Offspring

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Offspringtakes place on the Cradle, an alien world of technical mastery, homeworld of the radji people. Their planet is a fortress, their sole enemy, the violent and predatory pyq, are kept far at bay. Little do any know that one day their fortress will come tumbling down.

A radji couple, ecologists and pariahs of their own people, find a strange egg, and are shocked when it hatches a pyq. Faced with imprisonment should the child be discovered, the pair are left with an impossible choice.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: browneorum

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.9/ 5.0
Followers: 460
Views: 180,474

Chapters(43 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

Dmaned11123Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I thought that his was just going to be another slow sci-fi story but oh my god was I wrong. The effort put into fleshing out characters, motivations, plot points, and the world itself was astounding.
The author has a knack for writing compelling narratives and making you as the reader feel surprising amounts of empathy to the point that you’ll be crying as you finish a chapter.
The only reason I can fathom as to why this is not the most popular story on Royal Road is the release schedule. One month between chapters means that it won’t show up often when people are looking for new things to read. Even so, you can tell the author uses every second between those chapters to improve the world they’ve written.
Honestly, one of the best stories I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I eagerly await the next chapter.
Krzychu0304Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It is really wonderful.
Things that captivated me:
World construction;
The world is complex and cohesive in a way generally unattainable for most HFY.
The Goyids and their society are portrayed in an extremely realistic way. They behave in the way you would expect from real living beings, they can argue, fight and hurt, and when cornered they fight to the end, they can also heal from diseases and injuries.
Added to this is well-done social dynamics, with social sympathies, likes and taboos, a thoughtful belief system and a bit of scourge and conspiracy from the secret services. And this was very cleverly written innate aversion to predators.
Running the plot;
It's basically a coming-of-age story, there's a steady flow of time here, and all the elements are important in terms of character development and plot.
This doesn't sound very special, I'll try to point out why it is; making a good adolescence is very difficult and most authors fail at it, interspersing large time jumps with a mass of content that has little to do with character development or plot.
Browneorum, on the other hand, somehow managed to bring to pages the unattainable ideal of what such a story should look like.
characters;
All the characters are complex and multi-faceted, with their own motivations and sympathies. In the case of the main characters, we are dealing with really juicy internal conflicts, which play a fundamental role in their development.
The characters themselves are easy to like, their actions are logical and consistent with what we would expect from characters with their character.
As a rule, I do not describe grammar, I will limit myself to saying that I have not noticed anything that would spoil the immersion.
Defects? I haven't seen any, except that the story is less than 700 pages long and I read it in one night and I still want more...
One last thing: to enjoy this story you should loosely know what arxur is and the concept of HFY, but it is by no means necessary.
PeamupsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I mean it when I say this: In terms of fanfics, never before have I seen people portrayed in such a realistic manner.
It's strange to write it, as I'm sure it must be to read it, but indeed; Beneath all of the fantastical layers of sentient, bipedal hedgehogs, flying around in hovercars and slinging plasma rifles, there's a grounded sensibility to this story which you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else. With wonderfully charming dialogue and multi-layered characters, I never once felt pulled out of the book. In fact, I was completely enraptured by this narrative! Watching the thread unravel through the (at the time of writing) 33 chapters was a spectacle I couldn't tear my eyes away from.
The struggles of these people (which will be discussed a bit more in the spoiler section) felt so real, with each chapter revealing more and more of the conflicts, external and internal, that these characters are going through. Going beyond the struggles, the characters themselves are supremely well-written, with all relevant characters displaying commendable multi-dimensionality. No single character can be put in a little category (in the good sense), no motivations are purely black-an-white, and everyone seems to have a purpose beyond the narrative interests of the author, which, would you believe, made this a real delight to read! I lie in wait for how future chapters will explore these characters even more.
... Also, terribly biased of me to say, but I really enjoyed how different the subject matter of this story is compared to the average NOP fanfic... One of the main things that initially pulled me into this story was the fact that not only was it centered around a relatively under represented species in fanfics (the Gojid), it was also set in a forest, away from city life! "Gone" are the--admittedly adorable--Venlil and the usual urban setting, this is full alien wilderness! They live in underground burrows for crying out loud!!
...But I won't press this point. What
RosenkreuzRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Offspring is probably my favorite piece of literature, full stop. Nothing else I've read has given me such and intense desire to know the people I'm reading about. I want to celebrate with them when they're happy. I want to comfort them when they're in pain. This world will pull you in, and it will not let go.
Saint-AndrosRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A genuinely delightful story that I can best describe as heartbreakingly beautiful. Offspring is a masterfully crafted tale of nature versus nurture and will undoubtedly both warm and break your heart on more than a single occasion. This story is genuinely better than some published stories that I have read. I beg you, please do yourself a favor and just read it.
TheRealBlyatmanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Only thing I don't like is the month between updates. Other than that, 10/10. Amazing writing and character development, great story and plot, not to mention it was very well executed and written. Definitely one of the best ones I've read in a while. Can't wait for chapter 37 to be released, I've read through the entire thing twice now, hoping the next chapter will come out soon.
TranquilClawsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is the kind of story that sweeps you up and never lets go. Every chapter is a small story unto itself, and every character is given layer after layer as time goes on. The best part is that when these characters are pressed, you see every single layer still there underneath, and it makes you go "wow, I feel like I really understand this person, yet I am still surprised time after time by how alive and complex they are."
This book is absolutely deserving of your time and attention. Go read it, and set some extra time for it too, because you might not want to put it down.
milkman7121Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a brilliant work of fiction, and I was legitimately surprised that it was based on a previous work. This is one of the rare fan fictions that not only stand on their own merit, but make me legitimately excited to read the original work. Keep up the excellent writing, I look forward to seeing where you go from here.
mulletRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Simply put this story is a favourite of mine. Everything from the characters and their struggles to a world that feels both infinitely large and yet constricting and small. I lack the words for the praise I wish to give this story; as far as a world to escape into and characters to follow Offspring more than delivers.
prissiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story is so much more than it tags. It is about the struggles of a predatory girl growing up in secrecy under herbivores in an alien world. (Even though, I never heard of the original world "cradle" on which this fan fiction is based, it does not matter. Maybe it is even better as one can fill the gaps with my own images.) I have gone through several packs of tissues reading this story, it is just that good. Not sure why it is not under best rated, this is really a gem.
The story is about aliens but there are many humans with whom I can relate less than with the MC, Ki-yu, the (gentle) huntress. The story is told from various POV, which switch between chapters. This is often an issue but works here because it is masterfully used to drive the story. Moreover, as a writer myself, I am envious of how every character feels so real, of how the situations are built up, climax and resolve without cringe, unbelievable deux-ex-machina, plot-holes or anything like that.
Each chapter has just the right amount of words, there is practically no filler text or holes.
The characters are superb, believable, and cute and you yearn for them. Not knowing where this will go, especially the first volume felt like it could be the beginning of a great legend. Still, the characters are down to earth with their struggles.
The only thing that could be improved is the line breaks in dialogues. Often two acting persons are in the same line, then a linebreak when the second starts his direct speech. But this was a really minor distraction.
And finally, even if this is ongoing at a slow pace, chapter 31 can be somewhat like an epilog, a larger cut. So you could stop there and feel finished. (But you won't be able.) You are still reading this review? Get a pack of tissues and GO READ Offspring!