Beach Bum
Self-Published
Community Rating
Description
This book has been published on Amazon Kindle (under the title Windswept) so I have to take down all but 10% of the content posted here.You can find the rest of the story at: https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0C14V7JW4?maas=&ref=Patrick was once your average, ordinary, 21st century American. That is to say he was overweight, under-appreciated, and utterly miserable. He was on track to stay that way for the rest of his life too, but nothing can knock you out of a rut quite like an abrupt landing in an entirely different dimension. A dimension of gods, monsters, and familiar video-game mechanics that promise a life of grand adventure. It’s just too bad that he never got that promise in writing…
Will Patrick be able to survive with nothing but a can-do attitude and the clothes on his back? Will he thrive? Or will he just become one more pawn on someone else’s board, pushed around by the uncaring winds of fate?
Information
- Status
- Ongoing
- Year
- 2023
- Author
- SmokeyBear
Royal Road Stats
- Rating
- 4.5/ 5.0
- Followers
- 1,897
- Views
- 9,816
Chapters(4 total)
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!
Community Reviews(10)
- ikorackRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0All the best parts of fan fics with no fan fic.
Original story, own gamelit system lots of pop culture.
Very gratifying - toolazytobreatheRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Very good story about a guy who wakes up on island in another world after a party. The guy is not op and have to earn every bit of coin with hard work and a bit of trickery. Fisherman,bard, sailor,trader and who knows maybe mage in the future, with every chapter he adapts to the new world.
- forgedRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Just enough litrpg content without being distasteful. A very unique and fun spin on an old trope.
- PumkinRoyal Road★★★★★ 4.5Story is dope. Salesmen are super compelling in media, idk why. I'm just happy to read a story that isn't about just hack n slash get fake plot armor points on an excel table. Additionally the island seafarer setting is underused (one piece not included), which makes this story stand out in a sea of shitty number crunching power fantasies. There is some number crunching though. And the MC is an unlikable spaz occasionally but he's pretty much smoothed out after the first couple chapters.
- KoboldPatrolRoyal Road★★★★★ 4.5(as of chapter 21)
Patrick wakes on a sandy beach after a party, with nothing but the clothes on his body. He soon notices that he is in a fantasy world with a stat/skill system (but no colored boxes) and decides he wants fame and adventure and to become a mage. Easier said than done, first he has to take care of the basic necessities for survival. So he starts working in the only town on the small island, drudgingly earning food, a few coins and some skills over time. Once he has bought passage on a boat he is able to learn more skills and he plans to climb up the ladder from there. Well, that ladder is quite steep, not going as straight up as he wants and he has to take it one step at a time.
Style/Grammar: The story is told in first-person internal style from the MC's POV. While the story includes sad aspects like poverty and slavery, the main feeling is light-hearted and upbeat. The skill system is interesting in that you can buy skill-related abilities by spending skill levels (which you then have to earn again if you want to progress in the skill). The descriptions are okay and there are some humorous elements. Grammar is fine with barely any typos.
Story: Even though the protagonist has to take many very small steps, his progress is palpable but not unreasonably so. Each chapter brings new scenes of how he meets somebody new or uses one of his strengths to reach a goal. You could fault the author a bit for making it too easy for the MC, there have been only minor hiccups and no really difficult obstacles. On the other hand, not every story has to be about the fight against overwhelming odds, as a lighter type of story it is fine as it is now.
Characters: The MC adapts to his new life rather quickly, soon using all of his limited options as if he were a born gamer, never looking back to his old life. Aside from this unlikely aspect (which is often seen in isekai stories), his personality is only "okay"; as the story is not very serious this is fine. The side c - Lorraine VRoyal Road★★★★★ 4.5Well written, light adventure story. Perfect reading after a long day at work.
- SoncikuroRoyal Road★★★★ 4.0Review done after finishing the most recent chapter, which is 22.
It's a good story all things considered, but one has to admit, the title is misleading. By chapter 6 he's not in a beach, and by chapter 8 he's not a bum. Now, if one uses bum as its verb form and is vague to what a beach is, as in ports and islands... then maybe it's not misleading.
I also don't like how at first it seems that he's going to become a Bard (as in, D&D Bard class), but then goes into a completely different direction and becomes a trader. Maybe in the future he'll get back to it, but so far his Bard qualities and skills are merely used to speed up a boat and earn some coin. Which is very disappointing, I'm yet to see a bard in a novel and my hopes were dashed.
Anyway, I don't regret reading it, because it was fun, but I'm not sure if I want to continue doing it. By all accounts, it is a good story, just not what I wanted nor expected.
Well, using RoyalRoad's score system:
Style: it's fine, but considering the setting, a more flowery language would be cool. Also, I think the use of italics would fit too. 3,5/5
Grammar: didn't see any problems, I think. 4,5/5
Story: again, I was disappointed, but there's nothing truly bad about it. 4/5
Character: other than the main character there isn't anyone else worth mentioning. I suppose it's a protagonist centric story, which is fine, but fine is not great. 3,5/5
And my personal rating:
Enjoyment: 4/5 - argusthecatRoyal Road★★★★ 4.0I always like a good litrpg that does something different with its mechanics, and this one is no exception. I'm interested to see how this whole setup influences the world and its cultures, and also to see what the main character gets up to with it.
- DrAltRoyal Road★★★★ 3.5The first bit is a great isekai of a guy who washes up on the beach in another world and gradually grinds up skills as a sailor. Servitude is very common in the world and the MC... well, no spoilers.
In the second bit MC fights for freedom. Then he gets to deal with the consequences of that. This bit is what keeps the story down in stars for me, you can sympathize and wonder at how unintelligent the plot and MC is. The author stopped here, and from their comments I think they recognize a major rewrite is needed for this arc to be workable.
Had this in my favorites for a while, and leaving this review as thanks as the author appears to have abandoned the fiction. Best of luck on future projects. - WakaMetalbellyRoyal Road★★★ 2.5"There's a line between being a moral person and being a complete idiot and this MC crashed past that line at a 1000 miles an hour."
I saw that writtin by a fellow revewer and I can't agree more. Yes. It's important to help people who are suffering. But it's just as important to make sure that you *can* help them with out becoming a victim yourself or makeing the situation worse.
So much of that mess was just so sudden, didn't make sense, and was such a departure from how you were building this guy up as that I just threw my hands up. It might not seem like much, but that really did kill the story for me. Good luck to the Author in further writings.