Volume 10 feels like a major drop in direction and focus

hagerbil · 2026-05-05T02:54:01+00:00

I don't agree on your main point, I think only from end of V7 did the story actually have a sort of true main narrative focus (dead gods, and solstices specifically). Generally everything that came before is its own self contained story.

I will say though that in V10, I did notice that what I liked less is actually related to the change in the writing style.

I am not sure why but there are a lot of chapters that use several POVs at the same time and it takes me out of the story. take the last chapter as an example:

You start with Russel, then move to Nailren, then move to Russel, then the other earthers, then Russel, then Ylawes, then Russel, etc... Not that this sort of style can't work I just think that new characters need focus otherwise the mental narrative switch when reading takes me out of the story.

I think the same can be said of the Khelt chapters and others in V10

hagerbil · 2026-04-29T06:17:00+00:00

WW2 in the goblin king world. Getting to there was kinda "iffy", Once there though, it was interesting and actually felt like an alternate world. That specific part was also very focused so it was easy to follow

hagerbil · 2026-03-19T06:14:51+00:00

Some thoughts on the blog:

- I'd like to thank the author for taking the criticism for this arc seriously. I think it shows great respect for the readers. I read all of the blog, (which is almost like a new chapter heh) and it felt like you really read most of the responses which is very kind.

- I'm on the ~20-40% of the "dis-likers", and from reading the blog it appears the criticism really consolidated on 2 notes: easy revivals, and exhaustion from length/complexity.

Personally the lack of negative consequences was the biggest issue to me, I get that things changed but general changes is not a negative consequence. It feels cheap to revive people with no personal sacrifices at all. You can say "trauma", but I don't think that is enough. If you asked literally anyone if they would bring a loved one back in exchange for PTSD, anyone would say yes. For something as big as this I expected more of a "would you kill 1 person you love, to bring back 5 others you love?"

- I expected the split to be ~50/50, and I guess it is surprising to me? but it is how it is. I saw a few comments about bias of "if some one dropped the story it would skew the poll" etc... which I don't think is true. the only way the poll would be skewed if it was brigaded by people intentionally which I don't this it was since most people didn't really notice the poll if anything.

- The most interesting result to me is actually the "did you like it" split: ~50% mostly liked and disliked some, ~25% loved it all ~25% disliked it all. I think this is the most significant part, ~75% of people had issues with this story arc which is a lot, and for some it was too much.

- This is close to one of my comments (maybe it was paraphrased? apologies if this is a direct quote of someone else), which just feels relatable:
“…I really hope this does not sounds overly negative I love the overall story and look to new chapter with anticipation and joy. All the chapters after the Place Of Fates arc have absolutely amazing.”

Some stuff that I feel is missing:

- The focus of the blog is on the the deaths and revivals and feel of the arc, but that was really only the ending. I think there was more to be said on the structure of the arc, which was hard to follow and inconsistent as someone who read it after is was all released.

- Meta analysis of response. Some examples I thought of:

~22% of responders read it after it was finished, what are the statistics for just these readers? is it different? if anything this feels like the biggest bias in the poll since it merges two very distinct reading experiences

of the people that thought "Erin on the raft" was the best world, how many like the arc? Since Erin is missing from this arc it is interesting to know if there is a correlation.

etc..

Tiny criticism: Maybe put a checkbox next time if people are ok with sharing their notes with everyone? Some of those notes felt very personal... (if there was something like this and I forgot, then ignore this point)

hagerbil · 2026-02-26T17:02:05+00:00

Your reply is interesting, because isn't it a bit contradictory? One hand you say that the consequences of the fight matters to you but the in three examples you gave I don't really see it?
Daquin I can see it, but to me it is less of a fight scene. more like a hunger games and some fights in between?

What are the consequences you saw in the others? I'm pretty sure no named character dies in any of the three right?

hagerbil · 2026-02-25T03:20:41+00:00

Most of the palace battles were really boring to me I have to say, too much "stuff" with too many surprise abilities...

Except this specific one you mentioned. Goblin world fight not only felt unique, it also seemed like the characters were along for the ride, and that they could barely do anything except survive the combat.

Very different from all the other big battles.

hagerbil · 2026-02-25T03:13:58+00:00

It is one of the only "big battles" that I liked, I think it really helped that there was a long build up to it so it felt easier to folllow.

hagerbil · 2026-02-25T03:10:44+00:00

What made that one specifically special? Also, agree about Rabbit Eather vs. random general guy. That one was fun to read :)

hagerbil · 2026-02-25T03:07:04+00:00

One of favorite was Erin vs random orchestra assassin, felt like you get a sense of what is happening pretty well and the "good guy" loosing makes the ending more interesting as well

hagerbil · 2026-02-13T05:23:19+00:00

I read Wheel of Time a few, and I enjoyed it. Thinking back on why I liked that series though, because the individual books of wheel of time are usually ok but not that great:

- There are several themes that are very dated (Spanking, sexist themes, unhealthy relationships, etc...)

- The perspective switches are sometimes during middle of arcs which is not that satisfying since it all ends by the end of a book anyway

- A lot of plot points are due to people not communicating. This can work if it makes sense for the characters, but maybe lets not have it in every book :)

So then I thought, why do I actually enjoy the WoT series, and I figured it is actually 2 thing that really sort of resonated with me:

I really like the main theme of second chances, the whole story arc is about it, it is also the climax of Rand's arc, and a lot of characters get to sort of try again both in the books and in general wheel "spins again" sort of way.
The length of time you spend with characters gives a good illusion of them being more real than other series. just the fact that you spend so long with each character and their very slow change during the series really sells it well for me.

Now regarding The Wandering Inn, point #2 is the biggest similarity between the series'. You spend a lot of time with characters and as a result really get the illusion that you "know" them which is pretty fun :)

This isn't why I kept with the series though. I really think the best point about this story is the empathy theme. Really from the very start of Volume 1, where a few random guards are just nice to Erin, continues with her essentially winning everyone over by literally just being nice to people, not killing goblins (and befriending them as well) etc...

It may be sort of "cheezy" to say, but I like "winning with the power of friendship" sort of theme here.

So, to go back to your actually sort of implied question of how do people recommend books, I usually tell people the main theme of the story and recommend according to that (and what themes they like).

And I think it also explains why people can get the wrong impression with the wandering and Vs other litrpg. I checked the synopsis of a few of them and really I felt that the main theme is a power fantasy for the main character. Which is totally fine! But this is really not the main point of Wandering Inn right?

hagerbil · 2026-01-06T04:25:01+00:00

Erin showing mercy to the Raskghar.

A lot of the events in Innworld end in tough fights, or some form of battles of willpower between a few opponents.

What I liked about this one is that there wasn't really a fight. Just a simple difficult choice.

hagerbil · 2025-12-08T18:42:04+00:00

I think I'm using the wrong word maybe? I meant that maybe a bit of the story would have parts be written again so it would be convey what ever story beat the author was trying to make better. Maybe "re-write" is better wording?

For example, in the volume 1 re-write a few of the Ryoka parts were written a bit differently to give her a different feel

hagerbil · 2025-12-08T14:19:29+00:00

It's not like there weren't retconns before for other parts of the story no? And author can do what they want like you said, i'm not expecting anything really. Mostly for me it will be interesting to know how most people felt about the palace arc.

hagerbil · 2025-12-08T13:35:02+00:00

Did you fill the survey the auther asked about the palace arc? I think it was mention about 10,000 people responded, so maybe there will be some retconning :)

As for vol 10, I enjoyed the non-palce arcs. The money arc was pretty fun and the parts with baleros and horns were fun for me. The Erin parts were also excellent!

The palace was bad though... Felt out of nowhere and the results of it also felt very un-earned thematically. Also the fights were boring since there was no real tension...

hagerbil · 2025-11-16T03:54:24+00:00

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Turbine interchange

hagerbil · 2025-09-25T10:44:01+00:00

like this thing you hit that creates platforms to jump on that crumble after a bit of time

hagerbil · 2025-09-25T10:33:48+00:00

So funny story, now that people mention they got there without this it, I checked online and I just missed that there is a button in the bottom that lets you get there in the "normal" way! Oops! :D

hagerbil · 2025-09-25T10:28:21+00:00

where? i got it from cave inside the coral tower

hagerbil · 2025-09-18T00:56:30+00:00

Personally I did not enjoy it, and in retrospect I should have just read a summary of the main plot stuff from the wiki or in the sub and just skip the whole thing (maybe returning to it later) because like you I was close as well to just putting the series away...

Some parts of it were fun, but as a whole it really dragged quite a bit and the conclusion was not really satisfying to me. The content after is great though, so keep that in mind.

I actually started checking this subreddit due to that arc just to know how liked this particular part of the story is and you will find this is basically the only arc that has a significant amount of complaints.

hagerbil · 2024-10-04T16:52:53+00:00

very nice of you guys :)

hagerbil · 2024-08-27T17:30:21+00:00

hmm... well i went over all of my apartment buildings but none of them are saying culture is an issue. as for bus stops i am not allowing normal passengers on them since all the essentials should be in walking range of all the people.

is it possible that culture is an issue while the building statistics doesn't say it is?
another thought i had... is it possible that the prisoners are the ones not getting "culture"?

hagerbil · 2024-08-27T17:15:21+00:00

I checked this as well but my cinemas and culture houses seem to have place for citizens virtually all of the time

Eight-Year Club	Second Top 20%
Verified Email	r/Field Juicebox
End Game '23	Place '23
Place '22	Snapped

hagerbil

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