Fletch: A Fantasy of the High Seas

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Magic at the dawn of the machine age.

One-hundred years ago, wizards were the most powerful beings on the planet. Now, it's the steam engine. Overthrown by an uprising of mortals and an industrial revolution, those with magical abilities have faded from prominence, their powers dwindling. The Governing Assembly has outlawed wizardry, except in their service.

A new war has come. Not between magical and mortal, but between nations, for territory and resources. Sailing for enemy waters aboard the ill-prepared commerce raiderFletch, Bethany Esterhouse, a young witch, will have the chance to change the fate of a civilization that would rather she did not exist.

Information

Status
Hiatus
Year
2022
Author
Lancero

Tags

ACTIONFANTASYMAGICANTI-HERO LEADFEMALE LEADHISTORICALPSYCHOLOGICALWAR AND MILITARYHIGH FANTASYSTEAMPUNK

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.7/ 5.0
Followers
92
Views
40,481

Chapters(46 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

  • BobCharlieRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Eight thumbs up!
    This is high quality writing. From the very first paragraph, the author creates a vividly detailed scenery, and REAL characters. It was like watching a movie.  I've always loved sci-fi-fantasy novels, and I can say with certainty, this man knows what he's doing.
    The plot of the story is both exciting and engaging, An industrial revolution taking the place of magic users, forcing them into hiding. Yes Please!
    I find I'm actually excited to see where Bethany winds up, and who she becomes.
  • DestroyatronMk8Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Fletch is a fantasy, with Witches and Scribes and magic metal, but it reads like something from Dumas, or maybe Hemingway. It's the story of an untrained former rich girl with powers, an accidental murderer, and how she gets drafted to serve as Captain on a Naval vessel. It's a serious sort of story, rich, complex, with worldbuilding and character development deftly woven into events both mundane and hair raising.
    STYLE: Like I said, this is written very much like The Count of Monte Cristo, or maybe Moby Dick. Wordy and serious, with characters that look and sound like they come from the late eighteenth century. The descriptions stop just short of being prose, and the dialogue is very well done.
    STORY: Set in a world that is not our own, the plot, and the politics that drive it, could have been taken straight out of a historical drama. Through the MC's eyes we see life on the high seas, the injustice perpetrated against magic users, and the terrors of war. It feels all too lifelike, pulling you along on a dangerous journey with real and immediate stakes.
    CHARACTER: The MC is a strange mix of vulnerable and dangerous. A Lady in the traditional sense, she's not much use on her own ship and she knows it. Then things go nuts and she finds herself using powers she didn't know she had. The other characters are decently fleshed out, with realistic motivations and flaws.
    GRAMMAR: The series is very technically correct. I didn't find any mistakes.
    This isn't the sort of story I was looking for originally, but it's well worth a read. Give it a try.
  • JQ CargobikerRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    Very well written steampunk. Character and settings are top notch. The author sometimes struggles to keep the MC consistent with world building. Very detailed 19th Century naval settings give it a bit of Moby Dick or Jules Verne feeling. Estranged young lady from a merchant family gets ensnared in naval warfare.
  • NeslonRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    Hard to say much with so little but the first chapter has really solid writing. The descriptions are good. The characters seem real. I enjoy the authors style of telling the story by letting the story tell itself without any huge infodump or text blocks. I've been planning a story in a what might be a very similar world but I already have a dozen new things I wanna go back and revise. Keep it coming man.
  • Benjamin MwakonyaRoyal Road
    ★★★★ 4.0
    Holy crap, where should I even begin? This has got to be one of the most well written stories on RR in terms of prose and delivery. Let's break it down:
    Style - first impressions are everything and from the very first paragraph I knew I was in for something special. Reading "Fletch: A Fantasy of the High Seas" is like looking at a finely woken silk tapestry or something, every line fluidly bleeds into the next with prose that left me doing double takes, just so that I could re-read certain lines. The delivery is on point and the style is expert. Amazing stuff!
    Story - Mmm... Fletch isn't a simple story, although it's not overly complex or convoluted. As the synopsis says, war is coming in a world with witches and steam punk-esque machinations. Our protagonist, Bethany is pulled into a war involving tense international relations, old magiks and a possible underlying scheme. Funnily enough, I don't think she really cares about any of it, at least, not from what I read. So it's going to be interesting Watching her brave this coming hell.
    Grammer - Good. Great even. My socks, were repeatedly blown off! That's not to say errors aren't present. But Dammit, it all just flows so good!
    Character - Ah... this may be the stories biggest and only weakness. For all that we learn about Beth and the citizens of the world of Fletch... i didn't really care about what happened to them. In these sense that they don't do anything to stick out. Everyone fits solely into the roles and there is nothing beyond that. This, in itself, isn't a problem, but it makes things a little bland. Allow me to elaborate...
    Apart from her mysterious and seemingly bloody past, I know almost nothing about Beth. What does she like, what does she hate, her hopes and dreams? All of this is seemingly disregard as she is pulled back and fourth by the plot. Her circumstances are bleak and at no point do we get a glimpse into her inner psyche. To put it shortly, she could have been blank faced throughout the chap
  • RollingPeachesRoyal Road
    ★★★★ 4.0
    I give it a four because spelling and som issues with grammar. Otherwise it would easily be a five.
    l lke the idea and execution of the story arc!
    To sad that the author no longer publish here.
    There is not much to say more than that the mc has her issues in life and is far from perfect. A bit refreshing to be honest