Magik Online (Volume 1 Stubbed)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

A thousand spells in your pocket, for a price.

So the email told Mathias, a creative teenager dreaming of freedom on a conquered Earth where magic is a resource to fight over, and a dragon despot rules the stars. The mysterious Magik website offers him the chance to purchase magical powers online, so long as he fulfills the requests of hidden benefactors. He accepts.Now embroiled in a power game he barely understands, Mathias decides to do the only sensible thing: build a crack team of magicians, monsters, and would-be knights to take down their oppressive dictatorship. An easy Quest, right?

The cover was done by the amazingChasingArtwork.

Information

Status: Cancelled
Year: 2019
Author: Maxime J. Durand (Void Herald)

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 1,375
Views: 641,556

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

ultimateknowRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The fact that the words online and system are so overused that whenever you see them in the name of a title, the first thing that comes to mind are the stereotypes, if you can call them that. The simple fact that this novel just overturned what i expected makes it all the better. That and the writing is decent. I have no idea what this will turn into, but this is epic.
BeyogiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is a story that plays in a post magic apocalypse setting. When magic returned to Earth it didn't come with a magic system, but an invasion from an interstellar draconic empire. Humanity didn't stand a chance and was conquered and annexed.
The story starts years after said apocalypse following the life of a teenage game developer who's got a worrying affinity with using illegal AI. This very tendency aroused the interest of an unknown sponsor, giving him access to magic and allowing him to do more than just petty sabotage against his alien overlords.
Overall this is a good story, I wouldn't call it realistic, but it demands far less suspension of disbelief than most other LITRPGs. There seems to have been significant effort in worldbuilding, making for interesting antagonists and protagonists. It also shows the ambiguity of a rebellion. Allying with people you'd otherwise rather not.
The MC is rather standard. Mother abducted by the aliens, so he's got reasons for a grudge, smarter than he's got any right to be, so he can pull off whatever he does. It's easy to empathise with him. Despite his teenage age, he's not an edgy anti-hero.
I'm honestly not sure what to think about the antogonists. The big bads seem to be walking clichées. The Evil Empire, the petty tyrant dragon, the Demon. On the other hand the lesser antagonists are far less so. The Imperial policeman trying to protect the locals from evils both demonic and subversive. I hope we'll see more of those. The nasty part of being a rebel is that good people are your worst enemies.
Overall I'd definitely recommend reading this. So far it's been a rather exciting read.
Carson6319Royal Road
★★★★ 4.0
1. The author is awesome and has made some amazing works.
2. This work is incomplete and will never be complete. The author called it off at chapter 75 and instead explains the remainder of the plot in the conclusion.
3. As alluded above this story has some serious issues and some really unpopular twists during the later chapters.
All up I confidently say you will enjoy up to around chapter 50.
btrbreeRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Good but not great, and I only throw the 'not great' part on their because of how amazing the author becomes in his later works. Void Herald is one of if not the best author on the site, but if you're new to his works this doesn't reflect it as well. He documents his struggles with it as the narrative doesn't seem to go the way he expected it to and eventually he gives the story up to focus on his other works. You shouldn't necessarily shy away because of that, he does give a decent enough outline that wraps everything up enough to make the trip to get there worth it.
The world building and system development are both good but compared to "The Perfect Run", "Kairos" and his new "Underworld" doesn't have the polish and depth, the feeling of age and history they do. Character development is ok, maybe the only parts that drags a bit in reality rather than just in comparison to later works. His dialog continues to shine. Many authors in progression/gamelit/fantasy genres have issues with it, but it's consistently the authors stongest quality, just maybe not to the level it becomes in The Perfect Run. Grammer is solid, a few mistakes here or there but nothing enough to distract from the book.
On the whole it was quite interesting to see an initial entry from an author I respect, and kind of cool to read about his struggles as it didn't go by plan. Still worth a read but don't make any decisions about the author on this one.
BetatesterRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Do not be deceived. This is not a litrpg as you are used to. There are no hot points, no mana fatigue, no cultivation (thank God), and no OP hero. This is litrpg of a different caliber. A good plot with relatable characters and awesome powers. Plot twists that made me want to read more--not put it down. I am about to begin Vol 3 and I am saddened. Saddened by an author who doesn't know his worth. On a site where most stories you can predict just by the synopsis, one where I was left stunned by twists? Priceless. Be warned this is not a happy story with jokes aplenty...this is a fantastic fantasy with tragic consequences. I have enjoyed this story immensely and I believe you will, too. The only reason I am not giving it full stars is there are a few places where the language breaks down. Whether it is an auto correct feature or translation I am not sure. But it is minor and still an awesome read. Keep up the good story.
HstakkenRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Overall It was a fine filler while waiting for other novels (a certain merchant story)
There were some parts that I really enjoyed, such as
SPOILER
the VR fight with an overgrown treasure chest
END SPOILER
There were a bunch of spelling and grammar errors around, but interesting to see since I have been reading VoidHeralds stories in reverse order, so can see how much better they have become with time.
Probably my favorite Author here on RoyalRoad, purely by coincidence since I never check the author of the book before reading it.
The world building itself became a bit thinly spread since there was so much to describe with so few words, leading to some characters and places feeling *hint* "watery"and/or superfluous "Death"
HumanprototypeRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Well written with excellent pacing and good characters/dialogue but... it breaks my suspension of disbelief. Considering the monumental difference in power levels, that the mc gets away with some of the things he does without getting stomped like an overripe grape, is frankly unbelievable. Its incredibly convenient that lie detection or mind reading spells don't seem to exist. Not to mention magical detection/tracking spells conviently not working or not being used at all, I could keep going. All the ignored or hand-waved plot holes add up to me being continually pulled out of the story.
Red YetiRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I really liked this story and it's premise. I lowered the rating because unfortunately the author drops the story halfway through Volume 3. He does provide an overview of how the story would have finished which is greatly appreciated but it left me wanting to actually read those arcs. The rationale on why he dropped it is understandable though. If you do end up liking this story, read some of his others. They are great too!
SevenShadeRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
This is one of the best LitRPG novel... But what i hate here is the MCs immaturity and he dont have any sense or urgengcy ! He keeps on talking about being strong to train and achieve strength BUT no ... our MC lacks brain to Exploit his ability .... he can combinde skill to create more powerfull and usefull one.... THE AUTHOR makes the MC forget this very sh!t for a reasong i donot know. Maybe to not be so OP? If its real life then i would combinde every skill if i can and create more skill or spell and its almost limitless !!! I can be OP at times of my preparation and undefeated when i desided to show up !!! I wanna create a Fanfic of this novel.' This have a lot of potential and ill try to make a good one with a reasonable power growth ...but still will be an OP through sheer training first and NoT this sh!ty pieace of MC who only relies on LUCK or PLOT ARMOR.
OnyavarRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
It shouldn't surprise people that authors have patterns, and this one does, too. Maxime Durand wrote multiple very fancy high-stakes adventure stories, and it seems to me that this one was his first attempt here on RR. I regard it as the training failure. It is grand beyond belief on a universal scale, and gets grander as the story progresses, but the cast narrows down just as much, the characters become parody and the story suffers.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me first state that I try to grade stories objectively, whch is hard given how many writing styles exist, but I do think there are really really great stories that deserve 5 stars, and so all others that are also pretty good but not that great, deserve less. Three stars (imo) mark still a pretty good story, why else would there be distinctions.
Now, the style and the grammar: There is little to complain about. I don't remember spelling mistakes and the sentences flow greatly when reading them. There is a good mixture of drama, humour, adventure as well... stylistically the author can't do wrong apparently.
But the story... Whooo boy. The basic story premise is grandiose, and is pulled off at first: The galactic dragon empire has subdued Earth, devastated it, and renamed it and keeps it as one fiefdom of its many possessions, but not as a main concern. That is the world that the hero grows up in, and begins to rebel. At first, I think it works, until Matt slays the first dragon. But then, we switch locations, and now follow his adventures on...
...a huge space station/flat world: Earth (= swampy Florida) has become too small for the story. After some adventures there, we switch locations again into a sphere of mystery, where the Asian Zodiac tests the worthyness of Matt, on a behest from the combined old Earth pantheons...
... at which point I dropped the story.
Each of these settings is comparatively small, but part of a larger world that remains unexplored: first Florida (on Earth), then the Black M