Description

Set in the Stray Cat Strut universe. This follows Fredric Francis Fletcher Esq., Tax Attorney in the Helios Arcology in the Glen River Recovery Zone south of old Phoenix.

While working in a building ruined by a previous incursion, in a city slowly rebuilding, a second incursion thrusts unlikely partners into both combat and the reality that sometimes life's decisions are made for you. What happens when someone doesn't want to be a Samurai? Is that a task you can really walk away from?

Community Reviews(3)

TenerifeBlueRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

As someone who has spent enough years behind a desk to realize in how much trouble I would be descending a skyscraper via the stairs, it is refreshing to see the world of SCS through eyes that are jaded by years.
Seeing a Samurai come to the realization that there are unintended consequences to "helping" and figuring how to help with a lighter negative impact gives a reason to keep following the story.

TechmanRoyal Road

★★★★★ 4.5

As the author states, this story is set in the world of Stray Cat Strut. Like most fan-fics set in that world, it follows the MC in their growth from a normal person, through their traumatic inciting incident that makes them a Samurai, and their subsequent growth, development, and adventures.
The unique twist to this story is that the MC is more middle class than the usual hardened street rats and is completely unprepared for the whole fighting thing. He spends his first hours as a Samurai
in shock, severely injured, and literally being carried. The author does a good job of conveying that confused, dreamlike state. It's almost too good, however, and is kind of disorienting to read. Things pick up and improve once his brain injury is fully healed.
It's a different, interesting perspective than the usual. He's still developing his style, but he seems to have a more cautious, support-oriented, "improve everyone around him" approach then the usual frontline brawler Samurai we see.
This story also delves into the concept of Operators, normal humans dedicated to assisting Samurai, and min-maxing and theory-crafting the most efficient ways to gain and utilize their resources, both for combat and for benefiting humankind as a whole.
The story is still in it's early phases, he's just finished his first incursion and is processing it, but I've really enjoyed it so far and recommend it.

ScramasaxRoyal Road

★★ 2.0

The overall plot isn't terrible, I like the perspective of an average office drone, but it's too drawn out with unnecessary details and repetitions. For example the rooftop chatter could have been cut short.
I rate the grammar as slightly below average, some prepositions are strange and wordings seem changed mid-sentence, but the bigger eyesores are the jumbled sentences, spelling mistakes, confusing military speak and numerous unexplained abbreviations. It's extremely distracting, preventing immersion in the story, which is sad. A grammar-checking software or a good translator like DeepL would work wonders for intelligibility.
I didn't read too far, so my opinion of the main character is a little shallow. He started out strong and unobtrusive, with a good scene for character exposition, which showed his perspective on the world. The coworkers were also a felicitous addition for fleshing out the inner workings of the capitalistic-bureaucratic machinery with a flavor of different societal mentalities. Unfortunately as soon as the action started the mc appeared bland and was simply going along with the flow, all previous goals and traits thrown out of the window. Admittedly trauma numbs you, but he didn't question or resist anything as far as I could see.
Overall the story falls short of its potential, but with a little editing it could become truly enjoyable. Until then there are better alternatives. Although I will come back in the future to see the authors inevitable progress, since they take advice and corrections seriously.

Death and Taxes

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Chapters(34 total)

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Community Reviews(3)