Story Stub Poll -- Hearthomancy or Apocalypse Innkeeper

Awesome, thank you for your feedback! I'll take it all into consideration!

Just to be clear, I enjoyed both and could see myself reading either of them. It also helps that to me they are more similar than they are different. They are both novels set after the system apocalypse started and both seem to prominently feature base-building elements. I find myself gravitating towards Apocalypse Innkeeper for a few key reasons though. First off, it has a clear antagonist in the Jellyfish giving the character a much more solid goal of surving and helping humanity to survive to spite those bastards who basically sent all of humanity off to die. To me that's a much more dynamic and compelling narrative and motive for the mc than fixing a home because it could become an interesting job. For another, the challenges the mc has to face in Apocalypse Innkeeper seems much more challenging for the mc compared to those in Hearthomancy and I believe that will make it that much more rewarding to read about the mc succeeding at those challenges where as in Hearthomancy it really reads as something the mc will eventually succeed at given enough time, even if there may be bumps along the way. This might just be me, but I found the interactions between the male and female leads much more interesting in Apocalypse Innkeeper than Hearthomancy, making me look forward to any romance in Apocalypse Innkeeper more than the other. Also not sure how I feel about him romancing someone he had a hand in creating who was also born at the beginning of the story. Is the mc of Hearthomancy sort of her Dad since she was created for him because he bonded with the house? Is she an adult because of her inherited memories or a child because she lacks her own personal experiences? There's just kind of a lot of weird grey area with her that I'd be trying not to think too much about while reading Hearthomancy. Now, I want to point out a few good things about Hearthomancy since I've been focusing so much on the story I prefer and why I prefer it over Hearthomancy, that it may sounds like I'm putting Hearthomancy down when I truly did enjoy reading it. First off, I like the setting. I've read a number of system apocalypse stories, but it's almost always right after the system came and I don't think I've ever read one set after humanity had rebuilt things after the system had interrupted their lives, so that promises to create a refreshingly new take on a setting I already enjoy. Another thing I like about Hearthomancy is that you just dug right into the the base-building aspect of the story and I've already got some idea of how that's going to work moving forward which is really nice, especially since I imagine that's going to be the meat of the story in the future. Also, even though I don't find the motive of the mc as compelling as the other story you have taken the time to give him a strong motive and I do understand why this matters to him. The low stakes may even work to this stories advantage since it'll leave more room for those slice of life character interactions that make the genre so relaxing to read. Well, that's all that's coming to mind right now, hopefully some of this was helpful to you and I look forward to reading whichever one you choose to focus on. Thanks for the previews if nothing else.

hawkshe .

I enjoyed both and would enjoy reading either. I voted for Hearthomancy, while the humor of Innkeeper was good Hearthomancy's chill vibe was better. Of course write the one you're feeling the most as those are the stories that end up the best.

Loukemia