RD 3 Note
Added 2025-01-23 20:34:40 +0000 UTCIt seems from the Patreon update several things need to be addressed.
I don't always read comments and I don't really want to dip in when they are particularly negative. Chris however summarizes them weekly for me and I have an excel spreadsheet of things to touch up based on the comments. I am terrible with keeping a timeline.
As for reading through some of them, I simply ask why you've all turned my comment section into an echo chamber assuming the direction of the story?
Bran has 500 years of past life knowledge to exploit and he's now down 2 of those. There are 498 years of knowledge for him to use to grow stronger. The ultimate enemy of Bran is not the first demon war. He survived it the first time and he sure as shit will survive it this time.
The demon war is a setting shift and something to put conflict and time pressure on Bran to save/do certain things before the Demon Lord gets them in the future books. I want narrative urgency and I don't want five books of Bran preparing for a war that he underwhelmingly one shots, because that's not satisfying.
It was mentioned multiple times in this book that Bran didn't intend to 'solve' the demon war, because humanity needed the opportunity and the adversity to level. The war will be yet another massive thing for Bran to gain absurd benefits from being at the right places at the right times. With 500 years of previous life knowledge, Bran's 'Returner' advantage isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
I will look at adjusting some of Bran's inner dialogue to look further afield for opportunities because this clearly needs to be reinforced. The First Demon War is the first major landmark on Bran's journey, not the end.
Anyway, I do have 2 things to apologize for.
1. Both this book and DD 203 were slow. I am not happy with that and am reflecting on how to correct it going forward. DD 203 I could see it, but not the answer on how to correct it. RD 3 is making it apparent that the problem is in my planning phase. There are a couple ideas in my head as I review these books and my others, what has changed and how do I readust. It is something I am aware of and working on.
2. I have pulled back from most communications, there's just an overwhelming amount coming my way. However, Patreon deserves more interaction from me.
Comments
I think often the issue is that people don't understand the difference between destructive criticism (calling something irredeemable garbage when it's not) and constructive criticism. They just see criticism of something they like, the "stop disliking what I like" fever takes hold and they attack. As if your critique is a personal attack on them for not seeing what you see. But it's not that at all. We *all* enjoy Bruce's work. We wouldn't be here or reading it if we didn't. Well, I guess Alfred is right, there is always that one guy that likes to watch the world burn. But that's not me or most of the people offering constructive criticism. The way I view it, if I see an issue, especially a systemic one, I do no one, Bruce especially, any favors by ignoring it and offering a rubber stamped, 5 star, best thing since sliced bread, review. No, I'm much better off providing insight into the problem to help resolve it. That way the next book is even better. Of course, it's up to the author to take that input and choose to do something with it. And ignoring for their own reasons is perfectly acceptable. At least Bruce provided insight into his thoughts here. Some authors are very thin skinned and fly off the handle at the least amount of critiquing of their work. I don't have to know how to build or design a car to know it's poorly made when I get in it. Likewise, I don't have to be an author that's written 100 books, or even 1, to be able to notice things that are wrong and render a judgement on what could be fixed. Ultimately, as long as we all support Bruce, that's the important bit. Because I'm sure none of us want him to stop writing. I sure don't.
L_S87
2025-02-19 18:02:24 +0000 UTCI salute your bravery for saying that. And I don’t think I disagree all that much
Iron Akela
2025-02-19 07:55:21 +0000 UTCI completely feel you on this, Brian. I have a similar technical writing background of over 15 years, and have made similar comments about Bruce's writing on reddit and also been attacked. I actually joined here to get better insight into Bruce's writing and why he does what he does. I've said it on reddit and I'll say it here too. Bruce is an amazing storyteller. One of the best in this genre. His characters are typically great and his world building is second to none. But. He's not a great writer. Great storyteller? Yes. Writer? No. People often get the two mixed up and will praise his writing ... But objectively it's often mediocre. His sentence structure and word usage can sometimes be borderline awful. He could really use a *true* editor who doesn't just spell check and rubber stamp things but read the intent behind the words and then suggest better ways to phrase things to make the overall experience more cohesive. There were a number of things in RD 3 that felt clunky. Oddly enough, the time thing bothered me less than the weird Carmen Gloria retcon thing where they act like she never intended to kill him or that she's only engaged because she was forced to be. There's plenty of reasons why that could have changed, but none of them are ever brought up .. it's simply a plot point that ceased to exist. All that said, Bruce still makes some awesome stories and I'll keep reading, hoping at some point the writing begins to match the storytelling.
L_S87
2025-02-19 01:41:26 +0000 UTCA good session with tequila might clear the cobwebs
Swarm
2025-02-01 22:10:00 +0000 UTCAre you pausing RD for now?
Sailesh Kumar Kumar
2025-01-28 11:19:53 +0000 UTCAnd yes, this is my writing when I am upset. It feels like someone mostly rambling over a keyboard because it is. Could I have taken my time and written a carefully controlled response? Absolutely! Do I regret it? Not one bit. These are my unfiltered thoughts and feelings, and while it could have been written better, the previous post accurately reflects my own response to what has been presented to me.
Brian
2025-01-27 10:50:06 +0000 UTCWell said. I will add a little something to it. In regard to this book, I feel like I am being asked to pay for the privilege of proof-reading the work while at the same time being harangued because my suggested edits and comments don't match the author's vision. I write professionally (technical writing, regulations and SOPs), but my ability to analyze inconsistencies didn't die just because I don't normally write fiction. I've made many errors over the years (In life as well as writing) and have been criticized for those same errors. I corrected said errors and moved on. I didn't flex my 'artiste' muscles and spit out a defense for my actions. Such a stance is pointless when it is others who pay the bills, whether it be a regular nine to five or the fans of a fiction writer. Someone else always pays the bills.
Brian
2025-01-27 10:28:31 +0000 UTCYour writing is still great. Keep it up and ignore people who probably have never written anything successful in their lives.
Dave
2025-01-26 10:32:43 +0000 UTCOk Chris do us all a favor and help Bruce fix all of his inconsistencies!!! I don’t know what happened between DJ and DD. But all 3 current books have glaring flaws with characters & abilities/skills.
Jeremy Daniels
2025-01-26 04:23:31 +0000 UTCTry mapping out the overall story events for the book before writing to better mesh in the time skips? And do the butterfly effects does his 500 years of alternative time line meta knowledge really have much significance after the events of this 3rd book? Butterfly count 1 moms alive 2 his father 3 his class and bloodline 4 heros clan fatez 5 his harem 6 multiple demon generals dead 7 demon lords direct attention 8 multiple new allies These together just seem like it would change the overall events significantly form what he knew.
William Wilson
2025-01-25 05:29:42 +0000 UTCThese are good books, first and foremost. One thing I think others have already noted, though, as that a lot of us are here for the power fantasy, the relationships, and the setting. This was a book that involved chapter after chapter of... killing monsters and grinding. The time skip wasn't as much of an issue for many of us - it's just the content wasn't what we're here for. Still very entertaining, just would have preferred that killing a bunch of monsters in an instance was maybe 1/4 of the book instead of the whole thing.
Dennis Erwin
2025-01-24 20:30:30 +0000 UTCI have greatly enjoyed all your books. While I wasn’t too sure about the time skip given the fun and relationships Bran was building, I have never read a bad or even mediocre book from you, know that it will be good, and greatly anticipate seeing where the story goes from here. Keep doing what you want to do with your books. We’ll be here to read and support every one of them.😁
JediChris85
2025-01-24 20:23:03 +0000 UTC@Bruce Maybe this is the wrong way to look at it as well but I use Patreon as a way to help support you and do some beta reading/point out mistakes that I feel could be done better. Regardless, I’m not the author and have enjoyed basically all your work. This one just needed some clarification about teaching/not teaching soul arts early in the book and it kind of felt like a side quest that took over the story for a whole book. I enjoyed it either way, keep them coming. Oh and I really love how you got rid of the compulsion of the Mul Branova. Was wondering how you’d deal with it, excited to see their reaction now that it’s gone. PS I really like the occasional chapter from some of the other pints of view especially the Mul Branova’s. Adds a bit of light hearted wonder to the whole thing. Keep on writing and I’ll keep buying. Thanks for the good stories.
John
2025-01-24 17:59:54 +0000 UTCI don't think he went in it the first time he just had heard about it. I think in the first time line since it was already pass the start of the demon war the general didn't need to slow down time. He did this time to make it so when he got out it was the start of the war. At least that's how I understood it.
Mavrox
2025-01-24 17:58:21 +0000 UTCYou write what you want to write! The comments section is full of both people who want to help and support you, and asshats. Just have Chris ignore the latter…
Jim Payne
2025-01-24 14:20:36 +0000 UTCThanks for the response Bruce and you do make good points. your this books author so if you want the story to go in a certain direction, do that. please understand that people complaining about your book shows they have a vested interest in it because we like your writing and RD series. what I and I gather most people I read complain about, wasn't the fact you time skipped but the way in which it was done. that was the issue for me. I'm all for the demon invasion and whatever story you tell during it and in a way I'm glad we get that sooner, but throughout the first 2 books demons were an existential threat that bran needed to prepare for. except what actually happened is bran fell into a demons trap after going into a demons trap willingly and lost about the same amount of time as the first two books put together. a trap he was already in in the first life and should have known about.
PURPL3_DR4G0N
2025-01-24 10:19:18 +0000 UTCBruce basically admitted in this post that he wanted Bran to have less time before the demon war and that this was his incredibly awkward solution. I still stand by a proper retcon changing the dates in the previous books to give Bran less time before the rapture would have been better than this, but ultimately it's Bruce's book and this is what he's decided to stick with. Also, his first point is actually a pretty good one. Given how much Bran hates demons I thought they'd be the biggest antagonists for the series as a whole, but it sounds like they are just the initial antagonists and the future ones will be a bigger deal? Would help if I knew what those bigger badder enemies were going to be, right now I don't even have a name.
hawkshe .
2025-01-24 09:33:21 +0000 UTCThanks for the post Bruce. I appreciate it can’t be easy, seeing so many people comment negatively about your work - I know I totally ignore comments/reviews on my own published works deliberately. Speaking personally, I am a Patreon supporter because I want to support you but also do my bit to help out if I can, so yeah I do kind of view it as paying to be a beta reader of sorts. Perhaps that’s the wrong mentality to have *shrugs* Regarding the time skip, personally it felt like a hammer to crack a walnut. You started the series with over 2 years of time before the rapture, and seeded all these plot hooks (as you always do when you start a series), and then you throw all that out to skip forward to the rapture. We all knew the rapture was coming, and that while Bran wasn’t going to stop it, or even curtail it (for very good story driven reasons), it does feel like a lot of things could have happened. The first book had some time skips, which made sense, and were handled very well - so I’m not sure why that changed. It feels to me like you made a rod for your own back, and decided to kind of kludge a way to get rid of it. We always knew Bran would be OP in the first demon war, and it was all about the rapture and everyone initiating and getting those initial levels. People were going to die, and even if Bran could have stopped it he wouldn’t as that would have hurt in the long run. And I get that you want to move on to the aftermath of the first demon war, it’s just how that was done I’ve an issue with personally. Though to be brutally honest, ignoring plot hooks laid out in the first book or two is kinda your signature style at this point :oD The vault was seen as a side quest to many of us who comment, which I think is largely part of why the book felt slow and cumbersome. Even if we’d seen the time skip coming (which I didn’t, not this early or this extreme anyway), the execution wasn’t great. Having the demon lord aware of Bran and popping into the vault does feel like it broke the established rules of the world and thus was jarring and spoilt the immersion. Then the inconsistencies with the whole soul combat thing, and the fact it was so much of the book, when I think a few chapters could have been glossed. I do agree with ‘show don’t tell’ for the most part, but honestly there was parts of this which could have been told. The other characters being different and seemingly inconsistent is a notable thing too. I’m not a fan of Nyx, never have been as a principle character, so I’ve no issues with her being sidelined. And honestly if Simone stops being the annoying clingy manipulative walking red flag I’d be fine with it, but flicking a switch seems… unfair to the character as established. But Gloria’s personality was… bratty I guess is the best way to describe it. So on the whole it didn’t quite feel right for those three. I get that Bran still has a lot of knowledge of the future, but seeing as the demon lord is aware of him now and actively trying to stop him, how relevant is that? And as his goal is to preserve humanity, which is great. Denying him the option of making the rapture better for everyone, so humanity goes into what’s after stronger and more united feels like a shame to me. So to summarise, for me it felt like the time skip to the rapture came out of left field, and what I felt should have been a relatively short (like 1/3 of the book) side quest ended up being the mechanism to skip to the rapture, thus negating/throwing out the plot threads left hanging (including one in a chapter of this very book). I get the desire to want to skip to the rapture, and what comes after it, I was just surprised it happened and the, in my opinion, not well executed manner it was achieved
Iron Akela
2025-01-24 08:24:25 +0000 UTCSome of these comments are crazy! I appreciate the time you put into explaining this and I’m looking forward to what’s to come with the series!
Michael Ballinger
2025-01-24 07:45:24 +0000 UTCI like the much longer series and books the op books of just slaughtering everyone and making it predictable is very boring. Only thing I would like more of is side chapters of other people if u don’t want to put them in main book make a another book of side stories only and not just a few chapters make entire book of it that would be fucking great with every series u have done. I think u could easily do 8 plus books of side stories so we could see world instead of 1 character that would be awesome. Love ur books keep u the great work please more world building. Mainly dd, dj and rd series would be great 👍.
Devil420
2025-01-24 06:12:52 +0000 UTCBased response
Caniner
2025-01-24 02:31:00 +0000 UTCThe fact that you can even invoke this much conversation and dialogue around a piece of your work, speaks volumes and is a credit to you as an author and your ability to create content that people are passionate about. Thanks for the stories and I await the next returners defiance.
Khaleef Saunders
2025-01-24 02:09:01 +0000 UTCI think its just people enjoy your more character driven plotlines than grinding plot driven ones.
Ray S.
2025-01-24 00:22:47 +0000 UTCI enjoyed the books but I understood you were building up to something. Now that the Rapture will be starting I think it will organically speed up the action. I'm really enjoying them.
STANSTAN42
2025-01-24 00:20:13 +0000 UTCWell, I suppose you can call me a hater, but to be perfectly honest, I don't give a damn what any of you here think. I have several 'complaints' as it were, and I will lay them out here. -Characterization: It seems to me that the major characters have either been thoroughly misrepresented throughout the first two books...or they have significantly changed in the third. Not that this is easy to detect, since they feel about as shallow as a half-inch puddle. The best way to describe this is that they feel like caricatures of themselves. An example is Gloria with the typical extortion scheme on the stairway. In addition to a failure in setup and payoff, that particular incident was more like a brutish thug, not a brilliant princess. The same can be said for Simone. Where is the loving nymphomaniac? Her presence in this book feels non-existent. Where is Nyx? We went from all Nyx to no Nyx in the course of a book. The loving and enthusiastic girl doesn't really make an appearance here either. She's just sort of...present. The light is on, but no one is home. -Setup and Payoff/Show, Don't Tell: So, back to my Gloria example. It states that the FPA was causing trouble for the Family in the city. Instead of stating this in the paragraph justifying her actions, this should have been shown in the city itself, building up to this moment where Gloria extorts them. A few very short scenes with just incidents happening here and there could have gone a long way. In essence, I feel like there is very little planning to make things like this happen. -Omniscient and All-Powerful Enemies: One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to writing is the tendency by authors to make their enemies unreasonably powerful AND with the ability to both know and accurately predict what the protagonists will do. This is fine and well if it is balanced. The time skip event and then stasis incident wasn't balanced. The demon lord just 'happened' to show up and change the way the vault ran. There was no in-story justification for this. Once again, setup and payoff. The stasis event was equally annoying. If the demons had the power to do this, why didn't they do this from the very beginning? Hell, you may as well force-feed the various fruits to the ones they wanted to control from the get go. If you push things to a full conclusion, you have to ask how any of them could have survived at all. -Uncooperative Protagonists: Bran has his plans. I'm cool with that. He keeps his cards close to his vest. I'm cool with that. He doesn't warn any of the FPA whatsoever that they are walking into a trap? That...that right there I have a problem with. You don't have to like someone to ally with them against a greater foe, even tangentially. Bran's thought processes are not taking into account that a bunch of demon possessed high levels are going to cause issues. Now, do I have a suggestion on how he could have warned them in a believable manner? Nope. I haven't put a lot of thought into it. Hell, an interesting development that could have pushed things in the particular direction the story went is to have him try and none of them believed him. In that case, the FPA gets what they deserve. Regardless, nothing like that happened, so I stopped reading because this story made me feel... -Apathy: I do not like a book that's nothing but action, nor do I care for a book that's all talking and such. What I like is a story that flows from peak to peak and point to point. I like a good, tightly written story that fires the imagination. I like stories that make me feel and think many things, even if they make me uncomfortable...within the framework of the story. I do not care for a story that at first makes me angry because of the writing or disappointment because of the plot and characters. I definitely felt something during this story, but it wasn't the kind of thing an author wants in his fans. Instead, my anger became irritation, which became annoyance and finally ended up with me just not caring any more. And that final state is one that no author wants in his fans. -Plot Holes!: Yeah, there's a metric ton of these and I've addressed some of them in my previous posts. I really don't feel like addressing them here, mostly because I don't feel like combing through all fifty-whatever chapters to pull them out and make notes so I can bring them back here. They are there, believe me, I just don't have the will to continue with it. See the above paragraph labeled 'Apathy' for the reason why. Finally, I have a couple things to say in regards to Bruce's post. First, I am glad that you recognize that your Patreon needs some attention. The problem is that I don't see a commitment for doing that. I will repeat some words I've said above: "Show don't tell." Being apologetic for something doesn't count unless there's an actual change in the one that apologizes. Even if it's just five minutes or so responding to your fans, this can go a long way. Had you done that, maybe addressed a concern or two, I wouldn't have stopped my membership. Right now, I am coasting along on whatever time I have left, waiting for the final curtain to fall. Another thing I wish to mention is that while this may be your story, your full time job as an author is dependent on writing books that people will read. To me, this is unreadable. I generally read and re-read your books several times because they are normally fun. I haven't read RD3 since about chapter 46 or 47 because of how profoundly disappointed I have been with it. I have no plans to buy it, and this book has soured the previous ones. I probably won't read them again either. I bring this up because I am not entirely certain you appreciate your fans. Yes, you're right, it's your story. You can write it however you want. By that same token, I can say whatever I want about it, feel whatever I want to about it and ultimately, refuse to buy it because your story fails to resonate with me. Now, I've said my peace. I have no intention to make another post here again, but I wanted to lay my cards on the table. It's entirely possible you will surprise me, turn things around and make this series something amazing. Maybe I'll pick up DD 204 and see how that turns out. If that's good, I might come back to RD. Otherwise, thanks for the good series you've written over the years.
Brian
2025-01-24 00:16:27 +0000 UTCI'm good with the books. The last DD didnt feel too slow to me when I was reading it. I just enjoy the stories you want to tell. Not sure about RD3 as I do not read advanced chapters on Patreon. Tried it with RD2, but the wait even for one day was not fun for the next chapter.
Donny Davis
2025-01-23 23:10:38 +0000 UTCHonestly I'm good with the books save for a few things. Things that you have mentioned that your trying to rectify. I did feel like a few folks where trying to force a story upon you instead of letting you tell the story. Your probably my favorite author in this genre. Like I've mentioned before. I think you put chapters out too fast lol! It must be challenging to keep that pace.
James Hiatt
2025-01-23 22:34:57 +0000 UTCI think its just the execution of the time skip, dont do your time skip in the middle of the book do it at the very end. Do the vault in a prolonged time maybe 4 Months let them come back do some mending with the clans and do 3 or 4 Prolouge chapters with the initiation, borrossen clan and whatnot and skip to the Rapture. Most people will be happy then
Julian Lachner
2025-01-23 22:17:56 +0000 UTC@ chris. Here feel free to quote. I am a random but i like stories that are consistent. RD had, demons cant come easily to the world. the demon emperor king whatever is stuck in demon world and the two are separate. Having the setup that is there for the timeskip feels like a deus ex machina that BREAKS THE CONSISTENCY. that makes the time skip that already feels like "fuck you guys, im not keeping the same pace ive kept the entire series and am bored of writing about the buildup" feel extra shit. From my reading people have been pissed off about the timeskip since 50% of the way through the book. now you wrote the WHOLE BOOK and choose to adress it now, OF COURSE YOU FEEL LOCKED IN you wrote a whole bloody book based around a central premis that I atleast hate, you should have adressed it that week. Now your response isnt "hey thats a lot of hate over nothing maybe i should listen" or atleast say 'hey guys, i hear you but ive got this'. no you wait till after the book when people are extra pissed because the stuff they dont like are cemented in stone and then go "oh gosh why are poeple mad this means i should listen LESSS, LESSS" wtf. Everyone here cared enough about your book to pay atleast 10bucks for it. thats more than the damn book is going to cost IN THE FIRST PLACE , BLOODY LISTEN. You dont have to do what people say, but to be shocked when you lock in a premise that's unpopular and then be even more shocked that people are mad you dont respond. yeah. Why would people stay subscribed. Overall ive liked the series but i LIKED THE BUILDUP, yes im weird but i liked the pacing. Hell the timeskip would even have felt good if it didnt feel so "oh, i need to skip forward, shoot um. Demon lord messes with the vault, yeah that'll work. even though he cant possibly go to earth and it seemingly breaks the lore who cares" I hope its a one off, the rest of the series could legit be incredible but this book is a struggle. last edit. I bloody knew it "time pressure on Bran to save/do certain things before the Demon Lord gets them in the future books. I want narrative urgency and I don't want five" see, knew it. It literally comes through in how you write the skip AND THATS THE ISSUE. Have the demons have a council and come up with something or a more elaborate trap or something not just "demon lord warps in and uber traps bran out of nowhere" YOU KNOW THATS BULLSHIT. I know you know. I can tell by how you write. heck, i think it could be a good plot point but its just so frustrating that the whole book is basically "bran goes into vault, demon lord pops in and timeskips.......... oh look demon war" atleast this is how it feels
Alex
2025-01-23 22:08:40 +0000 UTCI've always just enjoyed your book for the story and being well written fantasy that has adult relationships in them albeit fantastical and unconventional. They are a fun thing to listen to while at work. And I don't feel like there is too much going on. On a different series I was reading the author would time skip and not give any depth to the story while you give what we need to keep the story progressing and feeling good. So thank you for the books and I'm gonna keep on reading and lurking (might have gotten the wife to read RD1 because I was relistening to it in the car earlier today maybe Ill get ya another fan!)
Zoram
2025-01-23 22:03:03 +0000 UTCSo far, I like where the book is heading. It’s simple to understand that the first demon war is inevitable and the second could be prevented.
SuprKDrgn
2025-01-23 21:52:13 +0000 UTCI enjoyed the book immensely. My only complaint is you dont write them fast enough!
Robert Klein
2025-01-23 21:47:51 +0000 UTCAppreciate being seen. Thank you for posting your reflections. This book is probably my least liked of the series so far, I still like it, but I also recognize it's sometimes necessary for a story to slow down in order to build up. Looking forward to where this one ends up after edits.
ReadingObsessed
2025-01-23 21:45:18 +0000 UTC*Jaws Theme*
Azazel
2025-01-23 21:42:01 +0000 UTCDon't start that. You'll summon him
Terry Hill
2025-01-23 21:41:12 +0000 UTCGood address. All criticism is useful, even the non-constructive ones. Granted, you have to waterboard them to get them to say something usable that you can take away. But as they say, you can lead a horse to water then help it drown.
NovaZero
2025-01-23 21:38:59 +0000 UTCLoved reading the chapters, hated reading the comments, because it seemed like people were forming a huge circle-jerk getting off on complaining about the chapters, and reinforcing each other Sometimes a slightly slower pacing is good, sometimes you need build-up. But it always seemed to be the same complaint "He is spending too much time in that vault." With DD 203 it was "He's spending too much time in that raid." With RD 2 it was "He's spending too much time in that instance" I want these things to be given prominence. They are important to the story, they are important to character development, and they don't deserve to be rushed through in two or three chapters, before Bran / Ken / Ard / whoever goes to the next big thing as quickly as possible, rushing through that in two or three chapters, and so on. Is it a need for instant gratification? "I don't want to wait for my resolution, I don't want to sit through all that build-up, give me my fix now, now now!"? A book with non-stop fast paced action would be exhausting to read, and probably exhausting to write as well. Keep doing what you are doing, fuck the haters #Props4Bruce #Patience4Buildup #Cream4Kittens #Headpats4Sneks
Az Reel
2025-01-23 21:26:21 +0000 UTCI am actually happy you did the time skip for Bran I felt like he would have gotten to OP if you gave him a couple more years of pre war prep I love your novals and read your new post daily keep with it man your doing great
Ryan Whitney
2025-01-23 21:16:13 +0000 UTC#Manaverseisreal
Azazel
2025-01-23 21:06:13 +0000 UTCThere are plenty of us that enjoy the shit out of your stories Bruce and RD 3 is another banger. Negativity and non-constructive criticism is always more vocal online. Don’t let it hurt your passion for writing my imagination just couldn’t survive if Sentarshaden fell
Azazel
2025-01-23 21:01:36 +0000 UTCI don’t get it ever book series has its lower setting things up phase for the most part. I like to think of what couldhappen next but mostly just enjoy the ride getting there. Thanks for books Bruce, keep doing you, your books improve everytime. Plus with how your fan base is growing your prob going to need to take some complaints can’t please everyone all the time lol.
Dems
2025-01-23 20:54:38 +0000 UTCI appreciate the address. I personally thought book 3 was a lot slowerer when it felt like it should have been setting the world stage instead. Bran only would talk about the rapture but didn't seem to make plans fo the supremacy wars and clan wars he talked about in the early books. It did feel like his only focus was prepare for day 1 of the rapture and that's it. I still enjoyed the book even tho it felt very similar to book 2. I knew the plan was for about 5 books so seeing 3 getting spent on prep for the rapture made it hard to imagine we would see all the other major events bran talked about in the previous timeline. The time skip definitely felt needed if you planned on getting to the other wars. I still plan on reading the rest of the series as a look forward to him potential meeting people from his previous experience like the clans and former friends/lovers that were sprinkled in during earlier books.
Martin Gamboa
2025-01-23 20:53:16 +0000 UTCI don't really read the comments, so I don't know if it's an echo chamber, but I sincerely hope not. Just remember that most of us are on here because we like the stories you write. We're donating on patreon to support you, not direct you. I don't read the books until they're released on kindle. I find it torturous to read them over a 30ish day period. So I'm not really tuned in to what people are saying about RD 3. I just hope people remember that if you push too hard for an artist to change their work, its not their work anymore, and all of us consuming that work are worse off.
Jon Burden
2025-01-23 20:51:25 +0000 UTCI read the comments and even commented myself… they were the comments from people who love the series but see inconsistencies with the latest book, myself included. We are in a way your beta readers and if we can help we do
b bor
2025-01-23 20:49:15 +0000 UTCPacing is hard for all writers, even those exceptional ones. Your work trying to balance Bran's past knowledge with his current growth and circumstances is hard. So much evolution from what he was changes a lot from how he planned to do things. Your work has been great, balancing it all. Pacing is the least of the issues that could arise, so this growing pain is well worth getting through for your wonderful work. No need to apologize either, but appreciated thT you care enough.
BigJCSoto
2025-01-23 20:48:23 +0000 UTCKeep up the good work! If stories went exactly how the reader expects them to go all the time then it would take away part of the joy of reading and seeing what comes next. It's your story and I couldn't duplicate your work if I tried so thank you for sharing it with us.
Jacob
2025-01-23 20:47:04 +0000 UTCIt’s your story to tell, don’t let the nay sayers shit in your cereal. I appreciate your note though, shows how much you care about your readers.
Andrew Mclain
2025-01-23 20:46:31 +0000 UTCHonestly, I read through the comments that criticize the story and find them amusing. Like really I enjoyed RD 3 and DD203. Sure the pacing was a bit slow in both of them but that was in the writing of those stories. Events happened that needed to be addressed plus as stated by Bruce a time skip for RD3 was necessary or we would have gotten another book or 2 of just waiting for the first demon war, that’s when people would have complained. Have some faith in Bruce he has written some fantastic series with DJ being my personal favorite. He knows what he’s doing so just trust him.
The Rat King
2025-01-23 20:45:17 +0000 UTCI'm really enjoying it, too. I didn't think it was slow. There was plenty of action and the introduction of a new character that brings more dynamics to his potential relationships. But as the author, if you also feel they should be sped up, then I have full faith that you'll do it in the best way possible. RD and DD are the 2 series I'm on your patreon for. Not that I don't enjoy the others, but they are the story lines that excited me the most.
Adiposear
2025-01-23 20:44:11 +0000 UTCThanks for the update. I'm enjoying the books myself, and kind of just like making will guesses as to where things are going. I think the main issue was the shock that they spent so much time in the vault and by the time they got out the rapture was almost upon them. I get the story needed the time skip because it wasn't about stopping them, but about what happens after. A lot of Korean Manwha are the same with their regressors... Overall though, I enjoyed it. There were a couple of tropes that came up, but they were handled well by the end. But I think that's where the mindsets of some readers were are at. That by going back in time before the rapture he'd try to prevent it. But as you mentioned and as Bran has repeated, he's not there to stop it, just to ensure we survive what comes after Personally, I enjoy you books and writing, so however you want to direct the stories is going to be fun either way!
Jamie R
2025-01-23 20:43:44 +0000 UTCI felt the demon gate was a efficient way to move things forward, and the action was good.
Salientmind
2025-01-23 20:43:32 +0000 UTCBruce, Thanks for posting your thoughts. The negative comments were not intended to be personal. Your Patreon subscribers subscribe because they love your work. I believe we felt you were ignoring your supporters or just didn’t care. I subscribe to the Patreon of other writers and they are far more engaged. I don’t think anyone is trying to tell you what to write, we just want to feel like we’re being heard.
Mistweaver
2025-01-23 20:43:13 +0000 UTCI have enjoyed it as well. I got the whole planning and time skip part and it made sense. The only thing that didn't make sense was how it didn't seem like he had given any of his people defense against demon possession outside of Gloria and Simone. One thing I think that could've made it "faster" or more action packed if people can't really stand building/planning phases, could be adding multiple time skips. Maybe the vault wasn't as long, or there were a couple of instances that got "messed with" in addition to the vault. It's just a thought, but I, personally, enjoyed the book overall and didn't have any issues with the pacing.
Casey
2025-01-23 20:41:19 +0000 UTCI don't read the comments either, wasn't aware people were hating. I thought it was pretty obvious from the story he is intentionally letting people die now so they are stronger later, that was mentioned in multiple ways.
Scyfe
2025-01-23 20:40:19 +0000 UTCFunny how critics say Bran is moving too s,ow when acting rashly is a common criticism of youth. Big complexities take time, ask a local shipbuilder. I've been quiet because I want Bruce to tell Bran's story, not for him to tell my story of Bran.
Andy Likes Pancakes
2025-01-23 20:40:06 +0000 UTCAgreed with the Samuel above! I look forward to all of your books. I’m a Patreon supporter, but I ignore the early releases so I can power through all at once. Keep ‘em coming!
Matthaeus
2025-01-23 20:39:38 +0000 UTCI was quite happy with the direction of the story thus far and I can't wait to see what you do with it
Peace2400
2025-01-23 20:38:24 +0000 UTCNot sure why people aren't enjoying it. It's called story telling I'm having a blast reading it keep it up please.
samuel schlatter
2025-01-23 20:36:52 +0000 UTC
