Mother of Learning
Zorian Kazinski has all the time in the world to get stronger, and he plans on taking full advantage of it. A teenage mage of humble birth and slightly above-average skill, Zorian is attending his third year of education at Cyoria's magical academy. A driven and quiet young man, he is consumed by a desire to ensure his own future and free himself of the influence of his family, resenting the Kazinskis for favoring his brothers over him. Consequently, Zorian has no time for pointless distractions, much less other people's problems. As it happens, though, time is something he is about to get plenty of. On the eve of Cyoria's annual summer festival, Zorian is murdered, then abruptly brought back to the beginning of the month, just before he was about to take the train to school. Finding himself trapped in a time loop with no clear end or exit, he will have to look both within and without to unravel the mystery set before him. He does have to unravel it, too, because the loop clearly wasn’t made for his sake, and in a world of magic even a time traveler isn't safe from those who wish him ill. Fortunately for Zorian, repetition is the mother of learning…
Stats for nerds
17recommend
25mentions
21people
2018–2026years
76% recommend24% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Asked Gemini for a list of books recommended on this page multiple times:
Top Recommendations
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams: This was the most mentioned book on the page, with five different users discussing its "cautionary tale" regarding power and idealism.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: A favorite for both readers and audiobook listeners, praised for its engaging story and high-quality narration.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman: Multiple users recommended this LitRPG series, particularly noting that the audiobook experience is exceptional.
Mother of Learning by nobody103: This time-loop progression fantasy appeared in several lists and was described as a "must-read" for fans of the genre.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: A classic that continues to resonate, with several users discussing its humor and depiction of the human condition.
Other Notable Duplicates
Apple in China: Cited three times for its insights into the relationship between the tech giant and Chinese manufacturing.
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb: Featured in both re-read lists and debates about its emotional intensity.
Permutation City by Greg Egan: Highly recommended by sci-fi fans for its "stimulating" concepts regarding digital consciousness.
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie: Mentioned by three users as a top new release for the year.
- You've got some great ones on here. I'm curious how you found some of them to be.
Jim Butcher "Brief Cases": I'm a huge fan of the Dresden series. I find it to be very enlightening as we watch an author grow with his primary character. The early books were particularly weak, but they grow and get better and better. However, I'm unfairly biased against short stories, so I avoid all the X.5 releases. Are these worth exploring as I'm waiting for the followup to Battleground?
Mother of Learning: I generally don't like litrpg or progression fantasy, but I'm a sucker for time loops. I enjoyed this series and craved more like it. Anything else you'd recommend in this genre?
I read the Fitz books... fuck... decades ago at this point. Is it worth revisiting in audiobook? I've been burned so many times by nostalgia that I'm reluctant to revisit old favorites.
- As a (perhaps not-so-young) consumer of several RR stories in those exact genres, yes. It's a fun genre that really tickles the same part of my brain that building munchkins in D&D does. Progression fantasy is just very satisfying to read.
(In case anyone is looking for recommendations, Mother of Learning is the best all-around, Delve is probably my favorite, and Worth the Candle is incredible if you can stomach how much of a crapsack world the protagonist is dragged through)
- Yeah, don't read "worthy" stuff, or things to enlighten yourself, find your particular brand of entertaining trash and mindlessly consume it.
I recommend bad litrpg and progression fantasy personally. Mother of Learning is a good one to start, it's free on royalroad.com or available on Kindle.
- If you haven't already read Mother of Learning you really should, you would absolutely adore it.
- Two series that helped me immensely during some rough times that finally ended in 2023:
“Beware of Chicken”
“Mother of Learning”
Read those in the hospital with my son. I found them to be excellent stories and they gave me a lot to think about as far as major decisions I was making.
A trilogy I ended up finally reading and really enjoyed after pushing through the first half of the first book was “The Shadow of What was Lost” by James Islington. It started out feeling like a love child of WoT and Sandersen’s writing, but after that first half of the first book it went it’s own way to excellent effect.
