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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   1700 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 4, 2025

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So, what are you reading?

Still on the Iliad and Lovecraft. Picking up Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment.

Still trying to separate the chaff from the wheat in LitRPG and adjacent, I finished Mother of Learning and started The Wandering Inn. Mother of Learning was great, not quite high literature but among the best, most consistent world-building I have ever seen in fantasy so far. I was mildly annoyed by some parts of the story and it's kind of obvious that the author struggles to write anything but aspergers with different preferences, but that's something I just accept as a given at this point for good fantasy/SF.

The Wandering Inn, on the other hand, is trash, at least to my preferences. It's defenders are correct that there is nothing quite like it, so if you like that kind of thing it is probably unreplaceable. But it is best described as "juvenile progressive Soap Opera in Medieval Fantasy", which doesn't really appeal to me much. The world and the characters don't really seem to follow consistent rules except for whatever random thing the author wants to contrive to happen next for the purpose of drama or to make some point.

And one specific thing was especially grating and repeated itself over and over: First, I notice that the MC behaves stupidly. This is fine, if lampshaded properly. Even other characters in-story explicitly mention that yes, this is stupid. Then I go look up online discussions of the event in question and even the defenders of the MC basically just say yeah, this is stupid, what did you expect of a teenage girl teleported into medieval fantasy? So I read further, and ... the MC turns out basically right. And again, and again. It's frustrating.

I finished Mother of Learning

I'd like to recommend nobody103's next serial, Zenith of Sorcery but I just can't do that in good faith. We're now two years into writing with 23 published chapters and it barely feels like the plot is maybe about get started within the next half dozen chapters. If we're lucky.

So what I'll instead do is recommend you take a look at Void Herald's writings, particularly The Perfect Run. There's a reason it's #2 on Royal Road right below Mother of Learning. If you want more fantasy bent with comedy, the same author's Vainqueur The Dragon is a hoot but you'll have to do some googling to find the full story as pdf.

If you aren’t yet burned out on time loop, although it’s unfinished and the first loop takes like 20 chapters to happen, The Years of Apocalypse is also very good and in some ways better! Might be up your alley given those criticisms.

Sorry, I should have mentioned: Currently I'm only listening to audiobooks, since it allows me to do household chores, cycle, etc. simultaneously. With small kids + full time work I don't really have time to properly read. The limited spare time I have I unfortunately already waste on substack/theMotte. But it sounds interesting enough that it will go on the list of things to read later.

unfinished

*ongoing

"Unfinished" has a connotation of "abandoned" that is not warranted here.

This is the kind of minor pedantry I actually appreciate!

Well, it's important in context. Many people aren't interested in reading stories that are expected to remain unfinished, but are fine with following ongoing stories as they approach completion.

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