I really appreciated your thoughts on the series. I think you really captured what makes The Wandering Inn such a wonderful story to fall into. As somebody who is up to date as of writing, I love seeing characters that we meet grow and change over several million words. Characters introduced or mentioned in the first few volumes go through countless character arcs and it's a joy to follow them on their personal journeys. On the subject of the prose, it's actually one of the things I love most about it. The "chattiness" makes it so easy to read. Some other stories have much more clever writing that you have to slow down and focus on; picking apart each sentence for hidden meanings and profound meaning. But TWI? It's smooth to consume. It feels good. It's a friend excitedly telling you a story about their day or some DnD adventure they have.
I completely agree with you. I have just finished getting caught up on The Wandering Inn series and I absolutely could not pull myself away from it. I love the way that pirateaba writes. You mention that pirateaba puts in these little things about characters that don't seem significant, but I see it as a subtle development of a character that opens your eyes to why they are the way they are. It is so subtle that you don't even know that it's really happening until it all comes together later and you have this epiphany that pirateaba brings you to and it makes you like that character even more, regardless of whether or not you wanted to. The character development is absolutely stellar and I can't wait for book 15. I could ramble on and on about all the reasons that I love this series so much but I don't really want to write a 20 page lecture on why it's so great lol. I'm glad to hear from someone that is really enjoying as well. Thank you for your review, I really enjoyed listening to it.
@@adamphillips1568 Thank you! I’m planning to post reviews as I finish each book from here on out! I get through a book every six weeks or so - excited to see where things go. Feel free to come back and check them out!
I'm into volume 7, which is maybe halfway through, word count wise, and I'm amazed by the depth of the experiences in it now. Silly comedic fantasy, epic battles, lovecraftian horror, and death scenes that have made me straight up sob. Also it's clear the author is a big Terry Pratchett fan, and that is always a plus.
Book one is just like Season 1 of the Office (us) it is very hard to get through, even the audiobook is a drag. However as you reach the 3/4 point of the book the story changes and starts ramping interest quickly and after that point it’s hard to put down.
The Wandering Inn has a problem because of the size, it's hard to tell people to read because it has a habit of not having a specific point that hooks everyone. There is no singular chapter or volume to point too, it could be volume 1 or even 9, but the bigger problem is, when it gets you, you're done. It was the end of Volime 5 for me, the Siege of Liscor. I'd been enjoying it well enough before that, but it was then that I sort of clicked fully and realised "oh...Oh this is actually fantastic", not just another enjoyable romp with lovable characters, no, something you actually care about. The Dangers, the fights matter because Pirate makes you care about the people. Side characters with barely a few chapters of information MATTER and when they are hurt or in danger you worry, you cheer when they win, weep when they lose. This is the only book that has made me worry about the well being of random guards because you've learned about them, their personalities and ticks. It's a book not afraid to take the normal, quiet Inn life and suddenly rug pull it with chaos and blood. Wonder and Heartbreak.
Great review! Been loving TWI so much and I almost dropped the series in the first book lol. I started with the audiobooks but I couldn't wait for more so I switched to the web serial and just started Volume 8 (the equivalent to what will be around book 17-18 ish) it just keeps getting better and I'm only 50% done with what's out. There is something special about this series, in some ways the clashing cultures reminds me of Wheel of Time which I've heard the author PirateAba is a fan of. It's becoming one of my all time favorites.
This is great encouragement for me to try this out, since I have a good feeling that it could be a big hit with me. Buuuuuuut closure is also important for me and I’m afraid I’ll have no hope of ever catching up. Love your exploration of what’s been working with you with the scale, conversational tone, and themes. Great vid!!!
@@BooksWithBenghisKahn I commit to a chapter every night, like a tv show kind of a thing! My goal is to catch up to the kindle publications, not the current webserial chapter. Seems a little easier. Your kind words mean a lot - I’ve watched your channel on my old account for a while now so it’s lovely to hear from you Ben!
@@fourcornersofthepage careful with the 1 chapter a night with TWI. Some of the chapters in the later volumes can be over 60k words or over 200 pages. I've definitely started before bed and looked up from the page at 4am.
I read half of the first book but found the writing quite basic and characters not very well written as well. I have heard that it's getting better though. I am not sure yet if I am willing to give it another chance hoping for it to be better considering the length of the books 😅
It’s tough to recommend in a way - ‘it gets really good after 2000 pages!’ almost sounds like a joke. But there’s nothing else quite like it. What really sold me was the ending to book 1, which I won’t spoil - but it showed me how versatile Pirate is and how many different writerly hats they can wear!
@@fourcornersofthepage yeah, I have heard that it gets very good. It just feels like an extreme investment and trust to wait for 2000 pages for it to start working 😅 But I will likely give it another go at some point. Great review!!!
been reading it for years. being up to date is terrible. i got so used to twi being there for me whenever i needed it - now i have to wait for new chapters. noooo
I really appreciated your thoughts on the series. I think you really captured what makes The Wandering Inn such a wonderful story to fall into. As somebody who is up to date as of writing, I love seeing characters that we meet grow and change over several million words. Characters introduced or mentioned in the first few volumes go through countless character arcs and it's a joy to follow them on their personal journeys.
On the subject of the prose, it's actually one of the things I love most about it. The "chattiness" makes it so easy to read. Some other stories have much more clever writing that you have to slow down and focus on; picking apart each sentence for hidden meanings and profound meaning. But TWI? It's smooth to consume. It feels good. It's a friend excitedly telling you a story about their day or some DnD adventure they have.
@@RuefullyUrs ‘smooth’ is the perfect word for it!
I completely agree with you. I have just finished getting caught up on The Wandering Inn series and I absolutely could not pull myself away from it. I love the way that pirateaba writes. You mention that pirateaba puts in these little things about characters that don't seem significant, but I see it as a subtle development of a character that opens your eyes to why they are the way they are. It is so subtle that you don't even know that it's really happening until it all comes together later and you have this epiphany that pirateaba brings you to and it makes you like that character even more, regardless of whether or not you wanted to. The character development is absolutely stellar and I can't wait for book 15. I could ramble on and on about all the reasons that I love this series so much but I don't really want to write a 20 page lecture on why it's so great lol. I'm glad to hear from someone that is really enjoying as well. Thank you for your review, I really enjoyed listening to it.
@@adamphillips1568 Thank you! I’m planning to post reviews as I finish each book from here on out! I get through a book every six weeks or so - excited to see where things go. Feel free to come back and check them out!
I'm into volume 7, which is maybe halfway through, word count wise, and I'm amazed by the depth of the experiences in it now. Silly comedic fantasy, epic battles, lovecraftian horror, and death scenes that have made me straight up sob. Also it's clear the author is a big Terry Pratchett fan, and that is always a plus.
It was the end to volume 1 that blasted the lid off for me. Sudden turn to the dark was incredible.
Book one is just like Season 1 of the Office (us) it is very hard to get through, even the audiobook is a drag. However as you reach the 3/4 point of the book the story changes and starts ramping interest quickly and after that point it’s hard to put down.
The Wandering Inn has a problem because of the size, it's hard to tell people to read because it has a habit of not having a specific point that hooks everyone. There is no singular chapter or volume to point too, it could be volume 1 or even 9, but the bigger problem is, when it gets you, you're done.
It was the end of Volime 5 for me, the Siege of Liscor. I'd been enjoying it well enough before that, but it was then that I sort of clicked fully and realised "oh...Oh this is actually fantastic", not just another enjoyable romp with lovable characters, no, something you actually care about. The Dangers, the fights matter because Pirate makes you care about the people. Side characters with barely a few chapters of information MATTER and when they are hurt or in danger you worry, you cheer when they win, weep when they lose. This is the only book that has made me worry about the well being of random guards because you've learned about them, their personalities and ticks. It's a book not afraid to take the normal, quiet Inn life and suddenly rug pull it with chaos and blood. Wonder and Heartbreak.
I haven’t even reached that bit yet - so excited to get to it!
Great review! Been loving TWI so much and I almost dropped the series in the first book lol. I started with the audiobooks but I couldn't wait for more so I switched to the web serial and just started Volume 8 (the equivalent to what will be around book 17-18 ish) it just keeps getting better and I'm only 50% done with what's out. There is something special about this series, in some ways the clashing cultures reminds me of Wheel of Time which I've heard the author PirateAba is a fan of. It's becoming one of my all time favorites.
Thanks for stopping by! My plan from here on out is to do a review of each book as I trundle on with it. It’s a great fun reading side project.
This is great encouragement for me to try this out, since I have a good feeling that it could be a big hit with me.
Buuuuuuut closure is also important for me and I’m afraid I’ll have no hope of ever catching up.
Love your exploration of what’s been working with you with the scale, conversational tone, and themes.
Great vid!!!
@@BooksWithBenghisKahn I commit to a chapter every night, like a tv show kind of a thing! My goal is to catch up to the kindle publications, not the current webserial chapter. Seems a little easier.
Your kind words mean a lot - I’ve watched your channel on my old account for a while now so it’s lovely to hear from you Ben!
@ that kind of daily habit with it is a great way to chip away at something so massive - one of these days I gotta check it out
@@fourcornersofthepage careful with the 1 chapter a night with TWI. Some of the chapters in the later volumes can be over 60k words or over 200 pages. I've definitely started before bed and looked up from the page at 4am.
It's a fun read, but the MC is a serious airhead. Lol
I wish I could read.
there are audiobooks
I read half of the first book but found the writing quite basic and characters not very well written as well. I have heard that it's getting better though. I am not sure yet if I am willing to give it another chance hoping for it to be better considering the length of the books 😅
It’s tough to recommend in a way - ‘it gets really good after 2000 pages!’ almost sounds like a joke.
But there’s nothing else quite like it. What really sold me was the ending to book 1, which I won’t spoil - but it showed me how versatile Pirate is and how many different writerly hats they can wear!
@@fourcornersofthepage yeah, I have heard that it gets very good. It just feels like an extreme investment and trust to wait for 2000 pages for it to start working 😅 But I will likely give it another go at some point.
Great review!!!
been reading it for years. being up to date is terrible. i got so used to twi being there for me whenever i needed it - now i have to wait for new chapters. noooo
@@lars2582 take it from the top!
@@fourcornersofthepage yes i thought about it. but its never going to be the same. like the first snow in winter:)