City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Suffering the machinations of family, Remus is sent to the newly built border city of Greltheaven. A place filled with opportunities but also dangers. If it had been up to him, he would have stayed in the safety of the empire, slowly building his business as he had planned, but he did not have a choice, either go to the dangerous city or live a mediocre life. Which he is not willing to do. Swearing revenge, he packed his bags and moved to Greltheaven, a city of great dangers and fortune. ... A brothel is not an easy business to run, much less get success, but since fate had so kindly decreed it upon him, he will not only run the brothel but will make it immensely successful. He had plans, big plans for it; he only hoped the city would remain standing long enough to turn his small business into an empire. … There will be 5 Ch/week, from Monday to Friday.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2022
Author: A WAN

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 2,185
Views: 6,302,599

Chapters(890 total)

What readers say about City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

“The world building is expansive and not every thing happens because of mc involvement.The plot is layered with multiple pov’s showing the details. Side characters are important and multiple things occur simultaneously.Grammar is a bit wonky but has improved…”
Just_existingRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Not certain what I was expecting but it has blown my expectations out of the water. I began reading it thinking it was gonna be like full of xxx and I'm so glad it wasn't. The múltiple pov and so many layered characters. It am really enjoying it and can't…”
Solidhwk2010Royal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

Just_existingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The world building is expansive and not every thing happens because of mc involvement.The plot is layered with multiple pov’s showing the details. Side characters are important and multiple things occur simultaneously.Grammar is a bit wonky but has improved by a lot.Personally I have been following this story since chapter 20 and it is still the first thing I read every time I open the app.
Solidhwk2010Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Not certain what I was expecting but it has blown my expectations out of the water. I began reading it thinking it was gonna be like full of xxx and I'm so glad it wasn't. The múltiple pov and so many layered characters. It am really enjoying it and can't wait for the next release.
ElorieRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Yes, the English is far from perfect, but it's tolerable - at least for me.
The intrigue, the scope, it's something rarely seen. The oldest profession finally getting its due!
Money and mercantile matters, major battles, undead, magic, touching sacrifice... it's worth a try.
A classic kingdom-building story done well. Well, except for the annoying, incessant, repeating errors in language.
Droy17Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
City of Desires introduces an intriguing premise that blends business management with adventure and exploration. The story follows Remus, a man who, driven by necessity and ambition, is thrust into the volatile border city of Greltheaven. Forced to leave behind the safety of his life within the empire, he inherits a brothel, which he sets out to turn into an empire of his own making. The city presents both opportunity and danger, creating a compelling backdrop for Remus’s journey. However, while the premise holds promise, the execution leaves much to be desired.
At its core, the novel centers on Remus’s desire to build a successful business. However, the focus quickly shifts away from the intricacies of business management to more familiar tropes of adventure and quest-driven narratives. A significant portion of the story revolves around Remus recklessly spending vast amounts of money to “improve” his establishment, without much explanation for where these resources come from or why people are so willing to part with their wealth. This reliance on the convenience of plot armor feels frustrating, as it undermines the stakes and believability of Remus’s efforts. His success seems to arise not from careful planning or strategic acumen, but rather from sheer luck and the unchecked generosity of the narrative.
The characterization in City of Desires also leaves much to be desired. Remus’s brothel workers, who are central to the story, are portrayed almost as idealized figures—remarkably loyal, excessively grateful, and without any real conflict or nuance. This idealization of the characters creates a sense of unrealistic perfection, with little to challenge Remus’s efforts or his assumptions. The lack of depth in the supporting characters diminishes the emotional weight of the story and leaves the reader yearning for more complexity in their motivations and interactions.
One of the most glaring issues with the novel is its technical execution. The quality of writing, par
Ao VerusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Story is great and like its name I have great desire to continue reading, I will continue to read it, keep it going friend and once it is finished, please do edit it hard so I can reread and enjoy it again. the book needs some serious editing but still the new content is more in demand than editing, so i will suggest the author to complete it till certain part and edit it for the release. Writing wise character are great, story is great but there is one issue which is different timelines and when you include different character and there talk, when you edit the story make sure you show a smooth flow and make it easier for reader to follow the story, read different timeline and various other POVstyle wise 4/5 - because of various timelines, POVSand confusion, but it will be 5 after you edit it bro i am surestory 5/5 - great storycharacter 5/5 - great character, character is not repetitive and are unique.grammar 3/5 - as I say it need editing, proofreading and correction, but it will rise to 5 as you improve on itI like the premise that it is more trade and economic focus. But it is only me and i don't represent everyone.
LoovotRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Loved it till now, grammar is bit wacky sometimes like spelling mistakes or punctuations but rest is good.
If there is anything I would love to see pov of empire's war, by this time I mostly forgot what is happening in the empire. Just a auxiliary type of chapter where author can explain who is who and what happened till now.
Characters are pretty well developed and so is the story. Though it might feel tad bit slow sometimes but it picks it up in the next chapter.
24nightreaderRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
One of the best stories I have ever read, wenn it comes to the charakters and plot.
For those starting with it, I implore you to overlook the language errors an focus on the masterpiece, that is the Story hidden behind them.
Follow Remus on his journey and rise to power.
CrustyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The English can be somewhat stilted, but it is a fun story. The main character is engaging, the pace is brisk enough to keep me interested, yet detailed enough that I can fall into this world easily. I hope this tale continues, and that down the road it finds an editor.
DetoDimaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
CERTIFIED ABSOLUTE BANGER!
YES, YOU READ IT RIGHT, CERTIFIED ABSOLUTE BANGER! THIS IS, BY FAR ONE OF MY FAVORITE STORIES HERE ON RR, IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE.
PLEASE, READ THE FULL REVIEW AND BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY IT IS ABSOLUTELY WORTH READING, YOU'LL THANK ME LATER!
THE ONLY REASON I'M WRITING THIS REVIEW IS BECAUSE I READ A SIMILAR REVIEW BEFORE READING THIS STORY AND I'M GLAD I DECIDED TO GIVE IT A SHOT, SO I'M MAKING SURE ANYONE THAT READS THIS REVIEW AT LEAST SERIOUSLY TRY TO READ THIS STORY, IT IS WORTH IT!
Let's start with the elephant in the room: yes the grammar is atrocious in the first chapters. Not only is the grammar bad but, sometimes in the beginning, you might get the impression that the story was written by multiple authors, changing authors in the middle of a phrase, with the new author disregarding whatever was written in the first half of the phrase, leading to contradictions within the very same phrase, let alone the same paragraph. However, the writing and grammar does improve considerably, to the point I haven't seen any big mistakes in quite some time. It's important to note though that, even at it's worse, the grammar does not make things unintelligible, it may be annoying at first, but just roll with it for a while, you won't regret it.
Grammar - 3/5
Though, you might be asking yourself, how come with such a bad Grammar score the Overall score is 5/5? That's simply because the Character score gets 5/5 and both the Style and Story scores get a whopping 6/5! I'm not kidding, it goes beyond anything I've seen so far here on RR. The story follows Remus Silver, bastard son of an assassinated merchant from a powerful and influential family. For being a bastard, Remus was betrayed and screwed over by his legitimate brothers regarding his father's will, influencing in the Class that young Remus got once coming of age - Remus is given the Brothel Owner class instead of the Merchant class he worked hard to achieve, and has to make something of himself in
goolicRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To be quite frank it's difficult for me to explain why I like this story.
The world building is quite good but perhaps it's the quality, quantity and individuality of the characters that seels it to me. They are all quite distinct and have interesting motivations.
That said the author clearly struggles with the english language, it does add some extra flavour to the story but often it kills immersion. Despite that I've been an avid reader for more than a year and the story only gets better.
By the way both the author and their editor have gotten better in their struggles with the language.