Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy read for He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon starting on July 27, 2024.


Happy Reading!

We've come so far as a group, if OTHER people are starting their own LitRPG BRs without me... this is one that's been on my radar for awhile, so I'll definitely try to join...

LOL Same... I keep seeing these on sale... I've picked up the first few but I keep refraining from more... Telling myself I need to try before buy all...

Anyway. Series!
1. He Who Fights with Monsters (July 27)
2. He Who Fights with Monsters 2 (Dec 27) [link]
3. He Who Fights with Monsters 3 (TBD)
4. He Who Fights with Monsters 4 (TBD)
5. He Who Fights with Monsters 5 (TBD)
6. He Who Fights with Monsters 6 (TBD)
7. He Who Fights With Monsters 7 (TBD)
8. He Who Fights With Monsters 8 (TBD)
9. He Who Fights with Monsters 9 (TBD)
10. He Who Fights with Monsters 10 (TBD)
11. He Who Fights with Monsters 11 (TBD)

Audio: All are Audible Exclusives.
Ebook: All on KU, #11 currently on Royal Road pre-publication

I am looking forward to this! When I searched similar books to DCC this one was offered many times, hoping it lives up to the hype I am manufacturing in my brain.....

And THIS is why you need to check Whispersync Pricing...

HWFWM is all over the place in pricing... some are cheap on the sitewide sale, some are expensive... some are cheap on Whispersync, some are 7.48-7.49 like usual...

I'm going ahead and picking them up, in another haul, since this is a LitRPG I've heard touted similar to Dungeon Crawler Carl, if a bit differently...

Pricing:

Book 1: 3.11 with KU
Book 2: 7.49 with KU
Book 3: 7.48 with KU
Book 4: 4.99 on sale
Book 5: 3.52 with KU
Book 6: 6.99 with sale
Book 7: 6.99 with sale
Book 8: 5.99 with sale
Book 9: 7.49 with KU
Book 10: 4.69 with KU

10 books for $58.74 in the end... saved $5 with sitewide sale... probably better off just buying 1/4/5/6/7/8/10, and seeing if 2/3/9 happen to go on sale before their BR dates, in a better sale...

7 books for 36.28 = $5.18 per book... 10 books is $5.874/book... and an excuse for me to spend less :D

I started this today, through chapter 37 and it is no DCC but it isn't terrible. It is looooong though and has dragged in spots so far. I have more than 10 hours left.....

Try to be forgiving...

The LitRPG genre is a mixed bag... the longrunning ones that brag about alot of readers tend to be a good indicator that they "get good"... but most are also the first and only long-form writing project the authors have ever done, so there are some growing pains in the early chapters/volumes...

Looking online, it looks like it's a love it or hate it series, and even some people that loved books 1-3, kinda hated books 4-6, but were able to start enjoying it again in book 7+ (one even skipped book 6 to get back to the good stuff)...

Me and Soo read alot of LitRPGs, some good, some not so good... and then we pass along our favorites for the rest of the group to try...

Which is fine...

But then, with everyone so booked up, I rarely get to read LitRPGs with others anymore, unless I plan far in advance or do a re-read... and as much as I love re-reads, I already kinda do too many (nearly 50% of all my reads, in recent years)...

So we risk some duds... and/or keep overbuying on sales :D

I know few books/series will live up to DCC, Tales from Verania is the closest I can think of and we are reading that soon and I have to temper my expectations but Reddit said this was similar! There goes me not managing my expectations again.....

Sorry, Iain, I put in the request a while ago, but I knew for 100% that you would join. I’ve got my copy and will start this weekend.

Timelord Iain wrote: "So we risk some duds... and/or keep overbuying on sales :D "

We are the poster children for this lol

I'm glad people are requesting LitRPGs I haven't read... lets me join as a first-timer...

This picked up a bit, through chapter 73 (view spoiler)[Jason is definitely progressing in the game, using his snarky social skills to get ahead and also training. I know his name is Jason because the narrator has said it at least 1 million times. Like 5.5 hours left, will finish tomorrow. (hide spoiler)]

I didn't really give this book a chance... read maybe one chapter?... but it's a big commitment, and another of the easiest things for me to skip/delay for now... every time I try to free up some space on my spreadsheet, I end up right back where I started, with 15-18k pages planned each month, somehow, when I add in the series continuations I forgot about...

You guys can be the crash test dummies this time around, and tell me where to put this on my TBR in the future... I have plenty of other BRs on my schedule, between my solo/favorites I'm waiting for new releases of, and the coming plans to try BuyMort and continue Cinnamon Bun/etc...

Timelord Iain wrote: "I didn't really give this book a chance... read maybe one chapter?... but it's a big commitment, and another of the easiest things for me to skip/delay for now... every time I try to free up some s..."

This was okay. By the time I got over comparing it to DCC and finding it lacking it did pick up a bit so I didn't hate it which is far from a glowing endorsement lol

Still running about a week late on everything, but will hopefully pick this up in a few days. I want to give this series a running chance.

That's not what I wanted to hear... Heretical Fishing was on my radar, from Audible recommendations, after some of my other LitRPG reads...

No worries... we'll see if it goes on sale at some point...

Leahhh wrote: "Ooh I’m sorry. I mean, if you enjoy explanations about fishing rods spanning two pages, you might enjoy it 🙈 it has a lot of good reviews…. The plot idea wasn’t that terrible. Maybe you’ll like it!..."

Beware of Chicken is really good... and was the source of the Amazon recommendation, I think?

Dude ends up in body of cultivation apprentice in xianxia world, that's being bullied and died for a second... abandons martial arts and goes to be a farmer, and stumbles into the secrets of true cultivation... creates all these sentient farm animals with chi-infused food/etc, and causes a ruckus... also super OP anytime he encounters a more traditional angry cultivation user that abuses their power usually... it's really good... we all love it in the Vagabond thread and are looking forward to the release of #4 in December... I already read 1-3 twice...

Beware of Chicken

Tempted to read again... struggling to want to read my non-cozy books, half the time...

Finding a new genre and a top 10 list of recommendations is great... after awhile, you have to venture into the wide unknown of newer releases to find new gems, and it's not always so great...

That's how I feel with Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance... I mined that genre so hard a decade ago... read nearly 1000 books I shelved there...

Leahhh wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Tempted to read again... struggling to want to read my non-cozy books, half the time..."

I have a big tbr pile non cozy books that I also struggle to tackle right now. I thou..."

Cozy is the way to go, when the world is beating you down... or you don't want to think too hard, just listen and enjoy slice of life stuff...

I've read less high fantasy than I'd like, because they tend to be more work... Urban Fantasy gives me some of the same types of stories in a modern and more digestible setting...

I've been tracking on goodreads since 2013, and tried to go back and include notable books I read, all the way back to the late 90s... I didn't read much from 2002-2005-2009-2011, with high school / college / video gaming, but I read a fair bit as a kid... not too many of my shelved books are from then, tho, since GR has a bunch of mega-omnibus listings that help when shelving kids series: Animorphs (#1-#54)

I've read over 3500 different books at this point, and tracked on GR, if you add in the undocumented stuff on the spreadsheet from this year... and UF/PNR has jumped from 800-1000 to 1300 while I wasn't looking... I always seek more UF/PNR... and all the new releases in ongoing series...

If others continue, August 27th, probably...

I wold prefer to put it off to December personally but will go with what the consensus is.

Put off everything to December :D

It's definitely feeling like a better and better idea... even tho it doesn't leave much room for new stuff in 2025, since so many 2024 BRs are looking to carry over...

I mean I would be okay with November but definitely not October lol

I mean... I'm kidding/concerned, but also half-serious...

Curious, is the spread sheet updated to BRs scheduled for January? There are only a few listed as of now.

The spreadsheet tab shows everything requested... Yanique doesn't like people to start requesting for next year until October/November...

But also, most 2024 BRs aren't on there if Nirkatze hasn't requested them all yet... go down the list of current BR threads, and see all the tentative future BRs waiting to be requested...

Most stuff I've only requested through October so far... Honor Harrington might run to 2026... Discworld will be 2027 since we dropped down to 1/month... InCryptid has 12-13 books... etc etc etc... once everything's actually scheduled, alot is going to continue over... especially with delays...

I agree, we have Gobbelino for sure starting this month and not scheduled out, I think (hope) I have Nirkatze roped into Klune's Green Creek after we finish up Verania, Witchmark if we like book 1, etc. Hmm perhaps that conversation should be started in the BR recruitment thread? What ongoing series have been started, not finished and not requested to the end? So we can gauge interest in continuing and maybe avoid not starting the year overwhelmed? It may be too late for that lol

Edit to add I think there may be a few more Mage Errant and also the Stephen King stuff and that is just the stuff that jumped out to me, you guys read way more than I do!

Dune has a ways to go, now that we're trying Brian Herbert stuff... Spellslinger is supposed to continue into Argosi and then Court of Shadows... Shadows of the Apt... Foreigner... Animorphs (ends in February I think)... Cinnamon Bun & Thundamoo alternating at least to January I think?... BuyMort if it's any good...

And that's just the stuff I'm still in... Nirkatze is reading a ton of other stuff with you and other people, too... best place to check, really, is Nirkatze's BR Tracker thread...

Poke List: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Can also scroll down and see all unscheduled BRs she's tracking each month of the year... search SCHED, I think...

Looking at her heavily abbreviated lists just shows how uncataloged and light my BR planning is compared to hers...

She's doing nearly double the BRs as me... or trying...

We are starting that Yahtzee guy one as well.

See... the more you think about it, the more jampacked we are... Nirkatze's sheet has so many completely unscheduled BRs, with tentative start dates and people to poke, who were interested...

I am still contemplating joining this BR even though I have really packed schedule and then I will be on vacation where I wont be listening at all.

I am currently listening to Steel's Edge.
Started Dreams of Gods & Monsters on time by listening to one chapter but now it's on hold because it's the last book of the series so there is no rush😅
Have to start Into the Windwracked Wilds today.
He Who Drowned the World tomorrow.
Then the day after tm I need to start Soulbinder and potentially this one lol.

At least I have a lot of cleaning to do and some easy paperwork that allows for listening...

I'll read the comments later, but I've started and I'm up at chapter 4: Local cuisine.
I enjoy it so far, though. Jason is really worried about (view spoiler)[his unmentionables, but stays really cool about the other things. I mean, I would just freak out. I wonder what the reason is that he's in a game. (hide spoiler)]

This is my first LitRPG. I still haven't finished 'The Wandering Inn' and DCC is on my TBR pile.

It's a good thing you don't have DCC to compare this to, this one is definitely lacking!

Good to know, then I've got high expectations for DCC, when starting.

I read this last week, but haven't had energy to comment on anything while I've been working on my mom's house... we got her whole floor put in in a week! And now my hands hurt... Anyway, I enjoyed it, but I totally see what y'all're saying about it's no DCC, and it has its pacing issues, but is still fun. I think the leveling & looting sequences get rather chunky in audio--if eye reading you can just kind of skim that stuff like one does in a video game, but it's right in your ears and not quite long enough to skip in audio.

I also would like there to be more depth in the character dynamics--it was mostly light and humorous so far, but it looks like there is room to grow. Something that both DCC and WI did really well is dive right for the heart, and this dove more for the silly/fun. I do like that the MC is showing some (slow) growth--while I've been enjoying the humor, his snarkiness and one-upping the Man is a bit too... perfect? I read Gravesong just before this, so I am comparing it to that, and I think Gravesong did it better... not the snark, but the aim of the snark, at anti-establishment &c.

I really liked the worldbuilding and and I enjoyed the cozyesque leveling/power-up and quests as random acts of kindness--really made me want to play WoW again...

Also glad my Tracker has been useful... most of the SCHED notes are for 2025 or more if folks want after book 1, and POKEs are for series to pick up after something ends...

Ann-Marie wrote: "I wold prefer to put it off to December personally but will go with what the consensus is."

I'm fine with putting off until December, lol. Running a week behind right now.

So I decided to go for it even if I have 4 audiobooks ongoing at the same time lol

Anyways, I start listening and instantly I am like: "oh good narrator. I can listen fast... wait. I know this voice." I go search what other books this narrator narrated. I find Into the Windwracked Wilds which I just finished few minutes ago 🤦‍♀️

LOL That's so funny! I totally read that at the same time as well, but did not twig on to the fact it was the same narrator! I need to go comment over there...

I started it days ago but didn't get far as it's become my side read and probably will stay a side read for a while as I am getting though one audio and have two incoming. So far I can really tell that it was released chapter by chapter. But that kinda makes it work well as a side read right now so I don't mind lol.

Mm, true. This does seem like a story that wouldn't suffer from being read in chunks.

Requested book 2 for Dec 27! I have a huge backlog of requests & comments to make...

Still on this one but now it's my main audiobook so should progress fast.

I am enjoying it. It's definitely a more laid back kind of LitRPG. Scary moments happens but things work out and everyone can just laugh it off. Jason is very carefree guy, at least on the outside. There are some deeper themes too under all the fluff. I do expect the series might turn the seriousness more on eventually, same as DCC.

As a comparisons to DCC. DCC is objectively better but this might be more my kind of thing if not as well written.

There were some truly hilarious moments that just mad me laugh like (view spoiler)[the drinking game or the chicken noises. (hide spoiler)] The friendship is really warming. It's just something relaxing and fun if you ignore some illogical moments.

I do enjoy the LitRPG aspect, it feels original and has lot of possibilities.

Also is it just me or does Sophie (view spoiler)[feel like gf material. The cold girl and the cheerful guy couple? Well, she was barely even there so it's a wild speculation but she was definitely introduced for a reason. (hide spoiler)]

Leahhh wrote: "@Marie concerning Sophie [spoilers removed]"

Didn't get there yet but that for sure sounds even more suspicious.