Fools in the Garden [Progression, Sci-Fantasy, Adventure] [Book 2 Complete]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

A thousand years after the Apocalypse, the world is a mess. Like a big garbage heap, crawling with lunatics, monsters, and gods.

Meet Gwilym Oubliette, who is as well-meaning as he is dim-witted. He’s never left his home island because he was told to ‘stay alive, no matter what.’

Despite a decent effort, Gwil gets himself killed. To his surprise (but not ours), he is resurrected as a wielder of a magical force called Nirva. If only he had any idea how to use it.

Gwil makes fast friends with his murderess, Leira, and the two set out on a perilous journey. Their goal? To find the unfindable devilwoman, Ashkana, Lady of the Wastes.

Will Gwil and Leira save the world? They don’t even know they’re supposed to be doing that.

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Cover Art byAmer Čaplja:https://www.instagram.com/arrakis_crane/

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What to expect:

An odyssey through an expansive world, jumping from one unique location to the next.

A happy-go-lucky and stupid protagonist with a whacky found family.

An unraveling mystery regarding how the world came to be in its twisted state.

A diverse, layered power system that is deeply connected to the greater narrative.

A large cast of irreverent characters.

Slow burn.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: OliverBlair

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 364
Views: 56,357

Chapters(110 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(8)

emssitumorangRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Okay. Let me just preface this overall by saying that I am usually a big fan of grounded realities in fantasy worlds where the world makes sense and the craziness is tempered where the rules are tangible and realistic or at least plausible and has some sort of Logic behind it. This story on the other hand is none of those things. It isn't just crazy, it's the entire asylum. And the funniest part? I love it. Reading the synopsis doesn't do this story justice. Like at all. I bit the bullet when I set out to read the first chapter but I just couldn't put the story down. It was that fun. I finished all the available chapters in like 5 hours (pretty slow for my speed, but I had things to do lol). Anyways let me get through the categories of value.
The grammar: despite the wackiness, the prose is nigh-immaculate. Almost criminally so that one would think a story this off the rails has no right being this well written. There are even a couple of poems in here that are actually really good. And this story passes what I'd call the 'Seb's Story to Movie Test' wherein the prose and grammar is so good and not jarring that I experienced the flow well enough that I was basically watching a movie/animation in my mind through the words. So yea. No doubting the quality there.
Style score - I want to say that this story rides almost entirely on style. And the style is so good it's like the author wears Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Hermes just to go for a walk to the department store. The style is distinct and it goes hand in hand with the story. Generic is the opposite of what the story's style is. It's outta this world. Well, technically it's set in an alternate future world but -Arghhh you'll know what I mean when you read it.
The story score - Several aspects I wanna discuss here, firstly is the story plotline in and of itself. Is it crazy? Yes, but more so the setting is insane. The plotline itself has very good pacing, not too slow, leaves time for characterisation, and is way too
CosmicQuillRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an intriguing one, very intriguing… Let me start by telling you that this book is wacky. It’s wacky to the point that the everpresent craziness stops being weird and starts being funny, which only highlights the author’s excellent writing skills.
Style: The prose is quite poetic and full of vivid descriptions, often bordering on the surreal. However, sometimes, it got a bit overly chaotic, which made me feel lost and unable to understand what was going on. It was a bit immersion-breaking, but not much, as this could also be a boon in this type of book.
Story: The story follows a guy named Gwil, who dies in the first chapter. You’d say great! Game over, the shortest review ever! But then he somehow comes back to life… and then the whole craziness begins. I only finished the prologue and then some, but so far, I’d say the entire premise and its execution are pretty good.
Grammar: Grammar is generally solid, and I didn’t notice any issues there.
Character: Gwil’s character is that of a dim-witted, presumably ordinary (or not?) guy who suddenly has his life turned upside down and sets off on a grand adventure to explore the world.
I think his character is an interesting mix of good and bad qualities that creates a much-needed depth that makes readers connect with him. However, I also think they will sometimes bang their heads over some of his questionable choices.
Overall: This was a wild ride. It’s way out of what I usually read, but as I got further in, it sort of grew on me, and I’ve become interested in how it will continue. So, if you like an unconventional approach to fantasy and don’t mind a generous dose of insanity sprinkled on top, I could only recommend this book.
Digital RiotRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
>>>[This review was made as part of a very overdue review swap, and I have read up to chapter 8 and I plan to continue reading. I really, really, like this story.]
I've been on Royal Road for quite some time and in my time I've read a lot of stories, either ones that I just really like personally, some that I kind of hate but also like to read as a hate-read sort of deal, or stories that I read as part of a review swap to help myself and another fellow author out. I originally read Fools in the Garden as part of the latter, a review swap. Very quickly, this has changed to the former, something that I really personally love.
This story makes absolutely no fucking sense. The prose is radically different from anything else. Gwil is a dumbass, Leira is a jerk, our characters are all bizarre and over the top and things just sometimes happen for no apparent reason. Reading this story makes me feel like I have super ADHD, and sometimes I'll read a chapter entirely and I'll have to step away from my computer just to process what I just read.
I love it.
Has the thought of an axolotl-person that can throw its limbs at you as an attack and makes everyone around speak in rhyming pattern ever crossed your mind as a potential character in a book? What about giant squid-shar thinks with tentacles that sometimes just swallow you whole if you go out into the ocean? What about a mad-max kind of post apocalyptic universe that takes place in the weird bizarro-ass Lord of the Rings esque fantasy landscape???? And there's this giant evil entity/empire thing called Leviathan that controls everything including the resources that people use to power revived ancient technology and...
Has any of these things ever crossed your mind, once? Well it has here. All of that is here, this story is bursting with creativity. I cannot stress this enough. And the part I like most about it is that you (yes, YOU, the reader) has to piece these things together. There are no exposition dumps, no real way of
Regolith42Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: A very intentionally done insanity is portrayed in the style of this work. All sorts of crazy and insane things happen with a layer of matter of factness with the characters being very casual even when facing the largest dangers.
I do think that the introduction in the first chapter was a bit too indulgent with it, and the literary almost poetic description of what was happening interfered with my understanding of what exactly was happening in the scene.
But once you get to about the second half of the chapter or so it settles down a bit and I think from there on after, everything made sense to me. Not in the sense that I understood everything happening, but that the movement of characters and their settings were well established and set from scene to scene.
I'd recommend at least finishing the full first chapter before judging the style. The more poetic and dreamy nature of it is certainly different from most stories that I usually read, but I thought it worked well to weave worldbuilding and character development into it.
Grammar: Nothing that interrupted me from reading through. Five stars.
Story: Our MMC is reborn and decides to go on a long journey with a distant goal. FMC tags along, and generally is curious and draws out more information from the MMC about the past, worldbuilding, and other exposition. It's all done through good dialogue though, so all of those things are well integrated with the rest. The long journey has just begun, and encounters are mostly feeling disconnected and episodic at this point. But each of the little 'mini adventures' or encounters on their journey so far have been engaging as their own thing.
Character: Very interesting characters. All a bit insane and odd, but interesting. Probably the best part of this story so far is in the characterization of our two main leads as they go off on their journey.
This Review is part of a Review Swap.
edkang99Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is by far the most accurate blurb in terms of a promise of a story.
The best word I can use to describe this story is “Whimsical,” in all the best ways.
I think readers will know whether this story is for them by chapter 7 or so, because it is paced well.
The authors makes a great choice in giving us 5 chapters of character development. Our two main protagonists are an odd couple, which is why it works. You’re immediately endeared to them and their quirks.
Then, as promised, the action ratchets up. We move from the fantasy to the urban fantasy, which I appreciated because it allowed me to take in the world building and enjoy the adventure. There are no big exposition dumps, allowing us to get immersed and enjoy the adventure.
Every character’s voice is unique and motivations make sense.
The mystery builds as we learn more about the state of the world. The main characters have questions that mirror ours as readers.
The writing is excellency, avoiding cliches and the common traps like too many dialog tags.
I do admit that when the author said there would be “humor” I was skeptical. It’s not a comedy and is a very serious story with real stakes. And nobody acts like comic relief. Instead the characters are warm in their tone and say/do funny things. Just the way our two MCs interact right from the jump has a wonderful sense of humor with the right mix of awe and intrigue.
Again, it’s all a whimsical adventure. Highly recommend this if you’re looking for something outside of the typical stuff here on Royal Road.
(Typed this on mobile, so, apologies for any mistakes! And for some reason I can’t give it 5 stars on grammar but it is a full 5-star rating.)
Manny_SheltonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
From just the handful of chapters I have read, I can tell that I'm going to enjoy this story.
The style of the writing is quite nice, and Is really engaging. It is written very eloquently, which makes the prose feel very... well, elegant. But it is very easy to follow. The prose flows easily from one paragraph to the next, and doesn't feel choppy at all. It has a nice "voice" to it, which is important for any piece of writing. It's very well structured and very well organized, something I hope to emulate in my own writing.
The story so far is very exciting. I love stories that make the characters go on an adventure, and this one has got me hooked already. We're still in the early stages of the plot, but there is already so much that is beginning to happen.
I found no issues with the grammar, everything was written clearly and concisely. The author must have spent a long time combing through their work, or they are just a naturally gifted writer.
The characters however, they were a little difficult for me to get into. I'm not really vibing with Leira, but maybe I'll warm up to her as the story progresses. And I can understand why Gwil is pretty dumb and also a little childish, he's a country bumpkin after all. But it's hard for me to find him likeable.
Anyway this is a book that is definitely worth a read. I plan on reading it some more.
JeedanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I finished reading Book 1 a few days ago and thought about writing down some of my thoughts. This might be a bit messy but here are my ramblings.
Overall Score: 4.5/5
My score for the story overall would have to be a 4.5 / 5. It has almost everything I enjoy in a story. Mystery, magic, lore and interesting characters that have their own issues they are dealing with that are intriguing and leave you wanting to know more. It's a story of traveling through a post apocalyptic world, brimming with weird monsters and magical creatures around every corner and of course crazy people with powers.
Grammar Score: 4.5/5
I'm not the best at grammar, to be honest. Overall the grammar was great and nothing really tripped me up. There were no spelling mistakes that I could remember (?). I think maybe a couple times I'd get a bit confused, this usually happened during a character's inner monologue when it was described that a character was thinking of something or another, it was just slightly awkward. Rest was really good and no major issues here.
Style Score: 4/5
I really enjoyed the way it was written. It was very easy to follow. There is a ton of dialogue and it flows well with believable language. No characters felt stiff in the way they talked and each character was written in a way that had their own style to it. You could tell just by the tone of who was talking.
Jumping from one character's point of view to another is also handled very well. Especially during some of the more intense scenes. This made action scenes feel very intense, and also gave some needed tone shift during the slower, more sad sections.
The main reason I scored this as a 4 was that sometimes there'd be a few too many descriptions back to back of things that would take me out. It was hard to tell whether the descriptions would be in universe or not. However it wasn't done to the extent to detract from the overall story.
I also thought maybe some of the combat scenes were a tiny bit too long, and watchin
CKJ5Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Disclaimer: This review is based on the first chapter and may not reflect the story as a whole.
Fools in the Garden is described as a progression urban-fantasy story featuring action, adventure, and comedic elements, with multiple leads.
The story begins with its protagonist, Gwilym, returning from the market before being telepathically called to a local creek by a flower. Without much preamble, the flower proceeds to kill Gwilym. Thankfully, that’s not the end of his story—he resurrects and discovers that the flower was actually a woman named Leira, who had been trapped inside it for three months.
Grammatically, the chapter is well-constructed, with easy-to-read prose and no glaring errors that caught my attention. However, I did find the dialogue and chemistry between Gwilym and Leira slightly unconvincing. Gwilym’s trust seemed to be won over too easily, considering he had been gruesomely murdered just thirty minutes earlier. While I understand his character is intended to be simple, for someone who made a solemn promise not to die and appeared to live by his word, his quick camaraderie with Leira felt a bit too convenient.
Overall:
Fools in the Garden promises to be a fun and imaginative adventure. The premise is intriguing, and the story has plenty of room for growth. With further development of character dynamics, it has the potential to be an enjoyable and memorable read.