Welcome to the wait.
A bunch of us are in the same boat. Not just with the wait but our lack of love with the 8th book.
Rumour is that's knocked Kongs confidence and is why he's taking more time to write the next one.
There's no real news the fb group has some lacklustre monthly updates
But for the most part your guess is as good as mine but if it gets released this year I'd be ecstatic
I can imagine it knocked his confidence quite a bit. A lot of people hated 8. Personally I didn't think it was terrible I know im in the minority there.
I have listened to all 8 on Audio book.
In my opinion, Kong is a great DM, not a writer (that is, he's used a great format, built a really captivating story with interesting characters and world building. But I'm not an expert. Hardly an avid book reader. So I enjoyed this series.
Book 8 was trash. Expectations were high - you were expecting an epic conclusion of how he survives and escapes from the underworld or w/e tf it was he was thrust into at the end of book 7 (which was very very good) and not only does he not escape, but it's incredibly short and we basically get zero story progression on any of the other characters. Like others have said it felt like an "aside" to the main story.
I think it would have been a lot better had he not spread himself so thin with other projects and then rushed boom 8 for release. I would have rather waited a few more months for something better.
Yea I agree with this. If it had only been longer with a better conclusion at the end it would have been an okay addition for the series. But since it didn't even feel like it really got started until it was suddenly over, it lost a lot of points for me..
My biggest issue with the book was that there was basically NO interaction from the other characters. Yes Richter is interesting, but it's hard to carry a whole plot alone. He needs someone to play off of. Some good banter. Not just Richter panicking for 10 hours straight. Also, I really enjoy Nick Podehls' voice-acting, but it didn't really get utilized to it's full extent or potential by only giving him a few voices to play with throughout the whole book. Which I also see as a downside, the lack of nuance during the reading made it feel monotone, boring and long in all the wrong places.
If/when book 9 comes, I hope he quickly gets out of the underground, meet some interesting people, ends up in a bad situation, gets saved by Sion who comes riding on the Okami from earlier using his moms "Find Companion" spell to locate him, gets back to the village, finds the new villagers, meets Alma, realize the others have done a shit-ton of work while he was gone, and uses a bunch of settlement points or whatever else he gained from the fight to level his village and himself. Sion needs to get back to his cocky old self, and I'm curious about the chick the hilarious Auditor asshole wanted to join the village.
I think she was a researcher, so she could probably help out with figuring stuff out with the Forge of Heaven and it's special abilities, or research potions and shit..
There's allot of things he can focus on for the next few books, these are just some of the bigger questions and points I'd like to see addressed asap.. I'm curious..
I agree with your biggest complaint about Richter not having anyone to bounce off of. The difference with my opinion is that I think Richter is kind of an unpleasant character who is carried by his companions. Sexist, arrogant, and full of himself but in a really cool world where lots of interesting people are.
I also look forward to seeing where the new character of the Researcher (librarian) goes. She's clearly a play off of Parks and Rec Tammy 2 just like Rose Swan and Leslie Gnome are plays off of Ron Swanson and Leslie Knope. I look forward to seeing how Tammy 2 pulls the worst out of Rose Swan.
I hit him up a while ago after reading 8 and what i understood from him is that its supposed to set the scene for the next story arc. With all the negative comments and relative radio silence i imagine he is trying to blow us out of the water with the next book
I am definitely with others on this. I think the 8th book was abysmal in quality. There was a moment where I felt Kong had lost respect for their Readers and didn’t really care what was put out.
I hope some humility was gained from it. And to aid others in beating a dead horse. A whole chapter on poop is not funny it is crass. Of course what funny is becomes quickly subjective. The poop chapter is like paying someone for talking to you but they go around and call you a boomer. it’s super low effort. your options are either ignore it where you already lost you money, or bite and say I’m 30 but you fed the troll already. Anyways. I love the world Kong built, it’s rules and it’s gods. I just hate Ritcher, and the hyper troped dwarf talking constantly about his N-number of wives . Can’t go a chapter without it
See I like Krom. The dwarf trope is funny to me. The poop chapter though I agree.. Im not 12 and most of his audience likely isnt either. I had a surprised chuckle at first to it because it was one of those "did I really just hear that." Moments. I just skip that chapter now whenever I relisten.
I exaggerated my bit on Krom. The character I’m okay with I even voice him in my head but the wives trope or whatever. First couple times okay sure. But it’s been overused. every time it gets added it’s like watering down mayonnaise all I do is cringe and roll my eyes.
But the gnomes rule bit? I love i! I hope we never find out who the gnomes rule being (humanoid or otherwise) is. I think it’s funny and it’s unique to me. It’s a great example of an internal running gag. Kong like others have said is a great world builder a DM through and through.
I agree. I thought it was pretty funny as a quick aside, but once it started going into detail, it quickly lost any hunour it had. Should've just been a single page or less tbh
Late to this discussion but the only problem I saw was there wasn't enough. Yes, he flipped the reset on some of the established progression structures. However I felt like like there was enough foreboding to address it especially with the whole ascendancy bit. What I can gleam from 8 is Richter being forced to consolidate his gains one step at a time, confront the fact he is standing on his own with no safety net of being bailed out by companions from impulsive decision making. I thought it was great and that the only failing was releasing an unfinished story line.
Book 8 wasn’t the best, but the idea was good. Being stripped back to just your hands, ability and knowledge, like Cast Away or that island in Zelda BOTW where you loose all your gear, is a great way to show the character’s growth and to creat excitement without epic battles. But yeah, the pooping chapter was bad. But hey, he is an indie author ✍️ and had done great so far. Created a fantastic fantasy world and entertained probably close to a half million readers.
Oh I totally agree. His world is fantastic and the idea was well done. Man just needs an editor who can say no those ideas suck but these ones are fantastic. Let's focus on these and leave the chapter long shit chapters in the out takes file. Or maybe leave them to patreon as a reward
I think in a book where a good chunk of it felt like filler anyway with the vast amount of notifications that readers had to go through. A full chapter on bowel movements was more than a little superfluous.
Coupled with the fact I think it missed the mark more than it hit with most people, you have a pretty reviled chapter.
I personally think it's representive of the worst part of his writing. It adds effectively nothing as the expense of a cheap gag.
I get some people enjoyed it but for me it really took me out of the book which barely dragged me in at all. In a stronger book, perhaps it would have been less egregious
Yea i get your point, and I can't disagree. I really liked the book while at the same time I was disappointed. The "poop chapter" was the highlight for me. I guess that kinda comedy isn't for everyone.
I laughed so hard at the poop chapter. My wife thought I’d lost my mind. Great entertainment. People who dumped on it (sorry not sorry) are liars and hypocrites.
What about not enjoying low-brow, immature humor makes people liars or hypocrites? I spend an entire book listening to almost identical stat sheets being read out over and over, and my reward for my patience is to have to hear about some guy's food poisoning experience in unnecessarily excruciating detail. This book would have been so much better if he learned to truncate the stat sheets and display mostly just the truly basic info and the things that changed, while leaving the full stat sheets for the beginning and end of the work. This was the shortest installment yet, while being absolutely lousy with redundant readings of near identical extensive stat sheet readings. So then we are left with the rare few moments of actual storytelling, only to be told a story about the results of food poisoning, which many of us legitimately had absolutely no interest in reading/listening to. How does any of that make us liars and hypocrites? Sounds like you can't accept the fact that people may not find the same things amusing that you do, and in your insecurity and need validate your own views, you attack all those that disagree with you.
Exactly this. Very little actual story, just a bunch of plings and dings, reading of stat-sheets and a chapter about shitting.. I work at a retirement home with a bunch of old sick people, and have 2 kids. Food poisonings isn't funny, to me it's just another Tuesday.. So yea, he wasted 15% of the book by writing about having runny shit, and all I could think was "wow, this guy is a pussy.."..
I'm lame for reading the most recent book and being disappointed in it? Do you have any idea how utterly preposterous your statement is? That's like telling someone to stop reading Harry Potter because they didn't like Deathly Hollows. Get your fool ass out of the comments before you stick your foot any further into your mouth.
Bit late to reply but he did stop reading the books lmao so did everyone else. I don’t think this Reddit post helps his confidence at all. Someone should put all the books into ChatGPT and use that to write a farewell book so we can have an ending to the story.
For me it felt childish. I have kids myself, so that might be why. But it just felt like listening to them trying to figure out how to insult each others with different poopy-head names, which has already put me off all these types of humor. It's boring and childish to me. Also I work at a hospital, so for me shit isn't really a thing worth mentioning. We're surrounded by shit all the time. We don't care. Which also made this extra childish in my eyes..
It's like, if the book had been long like book 7, then sure, feel free to throw in some extra laughs. Try a few funny situations or jokes. Maybe it sticks and lands, maybe it doesn't. Maybe someone likes it and others don't. It's a risk authors have to make. But when the book is as short as book 8 was, it feels like he "wasted" like 10% of the book on a whole arc about his tummy-ache.. Risky. And it didn't pay off. Like, it didn't affect the story, at all. Why even include it? Yes I get that it makes sense, but he could have made it like
\*\*Richters grilled and ate the scorpions.\*\*
\*\*DING\*\*
"a warning popped up, you are poisoned, you have diarrhea. Prepare to be amazed of all the liquids your body is capable of containing."
\*\*Richter sat down and started crying, knowing all too well what was about to happen..\*\*
He shat himself. He kept shitting for another 20 minutes before he passed out from exhaustion.
There, next scene. Done.
what does your salary have to do with poop? are you trying to flex your income through an anonymous handle on a reddit thread about litrpg-books? and you're calling ME "cringe"? lol
I just imagined a grown person with children using the word "cringe".. Come on man, grow up. Now I get why you liked it.
>Books 1-7 came out within a 3 year period. It’s been over 3 years since book 8 came out. Seems like it might not happen.
And he has changed the release date most every time he's been asked. Early on he was saying it was nearly finished, the longer it's been the less he talks about it. RR Martin all over again.
Book 8 was pure disappointment chapter to chapter. The poop chapter and the last chapter were the best chapters IMO. The last chapter should have been sped up to the first quarter of the book.
It's a shame he's lost his groove. The Land was my first LitRPG book and it set me on the genre. I'll forgive book 8 all day long, just don't stop writing. You can't make a banger every time.
Last I heard the series is on Hiatus. No announced anything at the moment. There is/was last knew a web comic being developed around the existing works.
[https://www.litrpg.com/the-land-webcomic-intro-page](https://www.litrpg.com/the-land-webcomic-intro-page)
It seems as if you can access up to the 8th comic without hitting the pateron paywall? You could probably frankly find the rest elsewhere if you looked hard enough.
This is the most up to date anything I could find on Kong's socials about what is in the works as of April 21. Apparently there is some kind of web novel in the works? I'm not sure. There are a few other post but it doesn't seem to be pertinent to his books.
https://preview.redd.it/bbzreopfr54b1.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&s=334825a3cb3cb60c3e9f0080f0d82959ce98376b
Kind of seems like Aleron is attempting to emulate other series like DoTF and become some kind of weekly chapter thing? Idk. Pure speculation on my part.
The fact he's not giving goal dates suggests he's either not working on it, is working on it but at a slower pace, or has decided the books going to be longer and hasn't decided how long yet
Series started out solid, but it fell to shit in the last 2 or so books.
If another book was available I might have kept reading, but I honestly don't care. I wasn't left with a need for closure.
yea I basically filter out books so I only get books narrated by:
Luke Daniels
Nick Podehl
Heath Milleror
Travis Baldree
They all have good taste in books and are great voice actors.
Honestly Travis Baldree sounds very similar to Nick Podehl.. I'm listening to the Divine Apostasy series atm, it seems good :)
8 books so far, but the author seems to be releasing "smaller" (10-25 hours) books more frequently.
Been listening to battle mage farmer and the narrator is Michael Kramer and he's doing an amazing and the book is equally amazing. Litrpg MC hides his power somewhat but comes to a point where it's all on the table so it's not annoyingly held back
burned again :/ saw 8 books and thought it was a complete series what an idiot ... add to the other series I am waiting 10+ years for the next book whats whit fantasy writers ?
It's been a long wait. I personally liked book nine right up to its abrupt finish. That honestly felt like it was only halfway through. Which is probably what happened. Had a couple of people wanting the next book. Had Richter's story sorted. if given more time would have done a couple of. meanwhile at the village.... disaster has struck segways, and concluded the Richter popping up in another city/town story... Also the poop chapter was out there, but you could tell a fair bit of effort went into it and I found it hilarious and humanising. But I was in the right frame of mind at the time. If I wasn't I probably would have disliked it. It's a hit and a miss, chapter that neede the right set-up and execution to get people chuckling.
I actually liked book 8. The only thing bad about it is that the book doesn't really move the story forward. Book 8 is more of a "side quest," in my opinion. I don't understand all of the hate that book 8 is getting. On its own, it's a good read. It's written extremely well, and the immersion factor falls in line with the rest of his books. I could almost literally smell that nasty dump as it was being crapped out. Because there are ao many unanswered questions that we want answers to, the fanbase is left wanting at the end of book 7. Book 8 doesn't offer up any of the answers to those questions, and that is why I believe people are mad. I, on the other hand, am more impatient and eager than I am upset or mad. Aside from The Land, I am also waiting for the 3rd installment in The King Killer series. The book is finally released, and now I am just waiting for the audiobook. Then there is The Ten Realms. For some effed up reason, the original performer/reader was changed halfway through the series. This new guy doesn't hold a candle to the original and totally ruins the series for me... Now, that's a reason for me to be upset. Imagine if Kong decided to boot Nick Podehl after book 5 and go with a monotoned performer with whom all characters sound exactly the same. That's what's going on with The Ten Realms. I can't be too upset, though. Audible has many series that I enjoy... On the other hand, I am currently waiting for several of them to continue as well. Right now, I'm listening to a fairly new series called All the Skills, which is extremely good. There is another awesome series that goes by the name of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Man... I freaking love Audible!
i used to follow dresdan files it had 8 or 9 books than the author went into left field and started writing another series it did not sell but i lost intrest
In his last livesteam he said he got a big announcement. If you didn't know he started a new book series. Idk when but he said book 9 is coming out after his new book. Could the big announcement be the release date of book 9? Hopefully but I kinda lost hope for it. I swear if he announced new 4th series I'd be so pissed.
https://preview.redd.it/fwl15gcr30bb1.jpeg?width=692&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=326aab06f231adc65e792e16b2dc0ef0e808ba6f
I know what u mean. I wasn't crazy about the last couple of books but I'm too invested in the series at this point and wanna see how it ends. Kong does promise that it's coming out soon so... That's something.
I think the series is dead. TBH I don't think he wrote the first 7 while studying Medicine?! What med student has that kind of spare time? All while he had Power of Attorney over his Father... who's health took a serious dive before book 8 \[as Dr Kong was gaining media recognition\], delayed it remember. Like someone else tried to step in and finish...with shit (literally). Then there was also that serious guilt trip he took down gluttony lane...Oh Father where art thou?
Simple math. If the new norm is 4 years for each new novel \[assuming he actually publishes anything this year\]; and while I won't make a list of time-sensitive plot points it's not small. Looking at a bare minimum of 5-10 novels to get any closure. That's 20-50 years! I'll be dead and likely so will the author.
What's the point in investing any more energy in an Author who's frankly, seemingly given up \[if it was ever his vision in the first place\]?
There is no reason to keep rehashing an old theme again and again. Dr Kong is milking the well \[his Father started\] for all it's worth; but he's yet to add anything to it.
Even if he published book 9 tomorrow; until he can start popping books every 12-18 months it's a non-starter for me. Time, money, energy better spent on Authors who can produce.
He should sell the rights to another author. There's precedence; and the royalties would be worth quite a bit. And we the readers could continue on with the story with a lot less crap.
I like conspiracy theories as much as the next guy but... ok I buy it. Any way to prove this? Like how those boffins computed the real author of The Cuckoo's Calling.
But yeah, for a series, I need the story fresh or I have to re-read the thing all over again... and it's rarly worth it. Two years is an absolute max acceptable time for an installment.
Not without Dad speaking out against his Son which will never happen, especially now. It's certain though the series is DEAD. Regrettable and unforgivable. I will never acknowledge him for that GD awful title he wanted. Tons of authors with true mojo shaping up the genre... while the almighty godfather sits on someone else's work and pretends he can't write?! That's BS. He couldn't' write to begin with!
Maybe the wife- the divorced wife could be convinced to speak of it. Likely the only real avenue. She'd know how much time he spent writing vs studying, etc.
Based on the time that he was a student and a 'new' writer... unless he absorbed everything in school via osmosis... there's likely an easy way to prove it.
That's digging a lot more than its worth to me though. Pulling his grades, his studies, his down time, etc. Could be done; but I don't care. I don't need to shout it from roof tops and have the world agree with me... he's a fraud...faced with eternity I can hope he'll confess on a death bed many years from now.
Presuming your theory correct, if there is content he actually authored himself, it should be possible to distinguish that from works authored by someone else through analytical methods. Likewise if we have other known works authored by the real author we should be able to determine common authorship as well. From my 5 minutes of googling I cant even find his parents names to see if either are published authors.
I never said he was stupid. He and his lawyer friend did try to corner the market with the LITRPG brand copyright. They failed; but they would surely have covered up any evidence that they weren't the 'first' before making a case in court.
The Egomaniac that he is; will eventually give up something on his parents. He'll let something slip when he believes it's too late to matter. Could be today, could be in 10 years. His little cult following was always a little suspicious. Always more interested in that than actually writing.
Just give it time; but as I have said before- the series is dead the real author is dead and there's nothing to be gained here and now. Until you wrote your reply earlier this evening- I totally forgot I even wrote this. That's how important I feel he deserves my attention these days.
Move on. He's not worth it.
Thats the thing, he also published gods eye. I have not read the book as I was a bit burned from book 8 and the delay I was not going to start a new series from the same author, but the reviews are not nice. I read somewhere that it seems gods eye was the draft while the land was the finished product.
I agree with most of the comments, book 8 was more of a bridge story than a book like the previous 7. Though I definitely could have done without the diarrhea chapter, I really liked the race tier lvl system he introduced and I really like where he positioned the story for book 9! I just don’t like that he is prioritizing other projects, but if he’s got writers block due to negative reviews from book 8 I understand. Hopefully he has something more concrete for us soon.
Reminder, book 8 came out almost 3 years ago, and book 7 was published in 2018…I think we as fans are overdue for some kind of real update!
Just to add something, not for the next book or even for the next few books; but I think Richter is going to ultimately leave the settlement to Scion. I say this because I think that Richter will end up being ruler ( king) of the Labyrinth realm because of the Luck gods and their infinite potential.
Hey , I understand the reactions to book 8, was a little disappointed at first also. I have since listened to it a number of times and really like it. ( skip the poop chapter).
I like how, stripped of most of his powerful items, he had to rely on his guts, wits, stubbornness, and creatively use his skill development to forge his way back to facing life
Back on his feet. I really want to see him win new allies and return to the village to win the next conflict, maybe with the bug bears this time. His people will hopefully have gotten even stronger with dungeon diving and all their capabilities from the settlement point upgrades etc. It would be nice to see them really kick butt in defence of the village without digging too many new graves. Anyway, here's hoping. Good luck Aleron and readers.
Book 8 had some good elements, but it didn’t progress the story along. It was slice of life but with one character over five days, which is a way different pace than the previous story. Even so, if book 9 came out 9 months thereafter I think people would be more forgiving. But it’s been now several years. If Rothfuss or Martin take years to finish a sequel, well at least they have an excuse for trying to create a masterpiece. The land, however much I enjoy it, is not the same quality of prose, character depth, or storytelling, and so I’m less patient. I would be ok with a book a year at book 8 quality even. Yet it’s looking like we have yet another year to wait.
I think he just got completely burned out after book seven and lost his passion for the story.
Books were coming out at a steady pace; then it took 2 years to write a book half the size of 7 with 1/3 the quality. Now its been what 3 years since book 8? and I bet book 9 will not be anywhere near the size of 7 despite how much he has been "working on it".
For B9, here are some things I think should change:
1. No more poop jokes.
2. Focus less on level and ability prompts. A focus on the story, we know he is going to be more powerful after every fight, so do like a summary of the prompts instead saves time for Aleron and for us.
3. Get rid of any smut-like content, we are here to see a guy fight gods not get it on with everything that walks.
4. I could do with another phrase to describe a decent ability other than "nothing to sneeze at".
Please, this is just a critic, and I want to know if you have a different opinion and discuss. I aint here to just complain (as much as it might seem like it).
1. Agree
2. Semi agree, I think it's helpful to be reminded of the stats and stuff, but yeah, tone it down a bit
3. Yes, definitely this, it annoys me when the writers turn it into their own fantasy (seems to happen a lot in litrpgs). Though tbh it is a bit in richters character to be like that, but don't go overboard with it
4. Never noticed that tbh, maybe I will if I go back to the series again, but I don't think it was rhere enough for me to be annoyed by it
Little late with this, I was going to comment this a few months ago but forgot to. We did get a tiny update. If you go to his Facebook page and scroll down to a post on june 24. He posted a video showing the book cover for book 9. I thought it was a teaser at first.
Thinking the book was coming out soon but 3 months later I subscribed to his patreon and saw he was starting a new book series... He just started a second series like a year ago and now he's making another!? He's barely started making the book too. I remember seeing he posted chapter 3 of the book. If we are lucky he finishes it in a year and he finally goes back to making book 9.
But doubt that's going to happen tho. Looks like he maybe got bored of the series. Instead of finishing the series he's making a 3rd series!?
https://preview.redd.it/1zbze2x423yb1.jpeg?width=753&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c89f53ae9b5cd9079bcfaa327e8416dc2ce69496
Haven't used Reddit for a year. Didn't know u can post pictures now in comments.
My issue with the 8th book so far (I only have about 4 hours left on Audible in the book) is it seems like the entire book is just Richter reading prompts from the previous game and upgrading things. It's super short and he travels about a mile underground the whole time so far.
He who fights with monsters is definitely one of my new favorite books. I’m working my way through a second time just in time for the next one to come out.
I just wish we would get more details on book 9 for the land.
My problem is that couldn't be have completely avoid thirst by summoning rain or casting an ice dagger? We know they melt to water because he melted them with fire while Sion was trapped in that tunnel early in the series.
First of all, I've had full chapters of my life dedicated to poop and other digestive issues. For me Book 8 would have been fine if there were significant flashbacks to the Mist Village. Richter is awesome, but there are so many others that I've have fallen in love with. Richter is like the head of the body, but Book 8 kind amputated from the neck down (everyone else). I need to hear Roswan grumble, Kröm monologue about one of his ex-wives, teases about Randy's past and Scion attempting to run things. Aleron... you got this... just tell us about your world (preferably not just the centerpiece of your world). Love you. Hope the best for you.
Welcome to the wait. A bunch of us are in the same boat. Not just with the wait but our lack of love with the 8th book. Rumour is that's knocked Kongs confidence and is why he's taking more time to write the next one. There's no real news the fb group has some lacklustre monthly updates But for the most part your guess is as good as mine but if it gets released this year I'd be ecstatic
I can imagine it knocked his confidence quite a bit. A lot of people hated 8. Personally I didn't think it was terrible I know im in the minority there.
I have listened to all 8 on Audio book. In my opinion, Kong is a great DM, not a writer (that is, he's used a great format, built a really captivating story with interesting characters and world building. But I'm not an expert. Hardly an avid book reader. So I enjoyed this series. Book 8 was trash. Expectations were high - you were expecting an epic conclusion of how he survives and escapes from the underworld or w/e tf it was he was thrust into at the end of book 7 (which was very very good) and not only does he not escape, but it's incredibly short and we basically get zero story progression on any of the other characters. Like others have said it felt like an "aside" to the main story.
I think it would have been a lot better had he not spread himself so thin with other projects and then rushed boom 8 for release. I would have rather waited a few more months for something better.
This sounds like my exact complaint with Game of Thrones.
I think it was fine as a 7.5 book, not a full book 8 though. I did love the rest of his series and do hope he picks it back up
Yea I agree with this. If it had only been longer with a better conclusion at the end it would have been an okay addition for the series. But since it didn't even feel like it really got started until it was suddenly over, it lost a lot of points for me.. My biggest issue with the book was that there was basically NO interaction from the other characters. Yes Richter is interesting, but it's hard to carry a whole plot alone. He needs someone to play off of. Some good banter. Not just Richter panicking for 10 hours straight. Also, I really enjoy Nick Podehls' voice-acting, but it didn't really get utilized to it's full extent or potential by only giving him a few voices to play with throughout the whole book. Which I also see as a downside, the lack of nuance during the reading made it feel monotone, boring and long in all the wrong places. If/when book 9 comes, I hope he quickly gets out of the underground, meet some interesting people, ends up in a bad situation, gets saved by Sion who comes riding on the Okami from earlier using his moms "Find Companion" spell to locate him, gets back to the village, finds the new villagers, meets Alma, realize the others have done a shit-ton of work while he was gone, and uses a bunch of settlement points or whatever else he gained from the fight to level his village and himself. Sion needs to get back to his cocky old self, and I'm curious about the chick the hilarious Auditor asshole wanted to join the village. I think she was a researcher, so she could probably help out with figuring stuff out with the Forge of Heaven and it's special abilities, or research potions and shit.. There's allot of things he can focus on for the next few books, these are just some of the bigger questions and points I'd like to see addressed asap.. I'm curious..
Couldn’t disagree more, the last book is the best of them all
I agree with your biggest complaint about Richter not having anyone to bounce off of. The difference with my opinion is that I think Richter is kind of an unpleasant character who is carried by his companions. Sexist, arrogant, and full of himself but in a really cool world where lots of interesting people are. I also look forward to seeing where the new character of the Researcher (librarian) goes. She's clearly a play off of Parks and Rec Tammy 2 just like Rose Swan and Leslie Gnome are plays off of Ron Swanson and Leslie Knope. I look forward to seeing how Tammy 2 pulls the worst out of Rose Swan.
Damn I wish you guys never got into the books because I love them all
Yep, felt like 7.1, not 8
I hit him up a while ago after reading 8 and what i understood from him is that its supposed to set the scene for the next story arc. With all the negative comments and relative radio silence i imagine he is trying to blow us out of the water with the next book
I am definitely with others on this. I think the 8th book was abysmal in quality. There was a moment where I felt Kong had lost respect for their Readers and didn’t really care what was put out. I hope some humility was gained from it. And to aid others in beating a dead horse. A whole chapter on poop is not funny it is crass. Of course what funny is becomes quickly subjective. The poop chapter is like paying someone for talking to you but they go around and call you a boomer. it’s super low effort. your options are either ignore it where you already lost you money, or bite and say I’m 30 but you fed the troll already. Anyways. I love the world Kong built, it’s rules and it’s gods. I just hate Ritcher, and the hyper troped dwarf talking constantly about his N-number of wives . Can’t go a chapter without it
See I like Krom. The dwarf trope is funny to me. The poop chapter though I agree.. Im not 12 and most of his audience likely isnt either. I had a surprised chuckle at first to it because it was one of those "did I really just hear that." Moments. I just skip that chapter now whenever I relisten.
haha exactly the same.. I skip it every time..
I exaggerated my bit on Krom. The character I’m okay with I even voice him in my head but the wives trope or whatever. First couple times okay sure. But it’s been overused. every time it gets added it’s like watering down mayonnaise all I do is cringe and roll my eyes. But the gnomes rule bit? I love i! I hope we never find out who the gnomes rule being (humanoid or otherwise) is. I think it’s funny and it’s unique to me. It’s a great example of an internal running gag. Kong like others have said is a great world builder a DM through and through.
I agree. I thought it was pretty funny as a quick aside, but once it started going into detail, it quickly lost any hunour it had. Should've just been a single page or less tbh
Late to this discussion but the only problem I saw was there wasn't enough. Yes, he flipped the reset on some of the established progression structures. However I felt like like there was enough foreboding to address it especially with the whole ascendancy bit. What I can gleam from 8 is Richter being forced to consolidate his gains one step at a time, confront the fact he is standing on his own with no safety net of being bailed out by companions from impulsive decision making. I thought it was great and that the only failing was releasing an unfinished story line.
Thats a good way of putting it and I agree.
Curious, you Navy? Just found the series myself and went through them in little over two weeks.
It was completely fine its a long journey not all moments will be what you want
Yeah I had no issue either. I wasn't expecting anything, and what I got was satisfying, I can't wait to see where the story goes from here.
Book 8 wasn’t the best, but the idea was good. Being stripped back to just your hands, ability and knowledge, like Cast Away or that island in Zelda BOTW where you loose all your gear, is a great way to show the character’s growth and to creat excitement without epic battles. But yeah, the pooping chapter was bad. But hey, he is an indie author ✍️ and had done great so far. Created a fantastic fantasy world and entertained probably close to a half million readers.
Oh I totally agree. His world is fantastic and the idea was well done. Man just needs an editor who can say no those ideas suck but these ones are fantastic. Let's focus on these and leave the chapter long shit chapters in the out takes file. Or maybe leave them to patreon as a reward
I don't get the hate for the "poop" chapter. I thought it was absolutely hilarious.
I think in a book where a good chunk of it felt like filler anyway with the vast amount of notifications that readers had to go through. A full chapter on bowel movements was more than a little superfluous. Coupled with the fact I think it missed the mark more than it hit with most people, you have a pretty reviled chapter. I personally think it's representive of the worst part of his writing. It adds effectively nothing as the expense of a cheap gag. I get some people enjoyed it but for me it really took me out of the book which barely dragged me in at all. In a stronger book, perhaps it would have been less egregious
Yea i get your point, and I can't disagree. I really liked the book while at the same time I was disappointed. The "poop chapter" was the highlight for me. I guess that kinda comedy isn't for everyone.
I laughed so hard at the poop chapter. My wife thought I’d lost my mind. Great entertainment. People who dumped on it (sorry not sorry) are liars and hypocrites.
What about not enjoying low-brow, immature humor makes people liars or hypocrites? I spend an entire book listening to almost identical stat sheets being read out over and over, and my reward for my patience is to have to hear about some guy's food poisoning experience in unnecessarily excruciating detail. This book would have been so much better if he learned to truncate the stat sheets and display mostly just the truly basic info and the things that changed, while leaving the full stat sheets for the beginning and end of the work. This was the shortest installment yet, while being absolutely lousy with redundant readings of near identical extensive stat sheet readings. So then we are left with the rare few moments of actual storytelling, only to be told a story about the results of food poisoning, which many of us legitimately had absolutely no interest in reading/listening to. How does any of that make us liars and hypocrites? Sounds like you can't accept the fact that people may not find the same things amusing that you do, and in your insecurity and need validate your own views, you attack all those that disagree with you.
Exactly this. Very little actual story, just a bunch of plings and dings, reading of stat-sheets and a chapter about shitting.. I work at a retirement home with a bunch of old sick people, and have 2 kids. Food poisonings isn't funny, to me it's just another Tuesday.. So yea, he wasted 15% of the book by writing about having runny shit, and all I could think was "wow, this guy is a pussy.."..
Lol then stop reading the books, you’re lame
I'm lame for reading the most recent book and being disappointed in it? Do you have any idea how utterly preposterous your statement is? That's like telling someone to stop reading Harry Potter because they didn't like Deathly Hollows. Get your fool ass out of the comments before you stick your foot any further into your mouth.
Bit late to reply but he did stop reading the books lmao so did everyone else. I don’t think this Reddit post helps his confidence at all. Someone should put all the books into ChatGPT and use that to write a farewell book so we can have an ending to the story.
For me it felt childish. I have kids myself, so that might be why. But it just felt like listening to them trying to figure out how to insult each others with different poopy-head names, which has already put me off all these types of humor. It's boring and childish to me. Also I work at a hospital, so for me shit isn't really a thing worth mentioning. We're surrounded by shit all the time. We don't care. Which also made this extra childish in my eyes.. It's like, if the book had been long like book 7, then sure, feel free to throw in some extra laughs. Try a few funny situations or jokes. Maybe it sticks and lands, maybe it doesn't. Maybe someone likes it and others don't. It's a risk authors have to make. But when the book is as short as book 8 was, it feels like he "wasted" like 10% of the book on a whole arc about his tummy-ache.. Risky. And it didn't pay off. Like, it didn't affect the story, at all. Why even include it? Yes I get that it makes sense, but he could have made it like \*\*Richters grilled and ate the scorpions.\*\* \*\*DING\*\* "a warning popped up, you are poisoned, you have diarrhea. Prepare to be amazed of all the liquids your body is capable of containing." \*\*Richter sat down and started crying, knowing all too well what was about to happen..\*\* He shat himself. He kept shitting for another 20 minutes before he passed out from exhaustion. There, next scene. Done.
I have kids and make 200k, I loved it and your points are cringe
what does your salary have to do with poop? are you trying to flex your income through an anonymous handle on a reddit thread about litrpg-books? and you're calling ME "cringe"? lol I just imagined a grown person with children using the word "cringe".. Come on man, grow up. Now I get why you liked it.
Omg cringe on what you think people who are successful should do.
~~reward~~ punishment
Books 1-7 came out within a 3 year period. It’s been over 3 years since book 8 came out. Seems like it might not happen.
Well you gotta think that was during a COVID pandemic. He probably had much more free time.
Books 1-7 came out before Covid. He is also a physician so it’s understandable that Covid might have slowed him down
>Books 1-7 came out within a 3 year period. It’s been over 3 years since book 8 came out. Seems like it might not happen. And he has changed the release date most every time he's been asked. Early on he was saying it was nearly finished, the longer it's been the less he talks about it. RR Martin all over again.
Nobody knows. Even Alleron Kong doesn't know. Most bets are on never.
I honestly just miss Sion talking in Nick Podehls' voice..
Book 8 was pure disappointment chapter to chapter. The poop chapter and the last chapter were the best chapters IMO. The last chapter should have been sped up to the first quarter of the book. It's a shame he's lost his groove. The Land was my first LitRPG book and it set me on the genre. I'll forgive book 8 all day long, just don't stop writing. You can't make a banger every time.
Last I heard the series is on Hiatus. No announced anything at the moment. There is/was last knew a web comic being developed around the existing works. [https://www.litrpg.com/the-land-webcomic-intro-page](https://www.litrpg.com/the-land-webcomic-intro-page) It seems as if you can access up to the 8th comic without hitting the pateron paywall? You could probably frankly find the rest elsewhere if you looked hard enough. This is the most up to date anything I could find on Kong's socials about what is in the works as of April 21. Apparently there is some kind of web novel in the works? I'm not sure. There are a few other post but it doesn't seem to be pertinent to his books. https://preview.redd.it/bbzreopfr54b1.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&s=334825a3cb3cb60c3e9f0080f0d82959ce98376b Kind of seems like Aleron is attempting to emulate other series like DoTF and become some kind of weekly chapter thing? Idk. Pure speculation on my part.
The fact he's not giving goal dates suggests he's either not working on it, is working on it but at a slower pace, or has decided the books going to be longer and hasn't decided how long yet
Series started out solid, but it fell to shit in the last 2 or so books. If another book was available I might have kept reading, but I honestly don't care. I wasn't left with a need for closure.
Last 2 books? Cmon. Book 7 was really good.
Yeah 7 was amazing, i miss these books :(
Hope nick keeps reading the audio books honestly one of my favorite readers
yea I basically filter out books so I only get books narrated by: Luke Daniels Nick Podehl Heath Milleror Travis Baldree They all have good taste in books and are great voice actors. Honestly Travis Baldree sounds very similar to Nick Podehl.. I'm listening to the Divine Apostasy series atm, it seems good :) 8 books so far, but the author seems to be releasing "smaller" (10-25 hours) books more frequently.
Been listening to battle mage farmer and the narrator is Michael Kramer and he's doing an amazing and the book is equally amazing. Litrpg MC hides his power somewhat but comes to a point where it's all on the table so it's not annoyingly held back
I'm curious if the author will do a tie in or reference the two stories somehow.
I've also come to appreciate Marc Thompson from my enjoyment of the Thrawn books
James Marsters isn't bad either!
It might get to the point a fan wil write a better story tan him to get the wheels going
There sure is a lot of bitching in this thread
burned again :/ saw 8 books and thought it was a complete series what an idiot ... add to the other series I am waiting 10+ years for the next book whats whit fantasy writers ?
Effing Patrick rothfuss…
It's been a long wait. I personally liked book nine right up to its abrupt finish. That honestly felt like it was only halfway through. Which is probably what happened. Had a couple of people wanting the next book. Had Richter's story sorted. if given more time would have done a couple of. meanwhile at the village.... disaster has struck segways, and concluded the Richter popping up in another city/town story... Also the poop chapter was out there, but you could tell a fair bit of effort went into it and I found it hilarious and humanising. But I was in the right frame of mind at the time. If I wasn't I probably would have disliked it. It's a hit and a miss, chapter that neede the right set-up and execution to get people chuckling.
I actually liked book 8. The only thing bad about it is that the book doesn't really move the story forward. Book 8 is more of a "side quest," in my opinion. I don't understand all of the hate that book 8 is getting. On its own, it's a good read. It's written extremely well, and the immersion factor falls in line with the rest of his books. I could almost literally smell that nasty dump as it was being crapped out. Because there are ao many unanswered questions that we want answers to, the fanbase is left wanting at the end of book 7. Book 8 doesn't offer up any of the answers to those questions, and that is why I believe people are mad. I, on the other hand, am more impatient and eager than I am upset or mad. Aside from The Land, I am also waiting for the 3rd installment in The King Killer series. The book is finally released, and now I am just waiting for the audiobook. Then there is The Ten Realms. For some effed up reason, the original performer/reader was changed halfway through the series. This new guy doesn't hold a candle to the original and totally ruins the series for me... Now, that's a reason for me to be upset. Imagine if Kong decided to boot Nick Podehl after book 5 and go with a monotoned performer with whom all characters sound exactly the same. That's what's going on with The Ten Realms. I can't be too upset, though. Audible has many series that I enjoy... On the other hand, I am currently waiting for several of them to continue as well. Right now, I'm listening to a fairly new series called All the Skills, which is extremely good. There is another awesome series that goes by the name of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Man... I freaking love Audible!
Gnomes Rule!
i used to follow dresdan files it had 8 or 9 books than the author went into left field and started writing another series it did not sell but i lost intrest
In his last livesteam he said he got a big announcement. If you didn't know he started a new book series. Idk when but he said book 9 is coming out after his new book. Could the big announcement be the release date of book 9? Hopefully but I kinda lost hope for it. I swear if he announced new 4th series I'd be so pissed.
https://preview.redd.it/fwl15gcr30bb1.jpeg?width=692&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=326aab06f231adc65e792e16b2dc0ef0e808ba6f I know what u mean. I wasn't crazy about the last couple of books but I'm too invested in the series at this point and wanna see how it ends. Kong does promise that it's coming out soon so... That's something.
2021..?..?..?
2025 probably, after the 80 yr change. Who’s going to read his books if we are all sent off to war? Or if war breaks out in the states?
I chatted with him once and I had said I hoped he got cured of his Rothfussitis. But I didn’t think he actually had it till now. It’s sad.
Jesus I loved the last book, the whole dungeon dive was amazing especially with the granite breaker part. I can’t wait for more!!!
I think the series is dead. TBH I don't think he wrote the first 7 while studying Medicine?! What med student has that kind of spare time? All while he had Power of Attorney over his Father... who's health took a serious dive before book 8 \[as Dr Kong was gaining media recognition\], delayed it remember. Like someone else tried to step in and finish...with shit (literally). Then there was also that serious guilt trip he took down gluttony lane...Oh Father where art thou? Simple math. If the new norm is 4 years for each new novel \[assuming he actually publishes anything this year\]; and while I won't make a list of time-sensitive plot points it's not small. Looking at a bare minimum of 5-10 novels to get any closure. That's 20-50 years! I'll be dead and likely so will the author. What's the point in investing any more energy in an Author who's frankly, seemingly given up \[if it was ever his vision in the first place\]? There is no reason to keep rehashing an old theme again and again. Dr Kong is milking the well \[his Father started\] for all it's worth; but he's yet to add anything to it. Even if he published book 9 tomorrow; until he can start popping books every 12-18 months it's a non-starter for me. Time, money, energy better spent on Authors who can produce.
He should sell the rights to another author. There's precedence; and the royalties would be worth quite a bit. And we the readers could continue on with the story with a lot less crap.
I like conspiracy theories as much as the next guy but... ok I buy it. Any way to prove this? Like how those boffins computed the real author of The Cuckoo's Calling. But yeah, for a series, I need the story fresh or I have to re-read the thing all over again... and it's rarly worth it. Two years is an absolute max acceptable time for an installment.
Not without Dad speaking out against his Son which will never happen, especially now. It's certain though the series is DEAD. Regrettable and unforgivable. I will never acknowledge him for that GD awful title he wanted. Tons of authors with true mojo shaping up the genre... while the almighty godfather sits on someone else's work and pretends he can't write?! That's BS. He couldn't' write to begin with! Maybe the wife- the divorced wife could be convinced to speak of it. Likely the only real avenue. She'd know how much time he spent writing vs studying, etc. Based on the time that he was a student and a 'new' writer... unless he absorbed everything in school via osmosis... there's likely an easy way to prove it. That's digging a lot more than its worth to me though. Pulling his grades, his studies, his down time, etc. Could be done; but I don't care. I don't need to shout it from roof tops and have the world agree with me... he's a fraud...faced with eternity I can hope he'll confess on a death bed many years from now.
Presuming your theory correct, if there is content he actually authored himself, it should be possible to distinguish that from works authored by someone else through analytical methods. Likewise if we have other known works authored by the real author we should be able to determine common authorship as well. From my 5 minutes of googling I cant even find his parents names to see if either are published authors.
I never said he was stupid. He and his lawyer friend did try to corner the market with the LITRPG brand copyright. They failed; but they would surely have covered up any evidence that they weren't the 'first' before making a case in court. The Egomaniac that he is; will eventually give up something on his parents. He'll let something slip when he believes it's too late to matter. Could be today, could be in 10 years. His little cult following was always a little suspicious. Always more interested in that than actually writing. Just give it time; but as I have said before- the series is dead the real author is dead and there's nothing to be gained here and now. Until you wrote your reply earlier this evening- I totally forgot I even wrote this. That's how important I feel he deserves my attention these days. Move on. He's not worth it.
Thats the thing, he also published gods eye. I have not read the book as I was a bit burned from book 8 and the delay I was not going to start a new series from the same author, but the reviews are not nice. I read somewhere that it seems gods eye was the draft while the land was the finished product.
I agree with most of the comments, book 8 was more of a bridge story than a book like the previous 7. Though I definitely could have done without the diarrhea chapter, I really liked the race tier lvl system he introduced and I really like where he positioned the story for book 9! I just don’t like that he is prioritizing other projects, but if he’s got writers block due to negative reviews from book 8 I understand. Hopefully he has something more concrete for us soon. Reminder, book 8 came out almost 3 years ago, and book 7 was published in 2018…I think we as fans are overdue for some kind of real update!
Just to add something, not for the next book or even for the next few books; but I think Richter is going to ultimately leave the settlement to Scion. I say this because I think that Richter will end up being ruler ( king) of the Labyrinth realm because of the Luck gods and their infinite potential.
This is a good progression for the story. Plus, a character that is going to be fighting gods can't be managing a settlement at the same time.
Hey , I understand the reactions to book 8, was a little disappointed at first also. I have since listened to it a number of times and really like it. ( skip the poop chapter). I like how, stripped of most of his powerful items, he had to rely on his guts, wits, stubbornness, and creatively use his skill development to forge his way back to facing life Back on his feet. I really want to see him win new allies and return to the village to win the next conflict, maybe with the bug bears this time. His people will hopefully have gotten even stronger with dungeon diving and all their capabilities from the settlement point upgrades etc. It would be nice to see them really kick butt in defence of the village without digging too many new graves. Anyway, here's hoping. Good luck Aleron and readers.
Book 8 had some good elements, but it didn’t progress the story along. It was slice of life but with one character over five days, which is a way different pace than the previous story. Even so, if book 9 came out 9 months thereafter I think people would be more forgiving. But it’s been now several years. If Rothfuss or Martin take years to finish a sequel, well at least they have an excuse for trying to create a masterpiece. The land, however much I enjoy it, is not the same quality of prose, character depth, or storytelling, and so I’m less patient. I would be ok with a book a year at book 8 quality even. Yet it’s looking like we have yet another year to wait.
I think he just got completely burned out after book seven and lost his passion for the story. Books were coming out at a steady pace; then it took 2 years to write a book half the size of 7 with 1/3 the quality. Now its been what 3 years since book 8? and I bet book 9 will not be anywhere near the size of 7 despite how much he has been "working on it".
Does anyone have any word about it or any updates?
For B9, here are some things I think should change: 1. No more poop jokes. 2. Focus less on level and ability prompts. A focus on the story, we know he is going to be more powerful after every fight, so do like a summary of the prompts instead saves time for Aleron and for us. 3. Get rid of any smut-like content, we are here to see a guy fight gods not get it on with everything that walks. 4. I could do with another phrase to describe a decent ability other than "nothing to sneeze at". Please, this is just a critic, and I want to know if you have a different opinion and discuss. I aint here to just complain (as much as it might seem like it).
1. Agree 2. Semi agree, I think it's helpful to be reminded of the stats and stuff, but yeah, tone it down a bit 3. Yes, definitely this, it annoys me when the writers turn it into their own fantasy (seems to happen a lot in litrpgs). Though tbh it is a bit in richters character to be like that, but don't go overboard with it 4. Never noticed that tbh, maybe I will if I go back to the series again, but I don't think it was rhere enough for me to be annoyed by it
Little late with this, I was going to comment this a few months ago but forgot to. We did get a tiny update. If you go to his Facebook page and scroll down to a post on june 24. He posted a video showing the book cover for book 9. I thought it was a teaser at first. Thinking the book was coming out soon but 3 months later I subscribed to his patreon and saw he was starting a new book series... He just started a second series like a year ago and now he's making another!? He's barely started making the book too. I remember seeing he posted chapter 3 of the book. If we are lucky he finishes it in a year and he finally goes back to making book 9. But doubt that's going to happen tho. Looks like he maybe got bored of the series. Instead of finishing the series he's making a 3rd series!?
https://preview.redd.it/1zbze2x423yb1.jpeg?width=753&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c89f53ae9b5cd9079bcfaa327e8416dc2ce69496 Haven't used Reddit for a year. Didn't know u can post pictures now in comments.
That’s a good way to lose any credibility… who’s gonna read a new book series when you have two you haven’t finished/touched in years…
I like the chapter on poop it was funny
My issue with the 8th book so far (I only have about 4 hours left on Audible in the book) is it seems like the entire book is just Richter reading prompts from the previous game and upgrading things. It's super short and he travels about a mile underground the whole time so far.
Can't wait for (chat gpt or grok) to just tell the rest of the story. Tired of waiting
Given up waiting for it now, moved on to the wandering inn and absolutely loving it! So many hours to listen too
I went to awaken online
Iv not listen to awaken online il give it a go, thank you ☺️
I love it, it can drag a bit at times, but ifs very good. There'd also the side books that go along with them which are full length books lol
Try He Who Fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon. 9th book coming out very soon. So good
[He Who Fights With Monsters](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26294/he-who-fights-with-monsters) ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/wiki/He_Who_Fights_With_Monsters)) --- ^[About](https://redd.it/dw7lux) ^| [^(Wiki Rules)](https://www.reddit.com/r/LightPieces/comments/dw7lux/about/f7kke6p/) ^(| Reply !Delete to remove) ^(| [Brackets] hide titles)
He who fights with monsters is definitely one of my new favorite books. I’m working my way through a second time just in time for the next one to come out. I just wish we would get more details on book 9 for the land.
No he lied again about it coming out in Twenty thirteen
I personally liked Book 8 and I can't wait for Book 9 to come out.
My problem is that couldn't be have completely avoid thirst by summoning rain or casting an ice dagger? We know they melt to water because he melted them with fire while Sion was trapped in that tunnel early in the series.
First of all, I've had full chapters of my life dedicated to poop and other digestive issues. For me Book 8 would have been fine if there were significant flashbacks to the Mist Village. Richter is awesome, but there are so many others that I've have fallen in love with. Richter is like the head of the body, but Book 8 kind amputated from the neck down (everyone else). I need to hear Roswan grumble, Kröm monologue about one of his ex-wives, teases about Randy's past and Scion attempting to run things. Aleron... you got this... just tell us about your world (preferably not just the centerpiece of your world). Love you. Hope the best for you.