I’ve recently gotten into reading. I realised how much I love fiction, and a couple of tropes. So I’m here asking maybe some of you know any books that have them.
I love it when the story focuses more on world building rather than character. The theory crafting I can do in my head, or just before I sleep, is priceless.
Here I’ll contradict myself by saying a character development related point, but the more important one. I’d like to read more works that show some mysterious big-bad first as a rivalry, later as a friend. They soften up with the MC and we they become friends or allies or whatever. We get to see a BBEG of sorts’s friendly and weak side. I get that it’s a bit childish, but I lost my mind of how cool of a character they made the first time I read it. Now, it was in a manga, so I’d love to read an example that made this best or first.
Thank you in advance, even if you just name some genres or authors.
Hello, it’s me again. With a book club-like update. Just finished the 2nd book, Predator’s Gold. However I’ll just say it straight on, it was bad. The plot armor driven plot didn’t subside. I remember you saying that you liked the 2nd least, so I guess… same. I honestly don’t feel like reading the next two.
I don’t think I’ll over-analyze this one, but I’ll just say that it was so uninteresting and boring that I’ve put off the last chapters for days, read them one by one. And the big drop at the end, the climax, was, again, complete nonsense. >!Tom survived getting shot point blank in the chest. The stalker 2.0 got autobalanced (tf2 reference) in the middle of killing the MCs. Hester did something so unreasonable that it is in no way justifiable as a tantrum. One of the most feared predator cities just killed themselves. And the drop of Hester being pregnant is irritating, very “book end” of it, but also let’s think about it. For the 2nd half of the book they weren’t even close to each other, except for when They came back from the “prison” and when Tom was dying. So there are two options: Hester had intercourse with a dying(unconscious) guy (peak fiction?), or they tried for baby when they were speeding back to the city, when it was clearly uncomfortable for the both of them. I won’t read back, but IIRC they were both filled with guilt and barely talked. Or did they have fun in the early chapters? In that case, good to know a city can move half a world’s length within a couple of months (before pregnancy is noticeable or a hindrance)! !<
I’ll think this is the end of my journey with this one, overall it wasn’t bad, I’m just disappointed a bit. And definitely not interested enough to continue. However, if you say that the next two books are good (AKA way better), I can imagine myself reading them and writing up the first two as setup.
Hello, thank you for the update!
Oh boy I didn’t even notice the pregnancy plot hole you pointed out. I read the second book once as a kid and never again.
I’m really sorry to have put you through that D=
The third and fourth books are indeed completely different, but I hesitate to suggest reading them because of your experience so far. My personal ranking is 4 > 1 > 3 > 2. I do think they go interesting places as they have more traditional fantasy scope and characters, so the world is fleshed out a lot. But it is still more of the same…
Anyway, thank you so much for the time taken to review them. I liked your analysis. Do you have a favorite book to recommend?
haha, don’t be :D I’m happy that I met this world. It’s just not that good.
I don’t have a favorite book. I’m very new to reading books. 21st century childhood got to me as well. But I’m enjoying it so far. Might even me a better form of media than series. While I’m also not native, and for whatever reason I don’t read in my mother tongue, but english. For that reason I struggle with vocabulary. One good thing I can definitely say about Mortal Engines is that the language is simple, I barely had to look stuff up.
I can tell you manga or smth tho.
I’m not much of a manga reader, but I never say no to recommendations.
I’m amazed you’re getting into reading the way you are. Props to you.
Well, I’d give a 99% that you’re going to find it cringe, but I made this post about The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon. It had that absolutely amazing character 180° plot twist, and even if everything else is very poorly written, that singular character is awesome.
The way I actually got into reading is a bit embarassing, only two of my friends know of it. But the watered down version is that after years of everyone around me watching anime I also caved in, tried it, and I very much enjoyed one. Because it was (and still is) unfinished I decided to read the light novels about it and realised how awesome reading is. My familiy nagged me about reading, and I did some back in the day, can’t even remember how old I was (single digit for sure), however school started and I was forced to read some of the worst pieces of word combinations that ever hit my ear, long and boring too. I’m not kidding when I say one of these mandatory reads made me hate women for a while. Thankfully I forgot all of it, like a trauma, all I remember is that it was hell reading that (actually couldn’t even read it, I listened to it.) Anyways, even if it’s cringy and a bit wierd, I’m still happy about it. I get to enjoy this hidden gem of media, and I’m loving it. So I’m searching for new experiences. This post backlogged me for a year at least.
I’m writing this omw home on a bus, if there are typos; sry :p
Yoo, Skeleton Soldier is just time loop LitRPG in manga form. Absolutely cringe and I am absolutely here for it. That used to be one of my favorite genres/tropes to read! Yeah, those types of stories are rarely finished, and usually pretty shallow. Kinda like fast food for reading. I’ll give it the manga a shot. Thank you!
I really wonder wth happened with your school lol. I hated mandatory reading too, but it wasn’t nearly that bad, just tedious.
Sorry to heap more suggestions on to you, but if you’re into stories like skeleton soldier you could take a look at RoyalRoad or similar web novel sites. There’s literally tens of thousands of such stories uploaded for free by the authors. The vast majority of them are bad or worse, but with how many there are there’s more than enough high quality stuff, some of which is novel or experimental in a way one doesn’t find in published work. Just be ready to drop a story if it feels like it’s going nowhere or is not fun to read.
Alright I’m reading Skeleton Soldier. I like it. It is a little silly, a little shallow, but it’s fun and varied and damn if it doesn’t pull off some emotional whiplash. Like when the female knight in the tournament tripped while everybody was booing her? My stomach dropped through the floor.