Dimming Stars [Sci-fi/Progression/Slice-of-Life]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Beta Read for upcoming LitRPG now available on Patreon for free.

What happens when we forget humanity's past?

When Kai discovered a spaceship from an unknown place called Earth, he didn't know his life was about to get on a new course.

Reformed by a strange liquid substance, Kai set out to uncover the biggest mystery in human history...

What to Expect:

A logical, capable MC.

Slow-burn but steady progression for the plot.

A balance between Story Progression, Character Development, and World Building.

Realist, tactical combat scenes that mixes real life war tactics and sci-fi technology.

Soft Sci-fi: Not everything that happens will be scientifically correct , but that's just the sacrifice for an exciting novel.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2025
Author: Donut.

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.1/ 5.0
Followers: 917
Views: 157,186

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(9)

Boss404Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I like the set up, the world building, and the mystery. Kai is thoughtful, smart, capable, and likable. The side characters aren't as well developed, but it's early still.
Love the intro of an expired/extinct? US. Can't wait to see what Space Force got up to. I like the author's no-nonsense voice and style. He describes things with the fewest words possible to paint a picture, which is what I prefer over to much purple prose.
Also, this cover is amazing. Will be reading this one on the regular now.
WanderraeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What I particularly like about Dimming Stars is its frontier, the expanse, and planet-hopping. It's Warfare, gritty dark, and realistic, it's science rational not necessarily hard... oh- wait a minute, is this a Space Opera!?
Style
SpaceDonut's writing style in my opinion is quite in line with the same polished edge that you'll find in Science-fiction trilogies of old. The pacing is never overpowering or lackluster, moving from one step to the next, without slogging out the plot. Small bits of refined Detail weaved in as you read onwards.
Story
Dimming's strongest strength lies in its inherent mystery. (in my personal opinion). What seemed like a small and minuscule thing (the macguffin) spiraled into something galaxy-changing. Dragging everyone the protagonist knows along with them.
Characters
Kai starts out as an underdog, the grovel-shoveling miner, Sensible but perceptive, it's easy to get attached to him. The supporting cast comes with their own special quirks and palates, differing greatly from the stereotypical trope archetypes. The romance starts out as an oscillating web, not knowing where it would lead, but inevitably leaning into the protagonist's journey.
Grammar
There were no discernable or disruptive errors, which makes it easy to get into the stories Ebb and Flow.
Overall
One particular thing that stands out to me is its industrialized universe, resource haggling, and survival, like battletech but with spaceships instead of mechs.
If you like progression fantasy but dread the woes of spoon-fed, overpowered protagonists. Then this story is for you. If you like the intrigue of cosmic political drama and the mystery behind a mysterious place called Earth. Then may I suggest this. If you've ever held a tradpub novel in your hand and you've lost yourself in that world then this story is for you.
Whisker the MadRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a solid space opera that quickly gets into the thick of things with action, romance, and mystery. A down-on-his luck miner stumbles across a secret with profound implications for himself and society.
The writing is very readable: clear and easy to follow. The author doesn't try to show off a big vocabulary, nor does he indulge in confusing garden path sentences.
The worldbuilding and setting is compelling and varied, ranging from a dog-eat-dog mine in space to the heights of corporate opulence, to exciting ship-to-ship and ship-to-ground battles (my personal favorite). By and large, the world is revealed through the story, and not through big blocks of exposition, which is great for keeping the reader in the story.
There are a few hiccups here and there with grammar or punctuation, but nothing that interferes with the story.
All the characters are well written and believable. The protagonist is logical without being robotic, and all the supporting characters are well fleshed out, with their own motivations, rather than being cardboard cutouts. The villains are creepy and threatening, with their hidden agenda and mysterious supporters.
This is an enjoyable fiction with exciting action sequences and a compelling mystery. Overall, it's a good read that's well worth your time and attention.
Wizardly DudeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Genetic engineering, progression, and adventure all in one story? Sign me up!
Story: The story starts off following our MC on a distant planet as he ventures deep within the mines where few dare to go, all in the hopes of striking it big and finally getting the funds needed to purchase his own space ship. Seeing as it's in the synopsis, it's no spoiler to say that he finds far more than he ever bargained for, and ends up (it seems like) having his own genetic code altered by some mysterious liquid and uncovering a horrifying truth about the universe. It's a very original idea and exceptionally well written, and I am excited to see where it goes next!
Style: The author writes in the third person, and does an excellent job slipping tiny details into the story here and there that just bring everything to life. One of my favorites was simply the description of the MC trekking through the mines. Rather than just saying he went from A to B for example, the author explains how he uses the long dead corpses of his fellow miners as waypoints to keep himself from getting lost, answering questions I hadn't even realized I had before I could even think them. There are all sorts of things like that scattered amongst the story, that was just one of my personal favorites.
Grammar: No issues here, phenomenal grammar and easy to read.
Character: It's tough keeping spoilers out of reviews, but other than the MC of course, who seems to be undergoing some crazy genetic alteration in real time, I'm only a few chapters in and already we have a small, colorful cast of side characters that I want to see more of. I love a good character that I can't tell if they are going to end up being an ally or a villain down the line, and that's just one of the examples!
All in all, an extremely strong start to a very interesting premise. I'm looking forward to seeing just where the author is going with this, and if you're a fan of either science fiction or progression (or both), I'd definitely recomme
_HiKaRi_Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Binged the first 20 chapters.
Was not expected to get hooked by the book, but did.
The story so far did what the synopsis set out to do. Also it seems like there are multiple plot going on at the same time. Now on to the detail review:
Style:
This lean towards the more traditional side of writing, nothing is too flashy, but it's decent. What I do like is the tiny details the author focused on. It make sense and sells the sense that the author was going for. Tbh Sometimes it felt more like a hard-sci-fi than a soft one.
Story:
Solid so far. There is a little bit of everything which did slow down the progress. The author did say it is going to be a long story so waiting for that to happen. So far it's decent.
Grammar:
Reads smoothly. Not good at it myself, so can't say.
Characters:
Overall, very detailed down to the cloth that the characters were wearing and things like that. The MC's background is explained but not in depth. The minor side characters can use a little bit of more love. Not sure if it was something the author left out intentionally or not, but the crew member's appearances were never described.
Overall it's a good read that is worthy of a try.
Bulimia4BooksRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
TL;DR early chapters need an edit but interesting premise I’m staying
The good: I like the bones of this I really do. The premise being so far in the future that our (readers) time is forgotten is really cool. It’s like discovering King Arthur was real except we dear readers are king aurthur. I’m ready for interplanetary exploring, big galactic conspiracy and coverup and fighting pirates!
The bad: Early chapters need some editing. There are some logic jumps that don’t feel earnt
Suddenly the would be attackers are cultists? Why? Do they have a singular leader that they follow? Or do they just have an as of yet unknown ideaology? We don’t know.
And the character’s relationships with side characters (and the cast themselves) feel a bit underdeveloped.
Final gripe, the effects of the “discovery”.
while it does feel like MC got a “system integration” in a very “normal” space universe and that feels like cheating, I changed my mind on this because we don’t know if the blue goo only has upsides? It could be the tendrils of the BBEG, acting as a beacon, maybe it’ll overtake him and force him to give up secrets or kill people?
LockRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I'm on chapter 17 so far. I've quite enjoyed the story so far. Written with a style that gets right to the point. It just plain fun and jumps along very neatly. I guess that would also be a mild criticism as well. It seems that in this world you can start your day as a refugee miner and within a week be piloting a spacecraft with no particular vetting to get to that stage. I know it is sci-fi but it is a bit of stretch even for me. Don't change the flavour of the story over my small whine however. I like the pace so it grounds this book well.
ChicotheguyRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
Dropped on chap 11. The premisse is there, but there was something missing on devilery, it read very generic despite the good ideas floating in it.
I like the underground spaceship, like the fighterplane battle, but it is still missing something.
I need to fit 50 worlds here. I need to fit 50 worlds here. I need to fit 50 worlds here.
DappleRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
The characters and their relationships feel so forced and inorganic. It's just implausible for the protagonist to just have everybody fall for him and let them in on so much so soon. I know that it will drag out the intro at least three times longer but giving the characters more time to build up a plausible relationship will do so much more to get readers invested in them.
That said, the writing style in no way interfered with the story telling - clean, succinct, nothing jarring. The story certainly seems to have a very novel background. It has more of a classic scifi feel to it that does not fall into any of the modern cliche tropes. I just can't see myself being enthusiastic enough about the characters and their relations to see it through.