Reluctant Knight

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Mankind likes to believe there are no monsters. That they have always ruled the world. It is not so. Once the world belonged to the Gods. Gods, and worse things. Mortals were pets, if they were lucky. More often, they were playthings. Or food. Or worse. So it was until an ancient king, backed by nine sorceress sisters, found a way to banish the Gods from the world.Kevin doesn't know any of this. He doesn't know about the Partition. He doesn't even believe in Gods. All Kevin knows is there's some crazy lady on a bridge fighting shadow monsters with a magic sword. Hedoesn't want to get involved. Kevin never wanted to be a hero. He'd stay out of it even if he knew the stakes. Hell, if he knew the stakes, he'd already be running.

His idiot friend, on the other hand...

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: DestroyatronMk8

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 53
Views: 40,756

Chapters(40 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(7)

Paul James KeyesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A group of friends is overly enthusiastic about risking their lives to protect a strange lady in white who is being followed by spirits. Once I got over their enthusiasm for putting themselves in harms way, the whole group is actually characterized very well with distinctive voices and a great banter!
This piece is well written and has been a real joy to read. While there were some grammar and spelling errors, I did not find them distracting, and the author was quick to fix the things I pointed out. That level of attentiveness is probably what has made this story shine so brightly.
Don’t let the cover discourage you from what is a very solid story! The characters not taking things super seriously gives it an almost marvel vibe as life and death battles transpire and quips are thrown. My description might make it sound cheesy, but it’s not! The characters and author just like to have fun with the material, and to me, this approach has been successful stylistically.
The pacing is good, and I was never bored. The characters feel authentic and diverse in their characterization. This is definitely one of the more solid stories on this platform.
JEPayneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Ah, a story after my own heart. The action begins as soon as the story starts, and the author has a real talent for writing these scenes. You won't know exactly what's happening straight off the bat, but neither do the characters so roll with it, you'll understand quickly.
Style - the style is consistent and the prose is very effectively utilitarian. It's not flowery, this is prose designed to convey info first and foremost and it fits well with the tone of the story.
Story - the story is engaging, the question of 'what the hell is going on?' Right out the gate draws you in, with the plot becoming more and more inviting as background information is revealed. It's fun all the way through, with the promise of becoming more epic in scope as the story progresses.
Grammar - no issues that I noticed.
Character - almost perfect, when focussing on Mike, Kevin and The Lady. M and L both come through loud and clear on the page in terms of personality and appearance. Kevin unfortunately suffers a little in the early chapters. As the narrator, the weight of effort is on seeing the world through his eyes, which leaves a little less room for him to shine. By the chapter 8 mark I had more of a solid idea of the supporting cast than him, though his character is coming through stronger and stronger with each chapter. It's a minor gripe though, still 4.5 stars here!
All in all, it's violent, fast paced and hits hard. It tells you exactly what kind of story it is straight out the gates. If you like action heavy stories, you'll love this!
JonHRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
As the review title states, this story really was exceptional for RR content. From the start, the dialogue is witty-- being military myself, the "combat medic" vs "nurse" line got a good chuckle from me. It feels kind of like flash episodes of something akin to Stranger Things-- it's got D&D in it's DNA.
The story, 8 chapters in, has real stakes. This isn't a series of fake outs. Characters are very mortal. Have I mentioned the humor yet? There's lots of it. One of the benefits of being set in the modern day is the writer now has the ability to reference pop culture in his dialogue, and usually it lands.
Chapters are easily consumable, and can be read in little spurts if that's what works for you. If this was on print, it'd be a page turner. As it is, we'll just have to settle for e-reading (for now!)
You'll get good urban fantasy here, along with real risks. The author plays with suspense often, and it never feels cheap. Good stuff, I'm excited to see more!
TL;DR, if you like D&D, Stranger Things, Neil Gaiman-esque modern weirdness, or anything related to the above three, give this a shot.
Sickened FanficsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style (4): The story has a fluid flow that keeps your eyes moving. However, it is heavy on the dialogue. The paragraphs are short, and more description of the surroundings wouldn’t hurt. The only real description of the setting was the bridge along the bike trail.
Story (5): If you like vampires I recommend checking this one out especially if you like them done traditionally. Frightened by crucifixes, having to be invited into a residence, seduction, and hypnosis? Check. However, there is a bit of a spin to the lore that won’t discourage fans of tradition.
Grammar (4.5): Honestly, there were very few grammar issues. The issues that I did see were the occasional missing period or comma and it seems that the writer might have hit enter by accident and broken up a paragraph or two. The only real thing that was a distraction was the use of the word break in bold to signify a new scene was starting. It would be better to just use a line because at first, it appears that break is part of the narrative. A line would make the text look clean and smooth.
Character (4): Getting a real feel for the characters is hard. Especially Kevin from whose point of view the story is told. The most interesting characters are Troll and Mike, who are hilarious. I think if the story opens with a little background information it wouldn’t hurt. For instance, you wonder why Mike is so ready to rush into battle and how he can identify injuries. The reasons are revealed after the incident. You learn what he looks like in the second chapter. A simple placement of a park lamp or mentioning his features showed when he lit his cigarette wouldn’t hurt. Next, Stephanie is the stereotypical girl that all the guys want, and Gina seems smart but feels like she’s just a tag-along. Lastly, as humans, they should be able to find better weapons than what they have. A simple aerosol can and a lighter would make a good torch.
Overall, it’s a good story that will make you want to stick around for the ride, and I
Urban Goat HerderRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Supernatural Meets Gamers Guild, but who invited the Vampire? Kevin never wanted to be a hero, heck he never wanted to stand out much in any way, unless it was to woo the beautiful an excotic Stephanie, but everyone in their little crowd wanted that.
Unfortunately Mike has always had other ideas. From Army Medic to now a dfender of the innocent, his heroics gets Kevin into a mess that might be beyoud either of their ability to handle. A Damsel in Distress.
The Lady bares the sword that drives off darkness. But there is just somthing about the her huanting beauty that draws the young men into a world much darker than they ever imagined, but they aren't alone. All of their friends become involved and the results are bloody.
I've read a lot of stories on RR, but this one was closer than any to traditionally published work as I have seen. There is a solid story line, with a nice arc that holds the reader's attention and keeps things interesting. Bravo, and well done.
The style was left a bit under developed, or rather unpolished. Were I submitting this to a traditional publisher I would review the language and revise some of the wording for a better impact. The difference between, "Mike ran up and hit the vampire' and "Dashing forward, his sword flashing too brightly in the low light, Mike brought down the unfamilair weapon on the beast of Shadow and Blood." ( yes I made that a little over the top.)
Grammar is not my strong suit. I use Prowritingaid, then run it through Grammarly, then find an editor so I'm not going to act like I know.
The story is straight up Solid. You have a great antagonist, a dire situation, and wonderful team of dorks leading the charge against, evil, what is not to love?
Character Score. This story has the characters you want. The bold Mike, the lovable Stephanie, the interpid Kevin. Kevin has a great story arc going, and I am looking forward to seeing what becomes of his journey.
If you like Vesik the Necromancer, The Knights of Badassdome, or
SvenwritesbooksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
My goodness, was this a fun ride! I'm only on chapter five or so, but the story thus far has been great. It's fun, engaging and if you're a fan of Supernatural or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'll find yourself in good company. I'm a sucker for Vampires (no pun intended), and guess what? There's vampires!
The characters are solid and have their own interesting and unique personalities, particularly Mike, who's a friggin' hoot. Man's my favorite. A few of the side characters left a bit to be desired, but that's not entirely a bad thing. Some characters are just canon fodder and that's totally okay. There's definitely intrigue around Lady, or the Lady of Various Hilarious Titles and I'm interested to see what her role will be, as well as where she came from in the first place. Also, respect to any woman who can whip around a long sword.
The dialogue is great, the conversations are believable, not superficial or unnecessary.
Overall, the punchy, to-the-point style works well for the story. In places, the sentence structure is a bit clipped, but it wasn't overly distracting. The style works well, particularly in the action sequences. There were a few typos here and there, but nothing that makes my inner grammar stickler want to come out swinging.
GenelvoRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Honestly it's could be made into a movie at its current amount of chapters so give it a read it's a wild ride. If you like friend banter comedy, swords that go swish, and the most deadly cigarettes, you should give it a read. Word count filler word count filler