Of Men and Dragons

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Book 1 is now available on Kindle, or in paperback/hardcover! You can buy ithere! Jack crash-landed on a planet where the natives are seven-foot-tall carnivorous cat-lizards currently somewhere between stone and bronze age. The good news is the natives think the ship that crashed into their mountain is a dragon and are steering clear of it. The bad news is they just left one of their own as a sacrifice to appease the beast. No matter what Jack and his AI co-pilot decide, his life just got a lot more complicated... ATTENTION: This is soft sci-fi rather than hard sci-fi, hence why I chose that tag. For those of you unfamiliar with the distinction, here's what Wikipedia had to say. 1. It explores the"soft" sciences, and especially the social sciences (for example, anthropology, sociology, or psychology), rather than engineering or the "hard" sciences (for example, physics, astronomy, or chemistry). 2. It is not scientifically accurate or plausible; the opposite ofhard science fiction. Soft science fiction of either type is often more concerned with character and speculative societies, rather than speculative science or engineering.The term first appeared in the late 1970s and is attributed to Australian literary scholarPeter Nicholls.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2020
Author: DrBlackJack21

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 906
Views: 681,705

What readers say about Of Men and Dragons

“I read this when it was first released on RR and loved it. I went on to buy all 3 books in paperback and loved them. I'm now re-reading them here and I'm as invested in all the characters this time round. I can't recommend this story highly enough (both on…”
TensRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“I originally read this story over on Reddit but it definitely deserves a proper review. The story I primarily character-driven and as such is very dependent on strong characters to carry the story. Luckily it does it brilliantly. There is decent action scen…”
Tigra21Royal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

TensRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I read this when it was first released on RR and loved it. I went on to buy all 3 books in paperback and loved them. I'm now re-reading them here and I'm as invested in all the characters this time round.
I can't recommend this story highly enough (both on here and in print).
Tigra21Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I originally read this story over on Reddit but it definitely deserves a proper review.
The story I primarily character-driven and as such is very dependent on strong characters to carry the story. Luckily it does it brilliantly. There is decent action scenes thrown in too, but the character drama is the party piece of this one.
So if you want to get invested in some very well-written characters struggle against the world. I highly recommended it. you will be on the edge of your seat cursing at the characters when they are in danger because you will care.
BrekkerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Alright I freaking love this story and has some of my favorite character interactions I've seen in a while. It is Sci-fi but its in an environment where most tech not readily available on a non combat focused scouting ship isn't available or reasonable to acquire/manufacture.
Complaints first
I really don't have any, maybe some minor nitpicks here and there but those more fall on my own mindset and not the story at all. I was kinda hoping for more cool tech but due to the scenario of the story I totally understand why it isn't there. And that's about it.
Story
The storyline is pretty interesting with a main goal of repairing the ship being added onto with more objectives and possible changes to motivations as the story continues. There is some political aspects at play but nothing to crazy or convoluted due to the nature of cultural development.
Style
The writing has a nice feel to it where it knows when to be serious and when to be comedic. While not the most unique writing ever it certainly isn't bland or boring. Honestly the style is quite interesting in the hallucinations and dream sequences of The main character and leaves the reader questioning if they where real, not real, or partially real. It however shines the most during the dialogue and Character interaction
Characters
The best part of the story hands down are the characters and character interactions. They all feel like real people with believable mindsets and decision making. Their interactions are top notch with all their dialogue flowing smoothly and not feeling stiff or forced. The progression of the characters and the actions they take all have realistic outcomes and consequences even if they aren't the greatest which just solidifies the fact that they are just people like anyone else.
Grammar
it's pretty good with only some minor spelling errors and maybe a switched word here or there. It all flows well and is easy to read.
Combat cause why not
i appreciate the combat in this story. While it isn
Galen55Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A story with a niche genre that is very difficult to pull off convincingly without being self indulgent, but this guy gets it right. Evolving characters, meaningful stakes and tangible danger to the characters makes it am engaging read for those who like substance.
My favorite character is S'haar to no great surprise, going from a jaded and cinical woman to her end stage was a rewarding read originally and still a go to for me to read every year.
I remember when these were originally written. I would read the chapters on Reddit when on break at work on the night shift whenever they came out, I even have all three books on my shelf right now, three typos from the original Reddit chapters and all to give that nostalgic hit of sitting on that library floor with a shampoo machine at 11:30~ pm
cladonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It is really a good read and as you can see by the number of chapters it is a short story but the world and characters are still well build and complete with no loose treads, no need to read a thousands chapter that are just fillers. It is rare in web novels to find an author who knows how to finish a story.
VanimoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This story got me so hooked I just couldn't stop reading it in one go. There's a few weird quirks like referencing pop culture while the story takes place quite some ways in our future. But assuming the quality of our entertainment industry peaked not so long ago, the rest of the story is why we're really here.
I'd gladly buy this and future novels in the series as e-books, just make sure to give it one more spell check.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some sleep to catch up to.
JoseplhRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
A solid sci-fi first contact where an explorer is trapped on a primitive world where they must try to gather the resources to get home. At the same time, they must try to minimize their impact on the locals, or at least be a positive influence as local threats try to use this magical new technology to build an empire.
L'odeur de WumpusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
A heartwarming story about a space-stranded man, his spaceship sister, and their adorable lizard friend trying to make their way in a low-tech world after crash landing.
Of the three "space-farer crash lands on a primitive world and befriends a lizard" stories I've read in the past year, I think this one is my favorite.
The spelling, grammar, and style are excellent for a web novel. They're superior to a solid chunk of ebooks I've read, as well.
The characters are developing nicely, without being too webnovel-trope-heavy - they remind me more of characters I'd expect in a young-adult sci-fi/fantasy novel in a library. The MC is relateable, if predictable. The sister character is, perhaps, the weakest so far, but that's just due to a story-reason lack of involvement in conflict so far. It looks like that will be worked out soon. The lizard is adorable without being the normal "cute pet/sidekick/girl hanger-on" that's par for the course here.
The world hasn't really been fleshed out much so far, which is understandable. The small corner that they're living in feels developed enough for now, without having any infodump problems. In my opinion, the pre-book history (AI war etc) is the weakest bit of world-building at the moment, but it also isn't particularly relevant other than providing an explanation of the "who" and "why" of the MC.
The MC has a solid goal, is aware of solid blockers, and there are obvious threads pointing towards derailments beyond love interest. The author has done a nice job of avoiding having anything come truly out of the blue so far (all antagonists/problems have been mentioned ahead of time). It's nicely cohesive.
The biggest peeve I have with the story is how quickly the primitive civilization people adapt to FTL-level technology, language-wise. It's just that, though - a peeve. I'd be equally peeved if the story took multiple chapters to work through explaining what a "machine" is, or the dozen other words that couldn't possibly
ColossalRendersRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
First a disclaimer: I am reviewing this after having already finished the entire book on Reddit. Yes, this is a completed story.
This story is for you if you like stories that make progress with every chapter, but also takes its time to include everyday moments and explore its characters. It is an overall lighthearted story, but it does go some dark places at times. It also has one of the best developed antagonists I have read on this site, and in general.
This story is not for you if you are looking for hard science, extensive worldbuilding, high-stakes save-the-world stuff, unending action, or purely slice-of-life.
Overall most of this story is a B+, nothing groundbreaking but consistently good. Some parts are solid A’s and for me that brings this book to an overall score of 90%, or A-.
Rant:
I really wish there were more stories like this one on Royal Road. But nooooo— it’s all high-stakes, action packed epics. Why can’t a book just have some fun without turning into a meandering slice of life story that gets nowhere? Why are books like this one so rare?
Well, rant over.
Anyways, despite the title, there are no actual dragons in the story. Which is a first for my reviews. How ironic…
FatangryRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
There are no huge dire circumstances, there is no prophecy of the fated one, there are just well-developed characters trying to survive in a fairly hostile low-tech world.
The MC is vastly physically overmatched by the aliens and he's not as intelligent as his sister. He's very much an unremarkable everyman which is really not a bad thing, it makes when he acts much more impactful and serves to drive the heavily emotional side of the story. Which it has in spades.
One of my few complaints is that the 'aliens' aren't very alien. There are very few times (outside of the obvious physical differences) where the aliens strike you as such, they're just people. Could be a strength in this sort of story though or if you believe people are people whether they're cat-lizard aliens or not. That one will be up to you, for me the story is definitley strong enough I can overlook it.
Writing is good, clean and without major errors, right from the outset.