my almonds.

>every time old is mentioned
You are persistent Mr Old shill. I'll give you that.

Tbh I don't know if Goodkind counts as heavy handed, he still thinks he's an individualist or whatever when the books are 100% a tribute to Fascism

>the only good author is a dead one meme
I think you are in the wrong thread friendo.
Dank memes are that way

Metro 2033

>Ursula K. LeGuin - Earthsea

Is this just ironic like Discworld? I have it lying around, but I'm not in the mood for shits and giggles.

It's one of the better billion-word-long EPIC FANTASY SERIES if that's your thing. If it's not don't bother.

It's horrible, and if you fall for the meme and listen to these idiots you're going to regret it. The main narrative is basically non-existent, and it's more about the wacky adventures of Reddit characters. If you're expecting a cohesive magic system like Sanderson's then you won't find one, and if you're expecting proper world-building you're also out of luck. Also, it's incredibly long, the fifth book is downright atrocious, and the ending is completely unsatisfying.

If you're the sort of person that enjoys shallow stories full of quips and cringy, One Piece tier tugging at the heartstrings, you'll probably enjoy if. If you want a compelling story with well-written characters, a deep narrative with a consistent tone, don't bother. Malazan is more like a comic book than it is a novel series.

It's worth it.
I'd say it deserves most of the praise it receives, and when I'll feel like emotionally abusing myself I'll reread it.
It portrays some awful stuff.

What's wrong with Stormlight?

Have you read the Baroque Cycle too?

I haven't, I plan on it eventually but it's a bit of a commitment

I see.
Fanboys are always annoying, I get it.

Sounds right up my alley, thanks for the input.

>m-muh Reddit

I can't take anyone who uses Reddit as an adjective seriously.
Thanks anyway.

Some guy in the Amazon reviews said that all the books could be standalones. Did he miss the point or something?

I'm pretty sold at this point and Gardens of the Moon is pretty cheap, might as well order it now and find out for myself.

I loved it. Quicksilver can be kind of a slog, though, especially during the Waterhouse parts.

Have someone you love on speedial during the second book. You're going to need a healthy way to process it.

So the first book starts in the middle of a war. None of the sides are adequately explained. We are given rapid, short character introductions and some demonstrations of magic systems which are also not adequately explained. A series of betrayals involving characters we don't care about because we haven't known them for longer than five pages each transitions into a bizarre mission to some gaspunk city where an entirely separate and equally ill explained plot runs parallel to the initial plot which wasn't adequately established or explained, culminating in an evil monster who was neither established nor built up nor foreshadowed meaningfully which is then resolved using a magic trick we haven't seen before in the magic system which was not previously adequately explained.

First book was fucking terrible. Its plot structure was awful, the storytelling was simply bad, the characters were flat and uninteresting and the worldbuilding, which might have compensated for these problems, was also scarcely shown off.

Then the second book is 250% better, but by this point nobody is fucking reading anymore except people with no taste because they actually liked the first book, so they do not understand just WHY the second book is good, and cannot articulate clearly to people who gave up on the first book that they should give the second book a chance.

>he doesn't know that the series only get worse as time goes on

So the first book starts in the middle of a war. None of the spiders are adequately explained. We are given rapist, short characters and some demonstrations of magic systems which are also not adequately explained. A series of betrayals involving characters we don't care about because we haven't known them for longer than five pages each transitions into a bizarre mission to some ga-spunk city where an entirely separate and equally ill explained plot runs parallel to the initial plot which wasn't adequately established or explained, culminating in an evil monster who was neither established nor built up nor foreshadowed meaningfully which is then resolved using a magic trick we haven't seen before in the magic system which was not previously adequately explained.

2 had an actual good plotline, the entire Chain of Dogs event was cool. But, once again, the story suffered from a lack of focus and too many plotlines that had too little to do with each other. If Ericksson actually knew how to write, he would've just written fuck separate fucking books to cover the material in each one of his.

Also, piss everywhere. So much piss. Once a soldier gets hit, and she flies cartwheeling though the air, "trailing a stream of urine."

This is in the book. A woman flying through the air pissing herself. Not blood, not viscera, piss. I've got nothing else to say.

>2 had an actual good plotline, the entire Chain of Dogs event was cool

I don't think so at all. It was just a tragedy happening for tragedy's sake, as it is in Memories of Ice. None of the events in this series have any reason for happening. The plot simply demands that they do, and Erikson goes through the motions.

>muh broken leg

>I can't take anyone who uses Reddit as an adjective seriously.

>i'm autistic and i'll ignore valid complaints because i'm a redditor and any reminder of that triggers me

Okay, bud. Enjoy your shit series extolled exclusively by fanboys.

The magic system is never adequately explained. Half of these retards can't name half of the Warrens.

Has anyone read Warlock of the Magus World?

What are some fantasy novels that have deeper meaning.

Prince of Nothing?
Thomas Covenant?
LotR/The Silmarillion?

>womameme author rec

Saying something is reddit is not a valid criticism you stupid cunt

>ignoring all the other things mentioned

And it's pretty clear to anyone with a brain what Reddit means. Shallow and meme-y with no distinct identity or long-lasting value. Which describes Malazan's characters to a fault.

Stephen Baxter is pretty much the modern inheritor. They even cowrote several novels, including Clark's last work, the Time Odyssey series.

its a good fucking book, but I say that tentively as it is probably the best fantasy YA i've ever read.

No its serious

Only 3 of those authors are women you cocksmoker

It's good, and a lot of people have tried to steal teh magic system without really getting it (the idiot of Eragon for example). LeGuin some times is a bit cringey but earhsea is brilliant in a simple way, specially the first books (later aren't that good but still better than most).

Thats more or less what I felt with gardens of the moon user, so it gets better and user there aren't retards?

Hey /sffg/, could you recommend me some books where someone gets put in to a board game and it becomes reality sort of idea or anything similar?

Solar Cycle
The Man Who Was Thursday
The Last Unicorn
Biography of the Life of Manuel

It's a good series but there's at least one autistic fuck shilling it like crazy which have lead to a counter reaction.

3 too many

Can't think of a book but there's a light novel called No Game No Life that's at least somewhat similar.

Beyond the first four books it definitely becomes a meme.

>muh magic systems

Anybody here read Ken Macleod's "Engine of Light" trilogy? Is it worth reading?

Stay jealous, my man.

Sounds familiar desu, characters being trapped in acting out the part of a doomed side in sort of a board game/play type of thing and dying and reincarnating every day to do it again until some sort of revolution happens catalyzed by the main character.

Thanks man

>The main narrative is basically non-existent
>and it's more about the wacky adventures of Reddit characters
>If you're expecting a cohesive magic system like Sanderson's
>wants a hand holding narrative
>calling a book reddit when it was out before reddit
>mentioning Sanderson's magic systems
>Sanderson listening to redshit and putting in a fag character
Why do reddit cunts come here and pretend that they are not reddit?

>some demonstrations of magic systems which are also not adequately explained
It is explained. You're just a brainlet. But Jesus fuck these redditors raised on Sanderson and his explained magics is annoying. Not every single book has to autisticly describe how a magic works.
When you read a lot of reviews on book sites you see people decrying the magic systems as not explained. This shit is going too far, andI thought the old Jack Vance and "I ain't got to explain shit, it's magic" anons were annoying.

...

Yes, it gets better.
The second book focuses on a story which is both smaller in scale and more structured.

Don't read Old Man's War when you could read the military sci fi trinity:
Starship Troopers by Heinlein
Armor by Steakley
Forever War by Haldeman

>boohoo my author sucks and people are complaining about it

Cry more, niggers. You chose this. You had tens of series to become fans of, and you went with the worst one.

DM transports his party into the world of DnD. Might not be board gamey enough for you. Also, off-screen rape.

>tfw you fell for the Mieville meme
Should have fucking known the dude is named China for fucksake. /sffg/ is nothing but memes!

TOP
MEMES

I read Perdido Street station less than three years ago, yet all I can remember is some bug girl, clocktowers, and an eagle-man.

Not quite what you're looking for, but "Epic", "Saga" and "Edda" by Conor Kostick. They follow societies that have come to be utterly reliant on an Artificial Reality MMO system to qualify and justify their world. People compete in this virtual reality to win farming equipment, food and other essentials.

How is bakker a meme? The others I can understand, but bakker is probably one of two or three good authors in the cesspit that is fantasy

>tfw started subvocalizing again
Fuck, why is this shit even taught in schools?
It just permanently maims a developing human being.

Reading it now, on chapter 666.
Spoilers below.

Interesting premise and characters, enjoying the Chinese brew fifty potions aquire throbbing erection pattern.
I like the take on wizards as well, they aren't dicks they just don't exist to wipe your arse.

Ripping a shit tonne of it off for my own litery works, might try finding a basement western fantasy and re-write one of the chapters with potions and meditations instead of characters just being the most powerful mages by default.

>yfw harry potter and the philosophers stone is actually good now

>Spoilers below.
Are you retarded?

I'm actually just phone posting.

This. I always love to shit on Prince of Nothing when I get the chance, but it's only because I love it as much as I do. I'll probably still be re-reading The Second Apocalypse even two decades from now.

Stay strong, Proyas-kun.

You make it sound interesting. My friend recommended it, but since he only reads manga with big burly men I decided to get a second opinion first.

Reynolds

Interesting.
GET OUT