Hard Luck Hermit

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Book 2: Wild Card Wanderer

Two years ago, Corey Vash got abducted by aliens, and a few months after that, he saved the universe -even if it was mostly on accident. Thanks to the skills of his new bounty hunter friends and no small amount of luck, Corey Vash saved the day, but hero status isn’t all its cracked up to be. The parades and the free drinks are over, leaving the bounty hunters with nothing but the expectations of a frightened universe and the overbearing attention of governments who want picture perfect heroes the only mostly sober crew aren’t cut out to be. With the shadow of another invasion still looming, a murderous new threat starts to stalk their every move, forcing Corey and the crew of the Wild Card Wanderer to move past the mess of bullets, booze, and blind luck that’s kept them alive and become actual heroes -even if they aren’t very good at it.

Book One complete. Book Two in progress. Updates Mondays and Wednesdays

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2022
Author: MrMander

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 1,150
Views: 686,760

Chapters(203 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

VoxPopulistRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Brilliant, simply brilliant. I've read a lot, and I mean a lot of sci-fi before, and this one has to be one of the best. The characters, introductions, and motives, all feel so alive and so in character that it's impossible to turn your eyes away. I'm only not reading now to try and spread the word and let the author know, that what he's writing is working.
The world makes sense, as our main character is dropped unceremoniously into the center of it, and the mix of flooding to drip-feeding information is captivating, to say the least. He explains when he needs to and leaves it up to your imagination when he doesn't.
Needless the say, the characters, especially the crew, are what make this novel a 5 for me. They feel human, but different enough, alien (haha) enough for the book to both suspend my disbelief and keep me perfectly on the line.
Truly one of the best in character writing if it keeps up even half this quality.
The novel (so far) is very stylistic, with new words and scales and explanations, but it keeps everything within reason. You won't be thrown off by nonsense fantasy or sci-fi jargon, but they definitely don't fear treading new water, so don't think you're about to encounter any typical, boring tropes. Plasma guns aren't just a gun with some extra bits, they are fantastical space weapons, and aliens are just humans but green, they're descriptive enough to excite the imagination, whilst maintaining a sense of grounded realism.
The grammar is flawless, either English is the author's first language or they've studied hard. There are a few very minor hiccups in dialog, but that's to be expected, since no one talks in a grammatically perfect sense, they talk like people, or in this case sophisticated aliens.
From the character introductions to the world-building, to the passion simply oozing out of this story, as well as a few tasteful references, Hard Luck Hermit has the potential to not only be one of Royal Roads' big shots, but if there was a Patreon I'
Bob10Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Loved it, amazing and enticing story. Can recommend it to everyone. And I am looking forward to the sequel.
if you love space shooters, aliens and good characters it’s a must read.
like the author said he will have the book less confined to the ship in the sequel, will be good to see the crew in different settings
Josh DavisRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Love this story.
It's currently hitting all of my science fiction cravings. Good characters, good pacing, and while the weirdness of the wider universe is definitely a thing to the main character, time is spent on developing all the other characters and their stories.
Definitely on the softer side, the science fiction, and in this case it's definitely a good thing.
OorkholfRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story deserves more readers.
I only read a few of the story of the genre on RR, and this one is the more entertaining. Thighten tour belts, because this starship is flying fast, and close the windows, because shit is going to rain. Want some booze ? Plenty of it in there.
(Need words...oh ! Doprel Joke!)
What is the main difference between a Monk and a politician? The taste
Patryk RysRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Well, I did not want to write review for this. Buuut other reviewer pissed me off. So lets start:
Space opera with full cast of colorfull, deranged but overall great people/aliens. Everything in the setting is really well connected, makes sense in universe and seems organic. Nothing seems forced or just there for plot reasons.
It doesn't do anything that new or genre defining but everything it does is at the great level.
All Characters have their quirks, defining features, motivations and feel alive. All have their concrete role in the story and on the ship.
Previous reviewers said it better than me anyway.
But there is one review that bash on the mc.
"But I can't stand the MC, both for his personality and his background story, and neither of which I care for. It only became worse as his past was dragged back into the story, as if it were a main plot component all along" this is complete and utter nonsense. I really have no idea where the hell is that review coming from.
Mc is great, relatable in many ways and his past dragged into a plot makes alot of sense, but I cannot exactly explain why because its spoiler and big plot point. He is our view from "human" perspective and he does really good job on that front.
Overall, its decent read. Much better than anything new thats posted on this website for last 2 years. Mc is our point of view (humanity) and tbh he resonates with me very much (and not only me, alot of other reviewers think the same as me).
ONLY NEGATIVE I could find is banter between crew is sometimes... Way over the top, especially in tense moments where this banter can lead to literally their deaths, buuut its just quirk of the author/crew so its not that big of a deal.
Read it, you will like it, its enjoyable and fun ride
FruchtigRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
My experience with the sci-fi genre was most of the time filled with info-dumbs, two dimensional characters and unnecessary complicated and half scientific explanations of *new* technologies. Thus, I was very sceptical when I started Hard Luck Hermit. Well, after reading it, to say I am flabbergasted by the characters and storytelling would be an understatement.
Characters: 10/10. Every member of the crew has it's own, fleshed out, personality. Honestly that's all I can say with my limited english, just know that there is so much more to them.
Social interactions: The humor of the dialogs had me laughing like none other novel on RR ever had. Never before have I read such intricate and realistic descriptions of drinking contests. Just wow.
Storytelling: I like it very much. The story is moving steadily forwards, no chapter felt boring and I was always interested in what would come next.
My only regret is that I am not able to buy a Patreon tier. Thank you very much for this story MrMander!
Rcoolstar1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is one of the best science-fiction creations on RR without a doubt. Things are chaotic but realistic (from a SF perspective), the characters are likable freaks that vaguely remind me of Guardians of the Galaxy but worse (in a good way), the plot of both books so far repeteatly gets the jump on you, practically no grammar issues...
TL;DR: Give this book a try, idiots.
ratman71111Royal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I haven't read much sci-fi before, but this one is definitely one of the better ones I've read. The characters have distinct personalities with proper goals. Corey, being someone who doesn't know shit about the universe, is a great character for helping bridge the gap of knowledge between the characters and readers. The story progresses in a new way every chapter, introducing new knowledge even if it's just mundane facts about the universe. Great read.
RagnaBlueRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I thoroughly enjoy the characters, their development and the overall story. The only real problem is that sometimes it feels like the author just decides to have sci-fi vs just to have sci-fi bs. The characters are definitely the highlight with unique and engaging backstories. Here are some more words to get to the word minimum.
Winged ThingRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
Update, everything I liked about the story up, and died. Which is a damned shame. Score changed to reflect.
I'm really enjoying this story. It doesn't have galaxy encompassing stakes, and to be honest, it doesn't need them at all.
Its an interesting, focused narrative with different, but likable characters sharing a profession, and as a result a ship/home, and dealing with the stuff their jobs throw at them. Our author writes better than the majority of SF writers because they're focused on their core objective, which is making something enjoyable to read, and interesting.
I'll be following their work from here on out. Give the story a try, might be that you'll like it as much as I did!