Narcodome

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Narcodome is a dystopian reality show, where armed petty criminals scheme and fight for survival, sponsorship deals, rankings, and fast food. This is the story of a seemingly ordinary office worker, Rachel, who finds herself inside the game.

While surviving the daily madness of Narcodome and hiding the secrets in her history, Rachel tries to uncover who was responsible for scheming her into the program. Her target is to make that one pay.

Closed off from the ordinary, Rachel is also forced to re-evaluate her life and romantic choices; maybe a decade of free time spent logged in a commercial romance simulation is not everything she needs from a boyfriend, life, or exercise routine.

Will she find her revenge? Will she make it out of Narcodome alive? And will she quit the obsession with her virtual boyfriend?

Narcodome is cyberpunk action sprinkled with unhinged humor. Violent street-fights give way to meltdowns over Internet connection, and kisses under commercial screens are followed by the existential horror of living in a corporate dystopia.Book completed July 2025

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2025
Author: K.Wrang

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 14
Views: 19,215

What readers say about Narcodome

“This story really pulls you in with a strong mix of dark humor and sci-fi grit. It starts off feeling pretty chill. Rachel Greene is watching over self-driving trucks and sneaking time in a virtual world. But things take a wild turn fast. One minute she's d…”
EthanKantosRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“TL;DR: I really like this one, it brings back echoes from hardwired and mona lisa overdrive and other cornerstones of cyberpunk. There is much that I like in this story. It gives me feelings of nostalgia from those ancient times of 1990's or so, when I used…”
NoitaRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(5)

EthanKantosRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story really pulls you in with a strong mix of dark humor and sci-fi grit. It starts off feeling pretty chill. Rachel Greene is watching over self-driving trucks and sneaking time in a virtual world. But things take a wild turn fast. One minute she's drooling over her virtual boyfriend, Sergeant Whyte, the next she’s being yanked out of her chair by corporate cops. It's a sudden shift that hits hard in the best way.
The writing style is smooth and easy to follow. It paints the world clearly without needing to explain every little thing. You get the sense of a future where people are always being watched and even a small slip-up can land you in serious trouble. The tone has a casual vibe at first which makes the shock of the police raid feel even more intense.
Rachel is a great character. She feels real, like someone just trying to get through the day in a messed-up world. Her mix of fear, regret, and sarcasm adds depth without overexplaining. The side characters don’t say much but their reactions and silence do. The corporate police are creepy and robotic which works perfectly for the story.
The grammar is mostly clean and the sentences flow well. There are a couple of phrases that repeat or feel a bit awkward but nothing that gets in the way. The ending especially is strong. It leaves you with a punchy cliffhanger.
Overall it’s a sharp story with a cool world, a strong main character, and a message that sticks. If you like dystopian fiction with a twist of dark humor and some real-world edge, this one’s worth your time.
NoitaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
TL;DR: I really like this one, it brings back echoes from hardwired and mona lisa overdrive and other cornerstones of cyberpunk.
There is much that I like in this story. It gives me feelings of nostalgia from those ancient times of 1990's or so, when I used to gamemaster several cyberpunk stories. This hits the same spot, and the same general feel of wonder, desperation, adventure and gritty (pseudo)realism of shadowrun and 2020 cyberpunk. The writing is great, I've paid paid for way worse at the bookstore.
I also like the way the world comes together in the background, in a sort of out-of-focus way, in a somehow organic fashion. This seems to be rather rare these days, with somewhat heavyhanded underlining being the norm in too many texts.
Story wounds out at a good speed, one doesn't get bored with this one, there's no overexplaining. The story gets down to business and sticks to it: no bloat, no propaganda, just cyberpunk.
Grammar is fine, there are some typos but it's totally readable. Especially for a non-native language user, it's terrific.
Characters are what make the story, and here they are very human. With all the billionaire-vampire-playboys falling in love with nobodys who then suddenly become magical wizard-elf-princesses I find this somewhat gutterpunk approach refreshing. There's mystery, growth, personality and beauty here.
These stories could well be real.
Apollo149Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I'm really enjoying Narcodome so far. it's a fast-paced, cyberpunk thriller with a strong lead and a world that feels both futuristic and way too real. Rachel, the main character, isn’t just some stock hero; she comes off as a real person, with depth, flaws, and motivations that make you root for her.
The whole concept of the “Narcodome” reality show is wild in the best way, and the world around it—saturated with tech, surveillance, and online escapism—feels like a natural (and kind of scary) evolution of where we are now. There’s a lot of sharp worldbuilding here, and the atmosphere has that neon-noir vibe you’d expect from classic cyberpunk: grimy cities, flashy tech, media overload, and corporate shadows lurking everywhere.
Without giving too much away, Rachel’s relationship with media and how she replaces real-world connections with online interactions really hit home. Anyone who's spent a lot of time online will feel seen. There’s also a deeper mystery brewing around her past and how she ended up in this situation. It's being slowly revealed, but it’s compelling enough that I’ll definitely keep reading to find out more.
If you like your sci-fi gritty and character-driven, with a touch of dark satire and a comic book edge, Narcodome is worth checking out. It kind of feels like what you'd get if you turned a chaotic old-school Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop session into a graphic novel. It’s not a LitRPG in the traditional sense, but it plays with similar mechanics in a fresh way.
Genre Tags Suggestion:
Cyberpunk, Sci-Fi Thriller, Near-Future Dystopia, Tech Noir, Media Critique, Found Family, Slow-Burn Mystery, Antihero Protagonist
BaskervilleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Go read it.
Ok if you need more convincing. If you’re a child of the internet Nacrodome’s opening will hit, you deep and hard.
I don’t want to spoil to much but the FMC’s relationship with media consumption and use of online interaction to replace irl interaction speaks loudly to anyone who has lived a large portion of their lives online.
There is a mystery going on with both her background and the circumstances that have led to her predicament in the first place. That while not explained yet has been used to set up a compelling and page turning adventure that I WILL be following in the future.
Story: The Cyberpunk future Europe is an interesting setting to build such a story. In my own experience this is a place that isn’t explored as much in cyberpunk stories as more common places like America, Japan, or China. So, seeing this is refreshing. The actual plot line is not all that original as far as scifi/cyberpunk stories go. It’s the actual presentation and the characters involved make the presentation and telling of that story still feel fresh and rewarding to read.
Style: The author is very good. It took me no time to fall into Rachel’s shoes and get whisked away along for the ride.
Characters: This might change as I get deeper into the story. We haven’t seen to much from the others so far in the novel aside from Rachel but she is very well written and I’m already rooting for her. From the limited experience so far I can say the others have some depths to them as well.
Maddox StanfordRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Well, I can honestly say I am enjoying this cyberpunk thriller. Rachel seems like someone who could really exist. I love the concept of the Narcodome reality show. This is a society saturated with tech; something that doesn't seem very far off. There's some seriously good atmospheric worldbuilding going on. Rachel, with her complex personality and her personal struggles, really seems like a protagonist you could really root for.
The prose is indeed atmospheric and immersive, capturing the gritty, tech-heavy setting. I'm a gamer and I loved playing Cyberpunk 2077 and I felt the same aesthetic here with the implants, visors, and corporate jargon, creating a believable dystopia.
Can't say the style doesn't stumble at places with some passages that seem overwritten. The dialogue is sharp and fitting, but I did find the occasional cliche and awkward phrase.
Given English isn't the author’s first language, I found the grammar quite good but a bit inconsistent. Nothing that can't be fixed on a proofread.
I love the protagonist! Personally, I found a lot about Rachel quite compelling, especially her reliance on simulations. Given the rise of AI, her connection to a virtual character seems quite plausible.
The story’s cyberpunk world is truly immersive, with details like the Narcodome’s collars and underground markets, and the cyberware. I want to know more about the schuwalden connection.
I'll be watching this story like a junkie with uber-focus implants!