A Horse With No Main (Book One: ARcade)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Pea is a companion. That's about all she's sure about.

She doesn't really remember how she got on this escape pod, or what she's supposed to do next.

She doesn't know why she's floating in amongst the debris of an enormous space battle.

And she's really not quite sure why she's dressed in such an impractical way.

All she knows is that she's acompanionand yet, somehow, she's alone.

Enter the ARcade. A worlds-spanning Artificial Reality that allows anyone to grind and play their way to success... or at least, that's the idea.

Unfortunately, decades into the game, it hasn't quite turned out that way. Since the incorruptible AI which built and ran the ARcade has been split up, gangs, corporations, dictators, and arseholes have taken root and the utopic ideal of fair play has gone the way of the dodo. Searching for exploits has become the norm, and millions of players aren't having any fun... they're grinding to get their daily bread.

The virtual world's a mess.

What's a companion to do?

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: JoeyDeLeen

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 37
Views: 7,772

Chapters(12 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(4)

silverboaxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Interesting premise and main character. Interested in seeing where it goes from here. Who is she and what will she learn ? Who will be the love interest ? Will there be space unicorns ?
I don't know why anyone would give this a one-star review, sad little people.
Amazing cover art.
RoseSawaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
In this new age of AI, this is an interesting storyline. I want to see how Pea is connected to the Arcade, and what her future holds and where Junebug's reality sits. As a non-gamer it is an interesting premise and one I look forward to learning more about. Easy to read and a new genre for me! The new cover looks good, fits her description.
Shizzle BlitzRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
A Horse WIth No Main is an interesting story. It follows and AI companion named Pea as she wakes up after a large scale battle wondering who she is. The first chapter sets the tone of the book by giving us a mystery to follow in the form of a small ship being attacked by other players, and the server crash that it led to.
It's typical in the way that some litrpgs are by having the world take place in an MMO, but the author actually expands on how the MMO itself is built and maintained in the story. It has a unique race of living space ship creatures as well which are interesting to learn about through the eyes of pea.
Although it is a bit of a slow burn, A Horse With No Main seems to be setting itself up for the long haul, trying to create a narrative that will expand to the future and hopefully give satisfying answers. For those who are more interested in the litrpg portion of the story, it comes after about three chapters and I hope it means that Pea will become powerful enough to make some changes in the world of the Cade. But thus far? It's a great read and I highly recommend it.
Frosty I. FrostRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Style Score:
Other than the first chapter, I like the style of the author. The descriptions are vivid and flows well. The author also took care of the show don't tell rule really well.
Story Score:
It's a normal sci-fi setting, nothing groundbreaking. However, even if its not groundbreaking it's told really well. As I said in the style part, it's vivid and really easy to imagine while reading.
Grammar Score:
I'd have given this a 4.5 if it wasn't for the first chapter. The first chapter lacks spacing and proper paragraphs and it reads like a giant, single paragraph. However, the later chapters (starting from chapter 2) fixes this issue and it flows well. Also, punctuation and vocabulary, along with spelling is fine. There are a couple of small mistakes here and there but that's bound to happen even in published books (hence the need for later editions).
Character Score:
The MC, Pea, is a battle survivor. She is assertive and not helpless at all, which is refreshing to see. She tries her best to do something when her escape pod drifts in the middle of a debris field. She is logical too and questions her surroundings. Junebug, the alien saviour of the MC, is a sweetheart. She is barely a young adult but even though her family warned her not to approach humans, she still saved Pea. I like both of them so far.
Overall:
It'a a nice read with minor issues here and there. As I said before, it's not groundbreaking but it does the job really well. If you're a fan of Sci-Fi, you could easily read this one and have fun with it.