Book Review: Mother of Learning ARC 1 by nobody103 or Domagoj Kurmaic
Cover art by: Mansik Yang
Mother of Learning: ARC 1 by Domagoj Kurmaić
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: Mother of Learning (Book #1 of 4)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Progression Fantasy, Web novel
Pages: 644 pages (Kindle edition)
Published: 1st December 2021 by Wraithmarked Creative (Indie)
Mother of Learning: ARC 1 was a marvelous start to a time-loop fantasy series. It was so damn enjoyable to read.
A time loop or a time travel story in fantasy is incredibly rare, especially the one done right. Do not take this as a criticism of the genre. Time travel or a time loop story is hard to do right, and you are more likely to find its existence in sci-fi than in the fantasy genre. Until today, The Licanius trilogy is the only series of epic fantasy novels where I felt the time travel elements inclusion are put into cleverly. Remembering how much I loved time travel stories executed wonderfully like The Licanius Trilogy, Stein’s Gate anime, and more, I’ve made it clear that I perpetually search for a time travel story done right in fantasy. And that’s how I stumbled upon Mother of Learning by nobody103 or Domagoj Kurmaic. Originally published as a web novel series, and if we are still counting it as one, this would mean this is the first web novel series I am reading. But the three story arcs in Mother of Learning have now been re-edited and published widely into four volumes (volume four coming in April 2023) by Wraithmarked Creative. The hardcover of the first story arc is the edition I am reading and reviewing. You can still read the entire series on Royal Road, but I will assume this edition is superior as it has received a new round of editing. Additionally, this hardcover edition comes with beautiful cover art by Mansik Yang, full-colored endpaper illustrations by Daniel Kamarudin and Asur Misoa, and a map of Altazia by Soraya Corcoran. The paper and printing quality are also top-notch. And I highly enjoyed reading the first story arc of Mother of Learning.
“Let me tell you a story of lost time and a month that refuses to end.”
Zorian Kazinski is a teenage mage of humble birth and slightly above-average skill attending his third year of education at Cyoria’s magical academy. On the eve of Cyoria’s annual summer festival, a life-changing event transpired, and now Zorian is caught in a time loop. He is brought back to the day, at the beginning of the month, when he’s about to take the train to the academy. And he is doomed or blessed to repeat it every time he reaches the day of the annual summer festival. It is a never-ending month for Zorian, and as he tries his best to find a way to escape the time loop, he’s taking advantage of his situation to advance his skill and knowledge as a mage.
This is essentially the premise of Mother of Learning. It is a simple concept integrated brilliantly into the narrative. Think of it as Harry Potter mixed with All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka or Recursion by Blake Crouch. I strongly urge readers who want to try reading this series for the first time to give it about 100-200 pages before judging whether this will be suitable for you or not due to multiple reasons. As far as I know, Mother of Learning is one big series divided into four volumes. The review you are reading right now is only a review of the first story arc, so more or less the first quarter of the entire series. I think it is fair to at least read 100-200 pages of this 2,500+ pages (784k words) long series before deciding to drop it. But more importantly, this is also because the first 200 pages of Mother of Learning: ARC 1 was, from my perspective, the prelude to the entire series. The story did not fully begin until we reached that point.
Picture: Mother of Learning: ARC 1 by Daniel Kamarudin
Whether you are a fan of time loop or time travel in the fantasy genre, I think Mother of Learning is worth the read if you are a fan of magic school in fantasy. And I am a huge fan of coming-of-age fantasy and magic or battle school. They are some of my favorite tropes to read in the fantasy genre. Due to the time loop setting and premise of the series, Mother of Learning: ARC 1 understandably means the majority of the narrative in this book takes place in Cyoria magical academy. You will spend a lot of time reading Zorian advances his various skills and magic in multiple variations at the academy while he seeks a way out of the time loop. Fortunately, I have no preference for hard or soft magic systems. Both can be superbly written depending on the context of the series, and this book is an example of making magic-learning fun to read. Even when the story is one month repeated in a time loop, it was utterly impressive how Kurmaic keeps the stakes, pacing, revelations, and development refreshing and engaging.
It is not exclusive to plotting but to characters as well. There aren’t many notably great characters yet in Mother of Learning: ARC 1. And I know I’ve read only the first volume of the series, which (relatively) is a small fraction of the entire series, so this is not a big issue. But Zorian Kazinski, just comparing how he behaved and acted in the beginning to the conclusion of Mother of Learning: ARC 1, already felt like a different person, in a good way. Zorian started off incredibly unlikable. He was a constantly angry teenager with minimal empathy for other people. This is why, once again, I feel it is necessary to read 200 pages of the book first. Not only do readers get to see the incredible potential of the plotting and concept laid out by the author, but they can also confirm the existence of the gradual development in Zorian’s character and behavior. Zorian, in my opinion, did not become likable or a character I felt invested in until I reached the second half of the book.
Picture: Mother of Learning: ARC 1 by Asur Misoa
I had so much fun reading Mother of Learning: ARC 1. And I do believe the prose is partly responsible for it. If you know my reading taste, I am not fussy about prose. Whether it is simple prose or purple prose, I appreciate this variety of storytelling styles in the fantasy genre. What matters to me more is the reading experience proceeds smoothly. Some readers call Sanderson’s simple and accessible prose mediocre, and maybe it IS according to their criteria or preference. There is nothing wrong with that. But I respectfully disagree. Sanderson’s prose allows me to enjoy an epic fantasy series without feeling overwhelmed by the prose; I feel like I can read Sanderson’s books anytime I want despite my reading mood. Unlike, let’s say, Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen. Malazan Book of the Fallen is one of my favorite series of all time, but I need to be in the correct reading mood or headspace before I read it, even more so on reread. Why am I going on a tangent here? To emphasize Kurmaic’s prose which leans more toward Sanderson’s style than Erikson’s, just as a comparison. And I loved it. I honestly cannot imagine this book, with info-dumps and many pages count spent on lore and learning the magic, being this addictive to read if it was written in heavier-style prose like Steven Erikson or Mark Lawrence.
However, these praises do not mean I surmised Mother of Learning: ARC 1 as a completely magnificent book. There were a few noticeable issues. For example, the way the world-building and lore were delivered. It was hard for my brain to register some passages because they were told in an info-dump manner. In a way, many parts of the progression fantasy of the series and magic learning can be categorized as info-dump as well, but they were still fun, entertaining, and engaging regardless of it. I can’t say the same for the lore and history of the world, which usually is one of my favorite parts of reading a fantasy series. But overall, this is not a big issue for me. I had overwhelmingly more fun reading Mother of Learning: ARC 1 to consider this relatively slight boredom a big detraction to my reading experience. As I mentioned earlier, the majority of the story takes place in the Cyoria magical academy, and this factor can be a big issue if it is repeated throughout the rest of the series. But I have a good feeling we will get to explore more of the world in the remaining two story arcs.
Picture: Map of Altazia by Soraya Corcoran
If you are a reader who loves reading magic school, time travel, time loop, progression fantasy, or hard-magic systems in the fantasy genre, I imagine you will have a blast reading the first story arc in Mother of Learning. I have mentioned several times that Mother of Learning is one of my priority series to start and finish this year, and after that cliffhanger ending of ARC 1, I think I will dive into the next volume soon. At the latest, next month. I will not lie; a part of me was initially worried about reading this series. Do not get me wrong here; my anticipation was still there. But plenty of comments have mentioned the writing is mediocre, or, I quote, “The writing is not great as you can expect from a web novel.” These made me quite apprehensive about the writing or storytelling quality I would read in Mother of Learning. But I am glad I did not listen to these comments. My fear is unfounded. The reality is better than my fear. Sure, Mother of Learning is one of the most highly praised web novels out there, and this edition I read has been re-edited and republished by Wraithmarked. However, I wouldn’t be able to tell this was a web novel if I did not know about the publication status before reading it.
Picture: Interior design of Mother of Learning: ARC 1 Hardcover.
The interior and exterior quality of the book felt the same as all other fantasy novels I read. I will say it is more fun than many books I’ve read. And the printing quality is better than most traditionally published books. A job well done to Domagoj Kurmaic and Wraithmarked on this book and production. Mother of Learning: ARC 1 is a great clean fantasy novel with accessible writing and scope that gets refined and detailed with more pages read. Plus, some fans of the series said the first story arc is the weakest of the entire series! This makes me more excited to read the rest of the series. If this is still categorized as a web novel and included as my first experience, I believe I have opened the gate to trying more web novels. On my list right now, I have Worm by John McCrae, A Practical Guide to Evil by ErraticErrata, and of course, The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba to read. This will take a while, but one series at a time. For now, repetition is the mother of learning, and I look forward to repeating this wonderful reading experience by reading Mother of Learning: ARC 2 soon. I predict within the next month.
Side note:
Read with caution if you have arachnophobia.
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