53 KiB
[Q] What are the currently updating web serials worth reading?
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Author: u/None *
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URL:
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Score: 62
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Created: 2016-12-13T14:19:30
Post:
[deleted]
Comments:
u/AurelianoTampa [+29] (4 hours later)
A number have already been mentioned; I especially recommend Mother of Learning, Pokemon: The Origin of Species, Unsong, and A Practical Guide to Evil.
To wit, A Practical Guide to Evil was mentioned but not really expanded upon, so...
A Practical Guide to Evil is set in a fantasy world of Names and follows the story of Catherine Foundling. Names (capital N) are role archetypes that come with divine powers that raise some humans far above the normal rabble and make them the linchpins of a metaphysical conflict between Good and Evil. Raised as a war orphan, Catherine has had to adapt to living life in the occupied country of Callow. The traditionally Good kingdom was taken over almost completely by the neighboring Evil empire of Praes twenty years ago. Early on in the story Catherine encounters one of the leaders of the Praesi Villains, the Black Knight. He makes her an offer: join him as his apprentice, take the Villainous Name of Squire, and use the power and prestige it gives to uplift her country through practicality rather than through what is ordained by the gods.
Why is it good? Because the characters are fantastic, the fantasy setting with Names makes things interesting, and the fights (battles, really) are amazing. Catherine's Name gives her powers that normal humans don't have, but she isn't overpowered (especially compared to other Named individuals). Instead she has to claw her way to victory after victory using mostly her wits - and relying on the friendship and loyalty of those she inspires. It also questions what she is willing to sacrifice to save her country... and what "saving" it really means.
There are some really good philosophical conversations about the nature of Good and Evil; and about Names and cultures as well. I was firmly on the side of Evil (well, Catherine's kind of Evil) until a side-story from the Hero's perspective shed some light on the other side. I don't necessarily agree with their somewhat dogmatic views, but they do have a number of valid points that really stuck with me. I highly recommend it!
Another good choice I like, though I don't know if it is entirely rational is The Gods Are Bastards. The setting is a fantasy world facing the end of the Age of Adventurers and the rise of... perhaps it's best to say the Age of Bureaucracy? Set on the frontier of the Tiraan empire stands an odd University on top of a mountain. The Unseen University is run by Arachne Tellwyrn, a legendary elven archmage turned school mistress who has devoted her time and efforts to training the upcoming generation of movers and shakers in the world. The story itself focuses primarily on the newest freshman class, consisting of a dryad, a Drow priestess, two Paladins (the first in 30 years), a pirate princess, an ice-elemental pixie, a half-demon, and a lesbian heir to a car fortune who shares a body with a princess of Hell.
Why is it good? The story starts off with common tropes and subverts them (sometimes quickly, sometimes over the course of several volumes). For example, even from the start we know this is a fantasy world with magic and elves and whatnot; but the action scenes are more like a spaghetti western. Adventurers wear leather dusters and have shoot-outs at high noon wielding staffs like six-shooters. And things change from there. We all have mental images of what "Paladin," "dryad," or "pixie" means - but as the characters grow and their histories are explored, we realize that those have very different meanings in the world of TGAB. The secondary cast of characters is, if anything, as fantastic as the primary cast. One of my favorite characters, Bishop Antonio Darling, was originally conceived of as a throw-away character for the first book; but has now become so involved with the plot that I find his interactions even more interesting than those of the original cast.
Two slight words of warning: first, the cast of characters gets BIG. Many only make token appearances here and there, but there are really several groups of multiple characters each that vie for attention (including some villains; many of whom you don't ever like but are explained well enough that you understand even if you disagree with them). Second, this is not a grimdark universe. There is a lot of growth, both of the characters and the story, but so far (11 volumes in) it doesn't often involve main characters dying. The characters go through hardships and trials and emotions, but it is very rare that they are tortured or assaulted or killed. It's like... the complete opposite feeling of Worm - you feel like things will work out OK here for your favorite characters, rather than dreading to turn the page and see what the next unfair curveball that will ruin their lives will be. Frankly I don't mind it, but some readers have complained that "nothing permanent happens." That's not entirely accurate, but it has some truth to it.
u/MoralRelativity [+4] (14 hours later)
Strongly second this recommendation for A Practical Guide to Evil.
u/Afforess [+2] Hermione Did Nothing Wrong (2 days later)
I recently read through TGAB and wanted to offer a warning and encouragement. The first 3 books are fairly low quality prose (a lot of repeated phrases, phrases like "just so" and "quite so" are repeated so often I edited them out of my ebook copy). Past that, the writing quality markedly improves, and so does the story. I hope the author goes back and re-edits the earlier books.
A Practical Guide to Evil is also fantastic.
u/Zephyr1011 [+47] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity (2 hours later)
Copied from a recommendation sent to a friend:
Mother of Learning is an original web fiction about a wizard in a D&D-esque original world who gets stuck in a time loop, repeating the same month over and over, at about 450K words at the moment, updating every 3 weeks and maintaining pretty consistent high quality. Especially fun parts are that the author is excellent at subtle foreshadowing, they're very good at giving the main character power boosts but in a way that feels earned rather than Mary Sue-ish, and they manage to keep conflicts from getting trivial by being in a time loop while still maintaining a feeling of progress.
u/GodKiller999 [+16] (4 hours later)
I'd add that this has an amazingly rich world which feels like it's bigger that the story, which makes sense author made the world and then made a story in it. It's truly a great example of proper world building and having a story in a world rather than having the world be changed for the whims of the story without considering how such changes would affect the world at large and make previous conflicts nonsensical (I'm looking at you Harry Potter).
It also has one of the best designed magic system I've seen and has the characters make the best use of it they can rather than having of possible abuses that are never used like in so many others stories for the sake of the narrative. The system was very much done so that there'd be no easy "5 easy steps to godhood" scenarios that anyone could have figured out, whatever power the MC is well deserved and earned through hard work.
u/noggin-scratcher [+34] I am a happy tree (3 hours later)
Ctrl+F "anim"--no results
How has no-one said Animorphs: The Reckoning yet? It is so good.
Take one slightly goofy Animorphs canon, replete with silly tropes where aliens invade so incompetently that half a dozen teenagers are able to foil their nefarious schemes (and only really seem to start trying in sync with the protagonists' ascending competence). Then raise the bar for competence and intelligence significantly on all sides, and play it straight from there.
Competent leadership on the part of the aliens makes it feel like every encounter could be a total party wipe. Every success feels hard-fought, and the setbacks are earned through their mistakes (and born of their genuine flaws rather than idiot-ball). Characters have minds and motives and internal lives and all feel very distinct from each other, including aliens feeling alien.
Hell, there is explicit reasoning included from a first-person perspective, about the limits of information known on each side and how that affects strategy. There are even more examples I want to give of good explicit reasoning but they would be spoilers.
Definitely, definitely, worth the read.
Also subscribed to / has updated recently / would endorse (in no particular order):
Twig
Unsong
Pokemon: The Origin of Species
Pokémon: The Line
Hermione Granger and the Perfectly Reasonable Explanation
Mother of Learning
u/DaystarEld [+6] Pokémon Professor (4 hours later)
I figured the post was about stories that are less well known, otherwise yes, r!Animorphs should absolutely be read by everyone forever.
u/trekie140 [+7] (7 hours later)
Even if I know nothing about the original books?
u/DaystarEld [+5] Pokémon Professor (10 hours later)
Yep. I think it does a good job of re-explaining everything of importance, and it doesn't rely on any inside jokes or many things that would make you really "miss out."
u/noggin-scratcher [+10] I am a happy tree (12 hours later)
doesn't rely on any inside jokes
True, although there are some things that would come across as somewhat odd choices (aka complete WTF moments) if I didn't know it was something lifted from canon.
u/TK17Studios [+12] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (13 hours later)
OATMEAL IS ENTIRELY NORMAL.
u/DaystarEld [+10] Pokémon Professor (13 hours later)
CINNAMON
BUNZUH
u/Evan_Th [+3] Sunshine Regiment (11 hours later)
Yep. The only moment where I think it's significant is in the very first chapter, where a couple scenes that would otherwise be very close to canon are summarized stream-of-consciousness rather than played out. Even so, you wouldn't miss a single detail if you came to it fresh; you just might think it's a weird choice of emphasis.
u/FenrirW0lf [+3] (8 hours later)
I would recommend it even if you're not familiar with the original.
u/semiurge [+16] (an hour later)
I'll throw my hat in the ring for u/callmebrotherg's Heroes Save the World (found here: https://heroessavetheworld.wordpress.com).
It's currently the early stages right now, about 27 (fairly short) chapters in, and updating quickly, about 2 chapters a week.
The basic premise of HStW is that across the world 100 children born on the same day gain a superpower, and exploration of the realistic ramifications thereof. It is very much a "people with powers" sort of story than a "superheroes" one. The plausible developments, believable character motivations, use of powers, and competent planning all land it squarely in the "rational" category.
The writing in HStW really blows that of other web serials and fanfictions out of the water. Its prose is utilitarian in the best sense of the word, its dialogue is natural, and its pacing is tight. It also abounds with "competence porn" and clever exploitations of superpowers if you're into that kind of thing.
Because of the short and regular nature of the chapters, it's got an enjoyably "popcorny" feel. A nice treat you don't have to waste an afternoon on.
If I could find one flaw in the story, it's that characters' inner monologues are sometimes written in a way that's cumbersome to the flow of a greater passage.
TL;DR: The only web fiction I'd recommend without reservation.
u/callmebrotherg [+13] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (6 hours later)
Ahahaha oh my god, this is great. Thank you. I'm kind of at a loss for words here. I mean...
The writing in HStW really blows that of other web serials and fanfictions out of the water. [...]
TL;DR: The only web fiction I'd recommend without reservation.
/head asplode
Thank you for your kind words.
Its prose is utilitarian in the best sense of the word
I'm going to be trying to add more description to the prose because I think that I'm falling short so far as descriptions (especially visual) go. Please let know if this seems to be turning into fluff that detracts from the story, though. I think that I have a lot of room for improvement, but I don't want to accidentally mess up what's already good in my attempt to fix other stuff.
If I could find one flaw in the story, it's that characters' inner monologues are sometimes written in a way that's cumbersome to the flow of a greater passage.
Would you mind pointing out a couple of concrete examples where this happens? It'll be a lot easier for me to fix if I can see exactly where I'm going wrong.
Thanks again for your feedback.
u/Rouninscholar [+7] (an hour later)
Hey, please try super powereds? it is relatedly good, I have some stuff written about it in this thread. I am reading heroes save the world right now(starting it anyway)
u/CouteauBleu [+47] We are the Empire. (41 minutes later)
Twig is not finished yet, but it's already the greatest work ever wildbow has produced, orders of magnitude above Worm and Pact. (well, they're great too, so read them if you haven't)
The setting is a bio-punk world where the British Empire went through a biological Industrial Revolution, turned evil and went off to take over (most of) the world. The main characters are a team of high-grade bio-engineered spies/assassins/saboteurs kids who work for the Academy that created them, and by extension the government. The protagonist in particular was injected with a serum that would probably make a lot more sense to people with a background in neurology; it basically makes him more flexible, and able to rewrite his own mental patterns and decide to be extremely skilled in a few specific domains.
The protagonists are all extremely clever and self-aware, the technology presented makes a lot of sense as something that could have been developed after years of progress in bio-engineering (this has to be the only story to ever have first-law-of-thermodynamics-compliant monsters), the social, cultural and logistical aspects are both well explained and kept in the background where they don't slow the story down.
Also, the latter half of the story features a lot of very well developed secondary characters / innocent bystanders who just appear for a few chapters, say a few lines, and make you feel like they're unique people with their own story, wants and needs. The Fishmonger is my favourite example: he only appears for two or three chapters and in any other story would be a completely generic mob boss, but he's actually a very compelling (if despicable) character with a memorable personality.
Finally, Twig has none of the pacing problems Worm and Pact had. Characters are introduced and removed regularly (instead of all at the beginning like in Worm), the length of each arc is appropriate, the time-skips are well-placed, and the whole story feels like it follows a mostly structured plan, that wildbow has thought through.
So if you like anything about wildbow's stories, or about rational fic in general, and haven't read Twig yet, I really recommend it. Like, seriously. It's the best.
u/Anderkent [+13] (7 hours later)
Finally, Twig has none of the pacing problems Worm and Pact had
I feel like this is very YMMV. The first two or three arcs of Twig is pretty meh, pacing wise; for me there's just not enough context to actually care about any of the action, it feels empty. Worm felt much more straightforward in that regard, probably because superheroes is such a familiar setting. (I never got into Pact at all)
Characters are introduced and removed regularly (instead of all at the beginning like in Worm)
This is actually something I rather dislike about Twig; it builds you up to care about some characters, and then basically removes them from the story and introduces new ones. I'm slow to grow attached to characters, and the bait and switch is painful.
u/dilletaunty [+9] (11 hours later)
Honestly, I never really liked Pact. It started out as a great idea - haunted house, then spirits, pacts, territory and etc.-, but didn't really delve into the complex interpersonal politics that usually make up town-based fiction. I'd been hoping there would be even more great dialogue and introspection than in Worm. Instead, it was just a mindfuck.
Twig so far is wonderful, and basically feels like a darker, 007 version of the Leviathan/Behemoth series, but with even more cultural and bodyhorror aspects. It's definitely the best paced of wildbow's works thus far.
If you haven't read Worm, though, do. It's super long but the character's motives feel genuine, and they act reasonably based on those motives. You will never have a Joker character except for [spoiler].
u/anchpop [+2] (12 hours later)
I think Heath Ledger's Joker has reasonable motivations for what he does. Especially with the line "you want to show that everybody is just as ugly as you" or something like that
u/None [+1] (22 days later)
I dunno about reasonably. The entire plot of Worm could have been derailed by the white hats being a bit more reasonable or kind. I read a theory on SB that the Simurgh orchestrated Taylor's escalation (downfall/ascension) into ... things, starting immediately after her trigger.
I'm trying not to spoil anything. I really need to look up how to do spoiler tags.
u/techgorilla [+8] (4 hours later)
I started reading Twig and i liked it but it didn't catch me like worm did, i just slowly forgot to read it every day. I stopped reading around the end of the first arc, Would you say the second arc is stronger than the second?
u/Anderkent [+6] (6 hours later)
I had the same reaction initially, but a couple weeks ago I picked it up again. The story gets much better after arc 3 or 4, and keeps the very high class until 12-13 - I couldn't put it away. However, for me the second part of arc 14 has been a real slog... Heavy Spoiler 13+
So if you don't like it by arc 5 I guess do drop it for good, but def. give it another try.
u/CouteauBleu [+6] We are the Empire. (18 hours later)
Yeah, in Arc 14 the protagonist starts breaking down and losing her grip on reality... I was glad when the story switched protags again and we were back to sane narration.
u/Schuano [+5] (a day later)
I see what you did there.
u/techgorilla [+1] (7 hours later)
Ok, thanks, i'll try it again.
u/None [+2] (5 hours later)
[deleted]
u/jaczac [+2] D-Class Subjects (5 hours later)
rational homestuck never
u/None [+2] (5 hours later)
[deleted]
u/jaczac [+1] D-Class Subjects (5 hours later)
embrace the pain
u/jimbarino [+2] (9 hours later)
What does this mean?
u/jaczac [+2] D-Class Subjects (10 hours later)
((his flair is rational homestuck when, and the comic is, by definition, irrational, so it'll never happen))
u/jimbarino [+1] (10 hours later)
Gotcha, thanks.
u/BlueSigil [+1] (a day later)
I'd rather not have to wait to see what happens, so I'm also waiting for the end. Agree that it's his best work yet though.
u/Terkala [+2] (8 hours later)
I only skimmed to avoid spoilers. But I really hated pact midway through. Half the characters were completely nonsensical, and his storytelling style started to really grate on me.
Did he go back to a storytelling style similar to worm?
u/CouteauBleu [+1] We are the Empire. (18 hours later)
Um, I guess? I didn't see big dramatic differences between Worm and Pact's storytelling (especially since both were variable depending on the arc), but Twig as a whole feels closer to pre-Weaver Worm in terms of story pacing and plot dynamics.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (15 hours later)
Twig
Thanks for the recommendation, will check it out.
u/None [+1] (2 days later)
I've been wary of Twig for a particular reason: I got completely engulfed in Worm, but at times it was (to me) excessively gruesome. So, without spoiling anything else: does Twig get as torturey as Slaughterhouse 9 ever?
u/CouteauBleu [+2] We are the Empire. (2 days later)
...I don't think so? The story follows a team of assassins, so Death is kind of a theme; and there are some gruesome scenes (e.g. a plague that burrows through people's veins); but it's not as bad as Worm's torture porn, and it's much less concentrated.
u/None [+2] (2 months later)
[deleted]
u/None [+1] (2 months later)
Really? :/ I just started reading it again, I'll probably give it up then. Thanks!
u/Kinrany [+15] (3 hours later)
Dungeon Keeper Ami is a crossover between Sailor Moon and Dungeon Keeper, it's ongoing (with over 800K words already), and I really like it. The premise is that Ami aka Sailor Mercury was tricked into becoming a Dungeon Keeper. Everyone expects Keepers to be Always Chaotic Evil, so now she has to use a combination of Sailor and Keeper powers, muggle tech, quick thinking and general munchkinery to defeat the real Big Bads of this universe while trying to prove that she's not like other Keepers.
Worldbuilding is the best part, and it's many times better than the original nonexistent Dungeon Keeper universe. The author managed to create a believable adventure friendly world where characters are mostly rational and properly paranoid, thanks to Keepers often being very patient and smart manipulative bastards.
Sorry for all the tropes, and yes, there's a TvTropes page.
Edit: I'm really bad at writing and I'm already tired, but there are two more stories I want to recommend. They're less rational, but rational enough to avoid anything resembling an idiot ball, and their worldbuilding is good too.
The Last Turn is an Erfworld story about a warlord who suddenly becomes the Chief Warlord after spending his whole life reading books. Then he has to exploit the rules to survive against an unbeatable enemy.
The Wandering Inn is a web serial by the same author about an RPG-ish fantasy world where everyone has levels. Random people from our world get stranded there, including the protagonist, who becomes an innkeeper.
(All three works require only superficial knowledge about their worlds. I neither watched Sailor Moon nor played Dungeon Keeper, but I'm sure I didn't miss anything important.)
u/GlueBoy [+8] anti-skub (5 hours later)
The best part of Dungeon Keeper Ami for me is how the author makes both DK 1 and DK 2 canon in the story, even though DK2 recons a bunch of stuff and updates the overall mechanics substantially.
u/AurelianoTampa [+6] (4 hours later)
Good choice!
For those who are unaware, Dungeon Keeper is an old DOS game from the 90s that set the player up as a keeper who has to create and expand a hellish dungeon that slaughter the heroes who attempt to invade and destroy it. A lot of the mechanics of the game are also involved in the story (like slapping imps to motivate them to dig faster).
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (14 hours later)
Warning: Dungeon Keeper Ami has very slow pacing at times IMO. I think a good editor would cut half the words and make it an absolutely ripping yarn.
u/hoja_nasredin [+13] Dai-Gurren Brigade (an hour later)
Stuff I'm currently reading:
Twig. Already mentioned and explained above.
Practical guide for Evil: Fantasy word with hero tropes and the people inside know and abuse the meta.
Chiaroscuro. A naruto fanfic with a Kakashi I enjoy a lot.
u/seylerius [+1] Lord Inquisitor (8 hours later)
Kaksi What?
u/hoja_nasredin [+2] Dai-Gurren Brigade (9 hours later)
Kakashi. Internet ate part of the name.
u/seylerius [+1] Lord Inquisitor (9 hours later)
Suspected as much, but wasn't sure; could've been a new nickname for him.
u/narfanator [+1] (4 days later)
How often does Chiaroscuro update?
u/hoja_nasredin [+1] Dai-Gurren Brigade (4 days later)
used to be once a week, sometime 2 weeks. No idea it have spotted 3 weeks ago.
u/None [+8] (3 hours later)
[deleted]
u/sparkc [+4] (13 hours later)
It's interesting to hear you feel the writing is, what I interpret as, just 'okay'. I've recently begun reading this and was very impressed with the writing quality as compared to the usual rational fic (as someone who is following or has read significant amounts of every serial in this thread above about 5 votes).
u/None [+3] (13 hours later)
[deleted]
u/sparkc [+3] (15 hours later)
Ah, I believe my confusion then is in differing meanings of 'writing'. I was referring more towards prose and dialogue than overall enjoyment.
Mother of Learning for example, as much as I enjoy it and rate it highly, is written at a sentence level rather basically and the dialogue/character interaction can be rather jarring at times - something that I feel can be a mild issue in a lot of rational fics but was refreshingly absent from The Gods Are Bastards.
u/AurelianoTampa [+3] (6 hours later)
That and the 'cheeky' references to real life things tend to pull me out of the story.
I can see how this could be annoying, but I personally cracked up when Shaeine explained what a drizzt was, and when the party started complaining about the goddamn bats in the dungeon! Anything in particular stick out as especially egregious?
u/oliwhail [+13] Omake-Maximizing AGI (an hour later)
It's not strictly a web serial, since it involves a heavy audience participation component, but I and a bunch of other people have hugely enjoyed Marked for Death.
Strictly speaking it's a quest, which means that the thread participants vote on a plan for the main character to (try to) follow. Most participants are from the subreddit, so it's a collection of really smart, creative, and often hysterically funny people.
u/Cariyaga [+4] Kyubey did nothing wrong (4 hours later)
often hysterically funny people.
God, yes.
u/Anderkent [+1] (13 hours later)
[x] Action plan: BUY A YOUTHSUIT
u/oliwhail [+7] Omake-Maximizing AGI (23 hours later)
That was less hilarious and more heart-attack inducing.
u/AurelianoTampa [+2] (a day later)
I was so confused when I tried reading this; I didn't really understand what all the discussion about abilities and whatnot meant. I was wondering... where was the actual story??
Then I realized there is a button for "Reader mode" down at the bottom that seems to filter out all the worldbuilding/participation posts and just has the author's story posts. Looks MUCH easier to understand. But before I jump in, two question:
Will I miss out on much/anything if I just stick to Reader Mode?
I've only watched, I think, the first season of Naruto. And that was years ago. Will I be completely confused and lost in this story?
u/BlueSigil [+1] (a day later)
You will miss a little bit just reading though, but I think the story is clear enough to stand on it's own. The author's completely refactored the world, so cannon Naruto will not contribute too much to understanding the story.
u/Cariyaga [+1] Kyubey did nothing wrong (a day later)
Nah, you won't be that bad off in either case. There's 1300+ pages of discussion, that's a little excessive to read through regardless, so I end up linking people the reader version anyway.
u/oliwhail [+1] Omake-Maximizing AGI (2 days later)
Will I miss out on much/anything if I just stick to Reader Mode?
You will miss a lot of the audience discussion / reactions, but Reader Mode keeps all the 'threadmarked' posts, so that includes both the story and all the silly little fan-written scenes. I recommend it as the best enjoyment-per-time reading method.
I've only watched, I think, the first season of Naruto. And that was years ago. Will I be completely confused and lost in this story?
No, that should give you more than enough of a grounding in the premises. And, as u/BlueSigil said, much of the world is different, so not being too invested in canon is actually helpful for grasping the setting.
u/None [+7] (7 hours later)
Forty Millenia of Cultivation
u/diraniola [+18] (22 minutes later)
With This Ring is a Young Justice SI that has updated every single day since August 14, 2013. At 49 pages of thread posts in the story only thread, currently 1220 total posts.
The SI appears somewhere near the moon with an orange power ring on his finger. He describes himself as a "combination futurist, combatant and explorier" at one point in an attempt to judge his ring's translation capabilities. He seems to mostly be in the business of industrializing super human abilities and tries very hard to convince super villains away from crime, actually succeeding in several cases so far.
u/CouteauBleu [+13] We are the Empire. (48 minutes later)
I keep thinking With This Ring is kinda low-quality and I should be reading something else. Then I'm bored, I've already read Drowtales and Erfworld's updates and I think "what else could I read" and back I am.
The author is incredibly consistent with his update rate; like wildbow-level consistent, except he posts every day.
u/Rouninscholar [+6] (an hour later)
It does sometimes get mildly low quality... but it is more that he gets into parts of the story I find more boring. The consistantly good (not great always, but always at least good) content EVERY FUCKING DAY? He is like some demigod or paragon of writers output. I personally feel that the more boring parts are him writing "every day stuff" in while planning the "great" stuff.
u/Frommerman [+3] (5 hours later)
It also means that it feels like his characters are actually real people rather than characters because you see everything about their lives, including the mundane things where nothing happens. A really interesting effect that can't be replicated except by what Zoat is doing.
u/Agnoman [+6] (a day later)
I binged through.. a very large amount of WTR, and I had to give up because it just got.. irritating for me to read(and I have an almost pathological need to finish stories I start).
I want to say the character was a Mary Sue, but that's a term that's thrown around so much it's become almost meaningless.
As I remember it, the main character was just the best at EVERYTHING. Every mission was something he himself solved (which usually meant relegating the rest of the ensemble somewhere to the side). He trumped Robin in his specialty, Superboy in his, and so on and so forth. Again and again he was shown to be superior to characters like Batman in various ways, and places where he came off as inferior were few and far between, and stuck next to him doing something awesome.
Every time he interacted with Green Lanterns - who had a practically identical powerset and years or decades more training and experience - the focus was on how good the self-insert was. When he had lessons from them he was teaching them as much as they were teaching them. And what he was teaching wasn't even all that clever (e.g. don't signal your moves if you don't have to) - it was stuff the Green Lanterns should already have known.
There's a lot of that - things being interpreted in whatever way is most favourable to the main character. Things follow comic book logic when comic book logic makes the main character look awesome, and it's laughed at when it makes him look clever. Elements added to Young Justice generally either make the MC look awesome, or give him the opportunity to look awesome. Characters being buffed or nerfed to suit (or not being buffed when everything else was).
To me it felt like WTR had the stereotypical SI problems: the main character was the next best thing to all powerful,and the main character had the same opinions as the author, with the world as written by the author then conforming to those opinions. As a general rule the main character didn't seem to really be challenged ideologically, and it could veer close to being almost .. preachy, if you get what I'm saying. (And the author's subjective views being treated more or less as objective facts is something that probably isn't hugely rational)
Every character we see likes or respects him, and often confides in him above and beyond what they confide in others. The way he actually acts is... weird and quirky to the extreme, let's just say, but he's not treated like an insane person would be treated. Instead the absurdities are just something that makes him more cool and awesome.
Like other SI things, there's a bunch of random moments where the main character will stop and spend a few paragraphs explaining, say, why he hates cereal, which doesn't add anything to the story or deepen the character in any meaningful sense and presumably is only there to make the main character more like the author. Or there's some form of author tract about why the author likes or dislike something, which is then dragged into absurdity (and yet the absurdities never meaningfully inconvenienced the character).
I should say that there were good bits too, don't get me wrong. I suspect that reading hundreds of thousands of words over the course of days made it easy for me to see the flaws, and maybe the sour taste the story left is colouring my recollections, but on the whole it didn't feel like the main character was being challenged in any meaningful, personal sense. Things happened, of course, and there were gigantic stakes going on in the plotlines but... I don't know, the conflict felt hollow. At least to me.
u/Rouninscholar [+1] (32 minutes later)
Mildly funny story, it used to be on a different forum, and it hasnt really made it every day (Though that is not the authors fault) The forum it used to be on temp banned the author for something stupid involving the new star wars, causing him to miss a day until he moved to the new forum.
Also for anyone whom wants to read it, I would recommend going here: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/with-this-ring-young-justice-si-thread-twelve.25032/ there is a great epub that makes catching up more enjoyable to me.
u/DangerouslyUnstable [+2] (6 hours later)
Did he actually miss a day when he got banned? I thought he moved as soon as it was apparent the ban wouldn't be lifted in time to meet his schedule.
u/Rouninscholar [+1] (7 hours later)
To be perfectly honest I am unsure. I feel like he missed a day, but depending on the specific story I dont generally like reading day to day, and generally try to forget stories for a month or two so I can have something to catch up to. I wasnt there the day it happened.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (14 hours later)
You're right. He was later to post than usual, but he did manage to post the update that day (on a different forum). He usually posts early morning UK time so he had plenty of time to get the post up on the new forum.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (14 hours later)
He was later to post than usual, but he did manage to post the update that day (on a different forum). He usually posts early morning UK time so he had plenty of time to get the post up on the new forum.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (15 hours later)
Highly recommend With This Ring. It's consistently good to great and being able to update daily for so long is just mind blowing.
I love having a smart superhero; it really does a good job of challenging superhero stereotypes.
u/Lost_Vikings_Suck [+6] (13 hours later)
I'm really enjoying Savage Divinity. It starts out as a SI in a world the person doesn't know. It starts a little slow but the writing quality greatly increases. It updates pretty regularly and there are 150 chapters out. It's the only other web serial besides MOL that I get excited when a new chapter comes out.
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (15 hours later)
Savage Divinity
Thanks for the recommendation.
u/Kodix [+6] (8 hours later)
Out of the ones already suggested, there's a lot I consider good - but I can unreservedly second the recommendation of Mother Of Learning and Animorphs: The Reckoning. Easily some of the best writing I've read, commercial or not.
Now, one I haven't seen listed in this thread is Zombie Knight. It updates daily with snippets.
There's not a lot of specifics I can say without spoiling it. It's basically a superhero story, but it's not really presented in line with the usual superhero cliches.
It has a lot of good action, a bit of political intrigue, a bunch of interesting munchkinry, and some truly heartwarming moments. After reading the entirety of it in one sitting, I was left eagerly wanting more.
It starts out a bit roughly but hits its pace soon - try to give it at least ten chapters if you try it (which might be asking a lot, I know).
u/Zephyr1011 [+2] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity (a day later)
Is that still updating daily? I binged through the entire backlog a few months ago, but from what I can see the update speed has since slowed dramatically below daily, and has been on hiatus for a few months
u/Kodix [+1] (a day later)
I confess I only read it in bursts, so I'm not sure.
I did intend to catch up to it today, though, and found very little new content from the last time I'd read it, so you're probably right.
u/MoralRelativity [+6] (15 hours later)
OK, I highly endorse the recommendations for:
- Mother of Learning
- A Practical Guide to Evil
- With This Ring
I agree with the varied comments about Unsong. I do think it's going somewhere but it is a very fragmented story. I am still reading, just.
I also recommend Saruman of the Many Devices. A fairly rational reworking LoTR where Saruman gradually invents gunpowder and more modern weaponry. Great reimagining of the world but VERY slow updates (every three months or so). https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7568728/1/Saruman-of-many-Devices
u/Rouninscholar [+8] (an hour later)
these are my opinions, blah blah blah...
http://unsongbook.com/ Weird one. I only mention it as it keeps appearing here. I like it, it feels like douglas adam's writing. the only downside is most of the time it doesnt feel like a coherent story, it is more of snapshots oh a particular world. Regardless of whether or not he is going somewhere with it, it is funny and weird and has puns.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9794740/1/Pokemon-The-Origin-of-Species Disclaimer, im a huge pokemon fan. Updates once monthly, each update is fairly long. This one is less funny, more serious. It stays on topic very well, is well thought out and is on an interesting subject. The downsides of this one is that it feels like it isnt about the standard pokemon story, and is more focused on deconstructing and analyzing the world. I wouldnt go in expecting a huge adventure and a hero saving the world.
https://ceruleanscrawling.wordpress.com/ Possibly not super rational. Monsters are real, and you were chosen to be a great monster fighter, so we are taking you to a magical school where you learn to fight them and do magic. Great story. The upsides are that it is engaging, and is much more of a "standard hero story" but routinely and repeatedly tempered by reality. The physics are interesting, and generally the world doesnt have you poking around the edges to see how they work. The conflicts are all believeable, and the motivations feel fairly real. In addition to that, it plays with tropes quite well. they get used, lampshaded, deconstructed, ignored, etc. regularly enough to keep you guessing. My biggest issue, is that every aspect of the story is related to every other aspect, to the point it hurts my suspension.
http://www.fictiongrill.com/how-to-avoid-death-on-a-daily-basis/ This is closer to a trainwreck than anything else. The main character is an asshole. He is racist, and the race he hates is humans. Just kidding, he hates non humans too. the story is weird, with standard themes and an interesting build up. I cant point to any part of the story I really like, but for some reason I keep on reading it unable to tear my eyes away. updates almost daily (I believe the goal is every work day) and just finished book 5 so it is taking a hiatus. I will be back to reading it, and not knowing exactly what keeps me there.
http://www.drewhayesnovels.com/spy1/p super powereds is the best of this list. It is a super hero world, with its own set of problems. Incredibly rational. Each person has a power that does 1 thing, and one thing only. Dont get me wrong, the speedster also got endurance and such, but except for a very small selection most peoples powers are 1 idea and some small powers designed to make it work. It is based on some people going to school to be heros. If you have read any of what I posted, you owe it to yourself to read this. Great characters, that learn and grow and change. a world that he has spent some great time in building, designing, and questioning. Super powereds is the main series, updates tuesday and thursdays (technically it updates sometime late monday and wednesday for me). we are somewhere around alfway through the fourth and final book. Corpies, the first side book is done and also availible on the same site. Blades and barriors is the second side book it is newer, and updates wednesdays. You can stat corpies after year 2 of the primary book, and blades and barriers after year 3.
u/DTravers [+6] (5 hours later)
http://unsongbook.com/ Weird one. I only mention it as it keeps appearing here. I like it, it feels like douglas adam's writing. the only downside is most of the time it doesnt feel like a coherent story, it is more of snapshots oh a particular world. Regardless of whether or not he is going somewhere with it, it is funny and weird and has puns.
This is more or less why I didn't go for more than a few chapters, as well as required knowledge in Judaism and programming to get stuff, and painful allegories to the open-source movement on a par with the likes of Doctorow. It feels like it relies on "tee-hee I'm so weird!" to get by in place of character development or plot.
And for something positive, I'd add A Practical Guide to Evil to the list. It's set in a land where the Evil Empire has established itself as a dominant power with Legions of Terror to put down rebellions, following a young villain apprenticed to the Black Knight in the vein of Skitter, as she becomes more and more ruthless in achieving her goals. Heroes and villains have Names, powerful cultural archetypes - Black Knight, Warlock, Captain, Ranger, Scribe, and Assassin make up the six Calamities in service to the Empire. Each have three Roles to call upon - Seek, Struggle, Shadow, for example.
u/AurelianoTampa [+3] (6 hours later)
Black Knight, Empress, Captain, Ranger, Scribe, and Assassin make up the six Calamities in service to the Empire.
Warlock would like to have a word with you! ;-)
And technically I think the Calamities were only Black, Captain, Warlock, Ranger, and Assassin. Scribe is always with Black, but isn't actually a Calamity herself; Dread Empress has the Calamities working for her but isn't one herself.
Though Ranger, unless I miss my guess, is no longer a Calamity as she works for Refuge now.
u/DTravers [+3] (6 hours later)
Damn, I knew I got some mixed up...I'm also fairly sure Scribe is a Calamity, it's just nobody notices her until they do something stupid and stop existing.
u/Rouninscholar [+1] (7 hours later)
I like unsong, I wouldnt call it rational at all. is what that quote meant. But yeah, also doesnt feel like a story.
I have been meaning to get into the practical guide, I read the prologue and the writing is decent. I just didnt have time to get hooked whenever I look at it and push it back some more. maybe this week sometime.
u/DTravers [+1] (7 hours later)
the writing is decent
How can I put this...
“Monster,” I finally said.
A single word, carrying with it the faint memory of fear and a dark alley. Of a black cloak warming my frame on a cold night. It felt like an offered hand.
His lips twitched into something almost a smile. “The very worst kind,” he replied.
A hand clasped. I closed my eyes, and wondered whether I’d just saved my homeland or sold it.
I did not get much sleep that night.
u/Vakuza [+3] (3 hours later)
Things I'm currently reading:
Void Domain: https://towercurator.wordpress.com
Fantasy story including demons and magic set in modern-ish times.Curveball: https://www.eviscerati.org/fiction/curveball
Superhero based story with quite a few characters.Daybreak: https://krytykal.org/daybreak/
Historical military story with magic, reincarnation part kinda becomes irrelevant to the story.There's more I'm reading but those are the ones I'd recommend as the rest have been mentioned or are posted on the subreddit, like MoL, Practical guide to Evil and A hero's war.
u/narfanator [+3] (4 hours later)
Of the ones that don't post updates here, other people have also recommended:
The Gods are Bastards Superpowered / Blades & Barriers
The SP/B&B guy also wrote one called "Corpies", in the same universe, featuring some of the same characters, that's since finished and been replaced by B&B.
"The Last Angel: Ascension" updates, although infrequently, and is the sequel to "The Last Angel" on SpaceBattles.
PS - I just checked for updates to Glimwarden, and there haven't been. Was there a comment by the author at some point?
u/alexanderwales [+8] Time flies like an arrow (7 hours later)
I am putting a halt to Patreon, effective immediately. I lately haven't had enough energy/motivation/inspiration/discipline for writing, which is resulting in me not actually writing anything, or just writing at an impractically slow pace. This isn't really fair to anyone who's supported me on Patreon, and I'm sorry for that. This isn't the end for Glimwarden, but it's the end of me pretending that I'm going to be able to hit regular updates, because clearly that's not happening.
I want to return to the green fields of writing, where I can wander off and take a few days to write Air Bud fanfic, or map out a world where vampires and wizards are battling in the streets of New York City. In that sense, serial fiction really isn't suiting my creative needs, and a schedule is proving counterproductive. I feel bad about this, but feeling bad about it isn't actually helping me write more, so that's sort of useless for everyone.
The options for Patreon are either to delete it completely or to switch over to per-unit and then not putting out any units of anything. I'm electing to do the latter; anything produced until this indefinite "break" is over will not be paid posts, and I'll give plenty of notice if I decide that I'm changing anything in that regard. (I am still planning on participating in National Novel Writing Month in order to complete The Dark Wizard of Donkerk, but don't have particularly high hopes for completion given my current output rate.)
I'm currently on the final scene of the final chapter of DWoD, but there's some epilogue/denouement after that as well. The next chapter of Glimwarden is something like 90% written, but will probably get changed a little bit so that it has more reintroduction.
u/DangerouslyUnstable [+1] (7 hours later)
I was wondering the same thing. The closest thing I found was a stickied announcement on the glimwarden sub saying that it was inactive, but no info as to how long it will be so or even if it's ever coming back.
u/GeeJo [+4] Custom Flair (2 hours later)
The ones already recommended in this thread that I'll second/third:
Non rationalist/rational ones I also enjoy:
- God's Eye, Dresden Files/Stargate crossover that does the best job I've seen so far of capturing Jim Butcher's style of "constantly ramping stakes".
- Wearing Robert's Crown starts out as a standard ASOIAF self-insert fic with the quirk that it's entirely third-person, but changes dramatically part-way through. Updates were reliable until recently, but I think the author's taking a break for the christmas holidays.
- Strong Female Protagonist actually is very rational. It's a fairly low-key superhero setting and the story mostly uses the superheroes as a metaphor for social justice issues and discussion on personal, moral, and ethical aspects of its world, rather than action set-pieces.
u/DangerouslyUnstable [+6] (7 hours later)
I really enjoy SFP. It has an interesting status for me where I find myself disagreeing with many of the author's viewpoints espoused in the comic through the main character but even when I disagree they are presented in such a way that I'm pretty sure I could have a totally reasonable discussion about them with the author (were I ever in a position to do so). Also, I'm really interested in where the overall arc of the plot is going. There are so many cool worldbuilding hints that have been dropped but that don't get addressed very frequently.
u/Rouninscholar [+1] (7 hours later)
Unfortunately, God's Eye, while interesting is short, and not updating. Still decent.
u/GeeJo [+4] Custom Flair (7 hours later)
There have been two updates in the past two weeks. Use the Threadmarks system- the guy hasn't updated the original post in ages.
u/Hermaan [+1] (9 hours later)
Just started reading Wearing Robert's Crown after seeing it here and it really is a great read!
u/Timewinders [+1] (11 hours later)
I also recommend Wearing Robert's Crown. It's quite good.
u/AurelianoTampa [+1] (13 hours later)
God's Eye, Dresden Files/Stargate crossover that does the best job I've seen so far of capturing Jim Butcher's style of "constantly ramping stakes".
Never watched Stargate, but love TDF. Worth reading?
u/GeeJo [+1] Custom Flair (19 hours later)
You could follow what's going on, I think, but you'd have to have seen it to get the most out of the fic.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (15 hours later)
Strong Female Protagonist
Thanks for the recommendation, will check it out.
u/pleasedothenerdful [+2] (14 hours later)
Fall of Doc Future is good. First two novels are complete with the third in progress. rational!superheroes starring a female speedster, written by someone who probably frequents /r/theydidthemath, recently dealing with AI and sociopolitical aspects of an AI uplift. Good writing. I'm behind, so I can't say how regular updates are (I prefer to binge).