This is how I lawful neutral

how good is this?

File: 1442109070084.png (362KB, 492x900px) Image search: [Google]

362KB, 492x900px

>>44101647
Very

>>44101687
is it like super over the top edge?

>>44101698
Yes.

>>44101717
in a good way?

File: 23379245.jpg (29KB, 300x300px) Image search: [Google]

29KB, 300x300px

If we're plugging books then I just started this series, pretty good so far.
I''m a fan of Jack Campbell from his military Sci-Fi, but this, his fantasy series, is cool.
Basic overview; There are two real powers int he world, the Mechanics Guild and the Mages Guild.
The Mechanics are the only ones allowed and able to build or maintain any technology over that of medieval level. They build stuff like trains, basic radios, and guns. They'll sell the guns, but keep their secrets close. Like kill people who know too much close. Taught to hate Mages, everything Mages do is a trick.
As for the Mages, imagine if actually living the Assassin's Creed (nothing is true, everything is permitted) gave you magic, but only as long as you don;t feel too much emotion. They believe the whole world is an illusion, and manipulating that illusion is how they do magic. Feeling emotion strengthens the illusion's hold over you, so avoid that. But also do whatever the fuck you want to normal people, because they aren't even real. Taught to hate Mechanics, everything they do is a trick.

>>44101632
The Book of the New Sun is the best thing I've ever read in my entire life. My mind was forever changed and my imagination taken to new heights and depths I didn't think were possible.

File: urth aint free.png (37KB, 853x625px) Image search: [Google]

37KB, 853x625px

>>44101742
Yes

>>44101742
The Book of the New Sun is not written in the most easily approachable style. That said, it is outstanding and you won't regret reading it.

>>44101742
The best way.
Severian has actual reasons to be edgier than anyone in the history of anime, but he's still just a guy, being himseelf, while having been raised by torturers.
I really like how he always gets defensive and absorbed into explaining whatever he can when tha focus shifts to his work.
He'll explain how to behead someon, how to properly dress and make ceremonies, why it isn't actually bad and it's just the way justice works.
Looks like a cross between some sort of non-cringeworthy justice=deat kind of ex-paladin, only with the obsession of a master wizard when talking about his job.
Also, all that greek, foreshadowing, symbolism, re-read value and worldbuilding in general makes my head spin with how well can Gene Wolfe write.
Neil Gaiman may be a faggot sometimes, but he was right about Wolfe:
"There are wolves in there, prowling behind the words. Sometimes they come out in the pages. Sometimes they wait until you close the book. The musky wolf-smell can sometimes be masked by the aromatic scent of rosemary. Understand, these are not today-wolves, slinking grayly in packs through deserted places. These are the dire-wolves of old, huge and solitary wolves that could stand their ground against grizzlies."

File: Ligier_Richier_Transi_2.jpg (567KB, 771x1157px) Image search: [Google]

567KB, 771x1157px

>>44102694
>Severian has actual reasons to be edgier than anyone in the history of anime, but he's still just a guy, being himseelf, while having been raised by torturers.
>I really like how he always gets defensive and absorbed into explaining whatever he can when tha focus shifts to his work.
>He'll explain how to behead someon, how to properly dress and make ceremonies, why it isn't actually bad and it's just the way justice works.

One of my favorite parts is how Severian isn't just an unreliable narrator, he also lies to himself. He comes up with elaborate (and at times quite convincing) justifications for his work, why the alternatives are far worse, and how important it is to maintain a just society. But at the same time you can tell that he himself isn't always convinced by his own arguments, like when he killed Morwena despite knowing beforehand that she was innocent and being told it outright, or how in the first book he has to kill his waifu (who's incarcerated as a political prisoner as a clerical error, rather than because she committed a heinous crime like he suggests torture is supposed to deter) to spare her. At one point he admits to himself that he only really does it because it's how he was raised, and the only thing he'd ever be good at.

The whole series is full of ambiguity and mystery like that, like how it's never conclusively proven whether the Hierodules and Hierogrammates are actually servants of the Increate, or whether they're just aliens manipulating humanity by acting out roles in a creation myth they invented, with evidence presented throughout the series for both possibilities.

File: Marquis_S04.jpg (208KB, 450x674px) Image search: [Google]

208KB, 450x674px

>>44102926
There's also the odd, almost arbitrary displays of mercy. He repeatedly neglects to kill Agia when given the chance, despite the fact that she repeatedly tries to kill him. You could argue that he only kills on the orders of a magistrate or other representative of the Autarch, but when he was ordered to dispatch Cyriaca he released her and fled Thrax instead. Yes it was because she was innocent of any crime (except sleeping around), but he also thought that Morwenna was innocent, and didn't bother to spare her.

BotNS is really, really good, from a writing standpoint. But it draaags on. And while I have an excellent vocabulary and get more of the archaic terminology than most, I think Wolfe went overboard with it and that ultimately it detracts from the reading experience.

>>44102926
>he also lies to himself
Yeah dude, probably one of the things that impressed me the most. Many writers try to do this shit, and nearly all fail. Wolfe just nailed it.
It's impressive to see how many hard concepts he worked with and nailed:
>Unreliable narrator
>Protagonist with conflicts pertaining morals he was raised with and exposed to
>Protagonist is more than one person
>Above, and they loved each other
>And fucked
>Describing futuristic stuff from a simpleton's poitn of view
>What happens if you cast revive on a robot with human part grafts?
>THE WHOLE FUCKING ASCIAN LANGUAGE
>>44102976
he has a HUGE "I don't kill people I fucked" complex... kind of a beta on that regard
>>44103016
He may use strange terms, but he usually explains what they are, so you actually lear what he's talking about while he talks about it.

What's the magic like in this series?

It's the first thing I look for in any fantasy novel/series.

File: image.jpg (126KB, 800x1000px) Image search: [Google]

126KB, 800x1000px

This is how I gunslinger.

>>44101632
Book of the new sun was one of my personal favorites. Thanks for the nostalgia feels, anon.

>>44101858
If you haven't already, consider reading Dune. I enjoyed it at least as much as Gene Wolfe's work.

>>44102926
>Page and a half on ornate philosophical self questioning.
>One single sentence later and he's backhanded a bitch, with the reasons explained afterwards, poorly.

Severian a shit.

>>44103059
>What's the magic like in this series?

Most "magic" is actually the leftovers of technology left behind by aliens or the advanced interstellar empires that inhabited Urth chilliads ago. The denizens of the Commonwealth don't really make any distinction between magic and science, as both are beyond their understanding most of the time. There are lots of fan theories thrown around about this, like how the 'sorcerers' Severian meets in the mountains who he engages with in a contest of wizardry are actually psychics, descended from ancient humans who gave themselves powers through genetic engineering.

>>44103059
Mostly lost uber-tech that nearly no one knows how to properly operate.
The claw, the main magical artifact of the series, is implied to be some messianic object.
MAGIC as an abstract working of the forces of the universe is hard to come by. The only real magic i seem to remember is some forms of shamanism.

>>44103116
I should have mentioned that the series was heavily inspired by Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" setting

>>44103111
If Agia didn't want to be backhanded she should have thought twice about being a basic bitch

Good trips

So, how you guys likin' Numenera?

>>44103129
He could've had the decency to think about hitting her before he did it. He dwells on nothing, and then acts without reasoning. Severian is garbage.

>>44103120
>The only real magic i seem to remember is some forms of shamanism.

There's also Ceryx the Necromancer from Urth of the New Sun, although that could also be explained by his possession of some lost technological or scientific knowledge (Michael Andre-Driussi, who wrote GURPS: New Sun, postulated this too was an example of psychic powers left over from genetic tampering in past ages)

>>44103131
I found it right after finishing the series and I was so hype, but quickly disappointed with the way the system panned out.

File: stray bullet reaction image.png (429KB, 667x985px) Image search: [Google]

429KB, 667x985px

>>44103141
I wouldn't think twice before "hitting" Agia, if you know what I mean senpaiulimus

>>44103176
Well, he sure didn't with Jolenta

>>44101698

Are you super over the top stupid?

>>44103131
Numenera is one of those settings that I almost like. It does a hell of a lot right, but it just doesn't seem to really have a very strong tone that sticks. It feels kinda like generic fantasy with a scifi reskin, rather than something like shadowrun that embraces both halves equally.

>>44103043
>he has a HUGE "I don't kill people I fucked" complex... kind of a beta on that regard

Probably stemming from his issues with killing his waifu and fuckbuddy in book 1.

>>44103273
>>44103043
He never fucked Agia. He came close but Dorcas cockblocked him

>>44103289
He's so beta that he still fit's her in the DO NOT KILL list.

>>44103289
Not Agia you fucktard, Thecla

You know Shadow of the Torturer is the first book, right...?

>>44101632

I've had this on my reading list but I'll have to bump it up. I'm really trying to expand my reading base.

/tg/ what are other good fantasy/fantasyish-scifi series I should read? I've read the basics of Tolkein and Howard and Lovecraft and Herbert. I read Dying Earth, and the Swords of Lankhmar series (witty as fuck). I read the Chronicles of Amber and thought it was hilarious. I'm currently on Ghormenghast and loving the shit out of it as well. What else out there is good?

>>44103314
Chronicles of Prydain. Sadly underrated.

Reading it to my wife right now and she's loving it.

>>44103311
>>44102976
>He repeatedly neglects to kill Agia when given the chance, despite the fact that she repeatedly tries to kill him.

>>44103265
The setting can be shallow in a lot of ways, as one of the goals of the design is for it to be easy for a GM to alter it to fit a lot of genres. This comes at the cost of substance and consistent tone.

>>44103314
Canticle for Leibowitz is a single book, but it needs to be at the top of your list. Also my roommate would recommend the Malazan series, but it's as garbage as most fantasy series, so I wouldn't.

>>44103330
>Chronicles of Prydain

Ah, read those before. Might be worth a reread though, I was quite young when I did.

>>44103314
Elric, and every other Moorcock book.
It's pretty much what warhammer fantasy stems from.
Moorcock is also a huge ghormenghast fanboy.
Also, does anyone think Magic the Moneyspending is pretty much based on Amber?
>Dudes who walk between planes
>Can pull shit through reality with magic
>That solipsism of 'creating a plane'
>Channeling magical energy from specific points of the land, like the spikard does from the keep, or logrus and pattern magic from, well, the logrus and the pattern
>Card summoning

File: trap.png (934KB, 713x781px) Image search: [Google]

934KB, 713x781px

http://www.mediafire.com/view/li8i1qi60uqci5a/GURPS_New_Sun.pdf

>>44103350
And your point is...?

I just said he has issues from Thecla.

>>44103353

Gah, good guess, Canticle is another one I've read. Holy shit that one was good. Malazan I've heard conflicting things about - maybe I'll peek at it. I did a quick search on it and it doesn't seem too interesting, but I'm mostly interested in older fantasy at the moment.

>>44103412
Yeah, and I was talking about his refusal to kill Agia, despite the fact that she never learns her lesson

>>44103395
>It's pretty much what warhammer fantasy stems from.
D&D also takes a lot from it. Hand and Eye of Vecna are pretty much stolen from Corum's hand and eye of whatever the hell those weird names were.

>>44103395
Elric lies on the list, but I was hoping that Christmas would prove fruitful as far as Moorcock was concerned.

And... huh. I never thought of Magic like that.

>>44103415
Have you done sci-fi yet? Asimov? Bradbury? Adams for comedy?

>>44103449

Read Adams as a kid and read a smattering of Asimov's stuff - short stories, his robot stuff, the foundation stuff. Only thing I've read by Bradbury (aside from the compulsory school read) was Something Wicked, which was pretty neat.

>>44103474
Read Martian Chronicles by Bradbury, which has more a fantastical feel to it. Pretty short though.

>>44103415
Have you read Piers Anthony? Xanth novels for humor, Incarnations of Immortality for something more serious.

>>44103441
Featured in AD&D Deities and Demigods too

>>44103513
Do you dare to enter Piers Anthony's magical realm?

>>44103513

Nope. Heard of Xanth but it seemed sort of huge and inaccessible a series. Then again, I did manage most of Discworld easily enough.

>>44103540
Which one? He has so many...

>>44103553
It's not inaccessible. Just start from the beginning and keep going until you get sick of it. The first trilogy is pretty great.

>>44103441
>>44103532
Plus having law/chaos rather than just good/evil. Or is that too obvious?

>>44101762

I love that pic, I feel reading the book will be a disappointment after that cover. I am very picky with literature...

>>44103580
Law/Chaos was quite the new big thing back in the days of new wave sci-fi, but it helps that Moorcock was the editor for New Worlds.

>>44103441
Poor Corum.
>>44103395
I love how short and readable the Elric books are.

>>44102107
Someone actually posted /tg/ reading material on /lit/ wasn't chastised by it?

>>44101647
It's fucking terrible, one of the worst nonsensical books I've ever read and boring as hell.

>>44104094
Assblasted ascian detected

Shouldn't you be phrasing your posts as proverbs praising the Group of 17?

>>44104129
Maybe I was just too young when I tried to read it, but I legit had no idea what was going on and lost track of the story after he was exiled for not killing his waifu in the most painful way possible. I know they gave him a sword with a mercury core and kicked him out and then he's wandering with this chick and...?

>>44104145
It's not a good book for kids, as it's deliberately dense.

File: 1379454341165.jpg (116KB, 300x300px) Image search: [Google]

116KB, 300x300px

>>44104483
>it's not a good book for kids

>"And then Severian dicked her senseless again"
>"Wow, what the fuck, dad?"
>"Just wait for the part where it turns out she's his Grandmother"

File: 1388225782729.gif (403KB, 225x118px) Image search: [Google]

403KB, 225x118px

Good stuff, /tg/. Haven't read this in ages.