Lions of Steel

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In the mid-21st century, the collapse of the old international order has given rise to new states, new forms of warfare, and a new international system. Enormous robots driven by pilots with a 1-in-10 million brain mutation have made nuclear weapons obsolete and now dominate the battlefield as an all-in-one package of artillery, missile defense, and symbol of national pride.

However, amidst rising international competition and a new arms race, colossal monsters are emerging in the Sahari desert, bent on the destruction of humanity. Araari Ahmed, star pilot of the Pan-Republic of the Horn, is barely keeping the monsters at bay. All she can hope for is that her fellow international pilots will come to her aid in time, and that Nile water politics, ethno-nationalists, and self-serving superpowers won’t get in their way first.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Bluesycobalt

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.9/ 5.0
Followers: 23
Views: 6,191

Chapters(20 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

Ethan Y CottonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don’t know what I was expecting with that title and cover, but it has been so long since I read or watched anything mech related that I definitely was not expecting to find: good ol’ mechs
tldr: we have politics, mechs, and walking mountains… why are you still here instead of reading?
style: so far I have read three different POVs and of them I most enjoyed the Chinese pilots. Multiple pov stories are pretty hit or miss in these genres, but I think that we might be in for a hit here. My only suggestion would be to have some indication in the title of the chapter of which pov this will be in, and so far we have the locations to go off of at the start, but putting a pov indicator there as well may help as well.
story: this is where this work shines, you have everything from political agendas that may or may definitely cause problems while fighting the other threats, and those threats? How about mysterious giant rock monsters that self repair and can shrug off rockets. Meanwhile we have the social interplay between the pilots generating their own small stories. There is a lot to enjoy here.
grammar: right is the very start of the first chapter you are dropped into very dense social analysis, that brings with it some difficult language and concepts. Then there is the political language, and the mechanical jargon. There is nothing wrong with any of it, and once you get rolling it flows pretty well, but if you are not ready for it, it can be off putting.
characters: the shifting pov offers a large number of characters to consider and they are all pretty unique. I found myself drawn toward the Chinese pov and enjoyed their side the most, but there will definitely be something for everyone somewhere in here. Hopefully we don’t get too many characters too quickly that we start to lose track.
so, all that is done. What do I think? Mechs, politics, action, intrigue… yes please!
I will say if you know nothing about mech fiction then you might have a hard time understanding wh
Jonathan BRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In short, I think this was an excellent title. No real complaints and I certainly think this could be officially published if it maintains the high bar of quality that's found in the first several chapters. Below are a few of my thoughts.
Currenlty on the first chapter, and this looks like a really interesting world you're crafting. I like how this government decided to create a universal language they could all speak. Reminds of the Esperanto language, if you've ever heard of that.
I also like that little nugget of information, where you state there are five billion people in the world. Makes me wonder what caused such a massive dip in the population.
Its interesting how the TOCU pilots have to be genetically born to control their mechs. That's a fun way to have a loose cannon like Tarik on the team. Reminds me of Pacific Rim and Neon Genesis Evangelion, where the pilots also have to meet certain criteria in order to pilot their giant robots.
Also, I like how few of these mechs there appear to be. These are giant, flying battle tanks, but each country (at least from what I've read so far) only seems to have a handful.
You went with a very interesting direction for your story. You've got all these mechs and humanity potentially on the brink of war, but then aliens show up. I like that, it was really unexpected.
I also enjoy stories with pregnant moms in dangerous situations. I know that sounds really weird, but a pregnant woman has to approach situations differently from everyone else. Like in chapter 3, when she wants to get away from the earthquake so the tremors don't harm her baby.
You've clearly put a lot of thought into the mechanics of your giant robots. I really liked the training scene with Apple, and getting to see a bit more under the hood of how the machines operate and are used.
I'm intrigued by the Nicholas Johnson character and I'm not sure what direction you'll be taking him. He seems like a good 'ol American boy who wants to do a lot of good for the
LiarbytradeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: I've got to admit, I'm a pretty big fan of LoS's style. The dating; the subject matter; the way it treats its lore - there are a lot of influences here and LoS isn't afraid to ware them on its sleeve. All you have to do is take one look at the cover, and you immediately know what you're going to get. It lives up to those expectations too. The only problem - and I hesitate to call it a problem - is the narrative doesn't quite catch for me. I think it's a syntax issue; the arrangement of subjects, verbs and adjectives just feels a little off. It might also be a matter of personal preference. Regardless, it's still a very solid story all around.
Story: if you've even cursory interest in mecha media, you're probably familiar with the broad strokes. With that being said, LoS has it all: an incoming kaiju threat, political machinations, big business interests, weird neo-states made up of half a dozen countries you've probably never heard of. It's here, we're playing it straight, and it's all competently handled. We're also doing a lot of POV switching, which I probably wouldn't have been on board with if I knew about it ahead of time; however, I am increasingly excited for it, given the actual execution. Right now, we're still firmly in the establishing shot of the lore and the setting, but if the quality is maintained moving forward, I think this will be a really solid read.
Grammar: I'm picky, so for me this is the weakest section of the review. Part of that might be because of the weird syntax issues I mentioned above; however, there's admittedly a few other errors here and there that have made their way through the editing process. With that being said, it's all perfectly readable, especially for royalroad. In fact, for royalroad, this is probably in the upper 80% of stories. A lot of people will likely be extremely happy with that. Personally, I think it's capable of better and am a bit down we don't see it.
Characters: enough depressing c
Ren CoryRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
My exposure to mech media is pretty limited, but I can confidently say Lions of Steel is a must-read for mech fans.
Seeing that this was a writathon entry, I went in expecting it to be a bit messy, but aside from a couple typos, this story is intricately detailed and clearly took a lot of planning. There is a lot going on at first, with establishing the setting and the characters, but you quickly warm up to the near-future dystopian world that is in a new age of imperialism, international reformation movements in government, and geopolitical/corporate conflict. It's everything that classic mech series are known and loved for, in its own unique and well-thought-out version of future Earth.
It is heavy with technical terminology and perfectly balances the geological musings of a geologist in the desert analyzing a "Monolith" borne of minerals with the corporate slime of American arms corporations. What stuck out to me is that the tone shifts its focus between exposition/technical speak to the more human moments. The contrast between the pilots' personalities and the celebrity status they hold influencing them is so interesting to read.
There are a lot of characters, and I think this is where the story struggles a bit. I don't have a particular favorite yet, and there are a lot of names from a lot of different languages to track. Then again, there is so much ground to cover and so little room to work with before the plot gets bogged down that I can't fault the author, because it's balanced excellently. Even with the cast size, the characters themselves are really interesting with a lot going on internally, which is perfect for this story, little hints of psychological horror down the road. They just don't have as much room to shine individually because there are several groups of characters across the world. But they are all well-defined and fit into roles in the story to tell a piece of the overarching world so well that I had no issues remembering them.
I give this f
Tom Bombadil - WriterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is a very detailed world with some major conflict going on. The first dozen chapters alone could set up a whole series of wars and diplomacy.
What I liked:
Conflict between characters, religions, cultures, nationalities, and political and economic systems. Endless ways for this story to go.
Characters represent a diverse selection of personalities and identities. They are overflowing with passions for defending their particular group identity.
Battle scenes and tech feel real and powerful, while being used to enhance story and not distract. You might want to even consider starting your story at the battle at chapter 8, and filling in more details after the stakes have been established.
Descriptions of scenes and characters and tech is all excellent.
Readability is excellent with grammar and sentence structure.
What I disliked:
Exposition and information overload early on slaps you in the face. There are so many characters and factions and backstories dumped early that the story starts slow. Maybe think of more ways to illustrate the social and cultural divides through conflict of those characters and not directly stating histories.
Diverse characters from different countries and cultures could use more differentiation in their language, speech patterns, beliefs, etc, as the voice often sounds the same.
littleruuRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I started reading expecting robots and politics, and ended up with not only amazing robots but also really interesting and well-thought politics. And yes, I also think giant robots are cool.
You introduced a great deal of information about the world and its practices, but it was well-paced. However, there were many new characters and names in almost every chapter, which could be a bit overwhelming for someone like me with a less-than-perfect memory.
I enjoyed the dynamics between the characters though. Araari seems like a smart, complex woman, and you did a great job portraying her authority and position without only just stating, "she’s really popular." I noticed a lot of "show, not tell" moments, which is fantastic. And even though the themes were intense, the character cast also provided comedic relief, which helped balance the overall tone.
What really caught my interest was Apple. I enjoyed the scene where she was training, as it provided great insight into the technology behind the machines. Apple's existence was also considered from other perspectives, and some of the more radical opinions were skillfully highlighted.
Otherwise, this is one of the best-written stories I've come across in a while. The writing flowed smoothly, and even though there were sections with a lot of explanations and descriptions, there was enough dialogue and action to tie everything together into an enjoyable read.
In some places, the pacing could have been slowed down a bit, especially during action-packed scenes, to give the reader more time to absorb the situation. However, this wasn't a major issue and didn't negatively impact the overall experience.
Lions of Steel is an excellent choice for those interested in robots, rich world-building, engaging and relatable characters, and emotionally impactful writing.