A Poor Day For Digging Graves

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Raised amid shovels and corpses, Caj Donovan knows more about death than most—but the death he knows in his present has nothing on his history, or his future.

Despite his noble birth, despite his parents’ innocence of any crime, he was orphaned not long after birth by order of the King. His life of nobility was stolen from him. His loving parents were stolen from him. And if not for a fluke of luck and momentary remorse on the part of an otherwise psychotic killer, his future would have been stolen from him too.

The King's Executioner has been dirtying his hands with politics that he has no business in. The King's Executioner is gambling for power. His game will take everything from Caj a second time, but this time, Caj is no noble child. Justice marches, and it carries the Reaper’s Scythe.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Virgil_F_Tompson

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.9/ 5.0
Followers: 70
Views: 39,564

Chapters(62 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(6)

Ariadne_YarnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story has one of the most fluid writing I have read. It has an interesting concept of a young boy of noble background, Caj, being raised by a mysterious gravedigger, Narm. It contains rich history and broad themes prevalent in medieval times. An amazing read so far!
1. Story.
Right from the start, the plot captives. It begins simple and dark but as the story progresses, more and more details add to the never-ending mystery. The mystery is very exciting and the way the story flows well. Little exposition is utilised to explain the history and background, rather it is ingeniously slotted into the character’s dialogue, environment and behaviour. It’s political, thrilling, dark mixed with light-hearted moments.
2. Style.
As mentioned earlier, if anything, the fluidity of the story is top-tier. The author does an incredible job in moving between the scenes and the scenes are well-balanced in terms of plot and character development. Not too much, not too little. Perfect.
3. Grammar.
The grammar is excellent lest a few typos throughout the story. Well-deserved 5 stars.
4. Characters
The characters are well-defined and relatable. Each individual has their distinct traits yet they also sometimes display behaviour that are contrary to the stereotypes based of their appearances. Every character is unique and shines through their behaviour, dialogue and internal POV at times. 5 stars for this too.
5. Closing
There’s nothing I can advise to make this an even better read thus far. It progresses with a relatively fast and fluid plot yet all of the scenes flesh out a lot of details ranging from the history to the characters’ background to their emotions. It’s amazing and I’m intrigued by the entire plot. Can’t wait to see where this goes! An incredible read and you should definitely try out the first chapter if you haven’t! Thank you for this story author!
N0b0dyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I can say for certain I am not the best at reviewing a story professionally I can say that this is a good story. It is a low magic mode up setting. The MC is strong but not the plucky op protagonist. From what I can tell of the story it would be best for those reading it to prefer books with darker themes, character growth, and realistic human interaction.
The Seriously ShallowRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A Poor Day for Digging Graves is a low-fantasy story that while generally light in tone, doesn't shy away from darker topics. It's basis appears at first to be a generic-ish dark fantasy story, but from the beginning it is rich in terms of worldbuilding.
Style: This is the best aspect. The story keeps a good pace, but doesn't rush you or drag on. It's descriptions remain rather light, giving the entire novel an oddly uncaring feel. It almost feels like the world itself; cruel, not really caring about any tragedies. Not to say that the story never dwells on moments, but that it gives all tragedy that odd, raw grief that you feel in life, as the world just spins on.
Story: The plot of this story meanders a bit, but fundamentally it remains the tale of Caj Donovan climbing his way to power. The story is perhaps a bit too conservative in terms of fast-forwarding, but all twists pay off well, and it comes together rather cohesivley.
Grammar: There are the occasional misspelling or wrong punctuation used, but this story is very well polished. Not much to say here.
Characters: The Characters may perhaps be the weakest link, if you find realism to be important. The characters are all Characters. They are not the most realistic, but while they have roots in archetypes, they do think rather realistically for the most part. They may appear 2D at first, but those are just the shadows of realistic, if exaggerated, personalities.
This story feels like an old fairy tale being told as a long form novel, and it works very well personally. I find the story to be simply fascinating to read. I've had a hard time stopping since I've picked it up, only reviewing now that I am caught up at the moment.
yongomongoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In terms of eloquence of the higher shelf variant for not only RoyalRoad, but all fantasy literature standards.
That alone certainly makes it worth a read.
The progression and character developement is excellent, and while some rather serious topics are involved, it still reads lightly.
One thing I personally favor about the story so far, is that it doesn't burden itself down with the often found moralistic contraptions of stories with similar plots on here. And I absolutely love it. It makes me feel the story is about the characters, and not some juvenile separation of the world in good and evil. I'm not sure how to put it in words, but to me the story feels 'mature'.
The author also endows the reader with a blissful absence of self-indulgent homage to the greatness of the protagonist.
ArmorienRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Style: As per the reviews namesake, I believe the style of this work is where it shines the brightest. Without being overly flowery and redundant, to the point of it sounding pretentious, it just well works. There's a certain personality to it that is simultaneously fluid, descriptive and gets the point across. Like without relying on over obscure words, they would just use ones that are common knowledge, but in a context one might not recall or normally be used to for example.
Grammar: Did not see any issues whatsoever, again, I will clarify I am practically blind to noticing these mistakes, but given the overall quality of the work, I dare say that it is nigh non-existent, or just simply not there.
Story: Without veering into spoiler territory, the story so far is interesting. It moves at a good pace without being too quick, or spending a tedious amount of time in one place which contributes to its greatness.
Character: So, every character in this story are distinctly different in a sense. They all speak in different ways, and have unique actions attributed to them. Whether it be how they move, or just react to things around them. There's also no character which just feels completely stupid or out of place, such an overpowered protagonist who gets all the ladies or any other thing along the lines of that.
RilkefanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is a sort of Count of Monte Cristo story set in something like a pre-gunpowder Scotland. The work could stand a good deal of editing at the sentence level but the roughness of the writing is actually pretty appropriate to the always gritty but almost never grim mood. I'm writing this review because the author has a talent for character voice and story telling in general which should appeal to readers who aren't here just for progression.