Desolate Fate

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

On the day he first met a cultivator, Yaan’s life was changed forever.

All that he cared for was ripped away from him. He was forced into a despair-inducing situation, but he endured, he fought, he refused to give up.

But why did he persevere, what drove him to go on?

With nothing to return to, his hatred and rage fuelled his will to survive…

But hatred begets more hatred and the flames of rage are extinguished with time. He was desperately clinging to any thread of meaning that he could find, but heated emotions do not last forever, and ambitions are rarely easily achieved. A person changes over time, often into that which they once despised…

Life…is a struggle. A struggle against the world, a struggle against our own nature, and a struggle against fate. This is the tale of a lone person’s struggle through a twisted world, and his desperate attempt to resist his desolate fate.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: SpicyDaoist

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.1/ 5.0
Followers: 453
Views: 872,705

Chapters(427 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

The Eternal WatcherRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is an underrated cultivation classic that deserves more love.
It is not:
A Harem Story.
A mindless power fantasy with a Mary Sue who farms.
A coming-of-age story about finding oneself and building relationships that grow you into a better person.
This is:
A philosophic look into the mind of an individual as they slowly become less human. (or more human from a certain perceptive)
An Anti-Hero's rise to power through conflict and struggle.
A story about a single protagonist as they grow into a god like existence while leaving behind everyone they know and love.
Thoughts:
This story has some fairly unique world building that is still very Xianxia but plays with the concepts of time and space to an almost trippy degree.
It is important to note that side characters are not a major focus of the story so you should not get too attached. The story is more focused toward the protagonist growing and changing over time as they uncover more secrets about the universe.
Writing wise I think it is pretty good there are no major spelling and grammar issues that distract from the plot. I believe there was a rewrite sometime in the past so many of the reviews about writing mistakes may not be relevant anymore.
I would strongly recommend this story for anyone who appreciates the more philosophical side of cultivation stories where it is more about comprehending the Dao and molding reality to your will than simply beating the young master in front of you.
Anyone who is a fan of stories like Modern Cultivation, Systemic Lands and Aurora Scroll will probably like this.
Razar_OffRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
One of the best cultivation novels on this platform
The story is original and has an unpredictable evolution at certain moments
The protagonist evolves throughout the story, his objectives become clearer and his morals evolve to follow his path
The rest is the same quality
So yeah, give it a try
WinterOrangeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To find a great xianxia novel, you have to wade through a bunch of mediocre ones. I'm leaving a review to let you know that this is one of the great ones.
My only caveat is that this novel has genre-typical depictions of demonic cultivation and other similar tropes (killing for surivival/power/greed/etc.). The protagonist also engages in demonic cultivation (note the 'grimdark', 'anti-hero lead', and 'villainous lead' tags). If those are deal-breakers for you, then turn away. Likewise, if you are looking for a Fang Yuan, that is, a protagonist who will stoop to any low for any marginal benefit, then you will also not find it here. Otherwise, enjoy a fantastic read.
(Disclaimer: Like others have said, this novel is a re-write of A Desolate Life, so my review is based on that.)
Overall
This novel hits all the good parts of the genre while still keeping things fresh. You won't get bored in the long-term the way you might with most other xianxias. Expect more originality in terms of plot structure and more character-driven narrative than the typical xianxia, but still with all the great action, adventure, and power progression that makes the genre shine.
Story
The author has clearly planned out the story very well. Each arc builds on Yaan's previous adventures, linking them together through the progression of an overarching mystery-esque narrative. At the same time, the changes from arc to arc shake up the story in a fun and more original way.
The plot progression itself is fuelled by a well-balanced mix of classic xianxia cliches and unexpected but logical twists and turns.
This, combined with its strong culminating arc structure, allows the story to completely avoid the common xianxia pitfall of repetitive and monotonous recycling of narratives.
Style & Grammar
There are no issues with style or grammar. The story is told in a consistent and suitable style and there are no errors in tense or anything like that. The very rare typo is quickly fixed by the author.
Chara
luckmanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
TLDR: If you like cultivation stories, you'll like this story. I don't understand why this isn't way more popular.
This story is Western cultivation done right. The prose and plot are both solid, which is quite the rarity for xianxia (both translated and nontranslated). Crucially, it isn't blandly whitewashed to the common cultural mores of Western fantasy.
It faithfully reproduces the setting and tropes of Chinese cultivation stories while avoiding its most common pitfalls. No ocean of jade beauties, unaccountably idiotic MCs, seemingly infinite queue of antagonistic young masters, or massive plotholes. The MC is neither hypocritically self-flagellating nor casually psychopathic.
The plot is enjoyable but its vibe/tone is what makes it special. It is a refreshing mixture of Western grimdark fantasy and the jarringly brutal cultivation world of Chinese xianxia. This is a more difficult balance to strike than one might think.
Small suggestion to the author (not really a spoiler, I just don't want to crowd the review):
My main suggestion to the author is to stop overusing the word "whilst", rather than "while" or similar words. While reading, the brain is constantly subconsciously predicting the next word and when a high confidence prediction is violated it is extremely distracting. It's like trying to step down a staircase and realizing there aren't any steps left. You could probably fix it with a find and replace if you want.
BigBallsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The Story is good, has an interisting plot and Carakters. The grama is ok i think (im not a native englisch speaker). But somting is not right. I can't realy name it because it is only a feeling and it is not a dealbreaker but because of this i will only give 4,5 Stars.
LadyFffireRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The story is good, a bit predictable sometimes but nonetheless a good casual read.
I dislike how special and unique the character feels, I don't like when characters do a "WELL I'M GOING TO DO ALL THE PATHS BECAUSE HAR HAR ME NO LIKE LIMITATIONS" like... ick.
Being a fiend is all well and good but it having no outward changes except apparently his eyes are red now?! Literally bore don't be a demon if ur not gonna have outward obvious changes that cause real issue given that he walked around with nobody knowing he's a demon for ages despite these changes.
Tu ShuaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Style: I like the author's "SpicyDaoist" writing style. Having discovered this story after reading his previous novel, "Demonic Shaman," I can confidently say that there is something truly captivating about his unique approach to storytelling.
Story: This story may not appeal to everyone, as it employs a slow-burn narrative technique. It requires patience and investment of time before the deeper layers of the plot begin to unravel. However, for those willing to immerse themselves fully, the payoff is extraordinary.
Grammar: In terms of grammar, the overall quality is satisfactory. The author displays strong language and grammar proficiency, ensuring a smooth and enjoyable reading experience.
Characters: The characters in this story are truly remarkable. Each one possesses a distinct personality and a depth that is evident through their individual thoughts and actions. The author has skillfully crafted these characters, allowing readers to form genuine links with them. Some hate and others love.
Now, you might want to know why I rated this story 4.5/5 (9/10) instead of a perfect 5/5. While the overall story is highly engaging. The Main Character's occasional naivety irritates me sometimes. Although I understand that the author intends to use it for character development, it still annoys me.
Lord AdamRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Ok hmm, it’s hard to describe this story. I like it many unique elements, but the author kept fruit of a demonic protagonist hanging for too long. Sometimes he is evil and others he is demonic. And I would understand him doing that for character development, but it been 300+ chapters and he still goes on about emotions. Anyway good luck author, but please Evil or Good choose a side.
Overall, I would say you should give it a try, and see if you like it, or not for yourself.
JujubeanzRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
The beginning of this work started with elements of subterfuge, morality, and survival being core components of each chapter. The MC was given little choice in terms of what he had to accomplish in order to survive. From this point onward however the MC becomes more detached and isolated due to prior experiences. The only issue I have is that this inevitably makes the writing become stale. Side Characters don’t have enough screen time to become relevant to anything except helping him become stronger, and this isn't done in a new or intriguing way as it was done before it is always some Larger force or entity handing him some trial to complete. What made this work appealing to me initially has been lost through the lack of meaningful character interaction and the insignificance of side characters. Also the an effective reset button and plot armor power up the author pushes at the end of each arch to fulfill some overarching fate ordained by some higher power
DavePrimeRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Right so our main character is pretty average until he encounters
his version of the mysterious elder in the ring.
Nothing bad about that. Clichees exist because people like them. This story is really trying to encapsulate the 'desolate' part of its title. It hasn't quite succeeded so far but it is noticeable. I quite like that. A story on futility and desolation every once in a while is a welcome reprieve from the stories I'm used to. To achieve this feeling of desolation the author applies a few techniques, which all felt kinda forced. Like they happened so the plot would develop the way the author wanted. It did not feel all that organic.
When Elder Sun killed our MC's family because his baby sister cried I thought okay, so he's going to a demonic sect. Even there something like that really only makes sense for the most sadistic members. But nope the sect is of the 'righteous' path.
When the tournament was still held during the beast tide it felt incredibly forced. Why would they ever think that magical beasts would care about winter. Especially if they are intelligent and have noticed everyone leaving their sects. And they didn't leave any of the truly powerful elders behind either? That's just absurd.
Another forced development was our MC getting crippled. Rui is incredibly powerful and even diminished as she is there shouldn't be anything capable of blocking her senses in such a low ranking place as the Yuso Clan. And then the MC ignored her council twice? Kinda whack. Then he gets crippled and no one does anything? They don't even complain? What?
Then Rui drives the MCs teacher to suicide and he leaves the sect abruptly and his entire village got slaughtered. Everyone he cares about except Elri is dead.
I believe all of that really only happened because the author wanted to transition to the next arc, which I'm assuming is going to be a the typical 'Roaming-through-the-wilderness-and-killing-and-eating-beasts' arc. All of that without his MacGuffin, which is