Prism - Seekers of Solace (A LitRPG Saga)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The Virtual Revolution is in full swing and empty streets dot the landscape, vestiges of a foregone era. Seeking to escape the harshness of the outside world, humanity has turned to VR. And the unlucky few unable to enter this virtual realm must make do however they can.But Prism, the most advanced VRMMORPG, promises to change all that: countless possibilities, no restrictions, and cutting edge tech that allows even those afflicted by VR Sickness to full-dive into its world.Join Ryan and those around him as they try to find a place to call their own within a game that turns out to be so much more. A game that seems to recoil at the players' mere arrival.Author's Note: The story starts out slower, but the pace does pick up eventually. This is a rewrite of my first and only story & I hope to do it justice. The story follows the journey of a group of young men and women as they begin playing Prism. Fair warning, once we move past the initial arc, there will be POV changes as I move from one party member to another or, occasionally, to the viewpoint of some minor characters.Any feedback or suggestions that you might have are more than welcome!Release Schedule: New chapter every Sunday.Cover Artby: Tsuu ([email protected])Prism'sDiscordServer.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Requizition

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 456
Views: 98,862

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

shred2042Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a more realistic take on VR-based literature.
What makes it more interesting is the attention to detail, not only towards the VR world, but also to the real world of the characters.
STYLE
Narration is clear and to the point, using a lot of verbs and movement/illustrative wording when it makes sense, although on the rare occasion may seem too elevated for a beginner English reader. In dialogues you usually find informal and slang language, with a preference for sarcastic replies.
Fighting scenes are dynamic and tense. Magic and other systems are explained in detail, enough to explain the overall ideas, but without being overbearing.
Social interactions and dialogue make sense in VR and are well fleshed out. The NPCs show doubt, emotion, afterthoughts, have a history and have interests, making them as believable as a real-life person.
The writer gives a lot of thought to the real world of the characters too, creating interesting scenarios for humanity's near future.
GRAMMAR
Pretty solid grammar, nothing more to add.
STORY
It's too early to say anything relevant on the main story. There is a lot of world-building going on until the point this review was made (Chapter 3), so the main story is only hinted on and kept secret so far.
The initial quests make a great world building tool and give us a better understanding of the increasing complexity of everything and everyone in the story.
CHARACTER
The main character may seem a down-to-earth average guy by today's standards, but when seen from the lens of the world in 2070 (as imagined by the author), he is in fact an individual that stands out a lot, which is a pretty interesting idea.
The character progresses constantly and we get good insight on his thoughts throughout the whole process.
AlessyaORoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm not good with long reviews, but I will write a short one because I really enjoyed reading Prism so far. I like the story line and the virtual universe created by the author. It's packed with interesting characters, action, beautiful descriptions. The plot is captivating and complex, each character having their own motives that drive them into a direction or another, and having in mind the criss-cross between the real world and the virtual one, it will be interesting to see their interaction with each other.
Also, regarding the language skills of the author, I found his English to be extremely good, with a wide vocabulary and perfect grammar.
So, if you want to read something different, set in an alternate fantasy world, with various types of characters, ranging from human to not so much :), filled with adventure, action, sarcasm, funny moments, I highly recommend this novella.
Cheers, Requizition!
AllantherRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Reviewed at chapter 8 / page 137
In a world where few people live their lives outside of virtual reality, one young man had no choice but to do so. Ryan Drake suffers from a malady known as virtual reality sickness.
So when his only real friend, Dan, invites him to play a new Virtual Reality game, one that promises emersion that even folks with Ryan's condition can play, how can he say no?
Only, both Drake and Dan find the world to be more than they expected. Much more.
Follow their journey into the world of Prism to see what they find.
Style Score: At chapter 8, which is early in the story, I found nothing wrong with the pacing. There were some generic LITRPG infodumps, mostly the required things like definitions for race choices or explanation of magic that someone who hasn't read LITRPG would need to know, but nothing that was a hindrance to reading, in my opinion.
Story Score: The story follows Ryan Drake initially and then shifts POV to his friend Dan, with a few world-building short interlude scenes. Drake's part of the story feels like a story following one character while Dan's seems more party-oriented. The pacing and scene-setting seem fine. Although, the story does feel almost like a standard LITRPG with little difference at this point plotwise than many other LITRPGs which is why I couldn't give the full five stars. I will be reading along and adjust this if that feeling changes.
Grammar Score: In a hundred and thirty-seven pages, I found exactly three errors/typos. Far less than the Royal Road average, and less than my own story. These errors were pointed out in the comments to the author, and I didn't lose immersion even when I came across them. So no glaring grammatical issues that I could see.
Character Score: All the characters seem to be well-defined and I didn't detect any voice issues. When the POV shifted from Drake to Dan, it ticked me off - but that's a good thing. It means that I had become invested in Drake's character enough t
AnmittaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In a world dominated by VR, it is interesting to see a fictional world exploring the ways in which such a technology would change our society. On top of this, if you could be anyone in a fantasy world, who would you be?
I am not an avid gamer so the mechanics of RPGs are mostly unfamiliar to me. The author however makes them clear enough and not overwhelming. The story itself hints at many aspects from the real world, leaving room for the reader's curiosity and imagination to shine through.
Story:
I enjoy the world building and the issues that it tries to tackle, both for the real world and for the game itself. They are distinct but at the same time influence one another (skills you have in real life affect your in-game character as well). There is a lot of potential in discovering how the world evolved to this stage, what the specific background for the characters is and if this game will shape society / individuals in any way. The mechanics of the game also seem balanced, great power coming with disadvantages as well. This is something that many fantasy stories usually lack, since the protagonist can do no wrong and is all powerful (sort of makes you wonder why the villain was even trying).
Characters:
We follow several people inside the game and as the perspectives change it allows us to see situations from different angles. Both male and female characters seem real and well defined, one can relate to their struggles and sympathize. I love that they have both qualities and flaws and that the stakes seem real, even if it is "only a game".
Grammar:
Very good English, reading it is a delight.
Style:
Even if the perspectives sometimes change (real world, game, different characters), they are well delimited and easy to follow. If anything, they add a very welcome challenge to see the character's "truth" and they flow smoothly. The world and the fight scenes are created to be very visual and experienced together with the character.
All in all, I would recommend this st
Experiment ZeroRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Would I recommend you read this story? Absolutely! It's great!
I've only read a few chapters, but I will continue to follow the story. I love the setting and intrigue.
Character Score
The characters (not just the mc) are well presented individuals, with their own dreams and desires.
They are relatable and have histories I want to know more about.
Whilst I wasn't immediately invested in anyone, I am starting to grow attached to some individuals and am looking forward to following them through the story and getting to know them better!
Story Score
The story is off to a great start. Both the real world and the virtual world are very well thought out, and the way the author presents them pulls you right in.
I want to know more about the people, the game itself and most importantly, I want to know what happens next.
The author is skilful in the way he slowly reels you in, with clever foreshadowing and solid world building.
Grammar Score
Pretty solid. A few sentences that are maybe a little bit too long, but nothing that spoils the flow. The author is receptive to feedback, which is also always a plus!
Style Score
I enjoy the author's writing style. He uses a couple of tropes, but they are well written and serve a purpose. Why change something that works?
The pace is steady, not too fast, not too slow. Great effort!
Tanner_1000Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don't like doing reviews since it's lengthy, time consuming and the end product comes out basic for I. Though, it felt like I owed it when I finished the latest chapter.
Simple, not over complicated in the litprg explanation. The main character learns more on how to navigate the system gradually, which doesn't end up as an massive info dump to us readers thankfully.
World-building feels very realistic instead of it giving the impression of overly-done characters being semi-realistic in one field of emotion. The only con though would be knowing the main characters personality. However, the story did say and has been said throughout the story that the character is one of the few individuals that has been isolated from society due to the massive use of virtual technology+ severely decreased social encounters due to the incredibly huge use of normalized virtual technology being used.
Overall, enjoyable as of now and can see this as an immensely popular novel as long as it gets more viewers.
Vitaly S AlexiusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What do we want? Blue screen charts! When do we want them? Now! Where do we get them? Right here! Line up and recieve your blue screen charts and be merry!
Prism is a lovely litrpg, set in a VR style world which the MC experiences. It's written in 3rd person observation style.
The grammar in this tale of interest is pretty good. Is shaping up to be pretty interesting so far, will advance when there are more chapters, I reckon.
ActusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Honestly, most of what I'd like to say has already been written by other reviewers.
If you're looking for a clean, straight to the point litRPG - Prism is what you want. There is a heavy focus on worldbuilding and realism that many litRPGs lack, and the characters are getting more and more fleshed out with every chapter.
The sheer number of game screens is, in my opinion, great. If you like seeing stats and a whole lot of numbers, then you'll love this.
Overall, this is a very enjoyable read and if you're a fan of litRPG novels with realistic takes, I think you should give it a try!
CM GeorgievRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall, I am enjoying Prism: Seekers of Solace immensely! I am very new to the LitRPG genre and I'm all in! The varying perspectives are one of the best parts, being able to see "behind the scenes" to a point and not JUST what is happening in the game is neat!
Style wise: I am getting unimmersed very little. Though there are one or two parts where I had to take a couple seconds to remember back to know what was happening.
Grammar wise: I really didn't see anything other than some comma and ellipses mix ups.
Story wise: I absolutely love it. I have my own VR headset and reading this made me feel like I was almost playing a VR game. I like the direction that the story is going, the pace that it is taking, and the world building is phenomenal!
Character wise: I have found the characters to have very different presences and distinct voices. They are well rounded and incredibly interesting!
Dan needs to go on a few more of those jogs, but he seems like a really solid guy.
Drake, as a character in game, seems like he is going to be a force for some good. Avoiding the Conclave seems to have crippled his pocketbook but in my book gives him some moral ups.
Ryan, outside of the game, is straight up a good friend. I think he is well written and very personable.
BadAdviceRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Are you living in a world where everyone is connected to the matrix and you are the only outsider seeing the "truth" ?
Are you the one which looks at the next internet fad and spits on the fools that flock outside of stores ?
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you gave in to that one friend that always pesters you to try this new gadget or new app ?
Well, fear not, this story has you covered and then some!
Prepare to be immersed in a world where everyone has their home cinema strapped to their face 24/7 and you are the only one that moves his actual legs outside the house.
Follow the strange and enigmatic corporation that releases a brand new VR game with no hidden monetization scheme, no DLCs, no lootboxes. A corporation led by a CEO, soon to be kicked out of the company for selling a product that needs no sequel, has no bugs, no controversy and is just pure fun!
Watch an epic saga from the eyes of that one person that is just not with the times, while everyone else is throwing themselves at this new thing.
Convinced by his only friend and free pizza, follow the protagonist on his first ever real experience at VR and his first try at a videogame.
Once the actual VR game starts and everything is rolling, the story is amazing. The world building is very well planned. You will not get 10 pages of just describing how mountains look like, the few paragraphs of description are well laid out and will not take you out of the story. You learn about the world through the player characters, then NPCs and the interactions in general.
The tutorial aspect of the game is as close as to linking a wiki page as the game can get. The character creation aspect, while it is fun, it is a bit dragged out from my standpoint. I guess the author wanted to make the VR part feel as much as a game as possible, and for an RPG character creation is a big part of it.
The best part of the story is the characters and their synergy, the way they talk, banter, and basically construct the nar