Manaseared (COMPLETED)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Manasearedis a long-term character study on what it might really be like to form an adventuring party, learn spells, and go on epic quests. By the end, its protagonists--a chaotic evil sorceress, a charismatic young warrior, and many others--will have mastered their abilities and earned great power.

But it's a long road to get there. And along the way, they're sure to learn why normal, sane people try to avoid dungeons--and don't run straight into them.

COMPLETED; 512k words.THE CROW, set five years after Manaseared's climax, is now available on RR!

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2021
Author: JurassicClark

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 435
Views: 283,811

Chapters(122 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

Addicted_Reader720Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Manaseared is an excellent example of how execution can transform even the most generic settings. JurassicClark uses the fantasy knowledge that most of us already have to explore other parts of the setting and to weave a cohesive story and plot that visibly advances without being rushed. I strongly recommend that you read the first “year” of the story, though I would say the writing is exemplary starting with the prologue :)
Style:
Manaseared is told in the third person, usually limited to a single character and their immediate surroundings. Although you aren't being given a total narration of a character's thoughts, the writing manages to communicate their inner struggles and feelings without simply describing them outright.
There's a quality to this writing which makes it easy not only to visualize exactly what's happening, but also to wonder what will happen next, and to build expectations from the reader not only before a major encounter or event, but even in the little intra-chapter things. It's a welcome reprove from people using end of chapter cliffs.
Story:
Story's good - you get the basic premise from the description. It is perhaps a very simpele world in the broad strokes. Ancient Empire - ruins to explore, evil(?) nobles, etc.
Where it really shines is showcasing how "normal" (as normal as fictional characters can be, anyways) would interact with those dangers. So for example, you are introduced early on to the fact that party members can and will die. It doesn't happen super often as the story progresses, and isn't ever done in a cruel manner by the Author, but it does happen enough to create an exquisite sense of tension and investment in a way that enhances the reading experience.
Last thing to note is that the primary "progression" from each arc of the story is usually from its impact on the characters, not some external change to the world at large. I like it. It makes plot points from chapters long past much more relevant then I feel they are in so
RonDuneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A fantastic exploration of a sorceress "growing up" and coming to her power. Eris is a wonderful character, flaws and all, and the surrounding cast of characters is rich and have their own motivations. Eris stays true to her petty, vain self almost all the way through, and the tragedy she suffers and how she deals with is wonderfully written.
The story ends very well too, I was left heart-broken but hopeful. Honestly a far higher quality than the typical RR fare till the end.
SuperstesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an incredible story. The quality of writing is professional, and better than many pro-edited books. There are very few grammatical mistakes. The tone and flow are great -- I would even say highly immersive. Very nice Tolkien-like overtones. I highly recommend this story. It even has a dog!
WordRotatorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What's immediately obvious about manaseared is that the writing and editing are just miles beyond what you normally find on RR. I've come to appreciate the flaws many amateur authors have as being just part of this web-based novel format, but it's really refreshing to find something on here that could be from an edited novel
Writing quality aside the MC is really interesting. She's more on the grim dark side but I enjoyed that she's not just a jerk all the time but really just a traumatized kid trying to make her way. the humor of her interacting with Rook also shines through quite well.
Overall an extremely promising start to a new series
chirpyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Manaseared follows the story of Eris: a beautiful, cunning, extremely egoistical magician who is, I must admit, the most amusing character I have had the chance to read.
It is both a story of her adventures and that of her own growth. The pivotal driver of both (story and growth) is Rook: the only other adventurer in her team which has survived as long as Eris has, who just casually happens to be as handsome as Eris is striking, and who is, instead, one of the kindest men alive.
Manaseared follows a DnD world style, with vibrant characters (who admittedly die often, so best to keep your emotional investment in Eris and Rook), an exciting story, and above all, an excellently narrated story.
Of course the grammar is flawless, but the style, the narrative pitch, the pacing, the emotional bombardment on the reader… it is all so very well done, I have a hard time understanding why this isn’t in the first page of Best Completed!
Please, give it a try. It is so worth it, I can’t bring myself not to leave a review to encourage you!
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ChuchundraRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This traditional "assemble the low levels and throw them at monsters" story is lots of fun thanks to clever writing, interesting goals, and nice sparks between the different characters. Love Eris's cynical (mostly unspoken) asides, and her way of saving on room and board in town was priceless. Looking forward to watching the adventurers grow and develop as a team.
FantasticTeaManRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A fantastic story that grabbed my attention immediately and is well worth the time spent. The MC is an unlikeable, know-it-all idiot teenager that snaps and snarls at everyone around her, but to be fair her life sucks.
The story is well paced, interesting, well written, the characters are unique and their own people.
HisperiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Nature vs nuture is an often quoted psychological argument to quantify the path of destruction that damaged individuals leave in their wake. We're all human none of us perfect all have vices and defects. Well Eris is one of us, what nurture she recieved was likely a detriment to her. While the environment she found herself in could warp the nature of even the greatest of heroes. Can a human however talented with natural and unnatural gifts break out of the cycle of destruction or will it consume her and those she surrounds herself with. Often it's the small relatively innocuous choices in the grand scheme of things that can cause the biggest cascade of events. It's up to the individual to rise to the challenge or fall, what will become of our beautiful anti-heroine not what you expect and exactly what you do. 5/5, stands in a elite category of a very small number of works on this site I've ever felt so invested in.
JiJi27Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I like this writer’s characters and writing style. He comes up with interesting new twists on some of the kinds of ideas and themes you might expect in such tales. I was already a fan of some of his previous works, and he pulled it off again with this story. Bravo!
PakhawajRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There are few stories written as well as this on this website; the dialogue and characters are wonderful, and truly make the story a pleasure to read even if the events of the story can be quite dark.
The main character is brilliant, and though her emotional arc is expected, the way her character and thoughts change felt so gradual, delicate and meaningful to me. She is profoundly strange (perhaps due to the trauma she underwent in the first chapter), and at times felt a bit over the top, particularly in regard to her cavalier attitude toward death, but this is a setting with adventurers delving dungeons, so perhaps death is just more expected. She is not likable, but entirely lovable.
The story as it is, and the world, were interesting, but not remarkable. It is the scenes, the characters, and their relationships which make this story great. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
If I were to offer any criticism, I thought the last part of the story dragged on a bit, and was quite emotionally draining. It was nice that
she made friends with Aletheia, and Robur I suppose (though I never really understood his character), but I felt like the story could have ended not long after the death scene, with them off another adventure, and the implicit understanding that she would continue to grow as an empathetic being.