Vagabond Treehouse ~ [Fall 2025: World of Chains #1-3 (Wayward Bard) | The Perfect Run 1-3 (alternating)] Showing 2,401-2,450 of 2,531

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I didn't say anything about it at the time... didn't want to jinx it... then the window to talk about it kinda passed...

[Nirkatze]

Yikes! "Work nemeses" plural? That's not fun... Hope this new schedule helps with that too!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

My work nemeses are a duo that corrupted a 3rd person... The duo kinda hate everyone including each other, but kinda fixate on me since I worked with them pretty closely the past 5 years and did what I was told by bosses which didn't make their job as easy as they wanted... Going to overnights cut 95% of my interactions with them which has been nice...

Corporate stuff and the fact they're good at their actual job tasks keeps them employed... Most of my coworkers know they're a problem and agree, including a variety of tiers of bosses...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

In the past couple years, I pretty much had to start going to my immediate boss occasionally, to make sure I was doing what I should be doing, to have a bit of a verbal paper trail, since some days my nemeses would be in really bad moods, and passive aggressive...

Not the best work environment... a few of us actually started making vague comments to that effect in recent years during the "Grassroots Survey" this thing they do every year to get you to answer an anonymous survey and rate management, and things that could be done to improve the work environment...

Not like "fire those 2", but "foster a sense of teamwork, and don't be hostile when coworkers come to you with a legitimate question about your area of expertise, to the point you're actively avoided by coworkers"... I think someone said something to them, because they were a bit better for awhile after that...

[Narilka]

That stinks. I'm glad you're able to mostly avoid them with your working overnight.

[Narilka]

Mother of Learning: ARC 4 through Ch 18. (view spoiler)[This battle is utterly bonkers lol It spans continents, has multiple simulacrums, dragons, giant robots, dimensional gates, a teleporting hydra and the kitchen sink! It's hilarious how bad Zorian is at pretending to be normal lol

I laughed out loud when one of the simulacrums told that one soldier he's now on official head carrying duty hahaha

I find Silverlake going AWOL slightly disturbing. While I'm sure the 3 chapters titled "I Win" are a good indicator, there could still be a heavy toll for all this. I don't expect things to get sane any time soon :) (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Remember when (view spoiler)[Simulacrums were dangerous magic that shouldn't be used too much in case the simulacrums don't want to die/etc, or greedy with mana supply... just shows how much things escalated in the series...

Also yea... "just cut my head off, dude" :D (response: "I didn't sign up for this shit")

I didn't know what to expect from the triple I Win chapters, but thought it was super clever when I reached it and saw what was going on... it's all heavily foreshadowed, looking back...

And sanity is definitely come and gone... I assume you're getting close to the big (missing) villains finishing their spell during the "Castle Siege" if it hasn't happened already (view spoiler)[where they swap the castle location with the mage academy city, cancelling out all attempts to move the battle away from the academy town (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

Oh. In case you didn't know... those "anonymous" surveys usually aren't anonymous. I was a director at a very large company for a while. I'm not saying this is definitely the case where you work, because I'm sure there are some companies that actually do keep anonymity, but if the link you were provided is unique... At some point in the management chain they will know who exactly filled out what though typically not your direct manager.

[Narilka]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Remember when..."

Yeah, that's where I stopped for the night :D (view spoiler)[The big spell went off and part of the castle or the grounds or something are now back in Cyoria. Syoria? I never looked up the spelling for that hah (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... I figured... most years I just do the bubbles in those, not the comment section... one year recently, tho, where alot of us were getting tired of the hostility, a bunch of use commented similar things about those 2-3 nemeses... so, even if someone knows who's saying these things, the fact it's multiple people saying the same thing probably adds weight to the comments about a hostile work environment that year, I'd think...

I didn't even remember to do it this year, being on overnights and only being reminded once then going on vacation, during the 2-3 week window... the survery was also active like 3 months earlier this year...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

If you're up for more timey-wimey madness with different vibes, another series on my TBR radar I want to try sooner than later is The Perfect Run:

The Perfect Run
The Perfect Run II
The Perfect Run III

Ryan "Quicksave" Romano has alot less scruples than Zorian... MC tries all paths Hero and Villain, over the trilogy, before finally finding The Perfect Run and Saving the Girl... all while wearing a purple cashmere suit...

People mention the series when mentioning Mother of Learning on reddit... and I've seen the covers a few times:







The ebooks are $3.99, and the audiobooks are $4.82 Whispersync, for $8.81 total each, if you want/have to buy them...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I think my favorite part of the final battle sequence ended up being Silverlake (view spoiler)[BOTH Silverlakes... (view spoiler)[when the older non-looper one shows up, and turns on the the younger looper version that did the fountain of youth magic...

Young Silverlake is like "what are you doing? I'm you!!!"..

Old Silverlake is like "So?!?... remember what happened the last time we duplicated?... we're not to be trusted..."

ROFL... I wonder how many times she's killed herself in her long life... more than once... (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

That's definitely a spoiler... the first layer is only 2 words, then I go into a deeper tag to protect you :D

Altho, the first layer isn't that safe either if you want 0 spoilers...

[Brian]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Yea... I figured... most years I just do the bubbles in those, not the comment section... one year recently, tho, where alot of us were getting tired of the hostility, a bunch of use commented simi..."

Hey @Iain. My spreadsheet in competition seems broken. Won't update somehow and I am past my ability to fix. Can you check it out ? Thanks pal!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Brian wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Yea... I figured... most years I just do the bubbles in those, not the comment section... one year recently, tho, where alot of us were getting tired of the hostility, a bunch..."

You must have added a row at some point... because the hidden column formula was missing, that triggers points being added at the top... and only for that row that I noticed... I went ahead and reapplied the formula to the whole column in case there were other rows added somewhere lower...

[Narilka]

Mother of Learning: ARC 4 Ch 19 (view spoiler)[Angels and demons have entered the fight lol I loved how everyone just stopped once the large angel was summoned, like no one expected it at all. (hide spoiler)]

I had to stop listening here as I didn't have time for Ch 20 and I assume I'll want to listen to it uninterrupted.

Iain, I am absolutely NOT clicking that spoiler until I finish :D I know better!

That other series does look interesting. After MoL, I want to listen to the two books I picked up in that 2-for-1 sale last month, then should be open to something new. So perhaps late Oct/early Nov as a tentative plan?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sounds good...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "Mother of Learning: ARC 4 Ch 19 [spoilers removed]

I had to stop listening here as I didn't have time for Ch 20 and I assume I'll want to listen to it uninterrupted.

Iain, I am a..."

No one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition...

[Brian]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Brian wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Yea... I figured... most years I just do the bubbles in those, not the comment section... one year recently, tho, where alot of us were getting tired of the host..."

Thank YOU!!

[Narilka]

This is reminding me somewhat of Dresden Files Battle Ground in that it's just nonstop jumping from action to action for the second half of the book due to (view spoiler)[the invasion (hide spoiler)]. Which is another similarity now that I think of it. I hope there isn't a (view spoiler)[Murphy's death (hide spoiler)] similarity too. That'll just make me mad.

Anyway... Ch 20. I was right. I didn't want to be interrupted :D (view spoiler)[Original Silverlake taking out Time Loop Silverlake. Yikes!! After Zorian had used that magical spider to wear her out. And Zorian bribing the dragon to go away lol That was clever on his part since they can basically remake the orb, sort of. I also love how he took out QI with overwhelming force. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That was the thing I was talking about in my spoiler above...

and that's a plan for Perfect Run...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I've been watching alot of TV show reaction videos lately, when I need a break from reading 1000 pages/day...

Let's me get like a Cliff Notes rehash of old shows I loved, or shows I never finished, without having to subscribe to a new service for the one show...

Last 48hrs I've burned through a reaction playlist of most of Barry, a show I watched the first 2 seasons of... seasons 3-4 have been off the rails, and alot less funny... only 3 episodes left...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I've definitely been taking breaks more, even as I listen more at work...

The other day when Nirkatze thought I was saying I used to read 4x as much as I do now boggled my mind... I'd need to be literally reading 24hrs a day to manage that, and at even faster speeds than I do now...

I'm listening to 1000hrs/month, at 3-3.5x speed, so 275-333hr/month, or about ~10hrs/day... 4x that would be 4000hrs/month and require 40hrs/day... or 10x listening speed...

[Narilka]

Even with breaks you are a listening machine :)

Mother of Learning: ARC 4 I Win 1 & 2 (view spoiler)[When I initially saw the titles of the chapters, I thought we'd be seeing things from Zorian and his various simulacrums perspectives and how each section of the final battle is won and how they make up the whole. Since we got those bits earlier, I wasn't sure. I like what the author did though! It reminds me of the three endings of the movie Clue - each plausible with only one "true" ending. In this case, one chapter for each remaining time looper and their POV :D

I'm pretty sure that Zack's chapter is a mind fake so he THINKS everyone's dead or mind wiped and will survive the angel's contract. Zorian being extra tricky.

I had a feeling that Red Robe's chapter wasn't fully "real" and was also some sort of mind fake. I'm glad that was confirmed at the end that Zorian (or others) are looping him to get all his secrets out so they can save several countries.

I'm assuming the third I Win is Zorian's and the actual end of story since this is Zorian's story. I can't wait to find out while I cook dinner :D (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

I Win! I mean finished :D That was a satisfying ending. (view spoiler)[I was right about Zorian's shenanigans and I love how it all worked out. I also liked seeing some of the afterwards, how the attack affected the school, Zorian's classmates, their families, the city officials, etc. It did a good job of making things feel well rounded. That very last POV was the spider thingy that ate Silverlake lol Nice way for him to have a hook if he ever wanted to write in this world again because that would be a doozy of a monster once the babies grow up. (hide spoiler)] Time to open the spoilers.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Not sure if I linked the Afterword from Royal Road before: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/212...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I feel like so many Fantasy series these days turn out to be worldbuilding for a homebrew D&D campaign setting, lol...

Used to be occasional, like Malazan... but then we have Eidyn, Mother of Learning, and a few others I'm forgetting right now...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Continuing my youtube bingefest, I watched reaction videos for the first season of Ted Lasso before bed yesterday... great finally having context for the show... I've seen so many good clips in the past, and so many of them happened in the first season, from what I saw...

[Narilka]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Chapter 14: [spoilers removed]"

Oh yeah, that was so funny (view spoiler)[When Red Robe was speculating about how Silverlake was the weakest of them and yet the most likely to survive because of her paranoia and untrusting nature hah (hide spoiler)]

So many good points in this book though, it's hard to pick just one :D After opening spoilers, it seems we were pretty aligned in our thoughts on this one. One more thing I almost forgot (view spoiler)[It's pretty cool how Spear of Resolve negotiated her web being accepted into human society like that. Once the humans can get over "big creepy spider" syndrome, that should have wonderful benefits for their societies. Novelty is the perfect representative since her outgoing nature is fairly nonthreatening and innocent in human perception. (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Not sure if I linked the Afterword from Royal Road before: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/212..."

Thanks for the link. It's too bad he didn't include part of that in the audio book's ending to go along with the narrator's note.

One more thing I just remembered (view spoiler)[GOOD MORNING BROTHER! So damn funny that Zack talked Kirielle into keep waking Zorian up like that lol When I first heard it even I went "oh no!" in my head at first lol (hide spoiler)]

I'm going to listen to the second Orlando People next.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... I compared Enthusiastic Seeker of Novelty with Zorian's sister Kirielle, proving your point about perceptions, lol...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Not sure if I linked the Afterword from Royal Road before: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/212..."

Thanks for the link. It's too ..."

OOH... I'm tempted to do a quick Orlando people re-read with you... I love Gretchen & the "I'm macho FBI guy" chapters...

[Narilka]

I read the first one earlier this year so will only be reading the second one. Even with such a short novel I'm sure you can catch up to my slow pace if you wanted :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea, I'll binge them fast, for sure... probably before the end of the week...

You know me well... the only time a book takes me multiple non-consecutive days, is when I'm struggling to want to read the book, for plot or narrator or volume reasons and need to find the right time...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Re-read Orlando People #1 at work last night... forgot how short these are... and that M/M Shaq fanfic romance sequence, lol...

and the specifics of the macho FBI agent chapter... Muy Thai!... and the foreshadowing for book 2...

Good stuff all around... Kane needs to hurry up and write #3 already...

EDIT: he announced on Twitter that the first draft of OP3 was finished in late April... so I feel good expecting a 2026 release...

[Narilka]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Re-read Orlando People #1 at work last night... forgot how short these are... and that M/M Shaq fanfic romance sequence, lol...

and the specifics of the macho FBI agent chapter... Muy Thai!... and..."

Cool!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

@Nirkatze: you should try to start setting aside a monthly slot for Vagabond BRs again...

I've kinda started treating this thread as the "Whatever Narilka is Listening to, Book Club"... until others start using the thread again, it's as good a use as any :D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Thread title updated with plans through the end of the year...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

In my spare time, I've definitely been pushing onwards with my Mercyverse re-read, over the others I started re-reading... read Mercy 1-2 and A&O 0.5-2... reading Mercy 3 now, and will probably keep squeezing them in late in the day when I can... gonna read Demon Cycle at work tonight, and maybe The River Has Roots, and then I have a long weekend this weekend to read some books I've been saving for home reading and such, and I'll be all caught up on BRs, and have read more than half my BRs for the month, with things slowly winding down heading into Spooktober...

[Narilka]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I've kinda started treating this thread as the "Whatever Narilka is Listening to, Book Club"... until others start using the thread again, it's as good a use as any :D"

Awww :) Thanks for helping me feel included :)

I took a day off audio books yesterday to catch up on a couple podcasts and started the Death Cruise this morning. Only 1.5 chapters in. (view spoiler)[I'm a wee bit confused. At the end of OP 1, didn't Gretch unlock major powers? Now here she's back to being a level 0? Seems odd. Unless the author just didn't want to deal with an over powered main. I hope it's explained.

Also, even as a dud, couldn't Gretch have telekinesis'd the dog fur off? That would've been hilarious to do in front of her ranting boss even if it was one hair at a time lol (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm gonna wait a week to read Dade County Death Cruise... it's a short one, so you might have finished by then and I can always just squeeze it in randomly after I finish whatever I'm reading on a work day...

[Nirkatze]

Yeah, I should put a date slot in for Vagabond... Sept is looking to be lighter thankfully, so I'm hoping I can catch up...

[Narilka]

Dade County Death Cruise through ch 9 (view spoiler)[Ahhh, I love a good locked room mystery :D Which this seems to be with everyone trapped on the boat. Mr Sai has been stabbed and that other guy killed. Everyone's about to head back to where they left Sai and I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't there anymore. My guess right now is someone is a mystery OP, likely the True Hands fanatic lady in case of protesting too much. We will see!

Gretch explained that she lost her super OPness and that it was little Opal that unblocked her. I think Gretch unblocked herself so we'll see if it happens again in this book without the little girl.

The story was fairly bland up until the boat ride. I'm into it now and will probably finish in a couple days it's such a short book. (hide spoiler)]

[RachelG.]

I just started The Apocalypse is a Side Quest: Book One and am finding that the system AI is snarky like the DCC AI although I am only in chapter 1 so not sure how long that will last. I think I am going to like it and figured I would pass along the recommendation.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "Dade County Death Cruise through ch 9 Ahhh,.."

I'm a sucker for the genre, too, and have read a bunch...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

RachelG. wrote: "I just started The Apocalypse is a Side Quest: Book One and am finding that the system AI is snarky like the DCC AI although I am only in chapter 1 so not sure how long that will l..."

Someone just got a reading buddy... I just picked it up with Whispersync for $4.93... looks like book 2 comes out next week

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started... it's kind of annoying how many times the MC sausage fingered his way into clicking/doing the wrong thing, in the first minutes of the book... hopefully that settles down, now that the book's premise has been triggered fully?...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The AI/System definitely reminds me of the snarkiness of Dungeon Crawler Carl...

But, I actually think it's real people, like Customer Service, with managers to escalate problems... that, paired with the bugginess in the MC's integration into the system actually reminds me of Arrival, where the System kept having to make up new rules and use-cases to account for the robot/cyborg's hybrid nature... being part human part robot made her part human/adventurer part dungeon, in that series...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

"B32, the Architect of Despair", lol...

[RachelG.]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Started... it's kind of annoying how many times the MC sausage fingered his way into clicking/doing the wrong thing, in the first minutes of the book... hopefully that settles down, now that the bo..."

I was about to say that perhaps this book wasn't going to be okay after all but decided to stick it out.

[RachelG.]

Timelord Iain wrote: "The AI/System definitely reminds me of the snarkiness of Dungeon Crawler Carl...

But, I actually think it's real people, like Customer Service, with managers to escalate problems... that, paired w..."

Interesting theory. I'm only on chapter 16 so besides seeing the -50 relation points with B32 there hasn't been much system interaction lately. (view spoiler)[ It is nice that he meets up with some people. Gun crazy woman will be interesting. (hide spoiler)]

I actually am the type of person who enjoys games where you focus on farming or fishing or not much action so it's not a stretch to see why I enjoy these types of books as well.