Recommend me a novel on par with Umineko

[Noesis]

I know this isn't the most suited place, but I'm looking for something that can mark my life as much as this visual novel... Anything goes as long as it isn't about generic mary sues and dumb sex antics with meaningless fast-paced action.

[kilicool64]

Since when is Xenoblade Chronicles a novel?

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Originally posted by kilicool64:

Since when is Xenoblade Chronicles a novel?

I was just saying a game. It has enough story to constitute as one.

[Noesis]

Originally posted by Battler Ushiromiya:

Steins;Gate and Xenoblade Chronicles, in my opinion, are even better than Umineko. Highly recommended.

Dropped both. I would argue about them being praised to the heavens but ridiculously cliched and mediocre. But then you can't really go beyond that with anime.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Originally posted by The M:

Originally posted by Battler Ushiromiya:

Steins;Gate and Xenoblade Chronicles, in my opinion, are even better than Umineko. Highly recommended.

Dropped both. I would argue about them being praised to the heavens but ridiculously cliched and mediocre. But then you can't really go beyond that with anime.

Then you, my friend, didn't get far enough. They're both masterpieces, absolute works of art. Also, but you can't really go beyond that with anime". This line by itself is utterly stupid.

[kilicool64]

I read all of Steins;Gate and didn't think it was all that great either. Most people seem to love it, though.

[thesummerian]

Since the threads still going I'll make a few more reccomendations.

Hyperion & Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons are pretty damn good if you like the idea of high concept mixture of mythic sci-fi and the Canterbury tales. The Coldfire Triliogy by CS Friedman is also rather excellent, with great world-building and some really interesting characters. The deuteragonist of the book is a bit mary suish but if you can handle that then it's well worth your time.

Oh also the Zero Escape visual novel series. It comes from Japan but largley eschews the terrible conventions plaguing anime these days.

[Noesis]

Originally posted by Battler Ushiromiya:

Originally posted by The M:

Dropped both. I would argue about them being praised to the heavens but ridiculously cliched and mediocre. But then you can't really go beyond that with anime.

Then you, my friend, didn't get far enough. They're both masterpieces, absolute works of art. Also, but you can't really go beyond that with anime". This line by itself is utterly stupid.

That's like your opinion man.

[Karifean]

You do realize Umineko is anime ^^

Putting another vote in for The House in Fata Morgana.

[Swanfal]

As a japanese visual novel fan I would recommend Danganronpa series, the Ace Attorney Series(especially the two great ace attorney, but maybe there is no English version), and Zero Escape series, although they're not as good as Umineko, but they all have good stories.
The 428 shibuya scramble is a different kind of visual novel with real taken pictures, but the story is also good. And if you're ok with weird silhouettes character + real picture background, the Banshee's Last Cry series are worth a shot.
If you're ok with waifu sex, then I would recommend Aiyoku no Eustia(translation ongoing), it is better than FSN I think

[SeriousSeiko]

http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2638/Zero_Escape_Trilogy/

http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/3641/Absolute_Despair_Collection/

Have fun

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Originally posted by ƒяσρρч:

http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2638/Zero_Escape_Trilogy/

http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/3641/Absolute_Despair_Collection/

Have fun

Oh hey, you're here too

[The Sylvan Learning Center]

read old russian novels, they're more interesting and imaginative than any science fiction or fantasy novel. you'll fall in love with the characters in those old books.


old russian cities were unreal, insane places.



read war and peace, the possessed, the brothers karamazov, the master and margarita, or anything else by those authors (tolstoy, dostoevsky, bulgakov.

[thesummerian]

Seconding The Master and Margarita - that's great stuff right there. If you end up liking it also check out The Man who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton.

[shiranui51]

read Hyperion, it's the best fantasy/sf novel ever written imo. It has some similarities with Umineko too. A group of person are taken as a "pilgrimage" sent by a giant empire to a strange planet where an unknown "thing" takes lives like it is nothing, little by little we learn about each persons lives up to that point and how they're somehow related to that "thing". They have to solve the mystery behind it to stand a chance of surviving and at the same time the fate of the world is also in their hands. It's often very poetic for an sf work and convey a lot of feelings, it just takes a while to get into.

[ncfan]

You might like 'Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. It's similar to Umineko in how it explores the subjective nature of truth and reality (And magic, though in this case it's in the form of the nature of the divine). The main character, Orual, wouldn't be out of place in the Ushiromiya family. The book also focuses on how love can be just as destructive as it is constructive.