Webnovels thread

Sparsebeard

Web serials are woefully unknown despite the fact that they are often pretty dawn great. Hence this post aims to be a place to recommend and discuss your favorite serials or be made aware of their existence if you aren't.

The great thing about web serial is that they're entirely free novels that are updated regularly, so there is a LOT of content ot there ready to be read whenever you feel the urge.

The site Topwebfiction has a list of the most popular webnovels and, since I'm here, I'll also the the time to recommend a few of my favorite ones :

The Wandering Inn

A swell novel about Erin Solstice, a modern day american girl, being transmigrated to a fantasy world while going to the bathroom. But instead ofbecoming a hero and going to chase the dragon, she finds herself taking over an abandoned inn trying to survive in a dangerous and hostile world.

A merge between an adventure and slice of life story, the world building is amazing and there are tons of fleshed out characters.

The story is about 2,000,000 words at this point and updates bi-weekly with 10,000 words chapters.

Worm

In this version of earth, people can get superpowers (by experiencing traumatic events). Taylor Hebert gained the power to control bugs after being subjected to bullying (this is an euphemisism) still, she wants to be a hero and she has a plan for that… let's see how things will turn out.

One of the most popular webnovel. This is a superhero story with a twist, people with superpowers are mostly messup people since they have to suffer a traumatic event in order to gain their powers (or trigger) and powers are rarely simple or totally beneficial to their users. Which makes the world an arguably worst place, borderline grimdark. Still, the world building is amazing, if terrifying...

The story is completed at about 2,700,000 words.

A practical guide to evil

Decades ago, the kingdom of Callow was invaded by the Eeeevil kingdom of Praes (ruled by dread emperors with hilariously evil names). An orphan by the name of Catherine Foundling, who lived all her life under occupation wants to help her country. Her plan, join the legions of terror and change things from within…

The story is set in a fantasy world ruled by narrative where greater than life heroes and villains (or Named) are bestowed with powers called aspects. Loves to play with troopes and subvert them. Every chapter has a little historical quote "à la" Dune, from past kings and Dread emperors such as Dread Emperors Traiterous, Sorcerous, Revenant, Malevolent, etc. An exemple of such quotes : "Those who live by the sword, kill those who don't".

Updated bi-weekly with three huge books finished.

The gods are bastards

The age of heroes is over, wands are now mass-produced in factories and the Empire of Tiraas has conquered the whole continent with the frontier being constantly pushed back and elves now have to live in reserves. Still, more then twenty years after the death of the last paladin the god of Justice and the god of the Sun both appoint a new paladin. And now, Trissiny, paladin of justice goes to school, the The University, no less have fun following her and her classmates (another paladin, a fairy, a dryad, an arch-demon and a pirate princess) in their scholarly adventures in a school where teachers are ex-adventurers and the principal is a millenias old elf who tusseled with dragons, demons and gods.

A steam-punk fantasy spagetti-western… yeah.

Robby

Worm is great, and actually has an audiobook version.

http://audioworm.rein-online.org/table-contents/

The sequel recently started up, as well.

I haven't read any of the others.

Sparsebeard

@Robby:

Worm is great, and actually has an audiobook version.

http://audioworm.rein-online.org/table-contents/

The sequel recently started up, as well.

I haven't read any of the others.

Worm was great all right, truly an epic story with great world building (which are points all the stories I mentionned have in common in fact). Interesting fact:

! Did you know that in the first battle against an endbrigner, the author rolled a dice foe every character involved (even the protagonist) in order to determine if they where gonna be injured or killled? He even had a plan to switch protagonist in case the main one died…

If you enjoyed Worm, I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy the guide. Similar anti-hero vibes albeith a bit less depressing and more humorous but great all the same.

The other stories are more upbeat but they're still awesome. In fact, I think that the same things that make one piece enjoyable are present in all those stories. Check they out if you have the time, you won't be disappointed…

BWYYWLTGHR

A practical Guide to Evil is great stuffs indeed! :happy:

Sparsebeard

@BWYYWLTGHR:

A practical Guide to Evil is great stuffs indeed! :happy:

It sure is, and apparently, friday chapters are incoming meaning tri-weekly updates very soon…

BWYYWLTGHR

@Sparsebeard:

It sure is, and apparently, friday chapters are incoming meaning tri-weekly updates very soon…

Yeah, they've reached their 750$ per month goal on patreon, so. Actually wish I could have thrown in some more monies but I'm saving up at moment.

If I may ask, do you have any favorite characters? To me they are all very interesting but I have no one that stands out… Maybe Cat.... Or the Dread Empress, coming to think of it. :wassat:

Sparsebeard

@BWYYWLTGHR:

Yeah, they've reached their 750$ per month goal on patreon, so. Actually wish I could have thrown in some more monies but I'm saving up at moment.

If I may ask, do you have any favorite characters? To me they are all very interesting but I have no one that stands out… Maybe Cat.... Or the Dread Empress, coming to think of it. :wassat:

! We haven't seen enough of the empress for me to truly care that much about her, I like Traitorous better lol.
! Hierophant is probably my favorite character, I'm a sucker for wizard-like characters and I feel like he embodies the mad scientist troope perfectly. I just love how incredibly aloof he is having no problem performing vivisection and all kind of awful experiments. Also, that Ubua comment recently was frinkin gold.
! And his quirk of always correcting people is hillarious.
! In the same vein, I feel that I'll probably like Warlock a lot if we see more of him (if he doesn't die in the next few chapters…).
! Also, how do you feel about the whole black situation? Do you think that Black is a dead man walking, or will he outplay the narrative?

BWYYWLTGHR

@Sparsebeard:

! We haven't seen enough of the empress for me to truly care that much about her, I like Traitorous better lol.
! Hierophant is probably my favorite character, I'm a sucker for wizard-like characters and I feel like he embodies the mad scientist troope perfectly. I just love how incredibly aloof he is having no problem performing vivisection and all kind of awful experiments. Also, that Ubua comment recently was frinkin gold.
! And his quirk of always correcting people is hillarious.
! In the same vein, I feel that I'll probably like Warlock a lot if we see more of him (if he doesn't die in the next few chapters…).
! Also, how do you feel about the whole black situation? Do you think that Black is a dead man walking, or will he outplay the narrative?

! Dunno why I like Malicia, first of her name, actually. She seems nice I guess? Hahaha.
! The Black situation… I dunno, could go either way. But I doubt Black himself will outplay it, Cat might though. It would make sense too, instead of her becoming the Black Knight as per expectation she becomes something else. Something new like, Black Queen could be, feels like it's being set up for that. Personally I'd like Death Knight because that's just cool and we could get the suicide armies we all dream of. :happy:

Sparsebeard

@BWYYWLTGHR:

! Dunno why I like Malicia, first of her name, actually. She seems nice I guess? Hahaha.
! The Black situation… I dunno, could go either way. But I doubt Black himself will outplay it, Cat might though. It would make sense too, instead of her becoming the Black Knight as per expectation she becomes something else. Something new like, Black Queen could be, feels like it's being set up for that. Personally I'd like Death Knight because that's just cool and we could get the suicide armies we all dream of. :happy:

! Strange, nice aren't the vibes I get from the Empress, might have to do with the fact that MEETING her means you're considered compromised lol…
! As for Black, I do like the potential for him being "saved" despite himself. I do love the theory of him being necroed, although I'm partial to the school of though that necromancy brings you back... different...
! And now that you say it, I do hope that Black Queen doesn't exclude spamming corpse explosion. Still, I think any knight class would feel pretty outdated since she's already a (vice-)Queen... Still, I would rather for the author to surprise us with something of the left field like the Hierophant or Duchess classes...
! Now I wonder when (if) Thief and Archer will get an upgrade...

Also, do you read any other webnovels, since you enjoy the guide, you might also enjoy something like Mother of Learning, although it's a bit different it's pretty high quality too.

Nitwit

There's a thing called Web Novels?

Why haven't I learn about it?

Sparsebeard

@Nitwit:

There's a thing called Web Novels?

Why haven't I learn about it?

Not only are they a thing, but many of those are great AND lenghty. For exemple, the four webnovels referenced in the OP are about the lenght of full series like Harry Potter and a Song of Ice and Fire… Hundreds of hours of reading available at the tip of your fingers for free.

If you have preferences as for types of stories, feel free to tell, prehaps I can recommend you some...

Nitwit

@Sparsebeard:

Not only are they a thing, but many of those are great AND lenghty. For exemple, the four webnovels referenced in the OP are about the lenght of full series like Harry Potter and a Song of Ice and Fire… Hundreds of hours of reading available at the tip of your fingers for free.

If you have preferences as for types of stories, feel free to tell, prehaps I can recommend you some...

Cool! Would love to read them.

Sparsebeard

@Nitwit:

Cool! Would love to read them.

If you have no specific type of story you'd like, then the first post of this thread contains links to four stories I greatly enjoy.

BWYYWLTGHR

@Sparsebeard:

! Strange, nice aren't the vibes I get from the Empress, might have to do with the fact that MEETING her means you're considered compromised lol…
! As for Black, I do like the potential for him being "saved" despite himself. I do love the theory of him being necroed, although I'm partial to the school of though that necromancy brings you back... different...
! And now that you say it, I do hope that Black Queen doesn't exclude spamming corpse explosion. Still, I think any knight class would feel pretty outdated since she's already a (vice-)Queen... Still, I would rather for the author to surprise us with something of the left field like the Hierophant or Duchess classes...
! Now I wonder when (if) Thief and Archer will get an upgrade...

! Hahaha, yeah, no she's obviously terrifying to most people but I mean towards people she likes. Like she and Black seem so buddies. :happy:
I'm hoping that keeps.
! Well, I reason we've already had a surprise name with Hierophant so Cat's should have some more. Well, should and should, another surprise could also be good. And Death Knight is just so metal.
! Do we know if Thief and Archer even are transitional names?

Also, do you read any other webnovels, since you enjoy the guide, you might also enjoy something like Mother of Learning, although it's a bit different it's pretty high quality too.

I've gone and read some other, yes. None that I've taken so much liking to as A Practical Guide to Evil. Just started The Gods are Bastard on your recommendation, it's pretty good… But it's not a guide. ;P
Since you're recommending, thanks for that by the way, I guess I'm looking for some sci-fi...? With a female protagonist.

Sparsebeard

@BWYYWLTGHR:

! Hahaha, yeah, no she's obviously terrifying to most people but I mean towards people she likes. Like she and Black seem so buddies. :happy:
I'm hoping that keeps.
! Well, I reason we've already had a surprise name with Hierophant so Cat's should have some more. Well, should and should, another surprise could also be good. And Death Knight is just so metal.
! Do we know if Thief and Archer even are transitional names?

I've gone and read some other, yes. None that I've taken so much liking to as A Practical Guide to Evil. Just started The Gods are Bastard on your recommendation, it's pretty good… But it's not a guide. ;P
Since you're recommending, thanks for that by the way, I guess I'm looking for some sci-fi...? With a female protagonist.

! Not sayaing the empress isn't awesome, but didn't she try to "turn" (warn) Cat against Black recently (not that she was obiviusly wrong though).
! As for Thief and Archer, no there is nothing that implies they'll get other names… though... I could see Theif Yoink-ing one lol.

As for Sci-fi series, some turn Sci-Fi in the latter parts but I won't say anything on those since spoilers.

Worm and it's sequel have futuristic vibes while the story starts in 2015 due to Tinker superpowers which unlock some future techs for limited use. More of a different present though…

The gam3 was pretty interesting at first but seem to have been dropped so I'd probably avoid it…

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, while not Sci-Fi per say, does give a Sci-Fi vibe to magic by analysing it… Pretty funny and it's rational fiction just like The Guide. And, there is Hermione as a female lead. It's fanfic though.

Now that I think about it, one of the strong point of the guide is it's rational side (don't know if you follow the discussion on /r/rational). You may enjoy other rational fiction. Personaly, I like very much Mother of Learning (groundhog day in an industrial era fantasy world) and Worth the Candle (Transmigration in a dystopian D&D world with technology setting of the 40's/50's).

But yeah, most web novels seem to have fantasy elements more than Sci-Fi I guess huh… hope this helps... Also, the gods are bastards only gets better as it goes (like many webnovels since often they're the author's first work and the web novel format doesn't allow for massive editing...)