A Classically Modern Witch

Information

Status

Completed

Year

2023

Author

Jonathan B

• Chapter 7: The Totally Real Killer Dragon
  Jan 5, 2024
• Chapter 6: A Timely Meeting
  Dec 30, 2023
• Chapter 5: All the Time in the World
  Dec 23, 2023
• Chapter 4: Here You Go, Bro
  Dec 21, 2023
• Chapter 3: Buff Genius
  Dec 17, 2023
• Chapter 2: Pigsty
  Dec 17, 2023
• Chapter 1: Not a Witch
  Dec 16, 2023

Reviews

Community Reviews(10)

• Altair PolarisRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Classically Modern is a captivating and delightfully quirky tale that seamlessly blends modern sensibilities with a medieval backdrop, creating a story that is witty and engaging. The protagonist, Piper, is endearing with her sharp wit, relatable frustrations, and vulnerability. Her humorous commentary and clever retorts keep the tone light-hearted while maintaining a gripping narrative thread.
  The story’s pace is balanced, weaving comedic moments with tension as Piper navigates her bizarre predicament. The absurdity of knights mistaking a flashlight for a magical artifact and the hilarity of a medieval crowd interpreting a Spanish textbook as a spellbook are just a few of the story’s standout moments. These scenarios showcase the author’s creativity and ability to turn mundane objects into sources of magic.
  The dialogue is sharp and memorable, reflecting each character’s personality. From the flamboyant and ridiculous Inquisitor Melvin (affectionately dubbed Poofy Pants) to the kind yet downtrodden family of farmers, every interaction feels vivid and real. The world-building is subtly effective, painting a clear picture of the medieval setting without overwhelming the reader with unnecessary exposition.
  Style: The story’s style is a blend of humor, whimsy, and clever commentary. The narrative tone strikes a balance between light-heartedness and engaging drama, making the story accessible while maintaining depth.
  Grammar: The grammar throughout the piece is clean and consistent, with no notable issues that disrupt the reading flow. The author demonstrates a strong command of sentence structure, with a mix of short, punchy lines for comedic effect and longer, descriptive sentences that build the world and atmosphere. Transitions between scenes are smooth, ensuring a coherent flow that keeps the reader invested. The text’s rhythm allows readers to focus on the quirky and engaging plot.
  Characters: The characters are vividly drawn, with distinct personalities and dynam
• LavunniRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  The concept is very intriguing and caught me at first glance, and the main character is very strong! I lover her quick witted personality and all that snazz, hee cousin is funny as well!
  Excited to see her development through the olden times (?) i think! I can’t wait to see how she tries to avoid execution💯💯
  Im not really good with reviews, but I think this will do!
• Narwal444Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Really good story! The character feels like a person and is pretty funny. The plot seems interesting and has a nice spin on someone getting telaported into another world. I think as long as the author keeps this up this book has nothing but good news to look forward to. Great story and I hope to see more.
• One Way JusticeRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Hah, I did not expect the tone of this story to be what it is... but it works! It's a very creative mishmash of time-traveling fantasy and light-hearted fun: there's protein powder and getting gains (cousin Gerard is an oddball) and a poofy pants tax collector.
  Piper is a great main character - goal-oriented and sarcastic and weird in a good way: she recites lines from Hamlet to quell her anxiety...
  The prose is clear and accessible, yet paints a vivid picture of medieval reality (with modern tech thrown into the mix).
  In summary, this is an inviting and endearing tale, comical in its approach to time-travel, and well worth reading!
• SkarabraeRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Style: The story has good word choices. It also has a unique sense of style with it. There are literary devices too that work to the story's benefit. I have no complaints about the style.
  Story: The story is based around time travel to the Middle Ages; however, you shouldn't expect anything truly historical. This is more like Army of Darkness than a period piece. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The story itself has the pacing it needs to have and develops well. It is also very interesting and funny, and it has a great first chapter.
  Grammar: The grammar is incredibly good. Whatever spelling errors there are don't distract from the story.
  Character: The characters are very interesting. They are somewhat realistic; however, the main character takes everything in stride. No matter what happens, she doesn't seem to feel any fear or other things in her situation. I think this is fine for this sort of story, but other people might not like it. Still, aside from that, she is a very realistic depiction of a modern teenage girl. There a few three-dimensional characters too, but others are fairly flat and one-note. Entertaining, but not 3d.
  Overall, I highly recommend this story.
• BluesycobaltRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Quite a bit of RoyalRoad fare is a little rough around the edges. Some good ideas bouncing around but rarely with a lot of polish. A Classically Modern Witch is very much an exception to that in being  a tight, well-paced, and easy-to-read time travel story. The pieces all fit well together and there is a light-heartedness to it that keeps things fun and silly throughout.
  Style – First-person in Piper’s voice. Very snappy and kinetic. It’s essentially just go-go-go from the first chapter. As far as the appeal of the writing style goes, it’s sort of hand-in-hand with whether you like Piper’s quippy voice, so treat this and the Characters score as entangled.
  Story – Basically a “stuck in the past” time travel story complete with framing story that deals with Piper’s personal aspirations. Solidly archetypal in a good way, the story isn’t reinventing the time travel wheel here while also nodding to the usual paradoxes. The focus is on the execution of the adventure much more-so than the mechanics of time travel which, as far as this story is concerned, serves it well.
  Grammar – Just about perfect, just a couple mis-used turns of phrase that I saw.
  Characters – Really the lynchpin of whether you will like the story or not. Piper is something like a cross between Leslie Knope from Parks & Rec and that one girl from Glee who I can’t be bothered to look up. Peppy, spunky, and an overachiever, her voice carries the story forward at a manic pace. You will know pretty quickly whether this is up your alley or not. As far as the other characters go, everyone wears their personality on their sleeve, whether it’s her genius-yet-muscleheaded cousin or a drama director with trauma over the color yellow. Everyone fits the story well, but it’s clear that it's tightly wound up with Piper’s personal growth and everyone else is in service of that.
  All-in-all, A Classically Modern Witch is a goofy, fun, page-turning time-travel story with a unique voice and an unusual level of polish. Hig
• Ayce K. ReamRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  So far, I believe the author did a good job of establishing a great story, but at the moment of writing this story only contains four chapters, so it is hard to say more.
  However, I will say that I greatly enjoyed the suprising mix of genres, and I am sure there will be something interesting for every reader out there.
  Overall, I do think the plot is quite enticing and will definetly continue reading this. I will most likely come back to this once a couple more chapters come out, and give a more lenghty review.
• Yure AureRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Interesting concept.
  The first chapter is more than enough to hook the reader into looking forward to the continuation. Essentially addictive.
  The characterization is well-written for the reader to connect with. Well, actually, there's one or two that weren't exactly pleasant to read, but overall, they were good.
  Writing Style isn't perfect. But it's not bad or under standard whatsoever. It was decent and pretty much addictive to follow.
  I like the Story so far, and while some of the jokes aren't reaching me, most of them were funny.
• Michael HelvatyRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Two moments in the opening chapter really hooked me while giving me a clear sense of the story's humor.  1. A guard's reaction to having a flashlight shined in his eyes.  2. A classic line from a Spanish textbook.
  The writing is clear, albeit with a few ever-so-minor errors.  Characters are over-the-top, which I think adds to the fun.  Can't wait to see who we'll meet next.
  I also appreciate spending some time in the character's original world, giving us a sense of who she was before teleporting/traveling to her new set of circumstances.  Too many stories rush to their alternate world, discarding character development, tension, suspense, and so many other things.
  Humor is a tough genre, but I have hope for this story's light-hearted tone and overall quirkiness.
• The BlackwellRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  I want to start by apologizing for finishing this review so late—it took me longer than I’d hoped, but I wanted to take the time to share my thoughts thoroughly.
  I really appreciated how the story threw us straight into the action from the very first chapter with the gripping opening line: "The knights shoved me into the room." From chapter two, we backtrack to show how Piper Gosnell ended up time-traveling, effectively using a framing device to deepen our understanding of the main character. It takes until chapter six to bring us back to where the story started. While this is a stylistic choice, I feel the narrative might have been better served by returning to the main plot a bit quicker. Then again, I might not be the target audience for this novel, so take that note with a pinch of salt.
  From what I noticed, there were very few, if any, mistakes.
  The writing style is subdued, letting the story and characters do the heavy lifting. Personally, I prefer a touch more poetry in the prose, but I recognize that’s likely a matter of personal taste. Overall, this is an engaging read with a solid foundation and plenty to enjoy.