But that's the beauty of it. I'm now at the point where I sympathize, and pity, her. Maybe moreso then I do Blake, purely through the narrative lens.

 

Yeah and I sympathize with the other Thorburns. But they are terrible people.

 

That's the best part.

 

That Human Centipede though.

 

Started reading Pact - it's very good, and the beginning was appropriately claustrophobic and intense.

But I've also noticed that Wildbow isn't the best at writing the voices of characters. They sound too similar (literally, as they were all one person writing them), with them using similar turns of phrase, ways of speaking, and just general tone. Anyone else found this to be the case?

 

Yeah, I've noticed that too. It makes it difficult to tell who is talking just by the dialogue, which is unfortunate. It doesn't get any better, I'm afraid. Perhaps he'll change his style by the time he starts writing Twig.

 

I think part of it is that the rules of Pact encourage speaking in generalities, but yes, I actually found it easier to differentiate between people in early Worm.

 

Finally the lawyers make their player.

 

They're from very similar areas geographically/socially, it's to be expected that they talk similarly.

 

Yeah, it's getting to the point where I'm hearing Wildbow himself in every character - the turns of phrase, the choice of words - and it's getting quite annoying.

 

Daaamn Rose. Well played.

 

Alright, looks like stuff's getting interesting!

Spoiler

We're getting into a big fight, and Rose has decided that she's just not made for fighting. So she's retreating back, and Blake's taking over again. Hooray!

 

Looks like we're just about to wrap up. Only the epilogue left, and then we're on to Twig.

 

Pact's finished.

I really liked the epilogue. I wish we got a little more explanation for what happened after, but I'm actually satisfied with how it ended.

(Still prefer Worm, though.)

 

Someone in the comments thread said it best

Spoiler

Achievement Unlocked: Earn Your Happy Ending 1000G

 

The epilogue was the best part of the story, and it's not even close. Fantastic bit of writing. It could actually almost stand as a separate piece and still be awesome.

 

Considering reading this. Those who've read the whole thing, if you wouldn't mind...?

Compare/contrast to Worm in terms of length, tone, and awesomeness of prominent characters.

Does any "If you liked X, you'll like Pact" comparison spring to mind?

At what point did the fic hook you and convince you of its goodness? (Another way to frame it: if I start reading, how much slack do I give it?)

 

I didn't like it nearly as much as Worm and I found myself skimming a lot, especially towards the end. It definitely had its good points, but the magic system was too vague and hand wavy for my tastes. Some of the characters are pretty awesome (Evan is my 2nd favorite character across both works and the Maggie arc was great) so there's definitely some reasons to read it. WB said it himself in his closing thoughts, "Pact isn’t bad, but it isn’t great..."

I would give it a shot at least, and if you don't manage to get through it, read the epilogue. Worth it on its own. Length is 950k words btw.

 

Holy SHIT. Didn't he start this like a year ago? What the hell am I doing with my life?

Anyway, thanks. Sadly I'm one of those people who couldn't bring myself to read the epilogue without reading everything before it. Just one of those things.

 

Pact and Worm are two very different stories so comparing them is fairly pointless. Either way though, this was a decent story that kept me occupied for over a year, though I didn't wait on updates as much as I did with Worm.