I love the Wandering Inn series too much, to a point that I have to limit my exposure to it. It’s a web serial and, historically, once I start reading those I keep on reading and I can’t stop until I reach the end (thanks ADHD). And I know that The Wandering Inn would be one of those that would suck me in, so I’m really thankful that it’s here in book form.

In expectation of the 9^th book, Tears of Liscor, coming out I’ve been reading back through all the other 8 and it’s been really interesting. And that’s where this review is coming from, a fan that’s read a lot of the books already and is retrospective.

And the first thing that hit me with this book was that it had a surprisingly slow start. Which is not to say that nothing happens to begin with. On the contrary it pretty much throws you right in and it’s a good introduction to the series as a whole. But, as the title suggests, this is a series primarily centring around an inn and I don’t think it really begins until the inn gets some customers. Which doesn’t happen until 6% of the way into the book.

Once those first guests arrive though we’re off. And what a journey we’re about to embark on.

Web serials don’t always make the best books, because the format doesn’t always work well if you cut it into chunks. That’s not a problem this book has though. It’s a fantastic book on it’s own, though at over a thousand pages it is pretty long. And those pages are not wasted. This book contains so much. It’s got humour, action, excitement, politics and horror, all expertly written. It’s doing a lot of setting things up for the rest of the series going forward but it contains a perfect arc, all of the different elements introduced coming together in an explosive finale. And it’s got a great hook to get you interested in the next book as well.

What I personally found really interesting though was some of the changes that were made later on. This is just the first book in a long series and, while a lot of things were set up, you can see other parts where ideas are introduced that are later changed or discarded. A lot of the characters are introduced here that will have changed quite a bit after a few books. And not in a ‘the character evolved’ way, just that their backstories have been subtly tweaked and changed. It’s also fascinating to see subtle hints even this early on to what they will eventually become.

And speaking of the characters, that’s what really drives this series. Oh, the world is interesting and intricate and the LitRPG setting is nice in it’s minimalism but the characters are what’s going to keep drawing you back. There’s Erin, the accidental Innkeeper, who went to the bathroom and ended up in another world. Pisces, the outcast Necromancer, who is a character that has layers. Ryoka, who likes running more than she likes people. These are deep characters who will surprise you as the story goes along, even if just because you’ve forgotten who they really are deep down.

And this book is a fantastic introduction to all of it. It shows you a world of wonders and horrors, of friendship and enemies. It introduces great characters and makes you weep at their deaths. It all begins here, in this amazing book and then it invites you to read the next one, where things get even better.