Late to the Party (Fantasy Isekai)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The desperate people of a world assailed by chaos demons are forced to turn to their last resort: summoning the five prophesied heroes to save them. Unfortunately, even after all their careful preparations, something goes wrong. Only four heroes arrive.

One hundred years later, Lucas Brown wakes up in a ruined, decrepit castle with no idea how he got there. With rapidly-growing magical abilities foisted on him, Lucas is forced to survive in a dying world where everyone knows his name, and many have strong opinions on his long absence.

And far in the North, in the Blighted Lands, the Demon Lord awaits.

Expect:

- A post-apocalyptic mediaeval world teetering on the brink, but many people still hold hope.

- Progression; lots of swords, shields, bows, and wands.

- War, political intrigue, and combat.

- A large, fleshed-out world that will get thoroughly explored.

Do not expect:

- A harem.

- Sex scenes.

- Cheesy romance.

- Blue boxes and stats.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Omega_93

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 2,459
Views: 619,870

What readers say about Late to the Party (Fantasy Isekai)

“I binged all of this in barely a couple days, the story is incredibly grounded in it's concept and the world building is beautifully presented as the protagonist goes from being isolated to slowly understanding the weight put on his shoulders. All of the ch…”
AsraphelRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“So spoiler alert, MC is NOT the only person on earth. I have to say while excellent story telling before he meets anyone else it feels a little hard to truly get into until he finally meets people. But then it just sucks you in. Many have said this but cool…”
Bulimia4BooksRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

AsraphelRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I binged all of this in barely a couple days, the story is incredibly grounded in it's concept and the world building is beautifully presented as the protagonist goes from being isolated to slowly understanding the weight put on his shoulders. All of the characters are nicely written, each with their own motives, reasons and depth that makes them uniquely human in this post apocalyptic and desperate run against the clock of which the protagonist enters at the last stretch.
Bulimia4BooksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So spoiler alert, MC is NOT the only person on earth. I have to say while excellent story telling before he meets anyone else it feels a little hard to truly get into until he finally meets people. But then it just sucks you in.
Many have said this but cool idea for an Isekai for the hero to come late. No system in the traditional sense but a way to quickly level up and a really cool backstory with a lot of potential for its origin.
I really like the moral quandaries of the hero's journey and the so far unconventional path our MC has chosen to take. I like the horror of the monsters an although apparently struggling with fight scenes I think the author has done really well in them.
Best thing? There is real world consequences and characters you thought might be long term staples can actually die. It feels like a 'real' world instead of a no stakes game Isekai world. Very awesome! Very keen for it's continuation. Keep Binging!
Laxen47Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm enjoying the story immensely thus far. The main character has flaws! And morals! In a way that actually impacts how the story plays out! It is really good stuff.
It feels as if the author sat down, thought through what their own reaction would be to similar situations as the MC finds themselves in, tweaked it a bit for better flow, and wrote the story from there. The fact that the MC occasionally makes life harder for himself in order to do the morally correct thing adds alot to the character and works great in order to narratively reveal pieces of lore. It even helps to moves the story along!
The world is interesting, lots of depth being hinted at or already revealed. Side characters all seem interesting with strong motivations and complex backstories, haven't really had enough time with them yet to actually know fully but the seeds are there. The magic is cool, the progression fascinating, and the stick mighty. Can't wait to read more :)
PS - Add the cat to the cover art, pretty please
SiletRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don’t understand why people have started to have a low attention span. If you read some of famous works, none of them are as fast as the current works in terms of moving the plot. I was initially scared off by the complaint of long exposition in the beginning that’s 8 chapters, long but then I remembered that most of these critiques are from people that eat novels like junk food and don’t really get into it too much.
Safe to say I was pleasantly surprised when although the exposition was indeed long, it wasn’t unnecessarily long. It brings depth to our main character and is totally necessary in order to introduce the world and background in a manner that opens up your imagination. The novel also introduces some new power concepts I would have never though of, and every character feels like they have their own lives and motivations.
I’ve read about of stories that just say “fantasy world and you fill in the gaps” and call it a day. But this one does no such thing. It’s a hidden gem for sure.
ZyrototRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Truly amazing history.
The first few chapters are a little hard to read due to the understandably chaotic mental state of the MC, he get gets a illogical fixation on some things, which I think is okay considering the context he's in.
But after that the story really gets going, only getting better and better as it continues.
I'm excited to see where this goes, totally worth it read.
Error_42Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Reading the description of the story, I thought it would either be really good or really bad, and I'm pleased to see that it's the former. The main character is very human: when he sees some kind of an eldritch abomination, he initially freezes in shock and fear. He gets depressed when he sees a bunch of dead bodies/bones, and he's overwhelmed by the weight of all he's expected to do and the things done to bring him and the other heroes to the world. Yet he's not a wimp either: once it comes to a life-or-death situation, where he needs to act or die, he's able to buckle down and fight back.
The magic system is good too: it seems well thought out and there are some interesting interactions, like what happens when pyromancy mana and floromancy mana interact.
But what really elevates the story is the vivid imagery. The descriptions really bring you into the story and make it easy to picture what's going on. It also helps sell the post-apocalyptic atmosphere, especially before the MC finds people and thinks he might be all alone in the world.
Overall, it's just a really solid story and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for fantasy that's a bit gritty, but not excessively dark.
InkBladeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I would say not a lot of stories really bite and commit to the slow burn, but I would say they are all the better for it. This story is no exception. While i would say some bits could use shortening (or possible more unique details) overall the pacing is very good and fun to follow. I like the way magic works in this series too, with a lot of depth and variety making for an interesting start. The story gets much more interesting with other characters too. I would however note that some details dont feel very clearly foreshadowed,
Such as the fire mages betrayal and the party breakup,
But overall i would say its a good read and worth the time. Excited to see where this one goes.
luminariumRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
Story:
This story strikes me as having a weird case of being extremely introverted - the protagonist is alone for ten straight chapters right out the gate and then, after all that, the first living thing he encounters is a cat.
For the first several chapters there is no conflict. The protagonist spends his time... hacking down plants. Yes, plants. Yes, he's getting stronger while it happens, but still... no stakes. And then when they do face challenges, those challenges (ie. the kinds of monsters) they encounter feel arbitrary (like they could have been anything else instead).
It gets better starting with Chapter 12 as the protagonist finally encounters a proper adventuring party and we gradually learn about the world, but it really shouldn't have taken so long for that to happen. Even when the protagonist is with other people, they don't talk much and don't do much to reveal the wider scope of the world and what it's like - which is bad, because it takes a very long time before they leave the wilderness and return to civilization.
Character:
The first line of dialogue that shows up in the entire story is in Chapter 12. That's way too late to be having dialogue, since it means lots of worldbuilding is missing (since there's no one to tell the protagonist about it) and lots of character development is missing - since there *aren't* any characters except for the protagonist for those first 11 chapters, and a lot of character development can only happen from conversation between people.
It's generally not a good idea to spend so long with no conflict and no interaction between characters because then they're not really a hero, are they, they're more like a hikikomori sitting at home accomplishing nothing. Not very exciting for a story.
Style:
The magic system is interesting, and it gets explored a good bit, which is quite a redeeming quality, as is the backstory about the heroes (as the story's premise is quite a novel take). However, a good bit of it is introspection
Distant readerRoyal Road
★★ 1.5
As the title says, I wish I could like this story but it’s hard to, every few chapters I would enter the flow and wonder why I found it so difficult and then mc would have an emotional breakdown no modern person would have or do something that has explicitly been told is wrong or stupid and im left wondering what is the inspiration for the mc? Who would actually act like this? Sure in the beginning it would be understandable since he is in a weird new place without knowing how he got there but over a month in (ch 40 something) nothing has been learned and no neuron has fired and it’s incredibly infuriating
that rant out of the way , grammar seems on point nothing I can really point at being bad there and world building is kinda slow but that’s just personal preference
Spagooter7Royal Road
★★ 1.5
I’m just going to say it how I see it, there’s too many descriptions on the area that seemed like were repeated every so often. I don’t mind the protagonist being alone trying to figure things out and get an understanding of their situation but I can’t stand it when it’s all they can think about instead of doing something.