Hunting Dawn

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Five years have passed since Maura was awakened by claws, alone in the dark.

She has been hunting for something. Someone. Any place that is not empty. Answers.

Her body is not like she remembers, nor is her world. There is no one to ask for answers to her questions, but there might be. Somewhere out there, the world isn't dark and strange. She just needs to find it. She musn't give up hope.

She has been hunted at every turn, but she is close. She can almost feel the light.

She moves ever eastward; Hunting Dawn.

[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Trodgosh

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 528
Views: 65,478

Chapters(19 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(7)

RfaeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is wonderful I really enjoyed all that I've read so far the story is interesting the premise is good and the main character is a joy and I can't wait to get to know the rest of the characters. I can't wait to learn more about how the world came to be how it is and how the main character is going to deal with her new situation.
EmmaLeiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Here I was innocently looking for a new story to read and decided to give this story a try. So I decided to try out Hunting Dawn and read a few chapters before bed. The next thing I know, it's 2 AM, and I'm franticly looking for advanced chapters on Patreon. (I was quite sad when I couldn't find any) I am so addicted. I was so tired all day because of this story.
All joking aside, give this story a try. I was a little leery about starting this because it isn't what I usually read. The main character is well written, and the side characters are more than cardboard cutouts.
The story starts five years after Maura wakes up in the middle of monster-infested woods with no other sapients around. I say sapients because there are more than just humans in this story. We meet Maura as soon as she finally spots other people, and she is working through her psychological issues that don't just magically go away after a few chapters.
I did not notice any grammar issues very often, and when I did, they were not immersion-breaking problems.
Each character in the story has their own goals and is not helping Maura out of the goodness of their hearts because of “reasons” the author never explains. It drives me nuts when this happens in stories. There are logical reasons for each character to act the way they do, and they have their own goals.
luda305Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I am so excited for this fiction. It's rare for a new story to enrapture me so. And I can't wait to see how it develops. If you'll were a fan of The Demonologues before it went on hiatus, this is right up your alley.
As best as I can tell (we are still uncovering the world), the basic premise is that a medical student researched in an advanced magitech civilization wakes up to find themselves in a post apocalypse where ambient magic got turned up to eleven. She then spends five years surviving through an exceptionally dangerous forest. And, when we start the story is when she thinks she has finally found people.
The characters are very well written, especially the protagonist who is clearly traumatized from her time surviving. Skittish, antisocial, paranoid. She's a delight to read especially as she comes to learn or relearn what it means to be in a civilization and exactly how overpowered she is.
The style is also great. The author has clearly put a lot of effort into background world creating, but rather than dump it on is like many amateurs, he does a great job drip feeding it to the audience and letting us put the pieces together.
All in all, a strong recommendation from this reader.
RyzaboyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
An interesting approach to your lone-survivor story where the plot skips past all the discovering how to survive straight to having become a badass survivor and meeting people and becoming reacquainted with society.
Lots of interesting threads with how magic and society work, as well as Maura's (The MC) past. Well written, solid prose with only a few places I see easy improvement.
Spoilery ish:
I do however, have one complaint. It's personal, so I haven't docked points for it. I find the shy socially-tepid Maura to be unpleasant to follow. I don't think her characterization is wrong, I just find it unpleasant to have to see this world from her point of view. Having the MC freeze and blush and wilt anytime someone looks at her gets so eye-rollingly frustrating. At times it becomes legitimately hard to read. So far, Maura's social development at introduction to society has been the entire plot and it grates.
KrischanRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This is an interesting story of a nonhuman's much craved encounter with civilisation. I may have misread the author's comment about this not being a very op'ed creature with op'ed armour and weapons but she is certainly a little Mary Sue and she's got the scars and the kit to prove it. She hunts better, crafts better, heals better..., but her various and very extensive proficiencies are not annoying as of yet.
It is her superhuman knowledge and abilities that set her in conflict with the powers that be and that is certainly heady stuff at the moment. Her struggle with whichever hostile environment she finds herself in is fun to read. The tension is going to be difficult to maintain or resolve but there is always that cleansing blood bath as an option.
The text needs a serious edit. As usual for writings on RR the tenses become less mixed as the story progresses but is it really that hard to write in simple past tense? It's stands for It is or even It has not It was and should therefore only appear in speech when the rest is in the past. Following tradition the objective I is used as in: to him and I or similar. There were at least two such abominations in the text. It is a little verbose and paring it down would improve flow and comprehensibility. (Two bits I remember as especially jarring were the way she held her spear and I found the quote: Maura held her huge monster bone spear loose, ready, and parallel to the ground as she stalked slowly out into the open. This is grammatically dodgy and the three descriptors are not equal: it was ready to be used and the way that was achieved was by holding it loosely and parallel to the ground. One or two short sentences should be made out of the long one. Also when the awkward description of her sword/knife was used with relative height - height is absolute but I can see where the author did not want to use relative length of person and weapon, one could have used arm length for that. At the same time it was reassuring that
JwmcdanRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This story was a pleasant surprise. It's a well crafted character driven story.
Maura, our MC was a medical student an advanced magitech society. She wakes in the ruins of her civilization that appears to have been destroyed by an influx of mana. We meet her at the end of a five year trek alone through the wilderness try to find people.
What I like the most about this story is the authors willingness to lean into the trauma that that sort of isolation does to a person. Maura's desperation to not be alone anymore. We learn about and experience this changed world through Maura's eyes.
The grammar, style, characterization and worldbuilding are all excellent.
You can tell the author has put a lot of thought into this. I look forward to following this story.
Give it a shot.
DrAltRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Shy, antisocial survivor attempts to find purpose and companionship. Some recovering trauma, some self-reflection, and a lot of exploration. I liked the story enough to put on 'read later', but like many promising stories I do this with, the project ended with the write-athon.
In terms of world-building, a little above average. What I really liked about it was how the MC kept focusing on 'conquer yourself'. Best of luck on the next project, author.