Isekai Veteran

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Hunter. Healer. Savior. Sage.

After a century of summonings and reincarnations, Taylor was more than ready to settle down and enjoy his renewed youth until he was summoned yet again. Dumped into a bronze-age world on a monarch's whim, he's made the best he could of the situation. He became a traveling priest, hunting monsters and healing the sick. It wasn't what he had planned, but it was a good life.

But then the church tried to kill him and his followers.

Now Taylor and his band of heretics are doing what outcasts and outlaws have always done: retreat to the most inhospitable wilderness they can find. The plan is to train and grow their numbers until they're strong enough to fight Enclave directly.

It sounded simple enough when he started, but Taylor is beset by problems he can't wave away with magic. His strongest allies are scattered and powerless. Enclave is attempting to cut off his flow of recruits. The locals won't trust him. And there's a monster he needs to hunt, one that has killed every disciple sent against it.

Book 4 ofThe Tenobre Cycle. This volume stands very well on its own.

There will be no harems. Seriously, don't even start with me.

[ Royal Writathon October 2024 winner ]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: CJ Holmes

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 470
Views: 173,118

What readers say about Isekai Veteran

“This story is still in its early days as of this review but so far I'm loving what I see and I think it's sad that I got to it this early so there weren't more chapters. I love the style. It's descriptive and there are no info dumps whatsoever. Things are r…”
tighosterRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“This story takes the essence, breathing life and depth to the story. Where the light novels take the exact same settings with barely cardboard backgrounds and generic masks for the same characters like kabuki theatres but with none of the artistry, this aut…”
EmpireofTrustRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(9)

tighosterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is still in its early days as of this review but so far I'm loving what I see and I think it's sad that I got to it this early so there weren't more chapters.
I love the style. It's descriptive and there are no info dumps whatsoever. Things are revealed as they come up and make sense in context. The style is engaging and it doesn't feel bland.
There is not much to say about grammar. It's good and flows smoothly.
The characters are excellent so far but there are not enough chapters yet for me to make solid statements about development or their full range of emotions. They don't feel 2D or like emotional bricks.
The story is incredible and is my favourite part. Religion is always a fantastic tool in world-building but is often used as an obstacle and nothing more. Conflicts of faith, history and political intrigue are setting this up to be a delightful read. Different cultures and how they interact are also a lovely part of this story.
There are other things like geopolitics, the power system and in general more details that I haven't commented on because it's too early for me to have a solid enough opinion on them yet, However, I expect they will be fleshed out at some point when it's appropriate and tie in just as well as the rest.
Honestly, I expect this story to become significantly more popular soon enough and I get to read this for free. Anyone who is reading this for an incentive to start should definitely give it a try.
EmpireofTrustRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story takes the essence, breathing life and depth to the story.
Where the light novels take the exact same settings with barely cardboard backgrounds and generic masks for the same characters like kabuki theatres but with none of the artistry, this author has added depth, life and enough realism to make it seem a whole other tier.
Characters seem to come from somewhere, they had lives with cultures and countries that still effect their actions.
On top of that the MC has the history behind him of his past exploits that guides his actions as other worlds try to drag him to exploit.
A pleasure to read.
ImpalerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I started reading from Exile (book 4) and was almost surprised to learn that it wasn't the series' first book. The stories are nuanced, the culture unique, and the world-building amazing. I love that the magic system and the political structure are truly thought out instead of cookie-cutter fill-in villains. Whether its the Enclave, Sotoma, or Kashmere, there are reasons and understanding behind the moves antagonists make throughout the books. Those perspectives are further developed through important and plot-moving changes in the POV rather than scattered snippets that are listless and random. Taylor/Phillip truly does sound like an Isekai veteran who's doing his best to balance helping the world succeed without just throwing modern-era technology at the problem. I love the Calique's culture that is truly different and the characters are forced to learn to navigate within that culture rather than cannibalizing it through strength and martial prowess as is typically the case. Even without knowing the background from the first three books, I've grown to enjoy and love the side characters that truly provide support to the story and have their own separate goals and lives rather than perfect alignment with the main character's point of view. Well done!
InmiumRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Top shelf writing! It's a pity you can only give 5 stars as a rating as this deserves more. The story itself has many things going for it that are well woven into each other. Despite not having read book 1-3 yet, this isn't a problem as the important bits are explained.
NZObiwanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall the writing is high quality, I don't notice any spelling mistakes or bad grammar, and the reading flows well.
I would recommend reading the first few books, they add a lot to the story and clear up potential confusions you might see in this one.
This book is fairly unique in that it isn't a blatant power fantasy in the way most isekai novels are, there's still a bit of that, and the main character is definitely strong and had advantages, but there's still tension and smart people still cause him significant problems despite being weaker.
The original review can be seen here:
There's a lot of usage of custom/new words and terms though, which isn't a deal breaker but it does impact the story a lot when I have to pause toparse what something means based on the context rather than using plain English words that already exist.
My biggest issue with this is that it's not immediately obvious that this isn't the first book in the series. Please put it in the blurb or as a foreword.
The use of custom words and flashbacks makes it seem as though the author's intent is to slowly reveal the past to you, until you see a chapter note saying "support me by buying previous books in the series" which is a bit frustrating to only see part way through reading.
Prose PiranhaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I recently stumbled across this novel and didn't read the full blurb until I was four chapters deep. It was refreshing how the first few chapters didn't have any drawn-out explanations but instead, everything was understandable from the context. It was only as chapters kept going without many flashbacks to give further context that I suspected I wasn't on the first novel. But the fact that it took so long to figure that out speaks to the quality of the author's craft. Now I'm going to go back and read the first few books.
Blind LibrarianRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There are Isekai novels that keeps you hooked for a while with their action and adventures. There are some others with deep lore, interesting world building and character development. However there are really not that many that makes you actually care about all that after a while. You just stop reading because you just don’t care anymore about all that grinding and OP powers…
And then there are some rear gems like this one that not only creates and achieves all the above in a unique realistic way, but also warms your heart watching complex relationships evolve in a unique cultural environment. The author explores what is possible and the veteran MC with his dangerous knowledge continues his journey, this time immersing himself in the complexities of the desert culture as the conflict with the power hungry and corrupted Enclave is escalating.
One of the best stories out there and one of the few I took the time to write a review about it. Solid 5 starts.
slepnirsonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a masterpiece. Indulging only a little in hyperbole, I'd put it on par with some of the Dune books. If what you like to read is development, progress, problem solving, and good triumphing over greed, laziness, and cruelty - through effort, even if the MC is pretty great - read this. If you're all about the numbers, ehh, probably not for you.
The characters are magnificent; detailed, nuanced, they develop, grow, even the villains are marginally sympathetic, and some redeem themselves. You learn about them through the story, the interactions between characters, and with the characters as they learn about each other's cultures.
Style & grammar are very good. Maybe an occasional error, but I recall noticing fewer than ten or so over all the chapters. The style is moving, very well-written and with little to no exposition; again, you learn with the characters.
Story. Gods above, the story. You get thrown into it a little; you're not joining Taylor when he arrives, but neither are you thrown into a situation totally without context, and the rest is revealed - to the degree necessary - in brief reflections, conversation, and perspective shifts. No infodumps, but neither does it feel like things are being parceled out just for the sake of mystery. It hits hard, right in the feelings, but it's the furthest thing from misery porn.
ThrillianRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
As someone just getting into the Isekai genre, this made for an awesome introduction. Everything felt very lived-in, with a great sense of style that brought every facet of the story to life.
I particularly liked the characters, such as the MC Taylor, and his idealism as he bounces off the various characters in his circle. The religious element also provides a unique world full of disciples and rival factions, all which make for an interesting read.
I'm definitely coming into this story a bit late, and while I felt like there was more to read, I didn't feel like it prevented me from enjoying the narrative, thanks in part to very rich characters and clever dialogue. This is definitely one of the more descriptive web-fictions I’ve read, and for the most part, it all works.
For the most part, Holmes' style is effortlessly polished and thorough. There are a few moments that are awkwardly phased as well as a few very minor grammatical efforts, such as missing quotation marks, but most of these are few and far between, and don't detract for the overall enjoyment of the story.
This is definitely a story I'll look forward to starting from the beginning, and reading more of this world.