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I haven't read it myself, but I've heard that the romance in Beware of Chicken is very sweet. You might also ask the folks in the romance thread.
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Dec 30, 2022 13:31
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Darth Walrus posted:For a slight change of pace, anything in the KU wasteland with decent romance? If you are ok with Sapphic stuff, Claire Ashton has some good stuff on KU
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Dec 30, 2022 15:26
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Winter’s Orbit.
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Dec 30, 2022 15:37
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big fan of union station for that but it's more like 'contains romance' and lots of relationship based jokes rather than being a romance novel. despite my enjoyment of the genre this is a point on it's favor imo.
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Dec 30, 2022 17:31
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Anias posted:Kindle unlimited pays by the page so there is a perverse incentive to cram easily duplicated with slight changes word counts. KU pays by pages read. I would think people would just stop reading the boring stuff, but it seems LitRPG writers have found a sweet glitch in the system where large blocks of text are totally skimmable and they get paid. If that's what we have to deal with for them to make a buck, so be it I guess.
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Dec 30, 2022 17:38
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Giant boring stat blocks predate Kindle Unlimited, so the financial incentive to have them isn’t the whole story, although I’m sure that’s part of it. People just like them for some reason.
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Dec 30, 2022 17:58
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Anias posted:Kindle unlimited pays by the page so there is a perverse incentive to cram easily duplicated with slight changes word count. Conveniently, readers can trivially bypass the stat dumps if they bother them so it’s somewhat the winning strategy for pleasing the reader too. I am certain if someone comes up with something better it will show up. What if they paid by unique word? That would be interesting. MartingaleJack posted:KU pays by pages read. I would think people would just stop reading the boring stuff, but it seems LitRPG writers have found a sweet glitch in the system where large blocks of text are totally skimmable and they get paid. If that's what we have to deal with for them to make a buck, so be it I guess.
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Dec 30, 2022 18:25
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PerniciousKnid posted:What if they paid by unique word? That would be interesting.
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Dec 30, 2022 19:09
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My writing would not be terse, for it would lack tenseness; tersity would not be my watchword, but rather aterse scribing.
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Dec 30, 2022 19:32
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Currently halfway through The Umbral Storm, it's the first progfantasy book from Alec Hutson, who's known for The Raveling trilogy (first book is Crimson Queen). Besides featuring generally higher quality writing than normal for the genre, he's doing something interesting with sending a well worn trope down an interesting path, somewhat more specifically taking what's initially a stock Arrogant Young Master and rapidly inverting his circumstances, and not for comeuppance' sake. Though what's going on with Alia is annoying, or rather it's annoying how she's set up in the story. So far the two male PoV characters have intervened to save her like four times now?
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Jan 2, 2023 09:03
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Arbetor posted:I'm not sure I have ever read a book in the genre where the stat dumps actually improved the book or that replacing 90% of them with "And this caused his strength to go up somewhat" wouldn't have improved the book. Maybe if the authors didn't feel the need to drop them in over and over and over. The Dungeon Crawler Carl series does about what you want, where once the system is established as existing and working in a particular way, the numbers all get glossed over in one-sentence mentions (if even that). From there on the RPG aspect is used mostly to supply Chekov's guns, in the form of abilities that inevitably get used by the main characters in system-unintended ways that care very little about raw numbers.
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Jan 2, 2023 09:44
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Cicero posted:Currently halfway through The Umbral Storm, it's the first progfantasy book from Alec Hutson, who's known for The Raveling trilogy (first book is Crimson Queen). Besides featuring generally higher quality writing than normal for the genre, he's doing something interesting with sending a well worn trope down an interesting path, somewhat more specifically taking what's initially a stock Arrogant Young Master and rapidly inverting his circumstances, and not for comeuppance' sake. You didn’t mention the series is called the Sharted Few but that’s ok. Will read, thanks.
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Jan 2, 2023 12:37
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Coq au Nandos posted:the Sharted Few Sharded but yeah
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Jan 3, 2023 00:22
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Almost done with Kaiju Battle Surgeon. This book is okay. The Litrpg thing with excessive stat numbers gets annoying. The VR game is supposed to be almost indistinguishable from life, but it still uses gameplay conventions from the mid-90s. I find it unbelievable even using in universe logic. The pacing is not great. There were many built-in opportunities to build tension and develop the inciting event and the cast of characters responsible for the MC's plight, but instead of going that route there's 100,000 words about bonking worms on the head, selling potions to vendors, and world- building for the game that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. The prose is competent. It has several stylistic failings, like repeating the first word of a sentence multiple times in a row many, many times, but it is rarely purple. The word count padding is mainly inane details that don't add to the plot. 3 out of 5 for me, rounded up for KU to 5 stars.
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Jan 14, 2023 21:09
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Litrpg never really adds anything to a work, it's true.
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Jan 14, 2023 21:57
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In a post-apocalyptic setting, wouldn't the US dollar still be an ideal trade good/currency because it's A. Portable, B. Easily identifiable, difficult/impossible to forge in the post apocalypse, and everyone is already conditioned to use it. And C. The US mint/treasury service is likely in no position to print more money so its now limited in quantity. And because everyone already likely has some amount of US dollars while living in the United States it would be pretty easy to get trade flowing quickly as everyone already has some of a trade good. Telsa Cola fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Jan 15, 2023 |
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Jan 15, 2023 04:58
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Telsa Cola posted:In a post-apocalyptic setting, wouldn't the US dollar still be an ideal trade good/currency because it's A. Portable, B. Easily identifiable, difficult/impossible to forge in the post apocalypse, and everyone is already conditioned to use it. And C. The US mint/treasury service is likely in no position to print more money so its now limited in quantity. Depends on the apocalypse. My assumption is that any actual global apocalypse will involve most of North America getting obliterated in some way, meaning their currency will become slightly less useful than it is now.
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Jan 15, 2023 07:28
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Coq au Nandos posted:Depends on the apocalypse. My assumption is that any actual global apocalypse will involve most of North America getting obliterated in some way, meaning their currency will become slightly less useful than it is now.
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Jan 15, 2023 09:12
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Telsa Cola posted:In a post-apocalyptic setting, wouldn't the US dollar still be an ideal trade good/currency because it's A. Portable, B. Easily identifiable, difficult/impossible to forge in the post apocalypse, and everyone is already conditioned to use it. And C. The US mint/treasury service is likely in no position to print more money so its now limited in quantity. The ideal currency will be whatever the most powerful warlord thinks they can control most easily.
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Jan 15, 2023 16:12
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DACK FAYDEN posted:You're not using it because it's backed by the full faith and credit of Uncle Sam, though, you're using it for the same reasons the original Fallout used bottle caps. (later games introduced "clear out this bottle cap production plant" etc) If the currency is imposed by a ruler, it'll be something they can control. So not dollars that everyone already has and the ruler can't make more of. If the currency is used by traders or local farmers or whatever, they won't want it to be something people already have sitting around because they don't want anyone to go "Wait, you'll take (x) for food? I've got a ton of that I don't want anymore, give me everything you have" which just leaves the trader screwed. So again, not dollars; bottlecaps at least have the advantage that few people have large numbers of them sitting around, but they aren't great either. I remember in The Postman (the book) they used two dollar bills and half dollars because they were convenient but not something many people had large quantities of. But come to think of it I haven't seen either of those in a long time.
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Jan 15, 2023 17:18
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Bremen posted:If the currency is imposed by a ruler, it'll be something they can control. So not dollars that everyone already has and the ruler can't make more of. If the currency is used by traders or local farmers or whatever, they won't want it to be something people already have sitting around because they don't want anyone to go "Wait, you'll take (x) for food? I've got a ton of that I don't want anymore, give me everything you have" which just leaves the trader screwed. So again, not dollars; bottlecaps at least have the advantage that few people have large numbers of them sitting around, but they aren't great either. Except if you can trade dollars for food or ammo or medicine it's not probably something you are going to want to get rid of all at once, because you can use it for future purchases. And the trader can adjust prices accordingly even if that was the case. Telsa Cola fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Jan 15, 2023 |
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Jan 15, 2023 20:04
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Telsa Cola posted:Except if you can trade dollars for food or ammo or medicine it's not probably something you are going to want to get rid of all at once, because you can use it for future purchases. And the trader can adjust prices accordingly even if that was the case. Just because one trader starts accepting formerly worthless dollars doesn't mean they all will. If there's a government, sure, the government can make it law that the dollar is legal currency, but in this scenario there either is no government or they're a warlord with no interest in forcing a currency they don't control. So... if I'm a trader I can just wake up one day and decide I'll start accepting dollars. Maybe I even know how much old money everyone has so I price things at something ridiculous, $500 for a flat can of coke, so that even if everyone spends all their money they can only buy half my merchandise. Everyone proceeds to do so. I then go to a farmer and say "hey, I want to buy some of your corn to sell, I'll give you this huge stack of dollars" and he goes no. I try to tell him that he can use those dollars to buy more flat coke from me, but he doesn't trust me and knows the dollars that might get torn up by rats so he just trades the corn for the flat coke. The other merchants will never agree to take USD because they know I have all of it. The end result is that I am out half my merchandise and only have a big pile of useless money to show for it. So there's no reason for an independent trader to do this either. There is basically no value in deciding to prop up a currency everyone else already has in large quantities.
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Jan 15, 2023 21:18
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You don't really get currency without a state, because it exists primarily to collect taxes and pay soldiers. Societies before state-backed currency systems (and after those systems fail) operate by barter and credit aka "I'll give you this now, in exchange for X grain at harvest". This is a whole thing in economic history, and I'm not sure how this conversation got started in the KU thread?
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Jan 16, 2023 09:19
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A currency you can't make more of is a currency that's liable to deflate which nobody wants. Aside from that a good currency needs to have utility. Think of the Stone of Jordan as currency in Diablo 2: portable, yes, rare enough to keep the market stable, yes. But also everyone could use them, they had utility beyond currency, but not a utility so high they would suddenly deflate. The utility of a government currency is that you have to pay your taxes in it. Without taxes, the utility dies and it becomes a pretty untrustworthy store of value.
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Jan 16, 2023 10:13
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it's kind of a modern day delusion that economics is an artifact of currency and not the other way around.
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Jan 16, 2023 15:12
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I'm going through Re:Monarch right now and it kinda feels like a cross between Cradle and Mother of Learning? The protagonist and plot both feel driven like Cradle (albeit not quite to the same extreme), and there's the time loop/mystery aspect like Mother of Learning. The characters don't have the same likable sitcom quality that Cradle does, though. But the writing level is definitely very high for progression fantasy, it feels like roughly published author level, pretty much never have to roll my eyes at stupid rear end dialogue or prose.
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Jan 20, 2023 09:26
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Cicero posted:I'm going through Re:Monarch right now and it kinda feels like a cross between Cradle and Mother of Learning? The protagonist and plot both feel driven like Cradle (albeit not quite to the same extreme), and there's the time loop/mystery aspect like Mother of Learning. The characters don't have the same likable sitcom quality that Cradle does, though. But the writing level is definitely very high for progression fantasy, it feels like roughly published author level, pretty much never have to roll my eyes at stupid rear end dialogue or prose. I kind of divide time loops stories into two categories. You have the Groundhog Day stories where time keeps repeating on its own, the story usually mainly focuses on character growth/progression, and the goal is finding a way out of the loop. Then there is a second type based around an anime called Re:Zero, where the time resets every time the main character dies, the story tends to focus on the MC suffering and dying over and over again, and the goal is finding a way to survive the usually horrific events about to happen. Mother of Learning is the first type and Re:Monarch is, as indicated by the name, the second type. I'm generally not a fan of the second type, they honestly come off as glorifying way too much in the MC suffering for me to be happy with them. They almost by definition have to be really dark in order to create a situation the MC can't survive with one or two runs worth of foreknowledge. That said, I will admit that you're right that the writing level for Re:Monarch is quite high for a Webserial turned TU book and for those that are fans of the second type of story it's probably a good choice. Bremen fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Jan 20, 2023 |
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Jan 20, 2023 17:11
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Silynt posted:I’ve spent my time traveling over the past few days binging the first 3 books in The Frith Chronicles and it’s been surprisingly fun. I would say they are some of the best non-Cradle profession fantasy I’ve read on the platform. Some of the characters are a little thin but the prose is competent, which is better than most KU poo poo can manage. And not a stat box in sight! The major plot points are a bit cliche/predictable so far but I've been enjoying this, thanks for posting this! It's definitely scratching that Cradle itch while I wait for the new book.
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Jan 21, 2023 22:43
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Caught up with Mage Errant. Wow, the latest book sucked after they went on their power boosting expedition. Alustin bits remained good throughout.
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Feb 18, 2023 21:08
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Will Wight has announced the start of his new series, a space fantasy titled “The Last Horizon”. Book 1 drops April 4. Also, “Waybound”, the 12th and final Cradle novel, will release June 6.
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Mar 2, 2023 21:56
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Pretty stoked for both, though I don't anticipate Last Horizon being a Cradle-level hit, given that it won't be hitting hard on the progression aspect, as I understand it. Waybound though, hell yeeaahhhh. Sad but stoked to see how this ends!
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Mar 6, 2023 10:12
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Thinking back over the Waybound excerpt that Will read a while back and thinking of how well it did character writing. Basic, straightforward character writing, but still. The responses of the gang to Lindon absolutely crushing them in willpower training, I think, shows off so much. Orthos is furthest behind in power, yes, but also might be the least self-confident in facing greater threats, which he's also exhibited elsewhere. Mercy feels like she should be stronger but is at least happy to not be last, and to be out from underneath her Malice's skirts. Little Blue is just happy to be there and trying her best, with infinite trust in Lindon. Ziel has real steel and a realistic self-appraisal underneath his apathetic facade. And Yerin, while doing the best, is deeply ashamed that Lindon has surpassed her by so much; I see some interpersonal problems there becoming apparent in Waybound. Transcript for those who didn't catch it before: https://www.reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle/comments/xel1ih/dreadgod_waybound_youtube_transcript
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Mar 6, 2023 10:24
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Re Monarch has an absolutely terrible name and starts off a little rough, but it eventually becomes a real gem. I've enjoyed book 1 and 2 a lot and am eagerly awaiting book 3.
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Mar 7, 2023 10:26
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Cicero posted:Transcript for those who didn't catch it before: https://www.reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle/comments/xel1ih/dreadgod_waybound_youtube_transcript I can't believe how much I enjoyed reading this. I missed the team.
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Mar 8, 2023 00:32
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Are there any decent podcasts or videos covering Cradle? Preferably ones that will discuss it warts and all, and in relation to the cultivation genre at large. Media-discussion podcasts seem to have an unfortunate tendency to become sycophantic and overly concerned with senpai noticing them, and I'd rather hear the series discussed by folks who like it, but also acknowledge that it's literary popcorn: not well written, but consistently fun and available in quantity. I'm particularly interested in discussions about the series that can place it in the larger sphere of cultivation stories. Cradle is my only first-hand exposure to the genre and I'm quite curious to know what Wight's influences are, and what he's reacting to.
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Mar 20, 2023 01:58
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I don't know about anything like a podcast, but Will Wight has written directly about Cradle's influences here. The long and the short of it is that Cradle is his own take on the well developed, hugely popular 'xianxia' subgenre of Chinese fantasy.
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Mar 20, 2023 03:15
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I've seen videos before discussing Cradle but I think they're overtly positive. Most of the harsher criticism I've seen directed at Cradle comes from original Chinese Xianxia enthusiasts, and if you think Cradle isn't well written... Personally I think Cradle is actually very well written, it's just not trying to be particularly deep. It wants to be a light, fun story about punching and training to punch and it succeeds. Granted, it's possible I'm biased by reading too much progression fantasy, most of which is very obviously much worse than Cradle. Edit: I think this was the series I was thinking of that was likely very positive - https://www.reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle/comments/11tc9k1/none_cradle_series_podcast
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Mar 20, 2023 18:59
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I've been reading the novelizations of The Wandering Inn web serial (Which isnt really KU but is Isekai and LitRPG adjacent.) Its sort of a slice of life style story about a young girl named Erin who is somehow transported from our world to slightly outside of a city occupied by Drakes (Basically dragonborn) Gnolls, and a hive of the mysterious (To Erin) insectile Antinium. She stumbles upon an abandoned Inn outside of the city and gets it cleaned up and operational while making acquaintance with local guardsmen Relc and Klbch (One of the Antinium and a very influential villain in recent history before a treaty ended the Antinium Wars) and finding out that this world's inhabitants can gain classes and levels as she becomes a low level [innkeeper] and gains some useful skills like [Basic Cleaning] and cooking and crafting. At the same time, another young woman from Earth named Ryoka is introduced who is a Runner, a messenger who runs between cities delivering messages. Ryoka is basically the person who has memorized the "What you really want to know if you get isekai'd" graphic and has refused the efforts of the world to give her a class, levels, or skills. She is terrified of accidentally giving the secrets of earth technology to this incredibly war-prone world while dealing with her own lack of personal skills getting her into trouble with bullies amongst her fellow Runners. The first stretch of the story is the trajectory leading to Ryoka and Erin meeting each other. While Ryoka is incredibly protective of most of her knowledge from Earth, Erin is pretty much the opposite - unable to lie, really outgoing and volunteering her origin easily to people she befriends. Her and Ryoka's actions begin changing the course of destiny for a lot of important personages around the city of Liscor and the continent at large, while its also quickly revealed that there have been TONS of people transported from Earth to this world who are having similar effects on other continents. While the story is slice-of-life the events that occur are major and world changing, and the story doesnt only follow Ryoka and Erin the whole time. The other good thing is that the novels are LONG. I dont think any of the 5 I have finished have been much less than a thousand kindle pages. I'm not the best judge of good writing but I've been really enjoying it so far.
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Mar 24, 2023 05:10
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I read one recently where the isekaied character ran into some zealot dwarves who were given a Fat Man nuke and ww1 rifles from our world and did the the standard manga what the christ face scratch thing before just absolutely loosing his poo poo and dropping all pretense of not being from their world and just absolutely railing into them. It was pretty great and funny.
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Mar 24, 2023 05:31
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Victorkm posted:I've been reading the novelizations of The Wandering Inn web serial (Which isnt really KU but is Isekai and LitRPG adjacent.) Its sort of a slice of life style story about a young girl named Erin who is somehow transported from our world to slightly outside of a city occupied by Drakes (Basically dragonborn) Gnolls, and a hive of the mysterious (To Erin) insectile Antinium. She stumbles upon an abandoned Inn outside of the city and gets it cleaned up and operational while making acquaintance with local guardsmen Relc and Klbch (One of the Antinium and a very influential villain in recent history before a treaty ended the Antinium Wars) and finding out that this world's inhabitants can gain classes and levels as she becomes a low level [innkeeper] and gains some useful skills like [Basic Cleaning] and cooking and crafting. Wandering Inn is good if you’re into that kind of thing as long as you understand that skipping almost all of a chapter is fine if it’s following a character you don’t care about and you aren’t enjoying it (lookin at you Flos and crew). Also know that the serial is maybe two or three times as long as the novelizations. It’s fuckin long If you’re looking for discussion of it, that’s mostly in the web serial thread. I stay out of it though since I’m perpetually 5-10 chapters behind
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Mar 24, 2023 05:35
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