Mana & Mayhem: An Adventurer's Tale

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Iris Stuart's life was turned upside down by a freak accident that coincided with the appearance of mana in her reality. Suddenly, she found herself transported to the unfamiliar land of Eona, alone and cursed with the Spark of Bad Luck. Over the past year and a half, Iris has stumbled from one dangerous situation to the next, but luckily she has her loyal horse, Mocha Latte, to keep her grounded.

Despite the challenges she faces, Iris is convinced that she has a purpose in Eona. She has magic coursing through her and believes that she was brought to this world for a reason. With each obstacle she encounters, she becomes more certain of what the world desperately needs.

Adventurers. Heroes.

Being the only adventurer in a world filled to the brim with adventure is surprisingly tough, but that just means there is ample opportunity for shenanigans, badassery, loot, and good deeds–for a reward, naturally.

Join Iris as she journeys to show the world–and herself what it means to be an adventurer.

[Book 1 is complete!]

[participant in the April 2023 Royal Road Writathon challenge]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: Oxylus

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 1,329
Views: 362,788

Reviews

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Community Reviews(9)

RadthorDaxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A standalone story set in the same world as the author's other fiction, though in a different nation, it builds upon lore established there, while not being dependent on it. It's pacing is tighter and both the plot and the characters are progressing swiftly.
We join this story a year after the instigating events, and as such find the main character already comfortable with a decent degree of power. Jumping over the culture shock and adjustments, the initial explorations, experimentations and discoveries necessary to make it in a new world that is itself grappling with a new reality of power thrust upon them. It's still only a year into this drastic shift, so while basic knowledge is reasonably common, it's still new and mysterious to most.
This just serves to keep the pacing of the plot at a good clip, not being slowed by needing to uncover even the basics of the new world and new power, and the upheaval that would bring.
Iris is a confident individual, and despite having settled into a rut after finding her feet in the new world, has started to form a plan for her future: a grand future full of adventure, alongside her best friend, Mocha, a horse who is gaining an increasing degree of sapience through the mana as well as some magic of her own. Magic powers eclipsed only by her impressively high sass levels. Mocha is the best.
DanielrobbRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a really fun romping tale. A nice balance of well narrated combat, dialogue, intrigue, and humor. Oh, and the protagonist is a bit of a... nymphomaniac is, I believe, a safe word to use. It's just a lot of fun. I hope you check it out, I think you'll be glad you did!
This is the 3rd fiction I read weekly on RR.
1. A Journey in Black and Red, by Mechanimas 2. Manabound, by Oxylus 3. Mana & Mayhem, by Oxylus
Cheers!
crackheadRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have enjoyed this story it keeps me involved and entertained.
it's well formed the grammar the mc is well a little EZ lol or what ever you want to call it. The combat scenario are well written, it is a fun story and I would recommend the book to all my friends. Try it and see if you like it too hope you do now time to go reading!
GhostifulRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A great start so far! Overall, this story is definitely worth 5 stars. The pacing is excellent, the storytelling is creative and draws you in, and the characters are unique and complex.
A strong point for this story is definitely in the characterization of the main character. Iris is a passionate, unique, and driven individual who is seeking to create a guild of adventurers in a new world.
The complexity of other characters could be fleshed out a bit more in the future, but so far for the start of a story they have a reasonable amount of diversity and it seems like a good basis to work more on. Overall, 5/5 for the characters.
The descriptions of fight scenes are another strong point. The vivid detail the author provides allows for a brilliant visualization that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole fight, especially during Iris' fight with the bandits on the bridge.
The grammar is excellent, and word choice is varied and accurate. 5/5.
The style is simple, but for a story with a relatively straightforward premise, it works perfectly. The author makes excellent use of 'show don't tell' in their writing. Overall, 5/5.
The worldbuilding could use a bit of work, but as we are viewing the world from the perspective of someone who themselves still has a lot to learn about it, I think it works. In the future, I would definitely like to see more on what sorts of creatures are out there, how the government is structured, what the economy is like, and how different places and different cultures coexist. The idea of a place which is only just being introduced to the threat of strange new monsters and mana is a brilliant basis for the rest of the story, and I'm excited to read more. Because the world still needs some work, I'd give the story a 4.5/5 for now.
I definitely recommend giving this story a try!
Platypus169Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story follows Iris, an Isekai'ed girl in a world that only recently developed a System of magic and levels. Iris knows what she want, which is to be an adventurer, and she won't be disheartened by the fact that het new world has no idea what that means.
The style is reasonably layed back. Iris is pretty carefree and optimistic, and it shows in the way she views the world and how it's described. The used vocabulary is fitting, with some meta stuff in there since Iris is from Earth. In general that is pretty well done; "native" characters express confusion at earth-culture related references. Sometimes there is a minor slip up in that regard, but nothing too jarring.
The story builds up pretty nicely. It starts off a little aimless imo, but enough is revealed of Iris' motivation and backstory later on for it to make sense. The arcs are a good digestible size. I binged at first, till I caught up. And I started with this story, not the longer-running story of this author set in the same world. It stands alone quite well.
Grammar is really decent, I'm usually pretty observant of errors but I haven't been bothered much. The storytelling is compelling enough and the few errors minor enough that it doesn't mess with my reading experience.
Characters are pretty fun. Iris starts off as a loner, but has to work in tandem more and more. Her bond with her horse ally is cute, and keeps giving more. The only issue I have sometimes also occurs in the authors other story and is worse when reading both stories at the same time: there are a lot of side characters. They all have some personality and they're all potentially interesting, which is very well done. But it also makes it hard to keep track who's who again sometimes. I feel like the author is aware of this and gets better at addressing it, though.
All and all, if you like a rambunctious, female MC (with clear love interests, that some might say is almost nympho, but I think is pretty within a healthy margin) going on the a
trasen56Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The story is pretty good so far. The characters, while not the best, are believable. The dialogue and story can be alittle forced at yimes, but overall its very enjoyable.
As we've gotten further in, certain parts that seemed like they could turn into problemshavd been addressed as the characters grow.
I think if the novel stays the same quality it will be an enjoyable. Fairly lighthearted adventurers tale. If it continues to improve as it has then it might become even better than that.
BookseerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I find this story beautiful in it's simplicity. So far the mc is following the tropes, save that there is no organized adventuring guild (yet). However, that means the story has to stand on it's writing.
And it does that quite well. The mc is easy to enjoy, her chemistry with her horse is refreshing, and I'm enjoying reading it. It's not a book I can't put down, that's the only reason it doesn't have 5 stars from me, but it's still worth looking at.
I still can't believe this is a side story.
FancifulEightRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Pretty good. It needs an intro of some sort to get readers hooked. I powered through because I was bored. Characters are rapidly thrown at you so it's hard to tell who is important to the story. (Who to bother remembering)
I am enjoying it way more after the 3rd chapter. (Once I got familiar with the character and setting.)
aqaRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
A thought experiment to explain my thoughts about this story.
Image a story about a guy, living in a fantasy world where elven women are secondary citizens. He goes around getting drunk and sleeping with lots of cute elven girls. He’s very rude to people and constantly gets other people in trouble and destroying other people's property. When he leads a pack of monsters to the elven town, the elven girl he slept with last night doesn't want to open the gate, for fear of endangering the town. After he kills the monsters and is let into the town he hits the elven girl in the face to put her in her place. Then later when a human women ask him for help he rudely shrugs them off, because he finds them annoying, and not as cute as the elven girls he likes to sleep with.
Would anyone appreciate that kind of person as a MC? Now switch the genders and you have this book.