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nrook posted:I like the Practical Guide to Evil, but it's definitely edgy. The main character is a "villain" who makes Hard and Necessary Choices, in contrast to the heroes, who are largely idiots with huge egos who only make everything worse. It's not really that grim, though, if that's what you're worried about. I don't know if that's really true re:the heroes. Sure they are contrasted with Cat and Black in steadfastly refusing to give up their ideals for practicality. But, in the universe, you get your powers by staying "in character". Excepting the oddball heroic villain or villainous hero archetypes a Hero who is willing to violate their ideals when convenient will quickly find themselves just a regular person.
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Mar 13, 2024 22:33
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nrook posted:I like the Practical Guide to Evil, but it's definitely edgy. The main character is a "villain" who makes Hard and Necessary Choices, in contrast to the heroes, who are largely idiots with huge egos who only make everything worse. It's not really that grim, though, if that's what you're worried about. That isn't really the case, though - the protagonist openly acknowledges that the entire first few books, and all the bad things that happen in them, are basically her fault (her choice to leave William alive and let him start a war basically leads to a huge amount of death and suffering, and all her victories during that period are just cleaning up her own mess). Later on, she flat-out feels embarrassed by her earlier "justice is for the just" motto (or whatever that motto was). So I guess you could accurately describe her attitude during the earlier parts of the story as "edgy," but it's an acknowledged flaw and something she grows beyond. Nitrousoxide posted:I don't know if that's really true re:the heroes. Sure they are contrasted with Cat and Black in steadfastly refusing to give up their ideals for practicality. But, in the universe, you get your powers by staying "in character". Excepting the oddball heroic villain or villainous hero archetypes a Hero who is willing to violate their ideals when convenient will quickly find themselves just a regular person. It's not so much this (though it's part of it), but more that the attitude of the heroes isn't even that unreasonable from their perspective. From Cat's perspective you're left thinking "man, why can't these heroes just be reasonable?" But Cat is an unprecedented exception to the norm, and some of the older heroes have experience with "villains that seems reasonable, only to still do terrible things." We see Cat, the Woe, and the Calamities' friendlier moments as our main view into villainy, but most villains are just sickos (and honestly this kinda includes the Woe, and Catherine just has blinders on about it - none of them really care about random people like Catherine does, and explicitly acknowledge as much). Some of the dumber heroes are also ones forced outside the scope of their Role, like Mirror Knight. People meant for a much smaller-scale story who were forced to deal with bigger issues due to being called to the Crusade. And most heroes are later revealed to be fully capable of growth/change. Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Mar 14, 2024 |
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Mar 14, 2024 00:35
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Horizon Burning posted:pretty accurate but i think the yonder version of practical guide is still paused at the end of book 1 for unclear reasons (which was months and months ago, i stopped checking) and some authors on royal road have mentioned that yonder isn't responding to enquiries which might indicate something bad happening there Yonder works with publishers generally not directly with the authors. Think of it like a sublet from Aethon. (That got chock full of romance.)
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Mar 14, 2024 01:30
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Ytlaya posted:That isn't really the case, though - the protagonist openly acknowledges that the entire first few books, and all the bad things that happen in them, are basically her fault (her choice to leave William alive and let him start a war basically leads to a huge amount of death and suffering, and all her victories during that period are just cleaning up her own mess). Later on, she flat-out feels embarrassed by her earlier "justice is for the just" motto (or whatever that motto was). sometimes they're also explicitly faking hardheadedness or acting for ulterior political or personal motives - and the story eventually has significant narrative focus on smart/capable heroes who mostly make things better/don't screw up any worse than Cat (Hanno, Roland, Tariq, etc.) I'd also say it's not even about Cat being a relatively unprecedented manifestation of ontological Evil who is making some big asks of others - a lot of the conflicts in the story are essentially political, interpersonal, conflicts of self-interest, or have to do with reasonable informational disparities (especially vis-a-vis name lore, where behavioral expectations and interpretations of behavior between normal people and those whose perspective revolves around exploiting the storybook logic of the setting's metaphysics can diverge pretty wildly)
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Mar 14, 2024 01:55
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If you're looking for a good intro to web serials, you could do a lot worse than Super Minion. It's good, it's short, it's a super hero world so familiar and relatable to most English-reading audiences. Best of all it is unfinished, so you get the authentic web serial experience of being sad when you catch up to whatever the current end of content is. I like Threadbare too.
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Mar 14, 2024 03:31
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Reading through The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere Kam is the best and I hope (probably in vain) that Su one day notices the giant torch Kam carries for her
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Mar 14, 2024 05:21
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If we’re listing/recommending goon-written serials, we should include The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere, a locked room murder mystery set in a weird science-fantasy world. If you’re into slow burn, introspective stories where Chekhov just can’t stop tossing his guns everywhere, I definitely recommend this. It’s delightfully twisty and thoughtful, and I will never forgive Lurina (sorry, I forgot your SA username) for ruining the back half of a long-planned vacation by forcing me to binge through it in a week.
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Mar 14, 2024 06:09
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I'll add on that The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere does one of the things that all my favourite stories do. It drops big old ominous terms like "Prosognostic Event" (and a few others) which at the time you know nothing about, but trigger that really ominous feeling. If you've read Excession "Outside Context Problem" is pretty similar.
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Mar 14, 2024 06:22
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Nothingtoseehere posted:SS 120: Turns out Aulia's high pressure cooker environment pissed off both Lute and Hazel who'd guess? As much as a teenage brat she is being right now I kinda pity her.
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Mar 14, 2024 06:36
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Mr.Sloth posted:I'll add on that The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere does one of the things that all my favourite stories do. This is also one of my favorite things. I love it when there are setting elements that none of the characters acknowledge any more than we would acknowledge the existence of, say, the internal combustion engine, but then by the time it becomes actually relevant, we know exactly enough about it that it makes perfect sense when the plot conjures up gasoline as a ubiquitous flammable liquid that could be extracted from a nearby vehicle. Time To Orbit: Unknown does this as well, although it's rarely in a hugely plot-critical way. Aspen occasionally comments about being color-blind, or that someone's fingernails are weird, or that they're not used to having pockets, and it's not until much later that any of those things is ever explained, and it's usually just in time for you to internalize it before it becomes actually relevant.
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Mar 14, 2024 07:55
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Mr.Sloth posted:I'll add on that The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere does one of the things that all my favourite stories do. Yeah, there was a lot of that in the early chapters and it was great. The post-timeskip chapters have been, uh, a lot more explicit and exhaustive by comparison, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. This is the part of the story where we're supposed to be getting answers, and a lot of this recent stuff is absolutely wild, so I am happy with where the story is right now. Big blocks of world building is something I'm not a fan of in general, though. SupSup 139/Patreon: I enjoyed the depiction of Alden pushing through his panic attack/centring himself on his skill and his responsibility to Zeridee here, there's a lot of nice writing around it. Feels like something Sleyca's been writing towards for a while. But this arc is starting to feel a little loose and flabby imo. We've spent like three chapters with Alden just sort of floating around in this crisis and it still doesn't feel like it's going anywhere or building to anything. A lot of "and"s and not enough "but"s, "therefore"s or "meanwhile"s. I feel like unless this shorts character comes back in a big way we could have skipped directly from Alden leaving the ambassador's house to whatever the next plot beat is going to be and lost nothing. e: I think that's a criticism I have of the story as a whole. Alden is generally a very passive character and a lot of the time feels disconnected or insulated from his emotions, which isn't bad in itself but does mean he does not tend to push towards an energetic and dynamic story by himself. You need to do a lot of work to make Alden work. KOGAHAZAN!! fucked around with this message at 13:59 on Mar 14, 2024 |
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Mar 14, 2024 13:54
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KOGAHAZAN!! posted:Yeah, there was a lot of that in the early chapters and it was great. The post-timeskip chapters have been, uh, a lot more explicit and exhaustive by comparison, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. This is the part of the story where we're supposed to be getting answers, and a lot of this recent stuff is absolutely wild, so I am happy with where the story is right now. Big blocks of world building is something I'm not a fan of in general, though. I agree, since Alden Preserved Zeridee it feels like there's been a whole lot of nothing going on. it doesn't help I've got no real scale of the size of Apex, so how big is this crescent island? How far is safety? we've spent more time with Zeridee preserved than Man on The Moon, and it doesn't feel super impactful in the same way.
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Mar 14, 2024 15:50
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SupSup 139/Patreon: Alden comes across as kind of a dick in this one, though I guess it's partly ptsd. If he hadn't gotten caught on the moon he'd be in exactly the same boat as the Longs, a new B rank with no chance of getting into hero school without a lot of leveling. You can ET for magic healing in emergencies so adding danger to your training doesn't seem that insane to me
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Mar 14, 2024 16:03
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KOGAHAZAN!! posted:Yeah, there was a lot of that in the early chapters and it was great. The post-timeskip chapters have been, uh, a lot more explicit and exhaustive by comparison, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. This is the part of the story where we're supposed to be getting answers, and a lot of this recent stuff is absolutely wild, so I am happy with where the story is right now. Big blocks of world building is something I'm not a fan of in general, though. SupSup 139/Patreon: Sleyca has indicated that this arc is mostly not about Alden. It's about the other people around him. It's about how most of the adults, nominally more mature and wiser, flail around and make bad choices in a crises. In that sense I think it's been effective, and has succeeded at providing contrast with Alden's successful decision making. Even if it's personally not my favorite either.
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Mar 14, 2024 16:09
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KOGAHAZAN!! posted:e: I think that's a criticism I have of the story as a whole. Alden is generally a very passive character and a lot of the time feels disconnected or insulated from his emotions, which isn't bad in itself but does mean he does not tend to push towards an energetic and dynamic story by himself. You need to do a lot of work to make Alden work. Alden certainly got excited about stuff pre-Thegund. I think his more muted emotions (with the exception of anxiety regarding affixing and summons) since then is a very intentional move by the author. AARD VARKMAN posted:SupSup 139/Patreon: Alden comes across as kind of a dick in this one, though I guess it's partly ptsd. If he hadn't gotten caught on the moon he'd be in exactly the same boat as the Longs, a new B rank with no chance of getting into hero school without a lot of leveling. You can ET for magic healing in emergencies so adding danger to your training doesn't seem that insane to me I don't know, it seems like a pretty reasonable reaction to me. Alden doesn't have the time or energy to deal with the fuckup that is Liam and his siblings. He's got a literal critically injured person on his back and he doesn't have time to the solve the issues of someone who's intentionally putting themselves in danger. Nitrousoxide fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Mar 14, 2024 |
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Mar 14, 2024 17:32
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Does this gym battles arc end soon? I'm losing it.
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Mar 14, 2024 17:51
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Yes
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Mar 14, 2024 17:59
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If you really want to know, the last gym chapter is 128
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Mar 14, 2024 18:00
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gonadic io posted:If you really want to know, the last gym chapter is 128  I can't even get through today's chapter.
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Mar 14, 2024 18:14
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Griddle of Love posted:
If you want something to maybe get excited over, I thought Alden killing Winston by decapitation in the final gym chapter was a great scene.
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Mar 14, 2024 18:31
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Interesting, I actually really like the gym chapters. I thought the interplay between the team members was a lot of fun.
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Mar 14, 2024 18:53
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AARD VARKMAN posted:SupSup 139/Patreon: Alden comes across as kind of a dick in this one, though I guess it's partly ptsd. If he hadn't gotten caught on the moon he'd be in exactly the same boat as the Longs, a new B rank with no chance of getting into hero school without a lot of leveling. You can ET for magic healing in emergencies so adding danger to your training doesn't seem that insane to me A dangerous situation is dangerous because it's often not static, doesn't go according to expectations, doesn't leave room for trial and error, and doesn't have a safety ripcord for you to use to tap out (e.g. the teleports the Longs were counting on being offered again). That isn't a good environment to train in, not if you're planning on coming out of it alive. The calculus might change if not pushing your limits in an unsafe manner will kill you down the line, but I think we all know that isn't the case in Alden's world just yet.
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Mar 14, 2024 18:54
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This is the curse of spanning all these genres, there's always some people who doing like whatever is currently going on. Sleyca said that for example during the disaster on the moon chapter a bunch of people previously enjoying the cozy slice of life left the patreon.
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Mar 14, 2024 18:55
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90s Cringe Rock posted:player manager: WIBWOB I'm very excited for Chester's wibwob era.
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Mar 14, 2024 18:58
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I think a big source of SupSup's strengths is that the story is someone's long long term brainchild, given time to breathe and slowly put down roots that will pay off a decade from now. Those lame teens might be Alden's sworn comrades in arms someday, Winston could be his Vegeta! honestly a Yamcha at best probably.. The story can't slow down even further to give every character a dozen chapters of the Lute treatment, but it if it just skips the acquaintance stage right now to drop the years-long friendship on us later, you get a repeat of the Boe reaction. still don't like it Ramie fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Mar 14, 2024 |
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Mar 14, 2024 18:59
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Bremen posted:Interesting, I actually really like the gym chapters. I thought the interplay between the team members was a lot of fun. I agree. I think every chapter since Party Animals (Party Badger!) through to the end of the obstacle courses were gold. If anything, I think the first run of the course was the least interesting, although I could be persuaded otherwise.
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Mar 14, 2024 19:10
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Nitrousoxide posted:Alden certainly got excited about stuff pre-Thegund. Oh, it's been so long I barely remember. You might be right!
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Mar 14, 2024 19:22
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They're good, but I feel like they could have been broken up a little with something. It's kinda tiring when you've waited 3 days for a chapter and it's another "alden goes through the obstacle course," which won't be as much of an issue reading through in one piece. For long-term development, it's cool.
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Mar 14, 2024 19:34
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I also think the gym chapters are fantastic. They're giving this miniature, highschool version of real world superhero dynamics. You have the people who want to actually help. The people who want to be cool and famous. And of course the people who just want to be cops so they can legally hurt people. Everyone is getting to try out their life goals with training wheels, and all the tension and interpersonal relationships of it are simmered through cool super power stuff.
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Mar 14, 2024 20:36
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If I had any amount of self-restraint, I would wait to read chapters until the arc they’re part of is finished. Chainer almost certainly would read better in one sitting, and I’m betting that a lot of people’s problems with the gym arc is that the low-stakes action that doesn’t “advance the plot” (for certain definitions of advance and plot) winds up feeling slow when it’s dripped out at two chapters per week. Yeah, there were fun moments, but I didn’t find the chapters engaging enough to maintain enthusiasm for the next chapter’s eventual release. I’ve been using this strategy with TFTBN, and it’s dramatically improved my experience. I wish that The Game At Carousel would label its chapters by arcs as well, especially since it is literally sectioned off into arcs with explicit beginnings and ends.
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Mar 14, 2024 20:46
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Ytlaya posted:That isn't really the case, though - the protagonist openly acknowledges that the entire first few books, and all the bad things that happen in them, are basically her fault (her choice to leave William alive and let him start a war basically leads to a huge amount of death and suffering, and all her victories during that period are just cleaning up her own mess). Later on, she flat-out feels embarrassed by her earlier "justice is for the just" motto (or whatever that motto was). Oh, yeah, the series certainly softens its perspective and adds complexity as it goes on. And even in the early stuff there's a lot going on behind the immediate picture you see; as you mention, there are certainly a lot of times where it's not at all clear the world is better off for Cat having ever been born. I was just talking about the basic premise.
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Mar 15, 2024 03:05
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Something I really like about APGTE is when it zags when I expect a zig. Like with the whole winter court arc where you think you're getting the typical progression snowball and then the author pulls up at the last second for a return to humanity.
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Mar 15, 2024 03:26
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nrook posted:Oh, yeah, the series certainly softens its perspective and adds complexity as it goes on. And even in the early stuff there's a lot going on behind the immediate picture you see; as you mention, there are certainly a lot of times where it's not at all clear the world is better off for Cat having ever been born. I was just talking about the basic premise. I’m still very early in the series but it seems to me the main thing that would make the world better off is someone killing all the loving gods. It can’t improve until that happens.
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Mar 15, 2024 03:41
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That's pretty much the premise of the story.
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Mar 15, 2024 04:02
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The person dearest to me in the whole world said "I have a rec, you like royal road right" and firstly, wow, rude, but I guess I'm reading super supportive now rather than just leaving it on mount tbr. I've read some random spoilers since this thread was overtaken by it and vague contextless knowledge of future elements and fan arguments definitely spices up the old reading. Only ten chapters in and gorgon and victor are great. I'm sure I've read people talking about Boe a lot too. I'm not going to stop occasionally clicking the black boxes.
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Mar 15, 2024 13:56
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90s Cringe Rock posted:The person dearest to me in the whole world said "I have a rec, you like royal road right" and firstly, wow, rude, I am sorry this happened to you
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Mar 15, 2024 14:38
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90s Cringe Rock posted:The person dearest to me in the whole world said "I have a rec, you like royal road right" and firstly, wow, rude, 90s Cringe Rock posted:I'm not going to stop occasionally clicking the black boxes. 
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Mar 15, 2024 14:52
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90s Cringe Rock posted:The person dearest to me in the whole world said "I have a rec, you like royal road right" and firstly, wow, rude, but I guess I'm reading super supportive now rather than just leaving it on mount tbr. Are you literally my brother because I recently more or less had this interaction with him lol
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Mar 15, 2024 14:55
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Ugh I just hit my first dead/incomplete web serials, Deeper Darker. Fairly light, lots of catch 22 vibes but the author seemed to drop off the face of the earth 2 years ago  they're still making $88/mo on patreon at least.
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Mar 16, 2024 06:56
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Tom Clancy is Dead posted:
The premise of this one got me interested so I gave it a read. It was pretty compelling although I think as I got further along it became a little unfun to read all the trauma and how hosed up they all were. Definately one of the better works from royal road. It also is a self contained story which I have come to enjoy more lately rather than sprawling works that have no focus and seem to lead no where. It's a good read, I hope more people give it a go
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