Bow Craft - Ex-Assassin in a World of Hobbies

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

A lo-fi slice-of-life with Hobbies on the side

Craft Bowen deserved no happiness. When fulfilling an assassin’s duty cost him his love, his life, and the life of his love, the goddess of another world, Enthusia, gives him sanctuary and time to heal — and a ticket to a new world to leave everything behind.

Amatoria is a paradise for the lost. Here, hobbies fuel one’s lifeforce, but its System is a WIP, filled with weird features and edge cases, and its residents are much the same. Should he let its imperfections and kindness change him, it could be his slice of heaven, but if he doesn’t, outsiders will claim him, and not even the friendliest grass-touching witch can save him.

But hey, it’s just like crafting a bow — there’s always a chance of breaking, so he’ll craft not to finish one, but to learn what makes making… Then maybe he’ll be okay.

[Schedule]

Every now and then.Muwahahaha, be at my mercy!(I have stabilized on a weekly schedule.)

[LitRPG-lite]

We're light on numbers here, but the Systemisrelevant.

Cover by me.Ch1-20 dev't edited by Cloud Written/J.N.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: KeeperAbra

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 683
Views: 63,664

Chapters(46 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(4)

InslayerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a very interesting and fun story that I can wholeheartedly recommend. The internal logic of the world is weird, but it makes sense. This is a story about people who devote themselves to just...doing what they like.
Pursue your hobby and grow stronger. But hobbies are more than just a way to get stronger.
Quote: “Great. The most basic of basics here in the midRealm is that you need Anima to live, and you get Anima by doing your Hobbies. To be clear, you don’t need to eat to live, okay? You need Anima.”
You have what should be a slice of life redemption story for an ex-assassin, but lying in wait are undercurrents that betray chaos and destruction because nothing is ever that simple and all stories need some spice.
Also, it's nice reading about the character development of Craft. Not only that, I want to see how good he is at his craft, I want to see how he reacts when he meets Rafflesia again and I want to see how he deals with unexpected roadblocks.
I want to see everything and so much more.
Also, it might be solely my opinion, but Rafflesia is an idiot and although I believe her decision is a net positive in the end, it doesn't make her any less of an idiot.
here lies SanityRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style score: 777/10 (literary jackpot)
I absolutely adore the subversion of annoying tropes using the power of COMMUNICATION in a way that makes sense and doesn't piss off either the characters and readers(many author's will somehow find an extremely unrealistic way to either aggravate characters and readers for no literary reason or "resolve" an entire arcs drama that had been brewing in a half-baked single sentence then gloss over to make up a new problem to tackle)(I despise that). It is direct, wholesome, and fresh. Like lofi music if it had characters that gave the same joy you get from listening to it by reading.(Everyone likes that)
Story score: 9.5/10 (extremely early on and will increase as we go)
This is a primarily a slice of life. Not to say things cannot get serious when necessary. The 'conflicts' so far after the prologue have been largely internal and we are only a scant 20 chapters. Craft is introspective as many who died in the way he did would be(killing the one you love and also dying to her is really depressing)(think being forced to kill your dog by the government or something) and yet there is certainly a sizable amount of foreshadowing to a big bad. However, the idea of a big bad for now remains in the background for now as we are only 20 chapters in. However whenever a big conflict makes it's entrance I have no doubt it will do so with pacing that provides impactful, meaningful, and genuine resolutions.
Grammar score: Impeccable 10/10 (flawless)
Character score: 12/10 (If god made humanity in his own image then this author has to be relatable af)
Craft has been a major emotion uplifter for me. I have yet to come across a moment in time when characters seemed one dimensional. The fact is you make me care about your characters. It gives me the hope and drive to keep my own life moving. I myself suffer from severe social anxiety and Craft an assassin who is also clearly socially anxious manage to interact with (hopefully)new friends and maybe ga
nzswc3iRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There is something strangely captivating in this "ex-assassin goes to cosy-world" (well, I guess it's cosy? At least compared to where the MC comes from).
The depth of the characters and quality of the writing is probably a good part of it, as well as how the exposition is done. (Not how in how it's written on a technical sense, but what the characters focus on).
The first chapter is really well written and should give a feel about the story and if it's for you.
So please try it sometimes.
Anyway. If anything, I'm sad there's not more of the story to binge read, but hopefully that's something that gets resolved in time.
NOTE: The review rating is 5 out of 5, because anything else would hurt the story (RR should really rethink the rating system). I didn't read enough to have a firm opinion on the story, but seeing that there's no other reviews and that so far it's really good, I had to write a little something.
PoTaytoHeadRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Overall: This is a story I like. And I find myself liking it FOR some of the flaws in the story. It can really tend to use too many words to describe a situation. The author likes to use complicated metaphors to describe the characters, and not a lot has happened. Despite these issues, I enjoy the characters and the world.
Style: KeeperAbra likes to write. I can tell that just from reading what is put to page here. Sometimes that works really well. Other times, scenes seem to drag along for a bit longer than necessary. But all of it is done with what I can sense is a deep interest in telling a particular story. There are some heavy-handed moral imperatives woven into this story. Again, they aren't always explained in a logical or reasonable way, but there's an emotional to the story that I think resonates rather deeply.
On top of this, some of the character interactions feel less-than-realized. We're left with a lot of questions when they're done talking. This could be intentional, but I'm not sure that it is. Almost all of them boil down to, "MC feels awkward and says nothing instead." Which works just fine for a bit, but we're now 20 chapters into a story with no real growth. Just thoughts of growing. At some point readers need payoff.
Story: As stated earlier, we don't have a lot of story. Most of it (probably around half) is spent in the MC's head. Some of this experience is understandable because the story seems to be a deeply personal journey of someone trying to figure out how to actually live a life. But, again, payoffs are needed for a story to more forward. We've set up the struggle of the story for quite a few chapters. Some payoff would be nice.
We also have some mystery boxes at play (no spoilers). I'm not sure how to feel about them. They feel a bit bait-y, but they could be used well. Time will tell if they're worth the setup (which was a bit lacking).
The world seems pretty well-realized and based on some similar worlds out there. This story is, at i