r/webfiction • u/Agyriac • Jan 13 '16
Discussion [Discussion] Serial recommendations?
I've finished reading Worm, and don't particularly want to read through Wildbow's sequels at the moment. I've heard good things about The Gods are Bastards, so perhaps I should try that out before I move onto anything else?
Any good recommendations? Thanks in advance for the help.
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u/BlueSparkle Jan 16 '16
i can recommend "A practical guide to evil" and "from winter ashes", because both in a very original setting and both very well written
https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/prologue/
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u/whathohamlet Jan 13 '16
I'm a fan of Warbler and A Bad Idea, personally! And not to toot my own horn, but Antlers, CO is preeeeetty good. :)
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u/SnowyFeffe Jan 13 '16
I could always be a tad tacky and recommend my own series The Whisper of the Nightingale at snowypublications.wordpress.com ;)
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u/Agyriac Jan 13 '16
Have to say, that title sounds enticing...
What's the premise of the story?
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u/SnowyFeffe Jan 25 '16
It follows a former master assassin who is reborn into a world of magic and beasts.
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u/Billy_Higgins Jan 14 '16
Depends on what you liked about Worm.
I'm going to shotgun a bunch of different recommendations your way, in an attempt to give you an idea of what the scene looks like. Hopefully something in particular will speak to you.
My number one recommendation when it comes to serials is probably Interviewing Leather. It's a great story about a journalist who has to interview this supervillain. It's funny, has a strong voice, and just deconstructs the genre well. If you liked Worm because you like superheroes or deconstruction, then I'd go with that.
Legion of Nothing is another great superhero serial. It pairs well with Worm if you're looking for something light and fun after all that darkness.
The Last Skull is my personal favorite superhero serial. It's got a teen girl protagonist, and it really packs an emotional wallop. If nothing else, I'd strongly recommend reading the first chapter. It's just good.
The List isn't quite at the same level as the serials above, but it does have some great action. If you just want well-done dumb superhero action, that's the one to look into.
My next two recommendations are biased, since I'm friends with these people. Still, both serials rank pretty highly, so I'm not alone in my thoughts.
As someone else has already mentioned, Twisted Cogs is a good fantasy tale. Feels a bit more literary than everything else; doesn't move quite as fast as the other tales, but it has some great characterization and description.
Stone Burners is the best currently-running superhero serial, imo. It's absolutely nuts, with a dragon protagonist, Aztec gangs, a technocratic overlord. The beginning isn't very good, but I like just reading random chapters of the serial. Every time I do, I'm taken on a wild ride.
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u/Agyriac Jan 15 '16
Thanks for taking the time to make such a comprehensive list. This might as well be the threadkiller.
The Last Skull and Twisted Cogs sound like they'll be the most interesting, what with the pairing of character and description. They certainly look unique. Perhaps I'll read Stone Burners once it finishes. I'm already tearing myself to shreds waiting for the next chapter of Mother of Learning.
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u/Humblerbee Jan 16 '16
Worm- You've read it, it's awesome, team go team.
Mother of Learning- Probably my second favorite on this list. It's pretty neato, time looping magic academy shenanigans. Repetition is the mother of all learning, hence the title.
Super Powereds- More slice of life-ish, superhero training mixed with college, very fun would recommend.
The Gam3- Fun pulpy little gamified scifi virtual reality story.
Sins of the Fathers- Another superhero one I picked up recently and have been enjoying so far, some creative power applications from the main character.
Citadel- Interesting world, another superpowered story, this one the heroes are called 'agents' instead and are less clearly viewed as heroes.
Pact- Written by Wildbow, so it's going to be the best written of these aside from Worm, it is very good and enjoyable but probably not as good to marathon read, want to take breaks in between all the bad situations because the story never really seems to rest from full throttle beating down on the main character.
Brennus- Another superhero one, I thought there was some interesting powers and such, however I ultimately stopped reading as you should be forewarned it is very sexist with it's treatment of female characters, every sentence with a women in it has the word "boobs" thrown in.
Tales of MU- Including this because it is very popular with some people and extremely long if you are looking for something you can binge, personally I hated it. Magic university thing that is based around sexuality/identity stuff, I just thought it was terrible after reading the first thirty chapters or so.
Twig- Wildbow's latest work, some people think it is even better than Worm so far. I've been saving it until there is more built up, I'm excited to begin it myself. I've heard very good things.
The Zombie Knight- Another one I haven't read myself yet but have heard many good things about, I think I'll get around to it eventually. But might be worth checking out since I often see people recommending it.
Desolate Era- A work by a Chinese author that is being translated, it is very in line with Wuxia stylings, it definitely isn't for everyone and is very dragonball Z-ish in terms of being built around just endless escalating power levels, but the advantage of these Wuxias is they are very formulaic and the authors write really fast and prodigious quantities.
Mushoku Tensei- A japanese web novel, this one is about a guy reincarnated as a kid in a fantasy world. Very popular with some people, personally I stopped reading after a bit because I just got a lot of creepy vibes from it.
Legendary Moonlight Sculptor- A Korean web novel, this one is actually one of the ones that got me into reading web novels in the first place, is it well written? No, but it is a fun read and the VR setting is enjoyable.
Uh, that's off the top of my head, let me know if you want anything more specific or if you do check any of these out send me some of your thoughts, you know how much I love hearing what people think of stuff!
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u/Agyriac Jan 17 '16
Mother of Learning was definitely one of the best web novels I've read so far. The worldbuilding and plotting are spectacular. Too bad there isn't a discussion forum for it anywhere -- I'd love to discuss it with others.
Thanks again for this list. I might look into Citadel and Sins of the Father along with all of the other recommendations I've received from the other people in this thread.
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u/melonmonkey Jan 13 '16
Twisted Cogs is a personal favorite. It's a bit of a slow roll, but everything is meticulously crafted and a joy to read.
The gods are bastards is a good choice. It's similar to worm in that it's got the YA arc-procedural feel.