Web Serials

Been a while since I picked up anything new that was good.


New one from Macronomicon, usual madcap insanity but tilted more toward comedy than Wake or Soulmonger. It's a bit like 'The Gamer' webtoon, in that it's a superhero/magic universe and the main character's abilities manifest as making everything like a video game. MC is a highschooler, and a cheerfully autistic sociopath.

I have *really* liked this one so far, Perry's parents in particular, they are absolutely hilarious.




Only read the first book of this, but it was a good read, and change of pace. Um, let's see - post-apocalyptic setting with surviving humans scavenging ruins and destroyed tech in a frozen hellscape, except the few that live deep underground in fortified cities that have to deal with constant self-replicating robot attacks. Interesting mix of technologies, with some people using hand built firearms, and the lucky few using ancient self-repairing sets of power armor.

I got a kick out of futuristic ice pirates using excel95 to keep track of their loot because it was the last DRM free accounting software the human race produced. Then I got slightly depressed at how plausible that was. ( OpenOffice isn't *technically* DRM'ed but good fucking luck finding a copy with a physical installation media and getting it running without the internet )

The first book of 12 Miles was good, then book 2 starts and everything that was established before is made irrelevant. All of the super rare equipment like armor and swords suddenly become common, their immortal leader loses all of his mystique and is sidelined. To replace him we get a Gary Stu wonder boy inventor and his combat god sister butting heads with an AI monster chick that is on a spiritual journey to become more human. It's all so tiresome.

As for recommendations, Jackal Among Snakes has continued to deliver.

Dawn of the Void - a LitRPG Apocalypse | Royal Road

This one is surprisingly good. I ignored it for a while because apocalypse litrpg are a dime a dozen, but this one plays out quite differently - it's much more about the apocalypse part than the litrpg part.

I've enjoyed catching up to current on this one:


Young woman's attempt to attend magic university runs into some snags when her deadbeat dad steals an immensely valuable book and hands it off to her during the getaway, leaving her alone in an unfamiliar city with the police after her.

A run-in with a local ganglord leads to her attempting to continue to attend the university in disguise* and under a false identity, while working with the gang to try and pay off her debts.

Reminds a bit of a more upbeat version of Pith - with the main character trying desperately to live a triple life while juggling an increasingly unstable whirlwind of lies that is going to come crashing down sooner or later.

Was good fun, and something different from the usual RR fare - I particularly liked some of the third party POVs where a bunch of coincidences and mistaken assumptions get misinterpreted in startling ways.



*This isn't quite as dumb as it sounds, for reasons that are vaguely spoilery.

Ritley said:

Spoiler

It also doesn’t really answer the big question of what is really going on outside of earth. And if the Eluthaarii are just going to give it up now that most of the energy in the sector is already spent or if they are going to be vindictive about it.

Click to expand...

On a non-spoiler front, I was very happy with how that wrapped things up - well-written, memorable characters, a different take on things and best of all, a coherent story arc that leads into a satisfying ending.