Vagabond Treehouse ~ [Fall 2025: World of Chains #1-3 (Wayward Bard) | The Perfect Run 1-3 (alternating)] Showing 2,301-2,350 of 2,531

[Narilka]

Stupid life issues getting in the way of reading :D

She's still not feeling great post-procedure. My husband offered to go down and help out but she's declined so far. There's something about ladies of a certain age...

I spoiler tag that kind of stuff for easy skipping if anyone would prefer to keep their discussions to books.

[Narilka]

Mother of Learning: ARC 3 through Ch 11 (view spoiler)[I am impressed with just how many things the boys are willing to try now that they know how the time loop works and what their time limit is. Black rooms, skeleton pirate ship, attempted robbery of the royal treasury lol And more!

Zorian's conversations with his simulacrum are disconcerting. It's amazing how much deviation there is after only a few hours. Also hilarious that they got him on a date with Acoya lol

I guess we'll see if they can locate all 5 key parts by book's end. And if Zorian 2 can actually figure out how to they can teleport to that other continent in a reasonable time frame. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Multiplicity vibes

[Nirkatze]

Narilka wrote: "Stupid life issues getting in the way of reading :D

She's still not feeling great post-procedure. My husband offered to go down and help out but she's declined so far. There's something about ladi..."

That's a good idea about spoiler use... I will keep that in mind.

My thoughts go with your family...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Or go the Iain Method ;)

When I made that Self-Promotions thread, because I'd mentioned breaking my foot/toe in multiple threads...

Not sure if I ever deleted that thread a week/month later, like I said I would... should probably check... that was 18 months ago now... I feel like the roll-on effects of that injury never ended, sometimes...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm a new man .. went and had an ear cleaning... Ear drops weren't getting the job done... When you wear earbuds/pods, 12+ hours/day, wax seems to build up every 18 months or so...

Best $35 I spend at doctor in my opinion...

[Narilka]

I've had that done once. It's like you have all new hearing again and can hear more sounds than before.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I've had it done 3-4x in the past 5-10 years... Didn't know it was a thing before then... Or i'd have probably done it sooner and more...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

You don't realize how much you're not hearing until it's fixed...

[Nirkatze]

Sounds like that'd be a good idea for me too...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

your GP can probably check your ears with the earscope during a yearly checkup and say if there's alot of earwax or not...

I'd just have my GP or a nurse clean my ears then, but the last time I asked, they didn't have the tools available (you'd think they would, or could quickly get it... it's basically a bowl you hold near ear to catch water, and a spray bottle of warm water solution to flush the ear...

It actually went super fast this time since I'd been using over the counter Debrox ear drops that's supposed to soften and help remove earwax at home... it just wasn't getting the job done after a week or 2 of trying with it...

You can tell your ears are full of wax, when the Debrox in ear foaming isn't causing a super itchy sensation (you leave it in for 5 minutes then wash it out with ear bulb of water or another tool for flushing ear (/nose)...

[Nirkatze]

Thanks for the tip!

[Narilka]

Mother of Learning: ARC 3 through ch 13 (view spoiler)[So we finally get to meet the annoyingly perfect older brother Damon! Isn't that interesting that they are both looking for the same treasure. It makes sense really. I loved how it was no mercy in just ripping off the bandaid to bring him up to speed lol That would be a lot to take in. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "Mother of Learning: ARC 3 through ch 13 [spoilers removed]"

The plot definitely zooms along here in book 3... less time meandering and marinating... LETS GO LETS GO, no time to ease people in... each chapter/month also likes to jump around, instead of getting stuck in a rut trying to find better ways to do the same thing over again... keeps it super interesting, if a bit jarring at times, suddenly jumping to different locale/characters each month/chapter...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Stupid doctor billpay portals... I've had a bunch of small bills lately... pay them as they arrive, thereabouts...

Except today, I decided to pay 2 bills I got this week, right after paying the 3rd one I got via text message I have setup... and some of the bills are the exact same value, because insurance sets a value for simple/specialist visits...

BUT... the text message system works faster than the invoice system... so I spent 20 minutes on the phone to customer service to learn that, because it LOOKED like it was trying to get me to pay last month's bill a 2nd time, when it just didn't know I'd paid this month's bill by text 5 minutes ago, because it takes 1-2 days to process... and the invoice doesn't generate until it's printed and mailed... which would be a week from now... very confusing...

[Narilka]

Mother of Learning: ARC 3 through ch 20 (view spoiler)[Zorian attempted to stand up for Kiri with their parents! Aww, he's becoming a nice older brother. And Damon isn't that bad so far. I wonder what he did during their childhood that alienated all the other siblings since this Damon, while a bit egotistical, seems to care about them.

That hydra fight was something else. And now they have another place to store memories. Huh.

I'm impressed they went back to that plot point from book 1 with the old witch. It seems there's plenty for Zack and Zorian to learn there. (hide spoiler)]

Like Iain says, the plot is zooming along now.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

It's pretty clear the MC at the start didn't get along with his family for his own reasons, but also, his siblings do have their own natural negative aspects that slowly get explored...

I actually forgot that Zorian had a 2nd brother for awhile, until it was brought up... the one that needed a potion because he tossed a girl in a poison bush or something?

And the old witch was early book 2, I think, when he first started going away from school for awhile...

[Narilka]

Ahh, you're right about the witch. I'm still glad the author remembered it. He probably had a huge spreadsheet to keep track of everything while writing hah

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Or fans made one... and corrected him on Royal Road...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I caught up on my Reader's Digest reviews in my other group, through August 20th (I do 10 day digests... did March in April, April/May in June, June 2 weeks ago, and July/August last night... finally caught up, since PC replacement... on step 1)...

Now I can hopefully start catching up on official GR reviews...

July/August digests took me 4-5hrs last night, alt tabbing between some things...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

And I did my first set of reviews... 21 books, first digest, March 1st to 10th...

I figure I can just use my digest bursts as break points, and work on it every few days, and maybe be caught up in a month or so... and maybe not hit too many CAPTCHA headaches...

We'll see how I do... I'll have to break it up more starting in May, when I read 50% more books...

[Narilka]

Congrats on catching up a little :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Optimistic Planning is easy, Follow Through is hard...

[Nirkatze]

*cheerleading squad* you can do it!

meanwhile, hides my own pile of unfinished reviews under dark corner of bed....

[Narilka]

Mother of Learning: ARC 3 in the middle of Ch 27 (view spoiler)[I can't believe that Zack and Zorian are sitting down with the Lich for a casual conversation. This is surreal lol After all the other insane things they've done in this book, this one is the top for me right now. 2ish more hours to go. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That's the one part of the book I never expected... everything else was on the list of possibilities, even if I forgot it was, but that wasn't even on my radar...

You're in the home stretch now... I hope Nirkatze makes time to read #2 and start #3 and catches up before we forget everything...

[Narilka]

Yeah, I couldn't stop and finished :) That's quite a cliff hanger that I didn't expect. Well you mentioned the "cliff hanger" a week back or so but the manner it happens in if that makes sense. (view spoiler)[I really have no idea how they'll deal with QI (I assume that's the lich's initials). They are probably going to have to bring him in to the knowledge of the time loop, and that would be very dangerous, or work very very hard to take him out in the beginning of a restart so they can grab the crown since they need time to get back to the control panel and get out. The boys definitely have a sticky problem on their hands.

I think they still have one artifact to find also, right? For the key.

Good thing Zorian instinctively pulled the restart trigger. I hope that means they made it through without side effects. Damn soul mages :D

I am going on the assumption that they both make it out in one piece somehow. I really want them to. Can you imagine how weird it would be to adjust back to regular linear time after all this?? (hide spoiler)]

I'm planning to start book 4 tomorrow.

[Nirkatze]

Yeah, I really hope I can jump in here too... but opening of the school year has me so far behind on everything...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That's a lie... You barely caught up over 3 months of summer ;)

[Nirkatze]

But I DID catch up!! I had time to squeeze in Mother of Learning #1! I was ON TIME with each BR through the start of August! Even a day early!

And now I have 20 books left to read in this month. *sigh*

[Narilka]

I scanned the chapters of Mother of Learning: ARC 4 and noticed that the epilogue is almost 1.5 hours long. That's a long epilogue! I made it through Ch 1 and a little of 2 today (view spoiler)[Thankfully the repercussions weren't that bad since Zorian has a good handle on his soul sense. And of course they're back at it trying to work with QI again lol Playing with fire indeed.

So they really just need to figure out how to retrieve the remaining key parts and then a plan for Zorian's exit. Though I'm not 100% convinced that Zack isn't actually in a similar situation - if Red Robe actually got out without bumping out another soul, maybe Zack is more like Zorian. That hasn't really been answered or did I miss it? Hmm! I know they explained that Zack was hit with some memory stuff way back at his beginning as to why he doesn't remember first entering. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

I feel like there was a He Who Fights With Monsters epilogue that was like 8 hours....

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Book 3 had 8 epilogues

[Narilka]

Why would a story need 8 epilogues? Different characters?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

It was a LitRPG (He Who Fights With Monsters)... and at the end of book 3, the MC dies, and is reborn back on Earth, where books 4-6 take place, before circumstances let him return to the Isekai World... the epilogues are a bunch of side chapters written during books 4-6, showing what the characters on Isekai World were doing during the 2 years the MC spent back on Earth... made more sense to just do them all at the end of book 3 for the traditional release, than release them randomly in the middle of the Earth trilogy arc... the only one they saved for the end of book 6, was the one when the characters found out the MC was "coming back to life" (they didn't know he wasn't dead dead when he died at the end of book 3)

[RachelG.]

Timelord Iain wrote: "It was a LitRPG (He Who Fights With Monsters)... and at the end of book 3, the MC dies, and is reborn back on Earth, where books 4-6 take place, before circumstances let him return to the Isekai Wo..."

I felt like I had to take a break after book 3 with all those epilogues. Eventually I will get back into that series.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'll definitely read Mother of Learning this weekend... might start tonight actually... I'm almost finished with the rest of my August BRs... even adding in Devoured Worlds from July, that just turned into a BR with Paula, so Nirkatze is gonna delay books 2-3 to September/October instead of August/September...

Suck My Cosmos -- almost done
Tideborn
The Bone Ship's Wake
Jerusalem, Book Three: Vernall's Inquest
The River of Silver: Tales from the Daevabad Trilogy
The Damned King
Mother of Learning: ARC 4

I think I can finish everything Sunday night into Monday, and only be one day late for the month, and then the first week of September is pretty empty for me... I think my BR commitments are quite a bit lower next month, with how much has wrapped up recently, altho I'm filling alot of space with standalones, Nirkatze's September theme... I think that was shuffled from the official September theme, I don't remember...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

RachelG. wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "It was a LitRPG (He Who Fights With Monsters)... and at the end of book 3, the MC dies, and is reborn back on Earth, where books 4-6 take place, before circumstances let him r..."

Not really related, but... I feel like I've started alot of random side stuff lately, and I need to get around to finishing some of it, and maybe put a dent in some of my old Incomplete series...

That's something I can look at doing in what's remaining of the year...

From recent months, there's Re:Monarch 2-3, Battle Mage Farmer 7-9, Grand Game 5-9, Demon World Boba 2-3, Harbinger PI 9-12, Seeker's Tale 3+SS Marsha Collins 1-3, Crow Investigations 5-9, and a bunch of Osten Ard books... haven't touched any since June, really... or the first week of July...

Edit to Add: Bobiverse 3-5, My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror 2-6, Galactic Bonds 4-5, and the new Grey Man book from March...

[RachelG.]

I've been thinking of suggesting a Bobiverse series read next year, but don't know if there was room in the schedule. I read the series backwards starting with 4 and it would be nice to read in order.

To add to your list Heretical Fishing 4 just came as well.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That's in my Cozy Holiday pile... I just included stuff I'd started on the side, the past 2-6 months, in that above list...

There should be plenty of room for anything you want in 2026, still... at least regarding the group in general, not sure about your personal reading time... I know there's a bunch of stuff that's carrying over from September, or planned new series replacement BRs, but that's probably less than half the schedule, and people like me and Nirkatze and Ann-Marie only start filling the schedule with tons of BRs, when nobody else is filling, we try to give right of way to people that request less stuff first...

I'm sure there's alot of potential for a Bobiverse BR, given how many people did Singularity Trap over the summer...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started Mother of Learning... I agree returning to a dangerous option like that so fast felt crazy
..

Worked out, I guess... Back to other loopy stuff now, in chapter 6...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 8 now... Somehow this keeps ramping up...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Revenge is sweet... 4 books and Zorian finally pulled the MORNING MORNING MORNING!!! on Kirielle...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nothing is ever simple... This is kinda nerve-wracking... I wonder how much the author outlined this series, and how much was writing chapter by chapter...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 14: (view spoiler)[ crazy to think that the Lich is like the rank 3 villain, and more trustworthy than Red Robe and Silver lake... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

When the spider queen suggested a liaison, I knew the hyper spider that reminds me of Kirielle was returning... Novelty something or other

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 18: Let's F&$@king Go!!!... The Final Battle Sequence begins... 3 chapters before I Win chapters...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

And finished so good ... And those last pages?...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Saddest thing about finishing Mother of Learning, is that Domagoj Kurmaic is a pretty slow writer, he only posts 1 chapter a month on Royal Road (they can be long chapters tho, looking at Mother of Learning)... so Zenith of Sorcery probably won't be finished until like 2030... it's been ongoing since July 2023, and there's 26 chapters so far, as of 6 days ago... plus 3 Interludes... 1 chapter every 3-4 weeks is his official schedule... I assume Mother of Learning was hosted somewhere else before Royal Road, because it released faster like there was a backlog, and the narrator noted at the end of MoL4 that he narrated the book as a podcast for 84 weeks before Domagoj was picked up by a traditional publisher and the audiobooks were re-recorded... Mother of Learning was a little over 100 chapters long... assuming Zenith of Sorcery is a similar length it's got 6 more years to go...

Zenith sounds like a typical Beware of Chicken type world... xianxia inspirations... OP MC... exiled for years, returning home... wants to build a life, but the world gets in the way...

[Narilka]

Something to keep an eye on long term then. Not like there aren't plenty of other books to read in the mean time :)

I'm glad you liked it so much. I'm still working my way through slowly. Almost through Ch 4 (view spoiler)[Woohoo! Everyone's joining the time loop :D This will absolutely help crowdsource solving their problems now that the others can also remember. That's pretty great.

Zack and his pet hydra lol That's hilarious. (hide spoiler)]