Hordedoom

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The Old World disappeared in flames. Several nations have risen from the ashes. The Reclamation Army is one of them. Led by the Dynast, its armies invade neighboring lands, bringing ironclad order where chaos once reigned. It is a time of chaos, a time when the strongest New Breeds roam the planet, personally joining the battles without fear or concern for the destruction they may cause.

Warlord Janine is a recently promoted officer serving the Blessed Mother. Worried about what might happen if she lets her anger rule her again, Janine holds back and often fights without the fury that the Wolf Tribe is known for. But when a mission to rebuild the Third Army escalates into a full-scale invasion, and the lives of her soldiers and her family are jeopardized, Janine may snap.

And there will be hell to pay for anyone who stands in her way.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: Rookie12

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 103
Views: 88,274

Chapters(170 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

AuteurRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: Intense and immersive. There are vivid descriptions that paint a clear picture of the dystopian world the story is set in. Narration is great too capturing the harshness and brutality of the setting pretty well. There is a certain repetition of phrases at times which is something that can be improved. Although the pace was great for an action prologue, hopefully in the story there is more balance between action, dialogue, reflection and world building etc so that there is more room for the prose to breathe.
Story: The plot is interesting. It presents a clear and emotionally gripping arc for Number One. There is a deep sense of conflict—both external and internal—with Number One’s desperate fight for survival and the moral dilemmas she faces. However, there are areas where the pacing feels rushed. Eg. in transitions between scenes like escaping one area and confronting enemies, which could benefit from more gradual buildup.
Grammar: The grammar is generally solid but has some recurring issues. There are moments where sentence structure becomes cumbersome, particularly during action sequences. There are minor errors in punctuation, such as misplaced commas or missing periods. But it's all fine and something that can be easily improved to make the story more polished and readable.
Characters: Number One is a well-developed character whose internal struggle is one of the strongest elements of the story. Her emotional depth is portrayed very well. But the secondary characters, particularly the antagonists like the whitecoats and orange fiends, are depicted as cruel and oppressive without much emotional depth. Ofcourse that isn't something which can be tackled in a prologue. Hopefully in the actual story, the antagonists are more fleshed-out as characters.
CKJ5Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Disclaimer: This review is based on the first chapter and may not reflect the story as a whole.
“Horedoom” is introduced as a fantasy post-apocalyptic/war & military story with action and adventure elements, featuring a strong, non-human, female protagonist.
The first chapter immerses us in the Wolf Tribe’s culture as the protagonist, Warlord Janice, prepares for war. The author does an excellent job of worldbuilding without resorting to excessive info-dumping. Additionally, the Wolf Tribe is portrayed convincingly as distinct creatures, avoiding the common pitfall of feeling like humans in wolf costumes.
Technically, the writing is polished, with strong grammar and smooth readability. The pacing in this opening chapter is well-executed, balancing answers to key worldbuilding questions while leaving others tantalizingly unresolved.
Overall:
“Horedoom” was a pleasure to read, combining an engaging story with plenty of style and substance. While the world evokes a Warhammer 40K vibe, it confidently establishes its own unique identity. Fans of fantasy, sci-fi, or military fiction should absolutely give this a try—I know I’ll be reading on.
S.O.ARoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There's something uniquely engaging about a story that manages to blend post-apocalyptic sci-fi with tribal warfare and family dynamics, and Hordedoom delivers this mix with impressive skill. Through five action-packed chapters (that I read), we follow Janine, a warlord of the Wolf Tribe, as she leads her pack in an assault on a technologically advanced city while juggling her duties as both a military commander and a mother.
The writing style maintains consistent perspective and chronology throughout, effectively balancing intense action sequences with character development. The author shows particular skill in world-building, naturally introducing elements of the setting through action and dialogue rather than exposition dumps. The post-apocalyptic setting is well-realized, with an interesting blend of advanced technology and tribal customs that creates a unique atmosphere.
Character-wise, Janine stands out as a compelling protagonist. Her internal struggle between seeking personal glory and ensuring her pack's survival adds depth to what could have been straightforward action scenes. The relationships between different ranks and packs within the Wolf Tribe create engaging dynamics, particularly the tension between traditional values and practical battlefield decisions.
Plot progression is well-handled, with each chapter building tension while revealing more about the world and its inhabitants. The introduction of various factions (Wolf Tribe, Ice Fangs, Techno-Queen's forces) creates interesting conflicts beyond simple combat. The author effectively uses these conflicts to explore themes of loyalty, tradition, and adaptation.
The story's strongest aspect is how it weaves together military action with family dynamics. Watching Janine balance her roles as warlord and mother, while also navigating complex tribal politics, creates engaging character moments amid the chaos of battle. The interactions between siblings (like Ignacy, Bogdan, and their sisters) add depth
SpookyspacklesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The first chapter is brimming with world building - and yeah, full metal armoured werewolves! The style is a great blend of dark fantasy focusing on building up the dynamics of a society at war.
Grammar and punctuation: there’s great flow, no spelling errors and good pacing. There are areas where the tense shifts from past the current, but otherwise smooth sailing.
The first chapter also introduces an ensemble of characters with ease, and gives them each a unique voice and personal agenda in the clan.
Overall, great first chapter!
TheHawkkRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Quite an intriguing and unique story about a world with wolves wearing metal armor and living in a sort of post-apocalyptic scenario, where they have human-like societies and military.
The storytelling is great and easily understandable. It's quite direct and doesn't leave much room for confusion, it flows well from one sentence to the next, I actually like it a lot.
There's a lot of characters, all characterized well and with enough to seperate them and tell them apart. Even though they use words and speak in a way that's clearly different to us in our everyday life, the dialogue is actually really natural and clean, which makes the dialogue believeable and interesting! I have an easy time looking into their society and culture because of the way they talk.
In terms of grammar I have zero complaints for anything. Everything is punctuated well, at least to the point that I had no issue understanding how to read a sentence, which is the most important for me.
There were a few tense changes yeah, but I assume those were meant as character thoughts, in which case its okay, but probably should be marked differently. Difficult to say, it's a bit of a stylistic choice.
PeterRobertsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: The first person viewpoint is really immersive. Some comments mentioned that the MC discusses concepts that are known to the MC but not the reader. I didn’t find this an issue, I like the feeling when I read something I’m not supposed to understand and get rewarded later (it makes me feel like I figured it out on my own).
The story is a blend of sci-fi and dark fantasy (mech armored werewolves). The setting is a society at war and it's a genre I really enjoy as I like to see the dynamics of conflict and how it affects people's moral decision making.
Story: So much thought and effort has gone into building the world here. There is a unique history to the story and a load of lore that is introduced as we read through and I can tell that its just scratching the surface and going to get deeper as the story continues.
Special mention to the creativity of the setting. The facility deserves a mention here, I could literally see the whole building as Number One moved through it, the traps were clever and Number Ones’ reasoning for how to proceed was exciting to follow.
Special special mention to the gratuitous violence on display. Wow.
Characters: Number One is the MC and drives the narrative. She is a werewolf entity with great intelligence and power but little to no knowledge of life outside of the facility where she was created. Right from the get go we can see that she favors the ‘flight’ side of fight or flight, but if she has to fight - well you just wait to see what happens.
Academician is the villainous figure who coordinates the experiments on the subjects. He is vile and disgusting right from the get go. The kind of big bad that this story needs and smart enough to stay alive right until the end. A great addition to the story.
Other minor characters are given just enough description and identity to fulfill their purpose, there are a couple that I would like to see return and play more prominent roles.
Grammar: I wasn’t close reading for issues but nothing g
R.MagnusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Hordedoom is a story featuring werewolf-like creatures clad in futuristic power armor, waging war in a brutal post-apocalyptic world.
This sentence should already be enough to reel you in, but I'll keep going!
The story is very unique. Usually, and from my personal experience, non-human lead stories tend to feature cutesy protagonists like elves, or monsters on the brighter side of the spectrum like slimes or catgirls and the like. Here, we have Janine, a massive werewolf-like warlord. Really liked her character and the relationships she shares with those under her command - especially her children. Each interaction in these early chapters was enough to have me invested in her character.
Hordedoom also wastes no time with expositions. Almost immediately we are thrown into the action with a big war coming straight off the bat where the stakes are high and the thirst for glory is even greater.
The worldbuilding is another standout feature. From the military hierarchy of the wolves, to their societal structure, to even the distinct way they speak - everything feels thoughtfully crafted and deeply immersive. You get the sense that there's a rich world behind every scene, and it makes you eager to learn more.
On the technical side, the grammar is solid. I didn't encounter anything that pulled me out of the story, which means that even if there were errors, they were minor enough to go unnoticed
TL;DR: Give it a try. The worldbuilding alone is enough to make you stick around - and I doubt you'll regret it.
CosmicSlimeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Really didn't know what to expect coming into this but the story's pace picks up pretty fast. Its got an apocalyptic setting so at the start its not really clear what's going on but chapter by chapter the premise of the plot unfolds in a pretty brutal way.
To keep it short, its a vengeance story about hybrid werewolves after an extinction event basically resets humanity. It starts off strong with a bit of lore followed by a ton of action.
There's plenty of gore here as well as some pretty depraving scenes that the author manages to capture pretty well. The writing is clear and fluid, although a few sentence breaks here and there would really help with the novels readability.
That and maybe a different font? In any case its smooth enough to convey the descriptions and fast pace combat.
As for the characters only the MC's been introduced so far. Given the story's setting there's a lot of room for further development but as things stand nothing too substantial has happened with the characters yet.
There are hints of worldbuilding here and there so there's also a pretty decent premise for lore expansion as well.
Overall, its a solid story for anyone into the Post-Apocalyptic vibe.
Jeff_HowardRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Note: this review only includes the prologue, written in six parts. These chapters seem to complete the first arc of the story, so I will refer solely to events from these early chapters.
Overall: I believe sci-fi fans will enjoy this story. It provides plenty of action and graphic violence, with an imaginative world of manmade weapons, constructed of flesh and bone instead of plastic or steel. The unscrupulous scientists of a futuristic facility have created powerful beings, yet they put them through unforgiving tests and trials and dispose of anyone unable to meet their impossibly high criteria. The main character is one such being, and the author tells her story as she attempts to escape this version of Hell.
Style: The author chooses first person narrative and tends to name things based on the main character's perspective. Since the MC is newly aware of the world and has no previous education, it can be confusing at times. On the upside, it's also immersive. If the reader can survive the first couple of chapters, they'll be rewarded with a faster paced midpoint and ending. I give this aspect middling marks, only because shortfalls in the prose really slow down the pace of reading.
Story: I felt the story was the strongest aspect of this work. The author fleshed out a compelling plot with motives that drive it forward and a villain that is easy to hate. There's a ton of lore, and it seems the rest of the story is gearing up to take it to new levels. Since I am grading purely on behalf of the prologue, I found it was a solid arc from beginning to end.
Grammar/Flow: I didn't see a lot of problems with grammar, per se, but there were certainly many opportunities for the author to improve sentence flow and structure. I didn't give full marks, because many scenes were difficult to picture, and I often disagreed with word choice. All of these things can be fixed through editing, so if the author spends some time here, I believe they can improve.
Characters:
bewareoftoadsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The concept for the story is interesting. The MC, Number One, has a strong and believable motivation- escaping the lab, and helping her family. The worldbuilding- mutants, powers- feels like a good blend of fantasy and sci-fi. Her powers are also super intriguing, especially the voice she hears in her head and the idea of being able to mutate to gain more power. The fight scenes are very solid, and the enemy is super hateable.
The slight issue I have is with the MC's character progression. She starts off very naive, trusting a whitecoat during her escape attempt. I don't have a problem with naive characters, but it doesn't make sense- she's been tortured and used for experiments all her life. What reason does she have to be naive? She outgrows the naivety by chapter 3, so it's not really that big of an issue, but it threw me off in the first few chapters.