Changling: The Child From The Woods.

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

When one can be exploited for great gain, seen as less than a person, those with power will always do so.How one reacts, bending or breaking, is what determines their measure.

Found by a farmer in the woods, it was clear that something was different about him when he rarely cried, when his pale skin never darkened under the sun.His magical talents became clear when his uncle, a veteran soldier, realized that he could see mana without training.Yet these things mattered little to his parents, to his sisters, or to him, because they were a family.And Harlan would do anything for his family.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: Seared Books

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 222
Views: 442,909

Chapters(392 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(5)

Dougulas KaienRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Child From the Woods is just the tip of the iceberg in describing what the story is about. A babe found in the woods gets adopted by a pair of kind humans and raised to live with their family. But eventually, the boy, Harlan, learns his true heritage, and it changes his life forever.
The story takes some dark turns while mc copes with his inhuman nature and learns to deal with those who seek to use his special abilities. But through the good and bad, Harlan's sense of family become his guiding principle and helps him retain his sanity.
Fair warning that this story contains very traumatizing content including casual torture.
JiggidydrewRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall: I'm only on chapter 8 but I'm so hooked that I had to leave a review. The first few chapters are confusing, very confusing. I think it is here where most readers give up. But this story reminds me of my favorite series ever, Malazan Book of the Fallen by Stephen Erickson. Obviously it's not as polished as Erickson's work, but like Erickson, this author throws you into a world and makes you learn it little by little with clues, some explanation, and context. It doesn't force feed you everything and makes you put together the story yourself, and I'm addicted. I will definitely continue this and hope that this style doesnt change in the future.
Style: this style might scare some readers off but I love the subtle ways in which the author forces the reader to put 2 and 2 together without spoon feeding and exposition.
Story: not far enough to truly rate this one where I'm at little more than lore and character building but I'm enjoying the hints and clues given so far.
Grammar: not great, but I'm not a prude for this. If it was published and in paid format, id expect better, but it's good for a new writer on a free to read site. And I've noticed improvements as I've chugged along. It rarely detracts from the story and overall it's 3/5. Noticeable but not immersion breaking.
Character score: amazing so far, show don't tell. I love how we learn about the people through interactions and dialogue rather than forced and drawn out explanations. It feels like learning about a dark souls world through interactions rather than a long cut scene. Almost as if I am actively investigating these people and this world and I'm all in for it. I'm only at ch 8 so I'll edit this again when I'm deeper in the story.
visigothRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I was wondering why this story had so few views but then i began i realised the issue.
Way too many pov switches and little to no focus on the mc in the initial chapters, since im dropping this early it may be a mistake but i definitly feel like we dont get to bond much with any of the characters much less the mc making the events that are transpiring a bit stale.
The most interesting part of the story at the moment is definitly the world building but with no characters to root for it almost feels like a journal diary of several people.
The story also falls into the trap of telling and not showing which makes most settings hard to picture. The pace consequently feels extremely fast due to the author refusing to give detailed discriptions from a tangible perspective.
TomWitchRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I love this story, but loving it is hard when the story does as much as it can to hurt. The intro is a strong hook, but it's hard to stay focused when a million aspects are begging you to look away. I can tell that Seared loves this world with how the world moves on with or without Harlan. The characters and their roles are well developed, people change and that is apparent, but change here only seems to happen reactively followed by a phase of cooling down.
My personal favorite character would be Redmond. It is never said but it is heavily implied that he is a fricken beast of a man. As a soldier he took down a pack of advanced wolves. Next we seem him in the frontier surviving in places for longer then even the specially adapted.
Then it's Blackstone, a women shown to be a very capable menace, he can beat her comfortably.
Then the silly wyvern, he not only excaped it, but hid from it IN ITS NEST, god, not even some top tier fighters want to get close to it at that time, yet he SAVED HIS DOG by running into the fire. What a beast.
We can also see a bit of his power when Harlan has to take a role from him. Redmond was a front liner, in a group of elites, facing a threat that is best bombed from a distance without getting close. Adding more context would spoil it but make this feat even more nuts.
Enough of that tangent, the story starts to really shine in the early 200's but slows down dramatically in the mid to late 200.
The 300's are all a blur, like it all happens at once. You can actively see both the author and the mc spiral amd when the author is in a good mood or bad, how he tries to back pedal. This story is both a reflection and a venting for Seared's life, but honestly, it's a damn good story. I just wish seared life had more stability, if not for him self, then for Harlan.
gordmeRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
I really did not understand this chapter at all!! He made a ring from his own soul that in itself should have made him more warry of people but he let the ring go off on everybody .Just a strange book and chapter,i will not continue reading this book any further