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Coast on Fire Discussion (Spoiler Zone!) (Patreon)

Published:
2018-08-23 21:00:00
Imported:
2022-05

Content

Come on everyone, let's chat about Book 5 of the System Apocalypse. What did you like? What did you hate?  How evil am I for setting up a cliffhanger that won't be resolved for at least a few months.


Comments

Anonymous

I'll start, it was a little frustrating watching John be nothing more than a taxi for a decent portion of the book, as well as him never being able to run the Vancouver city dungeon. I have liked how his and Lana's relationship continues to develop and how he's slowly working through his anger issues. The last fight I feel like his 'berserker' could have kicked in and made things interesting. Otherwise enjoyed the story, didn't mind the cliffhanger as the fight had finished and sets you up for a lana/Mikito adventure while John does the impossible yet again!

Cameron C

I enjoyed the book, but a lot of it felt like a set up for the next story. We had a lot of plot threads in book 4, this is the fulfillment book of some of those threads, and then the bomb drop at the end. I’m also very interested in the consequences of John using his ability across the North American continent at this point. I’ll do a re read when it comes out on kindle so I can get a better idea of how I feel - but at the moment I’m just craving that book 6. I know you asked awhile back if you should just write book 6... well my answer now is yes. I gotta find out what happens! Also, I agree with the assessment of a short story for Lana / mikoto- I want to know more about their skills and goings on, as this book had less of them. Heck, setting it after this book would alleviate some of the sadness ;). Anyway, excited to see where the story goes.

Robert Rosenthal

i liked it a lot, but it was definite transition book. on the other hand it was good to have a book where john isn't nearly beat to death as a change of pace. I also liked that we finally met the real honor guard, even if only for a cliffhanger. The inability of the large settlement councils to agree on things was a nice touch. It is interesting seeing john try to be a political leader when his character clearly wants to be more an roman tribune showing up just to say no! and not really deal with all these people and their problems. I also enjoyed the wider feel of the world building corporations, guilds, usa but i was getting worried that the series was heading too far in that direction so again liked that at the end it seems john has solo quest for book 6

Tao Wong
>>14909693

I am actually really liking the idea of a Lana / Mikito story set in-between Book 5 & 6. Might even be worth doing a full novel of, though that'd delay the entire book 6. I'll probably do a short-story for patrons to read instead that highlights some things. Probably after I've written a larger chunk of book 6 so that I know what I need to write.

Tao Wong
>>14908512

Ah... never thought about that frustration. Interesting. It was both an easier book to write because I had a clear idea of what he was doing and more difficult because of the various military factions. Also, love the idea of a Lana / Mikito short story.

Tao Wong
>>14910897

Well, it is book 2 of the arc. Those are always a bit weird to write I find. And yeah, the entire political thing was funny but John's smart enough to realise he can't afford to do that - he doesn't have the bureaucracy or set-up to play tyrant. Or time. Or inclination. Book 6... see below

Tao Wong

So, one of the biggest issues with book 6 is me deciding to either: - write a linear book 6 that picks up right after John - write a timeskip book 6 that wraps up the arc. I'm leaning and have already started (somewhat, rough sketches) on basically a timeskip version of book 6. There are a few reasons for that: - I can always go back and write the Master Quest book as a stand-alone novel later - the Master Quest, while important for John's development, isn't relevant to the story arc for Earth. The areas that are important for John can be added as either flashbacks / thoughts / etc in book 6 itself. So, that's my current thoughts and plans. I'm going to do a massive timeskip of over 2 years, drop John back onto Earth and have him deal with the fallout of well, being gone for 2 years. Curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Anonymous
>>14908512

I'd say you could do an entire separate arc (2+ books) for them while John's gone. Probably would be more of an LitRTS/tower defense type focus on them trying to manage his holdings while John handles the impossible. Not all at once, but it would be a good way of tying John's adventures together with where you want the world to be when he gets back And makes sense from your perspective as a writer, that John's actions were more in support rather than at the front for a lot of it. Wherever you take it next, you have good options!

Han Pol

I mean i don't know what the masterquests is and how long you planned it to take. if it's something very dangerous but duration wise short. I would say it's better to work that into the plot of the sixt book , if it's a time consuming but otherwise simple quest work it a bit into the book, if it's a quest that takes a lot of time you might be better of given a short after action report when he gets back but otherwise continue with the story arc on earth. I'm all for side novels or novellas or system short stories, that flesh the wider world out a bit, and give Johns crew a bit of a background. but I don't think it will do good to have a new perspective inside a book, when 5 books are already published. and there was never a real second perspective before. On the book, I liked it a lot, but hope that John gets more front line action ones he has his masterclass.

Cameron C
>>14929917

There’s a certain trust aspect there, that I’m willing to give... but time jumps can really complicate story arcs in this way. As a suggestion- since this story is following John, is the master quest too long to do as part of book 6? If not, maybe there are complications to him getting back to earth that make time be non-linear for him. Planets may operate differently time wise, especially if gravitational factors are in play - think like how time passed differently for folks in interstellar because they were in a planet closer to a black hole... that could be why it took longer. Or maybe there is transit time considerations.... who knows. I really want to know more about the wider galaxy - especially if that is where you see books 7-9 going, and having a taste for his master quest being like 1/3 of the book, and time jump being the other 2/3rds? That could work for me. But I’m only one reader. I just wanted to give my thoughts, I’m sure you’ll create something interesting with this series - it has impressed so far :)

Tao Wong
>>14930687

The System Apocalypse main books will always focus on John's POV. If I do a novel / novella about Lana / Mikito it'd be a separate book that would, for all intents and purposes, not directly relate to the main story like the short stories. I don't have any intentions to make side stories a 'must read' kind of thing. The Master Quest will basically do flashbacks in book 6 to cover important bits and pieces, but it's meant to be a long, long quest.

Tao Wong
>>14929917

Eh, I actually think the time skip will make things a lot easier. In either case, even if I was writing this linear, it'd still involve some extent of time skipping. But I intend to cover the highlights and important aspects of the master quest as flashbacks as noted.

Robert Rosenthal

I am sure it will be good either way but right now I am more curious about John and the quest than the earth 2 years later just my 2 cents

Anonymous

I really wished that you had expanded the whole settlement aspect of the book. It’s always interesting to see what options he has available in the shop. Even if he can’t afford things it’s nice to look at what’s available as loot. Which is a huge draw for me as a litrpg reader. You don’t have to go into crazy detail but expanded on the settlement would be nice. I also hope that you do time skip for his master quest but not as flashbacks but more as a quick part of the beginning of the story. With flashbacks later on to tie into whatever else you wanted. Regardless I’m looking forward immensely to book 6 please don’t take to long lol.

Tao Wong
>>15034469

I struggle with the entire settlement aspect. I LOVE settlement books, but unfortunately, John is very much of the opposite view. He has very little use or desire to use the settlements, which means he leaves most of the running to people like Lana. It also, frankly, detracts from the rest of the plot if I end up delving too much into it. What I have considered seriously is either writing a side-story / book about someone else building up a settlement / etc from the ground up in the same time period. A protagonist that actually wants / cares about this kind of stuff. The other option is to write a Lana short story & novel. The short story can cover the time in Book 4 & 5 somewhere while the novel could cover the timeskip. One problem with having such a large world - SOOO much to write!

Adurna

Lovely read! And wow was that cliff steep! Not even the quest text! I especially enjoyed seeing John continuing to grow and his perspective growing more nuance while still retaining his very action based nature. I also must congratulate on the excellent world-building. It has been great!

Tao Wong
>>15284472

Thanks! And yes, evil, evil cliff. I'm surprised there's not more people complaining about the cliff actually. *LoL*

Anonymous

Tao you set John up for one of the most popular LitRPG arcs....significant development of the MC via academy, adventure, etc, etc. Consequently, I think your cliffhanger is a welcome relief to grinding through John’s Uber 🚕 experience around the west coast. All your readers had to breath a sigh of relief and look forward to potentially the most fun and interesting book in the series - the real development of John as a true player in the universe’s system games.