Manabound

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Manaexistsand, somehow, seems to have a purpose, beginning with its arrival triggering a cosmic event that burst through numerous realities, bringing upheaval and turmoil to all within its path…

Transported from Earth under mysterious circumstances, Sloane and her daughter Gwyn arrived in the world of Eona only to discover they had been separated from each other. Forced to venture on a desperate quest to find one another, mother and daughter each embark on magical adventures, filled with untold wonders and fantastical beings. They undertake their journeys across a continent rife with power struggles, where ancient kingdoms and guilds are in disarray, scrambling to adapt to the arrival of magic in their world.

A hardware engineer by trade, Sloane must use skills learned over a long career to craft any edge she can against beings who have thrived using weapons long since obsolete on Earth. Perhaps mana will provide the answers she needs.

Schedule:Mon | Thur

Tags are selected based on where the story is going and to cover future content. The LITRPG tag takes a bit until it really comes into play, but rest assured it is all active, just without windows.at first.

Art by:Vicki

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2022
Author: Oxylus

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 1,968
Views: 560,735

Chapters(92 total)

What readers say about Manabound

“First allow me to say that my current chapter is a bit further along, since I am a beta reader. Although the Prologue was a bit confusing to me, I soon found myself endeared with the journey of Sloane and Gwen. As a person who values the importance of famil…”
HydraSinRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Mana: Arrival is an amazing story, and it's easily worth your time to read. Worldbuilding is very strong, while dialogue and exposition blend together to create a flowing narrative. One specific thing this story does extremely well early on is the introduct…”
1Royal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

HydraSinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
First allow me to say that my current chapter is a bit further along, since I am a beta reader.
Although the Prologue was a bit confusing to me, I soon found myself endeared with the journey of Sloane and Gwen.
As a person who values the importance of family, I sympathize with Sloane's struggle and search. A journey lived through from two sides and through the different perspectives becoming more relatable.
A daughter searching for her mother in a entirely foreign world with strange new things, growing up on her journey.
A mother missing years and suffering the uncertainty of ever finding her child while missing more of her daughter growing up with every passing month.
It tugs all the right heartstrings in my opinion and if you search for fun yet humanized and relatable characters to discover a whole new world with you need to look no further.
Make yourself a cup of tea and follow them on a multifold journey and discover, as they do, a different world.
1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Mana: Arrival is an amazing story, and it's easily worth your time to read. Worldbuilding is very strong, while dialogue and exposition blend together to create a flowing narrative. One specific thing this story does extremely well early on is the introduction of an overarching goal, which is Sloane and Gwyn trying to find each other in a vast fantasy world. I'm quite curious about the effects of Mana being introduced into this world, and am excited to read more!
BlenheimRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story so far follows a mother and daughter from present day Earth that get transported to a renaissance style feudal fantasy land. Their arrival coincides with the introduction of magic to the world, causing major societal upheaval. They arrive separately and try to find their way towards each other.
The way that the daughter is manipulated into being an active part of a cold war between nobles is really interesting and I think it is my favorite half of the story.
The mother's quest with a retinue of knights is quite exciting but she seems to be a little too comfortable with the status quo in a land that is ripe for political and religious disaster. Creating ATMs during a siege and before the introduction of the telegraph or refrigeration just seems weird.
The writing is excellent and the side characters are awesome.
When does Gwen get to use ice magic to create gelato?
DanielrobbRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The author clearly has a very good command of the language, with very few typos or other "errors". I feel the author is very talented at dialogue, and in drawing the reader in. The story is unique in many ways, which is really great. Humans from earth being drawn into another world is not terribly original, but having other species and other timelines also popping into the same world - that's new to me, and I am really enjoying the story. Great writing, great content, great world building. This is a win! If you are reading this review, just read the story - you'll be glad you gave it a chance.
EmeraldSpecterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an interesting take on the LitRPG genre as we have everything present to make a LitRPG but with a slight twist. The world is interesting and I'm pleasantly looking forward to every chapter until it drops! I'd recommend this to anyone who is looking for the next big LitRPG saga. This looks to be the beginning of something wonderful.
FuujinSamaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Full disclosure: I am a beta reader for this novel and have read further ahead.
The novel is stylistically very competent. The story has an excellent grasp of POV and voice and everything is well done. There are some inclusions such as notes and diagrams that are very helpful in understanding the content. Full marks.
The story is very engaging. Rather than the typical Isekai into medieval fantasy world, we get an Isekai into a standard medieval world where everyone is new to the magic. And this simple change makes everything much more interesting as we enter a world in flux. Furthermore, while there are their fair share of greedy villains, this story takes a point of view that most people, in whatever society, will do their best to help anyone in need. Which is a view validated by most research on the subject and very very refreshing amidst a see of cynical stories where it's a "dog eat dog" world out there. Here we see a world where people are simultaneously compassionate and self serving and struggle to balance both facets of being human... or any other race!
Grammar is an aspect where perceived flawlessness is expected... and as a Beta reader, if I found any errors I fixed them! So hopefully that's up to stuff! But even the very first drafts are really good in this regard. It's is simply a very well written story.
The Characters are by far the best part of the story. Sloane and Gwyn steal the show with how their doubt and worry battles with the faith they need to stay alive in a dangerous world. If I had to complain about anything it would be that the cast is on the large side, so readers that struggle to remember names may find themselves a bit confused in the beginning, Yet, this is definitely not a long standing problem and each character gets enough details and interesting characterisation that by the time they become important to remember they've become memorable and interesting.
Overall a really good beginning to what I very much hope will be a new standou
GilgemashRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm one of the beta readers for this story so I can go a little more in depth with why I'm giving Mana such a good score.
Mana combines people and places from a bunch of alternate worlds that all got scrambled by that wave of "radiation" which was actually mana. The characters that we've been introduced to by Sloane are really interesting and the exploration about the nature of mana by her really helps in explaining the world. The group surrounding Gwyn is also very compelling and are a great help for reuniting her and Sloane.
The exploration of a new world that suddenly has mana works really well and the politics going on in the world stay fresh. It's a really well written story for the standards of RR. The actual ideas behind how mana and magic will work are well thought out and are continuously tinkered with to ensure that they are just right.
Grognard61Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A very interesting start! The story is well written, with 3D characters (not flat), the starting chapters give the reader a good background for the characters and their motivations, and then the action begins. I can't wait to see where it goes and how the disparate characters and plot lines tie together.
HedicRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style:
The prose was simple and functional. Nothing that broke my immersion but also no sentences that struck me as works of art in their own right.
The multiple POVs were done well but I wish they were more dynamic. Rather then a block of Mother chapters then a block of Daughter they could have been interspersed in a way to compare and contrast the characters. Such as the two shopping scenes back to back for comedic effect or combat showing the different affect on a kid vs adult.
Grammar:
Solid. As few mistakes as any printed book you will read.
Story:
I like that it is a family/multi person Isekai. That is a dynamic that is very under explored.
Again it's solid but uninspired. Few plot holes or logical inconsistency but also not much in the way of tension or surprise.
Characters:
The two main characters are why you should read the story. They are likeable, make decisions that make sense for them, and have real emotions.
The side characters are why I still couldn't give this category a 5. They are so one dimensional. The baddies are bad and the goodies are good. We had only a single chapter of grey area and that was immediately solved in the first few paragraphs of the next chapter. Even for a YA story this is a critical lack of nuance.
Overall this is a good if simple YA story that is an enjoyable read if you need something to read.
PoeticHarmonyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I swear, every book [series] I read on here is better than the last. I only joined/started using RR app a short while ago, but love every story I've come across. This one is my favorite so far, not just because the grammar and writing style are so much better, but also because I can relate to so much of the character duo. The ages of the characters at the beginning line up near perfectly to my own daughter and myself. She enjoys when I read the girl's story chapters, so it's good bonding time.
Although I have a pro/con reaction to the split story of the main characters. On one side, I can read the girl chapters to my daughter and we'll laugh, smile, and enjoy the story together; but on the other, the wait between switching characters is a bit long in my opinion, forcing some time adjustments from past and present. I find myself wondering when they story will sync up, then continue forward. Like now...
I thought the messages have already been sent out about the mother. Why is Gwen still not told? Also, the ceremony of paths - the church says they haven't seen anyone else as far as step 40, but wasn't the mother past that a while ago?
Also. I wish there were a map! I always reference maps while reading. Without one, I keep getting turned around in my head. [I thought ... was west.] [Wasn't there an island somewhere?] Etc. I would really appreciate a map...