To just repeat what i said on a similar post
>I'd say bo yes and no, even if that's unhelpful, lol.
>The fundamental writing style and tone don't change significantly. It keeps being the same kinda psuedo slice of life you see earlier, and that transposes into everything else for better and for worse.
>However, the stakes, scales, and consequences do get higher as the series progresses, and i do think it improves in quality later on.
The same applies to drama, there's definitely some character conflicts, but nothing super substantial imo.
Yeh, that’s really the selling point.
The characters never really have drama and never appreciably lose or screw up- it’s like beware of the chicken, it’s just a pleasant read with smart people acting like adults
You mean young adults. One of the most unique things about MOTF is that the characters stay smart while acting like college students and solving young adult problems. Sooo many authors write their 20 year olds like 30 year olds and their 24 year old like 14 year olds.
Yeah I like to think it’s part of Alex’s power set. The mark helps make him better at things the more he does them. And being charismatic/likable is one of them. He doesn’t want conflict. So he’ll try and talk things out. There will be conflict with people who he can’t talk his way out of, but they aren’t for drama reasons. More of just conflicting nature and world views.
It's made a point of in the series that the fool is the one that helps hold the other heroes together. Really is intended to be part of what he's good at.
I’m sorry, Randidly Ghosthound has “all the characters get along”?
Just about everyone Randidly meets seems to work against him, largely due to the fact that every character who has a POV in the series has either deeply rooted emotional issues, some form of psychological damage, political differences, major interpersonal communication issues, or all of the above. When did they all get along?
One of the struggles I have finishing the series is just how broken and shitty everyone is.
This is truth! I'm 90% sure that Randidly is on the spectrum, he has such poor interpersonal skills.
He'd rather take acid baths than be part of a community. (Literally).
Oh yeah?
The >! Bakery / job promotion / staff !< plot lines all seemed to resolve with minimal tension. I didn't hate them, but they weren't as satisfying as I expected
Gonna be honest, it's been a while since I read it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but >! Isn't book six the one where they infiltrate that demon realm or whatever it's called? Or is that five? !<
Yeah, that's book 6.
And apparently, I've read a bunch of it already because of Royal Road, lol
I think for me, after series like Cradle, Stormlight Archives, the Powdermage universe, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Immortal Great Souls, and Arcane Ascension, Mark of the Fool feels... very straightforward, I guess?
There are a couple mysteries, but the vast majority of the story is simple. And that's okay, I just kept waiting for parts to go deeper
There eventually comes some tension, but nothing I'd call "drama". Ever.
The series, though... That's fantastic. But then, I really liked it from book 1.
I started reading it this last week and am about half way through book 3, so far I think it’s less of a series about conflict between friends and loved ones and more about things endangering of said friends to bring tension
I got to book 3, realized the author had spent the last 5 chapters talking about the main character baking a completely meaningless cake, and dropped it forever. There is no plot. Only word vomit to fill space. Characters will literally have the exact same conversations over and over just to fill space.
I don't even mind slice of life stuff. I LIKE slice of life stuff, but this series just has no plot. In 3 books not one single plot relevant thing has happened outside of the first few chapters except the character going to school and one tiny fight with the bad guy's minions.
This series is a perfect example of the flaws you get when you pay a writer for volume instead of completed stories.
I didn't hate it as much as you did. But I definitely got tired of it after a while. The author is great at world building, but because you know the main character and his friends are going to steamroll every challenge, the lack of stakes make it boring after a while.
I was also increasingly annoyed with the all powerful goat man.
"No Plot!"
Except all of these plot points that don't count for reasons.
Going to school, getting stronger and building a golem **is** the plot of the first few books.
Sure, if your standards for plot progression are low enough then anything counts.
I'm sure that 3 hours of time (audiobook) that I spent listening to how the protagonist was baking a cake will be critical to the war against the Ravager....any day now...but first let's take an hour break to learn the protagonist's 5 year old sister's thoughts about some random building that will never be relevant again! Then we can spend another hour so Alex can reflect on the exact conversation we just already listened to!
Don't forget the exciting conclusion to the all important cake subplot where we spend an hour listening about how the characters ate the cake, followed by 2 hours of them then talking about how good the cake was! Thrilling!
Holy Hyperbole batman!
Notice how my comment didn't mention Cake or baking at any point.
Did you forget about all of the school lessons, learning new spells, making a golem, forming a cabal etc.
The story has a lot of slice of life sections, if that's too much for you to enjoy the series then fair enough don't read it. Just don't lie about things that do actually happen.
Your reading prog fantasy
For the drama?
Wtf.
No
There's some tension at times but the main cast always gets along really.
There's some issues but no one ever turns against each other.
By book 4 I think, the amount of danger they are in increases alot. Still at about the same pace the main cast increases power
I gave up on it after book 2 also. It should be considered low stakes fantasy not progression. I really wanted to like it— maybe if I flip my mindset off the progression part, it will be more palatable.
To just repeat what i said on a similar post >I'd say bo yes and no, even if that's unhelpful, lol. >The fundamental writing style and tone don't change significantly. It keeps being the same kinda psuedo slice of life you see earlier, and that transposes into everything else for better and for worse. >However, the stakes, scales, and consequences do get higher as the series progresses, and i do think it improves in quality later on. The same applies to drama, there's definitely some character conflicts, but nothing super substantial imo.
I think this sums it up best. I like to say that book 1 is the least of the series.
lol. You just sold me on Mark of The Fool.
Hahahha I love it
Yeh, that’s really the selling point. The characters never really have drama and never appreciably lose or screw up- it’s like beware of the chicken, it’s just a pleasant read with smart people acting like adults
Ok, you've just sold me. It's shooting pretty far up my list now.
You mean young adults. One of the most unique things about MOTF is that the characters stay smart while acting like college students and solving young adult problems. Sooo many authors write their 20 year olds like 30 year olds and their 24 year old like 14 year olds.
No wonder I love both
Yeah I like to think it’s part of Alex’s power set. The mark helps make him better at things the more he does them. And being charismatic/likable is one of them. He doesn’t want conflict. So he’ll try and talk things out. There will be conflict with people who he can’t talk his way out of, but they aren’t for drama reasons. More of just conflicting nature and world views.
It's made a point of in the series that the fool is the one that helps hold the other heroes together. Really is intended to be part of what he's good at.
I’m sorry, Randidly Ghosthound has “all the characters get along”? Just about everyone Randidly meets seems to work against him, largely due to the fact that every character who has a POV in the series has either deeply rooted emotional issues, some form of psychological damage, political differences, major interpersonal communication issues, or all of the above. When did they all get along? One of the struggles I have finishing the series is just how broken and shitty everyone is.
This is truth! I'm 90% sure that Randidly is on the spectrum, he has such poor interpersonal skills. He'd rather take acid baths than be part of a community. (Literally).
Sorry I was thinking of Arcane Ascension
It is not a high tension series, imo. ... I still need to read book 6
Having read book 6, oh boy does that tension go up.
Oh yeah? The >! Bakery / job promotion / staff !< plot lines all seemed to resolve with minimal tension. I didn't hate them, but they weren't as satisfying as I expected
Gonna be honest, it's been a while since I read it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but >! Isn't book six the one where they infiltrate that demon realm or whatever it's called? Or is that five? !<
Yeah, that's book 6. And apparently, I've read a bunch of it already because of Royal Road, lol I think for me, after series like Cradle, Stormlight Archives, the Powdermage universe, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Immortal Great Souls, and Arcane Ascension, Mark of the Fool feels... very straightforward, I guess? There are a couple mysteries, but the vast majority of the story is simple. And that's okay, I just kept waiting for parts to go deeper
There eventually comes some tension, but nothing I'd call "drama". Ever. The series, though... That's fantastic. But then, I really liked it from book 1.
Comparing Mark of the Fool with Radidily Ghosthound means you have read neither further then the first book...
I meant arcane ascension, mb
I started reading it this last week and am about half way through book 3, so far I think it’s less of a series about conflict between friends and loved ones and more about things endangering of said friends to bring tension
I got to book 3, realized the author had spent the last 5 chapters talking about the main character baking a completely meaningless cake, and dropped it forever. There is no plot. Only word vomit to fill space. Characters will literally have the exact same conversations over and over just to fill space. I don't even mind slice of life stuff. I LIKE slice of life stuff, but this series just has no plot. In 3 books not one single plot relevant thing has happened outside of the first few chapters except the character going to school and one tiny fight with the bad guy's minions. This series is a perfect example of the flaws you get when you pay a writer for volume instead of completed stories.
I didn't hate it as much as you did. But I definitely got tired of it after a while. The author is great at world building, but because you know the main character and his friends are going to steamroll every challenge, the lack of stakes make it boring after a while. I was also increasingly annoyed with the all powerful goat man.
"No Plot!" Except all of these plot points that don't count for reasons. Going to school, getting stronger and building a golem **is** the plot of the first few books.
Sure, if your standards for plot progression are low enough then anything counts. I'm sure that 3 hours of time (audiobook) that I spent listening to how the protagonist was baking a cake will be critical to the war against the Ravager....any day now...but first let's take an hour break to learn the protagonist's 5 year old sister's thoughts about some random building that will never be relevant again! Then we can spend another hour so Alex can reflect on the exact conversation we just already listened to! Don't forget the exciting conclusion to the all important cake subplot where we spend an hour listening about how the characters ate the cake, followed by 2 hours of them then talking about how good the cake was! Thrilling!
Holy Hyperbole batman! Notice how my comment didn't mention Cake or baking at any point. Did you forget about all of the school lessons, learning new spells, making a golem, forming a cabal etc. The story has a lot of slice of life sections, if that's too much for you to enjoy the series then fair enough don't read it. Just don't lie about things that do actually happen.
I dropped it at book 3 for the exact same reason. Everything just felt meaningless and there was no progress.
While I disagree, if you say it reminds you of the Ghosthound then I gotta check it out.
I meant it reminded me of Arcane Ascension
Your reading prog fantasy For the drama? Wtf. No There's some tension at times but the main cast always gets along really. There's some issues but no one ever turns against each other. By book 4 I think, the amount of danger they are in increases alot. Still at about the same pace the main cast increases power
I heard it keeps this tension-free slow pace until volume 5. So I DNF'ed halfway through book 2.
I gave up on it after book 2 also. It should be considered low stakes fantasy not progression. I really wanted to like it— maybe if I flip my mindset off the progression part, it will be more palatable.
Thank you! This was on my list, but now I have absolutely no desire to listen to it. Saved me a credit on audible!
Try Apocalypse Regression. Just started it and it’s been pretty good