Of Swords & Gems

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Ranun saved his kingdom, Soucrest, from an evil tyrant. But that was years ago when he was healthy. Now, he is a shell of his former self, fragile when kings are supposed to be the strongest warrior in their domain.

How will he protect his country from Corolla, a crime lord hell-bent on introducing a strange, mystical drug to his people?

West of Soucrest’s border, a young girl is tributed to a powerful lord, who conducts deadly experiments on his victims in the search for power. Usually fatal, she survives, with a power unlike anything seen before. Will she accept the destiny handed to her since birth or will she carve her own with the help of some friends?

Contains multiple viewpoint perspectives.

Cover Art byJefferymoonworm

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2020
Author: AngryAdverbs

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 33
Views: 30,656

Chapters(69 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(2)

PythraithiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story begins a bit convoluted, introducing multiple character perspectives—if you're a reader who doesn't like those, well... you probably want to stop here—and developing backstories and worldbuilding right away. It's narrated in third person, with zero mistakes in grammar/punctuation/spelling that I could notice, and a very enjoyable style of writing. All of the dialogue, descriptions, and thinking is pretty seamless and clear. Overall, just looking at literary structure, Of Swords & Gems is very well written.
Moving onto the story itself, we have protagonists Belch, a girl starting life as one of the green-eyed "beasts"—reviled through the country of Dorn—and Ranun, one of the nicest kings you've ever met who rules over Soucrest, secretly crippled by a magical curse that limits his formerly legendary combat prowress to a handful of uses for his remaining life. Introducing Soulgems, magical components that induce preternatural abilities in enchanted weapons, and a surprisingly developed world (where there's refrigerators and guns alongside knights and magical soul-sucking drugs), the background is very fleshed-out and has a pretty unique feel; it's not really a LitRPG with levels or classes or any real numbers, but rather world built off of actual societies and ecosystems intead of needing a System.
We simultaneously follow Belch's journey to rediscover herself after a lifetime of being treated as a subhuman and then get experimented on as the first person to be enchanted by a Soulgem, Ranun's experiences as a king who just wants his people to be happy, damn it, and a few lesser characters like Corolla the alcoholic superdrug dealer/wholesale murderer, a Soucrest agent squad, Pedr the Swole, and evilish Lord Aidan of Dormoor.
There's a hefty dose of combat, politics, relationships, and all the goodies you'd tend to want in a good story. I'd spoil it more, but you'll have to go read it for yourself. It gets complicated many times and I've had trouble rememberin
Ethernet StoryhunterRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Personally I do not like the story.
But .......
The characters are good. The plot is dark and driven. The mysterys are deep.
Two of the main characters are likeable.
But the view from the villians side will be sickening for what I hope are most.
It is like reading from the point of view of a serial killer. The perspective is well done.
For those who think that true light is only bright when contrasted with the greatest darkness. This is the story for you.
A tale of black night and bright dawn.