All Who Wander

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Long ago, in a distant land, a story ended...

And from the dust of this story, a new one began

A story of a Golem blessed to forever wander the lands, guided forth by their faithful Spirit.

As they journeyed they found friends and treasures.

As they voyaged they found enemies and monsters.

As they explored they found wonders and marvels.

But most of all, as they wandered, they found themself.

All Who Wander, is a exploration-based book with a non-human MC, with heavy elements of character growth and worldbuilding. As you read, you will experience every moment, emotion, and thought the MC goes through, learning about the massive fantasy world as they do.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: mrmungrl

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 68
Views: 43,025

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(3)

DaisyERoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
While it may start a little slow, I promise you this book is worth it! Following wanderer on his journeys and learning and growing with him is one of the most unique and ground breaking formats of novel I’ve read. The world building and writing is truly beautiful, and I have become obsessed with following the characters and their journey! I promise you this book is amazing and well worth a read!
aphoselRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Alright. The review title might be a little confusing. I get that a lot. But, dear reader and dearest author, it will make sense. Soon. I promise.
Let me give an overview for the entire story first. Essentially, the novel is built around a constructed entity possessed by the incarnate desire of exploration. What this has in store for the future of the novel is unclear. I persuade you to push through the chapters in order to find out. Right now, I'm on chapter two. Already, the story is dry. It is to be expected for a piece like this. The enjoyment does not come from visualization. It does not come from the characters thoughts or actions. No, it comes from the worldbuilding and the lore.
Do you see why I said the title would make sense soon?
Every action, every thought, every step along the entity's path is a contribution to the lore. It is not additive and it is not multiplicative, it is exponential. Everything matters, just as much as nothing matters. Every choice is absent of 'destiny.' It is pure in its creative freedom. I love that. The short story format of small chapters with vague concepts being pushed accentuate the young nature of the main character, which I like. I am looking forward to the inclusion of more world-related content. What will happen when our golem friend discovers civilization? Will their spirit of exploration take on a scholarly format? Rather, will it be angered by the civilization for 'trouncing' on its beloved nature?
There are so many directions to go. So many paths to take. So many roads that definitely do not lead to Rome.
Style;
The style fits the genre. The style fits the character. However, the style is dull and you will likely have to push through reading it unless you're familiar with, and enjoy, this type of writing.
Grammar;
There are mistakes. There are oddities. There are things that possibly should be reworded and rewritten. But, alas, has there ever been something where you've felt like every word was the result of a thous
darkholmRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Overview
All Who Wander is, as its own name suggests, a slice of life travelogue about its non-human lead "Wanderer", a golem sculpted out of clay inhabited by a spirit whose literal identity is that of exploration. The first arc, "The Forst, All Who Wander", is about the character's first exposure to the world, reacting and growing to their surroundings.
On the surface, it's not bad. Ironically, the whole travelogue genre as a whole is quite well-explored at this point, but as I'll discuss, the non-human lead and the carefully crafted fantasy world both add a much-needed breath of fresh air. It's an interesting take on the classic elements of travel, with an emphasis placed on the inhuman nature of it all; not inhuman as in a lack of morality, but inhumans as in there literally are not that many humans in the story; the little exposure the main character has to humans are sparse and designed specifically to feature them as neutrally as possible.
All of this creates a compelling concept, and with a dash of fairytale passive voice in their prose, All Who Wander is at its best creating an alien environment that you're actually interested to see the exploration of; seeing how the familiar elements of the genre, such as forests and mines, are tilted in interesting ways through the worldbuilding.
With all that in mind, let's start talking about the details.
Style
The style is easily the strongest point in the writing, and has the greatest potential. All Who Wander creates an interesting setting from the first chapter where we learn that the main character isn't a human, but some sculpted clay golem that was literally born a couple seconds ago.
On top of this, there is clearly the fledglings of an interesting magic system. Although the section of the novel I've read doesn't expand on the magic beyond its existence and a couple of standard spells, there are interesting aspects at play, making the classic cliche of waving around a wand to cast spells a core aspect of the ma