Pyrebound

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

THE WHITE SUN RISES, AND THE WORLD SUFFERS.

A malignant star appears in the east every fourth day, spreading death and decay across Ki. Life survives only around precious fires kindled by dying priests. What happens to a man who loses his place beside the fire?

Rammash im-Belemel is determined not to find out. The son of a struggling family with no money to his name, his fortune lies on the front lines of the war with the demons, where thieves and assassins lurk in shadows, in the wilds where monsters rule. How much more will the god of the pyre ask him to sacrifice? And why should Ram be the one to pay?This book is availablein full on Amazon. Pyrebound completed its RR serial run on November 21, 2022; the online text is identical to the print and Kindle editions, only missing appendices and supplemental material such as a glossary.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2022
Author: Theredsheep

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 68
Views: 59,410

Reviews

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Community Reviews(5)

Erden12Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Pyrebound is not your typical RoyalRoad story, in fact, I would say that Pyrebound is an outlier in the fantasy genre as a whole. It has no Gamelit/Litrpg elements, no power progression or power fantasies in general. What it lacks in your RoyalRoad staples, the story offsets with it's dynamic story, unique and inspiring worldbuilding and it's rich host of characters. The author writes an impactful story, filled with fully formed characters and manages to present the reader with a sober, clear and artful dissertation on the topics of power dynamics, class struggle, ecological disaster in a rich(symbolically, not materially) fantasy world.
If you are tired of scrolling through the thousands of shallow and unimaginative stories that this site spills out, and are looking for a quality story(which might I mention, is completed so you can read it in it's totaltity right now) written by an author who clearly cared for his creation, then Pyrebound is the book for you.
STYLE-
The style of this book is a cut above the rest than your average story on RR. The author's prose is clear, evocative and descriptive without veering out into being too purple. The author writes us a big, rich and unique world and manages to shows much through little details in the narration or in the way characters interact. The author is patient and doesn't rush neither his wolrdbuilding nor the pace of his story, but manages to slowly and meticulously build both. The author is adept at using multiple tools at his disposal to present a world and give it depth, which I think is the biggest stylistic strenght of this author in general.
STORY
I won't go into too much detail or reveal any of the major plot points in this review. I believe this is a great story, with a great bittersweet ending. Again, this story is a misfit among the majority of RR stories, so you should not expect any power fantasies and similar nonsense but a engaging, mature and all around complete story. Note, that while the story has i
HisperiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I was completely blown away, I’m not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t one of the greatest odysseys written on this site.
Not really sure what to say except this is one of those you don’t want to put down. Badass, had a purpose and a reason but the understated nature of what is a expansive society created out of whole cloth lets the imagination run wild. I can’t say how much I respect a well built realistic fictional culture created out of essentially whole cloth. Even if it’s derived sources are sometimes clear the seamlessness shows impressive organizational skills and respectable breadth of knowledge.
Nailed the ending, absolutely right, hit all the right notes. High praise, a top tier work.
TearsofCivilizationRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Among all the works on Royal road this is perhaps one of the most unique. It takes inspiration from ancient Mesopotamia and adds it's own fantasy elements with Pyres, Handmaidens , Ensis , Moonchildren etc.
The world building was amazing and the characters were very impactful honestly.
This is undoubtedly one of the best reading experiences I'll ever have.
SyphaxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
[Note: I have read the full story on the author’s website. I have avoided spoilers to the best of my ability, and my understanding is that there is no significant difference between the one posted here and the other.]
Imagine ancient Mesopotamia. Now imagine every fourth day, instead of the normal happy yellow sun we all know and love rising, it is instead a white sun from beyond, whose very rays cause death and madness. The only way to not get nuked is to be within range of bigass magic fires called Pyres. And if you think facing down imminent death and destruction would cause all of mankind to band together in peace and harmony, you clearly haven’t met much of this species.
Around these pyres have formed cities, along with outlying towns called Hearths. Rammash im-Belemel, hereafter referred to as Ram in both this review and actual story, lives on the outskirts of one of these hearths. His father, the main breadwinner of his family, is injured beyond his capacity to work again. Thus Ram is forced to leave his town, and he and the reader embark on a fascinating exploration of what civilization might look like with the conditions and constraints of the white sun.
In case the stars didn’t give it away, this is absolutely my jam. Not historical fiction, like imagining a character in a real life situation (a squire during the crusades, a woman on a west-bound wagon train, etc.), but taking a culture and time period far removed from our own and building a fantasy world around it. Historical fantasy? Maybe it’ll catch on.
The characters are mostly used to explore the fascinating world. Be it from Ram’s parents leading to an exploration of different strata of the Pyre’s social classes, to his contact in the city giving a glimpse into the political makeup, each character serves a purpose for worldbuilding. It never feels particularly forced. They act in accordance with their world, and the reader’s curiosity is answered in part or full by the natural questions they and Ram
BonemageRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Only three chapters so far but it is pretty interesting and different than most of the works on this site. I will say that it is bald prose, written in a sparse style but that comes across honestly. The blurb is really not selling the story as well as it could. It's worth a try, maybe after a few more chapters are out. I think this one might be something I come back to and binge later. It's nice to see something beyond the regular types of stories I commonly read.