Marked for Death

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

With the Grim Reaper gone, life has gotten out of control.

The Gods' have bestowed powers unto humanity to ensure the rightful flow of life is maintained; those who must die are marked for death.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Empress Lake

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 116
Views: 266,936

Chapters(236 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

shroomsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Naruto setting has a very cool magic system and worldbuilding, so seeing it explored further with deep and intelligent characters is exciting, especially as an active participant voting for what they do next. The interpersonal stuff between the main characters is also some of the best I've read in any work of fiction. Highly recommend!
apooooopRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
- This story is amazing
- The authors are wonderful people
- This is definitely one fo the most engaging formats for allowing you to have a hand in devloping the story yourself
- The community is one of the nicest and most wholesome I've met
- The writing is great
I cannot recommend this enough. We have incredibly well written and deep characters (even secondary characters, tertiary characters, and characters we only meet once), we have a world incredibly well thought out, with consequences and independent agendas.
Oh, and it also updates regularly, twice a week, and we rarely miss weeks!
dapperAFRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
no words. amazing. thrilling and rewarding to play, thrilling and mindboggling to just read. truly brings the world of Naruto to life. hair tingling. spine dingling. woooow. big ol enjoyment from this over the years. especially the character interactions. plus the frequent updates. it makes for good times.
when you're caught up, join us at SV to participate.
EisenhelmRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In all seriousness, this is one of the best pieces of fiction I have read so far. The world is well thought out, totally worthy of being called rational. The mystery is so compelling that we have a group of people going through all the posts with a fine-toothed comb looking for answers; Yes, just the main story is 2.4 million plus words long; no, that has not stopped them.
But where it really stands out from the rest is in the characters. It's hard to do them justice by describing them. Suffice it to say that they feel like real people, and as such, the stakes are quite high given that there is no plot armor.
PaperclippedRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Very excited this is finally on RoyalRoad. There's a reason that this monstrously long fic has been going as long as it has, with as rabid a fanbase as any other. The evolution of the story is at once completely natural and wildly unexpected, enough that you'll be well in the flow with every chapter, but look back every 20 or 50 or 100 and ask yourself "How did we get here?"
It's a darker take on the Naruto setting, but don't confuse that for it being dark thematically. Instead, this take on the setting is characterized by being serious. One of the other reviews mentioned how full of potential the Naruto setting is, but the original was held back by the needs of serial publication and shounen, both of which prevented the author from serioustly exploring what his world would actually be like. This story is not grimdark, but it constantly asks the question "What would be the consequences of this being real in the world?" and extrapolates from there. It's incredibly refreshing to see authors trying to fully realize the potential of a setting, and doubly so when they're succeeding.
Style: One of the authors is a (former) professional author, the other is a current professional editor. It shows. That said, I assume the original quest format will make things occasionally confusing for new readers on this platform.
Grammar: Pretty much as good as you can expect for a serial published on a strict timetable that hasn't seen an edit pass (except for readers noting typos).
Story: Caveat: it's not a traditional narrative with a clear overall arc and obvious villains and all. It's an epic journey, and much more of a man vs. nature and man vs. society story than most members of this genre tend to be. That said, once you accept the nonstandard narrative structure, it's quite excellent. The stakes are enormous, the challenges nearly insurmountable, and the heroes have little but their own cleverness to work with.
Character: If I could give this a 6/5, I would. Just as the authors t
RandomOTPRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story will make you laugh and cry. It will make you ponder your preconceptions about certain things. The characters will linger in your mind, long after you've closed out the tab, and you'll find yourself walking in their shoes.
It's a wild ride, so buckle up! It's a good one, and you're in for a treat! >:3
SirStompyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a great story. The characters are well written and compelling. The conflict and stakes are high. The world feels real. The authors have been at it since 2015(!) and are still going strong. There's a lot to like. I truly love this story. One of my top 3 of all time.
The embarrassing truth is. I look forward to updates all day on the update days and my day is noticeably improved if they are especially long or exciting.
Do yourself a favor, read it.
_The_BombRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Take it from this long-time reader, this is a story worth checking out! Aside from being just generally well-written, it's a treasure trove of subverted and supremely well-executed tropes. Without spoiling anything, it's a world so thought-out that even determined scrutiny doesn't raise any plot holes. There's plenty of conflict (the world is as nightmareish as it is well-built) but none of it comes from the typical plot-contrived stupidity you'll usually find. The characters, even the side ones that don't appear on screen, are all intelligent and act in their own interests instead of being dumb to force a plot. If any of that sounds appealing to you, I highly recommend giving this a try.
The one and only issue with Marked for Death is that it's a slightly different medium than you may be used to. Everything posted here is originally from the quest over on Sufficient Velocity. As such, the pacing of the overall story may be a little slow since the main charecter follows the choices of a player hivemind instead of moving through a structured plot. This has the added benefit of providing a community of beta readers who diligently check each chapter for style, grammar, or character oddities. As a whole, the original medium of the quest is far from a problem, but it's something to be aware of going into the story.
absoluteblackRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've been following this story over on SufficientVelocity for around 6 years. It's not just one of my favorite long form serial fictions online; it's one of my favorite pieces of media and community, anywhere on the internet, in any medium. This story goes places, folks, and the authors are consistently incredible at guiding and managing it.
The quest format might not translate perfectly but the story is definitely readable as-is; the POV character might just be a bit erratic without the context. Every NPC is detailed, well written, and has remarkably consistent characterization both internally and with respect to the setting. The setting is painstakingly reasonable, completely free of required suspension of disbelief and plot contrivances, but it doesn't keep the protagonist from being a hero with any grimdarkiness.
Being able to read the combined brainpower of dozens of players play out in one brilliant moment of action is satisfying everytime. Whether it's a complex, tactical, large-scale ninja fight, full of explosives and blades and ninja magic, or seeing the culmination of months of political maneuvering in one epic shounen-protagonist speech, the Marked for Death authors deliver again and again in the emotional payoffs. The simulationist aspect of the setting comes back into play here - those payoffs are that much more satisfying when there's no doubt in how thoroughly they've been earned. There's no deux ex machina here.
3TimRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Overall I found this to be addictive, but the MC is pretty braindead and keeps making the same mistakes over and over. I was able to stick with it a while, but a few things just back to back pissed me off to where I'm done with this story.
⚠️ Spoilers for info up to c268.
Abruptly ending selling seals to summons. Like wtf, they are going through major shit with clan head death and she just drops extra stuff on them. She's so insecure that everything she does is out of character. Turned from an okay character to a bit of a pain to read. She's the one who was okay with butchering a boat, but she's suddenly caring about non human species? Like wtf did all this empathy somehow come over the human robot lady?
Unrealistic utopian ideals. The MC doesn't grow so he can maintain this naive goal instead he just gives five thousand speeches on uplift and love.
Killing off a toad safe. Like he has some of the best growth potential and they just killed him.
Reality change with removing henge. Like wtf is this even Naruto at this point.
If you read quest type stuff, this may be for you.