Something is buried underneath Liscor. And it's hungry.
Of course, if there were only one thing under Liscor, there would be far less to fear. However, the dungeon continues to be a threat. At the same time, Goblins continue to roam northern Izril, but not all of them are as hostile to people as Tremborag or the Goblin Lord. Will the Unseen Emperor of Riverfarm make that distinction, however?
A reckoning is coming as old faces and new reemerge. And all the while, The Wandering Inn is still serving food and respite and even plays to adventurers and Antinium alike. But something is coming from the dungeons. And it—they—are hungry.
This was emotionally exhausting, but I still absolutely loved it! What an amazing world full of wondrous characters!!! You guys should really get this series and I will strongly recommend doing it in Audiobook format!!! The narrator is absolutely awesome and perfect for this story! It is magical and real at the same time! I don't have enough vocabulary to praise it properly. The series starts slow and cozy and progresses into an Epic Fantasy as time goes on. You grow and learn along with the characters and they make good and bad choices, but you stick with them, because they end up stealing your heart ❤️. I absolutely love this series, despite at times it breaking my heart... The brushing off and getting up again is that much sweeter... 🤟🤟🤟😀
I liked this audiobook, in spite of its cringe moments. Next level narration work by Andrea Parsneau, as usual. Curiously, I leave this book with the feeling that less happened in this instalment than the previous ones. I could be wrong. Anyway. Book 8 and I'm still hooked. That has to be a record.
4.0 Stars This was another action packed installment with a lot of emphasis on conflict and war. It's not my favourite part of the series so I find myself waiting for the interpersonal moments. Still I am enjoying this series and looking forward to reading the next book.
So good. There is pain and heartache in these stories. It is written so well and the story is told in such a wonderful manner. The pain and the joy the author the author brings to these stories is always amazing. While there is less plot and story and more action here it's still incredible and I can't wait for more.
The series just gets better and better. Every book is the next chapter of the story and it escalates and crescendos creating a tail that is a wonder to read. My favorite series in a long while. Thank you very much
This one was so close to a 5 star if it didn't have such a heavy goblin focus at the start.
The Good - Lyonette had some interesting character growth and the princess class arc was well done. - The build-up of the three adventuring groups entering the dungeon at different locations and the discovery of the shield spider nest. Great dramatic tension and action sequences ensued. - Bringing forward the Antinium's knowledge of the dungeon and diving deeper into their true motives. - Interested in the addition of Elia Arcsinger as a character and learning more about the legendary and mysterious character. - Vaguely interested in Tyrion Veltras' motives and political scheming with Laken and the Goblins. - Bird. Everything Bird. My favourite character of the whole series possibly and his chapter was delightful. - Raskghar invasion was great. Particularly the fight at the Inn and the arrow conflict between BadArrow, Halrac and Bird. - I initially groaned at the Erin doesn't want to hurt Goblins storyline being repeated, but have to admit it really is the core of her as a character and it made for a great conclusion at the final battle. - Blackmage getting some POV screen time and more modern Wistrum intrigue and character set-up. Looking forward to more from him in future books. - Setting up the Redfang 5 as their own adventuring group with new classes and equipment. Each of their trips into the dungeon were entertaining. - The introduction of the city in the dungeon, zombie-infected drakes, the 3 guardians of Skinner, Snatcher and Stalker and the massive pitt that is protected in the middle of the city. This has my hyped and can't wait to see where they go with it. - Mrsha's captivity, integrating the druid skills and relationship with the gnolls / eventual escape and self-sacrifice. - Snatcher is great. Wish we could have met Stalker. - Ceria's character growth - even if i found it challenging to believe she could assist Calruz in any capacity given his actions. - The final battle in the dungeon was perfect. Every character got some flowers, Erin's chess skills came to the forefront and it was a clever plan of attack. My only regret is that they didn't have Ceria kill Calruz at the end in stead of taking him prisoner as it would have been a better end to his arc.
The Bad - As is tradition, Rags. Not interested in her leadership journey, she is a child. Would gladly have her crushed by a boulder so that we can focus on the more interesting Pyrite. The rage and slaughter of innocents arc didn't feel earned and has furthered my disinterest in her as a character. - Laken was really weakened as a character in this book, which made sense narratively, but is kind of disappointing at the same time. - The Play drama felt like it wasn't deserved and would have aligned better if it was in an earlier book. The species integration to date didn't reflect the dramatized backlash. - Neirs chapter felt needless and just to build tension before revealing what was happening with the gnoll escape.
The Meh - The Lyonette/Pawn story started off on an interesting note of unrequited affection - until it got weird and made them an item? Still not clear on what this looks like, but the inter-species relationships still manage to give me the ick (which is a me thing more than a narrative fault). - The introduction of two new adventurer groups (Pride of Kelia and Gemhammer) seems excessive with the amount of POV characters we are already juggling. - Toren cameo was fine - glad they didn't get a POV. - Blinding Laken by destroying the totems made sense and was clever for balancing the playing field, but give me a break with the Goblins developing trebuchets in a few hours with only a distant glance. - Reiss and Tremborag battle scenes - Calruz's character development. It works for the story, but the explanation of "madness" seems flimsy for becoming a villainous mastermind. Also was the SA attack on Ceria necessary?
Onto Book 9 and the end of this volume's arc with an ominous title and cover.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
RTC - holy shit this is the best of TWI so far. Didn't think I'd say this after that short stretch of chapters that were by far the most annoying thing in TWI so far. But okay I'll take it after all this other Peak.
4.8* Un cop més, Pirateaba combina amb enginy humor, sentiments i dramatisme en una nova entrega de la saga. L'estil narratiu equilibra a la perfecció l'acció trepidant amb moments molt emocionants i carregats dd sentiments. Les descripcions de les batalles són vívides i cinemàtiques, mentre que les escenes emocionals són crues i impactants. L'humor arriba sovint a través de diàlegs enginyosos i peculiaritats dels personatges, oferint-nos l'alleujament necessari entre tota la tensió, fent la història ben arrodonida i addictiva. A més, com a bona "goblin lover" m'encanta la trama.
First book of the year and yeah, a very good one. Yeah, well, could this series continue developing further more? Is this eternal? like one piece? Is this the only thing keeping my life together? Perhaps
Honestly probably one of my favorites in the series, this book was so fantastic. Emotionally gutting, engrossing in every aspect, and so full of action in the best way.
Literally a conversation and a summary of a chapter about how our little miss perfect saved the day once again, and got people on her side - not by giving the 30 second explanation of her idea to win over the busy and competent people she was making demands of but the man then blind loyalty because of her name like a freaking villain. I get it, she's the hero of the series. But there's got to be a limit. Flawless heroes are always one thing that turns me off of a book, but this is a bit extra because she's hugely obnoxious and not particularly competent and still everything goes her way and everybody loves her despite themselves and it is just not buyable. That conversation I quoted happened at the end of a chapter where another reasonable character was asking why every high level important persosn jumps at Erin's whims and suggestions no matter how stupid she says something. And that level of meta- the author directly acknowledging the huge plot hole and then doubling down on it,.. I almost have to respect the audacity. I love everything about these books besides the main character. It's ok to have a not likable main character! Don't get me wrong. It's fine if she was that pushy, disrespectful, blatantly and purposefully obnoxious when she doesn't get her way. But what kills me is that everyone still sees her as shooting rainbows out of her asshole and she always effortlessly succeeds where everyone else fails.... "Because she's her" and not a single other reason that makes sense.
The other books were all 5 star, but it got to a point it was hard to continue for that reason.
Amazing audiobook as usual. The story continues with part of the action taking place in Tremborag's mountain and River Farm, but the majority around Liscor, between the inn and the dungeon. Erin's sphere of influence is the main focus with a huge challenge. I don't want to give anything away, but the details are so well written. You can imagine yourself in her world with the smells and sounds and emotions. As always, heavy themes run throughout the book, like racism (or speciesism in this case), slavery, mental illness, identity, inclusion of those on the spectrum, rape, violence, grief, love for fellow beings. It's full of magic and battles, solving challenges, and of course special leveling up and gaining of skills and new classes. Rioka is only mentioned a lot in this one, but we don't learn any more about her storyline yet. I can't wait for the next book. Going to pre-order it as soon as that's an option.
I loved this one (though I've loved them all); this one emphasizes that when all people, all races, come together, the world is a better, safer place. It does that even the most stubbornly set-in-their-ways people can grow, so we shouldn't give up. Erin sets a good example for how to talk to those whose world views are so opposite to yours that you feel you can't be friends.
The series continues to get more and more fun as it goes on. One thing I’m not sure I enjoyed or didn’t enjoy was the way the author seems to have decided to reign in the storylines a bit. She really focused hard on the Liscor storylines in this book and ignored several of the other ongoing storylines. I’m mostly okay with this as it made the story more cohesive and natural feeling, but also I want to know some of the other stuff that’s going on with characters like Rioka or Rags.
The editing for this book was also much improved over earlier entries. There were still a few awkward bits where I wasn’t sure that entire sections needed to be included or where a character’s word choice was a bit off, but there were no glaringly obvious issues like there were previously.
All in all, really fun entry, more excited for the rest of the series than I’ve been after previous books.
I loved this book I found my stomach in knots worrying about what will happen to the knolls. The narration as always is superb. The series gets better with each passing book. I loved the Bird arc and again I was in tears. Lots of fun though and laugh out loud moments.
Yeah, for whoever says "the writing gets better", it really does NOT.
There is a scene with Pisces and dead not-Gnolls, and the author then chooses to make it 'revelation' to Pisces as to the opportunities the necromancer has here... Something that is so incredibly OBVIOUS, the author chooses to take almost a paragraph for the necromancer to understand. Mind you, this necromancer is supposed to be one of the smartest, most resourceful characters in this book. Dear god how this author does not respect her own characters.
This entire story seems to be about incompetence. I'm pretty sure this is not what the author intended, yet this is where we are. Innkeeper, necromancer, princess, guild receptionist, wall lord, watch commander, senior guardsman, army commander(s). All of these constantly act in a way contrary to how one might expect them to behave, all extremely skewed towards complete incompetency. Is the leveling system of this world entirely based on the Dunning-Kruger effect? It seems so.
Another phenomenal volume in The Wandering Inn, and I loved every second of it. At this point, it’s obvious how deeply engrossing this series is—each volume is over 900 pages, and they fly by so quickly that I barely notice. The world, the characters, the sheer scope of everything—it's incredible.
Bird and Marcia were absolute standouts for me in this volume. Bird’s perspective continues to be one of the most fascinating in the series, balancing humor, heart, and a truly unique way of seeing the world. Marcia’s arc was just as compelling—every time she was on the page, I was completely hooked.
Every single character feels distinct and fully realized, and I’m so invested at this point that I don’t even question jumping into another massive volume.
Blood of Liscor, despite its narrow focus, is one of the best entries in the series. This time around the focus is wholly directed towards the dungeon and its inhabitants. The unusual guests were consolidated as characters, and the usual warm slice of life interactions were present. However the majority of the book was spent in a state of tension and uncertainty, which showed a layer to the author's writing that hadn't been shown so far. In short, a wonderful entry that adds to what is shaping into the greatest volume so far.