Pact

So! I figured it was time Pact got its own thread.

For new readers, Pact is a serial web novel, updating twice a week.

Blurb: "Blake Thorburn was driven away from home and family by a vicious fight over inheritance, returning only for a deathbed visit with the grandmother who set it in motion. Blake soon finds himself next in line to inherit the property, a trove of dark supernatural knowledge, and the many enemies his grandmother left behind her in the small town of Jacob’s Bell."

The author, Wildbow, has completed one frankly massive web novel already, Worm, which we had a thread on.

I would enthusiastically recommend either one of these to any of you who haven't tried them yet, because I found Worm to be a great action-filled read with fantastic characters, and so far Pact is shaping up to be similar.

So - any Worm readers transferred over to Pact?

edited 5th Jul '14 12:42:35 AM by LoniJay

I have, but you already knew that.

Anyone read the latest chapter yet?

Yeah! I still think that Blake and Rose got out of that situation with Conquest incredibly lightly. I mean, sure, they basically just delayed the danger for a while rather than actually get out of it, and they have these tasks they need to do. But the end of 4:02 was a serious 'oh shit' moment for me, and I thought there was no way they were getting out of that without being at least a little bit tortured. Comparatively, they seem to be doing pretty okay.

I like Joel a lot as a secondary character. I hope he sticks around.

When I read the part where Conquest chained Rose I went, "Of course Conquest would be into bondage."

edited 12th Mar '14 8:41:00 AM by rmctagg09

So this latest chapter... I admit, I'm having mixed feelings about Tiffany. She's okay, I guess, but I don't feel like we know much about her yet, and I don't immediately like her as much as I did other minor characters like Isadora and Joel.

I also wasn't super interested in the 'date'. Found the dialogue a bit.. unnatural-sounding, and it was odd how it's sandwiched among such tense scenes - meeting Pauz, being confronted by the satyrs, and meeting Pauz for the second time without Rose. There's something to be said for having breathers, of course, but this one struck me as a little odd.

The Hyena and the eraser demon seem really creepy.

Yeah, they do. More so for the people who escape being erased than the people who actually are, though.

I actually kind of like Fell, even though he's been kind of a dick to Blake.

Collateral 4.12

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

... God damn, Blake.

I'm not sure what I think of Blake's suggestion, that Evan becomes his familiar. Does Evan understand what Blake was proposing? Is it a good idea for Blake to permanently attach a child to his life? Also, does Rose get a say in this? You could argue that it's Blake's decision alone, since he's the one who'd be binding himself, but if I were Rose I would be kind of pissed if I woke up and Blake had done something of that magnitude.

Conviction 5.1, or why bad karma sucks.

The implications of the eraser demon are... insidiously creepy.

I don't think the changes, if there were any, go back any further than maybe binding the Hyena. All of the earlier stuff makes sense. Whereas... I did think at the time that the Hyena's binding was too easy, over too quickly. I dismissed that as being subjective, but... Blake having allies whose contributions he's forgotten neatly explains that.

This also explains why the hell Blake and Rose were stupid enough to confront an eraser demon that had already eaten most of a coven with nothing but a makeshift wreath, a can of petrol, a stick and a torch, while Blake was literally having difficulty walking.

In the middle of the night, though I suppose thanks to Duncan that couldn't really be helped.

It's very convenient for a writer in some ways; any holes in the story or awkward coincidences, or even weird dialogue choices, can now be explained away by 'the demon ate something that should have been there'

edited 22nd Apr '14 7:17:01 PM by LoniJay

I'm really hoping Rose gets a major fight scene using their new-ish time power macguffin just to read it along to this music:

edited 11th May '14 6:44:23 AM by Abrakadinosaur

So what genre is this story, specifically? Urban Fantasy orr?

Urban Fantasy's closest I can think of, yeah.

Yeah, urban fantasy. Supernatural stuff.

I'm not sure I'd say it's 'darker' than Worm exactly. But it is harder on its protagonist.

I'd agree with Loni's assessment, Blake gets way less breaks than Taylor ever did.

The Behaims and their friggin time hax.

Kinda annoyed by a default shared by Taylor and Blake: they really suck at defending themselves. I don't see how Blake killing someone who

• has plan successfully a murder on a member of his family
• declared he wants him dead and will make it happen when he can't lied
• attempted multiple times to kill or gravely incapacitate Blake
• was in the middle of an operation where the goal was to kill or enslave Blake when he was killed (and killing was the only option available).

can be called murder. It's a textbook case of legitimate defense, especially when you remember that Blake didn't plan to kill him. Honestly, calling this murder should count as a big lie. Even in the case when Isadora has just said kill, why can't he try to correct her a little by adding some of the bullet point I mentioned ?

Finished reading Void 7.11, and now I think I need to drink to-Who? I feel as if I should be remembering someone, but I don't.

Okay. Blake's down, which is the saddest thing to happen by far in this story. We're facing the grim perspective of evil terrible jerkwad puppy-kicking Rose as a Po V, but there's still hope we'll get an Evan, Alexis or Paige Po V instead.

Man what a gut punch.

I don't believe he's dead (there is a river in Egypt...) Although it didn't say it ATE him yet.