Escape From Persephone-4

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Euclid has been trapped on Persephone-4 for more than a year. Forced to live in a poorly made survival suit, his only companion is an artificial intelligence trapped in an ancient ship. and his only hope for escape is to build a ship from the wreckage scattered across the planet. He’s built a ship from the wreckage strewn about the planet, all he needs now is a power source. But there isn’t anything left that can power his ship within the range of his small hovercraft.When Euclid hears a human voice for the first time in over a year he’s ecstatic. Until he finds out that his new friend is trapped in a space pod orbiting the planet. Though his own resources are rapidly dwindling, this survivor knows where Euclid can find a power source for his ship.To save himself, the only other human for light years around, and the A.I. that has kept him alive and sane this long, Euclid will have to travel across the planet, face its fiercest predators, its darkest caves, and return to the one ship that haunts him more than any other.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: RickHFox

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 176
Views: 40,735

What readers say about Escape From Persephone-4

“The story is well written, grammatical and the spelling is very good. The story is interesting. The setup unic. The author did a good job to bring the story alive. At times the protagonist seems a little dump but no parents and no education explaines that.…”
Mr.AnonymousRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Quick, action-packed novel without unnecessary prolongation of the plot. I read it in about a day and was left satisfied with the ending. The story has just a few characters, so you don't have to remember a lot of names, which is a blessing. In-Universe lor…”
H_AlexRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(7)

Mr.AnonymousRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story is well written, grammatical and the spelling is very good.
The story is interesting. The setup unic. The author did a good job to bring the story alive.
At times the protagonist seems a little dump but no parents and no education explaines that.
Would like to read more but I think the author quit.
H_AlexRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Quick, action-packed novel without unnecessary prolongation of the plot. I read it in about a day and was left satisfied with the ending.
The story has just a few characters, so you don't have to remember a lot of names, which is a blessing.
In-Universe lore is thrown here and there in a few words, so no info-dumping. Though, MC's background is fuzzy so his emotional turmoil seems a bit distant.
The foreshadowings in the story are good, I had a few moments thinking "Oh, so that's why!"
Almost everything revolves around scavenging energy, but no one talks about generating it. Considering the weather, it shouldn't be impossible.
What I didn't like, is that Euclid seems to go with the flow, he doesn't question, doesn't innovate, doesn't try to make his situation even a little better. And it's not a complaint about this book but about the MC. At least he isn't a Gary Stu, he's a teenager in a world of existential horror. Repeated head traumas may have played a role in it XD
Staying so long on the planet his main weapon is stealth. Considering the local fauna the lack of faith in low-tier weapons like a spear is underatandable, but he doesn't try to find a gun. Or use/repurpose any other force multiplier.
On the bright side, he goes from a pacifist to an aggressive pacifist)
RedPineRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Adorable, well contained story. I finished in just a few hours, some might take longer. Binging in one go is recommended.
Contains some angst, horror, drama, etc, but each element doesn't overstay it's welcome.
Contains plot twists that could be seen miles away, but somehow this didn't dampen the impact when they came.
I didn't get what I expected, but what I got was better. That tends to be how life goes. Happy to have read.
Edit: Also, a few inexplicable copy paste font errors. I'm pretty sure most of them are meant to be ellipsis, spaces, or periods. Also a few minor unanswered questions, but this is on the softer end of sci fi, and the protagonist isn't technically minded or educated enough to answer questions typical of hard sci fi.
So, not perfect, but well worth reading.
TheLiarRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The author did a great job with this, they definitely have a talent for it!
I will definitely be checking out some of the authors other work, and I hope they continue writing in the future. I would recommend this one to anybody looking for a fun short science fiction read.
SiliconWolfRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
TL;DR: There are plot holes, but the story is still worth reading.
The good:
Characters: The characters feel real. The motivations and emotions are very well done.
Style: No weird time shifts or unlabeled POV changes. There are some twists, but they're handled well.
The bad:
Grammar: There are a significant number of places where words are replaced with gibberish. You can pretty much guess what the word is supposed to be. But it's very jarring. And before you ask, no, it really doesn't seem to be deliberate. It's like some sort of rare copy/paste error or something.
Story / Plot: 1. Space is huge. Really huge. And planets are tiny. Really tiny. But it's not explained why this plant has so many ships crashing into it. 2. Next, nanites require quite a bit of power. They're self-propelled. They deconstruct. They reconstruct. They perform complex calculations. On a planet where power is the rarest resource, it's odd that these nanite swarms can find power. 3. If so many ships are crashing on this planet, why isn't there a monitoring satellite to watch for survivors?
In Summary: This story needs a few more chapters to plug up some holes. Plus fix those weird text errors. After that, it's worth publishing in my opinion.
BlackShadRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Definitely felt myself getting pulled into the emotions of the MC while reading this! I would recommend a binge reading session ASAP. I can only hope there will be some continuation on this story in the future because I would love to read more about Euclid and Ai and their adventures from Persephone-4
BeomJunKooRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This tale of a young lone survivor looking for a way off of the frozen planet he's stranded on (all while accompanied only by two voices) packs a damn good punch with gripping suspense, mind-blowing twists, and surprisingly heartfelt moments. Some parts of the story I felt like they could've been handled better such as a few unanswered questions that the story's lore kinda left hanging, but overall I was still fully engaged and immersed throughout it all.
The grammar's got a few iffy parts along with some occasional typos, but nothing to complain about. On the other hand, I did like the prose this was written in, being almost reminiscent of Percy Jackson with how it's mostly witty and funny but also gets serious and thrilling when it needs to be.
Personally I would've liked it more if our main character Euclid's background was given to us in finer detail so some of the emotional scenes would stick the landing better, however aside from that, Euclid was an interesting and enjoyable character to follow throughout his survival on the titular Persephone-4. Remembering how he first started out and then looking at how this adventure has ended up shaping him into gives me some decent YA/coming-of-age novel vibes. As for the few other characters Euclid is with or comes across, without giving anything away, you'll be pleasantly surprised at what they also have to provide as the story progresses. Pretty good stuff.
And that's how I can sum up this experience in a nutshell - pretty good stuff. Fans of YA & survival definitely might wanna check this one out.