Exiled Realm (GameLit Isekai)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

ARC 1 — 'THE FORLORN KINGDOM' — done.ARC 2 — 'THE FIELDS OF RED' — done.ARC 3 — 'THE WANDERING FOREST' — undergoing extensive editing.

Trapped in a foreign realm, where reality and the supernatural are blended into a game-like trial all for the amusement of some absurd Deity, Aomori Aiko has to battle with her missing memories and the many previous lives she has lived within this strange realm. She struggles greatly to come to terms with being well-known and renowned under the moniker "Raven-Black", despite having zero memories of what actions led to this.

Aiko quickly finds herself facing a sadistically-designed trial that punishes its 'players' in countless ways, such as robbing memories and abilities if they are gravely injured, but she has to continue to rise and rise again, because only by progressing can she regain her past and figure out how to escape the Exiled Realm.

As she advances through the Stages of the first World, The Forlorn Kingdom, and uncovers its story, she encounters people who idolise the person she was in the past, but also people who wish to harm her for simply trying to progress. Despite her lone-wolf nature, she makes some friends along the way, who teach her about her past self and her famous exploits.

I have been writing on this story for about 4½ years, and thus have roughly 1400 pages' worth of material (though most of it needs proofing).This story is my baby that I have been raising for many years and is what originally brought me to RoyalRoad in the first place. It took the release and success of my other storyFather of Monstrosityto make me finally decide to put this story out on here. I have tried for all of 2021 and 2022 to find a publisher for this story, and, though I got far with a few publishers, it was deemed "too dark" to be released by them, so, I thought, "Oh well, I'll do it myself". Given that FoM iswaaaaydarker than Exiled Realm, my hope is that the audience here will enjoy it and prove the publishers mistaken about the following such a story can garner.

I use Footnotes extensively in this story to convey a fourth-wall-breaking commentary by Aiko, as well as explanations of many elements in the story that require explanations (such as the extensive segments about language, culture, and weapons).I wish I could add more genre tags, as the story has elements of Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Psychological, a sprinkling of Romance, and, lastly, Tragedy. For now, I believe "Adventure, Fantasy, Historical, and Psychological" play the biggest roles, but I may change it later if I come to a different conclusion.

The cover was made by the amazing@panjoool(please look him up onDeviantArtand other art-sites: he's very talented and his style and method of 3d-render mixed with traditional painting is really fascinating). I commissioned the cover from him back in 2021, as a treat to myself for sticking to the story despite some setbacks with publishers (treats are important!) and it depicts theThe Forlorn Kingdom, which is the first World in Exiled Realm. I have plans to get covers for the other Worlds, as they are all visually distinct, but this is what I have for now.

I have aDiscord groupwhere you can connect with other readers of my stories.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2023
Author: Dosei

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 505
Views: 193,514

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

malinizgeldiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a novel in which this question will never be answered. everything can be in a big, very big cycle. This cycle may even be a million years old. people who are constantly dying, resurrected and losing their memory...
I don't know if there are people who try to leave a message for their future. but even for me with just an outside glance, I can think of ways to create perfect people to the Frontier. It's a very chaotic world right now. but I don't understand why the border people don't take everything in their hands and raise everyone as they want.
I think you'll have to read at least 3 or 4 chapters of the novel to understand this interpretation. I still think it's worth it.
Our mc is someone who has died countless times, failed when he was countless, and achieved great success when he was countless. but each time it fails and dies. so is this the last loop of the loop we read? may not be. we can only hope that this is a cycle that takes place in which things can change. It looks like I don't think so.
FabioKunRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The title is a joke referring to the second chapter btw.
What is there to say? Very enjoyable, although I haven't read that much... but I feel compelled to give a review before going to bed.
The prologue was one of the greatest works I read this year, straight into the action with no fancy words.
The rest of the story is such an enjoyable read you kinda can't stop, but have to at some point, regrettably.
If you like Isekai and LitRPGS, and a good MC, and a good story and...
Read this!
Jeremy KnopRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To cut right to the chase, this is a GREAT story.
The prologue kicks off and gets right to the meat of the story. The pacing is tight,l and the characters are all compelling. And I'm a sucker for a dark story and this is most definitely that. All in all, it is an all around amazing work of gamelit and fantasy as a whole.
Definitely recommend!
LC OakleighRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Since no one else seems to have reviewed this story at the time of writting this review I have decided to do it. I have read up to chapter The Tournament-3 so I feel like I have a basic grasp of the story so far.
For style I give this story a five becuase it flows very well, theres nothing that broke the immersion of the story for me. From the moment I read a chapter I only noticed time had passed when I reached the next chapter icon. Fight scenes are well done and pretty easy to follow, dialogue seems natural and helps convey charectors emotions. Also they use a varity of words to describe different things and yet it dosn't break up the flow at all, it just adds to the style which I think is quite awesome. The usage of these rarely picked words is likley a grammer area but the way they use them is rather stylish so I added it in this section as well.
As you may have figured based on the fact that I said nothing broke the immersion for me the grammar is very well done. The only time I found a mistake was in corrupted by shadow 4 and it was a simple missing word. 'The', I believe the authors already edited that chapter to fix it as well. Now I was just reading this and wasn't activally looking for misspelt words or grammar mistake so I may have missed a few things but honestally if you can find alot of errors in terms of this writters grammar I think you should start reading books for a living and actually become a proper editor becuase they are an absolute rarity.
In terms of story, I haven't truly read enough to give a proper overview however I stil feel like its a five star. I mean its a very unqiue premise and so far the worldbuilding has been very well done, theres a saying called "show not tell". it means instead of explaining things you should write so well that there's no need for explanations because the readers know exactly what you mean. That's what this author has done, worldbuilding and plot have been excellent so far and there has been no real info dump
Lara Zanatti ReisRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
If you're a fan of GameLit Isekai and dark fantasy, Exiled Realm is a must-read. The narrative is richly crafted, and its poetic atmosphere will ensnare you from the very beginning. You'll be left with unforgettable characters and a fully-realized world that lingers in your mind long after you reach the end of the chapter. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who appreciates well-written, immersive stories.
Olivia Astoria-LivTheTransLifeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is incredibly underrated, it paints a vivid picture of the world and provides both grittiness and curiosity to its readers. The author does a fantastic job of creating likable and distinct characters while also being unafraid of removing them as needed. I’m both impatient and excited to read more of this awesome work.
Scholar_GirogiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The first part really hooked me. I have to say that the whole mirror thing and editing your 'character' was a fun little scene and gives you a hint of the story's tone. It's quick, and it's dark but not edgy. Massive W.
Style: Exiled Realms is a quality Isekai story with elements of GameLit. The system used is elegant and not cluttered or overly complex, which is very much to my liking. The prose is magnificent and vivid. Even in the prologue, I can feel the darkness enveloping me, and although I didn't feel a shiver up my spine, I did turn on my lights~
Story: The story and world-building are exquisite, and it is clear that the author put a lot of thought, love and passion into structuring the environment that we, as a reader and the MC, can explore. It is a slow burn, as are most excellent stories, and I await more eagerly.
Character: The MC is a blank slate that the reader can easily immerse oneself in. Overall, she is on guard and grows with each interaction. The dialogue and interactions themselves are wonderfully crafted and realistic.
Grammar: Not so much a grammatical error, but a word or two may be better represented with another. But overall, I'm not an expert in the English language, and there aren't any glaring errors that take me out of the experience of reading.
Sidenotes: The footnotes are helpful, although I think giving a simplified, if purer, explanation within the story itself would be better.
Overall, this has the makings of becoming a quintessential Isekai Dark Fantasy, and I would love to read more when I have more free time. I recommend readers take a gander upon this great work made by Dosei~
Uriel SceptimRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Excellent to read and enjoyable. The beginning with "character editor" got me". No lightsaber is not the end of the deal. MC should have asked for a chain sword instead hahaha :D
I really enjoyed book so far and I have to slow down with chapters, live one daily should be ok. Great job and keep a good work!
I'll maybe later change this to an advanced review because the book is so good!
Warby PicusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Plainly a labor of love for Dosei, Exiled Realm feels like a book that has been long thought about. From the prologue on, you know that Dosei has clearly fixed the image of everything he writes about in his mind. He is moving with Aiko through the world. He is lifting spoons, sorting through menus, waving swords, right there with her. Because the image is so clear in his mind, the writing is likewise transparent. He takes you right there with him. It is very, very well done.
Style: Definitely a more generous sort of prose, the author takes the time to firmly situate you in both the world and the character. You and she both learn about the world together. The feel of the story closely mimics the feel of a videogame, particularly an old-school JRPG, but with plenty of more modern touches.
Grammer: Perfect. No problems whatsoever. It is very, very clear that Dosei has spent a long time working over this text before publication.
Story: Slow burn for sure, but it's structurally very sound. This is a distillation of both GameLit (in that game elements are utterly core to the story) and Isekai. It also has excellent fish-out-of-water vibes, given the memory loss mechanic. Actually, dating myself here, it had more than a hint of Planescape: Torment to it. It also helps the reader to give clear goals right from the start- Beat the level, beat the game, quests, rare drops, skill progression, all the classic elements for driving a character and plot forward.
Character: It is a nice idea to make the character grow utterly organically (she is essentially a blank slate to begin with) but also play with the way others' views of us cause our personalities to change. Quite well done. The MC is a bit prickly, but when you are dropped in an alien world where everyone knows you, but you don't know yourself... well, how else is she supposed to act. Again, it's well thought out and well executed.
If the genres are interesting to you, I can happily recommend reading it.
WhiteRose-BlueSpaceRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I must say after reading just a bit of this story, I love Dosei's writing style here. The interactions feel very human here and the prose is lovely. So far it's been very intreauging with the little crums slowly introduced, telling you more and more about the world and characters just as I like it.