Displacement

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

or, Deux Navires Passant dans la Nuit

If you wake up in a new world, with only your memories of home to guide you, you have to trust the first people you meet.

The first people Leah meets seem to know her - but nother.Leah is thrust into a fighter's role that does not quite suit her, and those who 'rescued' her do their best to help her fit in. They hint at a world that Leah can only vaguely understand without serious research and exploration, but how to do that research, when everyone believes her to be a local of this place, and too many questions might draw unwanted attention?

And what about home?

The more Leah learns about this world, the less she believes that she woke up on the right side of the bed - or more accurately, on the right side of the conflict. With magic being strictly regulated in her current "home," maybe it's time to uproot and look for a new set of allies...

Displacementis a queer / lgbt bodyswap isekai: Leah Armande falls out of a small city in Quebec and into an unfamiliar fantasy world, and Leah Talesh falls out of her adventuring party's homeland and into an unfamiliar industrial world. The story follows both women as they navigate their new surroundings, trying at times to find a way home, at times just to pass for a local, and at times to actuallymakea life for themselves in their new world. Expect in-depth politics and worldbuilding, sapphic moments, foibles, and far too much time spent either in libraries or convalescing (or sometimes both).

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2021
Author: OrbInAir

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 254
Views: 201,037

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

wloweryRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The confusion of leah as she's put in the life of somebody already in the world is done so well. She really felt like a real person the entire book, and the life she was thrust into felt like an actual life as well. Don't come into this expecting high fantasy dragon fights or dungeons, the neat of the story is personal and political conflicts.
And the twist of other Leah waking up in quebec being a fish out of water was super unexpected, but landed really well in my opinion. A reverse isekai of a fantasy person being brought to our world isn't something i've seen done well before.
I wouldn't label this a comedy, but there is humour in a lot of dialogue, which is exceptionally written. You really get invested in quite a few different characters, and the book isn't afraid to pull on your heartstrings at a few points.
Just about the only thing that didnt land for me 100% was the languages barriers everywhere. They always made sense in the story, but it can be a bit frustrating trying to pick apart multiple lines of 'not quite english'.
Overall a huge reccomend, RR could use more woman pov novels like this one.
BullerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Might wanna read the summary on this one. I dint, personally, so it was quite a shocker when... things started happening. Not gonna call it bad, of course, since I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Just... a bit different than expected.
Anyway. Review.
Story:
Story. An important part of any tale, and certainly a part that this author put a lot of work into. While the pacing might be a tad jumped, I would say that it's done fairly well. Nothing to really point it specifically, but I will definitely call it above average. 5/5
Style:
Here, I give it a bit of fair criticism. Nothing bad, nothing that would make me choke on a piece of pasta, but certainly something that I took notice of. Word-choices. They are a bit at times, to the point where I had to wonder if the author was envisioning a different scenario. Might just have been me getting that feel but whatever. 4.5/5
Grammar:
Nothing to say here. Good. Didn't die from reading it. 5/5
Characthers:
Sappho wants a word in, guys. Great friends, I must say. While I might not have seen it all, since I stopped relatively early on, I would most certainly see this as a story between people waiting to happen. Great promises have been made. 5/5
Gave a lot of 5/5s here, so why not round it out with an overall 5/5 as well?
D.M. Rhodes (Razzmatazz)Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Displacement is an unusual ‘reborn in another world’ story, in that it takes place on the basis of a body-swap. Leah from the ‘real’ world gets Freaky-Fridayed with Leah from the ‘fantasy’ world and the story follows the two of them, as they try to make their way through their new lives. From what I’ve seen, the story primarily focused on ‘real’ Leah in the fantasy-world though. I always like the segments with ‘fantasy Leah’ in the real world though, even if they’re a bit sparser. Maybe because it feels like there’s less at stake, so it’s a good chance to breathe?
Essentially, the meat of the story is us following Leah in the fantasy-world, as she tries to live herself into the life she has been exchanged into, a powerful, in-demand fighter who is part of a renowned sell-sword group simply titled as ‘The Five’. The Five are Leah’s close friends and she spends a long time trying to ‘fake’ her way into their graces, by playing along with her story of memory-loss, rather than admitting that she isn’t the real Leah.
That being said, there is a large sub-plot about same-sex relations and how they’re forbidden by law in this other-world, which leads me to the warning that there are several explicit NSFW scenes in this story. I am however grateful that the author marked these, as I honestly skipped them. (I don’t read NSFW if I can help it, not what I’m after)
The writing is strong and I found no noticeable spelling or grammar mistakes. The prose is fluid and I found myself interested in following both protagonists, as both of their settings and reactions to said settings were convincing.
The introduction is pretty actiony and gets right to the point, which I always enjoy.
All in all, if you’re interested in a fantasy novel with a lot of interpersonal conflict/drama, some forbidden romance and a bit of violence, then give this one a fair shot! =)
RainyWolvesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Well realised characters and an enjoyable story thus far. The rational approach of the mc makes for a great read, and if I were to hazard a guess as to the background of the author, I would say they have extensive experience in linguistics, politics, and history; which flavour the story nicely. Also have to love a queer female lead!
RatminRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Displacement was a surprisingly exceptional story to stumble apon, and I enjoyed it significantly. I expected to read ten chapters in a few days, but found myself pushing the Next Chapter button every time.
Style
The style is well executed, and I found myself pulled into the narrative effortlessly. The only reason this doesn't get a perfect score is because there are a few rough patches from time to time. However, this hardly pulls much away from my overall enjoyment of the narrative style.
Grammar
Close to perfect. I spotted a few mistakes, but these are simple and easy to ignore. I was never pulled out of the story as a result of grammar. A big plus for Displacement.
Story
The highlight of DIsplacement, no doubt about it. You can, at times, feel a little whiplash as the story begins to ramp up. However, once you've gotten used to it, the tale of Displacement is an enthralling and engaging one.
Character
I love the dynamic that is expressed in Displacement, and found myself smiling at several pieces of dialogue. The characterization is executed perfectly, and I never felt that the characters expressed themselves in a clunky or rough fashion.
Overall
Overall, Displacement is a great story to keep an eye on. It presents an interesting adventure, with the clear promise of enough twists and turns to keep readers engaged for the long run.
If you haven't started reading Displacement, do it! You'll enjoy yourself :)
SammieB3436Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This book was phenomenal. I may have a critique or two, but all-in-all this was so good and absolutely worth the read. I feel like the romance subplot could be a bit better and more fleshed out and I think I would have liked a few more chapters from our other Leah, but truthfully these are small potatoes. If you like portal fantasy/isekai, magic, and a hint of mystery chances are you’ll like this too. Please give this a read as it’s so worth it.
SilentSapphicRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story's strength lies in its characters. Who you expect to be major players will very likely change, and there's a multitude of interesting major and minor twists. Every character is unique, well-rounded, with interesting backgrounds, motivations, foibles, and strengths. Rather than an over-powered MC who uses their cheat-skills to roll over everything, or strangely-specific modern knowledge to enlighten the savages, this is the story of a woman who is trapped in an unknown situation and manages to triumph by virtue of being willing to ask questions and find the truth behind the tragedies around her instead of just going with the flow and obeying what she's told to think (let alone do).
Also, she's a major disaster lesbian who cannot seem to catch a break :')
My only complaint is the lack of side stories related to the body swap. We catch glimpses into the important events happening back on Earth, but a lot of the slice-of-life and "adapting to a strange new world" stuff we get for the main story is missing. It doesn't detract from the story in any way, it just doesn't quite scratch the itch I'd like. Finally,
The end-game romance is not dealt with in nearly enough depth as the disaster flings Leah engages in along the way. Seriously, wtf Jeno? How dare you do our girl dirty like that?!
nondescriptgamerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm no good at analyzing stories and critiquing them, I just know what I like and I really like this story. I found it about two months after it ended and I'm sad that it's over, but I look forward to anything else from this author.
I've never said this about any other story (because who am I to say what a story "deserves"), but this story deserves more attention than it got, at least judging by the number of comments.
orcimedesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's a grounded, heartfelt fantasy, unafraid to come full circle and absolutely aces the landing. The characters are endearing and the language aspect is handled with grace. The friendships and romances come across as messy in places, but a way that feels naturalistic and the story is better for it. I don't often enjoy isekai stories, but I feel lucky to have come across this one.
LizRossiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Truck Kun will not make an appearence here. You will not encounter trope, even if trappings around the setting make one think it wont be long until stats building. Instead you get a world thrown in that is rich in culture and tradition with characters that you wont end up saying 'yep, that is this trope or that. ' characters that bring knowledge to their situation and not some rewarmed microwave isakei. I have enjoyed this author's work and hope others will too.