The Wandering Inn - Book 1 (Spoiler Free Review)
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- Опубликовано: 12 июл 2022
- 5/5 stars. An absolutely extraordinary book that absolutely shattered my expectations in every way. Written by pirateaba.
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As an avid reader of this book, I can say with confidence that you are really only touching the tip of the iceberg, it gets soooooo much better, I loved volume 1 but the author's writing quality gets to professional level by the end of volume 2.
Honestly gives me chills on how the author is able to get so much content out and keep it at this level.
Looking forward to watching more of your thoughts on this series!
That's awesome, I'm excited! I'm reading book 2 early September.
The author edited all of Volume 1 at some point before they got posted on Amazon, so the quality is very high if you start reading now as opposed to reading it when they were first coming out on the site a few years back. What does happen though, is that as you keep reading, the world starts opening up more and more, you get multiple points of view, very fleshed out characters, some of the setups early on start paying off big and it just keeps happening over and over getting you very invested in some of the characters as they go through their own personal challenges and come together to deal with bigger threats.
I just came here from Petrik’s longest series video and your Good Reads review. The word count on this series is insane and I’ve literally never heard of it before today! I’m going to add it to my TBR.
I hope you enjoy!
Exactly, I hadn't heard of it and now both Petrik and Matt are talking about it. Feeling way behind the times right now!
Matt's 2nd LitRpg. (Cradle being the 1st).
Did you start reading it yet?
@@Devon297 I read the first volume. I’m part way through the second. It’s fun!
you will love it on audible, the narrator name Andrea Parsneau lifts the books to a new level
For anyone wondering how hard the Litrpg parts are of TWI they are very light and unobtrusive, there are no 5min level up scenes with stats listed ad infintum.
There are only Classes with their Level and Skills. Nothing more, it don´t overstay its welcome and has a nice flow to it.
Yup, completely agreed.
It’s basically a Lit RPG that never says explicitly that it’s a video game. I’m hooked. I didn’t know that it was a web series I’m going to have to learn more about that.
The Wandering Inn is by far the greatest book series I've ever read.
It will draw you in, hook you with love for the world and the characters.
And then it will shatter your soul, stick it back together with bittersweet hugs and leave you weeping in catharsis.
Your score should've been 8/5, and really should increase by one every time Pirateaba finishes a book. =P
Quite the positive take! Are you all caught up with it?
I'm reading the 2nd book now, and I find it even better than the first one.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews I'm a Patreon of Pirate's. We call ourselves Fat Ducks. It's a meme, you can look it up.
But yes. I'm all caught up and up to date.
**Gets a 10 million word-count stare**
The things I've read... They etch the mind and stain the heart...
I’m on book 5 and it is indeed a ridiculously slowly plotted epic fantasy of surprisingly high quality.
Stuff like this with D&D or video game elements are called LitRPG, and they're usually awful. Even the few "good" ones end up distancing themselves from the more gamey elements once they realize that people don't want to read three pages of character sheets five times per volume.
The Wandering Inn is one of the rare few that manages to use [The System] as a soft magic system from the very beginning.
Pirateaba has also done a good job at holding back the power creep, where as the more number based LitRPG series often become horribly imbalanced very quickly. (Because the authors never beta test their system beyond what they need for the opening premise.)
Very well said, and you pointed out why I usually don't like Litrpg
I loved the comparisons you made to Legends and Lattes, and it makes me wonder if I might enjoy this book. I'll have to check it out! Nice hearing your thoughts!
Thanks Johanna!
Yeah... about the world building, while it is impressive how much we get to know the Liscor and the surrounding area in the first book, it is just a drop in the bucket compared to the what will come in future books. Through the eyes of dozens POV we will see the human continent of Terrandia with its kingdoms and knights. Ancient sands of Chandar with it empires and insane historical depth populated with their own unic races and their culture. The same goes for richest continent of Baleros with it jungles and mountains for thousands of years contested by mercenaries companies both great and small. Will glimpse on the cursed continent of Rhir that is forever in battle with demons. Spent some time in Wistram wizard school/state. And even the Izril is barely scratched with their great plains of gnolls and walled cities of drakes in south and human north where they have no kings and are ruled by lords ladies, and great families. Hundreds of characters, a dozen+ of them can be considered main characters all of them really fleshed out with a lot of character development. Some of my favourites are only appearing several million words in. Will learn about the insanely rich history of this world both recent and ancient. And a LOT more. And all of it wrapped it a most epic story that will make you laugh, cry and fell a lot of other different, but strong emotions.
I was reading my whole life since i was 5yo. I have insane reading speed. And I had never ever read anything even remotely compared to Wandering Inn. It took me several months of reading from dawn to dusk to catch up with the story. And reddit if full of people who like me were crashed by this story and left empty and suffering with nothing to satisfy their hunger when they are forced to onlu consume a 100 000 of words per month. If you last until the end you will become a very fat and very hungry duck forever wanting and never satisfied. Seriously it took me two months before i was able to read something else.
Well that's a ringing endorsement if I've ever heard one. I can't wait to continue on!
I would like to mention that there are also audiobook versions of the book, for those that enjoy that. They are considered to be very well done.
Yeah, I've heard the same that it's really high quality.
Please listen to the audio books. It is avg 35 hours per listen over 9 books. Pirateaba Wandering Inn series is my first gamelit book. I wait for the audio and spend a credit they are on preorder. These are my one of my favorite books. The audio books makes the world and the characters come alive. Thanks Pirateaba for a great series in a wonderful universe, with wonderful diverse characters.
It's an amazing series and as the books go on it expands into more and more characters. I would say it's easily on par if not better than the wheel of time series. I have read all 8 books (8th web version). It starts out low stakes but they get higher and higher as it goes along. The characters get deeper and the cast expands more and more as they go along. I have been reading it for years now. Usually chapter to chapter as they are released on the web serial. Though I often buy the kindle versions to support the author as well. This is a series that starts out very innocent but I would say gets much darker and more complex as it goes along. Probably my all time favorite series to date.
Oh man I'm so excited to keep on going. Thanks for the comment!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews I'm not sure if the web serial and the books are formatted exactly the same. However Flowers of Esthelm should be when it takes a turn for getting a bit darker.
Thank you so much for recommending this, I would never have heard about it otherwise. A few hundred pages in and absolutely loving it so far - the interchanges between Recl and Klbkch is hilarious, literally had me laughing out loud reading this on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Completely agree about the world and have got lost in it already and somehow Erin’s mundane daily chores are fascinating.
Keep up the great work Matt. My book pile of TBR is rapidly growing.
I was stuck on the first paragraph for a while, the slow start was not vibing with me at first. But then one day I got past it, and then I was suddenly reading 30 chapters a day. Almost finishing volume 5 right now. This is *definitely* a character focused story. The worldbuilding feels like it was shaped by these people and not a bunch of characters thrown together. Each person's actions has repercussions down the line that shape and twist the entire story, even to most minuscule things that at first feel like filler chapters turn out to be incredibly important and emotionally enticing. Some of my current favorite characters were people that I despised when they first showed up, they change and grow with each experience, and Pirateaba doesn't shy away from killing characters when the time is right. I mean I won't lie, there has been a few times when some character's luck seems a little bit like plot armor, but really, life is weird, sometimes people get incredibly lucky and it's not fair but it happens haha. The Wandering Inn genuinely feels like a full experience: you can get nice slice of life chapters, wholesome events, gut-wrenching betrayals, war and battle, death, life, perspective. And I love that it doesn't put "good and evil" at odds as if the world wasn't just a big grey area. There are only a few exceptions to this rule, and I'm gonna bet that they are in the grey area too but we just haven't seem their perspective yet.
I'm temped to start putting my thought and theories into a spreadsheet to track everything lol
Matt I have started reading this and I have to say I didn't have to read til the end to like it. I haven't progressed much in relation to the amount of pages, but I really like it. It took me less pages to DNF The House in the Cerulean Sea. This one so far is much more interesting
I keep hearing about this book all of a sudden and I'm extremely intrigued, especially after your review. Great job. If you like this kind of progression fantasy, the Cradle series by Will Wight (Unsouled is book 1) and the Arcane Ascension series by Andrew Rowe (Sufficiently Advanced Magic is book 1) are some of my favorites.
Thanks!
I'm all caught up on Cradle (love it) and plan to read Arcane Ascension in 2023.
Yeah... Wandering inn is a special case... Right now i'm at the middle of 8th book of WEBnovel (I suppose it's about 20th-25th regular book...) And I'm exhausted both emotionally and physically. I can't read as fast as pirateaba writes! Where I'm from (Russia) we have kinda a meme about detective pulp writer Daria Dontsova who writes a book per month. Yeah... Pirate writes faster... and that's scary how he/she keeps not only pace, but also quality of Wandering Inn
That's awesome that you've kept up with the series, I can't wait to get to where you are at!
I've had a bit of a hard time with book 8 since a lot of it felt like "filler stories" to me and I was so excited for the main story to continue. On the other hand, the things that were called "Interludes" felt often like main story.
But damn the beginning of book 9 is banger. I'm so sad that I'm caught up already, book 8 they really did write faster than I could read it. But for book 9 now I'm constantly checking if a new chapter is out.
That sounds great! Will pick this up!!
I hope you love it!
It's been on my radar for so long, should give it a try sooner. I'd also recommend Worm by Wildbow, another web serial novel that's completed, great setting, worldbuilding, and one of my favorite depiction of super powers and heroes/villains dynamic I've seen in fantasy, definitely worth a shot.
Thanks for the suggestion - what's the basic premise of Worm?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews "An introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor goes out in costume to find escape from a deeply unhappy and frustrated civilian life. Her first attempt at taking down a supervillain sees her mistaken for one, thrusting her into the midst of the local ‘cape’ scene’s politics, unwritten rules, and ambiguous morals. As she risks life and limb, Taylor faces the dilemma of having to do the wrong things for the right reasons."
That's the official elevator pitch and I think it sumarizes pretty decently without giving any spoiler. It starts small, but things just keep escalating. Has a really dark tone, and as I said before, imho the worldbuilding is amazing, has great characters, so many unique powers and epic large battles. Can't recommend enough!
I bought the audiobook based on this review, I'm only an hour in and i can tell I'm gonna have a blast.
That's so awesome, I hope you enjoy! It gets better, and better, and better as it goes along!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews nice, that's good to know. I just love a good long book to get lost in and from what you said its......um, long.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews OMG....I freaking love this book, it sucks you in, very slice of life type book. Thank you SO MUCH for putting me on to this book/audiobook. I listened well past bedtime last night. I think I listened about 5 hrs, which is about 9 at 1.85 speed.
This is the book that really let me love slice of life fantasy. Have been reading this series for some time and love the building and expanse.
I'm really excited to read this. It's rare for me to find this story I didn't know about that sounds so promising. Thank you.
Yea it's a really fun story - and free on the website!
I've been going through the audiobooks and am currently caught up at the time of this comment, and while I wasn't initially sure about the series, it's grown into something far bigger than I would've initially imagined. It's such a fun and unique series that I feel more people should be aware of. I feel like there's a bit of everything for those interested in a fantasy setting.
Omg I saw this review and immediately watched everything you made for this series and I got hooked. Bought the first ebook yesterday. I’m about 100 pages in atm and I’m loving it…can’t wait to read more and learn more about this world.
That's so awesome - enjoy...it's a wonderful series!
Found this video from reddit. Gotta say I love the book aswell, I read it online on the blog personally and am caught up and Id have to agree with what youve said about the early parts of the story, the progression feels good and natural and the writing is good, probably phenomenal in the edited book format, it had some issues in the early chapters but has only gotten better as the book has progressed and I imagine the edits to the early volumes reflect that aswell.
Personally I dislike litrpgs, and I dont particularily like it in TWI either, but the actual story is just so good that it to me completely masks the faults in the litrpg system to me. Which is something I find particularily impressive. I used to really love this kind of stuff some 10 years ago or a bit less but quickly lost interest completely and cant bear to read anything with it, except TWI which I think is a 11/10 book despite including something that I completely despise.
Yeah I fear that I won't really like other litrpgs but I will probably give one or two a shot now that I like this one so much.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews The issue I generally have with it is that it seems to basically be used as a massive crutch. And it just becomes a generic OP main character story every time very quickly and easily because the main character figures out some powerleveling method or lucks into something or really just any random explanation for why the main character should now just be stronger and able to do even more things that the author wont explain at all.
Its not that those things are unique to litrpgs, but these books tend to take it to a ridiculous extreme and its a genre woth basically nothing else to it than that. It has no upsides so to say.
I dont think TWI does it terribly much better per se, although it does avoid the powerleveling stupidity mostly. But the rest of the story covers for it well and pirate atleast tries to use it as an addition to facilitate the story and the epic things that happen in it, rather than just using it as a crutch to explain everything away. In my opinion its probably the only litrpg that is worth reading, and its not because of the litrpg aspects. I havent really read more recent ones though so I couldnt say if anything else good has come out, I stopped reading litrpg other than TWI entirely soon after I started TWI which was about a month after the 1st chapter in 2016. So thats 6 years of litrpg I have no knowledge of and there might be gems in there that actually do it well.
I thank you for recommending this series. I saw your 10 best fantasy series. And these books sparked my interest. I read the first book and am well into the second. I don't know if I will be able to listen to all of them straight through, I usually like to but these are so long. It seems that they are about 65 hours each and at 11 books it is a big commitment. I am enjoying them so far.
Love this series have been recommending it like crazy
Awesome! How far are you along the series?
Book 6
Awesome. Thank you. I'm a few chapters in and hooked.
Never heard of this before. Gotta look into it. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
You are most welcome! I hope you enjoy.
I need to slot this in. Great video!
Thank you!
I've read some of it at the author's website and enjoyed it. I can't really say why I stopped reading, though. I know I didn't get as far as the first published book, though.
The author seems to have a different contract with Amazon than other others. I think to be published by Kindle Unlimited, the author has to remove the online chapters, as happens with many litRPG books they publish. A new book goes up, those chapters disappear for Royal Road. But the author has not gone the Kindle Unlimited route, instead requiring direct payment for anyone choosing not to read their work at their website. All the original chapters are still there.
At this point I would like to draw everyone's attention to the audio book narrator Andrea Parsneau who in my humble opinion is the best book narrator ever and deserves to be awarded likewise.
The snippets I have heard of her have been wonderful!
She is AMAZING! I honestly thought it was multiple narrators until I was like 2 books in and realized nope, she does ALL those different voices.
I need to start this. I have some hypotheses about PirateAba. I think either they're a husband/wife team, group of friends or someone who's already written the entire story but is just releasing it in chunks. That would explain how they get so much writing out. Or maybe they're just superwoman. That'd be cool, too.
I wonder if it’s a dnd campaign
I always find it really hard to recommend this series to people as it's hard to explain why it's just so good. I was luckily able to get my girlfriend and a friend to start following the audio books as it comes out.
I think Pirate aba does an absolutely AMAZING job of building a character up, going through their normal days so that we can judge them as readers and really appreciate when their time comes, whether it's their glory, or their fall. Hell in later books, they've taken characters who are considered the most vile in this world (think WW 2 big 3 body counts) and showed their perspective
Damn I wasn't done typing.
Afer getting a chance to see those characters perspective and see what they are thinking including what history forgot, I can't help but sympathize.
Most of the community dislikes Flos, but I love the mad King, his presence is just so grand and hard to dislike the person
Yeah, she does incredible character work. And it only seems to be improving as the series progresses!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews ohh, I started listening to A Time of Dream from your underrated series video, the narrator completely ruins it with their lack of inflection. When our protagonist mother was telling him to run, it was said in such a disinterested voice I only realized the situation was dire a few paragraphs later. Everyone has the same bored tone no matter the situation.
Going to have to actually get the physical book
@@henryf706 Oh yeah I read it on physical. That sounds PAINFUL.
You convinced me to give this a try. Will initially be reading it directly on the website, unless there's a specific reason why that might not be a good idea. That way, I'll be under less pressure to 'finish book 1', for example, and read at my own pace.
The only reason I buy the books is because I like to read them on kindle. But if you are alright reading on the computer then definitely read from the website.
The only drawback would be that there are a couple of chapters in vol 2 and vol 3 that are placed in a different order. You're not actually gonna miss anything by reading them in that order.
(That being said, there ARE some invisible-text sentences in vol 1 that, if you miss it, makes a reveal later on more of a shock. You don't get that surprise in the ebook or audiobook, because they weren't able to hide it.)
ALSO, if you like audiobooks and have the credits on Audible, give the book a try that way! The narrator has such a range of voices and does a phenomenal job with the dynamic reading. Highly recommended!!
One reason you might want to read directly on the website is that the web version has a lot of little unique touches that don't change the story, but add to its "flavor". For instance, some text may be printed in a unique color; this is used sparingly, so when it happens, there's a bit of emotional impact and the sense that there's something important going on with it.
One of my favorite uses of this is that some information in volume 1 is printed in invisitext (same color as the bg) and isn't signposted as being there; you have to suspect it's there and then highlight it with your mouse--don't worry, if you read the kindle version, that text is printed plainly, so that you don't miss it. But the particular text, pertaining to Ryoka and a certain other character, was written in invisitext because as we find out in volume 2 (spoilers if you haven't yet reached the part where Ryoka uses a dreamcatcher artifact)
...
...
this was important information that got wiped from Ryoka's mind.
There's a few other cute tricks but those stand out as early highlights.
@@MiguelArguelles Thank you so much, will keep that in mind!
The kindle versions are missing special formatting things that inform the story that are present in the web version - nothing wrong with the kindle versions but I recommend reading it on the website with your phone or tablet
What kind of things?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Usually just notes from the author about the chapters or what inspired them. I wouldn't say their important to the story but they give you some insight.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Font color can have specific meaning. Some characters always speak in a certain color. Other times, it can show that someone is using a [Skill], or even what kind of skill. For example, the winter sprites always speak in light blue. Pink dialogue means that the speaker is using a charm skill. If a skill is green, it means it's new to the system, and that no one has ever had it before. Later on, there's a character who speaks in rainbow text because her magic is leaking.
A few chapters have hidden text there's that needs to be highlighted by the cursor in order to be seen.
Stuff like that.
Sounds like such an interesting book/series!
100%
Read only first book only. I read plenty of litrpg and novels, so can tell for me it’s really 3 stars. Maybe next will be much better, but don’t have much motivation for continuing. And my taste in books, by looks of things very aligned to yours. So its pity, that I can’t enjoy it like you. But maybe one day will give series one more book try.
Aye, I am just getting into this book.
I hope you enjoy it as much as me!
Thanks 4 recommending. I like it.
Happy to help!
Just read the first half and totally hooked. Came here just to get more hype haha 😂
Yeah you are IN for it if you are already hooked!
Okay fine. I'll try it.
I'm about 25% through the book. It's pretty light on the leveling so far. There seem to be 2 main characters so far. They're both angry all the time and have something against men it seems. Do we get a better variety of characters or at least see some maturity and growth as the books progress?
You will see a growth in maturity and a larger variety of characters.
interesting!!! you are convincing me to check it out! but soooo many words!!!!! haha
Yeah do it! Even if you don't continue even this one book is worth the read and has a satisfying ending.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews sweet, then it goes on this list!
Once you get hooked you will be glad there's so much more to read.
excuse me! 30k twice a week! that is 60k a week sir
lol I thought it was just a chapter a week. That is absolutely insane!
The best way to read this book is to use your audio book credits.
Yeah I keep hearing that, I should give them a try but they are SO LONG!
Only other serious that compares is (he who fights monsters) you'll love it
on goodreads the books are pretty confusing, so idk if i can read the books as standalones or how many are planned for the series. im really keen to read them tho!
Yeah the goodreads is confusing, but they are not standalones. You have to read them in order.
The series is ridiculously long and is expanding at an unprecedentedly fast pace.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews thanks for the help :) I’ll start with book 1 and see how I go!
I think my last comment got flagged as spam or something, but you might be interested to know that pirateaba is quite aware of the early growing pains of their book, and are currently rewriting the first volume with the aid of a professional editor. Aside from fixing the more awkward early prose, the rewrite aims to address a lot of common issues in reviews--Erin being a bit too dumb, Ryoka being too insufferable. It's about 20% done now--that's the first ten chapters plus some short new POV chapters--but even that is a big improvement, in my assessment. The author's doing it in chunks, but it's all free to read, much like the rest of the story. I think pasting the URL is what got my comment flagged last time, so I'll just say to ask on the Discord if you'd like to read it, since I can't find a way to navigate there from the main website.
Thanks for the background - yeah I think tidying up would do this book well. Makes me glad to know that the author has progressed well as a writer, and gets me more excited to keep reading!
Innverse? Innworld? Liscor, Cellum, Invirsil, Pallas. Esthelm.
I know these places. I know where I would eat. I know what I would order. I know where not to go
Some of the characters are awful, not how they are written but who they are, how they act. What they do and why. Yet Pirate, like a Joe Abercrombie level author, easily get you to root for the villains and jeer the heroes. Bang your head at the arbitrary lines and puzzle when those lines are erased.
I love the ride.
Yeah it's a wonderful series! Are you all caught up?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews I've caught up twice. Volume six so I got to experience chapter 6.66 when it hit patreon and again in the mid vol 8.
Changes to my phone have made it a nightmare to stay up to date on the site, because it looses my place on the page if I rotate. Goes back to the top.
Sounds interesting
Yeah definitely is - and free on the website!
Is this a good intro to fantasy?
Yeah!
Its terrible , doesnt make sense and its too modern. she doesnt do any cooking and gets level 1 cooking ??? Stick with the classics.
It gets way, way, way better in future volumes. And even later in this book. The beginning admittedly is not great.
Ok i will give it a chance.@@MattsFantasyBookReviews
You can use “They” if you dont know the appropriate pronouns
It’s a D&D Isekai lol /j
So a basic isekai,hard pass.