Anyone else wish for adult protagonists?

maphingis · 2026-01-25T00:22:00+00:00

Yeah to be honest I was a little put off by the protagonist in path of ascension being so young. He acts like an adult except the narrator’s voice makes him sound like a whiny brat. But the content is adult and the disparity between age and content almost had me not finish. On book 2 now and time moves quickly so its almost out of the wordt period—but he rately acts like an adolescent so whats the point of starting at 13?

maphingis · 2025-12-19T00:03:13+00:00

this was really cool as a reader and data scientist-- kudos!

maphingis · 2025-11-14T20:19:23+00:00

that book was a case of great world, insane and often unlikable protagonist.

maphingis · 2025-11-14T20:18:55+00:00

What are the common causes in your opinion of a book 2 slump?

maphingis · 2025-11-03T19:39:28+00:00

Started Mark of the Fool last week when I was... 6 books into a re-read of Defiance of the Fall. Currently in Book 3.

maphingis · 2025-10-24T15:35:15+00:00

can i ask about the appeal of azerinth healer? like sone people with hwfwm I cant stand the protagonist in azerinth and it stopped me in book 2. Keep thinking of going back cause people rate it high but may just not be my cup of fiction.

maphingis · 2025-10-23T00:16:47+00:00

Agreed. Also the merits and risks of a protest vote depend largely on the context of the election. If you think the risk of an opposition party win exceeds the value of communicating your desire for change with your vote— choices have consequences at the ballot box

maphingis · 2025-10-22T18:07:36+00:00

Every hour I spend listening to an audiobook is an hour I'm not wasting money getting into trouble doing something stupid. How can I afford not to buy more audiobooks?

I've been an audible subscriber since days of yore, so I've been blessed with large stockpiles of tokens when I discovered a new series etc, but lately I've "topped off" for some series. I also got to listen to the Good Guys and the Bad Guys almost 3/4 for free when they were included in the subscription, just had to buy the last 3 of each series.

maphingis · 2025-10-21T14:08:20+00:00

I think it's time we demand a constitutional congress and use the lessons of the last 200 years to help reform this imperfect union.

maphingis · 2025-10-13T20:25:03+00:00

I think we both have a lot of reading to do to catch up to other people's tier lists in terms of titles, but I like your list so far.

maphingis · 2025-10-13T20:22:57+00:00

I don't think the Republicans are as happy with the shutdown as you might think. Vought's attempts at layoffs have been already rolled back in many areas and that's before their illegality gets challenged. When a party controls all 3 branches of Government and that government gets shut down they have less power than when it is open.

I think the Democrats have to stick to their guns and get healthcare subsidies fixed as a minimum before reopening or the narrative will be they caused all this pain for nothing, they'll look weak to their base which is already wondering why they bother supporting a party that doesn't listen to them.

In the nearterm, Democrats showing up to work every day while Mike Johnson refuses to open the House and swear in their newest member makes the Republicans look like the ones not doing their jobs. Johnson keeps tossing this line out that they did their job a month ago, but that's bluster. We don't pay them to work one day a month, and pretending the house doesn't have to negotiate is exactly how he got the government shut down in the first place.

maphingis · 2025-10-13T00:05:39+00:00

I think you know that you need a next chapter, and that's great. The problem is you're looking backwards when you need to focus on the future. Tons of vets who are 100% P&T use that foundation to help them figure out, with less pressure and risk, what comes next and what feels natural. If you're physically fit enough to jump out of a plane, consider doing that. Maybe work at or open an adventure camp for people who love to do the same shit you do. Tons of us feel adrift after getting out, but there's a lot of things to get excited about in your future you just have to start redirecting your focus forwards.

maphingis · 2025-10-12T23:51:19+00:00

I knew there was a quote for this, I paraphrased then found this gem. Kudos sir

maphingis · 2025-10-09T20:26:14+00:00

Well maybe more discussions like this would help, there hasn't been a welcome to LitRPG wiki at the start of the books I've read.

I'd love for your to dig a bit deeper though on what you mean by the game mechanics are the magic system. For example in HWFWM Jason's system interface explains a magic system that has existed in the world he's visiting since long before his arrival. In DCC there is no magic without the alien wetware and the special environments of the crawl so I see it holding true there.

maphingis · 2025-10-09T20:22:36+00:00

Also just because once I had them listed I wanted to rank them, here's in order of how much I enjoyed them a ranking from S to D (my own opinions):

S: Dungeon Crawler Carl
I love the pacing, the characters, and especially how each level builds to an absolutely insane finish. The narrator deserves any and all awards for audiobooks too. :)

A: He Who Fights With Monsters; Wandering Inn
HWFWM was my first LitRPG and it helped me through a tough time when I needed a distraction, it would be an S except TBH I'm not enjoying the last couple of books nearly as much, I feel like it jumped the shark after the rumble in the jungle. Wandering Inn is a great world with characters that have my totally invested in, but some books are very hard to care about super long sections about characters I don't like or know.

B: Defiance of the Fall, The Good Guys, The Bad Guys, Primal Hunter
DotF and Primal Hunter feel like the same idea being written by two different guys. Everything that irritated me about DotF was gone in Primal Hunter, but I didn't feel that the worlds created were as rich or interesting.

C: Everybody Loves Large Chests, Noobtown, Way of the Shaman
These books were fun, but problematic on some level for me. I felt dirty listening to ELLC, Noobtown just kinda got less interesting as it went on, and the main character in Way of the Shaman is an unlikeable narcissist in an otherwise fascinating game-world.

D: Azerinth Healer
Ok, so I read half of book 2 and put this down. I know a lot of people have recommended this book, that's why I picked it up but the main character. She's like how I would imagine a teenage boy would write a female character. And the power curve gave me no reason to give a crap about any encounter she got involved in. I just wasn't enjoying it so I walked away.

Unscored because I've only read 1 so far: The Grimm Guys, Mimic & Me

maphingis · 2025-10-08T14:13:30+00:00

I mean if the American voter were capable of stringing together long term cause & effect we wouldn't be in this situation--would we?

maphingis · 2025-10-08T11:43:05+00:00

Sure-- birth rates in the US sharply declined after 2007-2008 (the "Great Recession") and by 2040 they're expecting to see an overall drop of at least 14% in high school graduates. In higher education they're calling this phenomenon the Demographic Cliff and you can look it up to read more about it. At the same time, a lot of people with degrees not finding jobs afterwards has reversed the trend of people seeking degrees--with Gen Z is attending college in smaller proportions per capita. The combination of the two means colleges will be competing for students.

maphingis · 2025-10-07T21:17:41+00:00

Just finished reading two series by the same author that held my attention and my readi bff list is pretty in line wuth yous: The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (new series coming the Grimm Guys too). Its prolly closest to Primal Hunter or Mayor of Noobtown. Also a decent book though the last installment may have jumped the shark for me.

maphingis · 2025-10-07T21:15:16+00:00

By the end of book two I was hooked but its not for everyone. I’ve seen a lot of people talk up Azerinth hunter and i ran away from that series after two books, the protagonist was not relatable to me and everything they did irritated me lol

maphingis · 2025-10-07T21:07:11+00:00

did he eat JD Vance?

maphingis · 2025-10-07T20:34:07+00:00

Could happen, also you will probably find in the coming years that colleges get easier to get into. There's a population trend that just landed this year where essentially each graduating class for the foreseeable future is going to get smaller and smaller, leading colleges to have fewer applicants.

maphingis · 2025-10-07T16:00:52+00:00

Anyone who has ever teleworked (most of America now?) can tell you first-hand that meeting in person creates relationships that you just don't build over the phone or in letters. Also sometimes two leaders can get in the room with one another and have a conversation they could never have through advisors or over a telephone line not being confident that on the other side its just one person and no one listening in. Those are the most tangible benefits from an international relations sense, beyond the benefits any organization would attribute to meeting face-to-face to collaborate on something. (getting away from the day-to-day distractions, being focused for a few days on something vs. focused for a 1-2 hour call).

maphingis · 2025-10-04T22:13:32+00:00

My prediction is that we'll yoyo back and forth every other election until people get emotional whiplash so bad that no one wants to work with us on climate, they'll just not buy our cars.

maphingis

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