So I’ve been getting back into webfiction lately with The Wandering Inn by pirateaba, and Mother of Learning popped up on a few lists. It was mentioned over on r/fantasy that it had been finished, which is a huge plus. There’s nothing worse than getting into something and finding out there’s no next chapter.
Spoiler level: Approximate.
I’d never heard the phrase before, but it’s mentioned in the synopsis on goodreads: “Repetition is the mother of learning”, which is apparently a proverb so old there’s a Latin version carved in stone somewhere. I think this is really at the heart of the issues I have with this rather disappointing book. In the afterword, “Chapter 108” of the book, the author mentions that after the summary and short character description, the first four chapters of the book were the third draft of his efforts and he was so excited that he published them straight away. This is really a third draft story. It’s got some good ideas that make it entertaining but there are multiple consistent wide-ranging issues that bring it down.
The first two issues are rather intertwined so I’ll lump them together. Infodumps and tense. Just so many infodumps, casually scattered throughout the story like they’re the main reason for the book. It’s like when you’re teaching a kid to make chocolate chip cookies and they just throw extra handfuls in, because the biscuits are just an excuse to eat chocolate. What makes it worse, or makes them seem more common, is that he writes in the past tense, even when things are happening right at that moment. I’m not sure if that qualifies as some sort of mini-infodump or if it’s just poor judgement but it really pulled me out of the moment in battle or action scenes. Bit of a fight, past tense of what is currently happening elsewhere, extensive inner monologue, more of the fight. The flow is all wrong. This persisted through the entire book, though in my opinion the writing in general improves a little.
Then there’s characters and characterisation. The book stuttered into lengthy descriptions of someone’s past, then back into life. Occasionally the descriptions wouldn’t be relevant at all, or the character would be brought back in 50 chapters time at which point I had completely forgotten who they were, what was special about them, and how they had interacted with Zorian prior. They seemed rather flat, not touching the story in minor ways in between the major appearances in ways that would highlight them and give the reader insights. Their personalities, for the most part, were like thinly veiled carbon copies of Zorian, though generally with more scruples. They’re a shapeless mass in my mind with no real standouts, even the ones of different species.
The prose is, overall, rather limited. There are parts that really need to be expanded upon and given proper treatment that are skated over, and the infodumps and past tense make it seem a lot more like a history textbook than a novel. The general effect is “tell me, don’t show me”.
The plot is actually not bad; there are a few things that could be fixed but I enjoyed the main ideas. If the characters were allowed to develop more organically and interact with one another, and if there was a more realistic view in terms of abilities and time needed to learn something then I would only have minor quibbles. The execution/narrative discourse was the let-down. The author skates over events and focuses on consequence, rather than valuing them as experiences, savouring them, and describing them fully.
Nobody103 mentions in the afterword that he started the thing to develop his worldbuilding abilities. It’s a weird sort of in-between state, that occasionally the universe is relevant and adequate and realised but the norm is more… apathy? Ir-relevance? Non-existent? Beyond the immediate surroundings the world is mostly not discussed unless political awareness is relevant to a character’s motivations.
A lot of times I read things and my mind fills in the gaps, proposes probabilities and generally maintains the suspension of disbelief, and I think it’s a strong well-developed ability (or just deep naivete and gullibility) in me. I couldn’t keep it up for this book, and I’m fairly certain it was more from a failure of the writing rather than the pet peeves, of which there were many. Apart from some minor one-time problems and the previously mentioned issues, a word would often appear twice in the same sentence, which is something that since I was told to avoid it by a creative writing teacher when I was about seven years old has bothered me. Also, DECIMATE MEANS TO KILL ONE IN TEN, OR TO DESTROY ONE TENTH, OR TO REMOVE ONE TENTH OF, ffs! Then there’s the title. I realise it’s not a requirement for something to have layers of meaning, but even on a first impression basis I don’t think it fits well to this book. For one thing, the author’s gone out of his way to avoid repetition, which is probably for the best, but often I had trouble distinguishing between the ‘restarts’ without some sort of counter or other indication than very sporadic clues or outright statements. Then there’s the possibility of there being an extra layer to the title. Is there a specific woman to whom it refers, someone who fosters learning and nurtures? If so it’s incredibly vague and non-specific, though this may be due to one or more of the many issues of the writing muddying the waters. One supporting character does come to mind, but to have the series named after her is a huge stretch. It seems to me more a missed or fumbled opportunity than an incredibly subtle reference, though like I said, there could be some intention and due to a failure of writing I’ve dismissed the possibility.
I think I’ll end it there. Let’s not be overly critical.
On the whole? I really think this needs a lot more work to be a good book. Draft, Edit, Repeat.
whateverifeellikereading 