Heretical Edge

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Most easily classified as an urban fantasy/detective/action, Heretical Edge revolves around Felicity 'Flick' Chambers, a teenage girl who is brought into the hidden world of the supernatural when she is accepted as a student at Crossroads Academy, a place where humans known as Heretics train to hunt and kill the creatures known as Strangers, monsters from mythology who secretly prey upon humanity. Heretics fight these Strangers using a combination of fighting prowess and a unique blend of magic and technology. Soon, Flick learns that not everything at this school, or her own past is as it appears to be. Questions continue to mount, as Flick and her new classmates struggle to survive in this dangerous new world, while discovering the truth about the connection between Heretics and Strangers.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: CeruleanScrawling

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 752
Views: 2,412,036

What readers say about Heretical Edge

“I wish I could study on that dang island. Seriously, it's such a phenomenally done place. It's got this great aesthetic, the people seem awesome to hang out with, everyone is studying a bajillion different fascinating things with teachers who are passionate…”
Aaron Sofaer (aka Pastafarian)Royal Road5.0 / 5
“As the title suggests I have been a fan of this title for a long while, and seeing it here on Royal Road gave me a fantastic excuse to read it again. What I rediscovered is a roller coaster ride of thrills, twists and feels that never threatens to stop. Fol…”
Katana1515Royal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

Aaron Sofaer (aka Pastafarian)Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I wish I could study on that dang island.
Seriously, it's such a phenomenally done place. It's got this great aesthetic, the people seem awesome to hang out with, everyone is studying a bajillion different fascinating things with teachers who are passionately into the thing they're teaching, and there's magic that really feels magical.
Also, you get to be a hero! Fight against the Strangers who go bump in the night! Er, wait, hm. Maybe things wind up being a little more complicated than that...
Katana1515Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
As the title suggests I have been a fan of this title for a long while, and seeing it here on Royal Road gave me a fantastic excuse to read it again.
What I rediscovered is a roller coaster ride of thrills, twists and feels that never threatens to stop. Follow Flick and friends on a surreal journey that hits a lot of notes that fans of Progression Fantasy, Supernatural Noir/Detective stories and YA Adventure will enjoy.
Breaking it down a little more:
Style: Cerulean has a strong voice as an author. Their writing has a very consistent tone and pitch to it. Overall the story comes across as professionally told, with clear goals and intent. The story can effectively evoke comedy, horror, and deep emotion in equal measure, plus the fight scenes are really well done.
Story: Simultaneosly the strongest element but also one I will give a slight warning about.
I love the world thats unveiled here, it feels lived in, with all its intricate, decades (centuries?) long plots slowly ticking away and the plot never lets up or repeats itself.
The Protagonist is a bonafide danger magnet, always off to new and interesting places, meeting and befriending or slaying all manner of crazy monsters, and all manner of revelations and new questions/mysteries being added to the pile as well. Very, very occasionally we even get an answer thrown in too.
I get a strong sense of joy, that the author loves what they do and enjoys sharing their work (possibly while cackling maniacally). Personally that makes me enjoy the journey more too.
The result is a evermoving pegboard of mysteries and a ton of sudden twists and reveals. While a lot of fun, sometimes this can feel unrelenting or start to stretch credulity, so fair warning
(No Spoilers, but if a character is name-checked, then you should fully expect them to turn out to be someones Long Lost Daughter, An Alien In Disguise or possibly something even weirder before the stories end.)
Characters: Their is an absolute ton of them, but I never stru
McReaperkingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's a continuous snowball of mysteries and reveals. The clues are there just enough to get you guessing but not enough to ruin the surprise and its amazing.
The protagonist is not one I'd find very relatable considering how inconsistent I find her motivations behind killing to be, but the sheer euphoria the reveals give you is amazing. The feeling of being able to say "aha I fuckin knew it" is amazing.
MysteryMooRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Heretical Edge is a fun mystery action novel. It's not exactly the detective action that you might be expecting, but it still makes a great read, especially considering its length.
Style: The story's style is very good. All of the dialogue is well written and does not feel stilted in anyway.
Grammar: No problems with grammar that I could tell, and if there were problems, I couldn't tell as it didn't detract from the writing.
Story: The magic system is great. Having a random power of a mythological being that someone killed is a really fun concept, especially as the author includes a great number of diverse creatures. The story does feel convoluted the further you read, as so many different elements come into play. The detective part of the story seems to come and go, as the story focuses more on action and character relations and development. Still, it's a great mystery action story.
Character: Arguably the strongest point of Heretical Edge. Lots of characters that feel unique and have great interactions that come from either the Interlude chapters or the Patreon snippet short stories. Having all the characters have distinct weapons and powers from vastly different mythological animals makes them feel truly like their own character and not just another filler character that only exists to prop up the protagonist. All the side characters are also very interesting, as they all have history that the author takes time to address. Felicity Chambers, the protagonist herself, isn't the most compelling main character, but her motivations are clear and easy to follow. She is supposed to be a charismatic person, but that doesn't come across as much when you read the story. Something to note is that all the characters end up having some sort of outlandish relation with each other, which personally felt really confusing to process.
despiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I personally greatly prefer the authors other story, but decided to read this one too.
While it feels a bit weak at the beginning the story quickly builds steam, always keeping you on the edge of what happens next, (No pun intended)
There are a ton of characters, and honestly when I haven’t read the story for a few weeks I sometimes have a hard time getting back into it, since everyone seems to have a secret second identity and name.
But while that can be annoying from time to time, it makes the world feel very big and complete with lots of loose ends, that get tied more and more into the main story.
i probably will still recommend the authors other story more, since it feels like it has everything that feels good about this one, without it flaws, nether less this is a great read.
maelos61Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Honestly, it's been a while since I read the story on its own website so I can't go into too much detail anymore, but it's of a higher quality than most RR stories. This is one of the top online novels, up there with The Wandering Inn, Wildbow stories and a Practical Guide to Evil. If you're looking for a long, well-written adventure, look no further.
misssaturnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is so worth reading it. It's like a mystery book wrapped up on fantasy with the topping of sci-fi. It's very fluid and those 3 genres mix well together. The MC is quite real like, with all her problems and struggles, I like her very much.
The side chars are so good as well, which one with their own story and goals, and you can even read about it. I must say that with time that part get's a bit annoying if you want to focus on the MC, but skipping those parts doesn't affect much the main one.
There are clear main goals which are revealed throughout the story and they connect well between each other. Not clear 'evil' and 'good' fight, there are a toon of shades, where actions can point to clear decisions.
Overral a very good read.
moonsterdarkRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've never read a novel that could make cry, laugh, and shiver in fear quite as much as this one.
It's a good thing, btw. The fact that I'm able to feel this story instead of mindlessly reading it is... refreshing. So that's a compliment for me.
I think you should be prepared to have a chill slice of life on the side though, when all the revelations, the plotting, the fear, and the hope from this one become too much at once.
I needed one to cool off to get to sleep instead of continuing this novel.
The only flaw I have at the top of my head is for the interludes. The interludes themselves have no problem, it's just that I think they come too often and sometime break the flow the story, I believe it would be better to have 3 interludes back to back every 30 or so chapters instead of 1 every 10 or so chapters.
But that's really my only problem in the entire novel. I've basically read 100 chapters (each chapter is long roughly three times your usual novel chapter) in 2 days, which is a lot, lot faster than my usual cruiser reading speed.
Awesomely Rotund ElfRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Been following this novel for a few years now on the authors website. Nice to see it being posted here.
It is a nice story with complex events happening all around. At times, felt like a needed a picture board to connect all the threads. It is very well done and one of my favorites series to binge, even if at times it can get pretty dark.
Signspace13Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Heretical Edge is the YA story I wish I'd had as an actual Young Adult. It's a sprawling tale of adventure, discovery, truth, lies, justice, and much more. It's not afraid to be dark, but never makes that the central tone of the work, letting Flicks curious nature set the tone instead. I highly recommend reading if you want to read a story of growing up while dealing with a hidden society of monsters and monster slayers, be prepared for the difference between the two to get blurry though.
Style
I have read this story multiple times (Upwards of three), and it is always a fun story to go through, with little details hidden in the background, character beats that you might miss before you get to know a character better, and awesome foreshadowing for the overall plot. Be prepared to meet lots of named character, and for a lot of them to matter.
Story
The Story of HE is Flick's story, and it goes all over the place, with her main motivation being to understand the world she has been thrust into. I will say that the plot can be minorly repetitive at times, with the same emotional arc and plot structure being repeated for multiple characters as each comes to a greater understanding of the society they are a part of.
Grammar
The grammar is clear and readable, though not prose worth gushing over.
Character
There are a lot of characters in this story, each on their own journey, and that is a very enjoyable thing to read. The story for the most part though is from Flick's perspective, and her character is an enjoyable one to experience. The story does a great job at demonstrating that a character can grow without needing to change dramatically in the proccess, while also showing counter examples.
I hope this review helps new readers decide if they'll enjoy Heretical Edge, and helps Cerulean find success on this new platform!