Brunning Divide

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Humanity has become a tool used by higher beings to cultivate the universe.

Xander Floros doesn't know if the last fifteen years of his life have been a sick joke, some artist's vanity project, or an actual colonization by the Hibernarii. Sometimes it feels like all three because life on the remote desert planet Erimia has never been easy.

The Floros family and a handful of other human families struggle daily to survive in their oasis valley. Xander's sick of it. Sick of the heat. Sick of the work. Sick of his neighbors. And really sick of the giant spiders. But he doesn't have much of a choice, because the only way off of Erimia is by the grace of the Hibernarii, whose trail of ashes shows how they treat failure.

Based in the far future, Brunning Divide, is almost a space western, if it wasn't for those damn spiders.

Sensitive content:

* Violence

* References to rape, incest, and bestiality (but only brief references, no details)

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: McCluff

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Views: 3,972

What readers say about Brunning Divide

“I found the story to be very professional and easy to read. Xander's early trauma seems to really set the stage nicely, setting up a world where terror could strike at any moment. I found some parts to lose me but the Author did well at pulling you back in.…”
C.H. MouserRoyal Road4.5 / 5
“A promising more-or-less space western. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking out for that kind of story. Style (4.5/5) The story is written in a way that highlights dialogue and actions. It does a good job at sprinkling in some description of the c…”
MoonlightGardensRoyal Road4.5 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(3)

C.H. MouserRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I found the story to be very professional and easy to read. Xander's early trauma seems to really set the stage nicely, setting up a world where terror could strike at any moment. I found some parts to lose me but the Author did well at pulling you back in. I think overall if you like a good Sci-fi story this would be worth a read.
Style: I found the Author's style to be very professional and could tell some time and heart had been put into the story. The character interactions and dialogue seemed to be performed well and all around it was very well rounded.
Story: I think the way the story started with Xander's traumatic experience really did nice at setting the stage for the world and the town they lived. I got lost a few times and the pacing may shift but the Author did well at pulling you back in.
Grammar: One. Word. Impeccable. I'm not the grammar warrior but from what I could tell there were no grammar errors or punctuation errors that I could tell. As a reader I can confidently say that not once did any grammar mistakes cause a hiccup in the story or in the reading experience.
Character: I found Xander to be well shaped and the Author seemed to handle him well. His interactions with his family, especially his brother, was portrayed very well and felt natural. I liked how his early trauma and his hatred of their town breathed life into not only his character but into the towns people themselves.
MoonlightGardensRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
A promising more-or-less space western. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking out for that kind of story.
Style (4.5/5)
The story is written in a way that highlights dialogue and actions. It does a good job at sprinkling in some description of the characters and their surroundings, though perhaps not enough to get a clear picture of them. It also stands out to me as clearly setting up the world and where they live in, even without huge expositional infodumps.
Story (4.5/5)
Even within the prologue, the setting and theme of the work is incredibly obvious. The next few chapters continue to set up the world and the characters in it, preparing the reader for all that’s in the making. Some logistics about this place (is there no doctor? How has no one died since, then? Why do families only seem to have 1-3 kids, if I assume they’re meant to populate the place?) confuses me, but it might just be a personal thing, if not something relevant to the story later. I kind of lost track of what was happening during the third chapter, but that might’ve just been because of its length and overall chaotic nature.
Grammar (4.5/5)
I found a handful of odd grammar choices or weirdness, but nothing that’s too jarring to be taken out of the story.
Character (4.5/5)
The main character is set up pretty well, to the point the reader is easily able to figure out what might be going on in his head. The other characters are similar, pretty easily characterized in a way that makes them easy to distinguish. Character interactions are overall pretty good, characterizing each of them and giving more insight to the world they live in.
hazeldogRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Overall I really enjoyed this, and I think the author is off to a great start. The setting is interesting and I’d love to learn more about the world, particularly more about the experiment, why they’re on that planet, etc.
Style: The prose is pretty clean and easy to read. Xander has a dry, direct narration style, which I enjoy. I would love more physical descriptions and sensory details so that I can really envision the scene.
I felt a bit bogged down by the amount of exposition and telling, especially in the first couple chapters. It seemed like every time a new character was introduced, Xander stopped to tell us exactly how he felt about them and what their history was, rather than letting us infer based off his interactions with them. For example, it's obvious that he doesn't like Marigold's brothers based off the way they treat each other; we don't need Xander to tell us that in the narration.
Story: The pacing is a bit slow in the first couple chapters, which makes it difficult to tell what the actual main plot is. However, now that I have a better idea of where the story is going, it seems exciting. I’m going to read more to see if it continues to hook me.
Character: This is where I struggled the most. I had a difficult time connecting with Xander, for two main reasons:
1) His lack of clear goals and motivation. I'm not really sure what's driving Xander forward. It's hard to root for a character who isn't rooting for anything themselves. Does he want to work hard to prove himself to be as good of a leader as his father? Does he want to fight for Marigold's hand in marriage? Does he want to get off that hellhole of a planet and never look back? I have no idea. He's just kind of... there, existing in his day-to-day life.
2) He has a lot of flaws, and not really any positives. The only positive attribute I could pull from the text is that he seems to be a hard worker. He’s not shown to be particularly kind, clever, ambitious, brave, responsible, generous, strong