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Pactverse #1
Pact
Blake Thorburn was driven away from home and family by a vicious fight over inheritance, returning only for a deathbed visit with the grandmother who set it in motion. Blake soon finds himself next in line to inherit the property, a trove of dark supernatural knowledge, and the many enemies his grandmother left behind her in the small town of Jacob’s Bell.
2100 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2014
161 people are currently reading
1173 people want to read
About the author
Wildbow
8 books871 followersWildbow (real name John C. McCrae, born in 1984), is a Canadian writer of Web Serial Novels.
His works include:
Worm
Pact
Twig
Ward (sequel to Worm)
(From http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...)
His works include:
Worm
Pact
Twig
Ward (sequel to Worm)
(From http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
August 17, 2019
Pact’s an interesting serial. It’s generally viewed as the disappointing stepchild of Wildbow’s works. This is not without reason as Pact does suffer from a number of flaws. However, it is, perhaps, an unfair summary. Taking everything into account, I generally think Pact is Wildbow’s most interesting work. I would rate Pact as my overall favorite of Wildbow’s body of work.
Even by the halfway point of reading Pact for the first time, it became clear that there’s a certain ‘Wildbow Model’ that runs through his work. Two of the big pillars of this model are lengthy action and constant escalation. While Twig and Ward have, to a certain extent, gone on to try and break away from the model that Worm established, Pact is the story that properly defined it and reinforced it.
Many of the issues people have with Pact were also present, but excused, in Worm. The reasoning for this is obvious: Worm was Wildbow’s first work and Worm generally maintained a consistent standard of quality. Therefore, the audience extended the benefit of the doubt to any issues and awaited what would come next.
And what came next is both too different and too similar to what came before. It isn’t clear how much of that is intentional and how much of it is a result of the author falling back on what worked in Worm due to stressful circumstances during the writing.
It’s important to note that Pact suffered from the realities of writing a serial. Wildbow has spoken about some of the issues he faced during the writing of Pact and the stress they placed on him comes through loud and clear. As mentioned, Worm is consistent in a way Pact is not. Pact’s narrative, while beginning pretty strongly and interestingly, devolves into a mess of frantic action scenes and unceasing escalation with plot threads abruptly tied off or left dangling in the wind.
In some ways, Pact is an improvement on some of the issues Worm had—for example, Blake is a much better protagonist than Taylor ever was, and Wildbow’s usage of literary devices (foreshadowing etc) feels more intentional and deliberate. On the other hand, it embraces the questionable issues that existed at some of the shakier parts of Worm—constant escalation and pyrrhic victories, an inability to let the story breathe—and sets them through the entire story. Some other issues, like Wildbow’s difficulty with having more than one voice (and dialogue in general), remain consistent, and this is exacerbated by the fact that Pact’s general cast of characters aren’t as gripping or well-defined as Worm’s cast is.
What I credit Wildbow for with Pact is that it’s probably his one story that tries to maintain a smaller set of stakes. The problem of Pact, however, is that the constant, unending escalation means that the story feels more frantic and pressured than Worm’s cavalcade of apocalypses ever did even when it really isn’t. There are certain parts of Pact that are just grueling.
I’d also credit him with writing a far more intriguing world. Worm’s world was a pastiche of every superhero genre trope pushed into a shape where all the parts fit together fairly seamlessly. Pact felt like more of a unique twist on a genre that has always felt underutilized (unless you’re in the market for vampire and/or werewolf romance). It is an incredibly interesting universe, and a big part of the reason Pact is my favorite, and yet this world is never explored as thoroughly as it should’ve been.
I actually wrote this intending to say more, given how much I enjoyed the overall world and the earlier parts of Pact’s plot, but the above paragraphs say it all. Pact is Wildbow’s shakiest work, the one with the most potential but, at the same time, a general failure to realize it in adhering to the familiar path trailblazed by Worm. While it starts well, the constant escalation driving Blake through the plot feels like it gets ridiculous to an extent Worm never suffered from. Overall, if you liked Worm, you’ll like Pact, but this sorcerous serial won’t do much to sway readers who didn’t enjoy Worm.
Even by the halfway point of reading Pact for the first time, it became clear that there’s a certain ‘Wildbow Model’ that runs through his work. Two of the big pillars of this model are lengthy action and constant escalation. While Twig and Ward have, to a certain extent, gone on to try and break away from the model that Worm established, Pact is the story that properly defined it and reinforced it.
Many of the issues people have with Pact were also present, but excused, in Worm. The reasoning for this is obvious: Worm was Wildbow’s first work and Worm generally maintained a consistent standard of quality. Therefore, the audience extended the benefit of the doubt to any issues and awaited what would come next.
And what came next is both too different and too similar to what came before. It isn’t clear how much of that is intentional and how much of it is a result of the author falling back on what worked in Worm due to stressful circumstances during the writing.
It’s important to note that Pact suffered from the realities of writing a serial. Wildbow has spoken about some of the issues he faced during the writing of Pact and the stress they placed on him comes through loud and clear. As mentioned, Worm is consistent in a way Pact is not. Pact’s narrative, while beginning pretty strongly and interestingly, devolves into a mess of frantic action scenes and unceasing escalation with plot threads abruptly tied off or left dangling in the wind.
In some ways, Pact is an improvement on some of the issues Worm had—for example, Blake is a much better protagonist than Taylor ever was, and Wildbow’s usage of literary devices (foreshadowing etc) feels more intentional and deliberate. On the other hand, it embraces the questionable issues that existed at some of the shakier parts of Worm—constant escalation and pyrrhic victories, an inability to let the story breathe—and sets them through the entire story. Some other issues, like Wildbow’s difficulty with having more than one voice (and dialogue in general), remain consistent, and this is exacerbated by the fact that Pact’s general cast of characters aren’t as gripping or well-defined as Worm’s cast is.
What I credit Wildbow for with Pact is that it’s probably his one story that tries to maintain a smaller set of stakes. The problem of Pact, however, is that the constant, unending escalation means that the story feels more frantic and pressured than Worm’s cavalcade of apocalypses ever did even when it really isn’t. There are certain parts of Pact that are just grueling.
I’d also credit him with writing a far more intriguing world. Worm’s world was a pastiche of every superhero genre trope pushed into a shape where all the parts fit together fairly seamlessly. Pact felt like more of a unique twist on a genre that has always felt underutilized (unless you’re in the market for vampire and/or werewolf romance). It is an incredibly interesting universe, and a big part of the reason Pact is my favorite, and yet this world is never explored as thoroughly as it should’ve been.
I actually wrote this intending to say more, given how much I enjoyed the overall world and the earlier parts of Pact’s plot, but the above paragraphs say it all. Pact is Wildbow’s shakiest work, the one with the most potential but, at the same time, a general failure to realize it in adhering to the familiar path trailblazed by Worm. While it starts well, the constant escalation driving Blake through the plot feels like it gets ridiculous to an extent Worm never suffered from. Overall, if you liked Worm, you’ll like Pact, but this sorcerous serial won’t do much to sway readers who didn’t enjoy Worm.
November 12, 2020
Moved to gwern.net.
June 26, 2016
Pact is an absurdly long (~950K words) horror/urban fantasy story, the second web serial of Wildbow, following the huge success of Worm. Pact, at least for me, was much less of a success than Worm, although the writing definitely improved.
To start with the good parts, the world-building in Pact is absurdly good. It has what most fantasy books today lack: the shroud of mystery over the workings of the world. Every character in Pact only has scraps of knowledge; the more knowledge they have, in general the more powerful they are. "Knowledge is power" is a saying that comes up, implicitly or explicitly in almost any fantasy story, but it's very rarely true or very rarely feels true, because everyone is running around with perfect information (minus of course that one tidbit that'll save the world at the end). In Pact, "Knowledge is power" is very, very true, and it can be felt throughout the entire story.
The world is a complex place, often with no clear rules. It is also very unfair. Both of these tend to be glossed over or simplified in the fantasy genre, but not in Pact. This both makes the world far more interesting than it otherwise would be, and also makes the story a dark, unfair one.
Pact also goes against common themes such as "angels versus demons". While both exist in Pact, they are not what you would necessarily expect.
Moving on to the worse parts of the book, the story suffers from serious repetition and pacing issues. It starts off incredibly strongly, but from the first few pages onwards, the whole story is just a gradual descent into darkness. This is a problem in the sense that after the 20th time something absolutely horrible happens and people are subjected to things you would not even want to think about, instead of tensing up, you yawn, because it's just the same old, same old.
The story does have good moments, when something more interesting or unexpected happens, but it's a lot rarer than it should be. The vast majority of the story is our characters struggling, which usually means fighting for their lives. And even with magic stuff going on, it is simply not particularly interesting after the 50th such scene.
Finally, the characters are the worst aspect of Pact. They are, simply put, utterly simplistic, one-dimensional creatures, with about as much personality as a sleepy, old dog. There is also a notable shortage of likable characters, with 1 or perhaps 2 exceptions throughout the entire 2000-something pages. Even the protagonist is just an "okay". And that is not okay. I'm not particularly emotionally invested in the struggles of any character who are utterly bland and unlikable.
There was a welcome change from Worm, in that there are some lighter moments and even humor. My favourite moment was towards the very end of the story, quote without spoilers:
In that very bleak, dark scene, this is utterly hilarious and a welcome moment of respite. Unfortunately, these are few and far between.
Overall, Pact is a good story, but it has a good number of problems that are not entirely offset by how good the idea and the world-building is. Wildbow (the author) also has admitted it, and he's even refusing to recommend Pact.
I would not be quite so indiscriminate: Pact can be a good story to read, but not all at once, you definitely need a few, lighter books to break up the oppressive darkness.
To start with the good parts, the world-building in Pact is absurdly good. It has what most fantasy books today lack: the shroud of mystery over the workings of the world. Every character in Pact only has scraps of knowledge; the more knowledge they have, in general the more powerful they are. "Knowledge is power" is a saying that comes up, implicitly or explicitly in almost any fantasy story, but it's very rarely true or very rarely feels true, because everyone is running around with perfect information (minus of course that one tidbit that'll save the world at the end). In Pact, "Knowledge is power" is very, very true, and it can be felt throughout the entire story.
The world is a complex place, often with no clear rules. It is also very unfair. Both of these tend to be glossed over or simplified in the fantasy genre, but not in Pact. This both makes the world far more interesting than it otherwise would be, and also makes the story a dark, unfair one.
Pact also goes against common themes such as "angels versus demons". While both exist in Pact, they are not what you would necessarily expect.
Moving on to the worse parts of the book, the story suffers from serious repetition and pacing issues. It starts off incredibly strongly, but from the first few pages onwards, the whole story is just a gradual descent into darkness. This is a problem in the sense that after the 20th time something absolutely horrible happens and people are subjected to things you would not even want to think about, instead of tensing up, you yawn, because it's just the same old, same old.
The story does have good moments, when something more interesting or unexpected happens, but it's a lot rarer than it should be. The vast majority of the story is our characters struggling, which usually means fighting for their lives. And even with magic stuff going on, it is simply not particularly interesting after the 50th such scene.
Finally, the characters are the worst aspect of Pact. They are, simply put, utterly simplistic, one-dimensional creatures, with about as much personality as a sleepy, old dog. There is also a notable shortage of likable characters, with 1 or perhaps 2 exceptions throughout the entire 2000-something pages. Even the protagonist is just an "okay". And that is not okay. I'm not particularly emotionally invested in the struggles of any character who are utterly bland and unlikable.
There was a welcome change from Worm, in that there are some lighter moments and even humor. My favourite moment was towards the very end of the story, quote without spoilers:
"Go, Buttsack, or we all die!"
"Fuck yourself with a fork!"
In that very bleak, dark scene, this is utterly hilarious and a welcome moment of respite. Unfortunately, these are few and far between.
Overall, Pact is a good story, but it has a good number of problems that are not entirely offset by how good the idea and the world-building is. Wildbow (the author) also has admitted it, and he's even refusing to recommend Pact.
I would not be quite so indiscriminate: Pact can be a good story to read, but not all at once, you definitely need a few, lighter books to break up the oppressive darkness.
March 9, 2015
Kind of like Worm, but not as good, unfortunately. In fact, I probably wouldn't recommend reading it.
The writing is better than the writing in Worm from a purely technical perspective, but the story isn't very good. It has the fatal flaw that the rules of the universe feel arbitrary. When characters in Worm solved problems, I would sometimes find myself thinking "Wow, that's clever!", and when new powers were introduced I would immediately try to work out their implications. When characters in Pact solve problems, I find myself thinking "huh, I guess that's how the author arbitrarily decided magic works in this situation", and when new powers are introduced I shrug because I don't think I can really learn much from their descriptions.
The only reason this isn't a 1 or a 2 is that some of the characters are truly wonderful. If you can power through the first two thirds, there's a romantic subplot involving a sewer mermaid from the gaps between reality and a bogeyman made of sticks that would have earned this 3 stars all by itself. Those two characters felt more human together than most actual human characters. Even good writers have trouble making me care about stuff like that -- Patrick Rothfuss is probably my favorite writer, but if Denna had been cut out of Kvothe's story entirely I wouldn't care one bit. (Auri is another question, but now we're getting side-tracked.)
Anyway, there are a few arcs in here toward the end where that old Worm feeling took hold and I stayed up late reading, but overall I can't recommend it very highly. If you loved Worm and want more, read it and hope for the best, otherwise there's probably something better to spend your time on.
The writing is better than the writing in Worm from a purely technical perspective, but the story isn't very good. It has the fatal flaw that the rules of the universe feel arbitrary. When characters in Worm solved problems, I would sometimes find myself thinking "Wow, that's clever!", and when new powers were introduced I would immediately try to work out their implications. When characters in Pact solve problems, I find myself thinking "huh, I guess that's how the author arbitrarily decided magic works in this situation", and when new powers are introduced I shrug because I don't think I can really learn much from their descriptions.
The only reason this isn't a 1 or a 2 is that some of the characters are truly wonderful. If you can power through the first two thirds, there's a romantic subplot involving a sewer mermaid from the gaps between reality and a bogeyman made of sticks that would have earned this 3 stars all by itself. Those two characters felt more human together than most actual human characters. Even good writers have trouble making me care about stuff like that -- Patrick Rothfuss is probably my favorite writer, but if Denna had been cut out of Kvothe's story entirely I wouldn't care one bit. (Auri is another question, but now we're getting side-tracked.)
Anyway, there are a few arcs in here toward the end where that old Worm feeling took hold and I stayed up late reading, but overall I can't recommend it very highly. If you loved Worm and want more, read it and hope for the best, otherwise there's probably something better to spend your time on.
July 2, 2017
_Pact_ is what happened after the fantastically triumphant _Worm_. In it, we see a young adult plunged into a world of magic, a world of ancient pacts and karmic debt, of oaths enforced by a universal device. Demons and goblins, angels, ghosts and fairies all work within simple laws, and practitioners stake out their claims on the world using them.
I really love _Pact_'s premise. This is one of the most intriguing, most intricate bits of urban fantasy world building. I didn't know this at the time, but it blows _Neverwhere_ out of the water. It would make a fantastic game, if anyone could figure out how to implement it. Who wouldn't want to choose an implement and a familiar, stake out a claim to a demesne, and forge alliances amongst the local powers, building themselves up from nothing?
_Pact_ also has a great underlying theme. In this world of connections and ties, of realpolitik and local squabbles, the theme beneath it all is family. Even though our protagonist detests his family, who are to a large degree an array of sociopathic possibilities, he comes to rely on them as much as he relies on his few 'real' friends. Once their interests are aligned, they fight with him, and they are assets in the war against the outside world.
Those two great concepts, together with the specific flavours applied, should have made this an excellent book. But it's not, and instead of enthusing about it I mourn it. The thing that killed Pact was the pacing and the violence. Almost every chapter, the protagonist is stumbling directly from one fight to the next, losing something, persevering past something, but always winning. Even
as I marvel at the intricate relationships and fantastic characters, I grow tired of this relentless battling, always with the same cadences, never with time to relax, all reflection taking place mid-battle, as the protagonist reaches for reserves of reserves of reserves in their sixtieth consecutive fight to the death.
This setting, this story, deserved better. This world deserved drawn out-conflicts, blows exchanged as if in a chess game, internal development to match external threat. It didn't get it. Wildbow is a skillful writer, and integrates commentary on this pacing into the story, but it is fundamentally
flawed nonetheless.
March 9, 2015
Pact is a wonderful story about magic. And by that I mean it literally is full of wonders. What it isn't is delightful, cheerful, positive or any other typical connotations of goodness that "wonderful" typically has. Pact is a bleak, dreary, desperate story of Blake – a guy who receives an inheritance from his grandmother. There's the obvious part of an old house and a large piece of land, as well as funds to keep it in order. Then there's the more insidious part that this inheritance comes to him because the previous heir, his cousin Molly, has died. And there are demonic lawyers overseeing grandmother's will. And his reflection is replaced by a girl who is effectively independent of him. And every magical practitioner in town hates his family for consorting with the forces of destruction. And there's a karmic debt that several lifetimes wouldn't be enough to cover. And since becoming a practitioner, the universe enforces a rule of no lying. So... yeah. GG WP.
--Spoilers may follow--
In typical Wildbow fashion, things don't get better without getting worse. Every gain, every advance is followed by a similar or greater loss. Often the two are inseparable, as is the case with information gains. Finding out his true nature also destroys the trust he had for his double; healing himself with the help of the primal force of change means filling in the gaps with abyssal spirits and so on.
A crucial aspect of the story is the interpretability of magic. Mostly, things work because the underlying spirits that keep the world running believe that they should work. And the ways towards that are many. Theatrics matter, symbols matter, interpretations matter, traditions matter, convictions matter, deals and pacts matter, polysemy matters. Drawing a circle works because it erects a symbolic barrier between the inside and outside. Drawing it with blood works better since it's an input of personal power. Drawing it while chanting a mantra will make it better for one particular purpose.
A certain aspect I really enjoyed was the different attitudes towards deals and contracts that the various magical groups have. The demon lawyers and diabolists have a preference for exhaustive contracts. Covering every possible nuance, trying to not leave loopholes. And, of course, inevitably failing to account for something.
The faerie do much simpler deals. Usually a single sentence conditional, but typically presented in situations where analysing the rule isn't an option due to time constraints or mental ability. "You will go home when the clock strikes twelve" doesn't work, if the clock is always stuck at 11.03. Or "something from your bag" may not be any physical item, but rather concepts embedded in those items. Like a name on a test.
Meanwhile the old fashioned practitioners don't make deals as much as they create binding expectation and tradition. You can get a place to obey your wishes just by being an integral part of it for years and generations. And that's besides getting a demesne – an external manifestation of your will as a space.
There are numerous aspects that could be worth mentioning and analysing, but that's beyond the scope of this review. Instead, I want to mention the inevitable comparison to Wildbow's previous work – Worm. Pact seems at the same time more hopeless and more optimistic than Worm. In Worm there's always a hope that just after this one hurdle things are finally get better for everyone we care about. And yet it doesn't. In Pact, it's clear from the beginning that things will not end well for the main characters, but that makes the small victories more meaningful. Possibly because many of Blake's sacrifices aren't there to weaken his enemies, but to aid his allies. Or maybe the impact of the next loss is dulled by expectation. In this context, not getting a break even at the very end was... fitting. Unlike many other commenters, I didn't feel outraged by the lack of reward.
Either way, I went in expecting a darker storyline than I ended up experiencing. Which is the opposite of how reading Worm went.
The story is also less epic, less tied to current culture and hits several snags along the way. But it leaves more space for interpretation and speculation.
All in all, excited to see what Wildbow writes next.
--Spoilers may follow--
In typical Wildbow fashion, things don't get better without getting worse. Every gain, every advance is followed by a similar or greater loss. Often the two are inseparable, as is the case with information gains. Finding out his true nature also destroys the trust he had for his double; healing himself with the help of the primal force of change means filling in the gaps with abyssal spirits and so on.
A crucial aspect of the story is the interpretability of magic. Mostly, things work because the underlying spirits that keep the world running believe that they should work. And the ways towards that are many. Theatrics matter, symbols matter, interpretations matter, traditions matter, convictions matter, deals and pacts matter, polysemy matters. Drawing a circle works because it erects a symbolic barrier between the inside and outside. Drawing it with blood works better since it's an input of personal power. Drawing it while chanting a mantra will make it better for one particular purpose.
A certain aspect I really enjoyed was the different attitudes towards deals and contracts that the various magical groups have. The demon lawyers and diabolists have a preference for exhaustive contracts. Covering every possible nuance, trying to not leave loopholes. And, of course, inevitably failing to account for something.
The faerie do much simpler deals. Usually a single sentence conditional, but typically presented in situations where analysing the rule isn't an option due to time constraints or mental ability. "You will go home when the clock strikes twelve" doesn't work, if the clock is always stuck at 11.03. Or "something from your bag" may not be any physical item, but rather concepts embedded in those items. Like a name on a test.
Meanwhile the old fashioned practitioners don't make deals as much as they create binding expectation and tradition. You can get a place to obey your wishes just by being an integral part of it for years and generations. And that's besides getting a demesne – an external manifestation of your will as a space.
There are numerous aspects that could be worth mentioning and analysing, but that's beyond the scope of this review. Instead, I want to mention the inevitable comparison to Wildbow's previous work – Worm. Pact seems at the same time more hopeless and more optimistic than Worm. In Worm there's always a hope that just after this one hurdle things are finally get better for everyone we care about. And yet it doesn't. In Pact, it's clear from the beginning that things will not end well for the main characters, but that makes the small victories more meaningful. Possibly because many of Blake's sacrifices aren't there to weaken his enemies, but to aid his allies. Or maybe the impact of the next loss is dulled by expectation. In this context, not getting a break even at the very end was... fitting. Unlike many other commenters, I didn't feel outraged by the lack of reward.
Either way, I went in expecting a darker storyline than I ended up experiencing. Which is the opposite of how reading Worm went.
The story is also less epic, less tied to current culture and hits several snags along the way. But it leaves more space for interpretation and speculation.
All in all, excited to see what Wildbow writes next.
August 22, 2018
After being unable to read anything but WORM over the course of 6 months during my commute to and from work, I was excited to read PACT. While Wildbow's writing style is engaging as usual, it seems they fell into telling rather than showing. As a result, I couldn't make it past "Collateral 4.6."
Positives:
I. Love. Maggie. In fact when I was ready to put the book (well phone in this case) down, reading "Histories (Arc 2)" made me excited enough to continue reading. I wanted her to become a main character! (And I'm sure she does...I just didn't have the patience to get to that part.)
I applaud Wildbow for choosing to make a protagonist with depth. To many authors steer clear of creating haunted protagonists because they have had happy childhoods, or choose to insult those who have had difficult childhoods by creating a caricature instead of a human being. If you have never been homeless, it's not easy to write about a teenager who has been homeless, so perhaps this is why Wildbow chose to tell rather than show. Or, perhaps Wildbow can relate from first-hand experience, but fell into telling instead of showing because for some reason they felt it was important to get Blake's past out there asap instead of revealing slowly over time through interactions with others.
If it's the former, I think that doing research and interviews of persons who have been homeless, or broadening your social group to include people who have had a difficult past can make it possible for writers who lack experience to write a character authentically. That being said, nothing about Blake came across as inauthentic. Instead, Blake just felt flat because he told and alluded so much to his past in an unnatural way.
Once again, Wildbow takes a tired genre dominated by cheesy, flat, or awful characters and shows us how it can be engaging if done right. It felt like I was reading an episode of Supernatural (that's a compliment, by the way). With some editing and re-framing, PACT could be good.
Why I stopped reading:
The conversation between Blake and rose in "Collateral 4.6" summarizes everything I don't like about the book. Wow was that conversation difficult to read. I couldn't finish the chapter. Blake, stop narrating your life to us. Nobody does that. I could not imagine two people actually having that conversation in real life. It didn't feel believable.
I thought that Skitter was cold and distant because the author chose to make her that way. However, after reading PACT, I felt like Wildbow is perhaps in many ways like Skitter, because Blake felt cold and calculating in many of the same ways. The way he described his emotions, the way he explained to us his reasoning, it felt too much like WORM's protagonist.
Maggie is unusual, but we learn about her in a more natural way. Maggie has two gay dads, she has an arguably traumatic past, she has attitude and spunk and mystery. Blake is also unusual and sassy, but the way we learn about his background feels false.
I'm excited to read TWIG! Perhaps I'll give PACT a second chance another day.
Positives:
I. Love. Maggie. In fact when I was ready to put the book (well phone in this case) down, reading "Histories (Arc 2)" made me excited enough to continue reading. I wanted her to become a main character! (And I'm sure she does...I just didn't have the patience to get to that part.)
I applaud Wildbow for choosing to make a protagonist with depth. To many authors steer clear of creating haunted protagonists because they have had happy childhoods, or choose to insult those who have had difficult childhoods by creating a caricature instead of a human being. If you have never been homeless, it's not easy to write about a teenager who has been homeless, so perhaps this is why Wildbow chose to tell rather than show. Or, perhaps Wildbow can relate from first-hand experience, but fell into telling instead of showing because for some reason they felt it was important to get Blake's past out there asap instead of revealing slowly over time through interactions with others.
If it's the former, I think that doing research and interviews of persons who have been homeless, or broadening your social group to include people who have had a difficult past can make it possible for writers who lack experience to write a character authentically. That being said, nothing about Blake came across as inauthentic. Instead, Blake just felt flat because he told and alluded so much to his past in an unnatural way.
Once again, Wildbow takes a tired genre dominated by cheesy, flat, or awful characters and shows us how it can be engaging if done right. It felt like I was reading an episode of Supernatural (that's a compliment, by the way). With some editing and re-framing, PACT could be good.
Why I stopped reading:
The conversation between Blake and rose in "Collateral 4.6" summarizes everything I don't like about the book. Wow was that conversation difficult to read. I couldn't finish the chapter. Blake, stop narrating your life to us. Nobody does that. I could not imagine two people actually having that conversation in real life. It didn't feel believable.
I thought that Skitter was cold and distant because the author chose to make her that way. However, after reading PACT, I felt like Wildbow is perhaps in many ways like Skitter, because Blake felt cold and calculating in many of the same ways. The way he described his emotions, the way he explained to us his reasoning, it felt too much like WORM's protagonist.
Maggie is unusual, but we learn about her in a more natural way. Maggie has two gay dads, she has an arguably traumatic past, she has attitude and spunk and mystery. Blake is also unusual and sassy, but the way we learn about his background feels false.
I'm excited to read TWIG! Perhaps I'll give PACT a second chance another day.
February 22, 2018
If you have read one of Wildbow's web serials before - Worm, or Twig, or the current (as of this writing) Ward - you know what you're getting into to some degree. Bad situations will get worse, beloved characters will be hurt, seemingly ideal outcomes will have disastrous results, and you might just love every minute of it.
Pact is broadly considered to be the "worst" of the four (including by the author, if I'm not mistaken), but it's far from a failure. The underlying systems here deal with the occult, with mythology, and especially with superstition, and as a result there are few clear-cut lines - at times this can result in solutions that feel like ass-pulls, but for the most part you get elegant and artistic climaxes to epic conflicts. A demon of entropy is trapped and contained by art, a force of creation. A chronomancer's dramatic speech is interrupted by course language, literally resetting their momentum. A girl's name is stolen and the world begins to forget about her until she can seize a new one for herself. Forces of metaphor and figures of speech come to life, and sometimes you've just gotta fight fire with fire.
Characterization is a bit bumpy, unfortunately, which is odd considering it's a major point of interest in the author's other serials. The villains are excellent and dynamic, there are tons of awesome characters who are of questionable allegiance, but most of the people who are solidly in the protag's camp fall a bit flat. At times you dread the sudden-but-inevitable betrayals, not because it will hurt characters you care about, but because it means the characters you care about will stop being the center of attention until the main characters finish dealing with the fallout from said betrayals.
And at times the symbolism can get in the way of the plot, leaving things unclear - this especially starts happening near the end, where reality starts to break down and things really get weird. But the ending is satisfying, characters grow and learn (or die trying), and the status quo changes forever, just like every good plotline will do.
If you're looking for a good urban fantasy, you could do much worse. If you want a story that takes a deep dive into occultism without getting preachy, I would highly recommend Pact. But if all you want is a new web serial, I'd recommend giving Worm or Twig a try instead - they're excellent works of writing that accomplish their goals in different, but often better, ways than this.
Pact is broadly considered to be the "worst" of the four (including by the author, if I'm not mistaken), but it's far from a failure. The underlying systems here deal with the occult, with mythology, and especially with superstition, and as a result there are few clear-cut lines - at times this can result in solutions that feel like ass-pulls, but for the most part you get elegant and artistic climaxes to epic conflicts. A demon of entropy is trapped and contained by art, a force of creation. A chronomancer's dramatic speech is interrupted by course language, literally resetting their momentum. A girl's name is stolen and the world begins to forget about her until she can seize a new one for herself. Forces of metaphor and figures of speech come to life, and sometimes you've just gotta fight fire with fire.
Characterization is a bit bumpy, unfortunately, which is odd considering it's a major point of interest in the author's other serials. The villains are excellent and dynamic, there are tons of awesome characters who are of questionable allegiance, but most of the people who are solidly in the protag's camp fall a bit flat. At times you dread the sudden-but-inevitable betrayals, not because it will hurt characters you care about, but because it means the characters you care about will stop being the center of attention until the main characters finish dealing with the fallout from said betrayals.
And at times the symbolism can get in the way of the plot, leaving things unclear - this especially starts happening near the end, where reality starts to break down and things really get weird. But the ending is satisfying, characters grow and learn (or die trying), and the status quo changes forever, just like every good plotline will do.
If you're looking for a good urban fantasy, you could do much worse. If you want a story that takes a deep dive into occultism without getting preachy, I would highly recommend Pact. But if all you want is a new web serial, I'd recommend giving Worm or Twig a try instead - they're excellent works of writing that accomplish their goals in different, but often better, ways than this.
December 24, 2016
did not finish. reached chapter 3.3, I think. I got tired of the protagonist being ignorant. he has all these books and doesn't seem to be taking advantage and actually reading them. he already has an arrangement for sustenance, and a safe place to read. yet he persists in making his own life hard. I got fed up, and decided to put this book down and move on with my reading list.
April 5, 2022
One of the better paced books I've read by Wildbow-- still insanely long. A short enough cast of characters that you can remember everyone important, an interesting take on magic systems, and a really interesting main character that grows on you. Pretty good! Couple slow arcs.
March 21, 2018
750 out of 2100 pages is enough,I'm calling this a win
i didn't like the world building,i didn't like the overall plot
i didn't like the plot armor that has become on of the writer hallmarks
the stars are for the writing ,it was exceptional .one of my best in urban fantasy
i didn't like the world building,i didn't like the overall plot
i didn't like the plot armor that has become on of the writer hallmarks
the stars are for the writing ,it was exceptional .one of my best in urban fantasy
June 28, 2019
Lots of good ideas, writing is in many ways a step up from Worm, but my main complaints are the ones everyone else has: the pacing is super weird and the characters aren't great.
Idk if I'm gonna try and finish it or not, but maybe it gets miraculously better toward the end. 3.5/5
Idk if I'm gonna try and finish it or not, but maybe it gets miraculously better toward the end. 3.5/5
August 19, 2022
Personally I loved Pact. It's hard to accurately reflect on such a massive piece of work the length of 10-20 novels. It doesn't help I binged more than half of it, took a break to then binge up to the last arc, then only just now finish a few years later. I really should have just re-read it, but as you can imagine that's a daunting task.
I can only compare it to Worm, as it's the only other wildbow series I've read (and also binged/break/binge/unfinished) and immediately the tone, characters, pacing, setting, etc. is all quite different. It has a much more "zoomed in" feel to it. The world isn't only more condensed, with less characters and locations, but you get a much more intimate look at the people and places.
Jacob's Bell is well established with its different groups and history, the characters have much more personality and growth, and even the magic system and fantasy elements are well fleshed out and realized in comparison. The pacing as well fits better than I feel it did in Worm. I found Worm much more interesting and "cooler" overall but I feel objectively this is a better written serial.
I won't get into specifics, I'm not a writer and my reviews serve solely as an outlet for my thoughts and feelings. I'll now immediately get into specifics apparently lol...
The entire sections where Blake meets Evan and then later when Blake meets Green Eyes are in my opinion not only the best parts of the book but also introduce you to my favorite characters of the book. As Blake changes as a character throughout the serial his two closest friends are also the least human but by far the most caring. Really almost every character are dicks and even those closest to him let him down. Mags was probably the only other character I'd even be friends with, she's cool.
The ending was very anti climatic, I didn't even realize it was over, but the epilogue.... It was nice. Definitely got a good cry out of me. Damn got me again... Imagining them little wings and the feeling of the wind whipping past... Hope you guys are having fun...
Ironically as long as it was it felt a bit unfinished and maybe a bit rushed towards the end. I'm aware of Pale being in the same world but am unaware of what exactly that entails, but I don't expect it to be a sequel though maybe if will answer some of the larger questions.
Overall I loved Pact and just further establishes I love wildbow as an author. Not sure which I'll read yet, perhaps go back to finish Worm, but you can be sure it's not the last I'll read from him.
I can only compare it to Worm, as it's the only other wildbow series I've read (and also binged/break/binge/unfinished) and immediately the tone, characters, pacing, setting, etc. is all quite different. It has a much more "zoomed in" feel to it. The world isn't only more condensed, with less characters and locations, but you get a much more intimate look at the people and places.
Jacob's Bell is well established with its different groups and history, the characters have much more personality and growth, and even the magic system and fantasy elements are well fleshed out and realized in comparison. The pacing as well fits better than I feel it did in Worm. I found Worm much more interesting and "cooler" overall but I feel objectively this is a better written serial.
I won't get into specifics, I'm not a writer and my reviews serve solely as an outlet for my thoughts and feelings. I'll now immediately get into specifics apparently lol...
The entire sections where Blake meets Evan and then later when Blake meets Green Eyes are in my opinion not only the best parts of the book but also introduce you to my favorite characters of the book. As Blake changes as a character throughout the serial his two closest friends are also the least human but by far the most caring. Really almost every character are dicks and even those closest to him let him down. Mags was probably the only other character I'd even be friends with, she's cool.
The ending was very anti climatic, I didn't even realize it was over, but the epilogue.... It was nice. Definitely got a good cry out of me. Damn got me again... Imagining them little wings and the feeling of the wind whipping past... Hope you guys are having fun...
Ironically as long as it was it felt a bit unfinished and maybe a bit rushed towards the end. I'm aware of Pale being in the same world but am unaware of what exactly that entails, but I don't expect it to be a sequel though maybe if will answer some of the larger questions.
Overall I loved Pact and just further establishes I love wildbow as an author. Not sure which I'll read yet, perhaps go back to finish Worm, but you can be sure it's not the last I'll read from him.
August 18, 2024
I just finished the first the first 3 arcs/volumes of Pact and while it was interesting and unique and the plot was engaging I do have one complaint.
There was virtually no action. I kept hearing how action packed it was and how fast paced but I didn’t get any of that in these first 3 arcs. There were only 2 scenes that were actual action scenes, the rest was a lot of dialogue. A lot of explaining and developing the magic system but without actually using it. A lot of admittedly cool worldbuilding.
If I decide to keep reading I’ll divide each time I read it into sections of 3 arcs. I’m not sure I’ll continue though
There was virtually no action. I kept hearing how action packed it was and how fast paced but I didn’t get any of that in these first 3 arcs. There were only 2 scenes that were actual action scenes, the rest was a lot of dialogue. A lot of explaining and developing the magic system but without actually using it. A lot of admittedly cool worldbuilding.
If I decide to keep reading I’ll divide each time I read it into sections of 3 arcs. I’m not sure I’ll continue though
March 3, 2024
Beautifully intricate but possibly a bit much of the good stuff. Don't get me wrong if you're really into occult stories where actions have _consequences_ then this might be something for you, just be prepared that it's a long read that feels like a constant uphill battle. Similar feeling to Worm by the same author.
March 16, 2023
Objectively the worst of the author's works. However, I cannot help but love the bleakness that is present in every single page of this book.
June 7, 2020
Pact is the second novel by Canadian authot Wildbow. It's the third novel by him i've read, i really enjoyed his other works, please consider reading them. It follows the most unlucky person on Earth after he inherits his grandmother's manor along with its cache of forbidden books about demons and her legion of enemies. The darkest fantasy world where everything has a price and every fantasy trope gets twisted and subverted. If this sounds good, i don't blame you, the premise is amazing and after the writer's previous novel being a cult hit and a masterpiece, this was supposed to be a clasic. But like every chapter in this novel seems to end: things went terribly wrong.
Let me start by saying Pact is not bad. I'm going to be pretty ruthless here, but being by far the authors weakest novel means being very above average. Being compared to Worm and Twig is unfair since those two aresome of my favorite things ever, but it doesn't excuse Pact from being such a letdown.
What it does right:
-Superb world. I can't really stress this enough: the Pactverse is intriguing, dark, mysterious, creepy... everything about it oozes character and it's so eerie and edgy. It's what draws you in, it's what keeps you reading. The descriptions of demons are nightmare inducing, specially Ur. Goblins are such a lively bunch of disgusting buffoons, the bogeymen are wonderfully executed and my god the Abyss is such a great concept.
-The comic relief characters are very well executed and this is vital because the tone and pacing are so brutal that anything that helps break them is more than welcome.
-The Thorburn family portrays human misery in a way that is hard to top. They're grounded, they are mean, they are distinct and they seize any scene they happen to be in. Anyone with family issues is gonna relate heavily to the themes of trauma and abusive relationships.
-Blake is a better protagonist than Taylor, more empathetic and dynamic.
-The plot twists hit hard and they hit often. Rarely predictable, often surprising and thought-provoking.
Where it went wrong:
-Pacing issues would imply there's a pace that has some issues. I know how dumb this sounds but hear me out: this is not pacing, this is a panic attack. Action never stops, bad things never stop happening. Pact cannot stay put for one damned second without throwing something at you because it's like a hummingbird and if it stays still it dies. The whole 3000+ pages take place over less than 2 months and one month is a timeskip. Half the novel covers less than a week.
-This means no room to develop characters, no time to flex the world, no time to dwell on the themes that it promised from the start. You want a cool demon story? Well sucks to be you cause you're getting 3000 pages of flat characters barely scraping by and gaming the system through Deus Ex machina and achieving Pyrrhic victories.
-95% of characters are just so bland and forgettable i barely remember they died. They get a few lines of characterization and then they're there for 2000 pages and i don't know if i could use 2 adjectives to describe them. Their concept may be interesting but when it comes to their personality? Ty and Tiff and Alexis? Artsy damaged. The High Priest of Dyonisus? He's serious. Johannes? He's... ambitious. The villains are terrible too being so one dymensional i struggle to describe their motivations. It seems plot devices are used to justify the story is aware but if Conquest is flat by design,it shouldn't be the antagonist for a full third of the novel.
-Rose Thorburn is so unworthy of your time and sympathy that it needs to be justified it via plot devices.
-The arcs blur toghether in a haze of things going wrong and bad people being worse every time. I finished Twig a month ago and i remember what happens in every arc, even the weaker ones. I have just finished Pact and i'm struggling to recall what goes on from 9th to 16th. They follow a static pattern of constant struggle finishing in the slightest victory. You don't hope for the future arcs, you just embrace the "oh shit here we go again" spirit and carry on.
I should stop. There's great scenes at Pact, great chapters, some genuinely interesting characters and relationships. Arcs 1 and 9 are brilliant. The universe is one worth revisiting. But this thing is so long, so miserable, so disappointing in its execution. I'll come to this review in a while when i've cooled off but for now i cannot recommend this book. I feel like after reading every word and signing the contract, i finally realized i was tricked from the start.
Let me start by saying Pact is not bad. I'm going to be pretty ruthless here, but being by far the authors weakest novel means being very above average. Being compared to Worm and Twig is unfair since those two aresome of my favorite things ever, but it doesn't excuse Pact from being such a letdown.
What it does right:
-Superb world. I can't really stress this enough: the Pactverse is intriguing, dark, mysterious, creepy... everything about it oozes character and it's so eerie and edgy. It's what draws you in, it's what keeps you reading. The descriptions of demons are nightmare inducing, specially Ur. Goblins are such a lively bunch of disgusting buffoons, the bogeymen are wonderfully executed and my god the Abyss is such a great concept.
-The comic relief characters are very well executed and this is vital because the tone and pacing are so brutal that anything that helps break them is more than welcome.
-The Thorburn family portrays human misery in a way that is hard to top. They're grounded, they are mean, they are distinct and they seize any scene they happen to be in. Anyone with family issues is gonna relate heavily to the themes of trauma and abusive relationships.
-Blake is a better protagonist than Taylor, more empathetic and dynamic.
-The plot twists hit hard and they hit often. Rarely predictable, often surprising and thought-provoking.
Where it went wrong:
-Pacing issues would imply there's a pace that has some issues. I know how dumb this sounds but hear me out: this is not pacing, this is a panic attack. Action never stops, bad things never stop happening. Pact cannot stay put for one damned second without throwing something at you because it's like a hummingbird and if it stays still it dies. The whole 3000+ pages take place over less than 2 months and one month is a timeskip. Half the novel covers less than a week.
-This means no room to develop characters, no time to flex the world, no time to dwell on the themes that it promised from the start. You want a cool demon story? Well sucks to be you cause you're getting 3000 pages of flat characters barely scraping by and gaming the system through Deus Ex machina and achieving Pyrrhic victories.
-95% of characters are just so bland and forgettable i barely remember they died. They get a few lines of characterization and then they're there for 2000 pages and i don't know if i could use 2 adjectives to describe them. Their concept may be interesting but when it comes to their personality? Ty and Tiff and Alexis? Artsy damaged. The High Priest of Dyonisus? He's serious. Johannes? He's... ambitious. The villains are terrible too being so one dymensional i struggle to describe their motivations. It seems plot devices are used to justify the story is aware but if Conquest is flat by design,it shouldn't be the antagonist for a full third of the novel.
-Rose Thorburn is so unworthy of your time and sympathy that it needs to be justified it via plot devices.
-The arcs blur toghether in a haze of things going wrong and bad people being worse every time. I finished Twig a month ago and i remember what happens in every arc, even the weaker ones. I have just finished Pact and i'm struggling to recall what goes on from 9th to 16th. They follow a static pattern of constant struggle finishing in the slightest victory. You don't hope for the future arcs, you just embrace the "oh shit here we go again" spirit and carry on.
I should stop. There's great scenes at Pact, great chapters, some genuinely interesting characters and relationships. Arcs 1 and 9 are brilliant. The universe is one worth revisiting. But this thing is so long, so miserable, so disappointing in its execution. I'll come to this review in a while when i've cooled off but for now i cannot recommend this book. I feel like after reading every word and signing the contract, i finally realized i was tricked from the start.
January 9, 2022
I just finished arc 10, and I think I have to put this book down. This review might be biased, because I am a big fan of the progression fantasy genre, but for all my fellow fans of the genre, let me say that this is a massive disappointment. Worm, while definitely not a hardcore progression story, for sure scratched the progression itch. Pact, however, sets itself up to be a full blown progression fantasy in the same category as MoL and Cradle. This is, essentially, a facade. The main character (Blake) gets Dragon Ball GT’d no less than three times over the course of the story. Full blown power reset. On top of this, Blake has full access to a vast library of magickal tomes and books full of spells, and simply does not use it, until he physically cannot anymore. After the first couple chapters, Blake gets virtually no downtime, making the whole story feel exhausting. On top of this, he makes virtually no permanent allies throughout the story, making for, yet again, a very tiring story. The magic system, as well, is extremely loose and poorly defined. In Worm, for example, whenever a character uses their power in a clever way, I feel like I figured something out, like they were smart for that. However, in Pact, whenever a character uses magic in a “clever” way, it simply feels like an asspull 95% of the time. I might pick this book back up, but (excluding twig, which I haven’t read), this is sadly the worst Wildbow serial.
That’s not to say that there’s nothing redeemable about Pact. The magic system, while loose, is pretty well representative of Western Occult tradition. Perhaps the most appealing part of the whole thing (at least for me) was the binding of various entities by pretty much every important character. Maggie/Maga Holt, for example, was probably the best character, and had an intriguing set of powers revolving around capturing and binding goblins. She is able to barter their freedom for information, send them after her enemies like junkyard dogs, and have them do menial labor when it would be convenient. Early in the story, as well, Blake and Rose manage to bind two ghosts into a hatchet and wine bottle respectively. The former serves as a badass ice weapon, while the latter serves as a tear gas bomb around halfway through the story.
Overall, while it has it’s positive aspects, I would give Pact by Wildbow a 2/5.
That’s not to say that there’s nothing redeemable about Pact. The magic system, while loose, is pretty well representative of Western Occult tradition. Perhaps the most appealing part of the whole thing (at least for me) was the binding of various entities by pretty much every important character. Maggie/Maga Holt, for example, was probably the best character, and had an intriguing set of powers revolving around capturing and binding goblins. She is able to barter their freedom for information, send them after her enemies like junkyard dogs, and have them do menial labor when it would be convenient. Early in the story, as well, Blake and Rose manage to bind two ghosts into a hatchet and wine bottle respectively. The former serves as a badass ice weapon, while the latter serves as a tear gas bomb around halfway through the story.
Overall, while it has it’s positive aspects, I would give Pact by Wildbow a 2/5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2020
Wildbow много го бива да започне страхотно една история, да накара читателя да инвестира внимание и емоции в изграждането на герои и свят в продължение на 1000-2000 страници и след това радикално да промени ситуацията, да изостави старите герои и да започне едва ли не нов разказ във втората половина от книгата. Така направи с Worm, така прави и сега с Pact.
Докато Worm обаче беше дотолкова невероятно увличаща и интересна в първата си част, че само заради нея заслужава максимална оценка, а втората не беше никак лоша, Pact страда от достатъчно сериозни недостатъци от самото начало.
Самата фабула е доста интересна - окултен свят в който незнаещи ходим всички, но го виждат само посветени, които обаче са обвързани от законите на вселената и кармата така, че практически не могат да лъжат и да не изпълняват обещание. Което, както предполага заглавието, кара всяко общуване между посветените и/или окултните създания е свързано с безкрайни преговори, условия, съглашения, условия и договорки, които те са длъжни да спазват.
Завръзката е интересна, има и екшън, но за съжаление огромен пропуск на автора е мотивацията на главния герой. Още отначало той започва да се впуска в какви ли не рисковани и направо самоубийствени действия, мисии и задачи, без да има каквато и да е подготовка, знания и дори идея с какво се захваща. Всъщност, той даже желание няма да ги прави тия неща, така че остава пълна загадка не само защо си мисли, че може да ги прави, ами и защо изобщо се опитва.
Така понеже главният герой няма никаква цел и идея накъде и защо отива и защо прави нещата, които прави, самият роман няма цел и идея накъде отива и защо се случват нещата, които се случват.
Да, Wildbow си е майстор да създаде запомнящи се образи, за които ти пука и следиш с жаден интерес какво се случва с тях, но...
Докато Worm обаче беше дотолкова невероятно увличаща и интересна в първата си част, че само заради нея заслужава максимална оценка, а втората не беше никак лоша, Pact страда от достатъчно сериозни недостатъци от самото начало.
Самата фабула е доста интересна - окултен свят в който незнаещи ходим всички, но го виждат само посветени, които обаче са обвързани от законите на вселената и кармата така, че практически не могат да лъжат и да не изпълняват обещание. Което, както предполага заглавието, кара всяко общуване между посветените и/или окултните създания е свързано с безкрайни преговори, условия, съглашения, условия и договорки, които те са длъжни да спазват.
Завръзката е интересна, има и екшън, но за съжаление огромен пропуск на автора е мотивацията на главния герой. Още отначало той започва да се впуска в какви ли не рисковани и направо самоубийствени действия, мисии и задачи, без да има каквато и да е подготовка, знания и дори идея с какво се захваща. Всъщност, той даже желание няма да ги прави тия неща, така че остава пълна загадка не само защо си мисли, че може да ги прави, ами и защо изобщо се опитва.
Така понеже главният герой няма никаква цел и идея накъде и защо отива и защо прави нещата, които прави, самият роман няма цел и идея накъде отива и защо се случват нещата, които се случват.
Да, Wildbow си е майстор да създаде запомнящи се образи, за които ти пука и следиш с жаден интерес какво се случва с тях, но...
August 7, 2022
Abstract poetry filled the pages and when the dust settled, nearly nothing happened. I'm sorry, but boomers who are too out of date to send their own emails should be removed from office. And authors who write like a boomer should have their quill taken away. It's hard enough communicating with people when you're trying to be as clear as possible vs some Karen, but there are people who go above and beyond to recite poetry at me? What are you? A politician?
I took nearly 4 chapters for the author to come out and say that Blake is a BOY and not an effeminate trap named Jaimie who cooks in a naked apron for his dominate girlfriend named Rose. Inflecting about stupid sh*t doesn't make it more sophisticated, if it has no point to make and conveys no further information, it's just worthless whining of a man without a spine.
I took nearly 4 chapters for the author to come out and say that Blake is a BOY and not an effeminate trap named Jaimie who cooks in a naked apron for his dominate girlfriend named Rose. Inflecting about stupid sh*t doesn't make it more sophisticated, if it has no point to make and conveys no further information, it's just worthless whining of a man without a spine.
November 9, 2019
There's a lot to love here. Wildbow had some really fun ideas about the world of Pact. But there's also a combat scene roughly every other chapter. And the temporal sequencing if them is unpleasant. It seemed like the last quarter of the book too place over the course of one exhausted, violence-filled night. At some point the characters encounter another monster and you're like "nu-uh. They'd be dead simply from exhaustion, let alone their injuries." (Which are described in some detail.)
Wildbow is a talented author of violent long-form fiction. If you need something to commit to for several thousand pages, go for it. But I can't in general recommend Pact.
Wildbow is a talented author of violent long-form fiction. If you need something to commit to for several thousand pages, go for it. But I can't in general recommend Pact.
June 17, 2017
Let me get this out of the way: I did not like Pact. I did not love it. I did not enjoy it. And I gave it 5 stars. It was that well written.
Pact is dark in ways that Worm isn't. If being Taylor Hebert is suffering, then being any of the Pact characters is actual hell. But I also read this while I was in a bad place in my life.
I recommend reading Pact, if you can handle depressing stories. If not, skip it. This is a 'love it or hate it' story.
Pact is dark in ways that Worm isn't. If being Taylor Hebert is suffering, then being any of the Pact characters is actual hell. But I also read this while I was in a bad place in my life.
I recommend reading Pact, if you can handle depressing stories. If not, skip it. This is a 'love it or hate it' story.
December 29, 2020
As expressed by Wildbow himself, this was a growth book for him.
I read the 1st quarter of the book and it was pretty good, then skimmed through to the end. The rest of the book just rinses and repeats the 1st quarter of the book. Too many characters, too much backstory in some spots, and the rules of the world kept changing, too much for my taste.
Worm and Ward are great though, read those. Highly recommend.
I read the 1st quarter of the book and it was pretty good, then skimmed through to the end. The rest of the book just rinses and repeats the 1st quarter of the book. Too many characters, too much backstory in some spots, and the rules of the world kept changing, too much for my taste.
Worm and Ward are great though, read those. Highly recommend.
April 21, 2019
The inevitable comparison to Worm is there. And it's not as good. But it's an interesting journey nonetheless, and if you enjoyed Worm, it's worth the read. Just be prepared to come back to it a few times before you can fully complete it, it's harder to read, both bleaker and less bleak at the same time, and less grounded than Worm managed to be.
May 20, 2021
Birbs
Lotsa birbs
Lotsa birbs
December 29, 2021
Being a fan of Wildbow's for years, I somehow let his non-parahumans works slip me by. I picked up Pact once but lost focus and never finished it. I'm so glad I fixed that and read it all the way through, because it's a fantastic read.
Blake is a fantastic protagonist. He's thrown into the magical world of Pact with no training or explanation, and immediately outclassed and outsmarted by everyone around him, but he's so impulsive, and reckless, and self-destructive that he always manages to just barely survive every encounter, like a lizard losing its tail to get away. Then there's Rose, who couldn't be more different. Deliberate, and cautious, and cunning, but unfortunately for her, stuck with Blake. It's really easy to get frustrated with both of them, but it all comes together when they realize why they both are the way they are.
Much like Wildbow's other works, though, the real richness of it all comes from the other characters. Maggie, Fell, Evan, Conquest, Green Eyes, Isadora, Laird, Aimon, Alexis. There's too many characters in Pact that are all just absolute joys to read. Wildbow has always been good about taking a moment from the narrative to write the story from another perspective, and he takes that to an entirely new level with Pact. Each practitioner views the world in such a distinctly different way, filtered through their practice, but the perspective of the Others are even more dramatically different, and it makes each interlude chapter such a joy to read.
The setting of Jacobs Bell is a lot of fun. A small town, struggling to become something more, just on the cusp of growing into a real hub, all being held back by one family. It creates this great, oppressive danger for Blake and Rose, turning the entire town into an enemy. But moreso than just Jacobs Bell, the whole setting of Pact is fascinating. A few of the interlude chapters are just excerpts from in-universe textbooks, and I could honestly read a thousand pages of those, getting deep into the weeds of theorizing on the nature of magic, karma, Others, and the universe. The Abyss in particular was always fun to read whenever it came up.
I will say, this book is not for the squeamish. Wildbow delights and excels with body horror, and this setting lets him go absolutely wild with it.
The magic system is the real star of Pact. It's as far from a hard-magic system as a story could get, but it's always comprehensible. The most important job of a magic system is to make sure the audience can figure out what will or won't work even before the characters try it, and Pact does this pretty well. There was only one particular instance where a cheap trick felt a little too cheap for me, but it was otherwise flawless. Knowing that there is another serial going on within this universe is so exciting. After reading a million words in this world, I could easily read another two million.
Blake is a fantastic protagonist. He's thrown into the magical world of Pact with no training or explanation, and immediately outclassed and outsmarted by everyone around him, but he's so impulsive, and reckless, and self-destructive that he always manages to just barely survive every encounter, like a lizard losing its tail to get away. Then there's Rose, who couldn't be more different. Deliberate, and cautious, and cunning, but unfortunately for her, stuck with Blake. It's really easy to get frustrated with both of them, but it all comes together when they realize why they both are the way they are.
Much like Wildbow's other works, though, the real richness of it all comes from the other characters. Maggie, Fell, Evan, Conquest, Green Eyes, Isadora, Laird, Aimon, Alexis. There's too many characters in Pact that are all just absolute joys to read. Wildbow has always been good about taking a moment from the narrative to write the story from another perspective, and he takes that to an entirely new level with Pact. Each practitioner views the world in such a distinctly different way, filtered through their practice, but the perspective of the Others are even more dramatically different, and it makes each interlude chapter such a joy to read.
The setting of Jacobs Bell is a lot of fun. A small town, struggling to become something more, just on the cusp of growing into a real hub, all being held back by one family. It creates this great, oppressive danger for Blake and Rose, turning the entire town into an enemy. But moreso than just Jacobs Bell, the whole setting of Pact is fascinating. A few of the interlude chapters are just excerpts from in-universe textbooks, and I could honestly read a thousand pages of those, getting deep into the weeds of theorizing on the nature of magic, karma, Others, and the universe. The Abyss in particular was always fun to read whenever it came up.
I will say, this book is not for the squeamish. Wildbow delights and excels with body horror, and this setting lets him go absolutely wild with it.
The magic system is the real star of Pact. It's as far from a hard-magic system as a story could get, but it's always comprehensible. The most important job of a magic system is to make sure the audience can figure out what will or won't work even before the characters try it, and Pact does this pretty well. There was only one particular instance where a cheap trick felt a little too cheap for me, but it was otherwise flawless. Knowing that there is another serial going on within this universe is so exciting. After reading a million words in this world, I could easily read another two million.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2025
I applaud Wildbows world and magic system, but this book has some really messy holes. Many of them have already been talked about, so I'll just put the one that I found most annoying.
Exposure to non-monogamy seems to be extremely traumatizing to the characters in this book, described as “unjust” in Rose Senior’s case and “manipulative” in Blake’s. While there are other facets to these situations, non-monogamy is a major focus in both. It drives a lot of both Blake’s and Rose Senior’s characterization and is framed as a major, PTSD-style trauma, yet at the same time they’re witnessing people die and largely brushing it off.
I’m sorry, but IMO I’d be less affected by an accidental glimpse of an orgy than by dealing with a literal murder demon or stabbing someone in the throat. Blake full-on psycho-tortures Laird with Pauz and later stabs him in the throat, but being part of a kind of weird commune (I hesitate to say cult because the lack of religion) for a couple months while homeless is treated as the big reveal?
It honestly feels like in both cases WildBow wanted to put something harder, but then backed down from it knowing he has a diverse age reader base.
--------------
"I did not expect what I saw. They were doing things that proper boys and girls shouldn’t do until marriage. Herb with one of Minnie’s friends and Minnie with one of Herb’s friends, and another two friends pairing up nearby.
Dear diary, I don’t know how to name or explain the feelings that found me then. There was a kind of anxiety, warm, low in my belly, very real disgust. Surprising, when I’ve dealt with the most vulgar of goblins.
My father has an eye for justice, or an eye for a lack of it. In a way, I might have viewed the world through his eyes when I saw that scene. I saw something unjust that outraged me and wounded my pride, compelling me to act." - Gathered Pages: 1
"“The same way you’re trying to control me, but you put twice as much effort into them as you do us guys. Half of them are in love with you, and they play ball with the group polyamory shit because they think if they try to covet you they’ll be shunned, the other half are… they’re still being manipulated, mostly. And if they resist that, then you fucking get them pregnant to keep them in the group."" - Null 9.4
"“This place is a cult, I said. “Not a drink-the-Kool-aid cult, but it’s still fucked."" - Null 9.4
Exposure to non-monogamy seems to be extremely traumatizing to the characters in this book, described as “unjust” in Rose Senior’s case and “manipulative” in Blake’s. While there are other facets to these situations, non-monogamy is a major focus in both. It drives a lot of both Blake’s and Rose Senior’s characterization and is framed as a major, PTSD-style trauma, yet at the same time they’re witnessing people die and largely brushing it off.
I’m sorry, but IMO I’d be less affected by an accidental glimpse of an orgy than by dealing with a literal murder demon or stabbing someone in the throat. Blake full-on psycho-tortures Laird with Pauz and later stabs him in the throat, but being part of a kind of weird commune (I hesitate to say cult because the lack of religion) for a couple months while homeless is treated as the big reveal?
It honestly feels like in both cases WildBow wanted to put something harder, but then backed down from it knowing he has a diverse age reader base.
--------------
"I did not expect what I saw. They were doing things that proper boys and girls shouldn’t do until marriage. Herb with one of Minnie’s friends and Minnie with one of Herb’s friends, and another two friends pairing up nearby.
Dear diary, I don’t know how to name or explain the feelings that found me then. There was a kind of anxiety, warm, low in my belly, very real disgust. Surprising, when I’ve dealt with the most vulgar of goblins.
My father has an eye for justice, or an eye for a lack of it. In a way, I might have viewed the world through his eyes when I saw that scene. I saw something unjust that outraged me and wounded my pride, compelling me to act." - Gathered Pages: 1
"“The same way you’re trying to control me, but you put twice as much effort into them as you do us guys. Half of them are in love with you, and they play ball with the group polyamory shit because they think if they try to covet you they’ll be shunned, the other half are… they’re still being manipulated, mostly. And if they resist that, then you fucking get them pregnant to keep them in the group."" - Null 9.4
"“This place is a cult, I said. “Not a drink-the-Kool-aid cult, but it’s still fucked."" - Null 9.4
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2021
I finished reading Pact a few weeks ago, and after finishing it I felt a little... underwhelmed. I had a sense that my opinion of the novel would change after I had some time to process my thoughts, and I think I have arrived at my perspective.
Like most people, I read Pact after finishing Worm. And like many people, Worm blew me away with the incredible worldbuilding, creative scenarios, fantastic characterization, gripping plot, and --very importantly-- a satisfying ending.
In many ways, Pact was similar to Worm. Both stories can be neatly divided into three major acts, with similar plot points between them:
Act 1: the protagonist discovers their power, encounters challengers, and defeats some major antagonist after a series of multiple smaller challenges
Act 2: After a major setback, the protagonist recovers and reinvents themselves. The consolidate their power.
Act 3: The major cosmic-level antagonist manifests itself, and the protagonist needs to make a major sacrifice in order to prevail.
In Worm, there is clear escalation from the local to the global to the cosmic. At first, it seems Pact is going to follow a similar trajectory, but in the third act it seems to shrink back down to the local. With Worm, once the scale of the problems get severe enough, events like the destruction of Brockton Bay and the (likely) death of Taylor's dad are treated like afterthoughts, even though earlier in the story the destruction of Brockton Bay was the hugest cataclysm imaginable! In Pact, the scope of the conflict never seems to match the scale of the opponents they're facing. I'm not just talking about the return to Jacob's Bell after the events of Toronto; I mean the stakes of the final conflict are small potatoes compared to the reality that DEMONS THAT ARE LITERALLY DESTROYING THE UNIVERSE IN AN INEXORABLE COSMIC NIGHTMARE SCENARIO. I wanted something more concrete than Rose's plan of "I'm going to write a helpful book for future diabolists that will permanently prevent the threat of demons" --a plan that has basically no chance of succeeding by the story's own logic. And if this plan seemed unworkable, it was very hard to really enjoy what should have been an unambiguously happy ending. Worm needed to have a whole epilogue arc to wrap up all its loose ends, and I wish Pact had done something similar. Speaking of which, I didn't buy that the lawyers could possibly lose any combat situation, considering how mind-bendingly powerful even the lowliest demons were shown to be. Summoning 10 Pauz-level demons should have been an unwinnable circumstance. I *thought* that the ending was going to be Rose merging the Abyss into base reality, thereby spoiling reality for both angels and demons by making a world that is impossible to permanently create or destroy in. I was also disappointed by Barbatorem, who was presently as very powerful, and then when he reveals his ability to speak we are meant to infer he is even more powerful than we originally thought. He is not an entertaining villain, and neither are the lawyers for that matter. I also thought the fighting got a little stale and repetitive towards the end, after Blake got his tree body. Blake, Evan, and Green Eyes basically kill lots of people and Others in similar ways.
After all those criticisms, it might seem strange that I still gave the book five stars. That's because of all of the other things it did right. I LOVED the wordplay. I LOVED the worldbuilding. I LOVED most of the characters. I LOVED the Abyss. The Null arc is probably my favorite thing Wildbow has ever written. It's so bleak, but cinematic. You really *feel* as if you're being ground down, physically and spiritually. I did not guess that Blake was the vestige all along, so that reveal after the Carl flashback really hit hard.
Like most people, I read Pact after finishing Worm. And like many people, Worm blew me away with the incredible worldbuilding, creative scenarios, fantastic characterization, gripping plot, and --very importantly-- a satisfying ending.
In many ways, Pact was similar to Worm. Both stories can be neatly divided into three major acts, with similar plot points between them:
Act 1: the protagonist discovers their power, encounters challengers, and defeats some major antagonist after a series of multiple smaller challenges
Act 2: After a major setback, the protagonist recovers and reinvents themselves. The consolidate their power.
Act 3: The major cosmic-level antagonist manifests itself, and the protagonist needs to make a major sacrifice in order to prevail.
In Worm, there is clear escalation from the local to the global to the cosmic. At first, it seems Pact is going to follow a similar trajectory, but in the third act it seems to shrink back down to the local. With Worm, once the scale of the problems get severe enough, events like the destruction of Brockton Bay and the (likely) death of Taylor's dad are treated like afterthoughts, even though earlier in the story the destruction of Brockton Bay was the hugest cataclysm imaginable! In Pact, the scope of the conflict never seems to match the scale of the opponents they're facing. I'm not just talking about the return to Jacob's Bell after the events of Toronto; I mean the stakes of the final conflict are small potatoes compared to the reality that DEMONS THAT ARE LITERALLY DESTROYING THE UNIVERSE IN AN INEXORABLE COSMIC NIGHTMARE SCENARIO. I wanted something more concrete than Rose's plan of "I'm going to write a helpful book for future diabolists that will permanently prevent the threat of demons" --a plan that has basically no chance of succeeding by the story's own logic. And if this plan seemed unworkable, it was very hard to really enjoy what should have been an unambiguously happy ending. Worm needed to have a whole epilogue arc to wrap up all its loose ends, and I wish Pact had done something similar. Speaking of which, I didn't buy that the lawyers could possibly lose any combat situation, considering how mind-bendingly powerful even the lowliest demons were shown to be. Summoning 10 Pauz-level demons should have been an unwinnable circumstance. I *thought* that the ending was going to be Rose merging the Abyss into base reality, thereby spoiling reality for both angels and demons by making a world that is impossible to permanently create or destroy in. I was also disappointed by Barbatorem, who was presently as very powerful, and then when he reveals his ability to speak we are meant to infer he is even more powerful than we originally thought. He is not an entertaining villain, and neither are the lawyers for that matter. I also thought the fighting got a little stale and repetitive towards the end, after Blake got his tree body. Blake, Evan, and Green Eyes basically kill lots of people and Others in similar ways.
After all those criticisms, it might seem strange that I still gave the book five stars. That's because of all of the other things it did right. I LOVED the wordplay. I LOVED the worldbuilding. I LOVED most of the characters. I LOVED the Abyss. The Null arc is probably my favorite thing Wildbow has ever written. It's so bleak, but cinematic. You really *feel* as if you're being ground down, physically and spiritually. I did not guess that Blake was the vestige all along, so that reveal after the Carl flashback really hit hard.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2021
I loved Worm, and based on previous ratings, Pact's overall narrative structure is allegedly much more in line with worm than the rest of Wildbow's work. But that is not strictly true. Pact is too fast-paced, the stakes are ever-increasing like Worm, but there's no moment of respite, there's never any downtime, the protagonist duo are stumbling from one crisis to the next, they are perpetually backed into a corner. So the tone comes out as extremely grim, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but even I who enjoys tragic stories more than happy ones, felt it a bit too much. There's only so much tragedy that can be wrung out of a single character arch, which was my biggest complaint. Otherwise, it was a phenomenal read.
This web serial did for occult/folksy-magic-stuff what Worm did for the superhero genre i.e. revolutionised the genre, if not completely reinvent the wheel. The worldbuilding is amazing and the characters are well fleshed out. The stakes are appropriately low, which actually makes all the scenes that much more tense and grounded.
I think if this were ever published as a professional book series such that the pacing can be improved upon and kinks ironed out, it would quickly become one of the favourite reads.
This web serial did for occult/folksy-magic-stuff what Worm did for the superhero genre i.e. revolutionised the genre, if not completely reinvent the wheel. The worldbuilding is amazing and the characters are well fleshed out. The stakes are appropriately low, which actually makes all the scenes that much more tense and grounded.
I think if this were ever published as a professional book series such that the pacing can be improved upon and kinks ironed out, it would quickly become one of the favourite reads.
December 10, 2021
The plot was great, the characters better, I loved the world building... Really, the only part that ruined my enjoyment was the protagonist, and it wasn't because he was poorly written. It's just that this book is what made me realize that I prefer protagonists that I empathize with, someone who shares similar struggles, someone who has boobs...
I'm starved for female protagonists is what I'm saying. And that's not Blake Thorburn's fault, but
he was such a typical perfectly masculine protagonist. He had tattoos as though to symbolize that his depth was only skin deep.
My problem with male protagonists is that they never whine, they're too cool for that. Short of losing their family, you'd never see them shed a single tear. Maybe if you're lucky, they'll crack a smile, but otherwise, they're stoic, heroic, eozoic. The type where you could replace them with a rock and it wouldn't change the story one bit.
So I didn't care one whiff about Blake's survival, and that was where the story got most its tension.
I managed to read the entire 950K word monstrosity because of stubbornness, and because I had to make sure the cute ghost boy sidekick got a happy ending. Evan did not get enough screentime, but I loved him. He was my son.
I'm starved for female protagonists is what I'm saying. And that's not Blake Thorburn's fault, but
he was such a typical perfectly masculine protagonist. He had tattoos as though to symbolize that his depth was only skin deep.
My problem with male protagonists is that they never whine, they're too cool for that. Short of losing their family, you'd never see them shed a single tear. Maybe if you're lucky, they'll crack a smile, but otherwise, they're stoic, heroic, eozoic. The type where you could replace them with a rock and it wouldn't change the story one bit.
So I didn't care one whiff about Blake's survival, and that was where the story got most its tension.
I managed to read the entire 950K word monstrosity because of stubbornness, and because I had to make sure the cute ghost boy sidekick got a happy ending. Evan did not get enough screentime, but I loved him. He was my son.
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