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Regarding the LitRPG genre that is leaking out of Russia, mentioned earlier on the last few pages: I cannot get enough of them. I am not sure what that says about me though. I've read all 4 Play To Live books by D. Rus, all 3 End Online books by D. Wolfin, the first Way of The Shaman book by Vasily Mahanenko, and even the serialization/fanslation of Legendary Moonlight Sculptor out of Korea. I just finished the most recent release, Way of the Clan, boook 1 of World of Valdira, by Dem Mikhaylov. I swear to god this dude just translated the book with Google Translate, there are so many typos and incorrect words etc. And for some reason all dialogue was printed as its own paragraph with a dash in front of the start of it, with breaks in speech barely even punctuated so its hard to tell what is descriptive text in between speech in those sections. Even so, the story still roped me in somehow. What I have noticed about all these LitRPG books is that they all have a similar wish fulfillment plot hook - Even Ready Player One which I'd say counts. The main character finds a secret class/quest/skill through virtue of doing some menial task that no one else who isn't incredibly masochistic would do and it leads them to some kind of power that puts them on a higher footing than most other players.
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Jul 24, 2015 17:14
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Can you link me to a few of these that you think are the best examples of the genre? I want to check out their sales rank, length, etc.
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Jul 24, 2015 17:19
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angel opportunity posted:Can you link me to a few of these that you think are the best examples of the genre? I want to check out their sales rank, length, etc. Probably http://www.amazon.com/AlterWorld-Play-Live-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00LYJOII6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1437755737&sr=8-5&keywords=D.+Rus
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Jul 24, 2015 17:35
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Thanks! edit: What did you think of these two, assuming you read them? They have way better ranking http://www.amazon.com/Reborn-Gamblers-Game-D-W-Jackson-ebook/dp/B011N9PXJE/ref=pd_sim_351_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=03SP3FMMQNJGGBF3WNS1 http://www.amazon.com/The-Bathrobe-Knight-Charles-Dean-ebook/dp/B0104WO2RA/ref=pd_sim_351_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=03SP3FMMQNJGGBF3WNS1 Would the first one only being 91 pages be a big turn-off to you, or is it fine as long as the book is good enough? angel opportunity fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jul 24, 2015 |
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Jul 24, 2015 17:53
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I'm in the mood for some super-dense Scifi-Fantasy Lit so where do I go next with Gene Wolfe? I love "Book of the New Sun" and "Fifth Head of Cerberus". Clearly, there's a lot of his stuff I haven't read. I've heard mixed things about his newer stuff, is "Lands Across" any good? The idea of a Gene-Wolfe not-spy-he-is-a-spy story appeals to me and the description sounds very "The City and The City". Feel free to steer me towards his stuff I haven't mentioned too! The guy is a prolific author. EDIT: Wooooaaaahhh...he's got a new book coming out in October! "A Borrowed Man". Amazon Sez posted:It is perhaps a hundred years in the future, our civilization is gone, and another is in place in North America, but it retains many familiar things and structures. Although the population is now small, there is advanced technology, there are robots, and there are clones. Emphasis mine. Oh, Gene. 
Snuffman fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Jul 24, 2015 |
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Jul 24, 2015 18:55
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What's the best book out of Library at Mount Char, Ancillary Justice, The Player of Games, and Hyperion. Kind of looking for a scifi book that's not too dense, but any good book for the long drive tomorrow would work.
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Jul 24, 2015 20:17
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Zaphiel posted:What's the best book out of Library at Mount Char, Ancillary Justice, The Player of Games, and Hyperion. Kind of looking for a scifi book that's not too dense, but any good book for the long drive tomorrow would work. I've read 3 of those four and I'd recommend Hyperion or Player of Games, with a slight lean toward Player of Games. At least you know with Player of Games that if you like it, there's a lot more good stuff to read. If you like Hyperion, you've already read the best of it, and it's only going to go downhill. Hyperion on its own is really quite good though!
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Jul 24, 2015 20:19
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Snuffman posted:I'm in the mood for some super-dense Scifi-Fantasy Lit so where do I go next with Gene Wolfe? It's impossible to go wrong with "Soldier of the Mist" and "Soldier of Arete".
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Jul 24, 2015 20:27
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Zaphiel posted:What's the best book out of Library at Mount Char, Ancillary Justice, The Player of Games, and Hyperion. Kind of looking for a scifi book that's not too dense, but any good book for the long drive tomorrow would work. I'd go Iain Banks out of that list. My ranking: Player of Games Ancillary Justice Hyperion Library at Mount Char
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Jul 24, 2015 20:41
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angel opportunity posted:Thanks! I haven't read either. Was looking at the Reborn books this morning and to be honest the length was a total turn off. Since I have kindle unlimited I will likely read them anyway. I didn't know the second book was in the genre but I'm going to try it out. Alter world is definitely my favorite but for amount of material, Legendary Moonlight Sculptor probably takes the prize. As well, a lot of the action sequences and real world stuff are better in that series. Collected here:http://royalroadweed.blogspot.co.il/2014/11/toc.html Edit: I really liked Way Of The Shaman as well. I think it was actually better written than most including Alterworld. The only downside is there is only 1 out so far. Victorkm fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Jul 24, 2015 |
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Jul 24, 2015 21:11
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Evil Fluffy posted:the only real issue is that you can see a lot of previous character types come back up, including the very obviously total rear end in a top hat husband who you just want to see die in the worst way. Started on the Rain Wild Chronicles this week. You weren't kidding.
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Jul 24, 2015 22:54
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Zaphiel posted:What's the best book out of Library at Mount Char, Ancillary Justice, The Player of Games, and Hyperion. Kind of looking for a scifi book that's not too dense, but any good book for the long drive tomorrow would work. You can't go wrong with Hyperion. The audiobook for it is top notch and easy to follow too. People were recently posting about cyberpunk itt, and I just finished a great debut novel that fits the genre, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Thomas Sweterlitsch. It takes place in a near future where capitalism and celebrity culture are perverted to their extremes and the internet has been supplanted by a pervasive tech that's wired directly into people's brains. The tone is bleak and cynical a lot of the time(the POV character is a clinically depressed drug addict), but it also has some beautiful & evocative writing throughout it.
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Jul 25, 2015 00:45
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Victorkm posted:Regarding the LitRPG genre that is leaking out of Russia, mentioned earlier on the last few pages: I cannot get enough of them. I am not sure what that says about me though. I've read all 4 Play To Live books by D. Rus, all 3 End Online books by D. Wolfin, the first Way of The Shaman book by Vasily Mahanenko, and even the serialization/fanslation of Legendary Moonlight Sculptor out of Korea. That sounds a lot like some of the books the web/light novels thread in ADTRW talks about : http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3694488 Not sure if the Russian authors are copying the Japanese ones or if the same terrible cliches were developed independently.
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Jul 25, 2015 02:46
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Silver2195 posted:That sounds a lot like some of the books the web/light novels thread in ADTRW talks about : http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3694488 We have an original one now, too. The Bathrobe Knight.
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Jul 25, 2015 03:13
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CaptainScraps posted:We have an original one now, too. The Bathrobe Knight. I'm pretty sure that Ready Player One counts, too.
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Jul 25, 2015 04:31
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CaptainScraps posted:We have an original one now, too. The Bathrobe Knight. I just finished Knight's Shadow, and I'm happy to say it didn't fall prey to the problems most sophomore books do in a series. It fell short of Traitor's Blade, but I honestly think that was simply because I didn't have the pleasure of discovering Not France with the Not Musketeers for the first time like I did in the first. I like that he expanded more on the Saints and what they are, and I have a feeling that's going to be important in the next two books. I have a *theory* regarding that, but if these last two books have taught me anything, de Castell is more than willing to let me think I have it figured out and then razzle-dazzle me with something else. And the nice thing is, it doesn't feel as much like deus ex machina the way a lot of twists get presented by other authors. Thanks for recommendation, thread. Currently reading: The Fold and enjoying it. It's a perfect summer book in a Creighton-y kind of way. On Deck: The Rook and The Severed Streets
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Jul 25, 2015 04:35
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For those who read Aurora, you might appreciate my review  http://www.fantasticascifi.com/2015/07/what-were-reading-aurora/
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Jul 25, 2015 04:53
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People like to talk about the pedo stuff in Piers Anthony but somehow everyone forgives the endless rape apologia in Stephen Donaldson
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Jul 25, 2015 12:30
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corn in the bible posted:People like to talk about the pedo stuff in Piers Anthony but somehow everyone forgives the endless rape apologia in Stephen Donaldson
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Jul 25, 2015 12:50
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corn in the bible posted:People like to talk about the pedo stuff in Piers Anthony but somehow everyone forgives the endless rape apologia in Stephen Donaldson This is just disingenuous. There is rape in Donaldson's books but it's never not a horrific act. That's central to one of the major themes of the first Covenant trilogy and the Gap series is much more complicated than "rape apologia".
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Jul 25, 2015 12:59
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Well, I don't know about endless, but it's a pretty cheap way to show off that your hero is a tremendous dick. Of course, there's plenty more to have against Donaldson's writing.
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Jul 25, 2015 14:59
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anilEhilated posted:Well, I don't know about endless, but it's a pretty cheap way to show off that your hero is a tremendous dick. Of course, there's plenty more to have against Donaldson's writing. I don't think there's anything cheap about how Donaldson wrote rape into the Gap Cycle, but I've never read the Covenant books.
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Jul 25, 2015 15:55
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PINING 4 PORKINS posted:I don't think there's anything cheap about how Donaldson wrote rape into the Gap Cycle, but I've never read the Covenant books. It's not cheap or trivial in Covenant either
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Jul 25, 2015 16:32
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Out of idle curiosity, how many series did Donaldson put rape in? What about short story collections?
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Jul 25, 2015 16:42
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"Angus Thermo-Pile"
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Jul 25, 2015 16:59
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I've been thinking about fantasy lit recently, after reading Magicians and then some essays by Grossman: Because genre dudes often complain about genre being frowned upon.. And I don't think it's because of fantasy elements, but stupid plots. Why do even the serious writers revert to such formulaic plots in fantasy? Basically, what I'm wondering is why aren't there fantasy books that would just tell of normal life in that fantasy world, without action, adventure or mystery plot?? Seems like obvious thing to do if you want to be taken seriously.
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Jul 25, 2015 17:37
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PINING 4 PORKINS posted:I don't think there's anything cheap about how Donaldson wrote rape into the Gap Cycle, but I've never read the Covenant books. mallamp posted:I've been thinking about fantasy lit recently, after reading Magicians and then some essays by Grossman:
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Jul 25, 2015 17:56
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savinhill posted:It's not cheap or trivial in Covenant either Indeed. It's an act that the main character will carry as a burden for the rest of the series. An it is not a graphic scene anyway,
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Jul 25, 2015 18:04
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mallamp posted:I've been thinking about fantasy lit recently, after reading Magicians and then some essays by Grossman: if a serious writer writes a fantasy book it's magical realism not fantasy
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Jul 25, 2015 18:09
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Magical Realism, is good.
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Jul 25, 2015 21:14
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Amberskin posted:Indeed. It's an act that the main character will carry as a burden for the rest of the series. And the unintended consequences of that act are what drives the entire plot of the Chronicles. If Covenant hadn't raped Lena then Elena wouldn't have been born; the Law of Death would as a result have remained unbroken, preventing the loss of the Staff of Law to Lord Foul. Controlling the Staff as well as the Illearth Stone allowed Foul to subvert the Bloodguard, breaking their Vow and ending their service to the Lords of Revelstone. Then the promise to honour Lena that Covenant forced on the Ranyhyn in return for not having to bear him as a rider almost caused their destruction as they couldn't leave the Land because of it. Finally, Covenant is forced to destroy the Staff of Law, which later allows Foul to create the Sunbane.
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Jul 26, 2015 00:51
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Jedit posted:And the unintended consequences of that act are what drives the entire plot of the Chronicles. If Covenant hadn't raped Lena then Elena wouldn't have been born; the Law of Death would as a result have remained unbroken, preventing the loss of the Staff of Law to Lord Foul. Controlling the Staff as well as the Illearth Stone allowed Foul to subvert the Bloodguard, breaking their Vow and ending their service to the Lords of Revelstone. Then the promise to honour Lena that Covenant forced on the Ranyhyn in return for not having to bear him as a rider almost caused their destruction as they couldn't leave the Land because of it. Finally, Covenant is forced to destroy the Staff of Law, which later allows Foul to create the Sunbane. So what you're saying is, rape is okay if it liberates a fantasy land or is part of a prophecy. People wonder why fantasy was regarded as sketchy for so long 
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Jul 26, 2015 02:17
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Kesper North posted:So what you're saying is, rape is okay if it liberates a fantasy land or is part of a prophecy. It'd be even better if it liberated you from this thread.
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Jul 26, 2015 02:37
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Amberskin posted:Indeed. It's an act that the main character will carry as a burden for the rest of the series. An it is not a graphic scene anyway, The problem is that whole series is a burden for the reader >_<
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Jul 26, 2015 02:40
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:The problem is that whole series is a burden for the reader >_< Well, no one said Donaldson was a fun read. I know I bailed on the Gap series after book one. Saying he loves and endorses rape is just kind of silly.
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Jul 26, 2015 02:53
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Kesper North posted:So what you're saying is, rape is okay if it liberates a fantasy land or is part of a prophecy.
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Jul 26, 2015 03:16
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Velius posted:Well, no one said Donaldson was a fun read. I know I bailed on the Gap series after book one. Saying he loves and endorses rape is just kind of silly. Has he written anything that didn't have the rape dial turned up to 11, though? edit: I have a hate/hate relationship to Donaldson. I've read the whole gap cycle and all the Thomas Covenenant books and the whole time I was reading them they made me feel absolutely miserable. I respect his craft and all but his books are deliberately unpleasant to read. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Jul 26, 2015 |
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Jul 26, 2015 03:55
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Kesper North posted:So what you're saying is, rape is okay if it liberates a fantasy land or is part of a prophecy. I hate this. Articulate your thoughts better. The quoted sentence can be interpreted in two ways - "rape itself is okay if it liberates bla bla" or "writing rape into a story is okay if it liberates bla bla". And they're both stupid and don't follow from the post you quoted.
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Jul 26, 2015 04:22
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Goddamnit this thread is at its worst whenever an author's take on paedophaelia (or whatever) or rape or racism or misogyny is brought up.
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Jul 26, 2015 05:04
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How many scifi fantasy books include murder... oh, probably all of them. But no, rape is terrible, worse than murder, and authors shouldn't use it in their plots.
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Jul 26, 2015 05:07
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