Farhan
It is undoubtedly true Lynch has masterful prose and Locke and Jean are a very entertaining duo. The plotting does seem strange though like Lynch just had to keep adding elements because the book wasn't long enough and then there's a whole side adventure in the middle of the book. By the end the threads kinda wrap together but don't know if it was all that satisfying.
I enjoyed the first book more and think it did some things better, but this sequel also does some things better. From a power progression side, I think the first book was more satisfying. This book has its moments but less so in comparison, Rei only gets one big powerup and it's kind of unearned but makes sense story wise. I also think spending the whole book in the tournament was unnecessary and really bogs it down a bit, and slight spoilers but it looks like more of that is in the future and I don't know I feel about that..There are some interesting plot lines that are set up for the future which will be interesting to see play out, and my main worry of how relevant the rest of the cast will be as Rei outpaces them gets solved. I liked the focus on the characters and relationship development more in this book and it's nice to see characters that have logical discussions with each other, understand their faults and grow from them. Will be anticipating book 3
This was a nice and meaty read, and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. And that's really what this book is, a journey, as you follow Ari as he comes to be the man he is. Which doesn't happen quickly. Or even in this book. But I'm looking forward to the rest of the tale. I loved the world building here especially as someone it personally caters to. And it looks like R.R. Virdi might be the first author I personally meet, so excited for that :D
I thought the writing here was witty and whimsically clever, making it an easy and fun read. I really thought how this book was structured would make more sense by the end, yet it didn't. Cliff is the only character that gets a 1st person POV, which makes him read as the main character, but we also follow Gemma and Dorcie in 3rd person POVs in their attempts to murder their own employers. I thought somehow the POVs would connect in some clever way by the end, but it really was just that. So in that sense if Cliff is the MC, but we get chapters following unrelated plot lines, half of this book was just filler? Like I really wanted something to bring it together for me, but regardless I did enjoy reading this.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Edit after reading:
I have been waiting for a new Percy Jackson as long as I can remember I feel, and this one immediately returns you to the shenanigans of this world and Percy's unique narrative voice and does not disappoint. My only issue is that there are no stakes here and it's really just a peek back into Percy's life. It was also novella level short so I want more. I NEED more.
The webnovel that started it all!
With all the webnovels I've read, I never read through Worm even though it is probably the novel that started or made popular the genre of webnovels. It's weird because I love superhero stories so it should have been a no brainer that I would devour this. However to the me 8-10 years ago who decided not to read Worm, it was because I couldn't get over the fact the main character's superpower was controlling bugs...which I thought was lame. It's interesting how my brain chemistry has changed over time and when I found myself thinking of it all these years later, I realized I don't care about that anymore. I've grown up!
Worm was a great read, with a lot of interesting super powers, and facets of the world that are slowly unveiled. Taylor is a fascinating protagonist, with her anti-hero mentality, and probably has joined the ranks of my all times favs. Even though the power to control bugs doesn't seem compelling at first (looking at you me of yesteryear) she finds innovative ways to use it and be a compelling presence throughout the story among both heroes and villains. The story basically starts off with a fight and escalates the scale and stakes of the conflict with every passing arc, culminating in an explosive dynamic finish, but there are moments to breathe sprinkled throughout where the character work shines through. I do think there are parts that drag, and characters and plot lines that could have been handled better, but I think it's pretty forgivable for the author's first work, and also considering the webnovel format basically didn't exist prior to this. The ending was epic and resolved satisfactorily, not quite as good as A Practical Guide to Evil, but somewhere close. I think I will be reading through all of Wildbows other works and of course the Worm sequel at some point.
Nothing actually happens in this book. It's just the same thing over and over with a toxic and completely unlikeable main character. And then it just ends without resolution in an open ending. I guess you could get something out of this if you're looking for commentary about the human condition, but at no point did this book entertain me.
Eh I don't know, I feel like there was less of a focus on progression this book so I was less interested in this. If I look closely at the narrative I think I would say not much of substance actually happens here, like I don't really feel like Aiden ends this book all that much stronger even if it is true on paper. I think part of the strength of this series is that it tries to be more character focused which is rare among progression fantasy, but the continuous focus on Mei's complex of being super attractive and not being able to trust men feels kinda menwritingwomen. Still, it's nice to see the Aiden/Mei relationship grow naturally. As of yet the series has not had any compelling villains take the stage so the stakes fall flat a little with one dimensional young master-esque villains, but there have been some hints dropped at more going on in the background. So, I will probably still read the next book, but I left this book feeling less positive on the series than the last one.
WOW! This was probably my favorite fantasy book since Jade Legacy. You can't really go wrong with the magic school trope, and it was a lot of fun here. The plot is intricately written as you can expect from Islington, but now all the characters are unique and compelling too, which makes The Will of the Many Islington's best book yet. The world building is fantastic, and the bonkers implication of the ending hints we've barely scratched the surface!!
Great series ending to one of the og progression fantasy series. I think my only real complaint is that there were a lot of chapters with a non main character, completely new pov that don't serve to further the plot. Like a few chapters to just have “cool battle scenes” is fine but I felt like there was a significant number here when I just wanted to get back to the main story. I think everyone's arcs wrapped up well and all had their time to shine. Excited to see the gang again in a followup multiverse book.
I discovered the Infinite Timeline last year while looking for book series that mimic the MCU concept of shared universes. And I don't think I've found any that get as close as Robinson does. I gave them all between 3-4 stars, none of them are literary masterpieces, but they're all fun popcorn reads with wacky ideas. I doubt I would have read them all if not for the promise of the shared universe, and I think the crossover books do deliver on that promise. I think Singularity was a satisfying conclusion, bringing together all the characters across the other 12 books, and a 5 star read relative to the series. Almost every character feels like a different person to me so watching them interact in the final book is delightful, however I do think Robinsons character work across all his books is pretty surface level. All in all, I liked how it wrapped the shared universe up, although the defeat of the villain is kind of anti-climactic?
My other gripes are again the author brings up the Infinite Worlds theory, but fundamentally doesn't understand it. Infinite worlds does not mean every world exists!! And also the author writing himself into the book while I thought was kinda cringe bc really, self inserting yourself into your book...but it was actually handled in a kinda sweet way. My gripe there is that it made no sense like Will creates the universe but somehow the author self insert is writing it into being so like..I don't even know I'm confused just thinking about how it worked and honestly felt like the author was really hand wavey about it just to self insert into the book.
I don't really think I would recommend these books to someone unless they like shared universes or like B action movies (I very much doubt this gets a big screen adaptation because with how saturated the market is these would def flop as adaptations. And the plots are way closer to direct to dvd like movies). However, I will most likely read what Robinson writes in the future.
