A Storm in the Fall

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The Earth has vanished, and nearly a half billion people have been dropped into an extradimensional space called 'The Tutorial'

But even though this seems like a game, it's actually a ruthless calculating machine designed to cultivate the strong and cull the weak.

But not everyone wants to give in to the cynical, inhuman designs of 'The System'. Some have chosen to Defy their destiny.

One young man is determined to prove, in a world of Cultivators, he can stay Human.

This story is based on the setting of 'Defiance of the Fall' by TheFirstDefier. Storm in the Fall is non canonical fan fiction, though you will find the tone and approach is very different. Check out DotF. You can get the books off of Amazon, and read up to date chapters here on Royal Road.

What to expect

- weak to moderately strong. The hero can never eclipse the powerhouses of Earth, but he comes into his own

- survival against the odds

- dedicated water mage

- not a lone wolf, seeks out community and participates where he can

- there will be fightslop

Cover image is AI, Midjourney

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2020
Author: wordsinaline

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.1/ 5.0
Followers: 108
Views: 79,109

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(8)

AnjinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Obviously I'm not going to give this a full review; it's a fan fiction, and I haven't read 'Defiance of the Fall'. I might now, but I haven't yet.
You may, then, quite reasonably, ask why I am reviewing this at all.
wordsinaline popped up on my radar in a review swap thread. They kindly reviewed my fiction, and so I returned the favour. I hadn't read the story their fiction was based on, nor do I care for fan fiction. Still, fair is fair, and the culture of back-scratching persists. Thus, I read wordsinaline's work.
What I found, against all odds, was that while I may not have found my favourite fiction, I believe I HAVE found my favourite author.
wordsinaline has a glorious mastery of narrative that is completely absorbing. Their artistry when it comes to humour is the stuff of legend, and their ability to set a scene that resolves perfectly in the mind of the reader is pure artistry. In a smattering of paragraphs I feel I know the characters, and they only get better from there. The alien setting is as clear in my mind’s eye as my own mama’s face, and the scenes play out before me as if they were produced by HBO.
I walk away from this fiction not wishing I had read 'Defiance of the Fall', but instead hoping and praying that wordsinaline brings out their own fiction, and that they hit me up when they do.
RyukiroRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I clearly didn't expect to read that much, but I ended up reading a lot of chapters in one sitting.
I knew that the prose would be clean considering first chapters, but I wasn't expecting the characters to feel this alive.
A lot of LitRPG stories suffer from "stat-sheet syndrome," but Storm in the Fall focuses heavily on the human element, and it works so well. The chemistry between Todd, Joe, Candra, and Randall is just fantastic. Their banter feels genuine—the recurring "Vetoed" gag actually got a chuckle out of me every time. It makes you care about the party before the fighting even starts.
I also really appreciated that Todd isn't an instant OP edgelord. He’s thoughtful, he makes mistakes (like trying to cultivate through his heart instead of his dantian—great detail! ), and he actually cares about the weaker people in the group like Walter. It’s refreshing to see a protagonist who wants to be a Water Mage and support his team rather than just solo everything.
+1
Also, the Pixies? Terrifying. The contrast between their cute appearance and their bureaucratic cruelty gives the story a really unique tension.
Fantastic start. You’ve definitely gained a follower.
Don't you ever drop this.
baelrathRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Fan fic. Remember that.
Good story. Can't remember if it was explained why it got dropped.
A nice side piece to the main dish.
If you enjoy the DotF, you'll probs like this. It takes its own turn a few times. Remember, fan fic.
GIve it a go. Another take if you find it.
Besides, everyone loves a Todd.
PhantomWeissRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
What I enjoyed most is how it nails that “Tutorial is brutal” energy, but still keeps the MC feeling human and easy to root for, instead of turning into a pure stats-and-slaughter machine. Plus, the setup for a dedicated water mage is pretty refreshing, and I really like that the story leans toward survival + building connections rather than the usual lone-wolf power sprint.
As a writer, I learn a lot from this work.
Terios KiyomizuRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Note this is a review that is coming from someone who hasn't read Defiance of the Fall. I most likely won't read it since the kind of genre doesn't appeal to me personally.
I didn't know what to expect when coming onto this story as this was a first in the genre of Xianxia for me. The intro was quite strong and quickly showed off the author's writing talent and style. He is a very descriptive writer and it took a few re-reads in order for me to grasp the full depth of the scenario. I can tell by the way that he writes that he puts a lot of thought and effort into this story which also made me question if I was reading a fan-fiction at all. His way with words does well for this kind of story and helps paint a better picture.
When it comes to correct punctuation and spelling errors I can say that he is an expert. I haven't found any spelling errors that are known to me and his grammar is absolutely on point. Props to his proofreader or him if he does it himself.
The story seems to hold a lot of potential and with the author's ability to provide a very detailed narrative I believe it'll be a good one if not a long one. His pacing is certainly more traditional so if you're a fan of the story then you'll enjoy reading every paragraph and chapter he writes. He is certainly in no rush and admires taking him time to better paint a picture.
I also see that he puts a lot of effort into his characters and their personalities which seems to make them come to life. Even the background characters seem to breathe life into the page.
ArkeneRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
There is a potential for an interesting story here, but I'm not sure the rationale in making it a DotF fan fiction. It's sufficiently different in what is posted to have made it another story in the genre without having to lock into the post tutorial elements which being a ff will cause.
What's here is a brutal depictation of a harsh tutorial triggered by earth being absorbs into a 'system.' It follows the same tropes that we all know and love in a cultivation story.
The MC isn't OP or have any specific advantages, they just get on board sooner and put in the effort.
Style: 4.5 - It starts off a little rough, but as the author progressed it was getting better and better. The early chapters could do with an edit pass, but the later ones show real promise in the way they are written.
Story: 3 - It didn't hook me, and the pacing is somewhat slow. Progress was starting to pick up, but though most of what I read not a huge amount really happened.
Gammar score: 5 - it's not perfect, but in most chapters I didn't see anything worth mentioning and the few I did were minor things. I can't think of anything which could be considered worth losing any stars for.
Character score: 4 - some seem a little shallow while others have real personality. Other than the MC very little fleshing has really occurred.
FernicusRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Reviewed as a part of a review swap.
I've read a few chapters of the story of which this is a fanfiction. It manages to emulate the atmosphere and feeling of the original work quite well.
Well... to an extent anyway.
It leans a little bit too much on prior knowledge of the base work. This means that if you haven't read the original. some pieces can be confusing. Its not too bad but it's an issue.
I had a major problem wrapping my head around the first chapter due to the way it is written. Things start to clear up later on but it's a rather jarring method of writing fiction as it is very rarely used. You do get used to it being written in present tense after a couple of chapters... but man that initial paragraph... very confusing.
I'm not really a fan of fanfic myself but this one is certainly very well written and can indeed stand on its own as a story. It is probably best read with at least some grounding in the original story however which I feel lets it down a little.
Characters and story were well developed.
Style was confusing at first and in some parts the descriptions of what was going on became confusing and dis-jointed.
Grammar was pretty good but because I suck at it, I hesitate to mark it as 5.
Overall, it performs as a good story. atmosphere is good, description is good. character development good. let down a little by the style and the fact that it leans on others work.
serg0Royal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I really wanted to like this story, fic on Defiance of the Fall is a great idea. There is a lot of gaps to fill in DoF. But for this attempt story it's not quite successful. The stile is too stilted. Seems there are also some minor gramma pronlems too. Characters seems OK, worldbuilding is consistent with DoF. Nethertheless I coudn't read past ch 17, reading become almost painful.