Mind Reading Isn't Cheating

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Mind Reading Isn't Cheating is a story about a young girl's journey across the continent of Telemera, fighting monsters and nations in a desperate attempt to leave places a little better off than she finds them. A story about doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, and whether it’s better to judge someone by their intentions, their actions, or not at all. ...If that’s even possible.

The main character also starts the story dead. It’s okay, she gets better.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2018
Author: Thundamoo

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 415
Views: 152,097

Reviews

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Community Reviews(8)

Skylark (Dion Sky)Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Only four reviews on this story and two of them three stars? W... what? Seriously?
Okay, people. I stumbled on this story by pure coincidence and added it to my list because it looked interesting. Wow, was I not expecting what I found. The author's other story, which I swear I didn't notice when I discovered this, is one of the top rated stories on the site and, well, if Mind Reading Isn't Cheating is anything to go by, I can see why.
This story hooked me right from the opening chapter. The high quality of the writing is clear from the very beginning and only becomes better the longer the story goes on. It has impeccable grammar with only a few typos, and absolutely fantastic prose. Very few stories on Royal Road match this in sheer quality of prose, in fact, so I have no idea where those 3-star reviews were coming from. Normal? Absolutely not. This isn't just above average, it's top-tier.
On the face of it, Mind Reading Isn't Cheating sits under the classic high fantasy bucket. Medieval world, sword and sorcery, fairly Dungeons & Dragons-esque. But within those genre bounds, this is as far from standard as it gets. MRIC delights in taking the standard tropes and taking them for a completely fresh spin. This is a world where mind-readers aren't tricksters or detectives, but instead formidable mercenaries. Where shapeshifters are adaptive layabouts. Where prodigious genius is boring, and where healing magic is an utterly terrifying weapon. My god, the ideas in this story are just brilliant.
The world in MRIC contains an incredibly logical, strong foundational magic system, and this logic is a consistent theme you'll see throughout the story in just about every aspect from the political situation to characters' responses to various situations. At the same time it doesn't get bogged too much into the details, always keeping fun and plot progression the main focus of the story. There's even the occasional touch of solid humour. In particular, I adored the concept of the
atanireadsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What a complete shame this is on indefinite hiatus. In just the few chapters that are out, it has become one of my favourite stories. I love all the secondary characters a LOT. I love the interjections we see from the "villains". I love the magic system, and I hope we get to talk to more mages if this ever comes back. I love the plot - I have a pet theory for the twist and I wish I could see it play out or be subverted.
The story follows a young MC as she escorts her brother to a mage academy - specifically one that trains biomancers, mages who study and deal with the human body, medicine, and related fields. This world, however, is deeply dangerous, and we meet many horrors, human, not, and ambiguously so, along the way. Some can be befriended. Others, not as much. (Would it be repetitive to say "others, ambiguously so"?). MC's family was genocided 11 years ago, ostensibly in retaliation for them having attempted a genocide of some other group - but MC is sure this isn't true, and this assurance holds water, given that she and her entire clan are (were) natural mind readers, and she's not an idiot. So as they move to the academy, they encounter friends/foes, and keep stumbling onto (or being led to) clues about what happened then and why.
While this occurs, we get glimpses of a titan - a man with incredible power, often worshipped as a god for his life-giving aura. To say he does not yet seem to be in the "can be befriended" category would be an understatement. I will say, for certainly unrelated reasons, that this story does sure love gut-wrenching body horror, on occasion.
I love the themes of intent vs. action, one's ability to control one's actions, nature vs. nurture, assumptions, relative truth, etc. Here we see a creature that is hunger personified - will it listen when you ask it not to eat? Here we see its children, the same - are they? Here we see a creature that kills everything it touches - will you forgive it? Here we see a creature who knows everythin
NorthernWardenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Well worth reading for a fun time with great characters and excellent pacing. This story really captures the wondrous curiosity of a new world. All the characters feel very real and all the motivations and actions make sense. It really balances having fun exciting moments without needing anyone to hold the idiot ball. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this tale goes next.
MantarayceRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A story about someone who should know everything going on around them, but still managed to find surprise and meaning full connections is always a great one. But that's just the start. This story has drawn me in entirely and I look forward to reading the continuing adventures of Shara and her friend's as they travel across Telemera.
BullerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Of the MC and everybody else having a different view of the world. Not that unusual to see nowadays, but I didn't truly expect the straight-man strategy when reading the summary for this. It's fast-paced, never having too many moments where I grew bored.there are a few points I would like to have cut out, but it's not serious enough to be angry about. Style is alright as well.
4.5/5 from me.
SealedSaintRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The writer has commited to posting a new chapter at least weekly, and I eagerly look forward to each one.
Character creation is definitely one of the writer's strengths! Every chapter I learn something new about the characters, and they are always interacting in new and interesting ways.
Overall the story is very well-written. The writer is diligent with details and the writing is read smoothly and easily.
The plot of the story is engaging: enough is going on and enough is left for future mysteries to be unraveled.
SpiralBakaRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Title: Mind Reading Isn't Cheating
Genre: Action, Fantasy.
Protagonist: a girl who can read mind. she is also a strong combatant. around C or B rank in strength.
Setting: a normal fantasy world.
Tension Level: Medium
Basic Premise: a girl's village was destroyed, but she was saved by some guy, and he brought her to be raised in another place by another family. that guy isn't the main character btw, he rarely appears.
Chapter Content: still about how that incident happened, how she cope with it, and how she ended up growing in that place.
Chapter Reached: 9
Personal Opinion: it's good. it's normal, it's normal good. I don't know how it's good. I just think it's good.
salynmaRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Characters are likeable and the action moves fairly quickly, though scenes are often bogged down by flowery language and asides. The strongest part of the writing is the dialogue, which flows quickly and naturally and is often humorous. Because of this I found myself skimming over joining paragraphs and only paying attention to the dialogue. If you like dialogue-driven stories this is a good fit for you, but be prepared to do some skimming! Readers who prefer a lot of world building will probably be disappointed, as this is kept to the bare essentials.