The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A lot has happened since last year. I started this little series called the Wandering Inn by Pirateaba and thought I'd just fly though some cotton candy fantasy with a heavy focus on characters and slow burn developments sprinkled with tons of good humor, friendship punctuated by devastating blows and war crimes.

At least, that's how it started. I was amused at first.

And then I kept reading, slowing down my reading speed because I discovered that I was having a genuinely good time and I wanted to stretch it out. And then, all of a sudden, I read the twentieth book this month and cried. And cried. And finally decided to check out the web serial and how far in the published books are compared to the web version. Only to realize I'd gotten to the end of only Volume 7. And the volumes are currently in the middle of 12. And then I cried for another reason. And started reading from there.

But what does that have to do with the first book?

Well, I decided to give myself a treat for when I am exercising. I decided to only exercise while reading this story from the start. And all of a sudden, I've been working out a bit more than usual. And I keep doing other things that could be considered working out because I just wanted to get back to Erin and the Inn. And I just happened to get through the first audiobook again. On accident.

But I'm not upset. This series successfully upgraded itself in my consciousness to the top ten stories of ... everything. It's currently my main and ultimate obsession for the foreseeable future. I even convinced my young daughter to start it. You know. To give it a little chance. And I won't mind if she gives up by chapter 20. If she can.

She's now walking into traffic while reading it. I'm feeling like a bad parent now. And she's hooked well before chapter 20. I'm glad to know that it's not just me.

The thing is... I NEVER would have guessed how much of an impact these books would have on me at the beginning. These characters are genuine FAMILY to me now. All of them. Including the ones that take turns on my shit list. They're still family.

I hate this author for the utterly magical way I've been tied into knots.
And I can't get enough.



Original Review:

I'm reading this mainly because I wanted something COMFORTABLE. It SOUNDS comfortable. It SMELLS comfortable. It's also LitRPG with an absolutely humongous page count, between this volume and all the rest. So, if I play my cards right, I'll have an ENDLESS COMFORTABLE adventure.

That was my expectations.

So how did it pan out?


I got exactly what I wanted. Tons of absolute low level isekai, getting a class of Inkeeper, and generally making friends among everyone, even low level mobs that should have been despised. And let's face it, making everyone welcome IS very nice. Add chess, adventurer's stories, and even a necromancer or two either mooching off the Inn or killing countless people, and we get a nice, broad swath of a new fantasy.

And this being just the first book, and knowing from other readers that it gets a LOT better, I think I'm going to have a nice, FINE time. Now, if only I could get the scent of acid out of my nostrils. It's not unpleasant, but damn, as I read this, it sure got EVERYWHERE. (If only in my mind)

Damn synesthesia. At least it's rather citrusy. Like cleaner.



Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to DM requests. I think it's about time I get some eyes on them.

Arctunn.com

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Breaking Rules by Erin Ampersand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A big escalation here. I really feel the endgame territory well before the end of this particular novel. The kids are strong, mommy is getting some insane help now, and even though she's NOT with the military types, the whole thing feels like some kind of polite fiction to give her peace of mind.

Because stay at home moms know WAR. Yep. I'm standing behind that one.

Not bad as a LitRPG but it's honestly a little weak when comparing it to the big guns. DCC pulls this plot off in a genuinely wild way in comparison. This one is rather tame. Not bad, not great. But definitely decent.

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Hide and Seek by Erin Ampersand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Either I'm relaxing into this series or I'm finally happy to see a wider range of abilities and opportunities to use them in overwhelming fashion. You know, power fantasy. The kind of thing that makes LitRPG rather shine.

The whole post-apoc feel is dampened a bit with so many people finally learning to work together, but it's probably a bit more interesting that our favorite mommy is truly getting the kind of props that she deserves, even if she wants none of it. Yet another reason why this is considered a fantasy, no? :)

More than everything, though, I'm just happy that the kids are a bit more powerful now, less likely to get killed off. The tension from before was kinda unwelcome when I just wanted some light fluff. But, of course, that's a personal issue, lol.


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Making Friends by Erin Ampersand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's decent, but I need to stress one little fact: these are more like post-apocalypse novels than LitRPGs. The few chosen abilities as you gain experience are absolutely LitRPG, but the total feel of this is a lot more Walking Dead than DCC, and none of this is even close to my initial thought that this would be a bit more humorous, with the whole idea of super powerful young kids saving their mom or something along those lines.

Making Friends, as a title, is more about getting along in a new, angry community. Not quite the tongue-in-cheek I wanted. Alas.

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Azarinth Healer Book Seven: A LitRPG Adventure by Rhaegar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Exploration and alliances, one adventure at a time.

This is pretty much a cozy adventure that just happens to feature a lot of bodily damage quickly regenerated and a bunch of hidden god-like powers among unsuspecting strangers. But the cozy bit is what makes it really nice. After all, it's the friends you make after beating the shit out of them that really matter. :)

Still a fun series. Relaxing, strangely enough, with a friendly elder god tree, a pissed nature dragon, insane pixie Shadows, mech-loving dwarves, shy 4* arch lichs, and a god-like brawler with truly easygoing nature.

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It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I consider this an intellectual exercise. A conceptual, sometimes emotional reflection on loss and self-sacrifice to an idea wrapped up in post-zombie-apocalypse wrapping paper.

It's a poem. It's an epigraph.

It's also like a last gasp nod to traditional literary fiction and all its pretentiousness and deep depression as seen through a literal embodied zombie metaphor.



Of course, I could be taking it way too seriously.
This novella could ACTUALLY be a tongue-in-cheek metaphor for literary fiction, itself, as a zombie falling apart because its own center cannot hold.

You know what? I like that take even better.

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Time to Play by Erin Ampersand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a LitRPG, it's middle of the road solid for strict game mechanics interposed over a newly overturned life.

When I picked it up, I had the irrational idea that it was going to be hilarious as a mom slowly becoming unhinged as her kids of 9, 6, and 3 pick up powers in the attempt to survive the apocalypse. It just HAS that feel, or so I thought. Like Adventures in Babysitting. Or something similar.

But, alas, it isn't one for humor. Aside for the plushie AI, it's almost entirely a realistic-build with all the family-oriented stakes and normal neighborhood BS along with the up-scaling of threats and running out of resources.

Not bad, but I feel like it could have been brilliant... and wasn't. Alas. I'll still continue on for at least one more book, however, because who knows? It might get unhinged yet.

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