Combat Archaeologist: Rowan

Information

Status

Hiatus

Year

2020

Author

Lighthouse

• Announcement
  Feb 4, 2025
• Chapter 3 - I'll Make a Man Out of You, Street-rat
  Dec 14, 2020
• Chapter 2 - You're Finally Awake
  Dec 10, 2020
• Chapter 1 - A Million Dreams
  Dec 8, 2020

Reviews

Community Reviews(10)

• LazyDragonJKRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  10 chapters in and I'm pulling my hair out because I have to wait fir more. Rowan is a real, living character that makes you want him to succeed, and the gradual introduction to the world bring it all to life without drowning you in info dumps. The author is a true storyteller and wordsmith and I cant wait to see where he takes us with Rowan.
• Merritt Weber (Doom)Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Since the story just passed the 10k words mark, I thought it would be a good time to get an early review in.
  Even though we're very early in the story, there has been enough time for a few things to happen to the main character. We've had a chance to get to know him a little and get beyond the initial story setup.
  So far, I've enjoyed where the story is headed. The MC was down on his luck, nearly died, then found a nice group of people to hang out with and learn from for a bit before he gets to the big city. We even got a bit of a training montage. All this before we get to the meat of the story, where I expect a bit of a coming of age/academy style story to pick up a bit.
  The characterization is pretty good. Especially in dialogue, character motivations and personality come through clearly. Dialogue is often a weak part of the story in other fics on RR, but I'm glad to say that here the dialogue mostly feels natural; not forced or out of character.
  The grammar is impeccable. Grammar is one of those things that when done well, you don't notice it, and when done poorly, it screams at you from the page. No screaming here.
  The style of the fic so far has been a bit on the literary side of prose, but that doesn't mean it's stiff or dated, it reads a lot like a traditional fantasy and less like a translated light novel, as so many stories have become lately. Literary fantasy is a plus in my book, I can dig it.
  Overall, I'd say it's definitely worth a shot, and as the story picks up it can only get better.
• ThaldorRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  So far the story has been an incredibly slow burn, but I've found that to be nothing but a positive.
  The main character is a street rat and that can feel a little heavily played in the beginning chapters but the emphasis mellows out to just understanding that the MC has struggled, for pretty much everything, his whole childhood.
  Those days are hopefully behind him, and by goodness he wants to keep it that way.
  MC is a competent character, but not overly so, and I find the balance between his potential and his pace of learning to be a solid read.
• bugbeeRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I am really enjoying this book and I hope that you write more! It's a litrpg that doesn't feel like one. I feel like I'm reading along with a friend in the main character. Such a good coming of age magic story. The people are complex without feeling fake or flat. More Please!
• demionRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I really like how the story starts!
  You see Rowan losing his old life and getting a new chance. All of this a put in a quite realistic way without any gods playing around. All the characters so far show a clear and distinct character. Looking foward to read more!
  PS: His old story is also worth a read ;)
• nerdy_n_dirty86Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  As of Chapter 18, loving this story and excited to see what happens in the future. The characters are not incredibly in-depth as of yet, hoping we get more backstory. The magic system seems to be interesting, but we have only received a peak so far. Thanks for taking the time to write this!
• doombotRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  The characters are good, the writing is adequate, but beyond a few times showing Hit Points, nothing about this is GameLit. Maybe that changes later? The story doesn't need little blue boxes or health bars, though. It's a decent story that is entirely average and I don't have much more to say than that.
• notqRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  Unimaginative lit rpg Harry Potter. Another chosen one enjoying his plot armor to get everything he wants. Had promise of an orphan taking contorl of his life from one lucky encounter and will power but was ruined by insisting that he is fated to rise to increadible power regardless of how unlikely. Also has the main character coming to conclusions that were revealed in the inner thoughts of other characters with no way he could have had the time to get any new information.
• WaryorWearyRoyal Road

  ★★★ 3.0

  Story is well written for a weird boarding school/Hogwarts expy.  Writing was better on the road as the boarding school isn't written in a way to make sense.  Synopsis matches the story.
  Title does nothing match story, not so far.  Possibly never.  Lured here for Tomb raiding/Indiana Jones action.  Did not get that.
  Harry Potter couldn't fail out of Hogwarts, but this MC can fail out of Fae-whatever.  He's a decade behind on his classes/skills, he doesn't appear to have any skill, so plot armor is going to have to kick in soon.
• mod-etcRoyal Road

  ★★★ 3.0

  I'm enjoying this so far but the direction is worrying. If you were going to recreate Harry Potter you should have included that in the description. School stories suck. Mages also tends to be tedious. I'd much rather read about thrusts, parries and dodges then "I cast fireball and all enemies die". I've enjoyed swordfighting and adventure so far but if it loses those things to become HP it will have lost what I liked about it.