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yeah i read a lot - A LOT - of trash, but those books are just goddamn boring and its all because of the protagonist
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Oct 4, 2022 21:44
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Also the recap of the first three books by Patrick is some of the cringiest poo poo I've ever read. It's like the whole thing is in a squealing tween voice.
Cicero fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Oct 4, 2022 |
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Oct 4, 2022 22:16
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Cicero posted:Also the recap of the first three books by Patrick is some of the cringiest poo poo I've ever read. It's like the whole thing is in a squealing tween voice. I remember giving the intro recap a look, and then skipping past it. Definitely lines up with what I saw, the smugness in this book feels way stronger than I remember from the past. 50% into the book now. Corin Cadence was always a bit obnoxious, but I am seriously rooting for something dreadful to happen to him at this point. The author definitely aimed for a flawed character, but I am not sure they realize how irritating this guy constantly pestering people for information but getting offended whenever the precious sanctity of his own secrets gets threatened can be.
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Oct 4, 2022 23:45
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I'd written Arcane Ascension entirely off my TBR after bouncing off the sample for the first book hard. The sales announcement tempted me to download and give it another shot...but you guys are really not selling it. Prose was what made me give up on the first one, but I know it was his first book. Has the prose improved since or does the opening of every scene still read like the room description in a text-based MUD?
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Oct 5, 2022 02:15
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Leng posted:I'd written Arcane Ascension entirely off my TBR after bouncing off the sample for the first book hard. The sales announcement tempted me to download and give it another shot...but you guys are really not selling it. I do not enjoy the prose or the dialogue. The dungeon crawling segments can be fun, and when you get an action scene that has actual stakes it can work reasonably well, but I don't think they justify the tedious progression fantasy battle school stuff that makes up the majority of what the series is offering. Just finished book 4, and the end of it was pretty cool... but I am not being hyperbolic when I say I regret reading over 90% of that book. If you pick up the free copies of the first three books, do not be afraid to skim.
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Oct 5, 2022 04:04
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avoraciopoctules posted:There's like half a dozen people I would rather be following than this nerd. Just finished the book and I remember thinking the exact same thing. The version of the book which follows… almost any other major character’s POV would be much better. Sure, I guess it’s “realistic” to have the character with no social skills be generally unpleasant, but it doesn’t make for a fun read, especially when 80% of the book is him whining or
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Oct 5, 2022 06:37
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Remember when he met (sparred with) the cool snake lady who might want to be friends? And how a cool mage said that hey, that snake lady is going to the same school as you, she could really use some friends, hint-hint? Of course, what our main character proceeds to do afterwards is retreat to his room so he can further optimize his character build. Heavens forbid that he have an interesting conversation for once. Later, they discover that the cool snake lady has some problems at school.... and the main character hovers awkwardly off to one side while his sister goes over to help her out. Sure, the main character is also the narrator, and he takes pains to explain to us that this is because he has so much internalized racism and PTSD to deal with. But that doesn't really improve matters. My dude, you are not an interesting character. Please, just hand the mic off and let us hear from someone who actually does stuff.
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Oct 5, 2022 06:56
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I never made it past the first book because it was an absolute snoozer. Kindle says I finished it but I honestly couldn't tell you anything about it, other than I found it poorly written on top of being boring and flat. A lot of people online hype it up for some reason.
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Oct 5, 2022 08:19
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I liked the first three AAs as decent examples of “the protagonist does a clever trick to win” style of pulp fiction, there were just not enough fights to carry it in the most recent one.
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Oct 5, 2022 20:06
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There’s something about those books and their portrayal of Corin’s lack of trust in the people around him that I think really works, and I actually do enjoy them thanks to that aspect, but I’m not particularly in a rush to read book 4.
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Oct 5, 2022 20:23
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I grabbed them because they were free, and upon downloading, it looks like I didn't even finish the first one and just gave up like 3/4 through. I read some real trash on KU, so this must have been pretty bad.
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Oct 5, 2022 21:08
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I wouldn't mind Corin as the protagonist in a less pluply novel, but it's friggin progression fantasy. Having a main character with an ongoing, unresolved weakness that constantly drags him down is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for.
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Oct 5, 2022 21:20
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Haystack posted:I wouldn't mind Corin as the protagonist in a less pluply novel, but it's friggin progression fantasy. Having a main character with an ongoing, unresolved weakness that constantly drags him down is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for. I think that's exactly it for me. I just finished #4, and I'm just echoing what everyone else has said. I liked the first three even with their flaws, but this one just felt like a big ol' mashing of the metaphorical breaks, where everything was sad and traumatized and introverted in a way that was terribly unfun to read.
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Oct 5, 2022 22:17
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read the first two Starship's Mage books. First one was rougher for sure, lots of repeats of the same explanations, I'm guessing it was a serial? but I liked the idea and book 2 was pretty good so on to 3
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Oct 7, 2022 00:52
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AARD VARKMAN posted:read the first two Starship's Mage books. First one was rougher for sure, lots of repeats of the same explanations, I'm guessing it was a serial? Do not think it was a serial but definitely one of his first books, maybe the first?
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Oct 7, 2022 03:58
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quote:The Starship's Mage Omnibus (Book One) combines five novellas that were originally published separately. (2014) yup makes sense
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Oct 7, 2022 05:33
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LLSix posted:My experience was similar. Except that while it did get better, it didn't get enough better for me to want to buy new ones when they came out. Ice is a rock
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Oct 9, 2022 21:30
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Ice is a rock
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Oct 9, 2022 21:30
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Anyone read Virtuous Sons by YB Striker? It's a cultivation novel in a Greco-Roman society, and I'm enough of a dweeb that sounds appealing.
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Oct 14, 2022 22:53
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Anyone read Virtuous Sons by YB Striker? It's a cultivation novel in a Greco-Roman society, and I'm enough of a dweeb that sounds appealing. Not yet but casualfarmer (Beware of Chicken) gave it a plug so it's on my read list
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Oct 14, 2022 23:07
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I've read a chunk of it on RR and I think it's excellent, one of the best western cultivation series in terms of basic writing quality easily. It's definitely got a very distinct style though which I'm not sure will appeal to everyone.
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Oct 14, 2022 23:09
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Anyone read Virtuous Sons by YB Striker? It's a cultivation novel in a Greco-Roman society, and I'm enough of a dweeb that sounds appealing. Good but not great. It’s worth a read. There are a bunch of historian jokes if you are familiar with ancient Greek and pre-imperial Roman culture.
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Oct 15, 2022 02:06
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Anyone read Virtuous Sons by YB Striker? It's a cultivation novel in a Greco-Roman society, and I'm enough of a dweeb that sounds appealing. It goes from absolutely fantastic to a complete slog to fantastic again fairly often. Incredibly inconsistent but still highly recommended, at least for a breath of fresh air.
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Oct 15, 2022 13:41
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With how many progression fantasy/cultivation novels there are, it seems like, outside of Cradle, the ones that people recommend are parodies more than the actual things. That's kind of why Virtuous Sons sounded interesting: while I want it to be original, I would like something that took itself somewhat seriously. The only other ones I ever hear are Mage Errant and Mother of Learning, both of which feel like edge cases to the genre anyway.
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Oct 15, 2022 16:57
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The Weirkey Chronicles is good. It's not as good as Cradle, but then again nothing else in the genre is.
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Oct 15, 2022 20:37
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I liked what was out of Weirkey chronicles when I read it. The "Soulhome" concept is a neat twist on the mechanics of cultivation.
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Oct 15, 2022 20:43
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Hiro Protagonist posted:With how many progression fantasy/cultivation novels there are, it seems like, outside of Cradle, the ones that people recommend are parodies more than the actual things. That's kind of why Virtuous Sons sounded interesting: while I want it to be original, I would like something that took itself somewhat seriously. The only other ones I ever hear are Mage Errant and Mother of Learning, both of which feel like edge cases to the genre anyway. Maybe give World of Cultivation a try? It's one of the better "serious" cultivation stories. That still makes it a long step down from Cradle. Forge of Destiny is on KU now - give that a try first. I bounced off the start five times, but once you get into it, it's good.
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Oct 15, 2022 20:49
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AARD VARKMAN posted:I liked what was out of Weirkey chronicles when I read it. The "Soulhome" concept is a neat twist on the mechanics of cultivation. I liked the bullshit you could pull like running rope places or using a trampoline to expand it.
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Oct 15, 2022 21:11
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Weirkey was so loving slow I bailed before the second book ended.
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Oct 15, 2022 21:45
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Among strait cultivation stories that aren't Cradle, I've liked the River of Fate and The Jade Phoenix series
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Oct 15, 2022 22:39
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Street Cultivation was decent too.
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Oct 16, 2022 04:37
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The only wuxia thing I can really say I love is Memories of the Fall... But it's an unfinished web novel that's currently in a rewrite. It also has a second act that is more or less literally the meditating in a cave for 2000 pages thing that some of these types of novels do. So it has no ending and extremely variable writing quality. But if you don't care about not having any resolution you should read the rewrite that's most of the first act. It's insane. I can't really describe it but it's the only wuxia novel I felt like was an actual world that people lived in. Like feng shui/Chinese elemental alchemy/etc isn't just how people flavor their magic bullshit. It's literally a basic law of physics, and people do poo poo like use formations to make killer plants go into hibernation or to weaken dangerous monsters. Using several kinds of divinations tactically, lots of stuff just happening to coincide with auspicious or inauspicious times of day. Everything from people's houses to village streets to fields are laid out to contribute to formations and flows of energy, and there's invasive pests that are adapted to feed on it and poo poo. It's incredible. The rewrite is pretty long too it's like 700 pages of mostly this. And the best part is that most of the characters are straight up working class ... adventurers, basically. some of them are comparatively rich or connected, but even in their sleepy backwater rural city they're not a particularly large fish and the forces moving in the background of the story are astronomical in comparison. as opposed to many others where the protagonist is the most talented cultivator to ever cultivate, because they're willing to do more pushups or whatever. so i guess I recommend it, but with caveats. don't even bother if you don't want to read something unfinished. but you won't find anything else like it, either. Larry Parrish fucked around with this message at 08:43 on Oct 16, 2022 |
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Oct 16, 2022 08:40
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Larry Parrish posted:so i guess I recommend it, but with caveats. don't even bother if you don't want to read something unfinished. but you won't find anything else like it, either. I'll make a note to check on it in ten years, it sounds really cool.
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Oct 16, 2022 23:43
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Captain Monkey posted:Street Cultivation was decent too. That’s the one where the MC starts off as a human punching bag for higher level cultivators, right? I liked the start of Street Cultivation but bailed shortly after the MC inherited a relative’s debts. Death clears all debts. I did think the cultivation leeches were clever, but the story just kept breaking my suspension of disbelief after that; it seemed like the author hadn’t done even cursory research on how important plot points worked in the real world so couldn’t provide the narrative framework to justify why things worked differently in the story. Tower of Somnus (proglit, not cultivation) did a much better job of underpinning the awful cyberpunk setting.
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Oct 17, 2022 04:06
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Yeah the big problem with street cultivation is I kept having to stop and ask myself why this particular thing worked exactly like real life even though the economic or social situation was wildly different.
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Oct 17, 2022 04:26
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So the magic demons and literal trip to hell and super powers were fine, but 'relationship based debt slavery' a thing that has existed in the real world, was too far?
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Oct 17, 2022 06:36
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Yeah it was a cultivationpunk dystopia, companies tricking people into incurring debt isn’t a stretch imo.
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Oct 17, 2022 06:53
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I'm reading Battle Mage Farmer and it's alright, despite being very trope-y. It's also kinda weird that the MC seems to go a lot easier on murdering rapists trying to kill him than random sapient beasts just minding their own business.
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Oct 17, 2022 10:32
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Yeah, inherited debt is a thing all over the world, even where it's not strictly speaking legal, and lots of stories (including the current anime megahit Chainsaw Man) have it as a plot point.
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Oct 17, 2022 12:17
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Actually I was thinking more the cellphones and vending machines lol. The basic economics seem strange.
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Oct 17, 2022 16:28
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