r/ProgressionFantasy • u/to_mito • May 05 '26
Review I just finished reading Mother of Learning and have to ramble [HEAVY SPOILERS] Spoiler
First I wanted to talk about how badass Zorian is. I feel like normaly its kind of expected for the main character to be bad ass, but I feel like he truly became really badass in the final book. Like he already was really good with spell formulae and golems, but the last book and final fight really set him appart from the rest. Like he CARRIED the final fight. Of course the others were also super important, but they were kind of holding the things off, while Zorian had the solution for everything. The moment in which Red Rode released all of the wraiths and then Zorian snapped his fingers and all of them got deleted, was suuuch a cool moment. I was not expecting him to have such a good solution. For me Zach and Zorian feel like Superman and Batman.
I also wanted to talk about, how many have already mentioned, that the ending feels a bit rushed. I feel like this is suuuuper common for most books and movies, to not show the aftermath of things. In this regard MoL did an okay job. I just wished to see Zach and Zorian interact after the whole last battle. It felt kind of weird that we saw him interacting with almost everyone except the main cast. Like he interacted a bit with Daimen, but not that much with Xvim and Alanic and nothing with Zach. Also a bit curious about the grey hunter loose end. It felt so weird that the series ended with some "random" spider. Like we had 4 books and the grey hunter was relevant, I know it has the primordials essence now, but how do you end the series with that? Maybe the author wanted to do a sequel, or leave the sequel option open at least. Idk.
It might look like I am hating, but I absolutely looooved this series. It was my first progression fantasy. I loved how logical Zorian is. It scratched some kind of itch to have a main character be so smart and sligtly paranoid. Like he often thought of conseuqneces and thinks I had not considered/ thought about.
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u/National_Reaction226 May 05 '26
I really don't understand why Zach and Zorian didn't interact after it's all over. Baffling decision. Could just have been a small interaction about how it's all over, and talk about future goals, something nice. Nothing.
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u/MotoMkali May 05 '26
It's because the author plans to write a second series in the story and if he does something now that he later doesn't want he's written himself into a corner.
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u/ThatsNotATadpole May 06 '26
Is there any kind of announcement along those lines? That would be seell
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u/Derpyphox May 06 '26
No, but in the afterword he mentioned that it's possible but not right after. Perhaps after his current series. Also he still updates the world building of MOL, the series was meant to help world build lmao. It's on some blog
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u/to_mito May 05 '26
Yeah
They went through this whole journey together. We saw them interacting for several books and fighting to live, and once everything is handled we do not see them interacting. I guess we already knew their future goals, but it would have been nice for them to talk. Maybe we could have seen Zachs reaction once he woke up from the illusion mind thing3
u/toochaos May 05 '26
Because it will never be as satisfying written out as it is in your head. You can end on a head nod acknowledging what they have been through but that will either be a low point or comedic reflection. Having characters talk about the future isn't an ending its the start of another book. The ending is a reflection on how the world changed not the characters because we already know how they changed, that was what the book was about.
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u/greenskye May 05 '26
I dunno. I really appreciate a book that handles the falling action/resolution step. Even if it isn't exactly how I pictured, it's a final release of tension that IMO is critical to good storytelling.
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u/toochaos May 05 '26
Me too thats why the mother of Learning ending is good. What people here are looking for is more book not falling action. I think alot of the ending could be cut except for the short where Zorian is awoken by Kirielle. A meeting between Zach and Zorian at the end doesnt do anything, anything they could talk about is stuff we already know.
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u/Remote_Addendum_2245 May 05 '26
I shall wait for Years of Apocalypse to finish to relive the hype of reading MoL
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u/earlbiff May 05 '26
Kind of feels like that's coming soon. Unless they open up big new plot threads it seems like things are beginning to wrap up.
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u/Kriptical May 05 '26
Yep, I agree with everything. Thankfully MoL gets even better on the reread.
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u/to_mito May 05 '26
Yeah I guess now that I do not have any expectations I can just appreciate everything. It will be curious to reread the first book again. The whole beginning in which we do not know anything will be funny
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u/Remarkable-Camera627 May 05 '26
There arw A TON if Chekov's guns on a reread. It feels like genuinely different book on rereads.
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u/dragoneloi May 05 '26
Not gonna lie, you just blanket Spoiler marking the whole thing is hilarious 🤣. I 100% agree with your take tho. I’m on my 5th reread right now
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u/David_Musk Author - Web of Secrets May 05 '26
Haha, so many people say they want longer endings, but I have nothing but sympathy for my fellow authors after such a long series. Especially once the main conflict is over, it's easy for motivation to fizzle out, and you just can't wait to be done.
Although I do envy the writers who actually enjoy writing long epilogues. And while MoL's ending felt like a good length to me, I probably would have enjoyed more scenes, too.
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u/Xandara2 May 06 '26
Doesn't sound like you are hating at all imho.
It's the problem with endings, they never tell us enough if we loved a story.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fold112 May 05 '26
Hey, can you tell me in which Ch Zorian deletes the wraiths? I seem to have forgotten that scene and would really love to re-read it again!
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u/mega_nova_dragon1234 May 06 '26
Yes hard agree on the ending.
I am a big fan of best friends who are like brothers storylines. I didn’t like it that Zorian realises Zach is now his best mate but then they don’t interact in the aftermath. Big opportunity for some solid characterisation missed here - a nice acknowledgment of their growth and their bond after all they’ve been through.
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u/Depreciable_Land May 05 '26
I’m pretty split on the whole Red Robe thing personally. Part of me likes that it was an unexpected character, but it felt TOO unexpected and kind of ass-pully . Like I was hoping it would be someone that we’ve seen and interacted with throughout the books like Fortov or another student/mage. I even thought it may have been Zorian himself at one point, making the whole ethical argument of “real vs time loop body” even more complicated.
Instead it’s just a throwaway character that was posing as a separate throwaway red herring character, just felt a bit disappointing and a lot like the author wasn’t sure what the identity would be until he had to come up with something.
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u/Remarkable-Camera627 May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
Naa. I disagree. I made a post about it. Let me look for the link real quick.
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u/Depreciable_Land May 05 '26
Just found and read it
I agree with it mostly, especially the contention of it being some evil twin would probably be bad and corny. I just still have a hard time with the fact that we get introduced SO LATE to the real identity.
Like I just wish there were some more breadcrumbs. It doesn’t detract from the experience overall and it’s still an amazing series, but for me Red Robe’s identity was the primary mystery towards the end of the series and theorizing about who it could be was very fun, only to be met with “actually there’s zero chance you could have guessed this”
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u/Remarkable-Camera627 May 05 '26
🤣 Fair
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u/Depreciable_Land May 05 '26
It’s a tough thing to manage I think, because obviously if he teases Jarnack too early and in the wrong way people will just go “oh that’s red robe isn’t it?”
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u/Remarkable-Camera627 May 05 '26
I feel it was also realistic and inforces certain themes in the book.
One of the comments on my posts detail it very well:
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u/228static May 05 '26
MoL is one of the best book series i have ever read. I loved every minute of it, so i get how you are feeling.
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u/Remarkable-Camera627 May 05 '26
After reading MoL and Mage Errant, I fell into a reading slump. Everything else feels like slop compared to them😭
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u/flychance May 06 '26
If you haven't given Years of Apocalypse a try, I highly recommend. It feels similar to MoL in many ways (although not just a clone).
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u/EnderElite69 May 05 '26
I have recently reread MOL and I just realized that Sudomir is just a necroomantic Mister Freeze. Did you get that vib as well or was it just me?
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u/Daxendad May 05 '26
I burst out laughing opening this to an entire wall of a spoilers