#readingcorner — Public Fediverse posts

This volume actually made some good progress on plot points. Rudeus meets Paul and Norn.

Character interactions are still incredibly jarring and unbelievable. As well as character motivations. It just reeks of authors dragging the narrative the way he intends it to play out, but with no skill to make it work in a natural way.

Almost no icky "fanservice" inserts, though there's one particular translation point where you just know the person behind it couldn't resist to insert their own opinion on the meaning of lolicon. Which was weird, but in another way than usual.

Honestly though, I'm not sure I want to continue reading the series. At least not for a while. The disgust for the main cast just has to subside a bit.

Kobo edition.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MushokuTensei #無職転生

Remember how the last volume was almost devoid of "fan service" bits? And then author tried to compensate at the end?

Well, as it turns out, the author is obsessed, because we got one full chapter of Rudeus contemplating if he should fondle and possibly violate Eris while she's too sick and powerless.

And then another half a chapter of Rudeus getting horny from looking at the naked beastfolk children. Not to mention a thick spread of Rudeus replaying the same thoughts in later chapters as well. With sprinkles of bestiality jokes on top.

And all of this just to distract from the lack of narrative progression. There's one whole chapter where author tried to construct a gag of Roxy passing by Rudeus in the same town, but it was so sloppy and boiled down to "it worked so because I said so", it's not even funny. Like, the author literally contradicted himself on the character motivations on two adjacent pages.

Somehow, the further into the series you go, the more unlikeable the characters become. I might give another volume or two a go, but it's kinda getting tiring to suspend the disbelief.

Kobo edition.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MushokuTensei #無職転生

Third volume is where the story goes somewhat more original. Or at least different enough to stand out a bit in the pit of all isekai novels.

The premise may be banal (traveling, registering in the Adventurer's Guild, doing jobs). But the few monsters and jobs that got featured were interesting enough.

Unfortunately, with slight increase in world building and scene details came pacing issues. This volume feels bloated as a result, and at times I felt bored. The positive (?) side effect of this is that author forgot to shove in the fan service bits until the very end, so you get triple dose of degeneracy in the bonus chapter.

Kobo edition.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MushokuTensei #無職転生

The first volume was solid, if not remarkable. The second volume is, incredibly, takes a nosedive on all accounts.

The story is once again, a very clichéd "the taming of a wild animal", which in this case is a second cousine of Rudeus, Eris Greyrat. There's very little in actual story development, world building, or general progression except for occasional infodumps and quick author descriptions of fast-forwarded time lapses.

Unfortunately, it seems the perverted side of MC will be the main gimmick of this series. In this volume it progressed to several musings of rape of the minors, with one particular scene at the end where the authors skims the very edge of acceptable with fondling and almost-having-sex between a 10 and a 12 year old children, barely cancelled at the last moment.

One can only hope this is as worst as it gets.

On a storytelling front, one interesting note is that author tries to cleanly separate events in each volume with a drastic even, which makes them largely self-contained stories with minimal backreferences or even relying on info provided earlier for narrative hooks. I do wonder how long it will last.

Kobo edition is quite clean this time around, no weird formatting with errant line breaks.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MushokuTensei #無職転生

This one was weird. It's a very clichéd isekai with nothing particularly special to stand out. It doesn't even have an explanation for the "jobless" part of the title in the first volume.

The plot hook, the world, the magic system, it's all very standard so far. One twist on the formula (if you can call it that) is the absolutely unhinged random blurbs about perverted urges of MC (stealing underwear, ogling his own mother's breasts, dreams of grooming a childhood friend etc.)

At least the pacing seems to be good, and it's a smooth reading from beginning to the end, even if it lacks any substance.

Kobo edition is fine, though you can see weird line breaks in the middle of the sentences quite often.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MushokuTensei #無職転生

This one was weird. It's a very clichéd isekai with nothing particularly special to stand out. It doesn't even have an explanation for the "jobless" part of the title in the first volume.

The plot hook, the world, the magic system, it's all very standard so far. One twist on the formula (if you can call it that) is the absolutely unhinged random blurbs about perverted urges of MC (stealing underwear, ogling his own mother's breasts, dreams of grooming a childhood friend etc.)

At least the pacing seems to be good, and it's a smooth reading from beginning to the end, even if it lacks any substance.

Kobo edition is fine, though you can see weird line breaks in the middle of the sentences quite often.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MushokuTensei #無職転生

This one was weird. It's a very clichéd isekai with nothing particularly special to stand out. It doesn't even have an explanation for the "jobless" part of the title in the first volume (unless it refers to the MC's occupation in the very beginning, or to be more precise, to the lack of).

The plot hook, the world, the magic system, it's all very standard so far. One twist on the formula (if you can call it that) is the absolutely unhinged random blurbs about perverted urges of MC (stealing underwear, ogling his own mother's breasts, dreams of grooming a childhood friend etc.)

At least the pacing seems to be good, and it's a smooth reading from beginning to the end, even if it lacks any substance.

Kobo edition is fine, though you can see weird line breaks in the middle of the sentences quite often.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MushokuTensei #無職転生

This is a standalone/prequel to the main Jumper series that was recommended to me in a random conversation. You may have seen the movie adaptation.

As a mindless action flick, it works well. The narrative is brisk and doesn't linger. Details are often sharp and vivid, which helps to ground the scene.

The mix of English accents, Spanish and French is a neat touch, but can be an issue for some people (especially considering the relevant parts are not tagged with appropriate language metadata).

Unfortunately, as a standalone book it's lacking in world building. It assumes you know enough about the universe already. None of the main plot mysteries are resolved. Time scale is also quite fuzzy and does not impress enough on the movement across months and years, so at times you may be surprised with callbacks' time frames.

Overall, it left a mixed impression. But most recommendations were for the first two books in the series, so I'm hopeful for a better experience next time.

Kobo edition has some Spanish typos in the later parts (i instead of ¡ and similar issues with italics). (Outside US there's only an omnibus edition with all the books).

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #Jumper

This is a standalone/prequel to the main Jumper series that was recommended to me in a random conversation. You may have seen the movie adaptation.

As a mindless action flick, it works well. The narrative is brisk and doesn't linger. Details are often sharp and vivid, which helps to ground the scene.

The mix of English accents, Spanish and French is a neat touch, but can be an issue for some people (especially considering the relevant parts are not tagged with appropriate language metadata).

Unfortunately, as a standalone book it's lacking in world building. It assumes you know enough about the universe already. None of the main plot mysteries are resolved. Time scale is also quite fuzzy and does not impress enough on the movement across months and years, so at times you may be surprised with callbacks' time frames.

Overall, it left a mixed impression. But most recommendations were for the first two books in the series, so I'm hopeful for a better experience next time.

Kobo edition has some Spanish typos in the later parts (i instead of ¡ and similar issues with italics). (Outside US there's only an omnibus edition with all the books).

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #Jumper

This is a standalone/prequel to the main Jumper series that was recommended to me in a random conversation. You may have seen the movie adaptation.

As a mindless action flick, it works well. The narrative is brisk and doesn't linger. Details are often sharp and vivid, which helps to ground the scene.

The mix of English accents, Spanish and French is a neat touch, but can be an issue for some people (especially considering the relevant parts are not tagged with appropriate language metadata).

Unfortunately, as a standalone book it's lacking in world building. It assumes you know enough about the universe already. None of the main plot mysteries are resolved. Time scale is also quite fuzzy and does not impress enough on the movement across months and years, so at times you may be surprised with callbacks' time frames.

Overall, it left a mixed impression. But most recommendations were for the first two books in the series, so I'm hopeful for a better experience next time.

Kobo edition has some Spanish typos in the later parts (i instead of ¡ and similar issues with italics). (Outside US there's only an omnibus edition with all the books).

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #Jumper

So, the premise of this series may sound interesting, but the execution is…lacking. This is very clearly written by an amateur writer, with lots of small issues from narrative structure to lack of expression.

The cover goes hard on fan service, and you might've expected some in the book, but the illustrations are very generic and not interesting in any way, and the few instances of attempts at female anatomy descriptions are once again very blunt and dull, with no details. Like, the author felt the need to put them there for the marketing checkmark to bump the sales.

What's particularly grinding my gears is how the narration has no concept of foreshadowing at all. There are no clues to how the events would transpire, the author builds the suspense in a very direct way, by asking the reader how the MC could overcome the supposedly impossible situations. And every time the resolution feels like it was pulled out of thin air.

The character development is lacking to being nonexistent. The in-universe rules are barely explained, but somehow feel contradictory at the same time.

All in all, I feel at least the first volume sits very firmly in the mediocre spectrum.

Kobo edition.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #LiarLiar

So, the premise of this series may sound interesting, but the execution is…lacking. This is very clearly written by an amateur writer, with lots of small issues from narrative structure to lack of expression.

The cover goes hard on fan service, and you might've expected some in the book, but the illustrations are very generic and not interesting in any way, and the few instances of attempts at female anatomy descriptions are once again very blunt and dull, with no details. Like, the author felt the need to put them there for the marketing checkmark to bump the sales.

What's particularly grinding my gears is how the narration has no concept of foreshadowing at all. There are no clues to how the events would transpire, the author builds the suspense in a very direct way, by asking the reader how the MC could overcome the supposedly impossible situations. And every time the resolution feels like it was pulled out of thin air.

The character development is lacking to being nonexistent. The in-universe rules are barely explained, but somehow feel contradictory at the same time.

All in all, I feel at least the first volume sits very firmly in the mediocre spectrum.

Kobo edition.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #LiarLiar

So, the premise of this series may sound interesting, but the execution is…lacking. This is very clearly written by an amateur writer, with lots of small issues from narrative structure to lack of expression.

The cover goes hard on fan service, and you might've expected some in the book, but the illustrations are very generic and not interesting in any way, and the few instances of attempts at female anatomy descriptions are once again very blunt and dull, with no details. Like, the author felt the need to put them there for the marketing checkmark to bump the sales.

What's particularly grinding my gears is how the narration has no concept of foreshadowing at all. There are no clues to how the events would transpire, the author builds the suspense in a very direct way, by asking the reader how the MC could overcome the supposedly impossible situations. And every time the resolution feels like it was pulled out of thin air.

The character development is lacking to being nonexistent. The in-universe rules are barely explained, but somehow feel contradictory at the same time.

All in all, I feel at least the first volume sits very firmly in the mediocre spectrum.

Kobo edition.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #LiarLiar

This is a collection of short stories, completely independent, without any overarching story line or unified setting other than being dystopian in nature.

Despite being hailed as the progenitor for the Sprawl series of classic cyberpunk novels, not all the stories in Burning Chrome are cyberpunk. There's quite a number which is more traditional sci-fi.

Themes, narrative, and writing quality vary quite a bit too, so on average it comes out quite meh, even when there are very solid entries with engaging stories and distinct characters.

Even though I started this for Johnny Mnemonic story, the real highlight for me was the penultimate Burning Chrome, which undoubtedly served as a foundation for many cyberpunk stories that came afterwards. All the underpinnings of what we consider a cyberpunk now, were right there, painted with thick neon colors: the nonsensical yet plausible computer jargon, virtual reality visualization of cyberspace, the ICE firewalls, the cybernetic implants, the broken lives.

Kobo edition is alright but has some annoying formatting issues like zero margins between sections and weird headers.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #BurningChrome #Sprawl

This is a collection of short stories, completely independent, without any overarching story line or unified setting other than being dystopian in nature.

Despite being hailed as the progenitor for the Sprawl series of classic cyberpunk novels, not all the stories in Burning Chrome are cyberpunk. There's quite a number which is more traditional sci-fi.

Themes, narrative, and writing quality vary quite a bit too, so on average it comes out quite meh, even when there are very solid entries with engaging stories and distinct characters.

Even though I started this for Johnny Mnemonic story, the real highlight for me was the penultimate Burning Chrome, which undoubtedly served as a foundation for many cyberpunk stories that came afterwards. All the underpinnings of what we consider a cyberpunk now, were right there, painted with thick neon colors: the nonsensical yet plausible computer jargon, virtual reality visualization of cyberspace, the ICE firewalls, the cybernetic implants, the broken lives.

Kobo edition is alright but has some annoying formatting issues like zero margins between sections and weird headers.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #BurningChrome #Sprawl

This is a collection of short stories, completely independent, without any overarching story line or unified setting other than being dystopian in nature.

Despite being hailed as the progenitor for the Sprawl series of classic cyberpunk novels, not all the stories in Burning Chrome are cyberpunk. There's quite a number which is more traditional sci-fi.

Themes, narrative, and writing quality vary quite a bit too, so on average it comes out quite meh, even when there are very solid entries with engaging stories and distinct characters.

Even though I started this for Johnny Mnemonic story, the real highlight for me was the penultimate Burning Chrome, which undoubtedly served as a foundation for many cyberpunk stories that came afterwards. All the underpinnings of what we consider a cyberpunk now, were right there, painted with thick neon colors: the nonsensical yet plausible computer jargon, virtual reality visualization of cyberspace, the ICE firewalls, the cybernetic implants, the broken lives.

Kobo edition is alright but has some annoying formatting issues like zero margins between sections and weird headers.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #BurningChrome #Sprawl

So, this one is weird and interesting, but also kinda boring at the same time.

The core concept of the Maiden's Bookshelf is to present contemporary and modern classic as a kinda mix of illustrated and art books. The text and artwork are split roughly half and half, similar to children's picture books, sometimes taking a full spread. But unlike the illustrated editions, these are simply inspired by the literature work, and not necessarily there to highlight the events described.

On the technical side of things, these are produced as fixed layout ePubs, which are super rare (Apple Books even open them in the PDF viewer/layout instead of the regular book layout).

The stories are a mixed bag, so I wouldn't go collecting everything (especially considering that the original JP series is up to 32 books at this point). And just to mix things up even more, the western release is going in random order compared to JP one. Why? Who knows!

The illustrations are pretty and detailed. But at one short story per book (60-80 pages), the price is kinda steep.

Kobo editions:
Hell in a Bottle
The Moon Over the Mountain
The Surgery Room
The Girl Who Became a Fish

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MaidensBookshelf

So, this one is weird and interesting, but also kinda boring at the same time.

The core concept of the Maiden's Bookshelf is to present contemporary and modern classic as a kinda mix of illustrated and art books. The text and artwork are split roughly half and half, similar to children's picture books, sometimes taking a full spread. But unlike the illustrated editions, these are simply inspired by the literature work, and not necessarily there to highlight the events described.

On the technical side of things, these are produced as fixed layout ePubs, which are super rare (Apple Books even open them in the PDF viewer/layout instead of the regular book layout).

The stories are a mixed bag, so I wouldn't go collecting everything (especially considering that the original JP series is up to 32 books at this point). And just to mix things up even more, the western release is going in random order compared to JP one. Why? Who knows!

The illustrations are pretty and detailed. But at one short story per book (60-80 pages), the price is kinda steep.

Kobo editions:
Hell in a Bottle
The Moon Over the Mountain
The Surgery Room
The Girl Who Became a Fish

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MaidensBookshelf

So, this one is weird and interesting, but also kinda boring at the same time.

The core concept of the Maiden's Bookshelf is to present contemporary and modern classic as a kinda mix of illustrated and art books. The text and artwork are split roughly half and half, similar to children's picture books, sometimes taking a full spread. But unlike the illustrated editions, these are simply inspired by the literature work, and not necessarily there to highlight the events described.

On the technical side of things, these are produced as fixed layout ePubs, which are super rare (Apple Books even open them in the PDF viewer/layout instead of the regular book layout).

The stories are a mixed bag, so I wouldn't go collecting everything (especially considering that the original JP series is up to 32 books at this point). And just to mix things up even more, the western release is going in random order compared to JP one. Why? Who knows!

The illustrations are pretty and detailed. But at one short story per book (60-80 pages), the price is kinda steep.

Kobo editions:
Hell in a Bottle
The Moon Over the Mountain
The Surgery Room
The Girl Who Became a Fish

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #MaidensBookshelf

It feels like Vol. 7 and 8 were once one single book that author split in half to pad out the series.

Technically, a lot of things happen in this volume, both on the MC side of things, and on the class 2-B side of things. But like with Vol. 6, most of the chapter time is spent on describing one melee action, and as such, the variety suffers a lot.

And by the end of it, the main plot points are barely moved forward.

So, now we wait for the next volume in hopes that the narrative pacing will be back. One can only hope.

Kobo edition is once again has disgusting formatting with wild new lines, spaces mid-word, often with extra hyphen thrown in as well.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #FailureFrame

It feels like Vol. 7 and 8 were once one single book that author split in half to pad out the series.

Technically, a lot of things happen in this volume, both on the MC side of things, and on the class 2-B side of things. But like with Vol. 6, most of the chapter time is spent on describing one melee action, and as such, the variety suffers a lot.

And by the end of it, the main plot points are barely moved forward.

So, now we wait for the next volume in hopes that the narrative pacing will be back. One can only hope.

Kobo edition is once again has disgusting formatting with wild new lines, spaces mid-word, often with extra hyphen thrown in as well.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #FailureFrame

It feels like Vol. 7 and 8 were once one single book that author split in half to pad out the series.

Technically, a lot of things happen in this volume, both on the MC side of things, and on the class 2-B side of things. But like with Vol. 6, most of the chapter time is spent on describing one melee action, and as such, the variety suffers a lot.

And by the end of it, the main plot points are barely moved forward.

So, now we wait for the next volume in hopes that the narrative pacing will be back. One can only hope.

Kobo edition is once again has disgusting formatting with wild new lines, spaces mid-word, often with extra hyphen thrown in as well.

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #FailureFrame

I was always curious about the Wild Cards series, ever since I got some random volumes with tor.com launch giveaway many years ago. They were rather new volumes at the time I believe, but who starts with Vol. 20-something? So, I just kept them at the back of the to-read list all this time.

Then a few years ago Tor started to publish the series with updated covers, and this included markets other than US, so I got a few volumes, but they were still rather low on my priority. But then after finishing Gideon the Ninth back in March, I thought to maybe sticking to the regular western novels for a bit instead of returning back to light novels, so I randomly decided to try Wild Cards.

And boy, did it take some time to finish.

So, first things first, this is a series of anthologies, each volume is a collection of short stories written by different authors to push the overarching narrative forward under the editor oversight. And the editor of this series for the longest time was George R.R. Martin (which, I admit, was the main reason I got interested in this series to begin with).

Themes, focus of the story, characters, time, writing style, everything is changing at a rapid pace here. Sometimes it's a thrill ride on the edge of your seat, sometimes it's a boring snorefest, but everyone will find something of an interest for them, as well as something they can't give two shits about.

Also, this book as a whole should have a loooong list of content warnings it touches upon. Everything from all forms of abuse to graphic gore, to a number of phobias, to drugs, to racism and other forms of discrimination.

At times, it's a lot to take in. I had to take a break for a couple of months somewhere in the middle and was tempted to can it right there. But then it got much better for a while.

Is it about people with super-powers? Yes and no. Yes, there are clear winners in this universe (so-called Aces, who got powers without changing much in their physical appearance), but most people here are ostracized monstrosities (so-called Jokers), and the main focus is about various societal and psychological problems relevant to modern world, painted over this fictional minority with avid intensity. It is meant to be a distorting mirror spotlighting real problems in a literary form masquerading as a superhero pop culture fun read.

Is it entertaining? Sometimes. Is it for everyone? Heck no. Do I want to keep reading the series? Maybe? I'm not sure what I expected it to be, but I got a lot more than I bargained for, that's for sure.

Kobo edition from Tor has old formatting with new cover (they still use images for some symbols instead of bundling a font for older devices), but after quick ePub edits it was rather neat.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5391323735

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #WildCards

I was always curious about the Wild Cards series, ever since I got some random volumes with tor.com launch giveaway many years ago. They were rather new volumes at the time I believe, but who starts with Vol. 20-something? So, I just kept them at the back of the to-read list all this time.

Then a few years ago Tor started to publish the series with updated covers, and this included markets other than US, so I got a few volumes, but they were still rather low on my priority. But then after finishing Gideon the Ninth back in March, I thought to maybe sticking to the regular western novels for a bit instead of returning back to light novels, so I randomly decided to try Wild Cards.

And boy, did it take some time to finish.

So, first things first, this is a series of anthologies, each volume is a collection of short stories written by different authors to push the overarching narrative forward under the editor oversight. And the editor of this series for the longest time was George R.R. Martin (which, I admit, was the main reason I got interested in this series to begin with).

Themes, focus of the story, characters, time, writing style, everything is changing at a rapid pace here. Sometimes it's a thrill ride on the edge of your seat, sometimes it's a boring snorefest, but everyone will find something of an interest for them, as well as something they can't give two shits about.

Also, this book as a whole should have a loooong list of content warnings it touches upon. Everything from all forms of abuse to graphic gore, to a number of phobias, to drugs, to racism and other forms of discrimination.

At times, it's a lot to take in. I had to take a break for a couple of months somewhere in the middle and was tempted to can it right there. But then it got much better for a while.

Is it about people with super-powers? Yes and no. Yes, there are clear winners in this universe (so-called Aces, who got powers without changing much in their physical appearance), but most people here are ostracized monstrosities (so-called Jokers), and the main focus is about various societal and psychological problems relevant to modern world, painted over this fictional minority with avid intensity. It is meant to be a distorting mirror spotlighting real problems in a literary form masquerading as a superhero pop culture fun read.

Is it entertaining? Sometimes. Is it for everyone? Heck no. Do I want to keep reading the series? Maybe? I'm not sure what I expected it to be, but I got a lot more than I bargained for, that's for sure.

Kobo edition from Tor has old formatting with new cover (they still use images for some symbols instead of bundling a font for older devices), but after quick ePub edits it was rather neat.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5391323735

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #WildCards

I was always curious about the Wild Cards series, ever since I got some random volumes with tor.com launch giveaway many years ago. They were rather new volumes at the time I believe, but who starts with Vol. 20-something? So, I just kept them at the back of the to-read list all this time.

Then a few years ago Tor started to publish the series with updated covers, and this included markets other than US, so I got a few volumes, but they were still rather low on my priority. But then after finishing Gideon the Ninth back in March, I thought to maybe sticking to the regular western novels for a bit instead of returning back to light novels, so I randomly decided to try Wild Cards.

And boy, did it take some time to finish.

So, first things first, this is a series of anthologies, each volume is a collection of short stories written by different authors to push the overarching narrative forward under the editor oversight. And the editor of this series for the longest time was George R.R. Martin (which, I admit, was the main reason I got interested in this series to begin with).

Themes, focus of the story, characters, time, writing style, everything is changing at a rapid pace here. Sometimes it's a thrill ride on the edge of your seat, sometimes it's a boring snorefest, but everyone will find something of an interest for them, as well as something they can't give two shits about.

Also, this book as a whole should have a loooong list of content warnings it touches upon. Everything from all forms of abuse to graphic gore, to a number of phobias, to drugs, to racism and other forms of discrimination.

At times, it's a lot to take in. I had to take a break for a couple of months somewhere in the middle and was tempted to can it right there. But then it got much better for a while.

Is it about people with super-powers? Yes and no. Yes, there are clear winners in this universe (so-called Aces, who got powers without changing much in their physical appearance), but most people here are ostracized monstrosities (so-called Jokers), and the main focus is about various societal and psychological problems relevant to modern world, painted over this fictional minority with avid intensity. It is meant to be a distorting mirror spotlighting real problems in a literary form masquerading as a superhero pop culture fun read.

Is it entertaining? Sometimes. Is it for everyone? Heck no. Do I want to keep reading the series? Maybe? I'm not sure what I expected it to be, but I got a lot more than I bargained for, that's for sure.

Kobo edition from Tor has old formatting with new cover (they still use images for some symbols instead of bundling a font for older devices), but after quick ePub edits it was rather neat.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5391323735

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #WildCards

This was a rather chill slice-of-life adventure focused on Sophia's background and current party relationship development. We also get some world building with more formal introduction of current world powers, as well as some MC-related issues being resolved.

Vol. 5 was a clean break from the running story arc, and this volume is a clear dangling bit in-between, or maybe a weakly connected start of a new arc. It wasn't bad, but it's certainly a bit weaker on the pacing and story progression.

Kobo edition.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432210

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

This was a rather chill slice-of-life adventure focused on Sophia's background and current party relationship development. We also get some world building with more formal introduction of current world powers, as well as some MC-related issues being resolved.

Vol. 5 was a clean break from the running story arc, and this volume is a clear dangling bit in-between, or maybe a weakly connected start of a new arc. It wasn't bad, but it's certainly a bit weaker on the pacing and story progression.

Kobo edition.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432210

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

This was a rather chill slice-of-life adventure focused on Sophia's background and current party relationship development. We also get some world building with more formal introduction of current world powers, as well as some MC-related issues being resolved.

Vol. 5 was a clean break from the running story arc, and this volume is a clear dangling bit in-between, or maybe a weakly connected start of a new arc. It wasn't bad, but it's certainly a bit weaker on the pacing and story progression.

Kobo edition.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432210

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

So, this is a penultimate intro volume where current and past narrative threads are finally coming together. All the reincarnations are introduced and explicitly mentioned. All of them meet in one place, and clear up their stance with each other in this new world.

Now we can finally start the adventure and story lines that move the actual plot point forward, instead of jumping all around trying to flesh out the world and character motivations.

Our spider MC finally achieves the evolutionary goal she set for herself early on, and it would be interesting to see what's her current development would look like.

All in all, I find it a sweet spot to stop for a break.

Kobo edition.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432234

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

So, this is a penultimate intro volume where current and past narrative threads are finally coming together. All the reincarnations are introduced and explicitly mentioned. All of them meet in one place, and clear up their stance with each other in this new world.

Now we can finally start the adventure and story lines that move the actual plot point forward, instead of jumping all around trying to flesh out the world and character motivations.

Our spider MC finally achieves the evolutionary goal she set for herself early on, and it would be interesting to see what's her current development would look like.

All in all, I find it a sweet spot to stop for a break.

Kobo edition.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432234

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

So, this is a penultimate intro volume where current and past narrative threads are finally coming together. All the reincarnations are introduced and explicitly mentioned. All of them meet in one place, and clear up their stance with each other in this new world.

Now we can finally start the adventure and story lines that move the actual plot point forward, instead of jumping all around trying to flesh out the world and character motivations.

Our spider MC finally achieves the evolutionary goal she set for herself early on, and it would be interesting to see what's her current development would look like.

All in all, I find it a sweet spot to stop for a break.

Kobo edition.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432234

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

The fourth volume is finally seeing the pacing running full steam ahead. Things are happening all the time now, lots of revelations, and even a major plot twist in the middle.

We are finally getting some info on administrators, and we finally meet the demon lord (chronologically). And the spider is almost ready to evolve into arachne.

There's not much time jumping, so that's nice. But the author is still actively hiding the identity of the mc in previous life. And even when by the end it's easy to put 1 and 1 together, it's not as straightforward as it seems. And it really bugs me, so I hope this inconsitency/deliberate misleading/whatever will be resolved without some kind of deus ex machina pulled out of author's ass.

Kobo edition as were previous two volumes, still has some punctuation done with the low-res images. Ugh. Thankfully, it stops here, and I haven't seen anything suspicious in Vol. 5.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432254

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

The fourth volume is finally seeing the pacing running full steam ahead. Things are happening all the time now, lots of revelations, and even a major plot twist in the middle.

We are finally getting some info on administrators, and we finally meet the demon lord (chronologically). And the spider is almost ready to evolve into arachne.

There's not much time jumping, so that's nice. But the author is still actively hiding the identity of the mc in previous life. And even when by the end it's easy to put 1 and 1 together, it's not as straightforward as it seems. And it really bugs me, so I hope this inconsitency/deliberate misleading/whatever will be resolved without some kind of deus ex machina pulled out of author's ass.

Kobo edition as were previous two volumes, still has some punctuation done with the low-res images. Ugh. Thankfully, it stops here, and I haven't seen anything suspicious in Vol. 5.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432254

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

The fourth volume is finally seeing the pacing running full steam ahead. Things are happening all the time now, lots of revelations, and even a major plot twist in the middle.

We are finally getting some info on administrators, and we finally meet the demon lord (chronologically). And the spider is almost ready to evolve into arachne.

There's not much time jumping, so that's nice. But the author is still actively hiding the identity of the mc in previous life. And even when by the end it's easy to put 1 and 1 together, it's not as straightforward as it seems. And it really bugs me, so I hope this inconsitency/deliberate misleading/whatever will be resolved without some kind of deus ex machina pulled out of author's ass.

Kobo edition as were previous two volumes, still has some punctuation done with the low-res images. Ugh. Thankfully, it stops here, and I haven't seen anything suspicious in Vol. 5.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432254

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

So, this is when the narrative pacing is finally hitting the stride. No more monotonous aimless wandering in one locale. Splitting the chapters among multiple points of view helps with variety, and the protagonist is finally hitting that overpowered trope levels.

My biggest issue with the storytelling so far is how the author moves the time line between chapters without warning. Like you think it's happening at the same time frame as the previous chapter, but then there's a casual mention that one of the reincarnation has just been born. It's often hard to pinpoint exactly what is happening when.

The skill tables are getting out of hand, so it's at this point where I started to automatically skip them (as per usual with this genre).

Kobo edition is once again using low-res images as punctuation that's already in common Unicode code points, so I had to fix epub myself (same goes for Vol. 4, but then it seemingly stops after that). Also fun fact, apparently first edition of Vol. 1 was tagged as French all throughout the book, which is funny.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432286

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

So, this is when the narrative pacing is finally hitting the stride. No more monotonous aimless wandering in one locale. Splitting the chapters among multiple points of view helps with variety, and the protagonist is finally hitting that overpowered trope levels.

My biggest issue with the storytelling so far is how the author moves the time line between chapters without warning. Like you think it's happening at the same time frame as the previous chapter, but then there's a casual mention that one of the reincarnation has just been born. It's often hard to pinpoint exactly what is happening when.

The skill tables are getting out of hand, so it's at this point where I started to automatically skip them (as per usual with this genre).

Kobo edition is once again using low-res images as punctuation that's already in common Unicode code points, so I had to fix epub myself (same goes for Vol. 4, but then it seemingly stops after that). Also fun fact, apparently first edition of Vol. 1 was tagged as French all throughout the book, which is funny.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432286

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが

So, this is when the narrative pacing is finally hitting the stride. No more monotonous aimless wandering in one locale. Splitting the chapters among multiple points of view helps with variety, and the protagonist is finally hitting that overpowered trope levels.

My biggest issue with the storytelling so far is how the author moves the time line between chapters without warning. Like you think it's happening at the same time frame as the previous chapter, but then there's a casual mention that one of the reincarnation has just been born. It's often hard to pinpoint exactly what is happening when.

The skill tables are getting out of hand, so it's at this point where I started to automatically skip them (as per usual with this genre).

Kobo edition is once again using low-res images as punctuation that's already in common Unicode code points, so I had to fix epub myself (same goes for Vol. 4, but then it seemingly stops after that). Also fun fact, apparently first edition of Vol. 1 was tagged as French all throughout the book, which is funny.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077432286

#ReadingCorner #ReadsOfMastodon #SoImASpider #蜘蛛ですが