Core
This series just fell off a cliff. Every issue I had with ARC 1 was ratcheted up to 11.
ARC 1 ends on a cliffhanger. I had some problems with that ending—it was quite abrupt and underwritten—but it at least did a good job setting up higher stakes for the next volume, right? Right?? Not if the main character decides "well that seems scary" and completely abandons every. single. story thread from the previous book in favour of wandering the countryside. I think there are two reasons this happened. (1) In the afterword the author says this was mostly a worldbuilding exercise for him, and from that perspective this makes sense. We get to see more of the world! Unfortunately the rest of the world is utterly lifeless and boring, just Generic Medieval Village #327 followed by Generic Medieval Village #328. Riveting!! And (2) I'm making an assumption, but I do not think the author knew where the plot was going at this point. He'd written himself into a corner and web serial disease set in because it still had to get updates.
Here's what an average chapter of Mother of Learning ARC 2 feels like:
I decided to visit the Sneezing Tiger web. We spent three weeks negotiating, but eventually they gave me a list of other webs that could be interested: The Fluffed Pillows, the Tasty Snacks, the Spears of Destiny, and the Dingleberry Dunces. I had some time to kill in the meantime, so I just kinda wandered around and explored the dungeon. In the dungeon I found a [LONG BORING LIST].
I can't be bothered to make up another list. Why does this book seem to think I want long lists so bad?!? My eyes are glazing over!
A new villain gets introduced in this volume, to replace the one that had been set up and then completely ignored from ARC 1. (Maybe you could say he "haunts the narrative". I think that's giving too much credit.) When I say introduced I mean he finally gets a speaking role about 70% of the way in... and he talks like an anime villain. And then he goes magic berserk mode and guess what: he talks like EVEN MORE of an anime villain. This is not a believable person; this is a miserable bag of tropes. If you want to read this, you will have to accept that it has some of the most uninspired villains you'll ever read.
When we hit the last two chapters, the plot chases after the main character and DEMANDS that something interesting happens, so we get an extremely abrupt lead-up to an ending cliffhanger. Yippee! The last two chapters did not need the 26 preceding chapters to happen—sure, there is some cause and effect, but it's deeply inelegant and inefficient. This reveal/cliffhanger should have happened halfway through the book, if not earlier: the only things stopping it from happening were the vague power level of the protagonist, and whether the protagonist would stop being an idiot. (In the end he is forced to stop being an idiot.)
This volume is an utter failure of serial writing. To set up so many plot threads—to build some momentum to carry the reader forward!—only to totally abandon them in favour of exploring a totally different area of the world that feels totally lifeless: why? And then, when we finally get to see some familiar environs, still nothing happens: this restart I'm learning X; now I'm learning Y; why? There is no plan. There is no momentum. There is no real plot: things are just happening. I do not understand the acclaim this book gets online; the standards are significantly lower for web serials, sure, but I don't really think anyone actually preferred the total aimlessness of this volume. This really could have been good—all the pieces were there—if only it had actually been edited for publication, so that a red pen could have cut 80% of this.
This series just fell off a cliff. Every issue I had with ARC 1 was ratcheted up to 11.
ARC 1 ends on a cliffhanger. I had some problems with that ending—it was quite abrupt and underwritten—but it at least did a good job setting up higher stakes for the next volume, right? Right?? Not if the main character decides "well that seems scary" and completely abandons every. single. story thread from the previous book in favour of wandering the countryside. I think there are two reasons this happened. (1) In the afterword the author says this was mostly a worldbuilding exercise for him, and from that perspective this makes sense. We get to see more of the world! Unfortunately the rest of the world is utterly lifeless and boring, just Generic Medieval Village #327 followed by Generic Medieval Village #328. Riveting!! And (2) I'm making an assumption, but I do not think the author knew where the plot was going at this point. He'd written himself into a corner and web serial disease set in because it still had to get updates.
Here's what an average chapter of Mother of Learning ARC 2 feels like:
I decided to visit the Sneezing Tiger web. We spent three weeks negotiating, but eventually they gave me a list of other webs that could be interested: The Fluffed Pillows, the Tasty Snacks, the Spears of Destiny, and the Dingleberry Dunces. I had some time to kill in the meantime, so I just kinda wandered around and explored the dungeon. In the dungeon I found a [LONG BORING LIST].
I can't be bothered to make up another list. Why does this book seem to think I want long lists so bad?!? My eyes are glazing over!
A new villain gets introduced in this volume, to replace the one that had been set up and then completely ignored from ARC 1. (Maybe you could say he "haunts the narrative". I think that's giving too much credit.) When I say introduced I mean he finally gets a speaking role about 70% of the way in... and he talks like an anime villain. And then he goes magic berserk mode and guess what: he talks like EVEN MORE of an anime villain. This is not a believable person; this is a miserable bag of tropes. If you want to read this, you will have to accept that it has some of the most uninspired villains you'll ever read.
When we hit the last two chapters, the plot chases after the main character and DEMANDS that something interesting happens, so we get an extremely abrupt lead-up to an ending cliffhanger. Yippee! The last two chapters did not need the 26 preceding chapters to happen—sure, there is some cause and effect, but it's deeply inelegant and inefficient. This reveal/cliffhanger should have happened halfway through the book, if not earlier: the only things stopping it from happening were the vague power level of the protagonist, and whether the protagonist would stop being an idiot. (In the end he is forced to stop being an idiot.)
This volume is an utter failure of serial writing. To set up so many plot threads—to build some momentum to carry the reader forward!—only to totally abandon them in favour of exploring a totally different area of the world that feels totally lifeless: why? And then, when we finally get to see some familiar environs, still nothing happens: this restart I'm learning X; now I'm learning Y; why? There is no plan. There is no momentum. There is no real plot: things are just happening. I do not understand the acclaim this book gets online; the standards are significantly lower for web serials, sure, but I don't really think anyone actually preferred the total aimlessness of this volume. This really could have been good—all the pieces were there—if only it had actually been edited for publication, so that a red pen could have cut 80% of this.