Loot Mule (Old Version. Will be updated under a new submission.)

Information

Status

Hiatus

Author

donnghaile

Reviews

Community Reviews(7)

• Cyoa11aaRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  A refreshing look into the adventure life from the eyes of a full fleshed MC. Love the absence of an immediate info dump of background and world garbage. The slow building around the characters is the best way. Current villains are nice with good motivation. Felt the initial Meetup was a lil forced. Overall an amazing book and I'm overjoyed that it has joined RR's library.
• ChayimRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  We haven't even gotten to the dungeon yet but I can tell this'll be a good one.
  The elegant prose along with effective narrative devices make reading it a breeze.
  Coupled along with the foreshadowing leads me to believe that we'll be going on quite a journey.
• ShaadyGuyRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Quality writing, better than the majority of stories on this site.
• KoboldPatrolRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  (as of chapter 10, i.e. very preliminary)
  Cooper belongs to the lowest rung in an unfair society, barely surviving by doing hard labor hauling beer kegs, when he is hired by an adventurer party to be their 'Loot Mule', i.e. to carry the heavy loot so they have their hands free to dive deeper into the dungeon. As this is not the first story I read on RRL I guess he will receive more from the dive than the promised coins.
  Style/Grammar: The story is told in third-person internal style, some following Cooper and some follow other characters. Out of the first 10 chapters half have been from "other" points of view which is not good for the storyline so early in the story; according to an author's note this is due to early feedback that was misinterpreted and it should be back to Cooper by chapter 13 (the chapters in between are already on patreon) so I will not deduce stars for now. While these other POV distract from the MC at this part of the story (perhaps later the chapter order could be rearranged?), they succeed in showing a wider picture, smoothly explaining to us readers how the world works without using clumsy info dumps. The descriptions are detailed and very lifelike, much better than most other RRL stories. The choice of words is great and rich, the grammar ist very good and there are barely any typos. Posting speed seems to be rather slow with weekly chapters of around 5 pages each.
  Story: Not much has happened yet, just the introduction of the MC and his unlikeable employers, we also learn that the society is divided and brutal. Due to the detailed descriptions there has not been much progress in those ten chapters. It's not slice-of-life-like but I guess some readers will prefer more action. It's too early to give a real evaluation of the pacing, it could pick up after the introductions.
  Characters: Cooper at first glance feels like a simple worker who gave up on life and is just vegetating along and being stepped upon, but it is quickly shown that there i
• AshcheulRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  // This review was written when only 13 chapters were written (last of them being"Loot Mule - 1.12 - The Mirari Stone 3/3")
  This will be a short, and somewhat unfair review.
  1. Characterisation is extensive. Which is something I like.
  Spoiler: Spoiler
  How Grendal was revealed to care for MC was one; MC's motivation and modus operandi defined so extensively was another; and I loved this not-exactly-successful-prostitute when she snaps and flips a bird on her bro and then later on her mark, it really paints her.
  2. Nothing really happens in starting 13 chapters. Which is something I don't like. We get some interactions between characters, but it grates on me how it's 13th chapter and we still never see  them interacting enough, nor do we see much in the way of consequences of actions or choises to be made (and I prefer when those happen during chapter a few times - at least with the short-term choises; with long-term choises taking their time; not when you have to wait for any response for few chapters)
  I do respect long-term buildup and patience in stories, but I'm a child of my age - instant gratification raised us - in school, in video games, goods, fast-food. So I need a fast bone to pick on, things to think on, while slow long-term events shape - this I need to be motivated; layers. Rhythm consisting of beats and nothingness.
  Well, at least that's how I feel about things and stuff :D
  (Ok, it was pretty biased review :D)
  ...even 13 chapters deep, we still haven't seen any part of that trick that Mule would use to trick adventurers (it was promised in annotation). :D
• ZhaernonRoyal Road

  ★★★ 3.0

  It's hard to give a review when so few chapters are out (4 so far), but I feel like a fair warning to potential readers is in order.
  This story so far offers little in terms of a story and the focus instead is on mistreating the (apparently) only hardworking and honest fellow around.
  The MC gets bullied, picked on, made fun of, beaten, and stolen from, all within the first three chapters. The author describes in detail all those happenings and it feels like hammering on and on until nothing but despair is left.
  The society in the novel has a hard divide, to the point of appearing grimdark. It's hard to gauge at this point, but it feels close or even worse than the divide in ancient Rome between slaves, citizens, and ruling class.
  From the synopsis we can guess that it won't last. It's also a pretty standard trope to start from zero. But excessive narrative of constantly putting down the MC is still unusual and off-putting.
  Lastly, the story is decently written and its grammar is good.
• 2_L33T_2_LIFTRoyal Road

  ★★★ 2.5

  the story jumps around from character to character Wich makes it hard to get to know or care about any of them, it also means that even though there's 13 (short) chapterst theres  only 4-5 for the Mc and 1-3 for the rest. the poll in chapter 1.9 was not a good sign