5.9 KiB
Has anyone here read "Schooled in Magic" by Christopher Nutall?
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Author: u/Sailor_Vulcan Champion of Justice and Reason*
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/4bzdct/has_anyone_here_read_schooled_in_magic_by/
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Score: 8
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Created: 2016-03-26T01:27:35
Post:
It's an amazing story. Some of it seems to be inspired by HPMOR. And if you thought the final exam chapter of HPMOR was difficult, just wait until you see the impossible challenge that faces the main character at the end of THIS book. It makes the final exam chapter in HPMOR look almost easy by comparison, at least on first glance. I wish I had taken the time to actually try to figure it out, or make it a community project like the HPMOR final exam was, but sadly I was too anxious to find out what happened next. The solution that the main character comes up with is something that the reader could come up with on their own, if they hadn't forgotten too much of what they learned in high school (or if they even learned anything about spoiler at all, in high school or later. I'm pretty sure they didn't teach me that in high school, and the main character doesn't study that much in her free time until after the story begins.)
Comments:
u/okaycat [+8] (52 minutes later)
The story is pretty okay. The character doesn't really carry the idiot ball and the other characters are reasonably confident.
I find the story to be very bland and dull though. The main character, setting, magic system etc are all sort of generic and uninteresting. However for a quick time filler his stories are pretty good.
u/Sailor_Vulcan [+2] Champion of Justice and Reason (12 hours later)
How were they generic and uninteresting? I read through the whole book and I'm already well on my way to finishing the second book in the series, and the characters setting and magic system seems original enough. Or at least, the author had a very original take on a seemingly typical medieval fantasy setting. She does a very good job making the world building sane and consistent, and the characters were portrayed realistically and relatably. The main character is pretty average by the standards of the modern world, and she's sorely lacking in knowledge beceause of her pretty average education before she got whisked away to a medieval fantasy world. But even the little bit of knowledge that she has from a modern technological society is enough to have a really profound impact on a medieval fantasy world, and the author makes this very clear in the story. I don't know if you got that far but after the main character spoiler
u/TJ333 [+2] (2 days later)
I liked the magic system myself, it seemed fairly unique to me. But I do agree that the characters and setting did not stand out.
u/None [+5] (a day later)
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u/TJ333 [+3] (2 days later)
It was indeed a guilty pleasure for me. I just stopped thinking about how much of the heavy lifting was done off screen to implement her ideas.
u/Sailor_Vulcan [+2] Champion of Justice and Reason (2 days later)
That doesn't sound at all like what I've been reading! Are you sure we're talking about the same book?
If so, I'm guessing she must have either gotten a good editor or significantly improved her writing skill since you last read it.
Yes she easily changes the face of civilization with a bunch of technological ideas imported from Earth. Those ideas changed the face of civilization here after all, and that was when they were built up bit by bit. The tech ideas that the MC imported were not merely preliminary ideas. They were the result of a lot of history and cultural development and trial and error on Earth. and when the MC brings these ideas to the other world, a bunch of people there actually notice that. (although they don't know where the ideas are imported from)
Of course, there were some prerequisites:
- If you're summoned into the world by an evil necromancer who thinks you're a "child of destiny", in order to sacrifice you, and then
- the sorceror who rescues you spreads that rumor around
people are going to think you're important even if you're not. After that if you befriend a merchant's daughter, you have someone who can sell your imported ideas.
Basically, the idea seems to be that if the average modern person fails to change the face of a somewhat primitive medieval civilization after that, they are either very unlucky, very stupid, or dead because they got into trouble.
The main character of schooled in magic is definitely NOT a mary sue. The characters are definitely NOT flat, and the execution is very good. I'd give the book somewhere around an 8 or 9 out of 10.
u/None [+3] (2 days later)
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u/Sailor_Vulcan [+2] Champion of Justice and Reason (2 days later)
i've been reading it on kindle.
u/ToaKraka [+4] https://i.imgur.com/OQGHleQ.png (9 minutes later)
u/luminarium [+2] (a day later)
I read the first few pages, then stopped as it doesn't seem to be good writing. Too much info dumping/tell-not-show, passive tone, negativity and use of adverbs, straight out the gate.
u/luminarium [+2] (21 hours later)
Sounds like you might enjoy A Hero's War: a portal fantasy about two protagonists who are separately whisked into a medieval world, one sets about an industrial revolution and the other develops military tactics. The story does this really well, with intelligent behavior from many different factions.
u/VanPeer [+1] The shard made me do it (2 days later)
Giving it a shot.