Beside the four grand figures—who watched the square with benevolent granite eyes—crouched a caricature. It was an ugly sculpting of a man with a chin too curved, eyes too bulging, and a nose that looked like a pumpkin’s stem. A jaunty jester’s hat sat on his head and his statue was the only one that had been stained by bird droppings.

Mark of the Fool 4 - Goodreads Mark of the Fool 4 - Goodreads

Once all four Garpedes are done crossing, the next row spawns. Stay at the top platform to get the longest possible time to heal. They briefly watched the cloud of ash that was once their ‘invincible’ master drift away. Then they looked at their dead, lying in mounds around Thundar, Claygon and Kyembe. Lastly, their eyes fell on the dozens of summoned monsters and Ezerak’s painted beasts hungrily watching them. The story literally died right there, and got swapped out for a shapeless slice-of-life tedium of magic system exposition, that I really didn't care for.He tried waving the golem’s flame away with his trident, but suddenly stiffened: realising he was between Claygon and Kyembe. You’re trying to pay us to get a service done for you. It’s a bribe. One where you might not get what you want, so it’s a stupid bribe.”

of the Fool | Hollow Knight Wiki | Fandom Trial of the Fool | Hollow Knight Wiki | Fandom

The world building is great, the characters are interesting and relatable and the humor is silly and nice (or foolish I guess). But as it usually happens with royal road stories, the pace is wonky and random. We had some long chapters on baking just too suddenly skip to a chapter with big consequences. The minotaur suddenly leapt at the pazuzite hovering a half dozen feet above the battle, his mace swinging.I'll give you a hint on how to get through the first part of this book. Drink two of Alex's Haste Potions, and speed read through it as fast as you can. It was really bad writing. Ah, my friend! You are just in time for what is not my last stand!” the warrior stabbed a blazing sword through a tiashiva, blowing it to bits. The Town of Alric was shrugging off sleep when Alex emerged from the bakery for the last time. The sunlight filtered through a haze of clouds and townsfolk trudged past the square’s fountain with their days’ tools and lunches in hand. A carriage—pulled by a set of proud horses—approached from down the road, their hooves clattering on the cobblestone. On the side of the carriage door was emblazoned the symbol of a lantern: the Sigil of the Traveller, the town’s patron saint. Rather than die or serve other Heroes like past Fools, he takes a stand, rejects divine decree…and leaves. With his little sister, his childhood friend, and her cerberus, Alex flees for the university, hoping to research the mystery of the Ravener. He’ll make lifelong friends, learn magic from mad wizards, practice alchemy, fight mana vampires and try to pay tuition. I loved this story. I think it did a lot of things well. It wasn't a story that instantly captivated me, but a slow simmer of enjoyment that slowly grew with the story. Something I think fits, because this story had large slice-of-life elements to it.

Mark of the Fool 3: A Progression Fantasy Epic Kindle Edition

And for the story itself, well you can feel it's a royal road story because the storytelling is more similar to a television show (with random feeler episodes) rather than a more conditional book storytelling. Does it matter to me? Not really, but hey, there are some really random chapters that have no real plot or character development in them. This is fine if you know what to expect. It's almost amusing to see how badly the dungeons fare against non-Hero raiding parties when those parties consist of some of the strongest wizards and warriors in the world.

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He didn’t catch the slight itching on his right shoulder, nor the way the bulging eyes of The Fool seemed to watch him walk away. The writing is actually very good. Good enough that it carried me through to the end of the book even I wanted to quit. If you forgive the odd immersion-breaking anachronisms and pop culture references.