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Friday Fun Thread for May 8, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Seconding The Years of Apocalypse. It's a very good series which I would describe as "almost Mother of Learning" which is high praise from me since Mother of Learning is my favorite series of all time. In terms of having an earnest protagonist and general story tone, Mirian definitely ranks higher than Zorian. There is cynicism and politics and messy stuff going on in the story, but mostly in the form of other people doing messy human things and Mirian berating them for their petty squabbles instead of coming together to save the world.

I'm slightly annoyed by the leftist cliches sprinkled throughout. Of course the more western/technologically advanced countries are colonizing and oppressing their neighbors and causing a bunch of plot problems, while the foreigners who live in harmony with nature are generally kinder and have a bunch of useful alternate technology that none of the big countries take seriously. (And of course our main character lives in the big country but is ethnically from a foreign one). And some other stuff I don't want to spoil but clearly maps to a modern leftist talking point. But eh, it's tolerable in small doses and the author is still good and sane and earnest enough that their solution is "set aside your differences and come together, combine all of our unique talents together to save the world"