Dead Cats Don't Care - Book 1 : Light

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Theod Aegis, mundane in a family of mages, has inherited scattered memories of a life on Earth. He wants nothing more than to serve his citystate but he is powerless to fight the demons bent on exterminating humanity.

When he finally awakens magic, he recognizes its terrifying power from physics classes on Earth. Follow as Theod explores the nature of reality, teaches particle-wave duality to a cute light mage, and develops technology to fight off an army of genocidal monsters.

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir meets SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED MAGIC by Andrew Rowe

Warning: Reading this book may qualify you to receive a minor in physics, certificates available on patreon. Some readers may experience bouts of maniacal laughter while others may spontaneously switch their college major to electrical engineering.

Cover art attribution:

https://hotpot.ai/art-generator

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Author's note: I have finished the latest round of edits on book one. There were lots of little changes and I want to thank my Patreon supporters for helping with some of the harder choices. Thanks to everyone that commented with suggested changes, you are forever appreciated.

Update Feb 22, 2025:

Book two is coming along slowly. I am up to chapter 24-ish with some really exciting events and revelations. I'not going to commit to a strict timeline as I've learned I'm really bad at doing that. I will try and just keep writing one chapter at a time and release the whole book quickly once it's done.

Stay tuned!

Oh and FYI - No cats are harmed in this fiction... It's a metaphor...

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: nuclear-force

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 199
Views: 52,707

Reviews

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Community Reviews(1)

bukvyrmRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Do you like in-depth sciencing like Andy Weir or Cuttlefish Who Loves Diving? Did you actually love how Anthony in Chrysalis was always optimistic and looking on the bright side no matter how obviously terrible things were? You'll probably like this then. Despite some pretty grim stuff happening, it never came across as grim or dark. Good bits of humour too. Liked the family dynamics and the realistic romance. A ton of typos, i suspect the author may be spelling-impaired (real problem my mom has it) but general style ok. Fast-paced. Ummm...waiting for book 2 with anticipation! :)
I'm re-reading this now as it's still one of my favorite novels on this site and i see that even now, i'm the only one to review it. I admit i'm a bit shocked - this is a publication-worthy book, waaay better than even the above-average offering on RR. Is the science too crunchy? Or something? I honestly don't see what flaws this book has that would lead to it's lack of popularity. Although i admit the title is doing it no favours. It really reminds me of Throne of Magical Arcana by Cuttlefish Who Loves Diving - the guy who also brought the opus Lord of the Mysteries. Maybe the author should change the title to something more obvious (and not involving dead cats) like Arcane Science? More boring yes, but not off-putting to anyone. Ah, marketing. The only ones who don't hate it are those who are good at it.
Actually, i've thought of a couple of better titles. "Death Mages Don't Care" essentially means what the current title means, just in a way that won't automatically offend people (ie: dead cats). Or, and this one i think would actually attract the right audience, "Observations on Death Magic and Related Topics". Written like an academic article, right? So it would attract readers who like reading about science, in theory. Or something similar like the article our MC submitted to the College, "Taxonomy of Death Magic" or something? that would work too.