Apr 11, 2014: Mage Life does a very difficult thing for a fantasy serial; it balances character interaction with world-building, and it does both quite well.

The world of Mage Life seems to be a very fragile one, both physically and socially. In the physical landscape, magic has caused a great disaster that affected the land, leaving traces of magical imprints and dangerous creatures. The people themselves have also been affected by magic; society is still reeling from a recent revolution which overthrew the [more . . .]

Mar 30, 2014: I picked up Portal a few weeks ago, and have to say that it’s beaten my expectations. The premise isn’t particularly original, involving a government organization run by normals, bent on persecuting and using young Enhanced (the author’s name for people with powers). Despite that, the story is well written and has kept my interest. There are a couple of great things about this story; first – the action. Both major fight scenes in the story thus far have been complex, with lots of different powers interacting in different and [more . . .]

Mar 28, 2014: I have been following Portal for awhile, I can’t honestly tell you how I found it, I can’t remember. But nevermind that. Portal is vaguely superhero fantasy. Easy on the heroics. It is centered around Michael Larson, a freshly Revealed Enhanced. Which in the lingo of Portal is a super. Michael can create wormholes, now due to some red tape he is obligated to register that he is an enhanced as soon as he knows. He didnt. If he had I doubt there would be much of a story. He [more . . .]

Mar 19, 2014: I have a love/hate relationship with Urban Fantasy. I love the idea of it. I’ve always liked good werewolf and vampire stories and such, and I daydream about magic being real all the time. The current crop of Urban Fantasy works however, is largely repetitive crap. Most of it is just a generic romance novel with werewolves and vampires instead of cowboys and pirates. I can’t stand it.

Pact is not that kind of Urban Fantasy. It’s not even the murder [more . . .]

Mar 18, 2014: "The Cold Inside" is a paranormal suspense/horror story in a particularly toxic high school setting. I was surprised how gripping this novel turned out to be. It’s a real page turner.

The protagonist (somewhat sympathetic, but not a hero), Tristam, used to be in the top clique who bullied the "nerds", but after an incident in which he apparently did something horrible to a dog, he has become ostracized and the nerds are now his only friends (sort of). Circumstances surrounding [more . . .]

Mar 17, 2014: I’ve been reading this since it appeared. Actually, I’ve been reading this since before its official beginning. Wildbow posted the various options for what he was going to do next on his personal blog, and I read the first few entries there.

This was the one that sounded most interesting to me.

Pact is an urban fantasy. It’s worth mentioning that it’s not the kind of urban fantasy that’s essentially a romance novel, but with vampires and werewolves.

It’s the sort of urban fantasy that imagines sorcerers living in the modern period, and making deals with demons, and spirits of all kinds. If that sounds like it might be a horror novel, it should. Horror elements abound.

What I’ve seen so far includes characters that feel real, interesting worldbuilding, and short term and long term plots that promise a fun ride.

Those of you who liked Worm will likely enjoy Wildbow’s second serial as well.

I’ll write a full review when the story’s further along.

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