A realm of Intrigue

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In the wake of a saboteur’s strike and an assassin's poisoning of Duchess Aurora Adalbern, the long-serving Matriarch of the seemingly docile and peaceful Clan Adalbern. Events that herald the long-anticipated invasion by their blood foes in the Northern Icekin alliance against the Kingdom of Fecundity and their allies, the Elven forest Kingdom Ashvale and Three Rivers.

Theria, the young Scion of the Clan of Adalbern, is thrust into the forefront of events becoming the new Duchess acting now as Maw of her Clan. She is assisted from the shadows by her supposedly deceased brother, now using the clandestine identity of Sideswipe and her Clan’s martial prowess by her favourite Cousin, Warband leader, Ur’sid. Theria must build on the preparations that were started by her great-grandfather when his diplomatic skills first led their human-appearing Bear shifter clan to settle their Town of Big Bear near their secret Dwarven allies, then the site on the ashen desolate land south of the human Capital City situated in the shadow of the Volcano.Influenced by The Iliad, The Kalevala, JRR Tolkien, The Pilgrim's Progress, The Well at the World's End, George MacDonald, and Beowulf. Please read Theria's saga of management of the building of Big Bear into a Fortified City and then her strategy steering her Clan through events and intrigue, which she is determined will ultimately cause both the ascendancy of her Clan and the thwarting of the plans of the Ice Elf King Gorthaur Iceberg, and the shadow curse corruption that turned him to evil.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: Mike Beckett

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.5/ 5.0
Followers: 10
Views: 15,833

Chapters(38 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(2)

Scholar_GirogiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Well, this was a heavy read and a different style of reading than I normally peruse. Nonetheless, I found myself enjoying it.
It's hard to describe the style the author, Mike Beckett, is going for. It reminds me of a grabbing documentary, but instead of history, we get an in-depth look at high fantasy.
First, we have paragraphs detailing troop numbers to descriptions of the various lords and ladies. It's definitely a chunky read, each paragraph is thick, but I found myself reading through nonetheless. Perhaps a bit of breaks between could make the ease of reading better. Nonetheless, the style is quite decent.
As for grammar, there are certain consistency errors in terms of capitalization, but there was nothing glaring that caused me to remove myself from the immersion.
Characters. There's a lot to go through, again I am reminded of documentaries where we are given all these names and short descriptions but not enough time to really get an in depth look at them. I am intrigued by each character, but its like they're hidden beneath a veil. As long as the story goes on, perhaps we can get more growth to each character.
As for the main character, Theria, I found her pleasant to read and follow along. The way she interacts with other characters and the world is realistic. She has a strong foundation and lots of room to grow.
The story is the main highlight, it is clear the author has a deep passion for combining high-fantasy with the sort of realism we find in actual history. I enjoy the more detailed look into these aspects, and apart from that, the various races and the world itself is intriguing.
Overall, this is an interesting take for a high fantasy. Again, it could do with a bit of breaking up each paragraph to cut away from the slight monotonous tone.
Still, it's a good story. Well done, Mike!
grovekeeperRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
The book is a slog to read through.each sentence is maybe 20 words long with so much infrmation that its hard to grasp everything. It wouldn't have been a problem if we were given this in batches, but in this case, its given within the sentence itself. For example, the below sentence in from the first paragraph.
Big Bear was two days ride South of Jade City, the Capital of the Kingdom of Fecundity and a week to the East of the City of Renaissance Capital of the large Elven forest Kingdom Ashvale and Three Rivers.
Aside from the unnecessary capitalisations, and missing punctuations, we now know the distance between these five locations. Is it relevant in this chapter? No. Is it relevant in the next chapter? Another no. Then why did we have to read it? Valid question.
Here is another clunky example.
Many years ago, after a period of separation, the Ice Elf King Gorthaur Iceberg was invited by the High Elf High King Gilgolfin of the GreenVale Rivers to the High Elf Citadel of Írimëholme with Quenya Laiquendi, the King of the Green Elves from the WildWoods and Rhalyf Seasparkle the Prince of the Sea Elves.
This could have been split into three different ones giving details and not just names, so that it will remain in memory. But then is the kingdom names even marginally important? Nope.
Its very difficult to read and not at all rewarding for the effort put in.