Imperfect Shapes

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Shapeshifter is a broad term, but it's the closest thing Lena has to a definition of what exactly she is. "Lena," her current name at the moment, is an approximately two-inch wide, nearly perfectly black sphere that can decompose matter around herself and use it to create human-looking shells to hide within and interact with the humans around her. She's tried to blend in with normal human society, but can't seem to find fulfillment or meaning through every action being a faked version of who she is.She decides to quit her dull office job and reinvent herself again, this time as the person she is, instead of the person others expect her to be. There's a major obstacle in her way, however: she's spent so long pretending to be other people, that she's entirely lost sight of herself. The solution: creating a list of 99 aspects of her personality, so she can prove to herself that she's not just an imitation of people around her. Set in the same universe as Heat-Seeking Behavior, but is a fully standalone story.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: LilyLitany

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 269
Views: 35,284

Chapters(26 total)

What readers say about Imperfect Shapes

“Unlike what the title might suggest, it actually is perfect, or atleast as close to the definition as some could get. I loved everything about it, I truly could find no flaw, except that a pervasive sadness invaded me after it ended, since it's only 20 chap…”
BRmoixARoyal Road5.0 / 5
“What a treat! It's urban fantasy detective and supernatural romance, and both of these parts are great! I like this book so much. It kicks off with a truly unique and captivating MC and reveals into kaleidoscope of chaotic events and mysteries. Characters a…”
SviorRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

BRmoixARoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Unlike what the title might suggest, it actually is perfect, or atleast as close to the definition as some could get. I loved everything about it, I truly could find no flaw, except that a pervasive sadness invaded me after it ended, since it's only 20 chapters long. I think everyone could learn a bit about themselves by reading this.
SviorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What a treat!
It's urban fantasy detective and supernatural romance, and both of these parts are great!
I like this book so much. It kicks off with a truly unique and captivating MC and reveals into kaleidoscope of chaotic events and mysteries.
Characters are the bone and soul of this story. They are diverse, interesting, original and charismatic. It's as entertaining reading about them solving mysteries of the magic world as watching them chilling in a coffee shop and bantering. Lena is a star, of course. Her personal journey is big and full of unexpected turns and a great example of how you write the main hero.
I won't spoil the romance for you, I won't even say who the love interest is, just believe me: it's perfect. It's so cute and wholesome and a little unhinged that you just squeal and smile like an idiot every time it develops through the pages.
The plot is great. It's not some epic adventure that changes the fate of the whole world, it's a story that fits it's scale very well and paced so good it never drops into boring or excessive details.
And style! For the first time in forever present tense works for me without concessions, because it's a point of view of a unique criptid and she explores herself in real time.
And we have this beautiful setting of Critterverse by LilyLitany again, with new surprises and discoveries. Governmental agencies are still a mix of incompetent shit-show and powerful bureaucratic machine, critters are even more unpredictable in the big city and magic works in unrestrained but understandable way (many things possible, and you can kind of predict what).
Absolute must read for fans of urban fantasy and supernatural romance, and if you like even one of those 4 words, you should try it.
Matt598Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
So much nice fluff and it was a very nice slice of imperfect life. The character development and journey of self realization was amazing and the
Journal of 100 (well 65 & 20 photos) ways to define oneself was incredible and some of them feel really basic until you realize the introspection it takes to admit that about yourself. Would be a nice add on to include the full list of 65 in a spoilered author's note at the end of the story or in a standalone chapter.
My only complaint in the way it ended was
How we didn't get to see the total fall of Ember or the promotion ceremony. Both of those felt like unresolved plot hooks that would have been nice to see tied up.
But with this being part of a larger universe I can see leaving some of that as lore-building to explain those threats for other books.
Stylistically, I love how the focus primarily being from one perspective as it helps it feel consistent, and the few expository instances are done well where it's not just a huge dump of oh yeah here's all my world building!
Thanks for such a great read! ♥️
mergellusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I have been following the development of this story since the very first draft of the first chapter and am absolutely enamored. Imperfect Shapes is engaging, well-written, funny, emotional, relatable, and has inspired me more than a lot of the fiction I've read lately.
To explain my ratings, I'd say that I had to lower some of the other categories in spite of not having any major issues with them for the sole reason that the characters, especially Lena of course but also Mirka, Kapil, and honestly the whole main cast. I've found both Lena and Mirka very complex and emotionally impactful in their own ways, and their relationship arc really hit home for me, it felt so real.
More or less the other three categories are all like "yes, this is good, passes the smell test, I enjoy the story and upon a little analysis I can see the ways in which all these aspects are cogs in the machine that makes the story work so well", but the character work does stand out especially for me.
I think the grammar is probably five stars but I read most chapters as drafts as opposed to the probably edited versions on here, I know I helped pick out some of the errors in those drafts but also that's not reflecting upon my review here.
Story as I said is pretty much standard to good, it's fun and engaging and definitely has its impactful beats, but not what stands out to me about Imperfect Shapes.
The author does write this story in quite an interesting style which manages to capture the inner workings of the mind of a being like Lena as well as I would imagine that one could do for her. It's not earth-shattering, but it is distinctly fresh and feels very real to what the story is trying to be.
Loving it!
RenkhalRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This was adorable in a weird way. I haven't read the work that is in the same world and came first (probably my next stop, but we shall see) so I didn't come into this with any foreknowledge of setting and such. I reallt enjoyed the storytelling and the world a lot. It had it's moments of chaos, but it felt very true to the way the story was being told as well. I had to send it to my partner even because it had just enough of many genres that I thought she'd be just as entertained as I was.
I was a little concerned about the relationship with Mirka at first. It made sense after a while, but the initial "beginning" to their actual relationship felt awkward and mismatched at first. But I think it fits after reading through the whole thing.
I am glad this is being continued. It is definitely worth the read. It's cute, quirky, comedic if you squint, and the mysteries work out well.
qwertystopRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
It's good stuff. Well-done xenofiction to the extent that it is that, interesting world if a bit shallow in the usual ways for a fantastical addition to cause minimal change, cute couple considering one of them is a featureless orb and the other is a cop. Appropriate sense of chaos and panic to what action scenes there are. I'm not great at detailing this sort of thing, not sure what else to say.