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RETIRED THREAD: Vagabond Treehouse Book Club
message 451:
by
Choko
(new)
Aug 09, 2020 01:59PM
I am so sorry we are not there with you - yet! I think I plan on starting the Wandering Inn in September. Can't wait to see what it is all about!
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I just started Joe Ledger #2. The scenes with the bad guys, evil mastermind and the portraits of the green monkey all over the house - hahahaha! Once Cyrus established that he is happily indulgent in his insanity, he just can't do anything that is too over the top, can he?!
Joe Ledger #2:Oh, I think he can definitely go farther than anyone in the world (that's sane) would like.
Choko, you can get the audiobooks for Vol1 & 2. Those are out. I may start re-reading the series when you start up! Probably a mix of reading and listening for Vol1&2.
I would love your guidance through it!!! I already have 1, and plan on buying 2 as I go. Really looking forward to it!
Mod
Man oh man! There are so many times when I want to poke Iain or Choko or somebody and go: Look at what happened in WI!!!
Most of them are funny parts and a few sad bits.
I'm..."
It's cool enough that I buckled under the pressure and started reading the web serial... mostly on breaks at work, when coworkers aren't distracting me... I read the first 2 chapters of volume 3 and LOVE the new characters Lakan and Durene... don't like their neighbors much... can't wait to get back to them... I see they have a couple chapters in each volume, from the online Table of Contents... didn't make much progress on chapter 3 with the Horns of Hammerad... if I read a couple chapters a week (ideally a chapter a day), I might catch up to Pirate Aba in 2 years?
From what I've seen on the wiki, many of the plot elements are long-term, with no easy solutions... the Blight King, the King of Destruction, the Necromancer, the Antinium Menace (I mean that water thing hinted at in volume 2), Liscor dungeon, Torin's storyline, Rags storyline, Ryoka's storyline, etc etc etc...
Alot of that is spoilers to anyone interested in joining the series, but they're just so nebulous in scope/meaning, I think it's OK I didn't use spoiler tags...
Mod
You should... audio definitely helps iron out the first dozen chapters, I think... got me doing physical "book" reading for the first time in awhile...
Mod
Maybe... not sure on re-reading... just read... and I'm doing a lot of non-reading lately... rewatched 3 seasons of Lucifer last week (ready for Season 5 next week), and started watching Madam Secretary yesterday (halfway thru season 1 of 6)
Still managing a fair bit of reading, thanks to work...
Spoilers! So many spoilers! Yeah, that's spoilers but won't mean jack until people read the story. That's actually more spoilery for me than anyone else. Haha and I AM reading it. lolYou don't have to re-read, Iain, but you will have to come and chat with us about it. =)
Since you are reading it, drop notes about it here or we can make a thread for WI? I don't necessarily want to use the BR thread.
What do ya'll think? Actually, we can decide later. Haha
It's good to do other stuff! I *almost* want to catch up on shows too. Almost.
Mod
You don't ha..."
I've taken a break from WoW... I'm playing 2-3 idle games and a digital paint by numbers (Coloring Pixels) on steam, and watching Netflix on 1/4 of my TV/monitor...
So I've taken a break from audiobooks at home, too, it seems... still doing them at work, tho, and making fair progress each day...
Re: WI: a thread might work, if we start talking enough to overtake this thread, or others join...
Re: WI V3: when I first started, I thought lumbering Durene was runner Garia, from Ryoka's storyline... thought this was a chance to bring her back into the story, since she's been less visible, since Ryoka started traveling more widely...
Garia comes back strong but not until like Vol5. Don't go looking for spoilers. I was and was not surprised by the changes that happen with Garia but that's a change much later. I'm almost at the end of Vol6 now and two big arcs will be finished by the end of Vol6 I think. A few of the smaller arcs have been dealt with too.
The downside for this series is that Vol1-4 is where the author figures out what she's doing. I don't think that organizing and writing is a strong point for her. She's a good writer. Hands down. Lots of talent. Just needs to sharpen it before posting but that's not the route she's chosen to take.
Like, I would say she's better than IA in quality & detailing for fantasy. Her problem is that she's still new as a writer and learning things on the go. Not a lot of downtime for her to work things out. Though, in 3 years, she's done a fair bit.
I admire the range of concepts, ideas and she has great twisty strategies within the story and in plot.
Mod
I'm almost at the..."
I'm definitely curious what's going to happen to the world, given Ryoka and Klbkch's theories about the leveling restrictions of the world... and my vague theories about the gods and their connection to said system...
What's your theory on gods? Put it in a spoiler. =DStuff about the leveling & all is coming out in small, tiny pieces. You've met the Titan by now right? Especially if you're in Vol3. What's your take on the King of Destruction? That's my least fav POV. I've learned the art of skimming the WI chapters that drag for me. Haha
Mod
Stuff about the leveling & all is coming out in small, tiny pieces. You've met the Titan by now right? Especially if you're in Vol3. What's your..."
Basically, that they're (view spoiler)
Mod
Stuff about the leveling & all is coming out in small, tiny pieces. You've met the Titan by now right? Especially if you're in Vol3. What's your..."
I love the concept of the Titan... and agree with you already, that I can't wait for the 2 to meet (Niers & Erin)... Flos is also one of my least favorite storylines... mostly because I know it's a really long-term one... from what I skimmed on the wiki, it sounds like he hasn't made it past the Empire of Sands in volumes 3-7, so far... so the likelihood of it resolving anytime soon seems small... it's also a storyline on an entirely separate continent from the main story... altho that doesn't seem to affect my interest in the Titan storyline...
It's the way the KoD is written. It's JUST not that interesting. Though, by the outline of KoD, we should be all over that sucker. Wait until you get to Vol6. Awesome mini-arc in Vol6 that you'll love. (Totally not about Flos. Though there are a couple with him that's cool.)Actually, I think you will love a lot of aspects. Don't do the wiki too much. I don't want you to pre-spoil yourself on what happens in the WI world.
Back to King of Destruction, Flos:
In Wandering Inn, we are introduced to a bunch of characters & races. Pirateaba sets it up so we have the WORST impression possible of everyone. Until you get to know them and then it's still kinda hard to like them but you'll be intrigued. Like all the things we'll whine about Ryoka is handled later. I totally didn't expect that to happen but that's part of Ryoka's long story arc.
KoD - When I think of him and say his name, I'm automatically saying Floss, like flossing your teeth and WHO CAN TAKE THAT SERIOUSLY?!?!? As the ultimate boogey man bad guy? WHO?
Gazi is more scary than KoD.
So, the setup for Flos is weird. We're suppose to think he's amazing or super evil or some extreme. I have total ambivalence to that guy. I feel way more things for everyone else possible and have many yawns for Flos. lol
I should probably like him more by now because of some of the things that have happen but I'm like extremely reluctant and grudgingly accepting him into the plot. lol
Also, the twins are latest WTH Ryoka category of annoying. Hahah
Mod
Yea... Gazi definitely isn't great... most not-great characters seem to be shown in their best light around Erin... like the scene with Lady Magnolia, AFTER the chess match...
Re: Earthlings: 90% of them seem useless... outside of your Erins, Ryokas and Lathans... cannon fodder and crazies like Thomas the Mad Clown... only seen the twins once or twice, and they didn't leave an good impression...
Mod
Shhhhhhhhhh! It's my Erin style master plan! lol Wait till you meet Blackmage. lol
As far as I can see, most of the Earthlings are useless and the secret talk about leveling (between Ryoka & K-Ant) are tossup because even the author seems to be changing her mind on how that's going to roll exactly.
I would like Gazi if she was less like Flos. You'll see what I mean about that later.
Okay, I should finish Vol6 tonight. UGH I HOPE the current story line gets settled in Vol6. Probably not but I can hope!
Ha-ha-ha-ha! I was just thinking I have to start it as soon as possible, because I want to know what the hell you guys are talking about (✷‿✷)
Choko, we can start in September. Bwahahha! I don't mind re-reading these books. It won't take me too long for the first two cause of audio. Though I may skim the website. Choices, choices!
Once we start, could I ask you to post the link to the site again? I would like to do the same.
Sure! I think we should have a Club thread for the Wandering Inn. Iain can have the second post to make links for potential spoilery stuff. We can totally geek the freak out! =D
Mod
Pirateaba even commented on being attacked by angry readers for these cliffhangers, lol...
Yeah, her writing evolves with each volume. I liked what she did in Vol6 the most but I think she's having a hard time finding a balance between planning out the mini-arcs within the main arc. Plus, she thinks she has to do recaps. Which... I don't think so? I feel like there can be one phrase reminders or people can go read the character description in the Glossary. I tried skipping to read the finish of each arc and it doesn't quite work because she mixes in stuff with each chapter. It's not entirely satisfying. If that makes sense.
Someone in the world pulled Vol1 to Vol7 (Ch7.24) into one ebook. I got it but I'll probably just read the website because I like reading Pirateaba's comment. It's usually the first post.
I'm a total dork and started reading Vol7 of Wandering Inn. Even though I'll probably get frustrated (when I get caught up to the current chapter) and I'll have to throw a verbal rant. lol Thus far, it's less exciting than Vol5 & 6 but hinting at stuff I TOTALLY want to read about RIGHT NOW. So, ya know. NORMAL for Wandering Inn. lol
Mod
I shared an ebook maker in several of the web serial threads... basically, as long as a web serial has a Table of Contents page with links to each chapter, the browser addon can make an epub using all the chapter links... can even break the epub into Volume sized books or smaller... just search WebtoEpub for Chrome or Firefox...
Mod
Thus f..."
Sometimes that's half the appeal of the wiki... all the story in a fraction of a fraction of the time... I mean, based on Goodreads page estimates, I think Wandering Inn is longer than Wheel of Time, at this point...
WENT AND CHECKED
According to the front page of the wiki, The webnovel currently has over 18,000 pages and over 4.7 million words (and counting).
Wheel of Time is 11,898 pages and 4,410,036 words, according to wikipedia...
Dude, Vol6 alone is 5500 pages. I would have told you that it's longer than WoT. I wonder what is the longest Fantasy/SF series?
As of 10/2/20141st Discworld was at 15,497 pages
2nd Malazan (All books, Including Spinoff up to Deadhouse Landing) 15,500 pages
3rd Valdemar was around 14,000 pages
4th Riftwar Cycle was around 13,000 pages
5th Xanth was around 13,000 pages
Mod
1st Discworld was at 15,497 pages
2nd Malazan (All books, Including Spinoff up to Deadhouse Landing) 15,500 pages
3rd Valdemar was around 14,000 pages
4th Riftwar Cycle was around ..."
Wandering Inn is hard to gauge, since the books escalate... it's like 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k, 5k, 6k, probably 7k... clearly the wiki and the goodreads numbers don't sync up... cause it would be around 22k pages by now, I think...
The difference with half those series, is they're all 30+ books long... Discworld, Malazan, Riftwar... haven't done Valdemar or Xanth...
Riftwar has been a mixed bag for me... I did around a dozen of the books with Choko and Pavarti, I think... wasn't too sad when they disappeared and I paused... failed to get into Discworld so far, really... started Malazan twice and still haven't progressed past book 3 (probably make this a priority in the next year, when I stop re-reading Wheel of Time and Sanderson, without the group schedule slowing me down)
I just finished Joe Ledger # 2+2.1+2.2...I enjoy the heck out of the series, despite it being one of the most OTT macho action books I have come by lately. As I wrote in my review, the only thing that bothers me, and I think it has more to do with the time we live in, is that ALL scientists are EVIL, even the dude on our side is only a heartbeat away from being totally evil too... As I said, I have only gotten sensitive to that lately, because of this almost medieval wave of anti-sciences sentiment that has been growing and growing in the last four years... It feels like people should know that this is fiction and is a complete exaggeration, but people get stupid and start justifying their already existing distrust and start vilifying people who just try to do their jobs the best they can... I know I am overthinking it, but after so many people constantly saying that scientists are purposefully sabotaging humanity these days, I think we need something to be in their corner...
Love Ghost! Totally didn't expect what happened with Grace....
Mod
I enjoy the heck out of the series, despite it being one of the most OTT macho action books I have come by lately. As I wrote in my review, the only thing..."
I prefer the Joe Ledger brand of OTT Macho Action vs Monster Hunter International, and the like... MHI just goes a bit overboard with the gun talk and stereotypical female love interests... Joe Ledger focuses more on good worldbuilding, I think...
Choko wrote: "I just finished Joe Ledger # 2+2.1+2.2...I enjoy the heck out of the series, despite it being one of the most OTT macho action books I have come by lately. As I wrote in my review, the only thing..."
I'm a bit behind you, only about 50% through Joe Ledger #2. Those twins and their father are a whole other level of evil. And the good guys are so far behind still. No clue how they're going to get up to speed fast.
What I like is how Mayberry uses real science to make the story semi plausible. I had to read through some transgenesis articles the other day because of it :) I'm still curious how gene therapy can be done through water but kind of scared to google that one to find out it's real and not just the author's overactive imagination.
Timelord Iain wrote: "Choko wrote: "I just finished Joe Ledger # 2+2.1+2.2...I enjoy the heck out of the series, despite it being one of the most OTT macho action books I have come by lately. As I wrote in my review, ..."
I've never tried Monster Hunters International and doubt I will any time soon. So many Joe Ledger books to go through :D
You can read the first Monster Hunters International book and you basically read the format for each book in the series. Haha - That's what I did. I read book #1 and quit. Joe Ledger:
I'm not sure exactly what part of genetic research you are talking about but liquids are used as a vehicle to transfer stuff in real science. Most of what Mayberry uses are real or possible but there are lines where it's obviously just flat out fantasy. You can tell. =)
Ghost is awesome!
Wandering Inn:
I used the page count on GR. For Vol 1 & 2, the count is from the Kindle version. I wonder if the counts for 3-6 are from Royal Road (which gives you a count due to #) or if it's the page count in her finished documents.
Vol1: 1158
Vol2: 1631
Vol3: 1816
Vol4: 2216
Vol5: 3317
Vol6: 5500
Vol7: ? (Probably like Vol6)
Yeah, water and fluids could transfer nutrients and pathogens easily, but genetic material which would actually effect DNA structure, that is far from possible at this point. Now, cancerogenic particles can be in anything, but it takes a long time for them to harm the DNA enough, so it would start producing abnormal cells, and even longer before the body's natural immune response stops being able to keep up with the new cell's reproduction... In Joe Ledger I love that he sticks with examples which you can see possibility in... I know for sure that many of the things he is taking about are being implemented in some ways even now. My problem is, this research is always very strictly ethically controlled and the people who come up with it never do rash experiments or think of harming anyone... Yes, many of the most benevolent ideas might eventually backfire and unforseen side effects might follow, but this is why it is so important to keep strict regulations and not try to push companies to produce faster, not safer... Usually those who actually do most harm are the people who finance the scientists, because they are in it for the money, not for the safety of the product... That is all I am saying... "Don't hate the player, hate the game!" (✷‿✷)Narilka, I am so glad you are doing this at my pace. This book is crazy, but in a very engaging way! The Twins are something!!!
Iain and Soo, I have never even heard of the series you are talking about - Monster Hunters International. I don't really mind formulas, as long as they are well done. I will have it in mind for when I magically have nothing else to read, hahahaha!!!
Wandering Inn Vol7 - Ch7.10KOk, okay! Flos, you're not a terrible super being. I think I can like you now. Grudgingly.
Wandering Inn Vol7 - Ch7.11Classic Erin!!! Erin is talking to Lyonette about a business proposal. Except Erin only knows chess and that she likes to make people happy. People being anyone that can think regardless of species. As long as they're not killing each other for no reason, etc.
Here's the bit that has me laughing:
Erin had literally never held a full-time job in her home. She had played against chess champions, sometimes in front of crowds, even a child, and been on television for brief interviews. But it never occurred to Erin that that was like adult stuff. Which she conflated with anything where you had to sign a contract and money was involved. She was sweating a bit. Lyonette sighed.
L: "We're not agreeing to anything. If they try to use a contract-Skill, I'll stop them. Just do what you think is best, Erin."
E: "But how do I trust my brain?"
HAHAHHAHAH TRUST MY BRAIN!
Sorry. I think, only Iain, will get this reference. Probably. Hahahhahaha
*Laughing my butt off in my corner.*
Exactly! I mean, he is supposed to be with us, the good guys! And he is only a breath away from going full Evil on us...
Mod
Yea... I didn't acknowledge the Dr. Who thing... but this series definitely leans toward evil science and scientists and supervillainy... half the fun...
Which kinda makes it funny, when I read people complaining in reviews about the sequel series after this one having a liberal agenda... lol... felt like the same series to me, that it's always been, just on a bigger stage...
People complain that the new series/basically extension of series is too liberal? I think they weren't reading the same series we are. *cackles*
Ahhhhhhhhh! I'm almost caught up to the current chapter release of Wandering Inn and it REALLY SUCKS! Good stuff is happening but I'm not sure if the smaller arcs will be completed before the big one before I get caught up. Also, the author is taking a 2 week break every 3 months and sometimes a 1 week break per month. Probably because there's lots of other projects going on AND the chapters have become longer.
I don't think the audio for Vol3 will be worked on until the Kindle version is released. Even in those, I heard there are still errors.
Mod
Yah. She's doing different things like getting an ergonomic keyboard, physical therapy, etc. Though, she seems to get colds alot. Probably has allergies cause I know that was a big part of me having a constant "cold". It wasn't necessarily a cold so much as allergies and an cold happening periodically.
Just finished Joe Ledger #2. Poor Joe. I did not expect the author to (view spoiler) @Choko - should I go find the two short stories?
Mod
Most of the short stories were collected into an anthology or 2... the short stories tend to be standalone, or mini-wrapups of old villains... like one dealt with that (view spoiler)
I'll have to find those anthologies then. Thanks Iain.
Mod
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