A Test of Knives
Self-Published
Community Rating
Description
In a world of unending rain, hacker "Vio" is invited to interview aboard the Salieri Crime Family's starship; Salieri's Shadow.
The other candidates have their own secrets, however. Ones they'd do anything to protect.
Soon Vio finds herself caught in a deadly cat-and-mouse game of twisting alliances and dark secrets. Dogged by merciless criminals and clever conmen she must figure out who to trust before the secrets of Salieri's Shadow claim her too.
Information
- Status
- Completed
- Year
- 2023
- Author
- Averichollie
Royal Road Stats
- Rating
- 4.7/ 5.0
- Followers
- 66
- Views
- 16,142
Chapters(9 total)
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!
Community Reviews(5)
- ALandFarAwayRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Short novella. Fuckin' fantastic. It won't take you but a couple hours to read it, so read it.
The review has to be at least 50 words long to post, so I'm typing this here like a middle schooler told that an essay has to be at least two pages front and back like that arbitrary nonsense has any bearing on the merit of the information.
Read the story. - Aaron Sofaer (aka Pastafarian)Royal Road★★★★★ 5.0There is really only one problem in the mafia: human resources and making sure nothing slips through the cracks.
This is the story of how the former results in the latter, and also the story of how hard it is to get good, reliable help in this day and ago—this day and age defined by, you know, spaceships and interstellar trade and warp travel.
Having read substantially farther than is currently available on RR, I can confidently assert that Averi's story is excellent. It's got a great grounding in the character work and the casual... violence, but not just violence; also all of the problems that flow from the violence.
Ultimately, the story's a story about people and power and expectations, and I love that shit. - saithorthepyroRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0I've really enjoyed the three chapters of this story so far, an excellent introduction into a space mafia story that feels eerily familiar thus far, with an amazing first chapter. I don't want to spoil anything, but the space mafia is ruthless in how it handles things and that will become apparent very early on. The story definitely lives up thus far to the claim of Salieri's Shadow being a dangerous place to be.
Style: Really enjoyable, the dialogue especially pops and is memorable, and the changing of perspectives and times inside the chapters is always grounded and never confusing while providing fun contrasts and are effective at communicating information.
Character: The story has a lot of characters and not much space so far but it's done a good job at differentiating between them, making them each stand out. There's a lot of interactions thus far that feel natural and add to this.
Grammar: Nothing to say here, the grammar looks pretty on point to me.
Story: It's early times thus far but the story does start off with one fun inciting incident that is feeding into the story pretty well thus far. Nothing feels difficult or hard to understand, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it unfolds. - blessedJok3rRoyal Road★★★★★ 4.5Just binged through this. I think it's great. Few mistakes here and there but the overall quality is great. Distinct characters with enough background that is hinted at to make them relatable.
Would love to read more about any single one of them.
Looking forward to more stories by this author. - cucioRoyal Road★★★ 3.0The idea is interesting, grammar is fine, there's no development enough to explore characterization.
Structure and rhythm are major issues: the story is confusing, there's little connection between scenes and sudden changes of pacing cause severe backlash in the reader.
Thanks for sharing, and good luck with future projects. Cheers!