Blood Animus
Self-Published
Community Rating
Description
Alex Mercer has always fought against the darkness within. With a past scarred by loss and betrayal, Alex now moves between shadowy alliances and fractured friendships, struggling to survive and keeping her violent impulses at bay.
When Alex is hired to capture a rogue soldier, she reluctantly agrees to the mission with a team she barely trusts to learn about her past. But the deeper she dives into the maze of neon-soaked streets and shattered lives, the more she’s forced to confront the parts of herself she’s long buried. And as enemies close in from all sides, she must decide what she’s willing to risk to reclaim her identity—and her humanity.
Information
- Status
- Hiatus
- Year
- 2025
- Author
- Kmckeon95
Royal Road Stats
- Rating
- 4.6/ 5.0
- Followers
- 5
- Views
- 497
Chapters(3 total)
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!
Community Reviews(3)
- Luke W. LoganRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0So this is a diamond in the rough. Kmckeon95 needs to go redo the tags for this because at the very least it requires the action tag. But overall it's a high effort piece of sci-fi action with a gritty pulpy feel to it that doesn't disappoint.
Style; It's well written with beautiful descriptions although at times they can feel a little jarring when it transitions from action and dialogue. That said it's the dialogue where this story really shines, showing so much about the wider world and the characters shared history.
Grammar; Easy to read with no obvious mistakes.
Story; It's got a great hook that feels naturally and consistent with the story. It's early days yet so it could go downhill but everything points to a week thought out story that meshes nicely with the world and the narrative.
Character; Alex is already kind of a badass. They have a great internal monologue which blends well with the action. They're fun to read and have actual agency which is so delightful to find in a protagonist these days! The surrounding cast are more than just wooden cut outs and full the world with texture giving this fic a grittyness that many novels fail to achieve with a much longer word count. - Bluelightning42Royal Road★★★★★ 4.5So first off I want to say this novel is written as a kind of Noir/Gritty Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk story. It's not the kind of story I like to read as I've only really liked those genres while heavily heavily mellowed by humour- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency/Hitchikers guide to the Galaxy etc.
That being said I can't really fault what's written even though I probably won't continue with it. For those that like those genres this seems like a solid addition.
My only real feedback bringing this score down is a stylistic/Grammar choice that many new authors make.
There are too many adjectives and adverbs. Everything is described in exquisite detail however after a certain point, the number of descriptors actively hinders the story.
Going forwards I feel like a few choice descriptions of something important to the plot or a building that will be used multiple times being described with a lot of details is fine while single-use settings need a only a cursory mention.
I'm not sure however if this is a genre thing instead of a novel thing because I seem to remember a few noir type novels seeming to have the same problem.
Going forwards I hope you get a loyal readership and following because there's obviously some effort that has gone into the existing chapters. - ZearthRoyal Road★★★★ 4.0In Media Res.
This is a scenario that most of us would've seen before, getting thrown right into the mix with nothing to handhold you into the mix. It's done well and allows you to get an understanding at the end through dialogue and thoughts.
The current issue here is that the sentence feel too rigid, the flow a bit too slow. But those are issues that can be solved, so that's my rating to the story.