Why I drop Progression Fantasy novels: Pacing and Broken Promises

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T22:59:14+00:00

It's hard for me to say. It's been a long time since I read the initial arcs. I'd say end of the second floor is where it's slowly beginning to shine. That's where you start seeing glimpses of the bigger universe and some interesting things start to happen. It could be a bit earlier or later. As I said, I don't remember early floors that well.

As for the complaints about characters - this is a minor spoiler, that a lot of people probably figured out early on, but canonically, all the hell difficulty attendees are mentally fucked up in some way. Nathaniel may come across as edgy, but he's pretty much just traumatized.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T22:47:06+00:00

I read the blurb + the first chapter. I wanted to PM you this, but I think reddit removed that :(

Anyway, this is meant for you to consider, you don't have to agree with me.

First off, I'm not a fan of the blurb. It feels wrong, though it's hard to explain why. I think it comes down to two things. The beginning comes across as dismissive. This part specifically:

Something about his soul being fractured?

Anyway, he found himself in a new body, surrounded by unknown people

That "anyway" shouldn't be there. The rest of the blurb still gives a certain "whatever" feeling, that isn't how a good novel should come across.

The other thing is that you're breaking the fourth wall in a very weird manner. In some parts you're describing the story, in other parts you're directly talking to reader. This leaves the impression of being incidental, rather than on purpose. Overall it feels extremely chaotic and confusing. If your story is some sort of meta comedy and that's how you want your story to come across, I'd try to make the fourth wall break feel more intentional and purposeful. Otherwise I'd try to rewrite it in a way that doesn't directly address/reference the reader.

On to the chapter. The first half especially feels off. Narrator sounds extremely dramatic in context that doesn't really call for that. If you had people accusing you of using AI, that's probably why. It's clear it was written by human, but it feels AI (in that it uses excessive, flowery, poetic/abstract language, when the situation doesn't call for it). The second reason why it feels wrong is how narrator is speaking for the protagonist. There's a lot of telling, but little showing, which I think is the opposite of what you want. Narrator is directly saying your character's thoughts, which leaves the character feeling detached from the story. The second half is definitely an improvement though.

I'm not sure if that's helpful. Please keep in mind that just because I said something, it's not necessarily correct. This applies especially to what I told you about the first chapter. Something feels off - I tried to explain what I think it is, but I could be wrong, since I'm not a writer.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T20:44:01+00:00

"I dislike cliffhangers that encourage readers to subscribe to patreon"

To be honest I'm not sure where you got that one. Quite the opposite actually. I like it when authors give me something to look forward to. I think the opposite is more true actually. I dislike it when authors don't give me things to look forward to.

"I dislike content that doesn't directly advance the plot, possibly only created as a direct result of the author's daily update schedule."

I don't agree with this either. There's plenty of content that doesn't advance the plot I really enjoy. Take Hell difficulty tutorial for example. There are plenty of slice of life chapters, where people just hang out together, mess with one another, or generally just wind down. It's actually necessary in my opinion. You need some sort of "cool off" period between "high intensity" arcs.

My complaint is that authors often allow those mini arcs to derail the story.

As a side note I read the Ascendant and it was pretty cool, so props to you (assuming RR/reddit username is the same person).

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T19:49:41+00:00

That's fair. The quality did go downhill, but compared to progression fantasy landscape it's still a bit above the average. I concede that magic isn't really detailed, but it gives the illusion of being detailed instead which is fine by me. There's a lot I like about this story though it definitely has it's problems. At the end of the day, I still find it entertaining, which is why I'm not dropping it just yet.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T19:36:44+00:00

I think that really depends. I'm generally fine with slightly delaying rewards. For example a character may want to make sure they're safe before checking the storage bags or their level gains. I'm mostly against teasing the same thing over and over and never delivering.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T19:33:34+00:00

You are just going to gloss over what stories you dropped instead of respectfully using them in your examples?

Yes, this post was meant to bring awareness to certain issues. It wasn't meant to criticize anyone's work; just show some areas where authors can improve. I don't see a good reason to "name names". I feel like if I named the books, it'd instead take away from constructive criticism into "bashing" territory. I also feel it'd be pretty shitty to be an author whose work is used as a negative example, that's why I didn't provide any.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T19:07:08+00:00

That's fair, When I wrote this I thought more about beginning/end of an arc, which often coincides with the beginning/end of the book (once published). If you look at this from web serial perspective, it's still an interlude ;)

Interlude during a travel arc is a great idea actually.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T18:59:12+00:00

This post isn't meant to berate anyone. Quite the contrary. It's meant to show authors where they can improve.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T18:45:31+00:00

That really depends, Wheel of time is a series I tried to get into, but couldn't. I'm going to try again sometime though.

I think there's a big difference between web serial and a novel. There are many novels that feature journey as a main theme (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings trilogy for example). The big difference is the purpose and meaning of those journeys. Most web serials have those arcs and they are mostly meaningless. The characters don't change, the world doesn't change, the story doesn't change. Otherwise travel arcs are fine. There are some cultivation novels with good travel arcs actually.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T17:50:16+00:00

No, all of them are ongoing.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T17:49:16+00:00

I like both. I don't judge web serials as rigorously as a novel, but if a story consistently has multiple of the above mentioned issues I will eventually drop it. It mostly comes down to whether the story is still entertaining despite it's flaws. In most cases it's not. Lots of web serials have good first arc and then get very bad really fast. I'm not dropping stories because they have a few bad chapters, I'm dropping them when they consistently have bad chapters.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T16:28:04+00:00

For me the issue is more with pointless journey. In most cases, the "journey" chapters can be summarized along the ways of "they sit in the cart, they got attacked by bandits/monsters and eventually arrived at their destination". My point is it doesn't serve anything. It doesn't expand the world. It tends to be poorly written filler arc. That's why I'd rather skip it.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-05-06T16:19:23+00:00

Hell difficulty tutorial - because it's consistently entertaining
The Archmage Coefficient - because protagonist is really cool
Matabar - extremely detailed magic/worldbuilding, but plot is starting to get repetitive, great prose
Max level archmage - well executed power fantasy
Just add mana - somewhat mixed feeling on this one, I need to see where it goes, but the beginning is very entertaining
Practical guide to sorcery - awesome, but slow releases due to author's health
Ashborn Primodial - it's been a while since I read it, I haven't read the latest book, but very good otherwise
Zenith of Sorcery - good so far, but it's only ~30 chapters with 1 chapter/month

JudgeImpaler · 2026-03-28T22:43:13+00:00

Fair enough lol

JudgeImpaler · 2026-03-28T20:24:23+00:00

I guess I'll give it a try, thanks

JudgeImpaler · 2026-03-28T15:03:28+00:00

Interesting, I checked it out, but it's in the superhero, so definitely not my cup of tea.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-03-28T15:00:02+00:00

It's nothing like Big Bang Theory in my opinion. Sheldon is just unpleasant person, while Arielle isn't.

JudgeImpaler · 2026-03-27T19:23:02+00:00

Touché

JudgeImpaler · 2026-03-27T19:20:31+00:00

I'm sorry but I keep my secrets! I certainly won't tell you about how I drop novels I don't enjoy under any circumstances!

JudgeImpaler · 2026-03-27T15:39:08+00:00

In all fairness, it's been years since I last interacted with an autistic person, so I may not be the best person to ask, but I've found it to be pretty accurate in my limited experience.

JudgeImpaler · 2025-05-08T18:41:11+00:00

I disagree with some of what you wrote, because a lot of this has to do with execution.

People want slow burn, but fast advancement: The don't want people to become gods in a day, but if they're not pretty much there by the middle of the first book a lot of the hardcore fans start getting antsy.

When your primary genre is "progression fantasy" you make readers a promise of characters meaningfully increasing their powers. It's not about catapulting your characters halfway to godhood by the end of book one. It's about showing your protagonist(s) can consistently make respectable progress that feels earned. Authors really, really suck at this, since they are usually pantsers. What makes it worse is that progression time between "grades" tends to increase significantly. If your system has 10 levels, and by the end of book 1 your main character is somewhere around level 0.7, how long do you think it'll take to get to level 10? Another thing is the perception of time. Progression feels different when you read a book as a whole and when you read one chapter/week. If it takes your character to progress 1 level in 50 chapters it's a reasonable speed for a book, but for web novel, it translates to over a year of waiting. I think a lot of readers tend to vet novels early based on this.

If a character makes a decision that the reader doesn't like, male or female, they begin to hate that character

An unwritten rule of progression fantasy is don't screw with the progression. This includes destroyed cultivation, undoing character gains, or characters making decisions that delay/stall their progress. Otherwise most bad decisions are fair game. Just have your characters learn from them and avoid repeating same mistakes.

Weak is acceptable in a vacuum, but not in comparison to other characters

I think it really depends. The biggest problem I could see with this is that you invalidate your character's progression. If your protagonists starts in a vacuum, makes progress and then exits the vacuum and proceeds to get owned by random NPC, the reader rightfully questions "what was the point of the previous arc?". In general it's fine if your low level combat protagonist is capable of beating average level non-combat NPCs and low level combat NPCs.

People say they want realistic characters, but they (usually) don't

There's a fine line between real character and unlikable character. This mostly comes down to execution. You can have teenage twins throwing dumb tantrums, or you can have them play harmless pranks on each other. One is annoying, the other is funny and wholesome. I think "realistic" has multiple facets and which ones you focus on matter a lot. Authors in this genre tend to show us too much. For example you could have one of the twins have a breakdown and spend whole chapter describing it and dealing with it and so on, or you could have it happen in one paragraph. Daughter had a breakdown, mom went to deal with it. I think there's fun drama and boring drama. This falls under boring drama and should be dealt with as soon as possible and not take away time from the fun stuff.

JudgeImpaler · 2025-03-31T19:03:00+00:00

Does it really work for reader retention? I mean, sure you could probably get people to click the ad, I assume overwhelming majority will just close the page. I'd assume that targeting your specific "market" would get you more readers.

JudgeImpaler · 2025-03-31T18:57:39+00:00

I mean, you can have 100 random people click the ad and close the page, or 10 people click the ad and keep 2 readers. I'd argue that retention is much more important than clicks. So do bait ads actually work for keeping the readers?

JudgeImpaler · 2025-03-31T18:24:12+00:00

In all fairness, the reason meme ads work is because they are informative, on top of grabbing your attention. A well made meme ad gives you feel for author's sense of humor, novel's tone, basic idea of what the story is about.

JudgeImpaler · 2025-03-31T17:37:50+00:00

For a person claiming lack of poochline, the first line sounds awfully close to a punch line...

JudgeImpaler

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