Chasing Sunlight

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Book now availableon Amazon! In a world of lightless skies and endless secrets, humanity is a vigil of light against the eternal darkness. Under the imprimatur of the Illuminated King and the nefarious endorsement of the Reflected Council, a veteran explorer assembles an expedition to the far east. A place that no sane and god-fearing man would ever go. Jonathan Heights will, and must, for he claims to have seen sunlight. A laughable myth and fairy tale, but he will not be stopped on his journey to find it again. Wonders and horrors both lie between the human lands and his ultimate goal; things long-forgotten and long-dead, that which could not be recorded on any map. They are temptation and terror to the wise and foolish alike, but not to Jonathan. His purpose is clear, and he has but one goal, yet the truth is shrouded and motives remain uncertain among the agents of both crown and underworld as they join Jonathan aboard the airship Endeavor to sail the strange and exotic lands out there in the darkness. Chasing Sunlight is a pulp airship adventure serial inspired by Sunless Sea, HP Lovecraft, and a little bit of Moby Dick and The Odyssey. It will be a single book, somewhere between 25 and 30 chapters. The first five chapters will be uploaded once a day, Mon 28 - Fri 1, at which point it will be uploaded every Friday at 5PM. Join our Discord!

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2023
Author: InadvisablyCompelled

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 4,197
Views: 628,613

What readers say about Chasing Sunlight

“Wonderful. One of the best on RR, but I also recognise it's niche. The aurthur has consistently delivered and this one was not a miss. The world building happened organically with no awkward info dump. The magic system is also excellent. Wasn't explained be…”
'Ladi WilliamsRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Mimics the prose and vocabulary of Fallen London, from which inspirations are many, where gossip is incindiary and the penny-dreadfuls are salacious. The descriptions on how the esoteric produces tangible phenomena is also a treat often overlooked in such s…”
BlackMondayRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

'Ladi WilliamsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Wonderful.
One of the best on RR, but I also recognise it's niche.
The aurthur has consistently delivered and this one was not a miss.
The world building happened organically with no awkward info dump.
The magic system is also excellent. Wasn't explained because the explanation would ruin it.
Thank you for the story. I want more like this.
BlackMondayRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Mimics the prose and vocabulary of Fallen London, from which inspirations are many, where gossip is incindiary and the penny-dreadfuls are salacious.
The descriptions on how the esoteric produces tangible phenomena is also a treat often overlooked in such supernatural stories.
The bittersweetness of the journey is exactly how these stories ought to go.
BoredNerdBooksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
One of the best stories I have ever read. Absolutely worth reading. An almost perfect example for this genre of fiction. The ending is one of the best endings I've ever read too. It finishes the story in perfect manner, neither being disappointing nor feeling like it just ended to soon and leaving you longing for more. Up there with the color out of space for how it coveys it's ideas and dangers. The paranoid mage was a good story, but this was a truly magnificent book, perfectly encapsulating the story told with in it.
Pacing was very good, there weren't really any particularly slow parts. The tension towards the as well, was built extremely well, with greater and greater things revealed as the story comes to its conclusion.
The characters develop well, with all the main characters either developing and changing as the story goes on, or having their underlying feelings and motivations revealed.
Minor spoilers for theme and settings:
Hit's the sunless sea vibe beautifully as well, managing to instill the sense of danger from the unknown, and the feeling that what seems like an oasis in the dark may be just as dangerous as the darkness itself
I guess the only caution I would provide is that it's a little on the dark side, but considering the genre it falls into it's honestly a lot less darker than it some other similar books. Though I think this plays into it's strength as it doesn't just try to be overly edgy and gory.
BrightBulbRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a marvelous story and clearly an outlier among many kinds of power fantasy that dominate Royal Road. It is a novel that deserves to be called "a prose". I have been reading books in english for about 10 years and have almost forgot the feeling of a need to reach for a dictionary. This book reminded me that on a regular basis and by looking at other comments and reviews- I was not the only one. Chasing Sunlight wording is not just showing of by the author, as the flowery style fits what this novel is- a classic XIX century adventure fantasy mixed with cosmic horror. I have never seen that mix, so on this alone the Chasing Sunlight deserves my praise. But the most important aspect of this prose is that it make you think after you finished reading it. Chasing Sunlight has a story to ruminate about, events to interpret, a message to fully understend- it is a work of Art. I wish for possibility of having a hardcover edition on my shelf and for you to read this book ;)
F1respeedRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Super glad I waited to read this, as I really enjoyed reading it all at once. A very different genre than I usually read and more interesting because of that. Well written with compelling characters and environments. I have recommended Chasing Sunlight to my family, and I recommend it to you.
FanFanLoverRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I thoughtfully enjoyed this story.
The adventure characteristic of the story was never overstayed where a single location was essentially the whole setting. The practice of comic horror was also executed excellently. The story also didnt feelt rushed to got the the next location when an even occurred. Yet the characters were fully developed
JohiahRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don't really have too much to say; it provided exactly what I hoped it would. A journey through inhuman landscapes that left many observations unanswered, consisting of very flawed, very human characters. I devoured it in to days. Definitely something I'll be ordering to put on my shelf.
There could maybe have been a bit more detail to some of the character interplay but the narrator is acknowledged as unreliable in pursuit of his goal, and to sidestep this by using secondary narrators would have undermined or altered a fair chunk of the story. I was surprised by the amount of destruction the team wrought on the way East, but this is answered and wraps up neatly into the overall themes of the story. All those things that were destroyed were ephemeral and, in the long run, don't matter.
The ending was ambiguous enough to not outright say things but clear enough that I believe there is a "correct" answer or interpretation to the end of Jonathan's journey, and I quite liked the message.
Lorem ipsum something something 200 characters I really thought I'd hit this already but apparently even this isn't enough? Ah words, not characters. Three more words.
KnetramRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Some other review called it “Lovecraftian horror written better than Lovecraft.,” and I really cannot describe it better myself. Existential dread and horror is so much better when the author actually has enough understanding to comprehend the extents needed to witness it. And for all that, it’s an adventure novel, with peril, adventure, and wonder throughout. I really cannot recommend it enough.
Triple BombazoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Bear Witness:
To the ramblings of an apocalyptic fervor,
To the lost hope of an Antediluvian Underdark,
To a trek across inhuman environs antithetical to natural purpose,
To those burdened with taboo enigmas yet still seek salvation,
To an author that really wanted Darkest Dungeon 2 to take place Underground, and they're a huge fan of Treasure Planet.
moucesterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I really like the Eldritch for the mystery of the unknown. Fallen London and other inspirations really show up well in this book. The characters are all with their own motivation, ideals, goals and more importantly, secrets for the journey. The journey is the destination and the unknown is very well described. I read it all in one sitting and was very sad when it ended. I wanted more. The book is complete and the story is solid. The whole journey is flawless in my opinion. A very good read.