King in the Castle

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Ward Holden considers himself the creator of a utopia. As ahapless college student, he found himself in nearly complete control over a revolution in physics. Advances in material science, unlimited energy, and an explosive shift in the meaning of wealth are all in the hands of a guy who doesn't quite know what he's doing.

The time is coming when everything people could want for themselves and their families is available with the push of a button. Cheap production, safe homes, and unlimited energy to power it all. But giving up a way of life is hard, even if that way of life causes poverty, starvation, and worse. But history moves on, and doesn't care about men or mice.

King in the Castle is the memoir of one man who managed to ride a wave of technological breakthroughs to success and power as humanity comes closer to a post-scarcity existence.

Information

Status: Cancelled
Year: 2021
Author: Genuine55

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 32
Views: 20,637

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

ANCTRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall: This is a must read if you enjoy Sci fi. The world is on cusp of a techological revolution and we get to see it happen through the eyes of the man at forefront. He also happens to know very little on how it all works, but he has a lot to bring to the table. I have had a single moment of bored despite a lack of any action. This a story about people and science.
Style: The prose is written very well and does some interesting things. Several characters are given vague names, including the main character. Entirely first person like a memoir. Feels like one too
Grammar: Polished, some issues here and there in the earlier chapters. Seems to be fading away as I get deeper.
Story: The plot is well paced, always bringing us the next event while hinting at future ones. Feels like a person at the end of their life reflecting back to on how it all happened.
Character: Every person feels like living people. The scope is somewhat limited, but only in that the main character speaks only of what they know of them. Or how they related to them.
In conclusion, read this! This well written and wonderful
OrbInAirRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A fictional autobiography is certainly a unique choice, and the author seems to be familiar enough with the forms of non-fiction to make it credible and entertaining as fiction.
The story walks the line between 'believably a real memoir' and 'entirely made-up people, events, tech, etc' quite well. The bold claims of the blurb, of a utopia and a post-scarcity world, are just beginning to be hinted at by the 8th chapter; not too slow, not too rushed. The plot's trajectory is tricky to predict but easy to follow along.
There are minimal grammar issues, and what little there is the author is quite good about correcting. The sentence structure is exceptionally clear, and the narrator's diction is casual but not sloppy or confusing. This is all very in-line with the autobiography style, and with what we know so far of the main character's personality and background.
For character, it's hard to say much. The memoir style makes it so that the main character is brilliantly detailed, but all the rest of the characters feel more like background faces, just beginning to be fleshed out. Seeing him only through his own eyes is giving us a very slanted view of Ward.
Speaking of Ward! My one style note is that the first time we see the main character's name is in chapter 3. I'm conflicted even saying this, because the fake memoir style means it's not really an issue at all; a reader in-universe would see Ward's name on the cover and know that it was the autobiography of Ward. We are not however in-universe readers, and it is jarring to only be given a name for our viewpoint character 3 chapters in.
There's real skill in this story. The author's knowledge (and self-admitted lack thereof in certain instances) of the science, lingo, and financial/business elements suggest he is either putting in a lot of research, or putting his degree(s?) to creative use. All in all, I anticipate this story to be a solid and satisfying tale, through to the eventual end.
BullerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a shorter advanced reiviewed. Not because of this being a bad story or anything, but more that I just feel like putting my emotions about this story out as quickly as possible.
What is there to say about the style? It's not what I normally read on this site. That's for sure. The author mentions at first that he used to post this on another site, so that might be why I initially got the impression of the sources being inherent different, but there might be something else in it. I invite others to read and find out, because I cant fully put it into words.
Grammar? SHould I even mention it? Better than average. Already deserves five stars from that. Comma is as bad as me(if only a little better), though, so I guess I'll remove half a star for that.
Story? Good. Cuts it all pretty clear. Characther-score fits well into this one as well. They just feel... normal. No real definition, nothing that makes me think of them as murderous physcopaths out for my blood so that they can sacrifice it to the ancient god of off-tiloted chairs. They just feel like the average Joe, even if some events don't really match that feel. You can fight me on that opnion.
That's it. 5/5. Read it, if you dare
WalksWithBooksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I was so enthralled with this story that I had to set a stopping point of pre-released content or I would never get to review it.
I hope to continue reading this story for quite some length of time. The author really seems to "get" my mind.
Justification for Advanced Review Scores Follows:
Story: The plot follows the MC, an Undergrad in some flavor of literature, as they work to pay for their education. Most of the story, so far, takes place in the MC's workplace.
Grammar: There were very few times where I decided to "just move on" to reacquire an understanding of what was being described in the words.
Character Score: All the characters have the right amount of depth for the amount of time both the MC and author spend with them. They continue to advance in believability (depth) as more time is spent with them.
Style: I honestly don't like this metric. I couldn't figure out what "style" meant. However, the improved value of the previous three metrics being available requires me to fill it out. As the increment of stars on reviews is 0.5 stars I rounded the average of the three metrics to get a result of 5.
CWendtRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
[note: 10k review]
Ward is that student who people say things about like, "He'd do better if he applied himself". Ward just sorta slides through life doing the minimum required to keep sliding. And that works... until he slides into the discovery of the millennia (or all of human existence?).
The style, humor, and bluntness remind me of Mark in The Martian (Weir 2011) but more of a dick. Mark meets Dr. House, but less competent. He doesn't exactly fall into the Genious Jerk trope.
The narrator, Ward, drops a lot of references. Pop science, lit, culture, and history nerds are rewarded with little dopamine hits throughout.
The grammar is solid. The author is well versed and has continued to apply edits over time to correct errors (looks like mostly typos).
I'll be reading past the 10k mark.
Edge ValmondRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
An interesting day to day life experience I suppose one can say. Starting off with the common mysteries, such as the force of gravity. Then diving into a more college experience. A more casual, but real side to it I have to say. Puzzling it is.
To continue on, this is more of a biography, or auto-biography? I cannot really tell. Anyway, it transitions along pretty well. The more lighter tone does well, as well as science being involved. Which I will admit…I am terrible at science…
Anyway, the story typically covers the life of a student in college. The usual troubles, and things we’d do. Skip class, take a break, but always ensure we get our work done. I should clarify, it is more technical in this specific story, involving more science. So, for those who might have trouble following. Well…just try…that is all I can say.
It picks up a bit around the fourth chapter, where it is clear to see. That there is a business going on with research and all, and profiting off of it is of importance. Which is normal, though, I wouldn’t say the story has a strong goal. Normal thing, someone working towards a job.
Working with a mentor it seems, who has more of a short fuse. Developing new materials, which can then turn a profit. It appears, this story is predominantly focusing on the slice of life element. Which at this point, isn’t really a slice, but the entire thing. It then steadily gets into, which I do remember something about the military. Anyway, their developments are being used to further that power.
Overall,
This is more of a lighter read from what I can tell. It has the college life, those working towards their goal. Also developing materials for military use from what I can understand. To be real though, the highly technical aspect of it. This can be the weakest point, but also work well in the proper based. Weakest in which, I had to recall information I hadn’t used in years, and it took me a while to understand the basics. On another hand, those who like these thin
mysticfauxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Sure sometimes I wish some stuff was expanded on, and sure I wish there were some dates on the interlude chapters to tell when they happened but this is quite a fun read.
It's also more optimistic than reality perhaps, but that's in the fun in reading. I like that the main character seems quite humble, and realistic.
trianman67Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Whoo! Smooth sailing! This story knows what it is. Recommended if you like your sci-fi grounded in real world, business, science, and personal interactions.
Style: The story is told in a sort of memoir/short story form with a guy who you can think of like one of those "down-to-earth-" college dropout CEOs. There's a lot also a lot of science which the story tries to explain to you, so hopefully, it doesn't go over your head. It's nice how I feel the point of view very strongly. I do think that there are a lot of details missing and that the dialogue isn't incorporated into the story very well in the beginning, but by the last 2 chapters I read, I felt like the writer had gotten a better hold of incorporating dialogue, character and story together where it felt stilted in the beginning, but more on that later.
Grammar: Fine. It's all good. The conversational tone of the story isn't an excuse to skip out on the punctuation and whatnot, so I can appreciate that. If there are unintentional mistakes I missed most of them.
Story: Story is a mixed bag. Not that it's terrible, because I like the story overall, and I enjoy watching the characters sort of interact and grow (including the mc) in the little bit of time we have to spend with them, but The sciencey part in the middle did seem to drag on just a bit. After a while, it started to feel like more description than story, but I wouldn't be the first to say cut any of it out. It just makes me wonder if it could have been balanced a little bit more.
Character: In the beginning, a lot of the characters felt stilted in their characterizations. This isn't to say that the character themselves are stilted, but I found some of the interactions and whatnot... feel empty in spots. I think that after all of the characters have been introduced, and it gets into the later parts of the story, the melding together of story, character, and storytelling becomes much stronger. It's like the story became more confident when the mc became
ARXKRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The title of the review pretty much explains itself: an intellectual read. To some it may be deterring, while others would be intrigued. Here's the breakdown,
STYLE: The author implements a casual, yet formal tone throughout the story. In my opinion, the narrator is what I envision the author to be. The technical jargon, however, can be a hit or miss. Some of the terms I had to look up, which broke some of the immersion in the story. But the technical terms gave a great sense of realism, so it evens out. The first person memoir format is refreshing for a change. [Gives me the idea to write my next story in first person :) ]
GRAMMAR: Nothing much to be said here. The author fixed most of the mistakes mentioned in the comments. Although the syntax was a bit too long for my tastes, nothing too serious. More short and snappier sentences can give some variations and impact. Overall, it's well done.
STORY: So far, the story has me interested. Although it can be a bit dragging at times, I'm sure it picks up in the chapters to come. Other than that, the pace is moderate and the switch between the science and day to day life is well balanced. No qualms there.
CHARACTER: The protagonist is very down to earth, which is quite rare. I also find it refreshing how the character doesn't have a clear motivation or goal in sight. The indecisive path gives an element of surprise compared to other characters who's goals are dumped in the first couple of chapters. (I'm guilty of this myself.) The interactions with the other characters are minimal in the beginning. The impressions of 'Steve' and 'Sarah' were not as strong as Hansen, who is a stereotypical lab geek. Giving a couple of quirks to those characters can keep the interactions fresh.
Overall, this is a great read for those interested in a more detailed sci-fi stories with actual theory behind the concepts shown. An intellectual read for sure. I recommend!
Ayer12Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Disclaimer: 10k review.
Overall, it's a good read if you're interested in the character's journey from everyman to paragon with a twist. Instead of individual power or strength like in fantasy novels, this one follows a stroke of luck by the MC. It's honestly a breath of fresh air.
Style: the style is one of the more unique parts of the novel. It reads like a memoir/autobiography and flows quite well. The novel juggles sciencey mumbo jumbo with humor and story bits proficiently, not bogging the reader down with too much knowledge they might not be aware of. Pretty nice.
Grammar: didn't really notice any mistakes, definitely no egregious ones that would hinder my reading. No complaints.
Story: this is a bit of a personal opinion, but the plot isn't overwhelmingly interesting from my perspective. The lack of clear conflict or exact goal makes it all read like a journal, which can get a bit stale at times. Of course, maybe in the later chapters, this complaint of mine gets solved with the introduction of an antagonist or the like. Apart from that, it's a good sci-fi read.
Character: the first-person POV means that the main character's personality shines through in every line. The reader's perception is shaped by the main character's own, allowing the reader to connect on a deeper level and get immersed in the story. That said, the other characters so far aren't really important or developed, making it feel like a one-man show. The MC also doesn't have incredible depth or anything. Even so, the characters are likable overall.
Definitely recommended if you're looking for a sci-fi work that's a bit different fron the others.