NEPENTHE

Information

Status

Hiatus

Author

Nitaxx

Reviews

Community Reviews(9)

• LovegoodstoriesRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  It's so interesting and fun. I created an account just so I could leave my comments. I really like and recommend it. The leads are so well developed too and I'm excited to see where this goes. At the beginning, I really liked Victoria but Hara is also so charismatic and I'm staring to understand Rose. I like the mystery and the way it keeps me guessing. I keep hoping there'd be a bit of romance though, its just me being obsessed with romance. Other than that, the book is really nice and fun and the plot is fresh and new.
• DeserthornRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Nice story, I started reading just to check out how the story was, but the story hooked me  and I completed the whole story till the latest update.
  Story: The storyline keeps up the mystery and keeps up your interest to know more. The story is told at a good pace with sufficient world building without making it tedious.
  Style: I would recommend a better explanation of the timeline other than the author's note, as a normal book will not have an author's note in every chapter.
  Grammer: Grammatically I did not see any corrections, however since English is not my native tongue anything which does not hinder my reading is correct to me.
  Character: The characters seem fleshed out to me with room for growth. Rose is my favourite and I don't know why I just feel alienated from Victoria. But I am sure everyone has their own favourites.
  What did seem a bit amiss to me was Rose wandering around outside for a week after she did the deed. I somehow feel that a person who had murdered someone and is frightened about it would most likely want to be in a familiar environment and pretend that there is nothing out of the ordinary. However this is only a suggestion and you do not have to take it.
  Anyways overall I found the story well worth the effort, and would totally like to read the completed version.
• Silverstorm4444Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  In the mood for a bit of murder mystery? In the mood for a bit of supernatural murder mystery? This one's for you. Without spoiling too much, we're only 4 chapters in and I already feel like this story has thrown us for a loop.
  Style: The author's word choice is varied and honestly pretty. Which is a weird thing to say when there are some terrific gore scenes in here. I like it.
  Story: It's still being set up in its entirety, but this is very much a suspense novel. I have no idea what is going on in the best way possible.
  Grammar: A little shaky here. There aren't very many misspellings, but punctuation is often missed or a capital will be misplaced. It's not enough to distract from enjoyment, but it is there. I think the author will quickly improve on it though.
  Character: They're still being developed, so I can't say too much about these ladies, but their personalities are really starting to come through, especially from chapter 3 onward. They're nuanced, which is always nice, and interesting, which is the thing they need to be. I'm excited to see where they go.
  Overall, it's still a new work, but it has very solid bones and the making of a good supernatural thriller. Give it a read!
• InfinityphoenixRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  This story delves into the 'supernatural' and 'occult' side of its world, and has a unique setting. Sometimes it's hard to understand the technological level of the world or its social structure, but that just means the author needs to keep writing more.
  Style: Easy enough to read and descriptive enough without being too much. Sometimes there's quite large paragraphs of dialogue that need an adjective or two inserted in the middle to split them up, and a few more '[character name here] said' after dialogue sentences just to remind the readers of who's speaking, especially when there's long lines of interchanged dialogue.
  Story: I'm liking the mystery, but somehow it feels almost a little bit too secretive sometimes. A bit more about Rose's past and identity at the start, for example. Some stuff doesn't need to wait that long to be revealed. And it's hard to feel invested in the main characters when it's yet to be determined if they're good guys or not. I do hope the author goes into the mechanisms of occultism and abilities, as all the supernatural events occurring without explanation make the story feel a little confusing.
  Grammar: Spelling is fine, but grammar definitely needs improvement. The author has a habit of forgetting to end sentences in full stops, especially regarding ending dialogue in full stops. I recommend the use of Grammarly here. Sometimes dialogue doesn't end in commas like this '....," she said.' and the author uses full stops instead as well. But the story is definitely readable.
  Character: Characters are developed, but sometimes their motivations are too hidden from the reader. It's hard to feel invested in a character when we don't know their goal or past. Some things, such as Rose's anger, definitely needs to be explained earlier otherwise she just comes across as a terrible person instead of a main character to want to read about. But besides that, most if not all the characters have clear and unique personalities, although there's not too
• Kaleb ZaleRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Style:
  I enjoy the moments of dialogue the most in this story, the characters engage with each other with interesting and fulfilling dialogue. This is where the author shines in my opinion, she conveys a lot of information about the characters and drives the story on most effectively through these moments.
  An area I feel could use a look at is the organisation of lore and details presented, there are some moments that gave me whiplash and I was a lost until it pulled me back.
  I'd like to read more about the world around the characters, I mentioned this in my notes.
  Grammar:
  There were simple grammar issues and a few sentence problems, but nothing that pulled me away from the story, I think a few edit runs could tidy this up.
  Story:
  I found the story very intriguing and it's what kept me reading for this review - lots of open threads which are being explored, as mentioned in the style section I did get confused when the story pulled me about to different times and locations.
  The characters are all entwining and bouncing off of each other - I always want to know more when I get to the end of the chapter I'm on.
  Characters:
  The author introduces a lot of characters and doesn't give herself all the opportunity needed to explore them fully, I think this is good in some ways because it makes me want more, in others I wish I knew some more details to get a better understanding of their position in the wider world.
  Thank you for sharing this book, keep writing it and I'll keep reading it!
• SaltyDogGumRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  There is a myster in this story. One about woman who is unsure about the reality of the situation and the other woman who is more than she seems.
  Both characters are displayed well and the style of the story has you keep reading, wondering what will happen next.
• Frosty I. FrostRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  So, the story is a little bit confusing. Hara, a pregnant woman, rents a house then she gets stabbed but lives somehow. Until this point it's fine but the rest is confusing for my brain.
  WHICH IS A GOOD THING BECAUSE NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE STRAIGHT FORWARD!
  Style:
  I like how the author uses spacing and proper paragraphs. This is actually rare... A lot of stories on RR don't have paragraphs, they're mostly composed of choppy, separate sentences. Seeing proper paragraphs in a story put a smile on my face.
  Story:
  I don't know man. It's confusing for me. But that's a good thing as I said. You have to think about what you read to grasp the plot and it's good. The author doesn't spoon feed all the information and I'd say that's admirable. Good job! However, too confusing would make the story lose readers so sometimes straightforward would be a better option.
  Characters:
  So, we have a typical midwife looking home owner, a drunk noblewoman who's a short, a tall secret agent (Victoria best girl fight me) and a pregnant lady. It does sound like the start of a bar joke, which would fit because the noblewoman doesn't get out of those. Anyway, out of them all, Victoria is the best. She's witty, entertaining, smart and is definitely hiding something sinister.
  Grammar:
  Oh boy... the part where I have to criticize this one a lot. So, there are typos, punctuation errors, missing words etc. Of course, this lessens the fun and enjoyment you get from reading the story but good news! This is is the easiest issue to fix. A day or two of editing and proofreading would make the story a lot better.
  Tl;dr, it's weird but it's intriguing. This has potential so I followed the author to keep up with it.
• David GilesRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  This is part of a review swap.
  Grammar
  Some errors with capitalization but other than that very good.
  Style
  The style is frankly exceptional, everything I want to see in the fantasy mystery genre. It's verbose with a delightful touch of the macabre while also having great surrealism.
  Story
  It's very close to fantastic, but that final step is sadly a big one. The big issue is that the author leads with the mystery right out of the gates and does not slow down for even a second until chapter 4, which leaves an established mystery but no proper sense of stakes or reasons to be invested with the characters.
  Characters
  As the story section discusses, the characters suffer from pacing issues. One is on the run from something and thinks they committed a murder. Another is pregnant and seeking safety from something. The third protagonist works for some mysterious entity.
  They're all engaging plot hooks but every character's mysterious backstory being introduced so rapidly means there's very little the author can give the reader to latch onto and make them care about them.
  Conclusion
  This isn't really my genre of choice so I may be being unnecessarily harsh or misunderstanding some of the standard tropes. What I will say with certainty is the author has a fantastic imagination and a great turn of phrase.
• DanchiveRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  *REVIEW SWAP*
  First Impressions: I don't know how to exactly describe my first impression, but it'd be something along the lines of "a real novel". This definitely seems to be a more conventional approach to writing, a familiar tone which is great. I don't see that too much in RR.
  Also, the first time I ever saw a pregnant character in Royal Road, which is a nice change of pace.
  As for grammar, it all seems pretty good (I noticed some suggestions in the comments, which is great!)
  Now the only negative aspect would be that I'm personally not a fan of novels where we learn what the main thesis of the novel is later on. It's just a bit slow for me, and I'm not too invested in the life of a pregnant woman. Based on some of the other reviews, it seems to be a murder mystery with aspects of fantasy, which is interesting.
  Cons: Let me be completely honest, I actually can't write. To me, everything seems pretty good other than the bit of inconsistent grammar such as:
  "I'll move in first thing tomorrow morning," Hara said.
  "No problem, I'll ask my sons to come help you! Two of my sons just hang around here doing nothing either way" Madam Tati said.
  In the above lines, the first quotation ends with a comma while the second one does not. I also feel that 'Hara said' should be 'said Hara' for proper grammar.
  Some of the paragraphs seem a bit unnatural as well, such as this one:
  Hara turned, standing in the doorway, her right side facing Madam Tati and her left side outside. "Oh?" She touched the sleeve, almost caressing the stain. "Blood." She smiled.
  I feel like there should be a break at least before each quotation, and the last sentence is a bit awkward as well.
  Overall, the novel could use a bit of editing, but otherwise, it's off to a fantastic start.
  Pros:
  - The characters are great with distinct personalities and as I said before, I've never seen a prominent character on RR before, which is a nice change of pace.
  - Overall, the writing is nice, especially in the first ch