A friend of mine was recommending I check out Homestuck, but suggested I read "Problem Sleuth" first to get a feel for the style in something shorter. I'm so glad she suggested it, because...look, "Homestuck" is wild, creative, etc. etc. but it's also rambling, overlong, and stuffed with way too many characters. "Problem Sleuth," on the other hand, is brilliantly paced, consistently hilarious, and in its own way as massive in scope as the larger "Homestuck." I like "Homestuck." I absolutely love "Problem Sleuth."
The story manages to perfectly balance randomness with a set of rules to make it feel like you are actually playing a bizarre (and badly broken) computer game. The story itself keeps getting stranger and stranger but never becomes incoherent. The characters, though little more than a few tropes strung together, are consistent and charming. The world it builds is creative and original. It ended exactly where it should have ended without ever jumping the shark.
Above all, it's just funny. Delightfully, giddily absurd - no matter how many times I read it I crack up over "Problem Sleuth." And yes, I've read it multiple times.
Look, words fail me on this series. It's just the perfect mix of comedy, action, and fantasy. And it beats the pants off "Homestuck."
Go ahead, read it, and come back to try to tell me I'm wrong.
Hussy's actual masterpiece
A friend of mine was recommending I check out Homestuck, but suggested I read "Problem Sleuth" first to get a feel for the style in something shorter. I'm so glad she suggested it, because...look, "Homestuck" is wild, creative, etc. etc. but it's also rambling, overlong, and stuffed with way too many characters. "Problem Sleuth," on the other hand, is brilliantly paced, consistently hilarious, and in its own way as massive in scope as the larger "Homestuck." I like "Homestuck." I absolutely love "Problem Sleuth."
The story manages to perfectly balance randomness with a set of rules to make it feel like you are actually playing a bizarre (and badly broken) computer game. The story itself keeps getting stranger and stranger but never becomes incoherent. The characters, though little more than a few tropes strung together, are consistent and charming. The world it builds is creative and original. It ended exactly where it should have ended without ever jumping the shark.
Above all, it's just funny. Delightfully, giddily absurd - no matter how many times I read it I crack up over "Problem Sleuth." And yes, I've read it multiple times.
Look, words fail me on this series. It's just the perfect mix of comedy, action, and fantasy. And it beats the pants off "Homestuck."
Go ahead, read it, and come back to try to tell me I'm wrong.