I’m on 40, and the student battles are just over. I think maybe 37 or 38 is the actual last one, but that’ll put you in the right neighborhood anyway.
Yeah, but I don’t think you can skip them completely, especially since there’s other important stuff between them. The most important part of the battles is reading how they end, as it’s always one or another general being really smart (usually Harry). That’s the only part I ever liked of them. Except the battle before Christmas, because they are pockets of game theory being exploited.
You said you were on battle number 2, correct? Just skip to Chapter 34, then, where all the good stuff in the Christmas battle is described. You might also read the last page or so of Chapter 33, if the last sentence of the first section intrigues you.
I could have sworn the battles took up a lot more space than this. Are you sure you’re at the end, dracoi?
Tastes vary of course, but I’d given up thinking of the Ice and fire series as a great story by the time I made it through the first book, and halfway through the second, I gave it up altogether.
The third book is the high point. Its final chapters are maybe the most fun I’ve ever had reading fiction.
Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking? So far, I’ve seen:
the first forest one, then an underwater one, and then the one where Hermione got dropped by the heir of Slipperin’.
gah… I didn’t realize how long this book was taking. I keep checking for updates like a drug addict. 102 is going to be delayed because of an expected gap in time between the next one. It’s also suppose to be short and full of information.
This evening chapter 103 was released.
Starting Feb 15th until March 14th (pi day, 3.14) chapters 104 - 120 will be released ending the story.
103 was pretty short and has a pretty good emotional point by Quirrll at the end.
So many unanswered plots. I’m just as curious to the answers as to how he as an author is going to pull it off.
Thanks for the update. I hadn’t been checking recently.
I think I’ll wait until it’s finished to bother reading. But I will say that, if you search the forums, you’ll find I don’t think there’s nearly as much left unanswered as people think.
The final arc has begun!
Well, I wasn’t expecting THAT.
Now WE have to solve Harry’s dilemma for him? And it’s a tough-y… I wonder if the author actually believes there’s a solution?
. . . a - a - a - and, we’ve hit a snag. I’ll spoiler this, so as to avoid angering the gods of spoilered ongoing stories.
[spoiler]Here we are, on February 28, chapter 113 of what the author has told us will be 120 Chapters. He has also told us that the intended completion date is pi day (03-14-15, possibly at 9:26:35, I suppose). Cite.
And yet, at the end of Chapter 113, he’s presenting us (the collective readership of this piece) with a brain-teaser, with the threat that if it is not solved by said readership to his satisfaction within sixty hours the next chapter, on March 3, will evidently end the story on what the protagonist would call the worst possible outcome.
To be accurate, he does not explicitly say that failure will result in chapters 115-120 being omitted. But the potential is there.[/spoiler]
I have to say, this situation does not please me. At first, I speculated that he had written himself into a corner, and was counting on his readers to write him out of it. However, the information in post 67 above, while it is no longer findable in the site, argues against this. A different speculation is that he has written the ending that the protagonist would find satisfactory, but is only willing to share it with the world on the condition that at least one of his readers (with the timing, time, and motivation to post a review) is able to match thought processes with him and figure out that ending, or a plausible alternative. Given the information posted by Mr. Goob, I consider this more likely.
Neither one of them particularly pleases me, of course. The first suggests that he’s a flawed writer, but the second moves him into the category of asshole.
I realize that I have not paid him in anything other than my time and attention, and he owes me nothing. In addition, I am grateful for the enjoyment that I have gotten from the story for free. But if the satisfactory-ending story does not get posted, I will not be recommending this work to my friends.
Anyway, a new chapter of Harry Potter and the Natural 20 posted a new chapter today. I think I’ll hop over and see how Milo Amastasia-Liadon is getting on.
I am counting on some obsessive college student out there to fix this for us…otherwise I will be pretty pissed about this.
Well, I’ll say one thing: Reddit is all over this.
Certainly is interesting. My opinion is that he put a lot of time and effort into this. No way he doesn’t post it all.
He expects a lot from his readers, pounding away chapter after chapter about critical rational thought. Time to see if it took hold.
My plot speculations off the top of my head;
-Somewhere in the 34 death eaters I assume is Lucius and Snape.
-for that matter did Bella answer the mark or is she still on the way?
-Hermione is going to wake up. After a WTF moment her lightning fast brain will kick in to help solve the problem. Will or won’t she have any memory of the last few weeks? Given the authors view of no afterlife this is a stumper. If she does start talking about an afterlife it will shatter Voldies entire worldview.
-what else is in Harry’s pouch, he gave Fred and George a long list of muggle stuff they didn’t recognize.
-prophecies. We are up to 3. The original, the half of one where she said the world killer is coming, backed up by the centaur and Voldies new one.
-Harry’s skill at partial transformation Voldie does not know about.
-weak idea, the last Deathly Hollow. Dumbly threw down his wand.
Off to read the forums. Please chime in here.
I have a feeling that the good professor
is waiting for an answer that relies on rationality, not fireworks.
I dislike authors playing this sort of game. Either write the damn story or don’t* but don’t pretend that you’re solving some higher purpose by not writing unless some magic outside condition is met. Gerrold saying that he wasn’t going to write the next book in the Cthorr series (after a 15~ year delay unless Obama won a second term) thing springs right to mind.
Can anyone spoiler-box post the brain-teaser/riddle/puzzle? I enjoyed the Methods of Rationality and stopped at a semi-satisfying point and don’t feel like reading it further until it’s done, but I would like to know the oh-so-important question that he just now had (after a…what…8 month? delay) that’s so important that he’ll withhold the ending he totally says he wrote.
*Or, I suppose, delay it for the dumb contest if you need to stall for time. Which I suspect is the case.
Seems unlikely that he would wait 8 months, then deliver 6 or so consecutive chapters of exciting action, and then stall for time by adding a 2.5-day delay…
The “puzzle” is too complicated to adequately summarize. But all the reading up until now is very satisfying and entertaining, and answers many long-existing mysteries, so I suggest just reading it.
I thought it was a brilliant idea. These days, media is no longer publish and forget, we have twitter, we have forums, we have twitch and the concept of internet streaming. The new paradigm is audience participation, and people seem to be really digging it.
what am I missing? It’s not in his notes but I haven’t read past 100.