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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'd seen this recommended a lot as a good example of progression fantasy. Having read it, I enjoyed it a lot! It helps to know that this was first a web serial and is specifically focused on the main character increasing in knowledge through a time loop. The writing is decent, but not stellar. It's the idea that really wins through in this story. I'm intrigued enough to want to read the next one and see what happens!
Фентъзи с шестнайсетгодишен главен герой, ново училище и първи учебен ден, съучениците така, пък учителите онака, тоя е популярен, оня не е, тоя учител е добър, оня го мрази ... Има ли нещо по-банално, по-"Young Adult" малоумно, по-клиширано и от което гледам да стоя колкото се може по-далече?
С всичко гореизброено, Mother of Learning в началото крета едва-едва, но скоро и съвсем неочаквано избухва като бомба - и тогава истинското действие започва. И то също е бая (и дори съвсем) неочаквано, защото книгата изобщо, ама изобщо не е "YA".
Toва е може би най-популярната книга от т.н. "рационално фентъзи", оригинално е публикувана изцяло в интернет и е две хиляди страници на английски. И си заслужава всяка една от тях.
С всичко гореизброено, Mother of Learning в началото крета едва-едва, но скоро и съвсем неочаквано избухва като бомба - и тогава истинското действие започва. И то също е бая (и дори съвсем) неочаквано, защото книгата изобщо, ама изобщо не е "YA".
Toва е може би най-популярната книга от т.н. "рационално фентъзи", оригинално е публикувана изцяло в интернет и е две хиляди страници на английски. И си заслужава всяка една от тях.
It's no secret that authors make very little for the work they produce. In fact, the most stable career choice an author can make is to get married. Good writing, or at least the kind that can get published, takes practice and time, but unfortunately that practice and time doesn't come with a stipend or a salary.
On the off-chance that one does work their way up the rank of writer's circles, literary magazines, agents, and publishing houses to actually get published... well even then, the rewards more often than not are spiritual, not monetary. For every JK Rowling or George RR Martin, there are hundreds of thousands of underpaid, underappreciated authors just scraping to get by.
So when I heard that there was a Kickstarter for Mother of Learning, a self-published story that got its start from fictionpress.com of all places, and that it was shooting past its $10,000 goal to $100,000, I just knew I had to go and support it.
Mother of Learning is a progression fantasy story about a wizard-in-training stuck in a month-long time loop. It's a story with enormous world-building, a winding, almost paranoid interior voice, and the exact sort of pedantic "why didn't the Fellowship just fly the eagles to Mordor" energy that best makes use of its concrete and meticulously thought-out magic system.
This is a story that would have never gotten published through traditional means. It's overly long, overly detailed, and not every scene really "serves a purpose", but taken altogether, Mother of Learning is a story that draws the reader into the long arduous process of becoming a great mage, of unraveling a convoluted conspiracy, of defeating terrible powerful foes with wit and preparation. All the moments that would pass by in a flash in a movie training montage, Mother of Learning goes and takes you through them, and really tries to convey the feeling of someone growing stronger and learning new things.
Mother of Learning's first chapter went up on fictionpress.com more than a decade ago in 2011. It was raw, unedited, and somewhat messy, but it captured that feeling of progression so well, that it basically started the subgenre of Progression Fantasy. It has a number of third-rate imitators, but none can really duplicate what Mother of Learning first did.
There's no other story like it, and if you ever wanted your heroes and villains to fight like dueling Machiavellian academics, then you should most certainly read Mother of Learning.
On the off-chance that one does work their way up the rank of writer's circles, literary magazines, agents, and publishing houses to actually get published... well even then, the rewards more often than not are spiritual, not monetary. For every JK Rowling or George RR Martin, there are hundreds of thousands of underpaid, underappreciated authors just scraping to get by.
So when I heard that there was a Kickstarter for Mother of Learning, a self-published story that got its start from fictionpress.com of all places, and that it was shooting past its $10,000 goal to $100,000, I just knew I had to go and support it.
Mother of Learning is a progression fantasy story about a wizard-in-training stuck in a month-long time loop. It's a story with enormous world-building, a winding, almost paranoid interior voice, and the exact sort of pedantic "why didn't the Fellowship just fly the eagles to Mordor" energy that best makes use of its concrete and meticulously thought-out magic system.
This is a story that would have never gotten published through traditional means. It's overly long, overly detailed, and not every scene really "serves a purpose", but taken altogether, Mother of Learning is a story that draws the reader into the long arduous process of becoming a great mage, of unraveling a convoluted conspiracy, of defeating terrible powerful foes with wit and preparation. All the moments that would pass by in a flash in a movie training montage, Mother of Learning goes and takes you through them, and really tries to convey the feeling of someone growing stronger and learning new things.
Mother of Learning's first chapter went up on fictionpress.com more than a decade ago in 2011. It was raw, unedited, and somewhat messy, but it captured that feeling of progression so well, that it basically started the subgenre of Progression Fantasy. It has a number of third-rate imitators, but none can really duplicate what Mother of Learning first did.
There's no other story like it, and if you ever wanted your heroes and villains to fight like dueling Machiavellian academics, then you should most certainly read Mother of Learning.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Dry, video-gamey prose in a time loop plot that spends more time on technicalities than interest or excitement, diminished further by its flat characters who seem drawn from anime cliches. This feels excessively "systems-driven" - you can tell the author has thought very carefully about the technicalities of how much spellcasting someone can do, or how telepathy is going to work in their universe, but not so much about making it interesting to care about any of those things.
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes