/lit/ - Literature

>>16426671

What really sets this story apart is the intelligence of the characters, the plot or the setting.

There are no idiot balls, failures to communicate, or any other form of artificial conflict; Joon and Mary act exactly the way you would expect smart, rational, mature adults who are trying to survive and achieve their goals to act. Their every move, from which quest to tackle next to how to optimize Juniper's build to whether to trust this or that stranger is discussed and analyzed in excruciating detail as the life-or-death choices they are. Personal and romantic issues are brought into the open and worked-on rather than allowed to fester for umpteenth installments as they would be in a typical anime. Juniper is incredibly well-read and a veteran Dungeon Master with a ton of experience in worldbuilding, while Amaryllis is a workaholic with a gift for diplomacy and management. Both of their skillsets get a lot of use in the story.

Aerb is an extremely detailed and coherent setting. Everything from the mechanics of travel on a hexagonal grid to the logistics of bulk-teleportation to the economics of magic items has been accounted for and integrated into the story. More than once, these details turn out to be the key to solving this or that puzzle.

The plot is hard to explain without spoiling anything, but rest assured that there IS a rational explanation for everything, up to an including why a random Kansas teenager was transported to a fantasy realm and gifted with magical powers.

Overall, if you are the kind of person who likes Greg Egan or (early) Larry Niven, you will not be disappointed with this story.

>>16387843

What really sets this story apart is the intelligence of the characters, the plot or the setting.

There are no idiot balls, failures to communicate, or any other form of artificial conflict; Joon and Mary act exactly the way you would expect smart, rational, mature adults who are trying to survive and achieve their goals to act. Their every move, from which quest to tackle next to how to optimize Juniper's build to whether to trust this or that stranger is discussed and analyzed in excruciating detail as the life-or-death choices they are. Personal and romantic issues are brought into the open and worked-on rather than allowed to fester for umpteenth installments as they would be in a typical anime. Juniper is incredibly well-read and a veteran Dungeon Master with a ton of experience in worldbuilding, while Amaryllis is a workaholic with a gift for diplomacy and management. Both of their skillsets get a lot of use in the story.

Aerb is an extremely detailed and coherent setting. Everything from the mechanics of travel on a hexagonal grid to the logistics of bulk-teleportation to the economics of magic items has been accounted for and integrated into the story. More than once, these details turn out to be the key to solving this or that puzzle.

The plot is hard to explain without spoiling anything, but rest assured that there IS a rational explanation for everything, up to an including why a random Kansas teenager was transported to a fantasy realm and gifted with magical powers.

Overall, if you are the kind of person who likes Greg Egan or (early) Larry Niven, you will not be disappointed with this story.