A Standard Model of Magic

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The world ended, and magic came back. The part our parents didn't expect, was for Science to break on reentry.

Twenty years after the apocalypse, with our nations dismantled and hidden continents unearthed, a new generation has grown up in the wreckage of 21st century civilization. For us, the fantastic is at our doorstep and we have had no choice but to fight back. Meanwhile, the laws of nature bend and break at the whims of immortal gods, all of which are now dead and none of which are content to stay that way.

But we cannot afford to give up. We are the stewards of a rewritten century, in which a little luck and a whole lot of magic might make anything possible – maybe even a world better than the one we lost.

A Standard Model of Magic is a complete overhaul of my old story A Storm in the Fall. I'm afraid I was unhappy with the LitRPG elements, which I don't mind reading, but I apparently loath writing. Sorry.

Once I'd made the choice to decouple the story from the OF that inspired it and reconfigure the magic system to my satisfaction, little of the original plotline survived. I will be salvaging most of my original characters, and I will keep some elements which are endemic to the genre, but that is all.

I don't have an update schedule which I can commit to yet, but I will try to maintain a weekly pace.(This is currently RoyalRoad exclusive, since I'm lazy. If you find it posted elsewhere, it wasn't me and it wasn't with permission)

If you're interested, I've set up adiscord.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: wordsinaline

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 46
Views: 18,286

Chapters(40 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(7)

A V DalcourtRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A rare gem with exceptional narrative style. The style of the story as far as I can perceive is Fantasy with a strong Western vibe. The writings style itself is interesting enough to keep me hanging off of every word. Here is a writer who isn't after to spend some time on building a scene and developing the characters by sharing details in passing mentions.
AlsoJohnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The author has an impressive command of both language and dialect. They believably project the evolution of dialect into the post apocalyptic future applying the rule that the smaller the community the more elaborate the language. This not some creative and colorful generic retelling of beloved adventures but an impressive evolution into literature
Banner CaygeonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've been fortunate enough to read a few gems on here, and this one stands amoung those. It is one of those stories that sucks you from head to toe. I'm through 6 of 27 chapters, but i'm absolutely in love with it, so thought I'd duck out and do a review so I can get back to enjoying it.
Grammar: I didn't notice any errors, but the writer is considerably talented and their first person narrative probably hides any grammatical errors or makes them seem part of the fabric of the story. Either way, 5 stars. No issues here.
Style: This piece oozes style. Reading it is akin to watching the slickest westerns ever made. No Country for Old Men or the Hateful Eight. Not in content, just in pace, tone and unravelling the worlds details petal by petal like a flower in a late to come spring. (as you can see i've been infected with that middle-america country vernacular)
Story Score: Through 6 chapters, there's a whole lot going on, and not a lot of idea where it's going. The author notes in one their chapter headers that it's not what you think, which doesn't help this reviewer because I have no idea what to think. It could be post apocalyptic survival, it could be Witcher style monster hunting, it could be The Man in the High Tower fictional military. It could also be American Gods. I repeat I have no idea what's really going on and I'm loving every minute of it.
Character Score: Another expertly delivered part of this story. The characters feel real. There's no hero (to speak of yet) although there is a MC. Every other character of the 2 dozen or so introduced is interesting, strange and seems to have a ton going under the hood. I imagine they'll each unfurl like those petals I mentioned earlier.
Oh and there's a fantastical gun that does weird things, some God named Diana, weird monsters, they ride antelopes, invaders of some kind, the list goes on. The scope of the story feels immense and literally cannot wait to go read more. Read it, and follow it. You won't be dissapoint
BloodyDeepPlotRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A Standard Model Of Magic is a story about apocalypse.
The world came to an end, and magic returned. Science breaking on reentry was something no one expected.
After discovering secret continents twenty years after the apocalypse, a new civilisation emerges from the ruins of twentieth-century society. The abnormal has arrived at the doorway of humanity, and they have no choice but to fight back. Meanwhile, natural laws bend and break according to the whims of eternal gods, all of whom are now dead and none of them are willing to remain so.
It is impossible for people to quit up. They are the stewards of a rewritten century, in which a little luck and a lot of magic may make everything conceivable – perhaps even a world greater than the one we live in now.
One thing I really like about the novel is that it has a well-developed set of rules, and the author genuinely follows them to the point where I haven't found any instances of cheating. I won't claim to be an expert analyst, but there are very few stories about which I can say this.
The grammar is as far as I can tell is amazing. I can’t judge someone with grammar better than mine anyway!
It honestly more than deserves a full score, each chapter makes me crave more chapters, and the chapters are quite beefy as well.
Good work worth reading.
K.AsvoriaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I took me almost months to read and digest this work, which is almost an artistic literature. As an ESL reader, I struggle to understand most of the sentences and prous used in the texts without the help of google and wikipedia. It is indeed a heavy literature as mentioned by most of the reviewers. It is either you will love it, or you hate it.
The style is overly descriptive as the author held dearly and proudly on this artistic form of expression. The scenery are well and beautifully described, the world is fully formed by the words. Some might read it as over the top. It is like extreme level of salt and MSG (not sugar or spicy pepper though). The regular ESL readers like myself, may found it difficult to digest. If putting some efford to read it a few times and do some googling, perhaps the meaning unfolds. It is tedious. But for a standard Western readers, may be it'll be easier to get the point.
The story follows the boy Todd, with a large cast of his family members and characters. The story is not complicated but the dialogues and words are the difficult ones. Added a lot of knowledge-based content that need you to have a encyclopediac-brain. Less of a magical fairy tale fantasy, more like a dysthopian steampunk sci-fi with chemistry future. There's a lot ancient science in it. Which again, took some time to google and learn about them. Yet again, a reader at the same level of competency might be rare.
The characters, the most memorable ones are Mister, Auntie Vaunda and Sadiqi. While it took me some time to read and learn to figure out the name of the narrator, his momma is another core character in the story. The large number of characters, again, make it difficult to catch the dialogues. Even the narrator himself unable to differentiate between Mike and Chris. Is his name Mike? or Chris? Naw... just name his MikeChris! But consider the deapth of the text, probably the character had some hidden meaning of "My Christ". who knows, just a theory though.
Gramma
SR FauthRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Let me just say, in advance, that this review may include spoilers. So you have been warned.
With that being said, let us begin:
While I am not giving a full advanced review at this time, I strongly feel the function rates a 4.5 at a minimum. It is well written in a style that I can appreciate. The grammar is solid, the characters develop well, and the world is drawn out in a way that is engaging if a bit slow to build up.
I am going to be the first to admit that this type of story is not one that resonates with me, nor would I pick it up outside of Royal Road. it just isn't what I am interested in. However, it is excellently well written. And I can appreciate the time, effort, and energy the author put into this fiction.
The story, while solidly written, has some gaps that confused me here and there. Honestly, it's a bit like my own in that regard, teasing the reader with unclear certainties early on to explain them later. I enjoyed the hook and the parts of the catch I had read so far.
Keep up the awesome writing. I enjoyed it and will check in periodically to read more chapters. Once there is more content I plan on upgrading this to a full review.
woseRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
When the author suggested I give this story a try, I literally never expected that I would be reading someting that is nearly impossible to categorize on the platform.
Equal parts post apocalyptic gazeteer, subtle LitRPG and tall weird west tale, the story takes its sweet time to unfold...which is its greatest strength.
This story has nothing but ambition after all, taking its cues from a lot of the lesser known classics of old school scifi like Cliffors Simak and Fred Brown.
The weakest point is at the prose and dialogue, where often times the author will go on overly long descriptions that seem self indulgent more than anything. A bit of trimming would do this story a world of good sometimes.
Overall, one of those unexpected quality finds of the platform that I am glad I stumbled upon.