Broken Lands

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The day it all started was supposed to be an ordinary day.

For Sophia Rothmer, that meant escorting a new delver through a simple dungeon’s Tier One area. Sure, she knew her mother had seen a future where she ended up in another world on her own adventure, but that was months ago; it probably wasn’t going to happen.

For a group of offworld mercenaries, that meant damaging a dungeon’s instance core, snagging some extra treasure, and blaming it on either Sophia or her trainee.

For Dav Carolan, that meant exploring a new world. He may not know what’s going on, but he’ll figure it out; he always does.

The heist didn’t go as planned. After a disorienting and potentially life-altering trip through the place between everything known as the Origin, Sophia and Dav find themselves in a cave. They have no idea what happened to the bandits, no idea where they are, and Sophia seems to have lost her Skills.

It’s not an auspicious welcome to the Broken Lands.

Updates Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The content warnings are mostly to give me room to write; this fiction is not intended to be edgy, but there are times when someone is seriously injured and the Bad Guys sometimes do Bad Things. The characters also had lives before the story and they're ... not always happy.

No AI assistance was used in the writing, but there is AI art.

This story is released ONLY on RoyalRoad, Scribblehub, and Patreon. If you're seeing this somewhere else, it was stolen.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2024
Author: Lillene

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 350
Views: 344,492

Chapters(406 total)

What readers say about Broken Lands

“I love the story, which is not much of a surprise as I loved her previous (and completed) work. I was just waiting for enough chapters to get some meat into a review. Style: There is a small amount of roughness in the writing sometimes, but I am also aware…”
A. B. ZagarothRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“I love the story, which is not much of a surprise as I loved her previous (and completed) work. I was just waiting for enough chapters to get some meat into a review. Style: There is a small amount of roughness in the writing sometimes, but I am also aware…”
ZagarothRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(5)

A. B. ZagarothRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love the story, which is not much of a surprise as I loved her previous (and completed) work. I was just waiting for enough chapters to get some meat into a review.
Style:
There is a small amount of roughness in the writing sometimes, but I am also aware of the speed at which the author writes. She's still a lot smoother than many people who write slower. So the occasional spot of writing that doesn't flow perfectly smoothly is not a huge problem.
Story:
I am amused by the concept and entertained by the execution. MC is Isekai'd from one world with a system into another world with a very different and not very compatible system. Now she has to figure out how it all works while being reasonably well versed in concepts like world travel and magic.
Grammar:
It is very rare to find any mistakes in her work and any that I have spotted have clearly been typos. She has this down.
Characters:
They are all very entertaining, and I love how a subtle quirk of one character's personality suddenly makes perfect sense when you find out more about his backstory. Each of the characters is very much a person in their own right.
ZagarothRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love the story, which is not much of a surprise as I loved her previous (and completed) work. I was just waiting for enough chapters to get some meat into a review.
Style:
There is a small amount of roughness in the writing sometimes, but I am also aware of the speed at which the author writes. She's still a lot smoother than many people who write slower. So the occasional spot of writing that doesn't flow perfectly smoothly is not a huge problem.
Story:
I am amused by the concept and entertained by the execution. MC is Isekai'd from one world with a system into another world with a very different and not very compatible system. Now she has to figure out how it all works while being reasonably well versed in concepts like world travel and magic.
Grammar:
It is very rare to find any mistakes in her work and any that I have spotted have clearly been typos. She has this down.
Characters:
They are all very entertaining, and I love how a subtle quirk of one character's personality suddenly makes perfect sense when you find out more about his backstory. Each of the characters is very much a person in their own right.
RaggaMuffinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
So far it's a slow story in terms of world building. Lillene takes the needed time to craft deep and engaging worlds, and it shows again.
A completely new system and a wholly different universe don't make reading serenity's story necessary, but if you haven't, i recommend it anyways. Even if just to get a feeling for the different mcs and the feat to make them feel like separate individuals.
The characters are fleshed out as always (but mostly unexplored atm) and feel like proper people rather than plot devices.
There are interresting plots starting to appear and i presume there is a lot of fun to be had. The 'new universe' seems to have some interesting mechanics and influences.
My only criticism so far is that there is no clear direction yet, so it might feel a bit aimless. But it is only the beginning and there surely will be engaging stuff to come.
ValentineNRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
It's a story about adventure and exploration.
The MCs get blown off to another world, new rules, new problems. They find monsters to kill and dark, dirty and damp caves to explore.
The pacing seems OK to my inexpert eye, adding in good measure details about the world around, fighting monsters and character building.
No problems with grammar or writing that I noticed.
The MCs are in a new world, and would like to get home. But it doesn't feel as if that's their main driver, more like, 'sure we'd like to go home, eventually. But right now I'm curious what's beyond that mountain over there.'
So, that's my take, adventure and exploration.
Andrew616Royal Road
★★★ 3.0
Let me star by saying I loved Serenity, and that is what has brought me to this story, and back again 3 times... I just cant get into it. The writing is well done, the MC is fleshed out and there is a supporting cast to support her, the world and system are wekk developed and thought out, it ticks so many boxes.
The whole premise was a continuation of Serenity, but through the eyes of his daughter, so a privileged person, well educated, able to wander the galaxy etc, but not one with eons of OPness. Sadly things immediately sideways, instead Serenity's daughter was Isekied into a new universe... so no fun exploring old/new worlds, no seeing old friends, no seeing how things have shaken out with earth becoming a magitech superpower, all gone.
On top of that we have a totally new system, so we don't even get to see new paths. Essentially it is completely unconnected to the universe of Serentiy except for a few occasional comments.
Sadly, the new system is a video game, skill does x, no explanation why, no tie in to build on how things work with affinities or rituals, no growing by understadning your path, just kill monsters gain wisps (XP) and buy skills that may or may not synergies with your affinities that, you don't know about by the way, as the guide doesnt quantify them. Sometimes you can purchase an evolution that you can buy with more wisps, or not sometimes, because you don't know the skill tree.
I keep trying because the writing is good and there isn't one thing I can place my finger on, but I keep losing interest. Sophia is not my favorite character as MC, Dav is basically a meat shield/friend with benifits, and Cliff is non-existent except when giving power boosts to Sophia... and the 'Guide' is a way worse system.
I'll probably be back to try again later, but back to the 'read later' list for this one.