/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General

i saw this in a raised by wolves thread so imma say that

The more you read Lord of the Rings the more you realize that all other fantasy is subpar. No trannies, no preaching about social class, no human race wars. Few women. Themes of good nature in humanity and culture. Automatically filters half-orc readers that try to read because of Tolkien's adjectives and extended vocabulary. The books mog Peter Jackson.

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Meds

You know I'm right, Grima

The problem with Tolkien is that the hobbit is his ideal.

For me, it's Gene Wolfe

I don't know what you mean, explain

This is an ideological thing, maybe, rather than a literary one. But I think Tolkien thinks of heroic figures and states that strive upward as inherently prone to corruption. Sam's purity/incorruptibility stems from only wanting to having a really nice garden, because the Ring tempts people with promises of power and prowess.

I don't think the hobbit-ideal is bad or that those messages are totally wrong, but I find them unsatisfying if you're searching for a "perfect" fantasy work that's about what's good in human nature. Conan is good, Severian is good, in different ways than Frodo is.

Are there human men breading a rainbow of women in this?

>orc

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wtf man, gene wolfe is punishing my ESL ass.

i have to look shit up constantly
>baldric
>pennon
>peltast

>jape
>lochage
>paterissa
>donjon
>baldanders
>flambeaux
>dray

But Sam is loyal and honest. He values friendship and good company. He doesn't fall the temptations like the rest of the fellowship. He continues on to keep his promise to look out for Frodo. Itheir friendship is stronger than any of us have probably ever experienced in the modern age. Nobody would risk their neck in the easy they did. The hobbies represent the goodness in humanity. Its not about gardening but how the Hobbits make the best of things and love people and good company. They constantly remind elves, dwarves, and humans of the power of treating people well and standing up to evil.

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Dawnshard, The Stormlight Archive #3.5 - Brandon Sanderson (2020)

This was a fun story with a lot of enjoyable characters. It's the closest that a Stormlight Archive work has been to being science fiction considering how much discussion there was about the specific details about the interactions between metals and gemstones along with the creation of new devices. Rysn, the protagonist, is paraplegic. There was a lot of focus on her disability, perhaps too much for some, but I didn't mind.

There was only a single part that I had any problem with, but it was a major one. The problem was with differing standards between works in different mediums and mismatched expectations. I'd previously written that Stormlight Archive, and Sanderson in general, has been taken too seriously. So, I was surprised when I realized after finishing that I had still been taking this too seriously.

I shouldn't have been, but I was rather letdown by the ending because it was too much of an escalation too quickly. I assume it's a preparatory explanation for a book considerably in the future to mitigate concerns about power or to allay accusations of deus ex machina.

Then I started thinking about the story more, which is especially dangerous for anything purely meant for entertainment. I highly recommend against doing so in most cases. There was a huge disconnect between what I thought about the titular thing and everything else in the story. Here's where I end to avoid thinking any further.

Rating: 3.5/5

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Yeah, it's very much... Just a "hey this is set up for the future" book, which is pretty indicative of Sanderson's issues as a whole. It's a solid read, but the last part just kinda drags it down.

Your rating system is beyond illogical. Why even use any kind of number system when the numbers clearly don't relate to anything you write or think about a book? It serves no purpose, even more so than score systems usually.

I hope you do realize that you don't really have to look up each and every rarely used adjective to enjoy it

Baldanders is a name

Succinctly put.

>Your rating system is beyond illogical.
The rating system isn't intended to be "logical". It's only there because it reflects what I rated it on Goodreads. You may or may not seen that I use words for the short fiction to describe what I read instead. I don't use a star rating system for anything other than this, purely for consistency. As I've noted before, I only write about what interests me about what I read and I call them "write-ups" rather than reviews. They aren't meant to be professional in any way. I'm aware and have stated before that the actual text may not be reflective of the ratings as a result. Feel free not to read them.

>It serves no purpose
It's a summation that roughly means "My emotional reaction to this book was roughly the same as to this book that has a similar rating."

>numbers clearly don't relate to anything you write or think
I think they do at least somewhat. It isn't systematized, that's true. Here's a repost of what the ratings mean:

5 - Great
4 - Good
3 - Ok
2 - Bad
1 - Augh

So, 3.5 is somewhere between "good" and "ok".

>This was a fun story with a lot of enjoyable characters.
Based on this statement, I'd say that's a 4, maybe even a 5 in some cases. However,
>There was only a single part that I had any problem with, but it was a major one
That's a deduction there to be certain. Perhaps the problem is that you think I'm being overly critical and can't enjoy something despite criticizing it a lot. I don't know. Let me know what you think an appropriate rating for what I've written would be.

Tolkien inspired me to save the life of a squirel in a boomer's garden trap this morning.

Holy shit, Bakkertards were right this whole time. This is pure KINO.

i don't have to but i want to hehe

it is but i've discovered that the names wolfe gives his characters have meanings or are based on pre-existing figures

>he doesn't want to fuck orcs
you're gay

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The Doctor Who novel, Timewyrm: Exodus. I will read : Revelation next.

Wait 'till you get to the gay rape!

I was really looking forward to a long and grueling war between Spiders and Man. So much wasted potential in Children of Time.

Is there a Yea Forums chart for the best in Sci-Fi/Fantasy prose? It feels like a lot of these genres have interesting ideas, but shit writing.

That's by design.

m john harrison

Any sci-fi books with this feel?
Yes, I know about the original Dirty Pair novels.

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Yandex 'pre-tolkien fantasy'. There's your list.

The gay rape ruined several characters for me. Though the worst one was probably when it was consensual (last book). I thought Bakker was supposed to be based but now I’m not so sure anymore.

Any of the books in my collection worth reading? I'm about two chapters into Alaizabel Cray and it reads like a movie script. (I was expecting Lovecraft tier writing).

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I can’t decide if I want to get the Folio Society edition of The Book of the New Sun. I love these books more than anything but apart from the price I also very strongly dislike the illustrations. They wasted a huge opportunity by drawing mainly people instead of sceneries. The driving force when it comes to visualization in the books is not the physical appearance of the characters but rather the world they inhabit, the landscapes and sceneries. Seeing a full double page spread of Agia and her brother and another one with Thecla in chains must be some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen.

>Downloaded Gillian files from OP pasta /t/ link
>Open first file in folder "A"

>
…The oak shaft measured a good twelve inches in length and
nearly two inches in diameter. With the bulbous crystal giving it a
phallic shape, she hadn’t been far off the mark.

“Oh, my,” she murmured. The thought flitted across her mind… If
she lubricated it enough, would it fit inside her?

Hilary lifted the staff and ran her hand up the hard length of the
handle, cupping her palm around the crystal. When her fingers closed
around it, the crystal flashed brightly and another jolt entered the center
of her palm. The current shot up her arm, through her torso, and
straight to her pussy.

Her juices flowed and wet her panties as her womb clenched. Her
clit throbbed harder, almost painfully, and her nipples tightened more.
With her other hand, she pulled the long skirt of her costume up over
her knees. She wouldn’t need any more lubrication than she already
had.

She was grappling with her panties, to get them out of the way,
when Shadow jumped up on the couch and rubbed into her arm, his tail
trailing across her face as he turned. Her arm recoiled from the pressure
of the cat, and the staff slipped from her hand.

What the fuck guys lol

Baldanders is a cunt

Just finished Book of the New Sun proper. Gonna take a month off or so to catch up on non-sff stuff before I read Urth of the New Sun. I thought it was great, but it did bump up the intensity in last half of citadel when it comes to high concept shit and whatnot
I felt like I had a real good grasp of most things up until then, but after Sev became the autarch, they started talkin about time travel and white fountains and different types of ayy lmaos and stuff, i definitely didn't pick it all up. It was great tho. The final chapter where he says he must soon "don robes of argent, the color that is purer than white" was fucking kino of the highest caliber. Excited to see what happens next in Urth!

I'm proud of you and Tolkien would be, too, user

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The only good prose is Wolfe and Tolkien. That's literally it

Don't worry, user, give me a few years and I'll have a publishing company. I'll buy the rights to publish Gene Wolfe's works and make the best damn editions the world has ever seen

>prose
What does this word even mean

I absolutely loved Between Two Fires.

Dragonlance is a cheap D&D fanfiction exercise written by a man and his wife iirc. Unless you really, really like the Tolkien knockoff genre I'd lower it on the priority list

>He forgets Peake, Dusany, E. R. Eddison, David Lindsay, TH White, Ursula K Le Guin, and CS Lewis

In 1996 GRRM thought he could complete ASOIAF by 1998. Let's calculate his writing speed change.

So he had one book complete, he thought he had three more to go. Assuming he calculated them all to be as long as AGOT, he had three books of 73 chapters each to complete.

So in 1996 he thought he could complete 219 chapters in two years. Let's be generous and give him all of 1996 to start writing the 2nd book (like he finished late 1995, it wasn't published until August 1996) then give him all 1997, and the book is done end of 1998. Let's give him 36 full months (it's closer to two and a half years)

So he calculated he could write 6 chapters per month.

So the series ended up expanding. So the next 4 books had 271 chapters released over the next 16 years. That's 192 months.

That's less than a chapter and a half per month that he ended up completing.

About to read The Darkness That Comes Before, but one question...
What is setting's bestiary like, if any? Any elves, orcs, other known mythical beasts?

You'll be acquainted with the main ones in the prologue

Now here comes the depressing part. So, if GRRM had continued writing not as his previous estimate of 6 chapters per month, but instead a little less than a chapter and a half (1.41 chapters per month), when should TWOW have come out?

Let's assume TWOW is a long book, as long as ASOS- 82 chapters. So 271+82=352 chapters to complete. 342/1.41 = 249 months, or 20 years, so TWOW should come out 2016!

we already know he moved several chapters from ADWD to TWOW like Battle of Meereen and the Battle on the Ice so you sort of wonder what the hell the rest of the plot is doing. Is the main issue getting Dany all the way back from Dothraki Sea to Meereen and then to Free Cities and Westeros in one book?

Easy solve: Gendry piggybacks her the whole way in a week.

Now Gendry's problem is he is in the Riverlands doing the bidding of the Brotherhood under the zombie Catelyn, that's going to be one hell of a piggyback ride

He's rewriting everything. Many years ago he claimed he had enough Arya chapters to fill a novella. Then a blog post a few years back he mentioned how he was "in Bravos". So unless half the book is Arya chapters, it's pretty clear he's trashing his work as he goes.

No problem, he went from a week north of the wall to kings landing to whisper in dany's ear in one afternoon.

There's elves with a different name, retard halflings later, pretty looking orcs, dragons, demons

I think the biggest issue is he takes long breaks and rewrites and throws away tons of material.

I wish he had serialized the books. He released 344 chapters since mid 1996. If he had somehow a chapter every 3 weeks starting in mid 1996, we would have gotten to the end of ADWD in 2016, but we would've gotten to the end of TWOW by 2021