Renalia's Tale: Monster Huntress

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

What if on everyone’s birthday, they got a skill card encapsulating their past year? And what if it was [Resist Hunger] seven years in a row? Renalia had dreamt of gaining new abilities and lifting her parents out of poverty with her new Deck. But none of her skill cards help the family peat harvesting business. Her Deck interests others though, as the Baron recruits her into his entourage. In a bigger town, she finds ways to make money, aided by her Deck’s hidden ability to loot skill cards from monsters. The money helps but she has to learn that it does not wipe away all debts nor buy the happiness that she wants. - Slow-burn coming-of-age story with a deck of magical skills. - Slice of slice, occasionally interrupted by either moments of horror or emotional catharsis. - Young and weak protagonist, but proactive and not whiny. - Very light game mechanics with skill cards. No hand management and usage is only tracked when the plot calls for it. - More focus on characterization, rather than the deckbuilding and LitRPG elements. No system messages, stat boxes, experience points, health, stamina, etc.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: W.Z. Lee

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 894
Views: 158,760

Chapters(36 total)

What readers say about Renalia's Tale: Monster Huntress

“Sadly inactive It is a hollow ache to reach the final page only to find the journey unfinished. To be deeply invested in a world, only to have the trail vanish into a cliffhanger, feels like a sudden, quiet bereavement. I am left haunting the silence where…”
AreadBooksRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“This is a First impressions review, as such spoilers are limited to only the first chapter. Let's crack on: ### General: Can we please mainstream the word Romantasy, as this genre combo is by far one of my favorites. If you love great fantasy worlds mixed w…”
AsmeonRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

AreadBooksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Sadly inactive
It is a hollow ache to reach the final page only to find the journey unfinished. To be deeply invested in a world, only to have the trail vanish into a cliffhanger, feels like a sudden, quiet bereavement. I am left haunting the silence where the ending should be.
AsmeonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a First impressions review, as such spoilers are limited to only the first chapter. Let's crack on:
###
General: Can we please mainstream the word Romantasy, as this genre combo is by far one of my favorites. If you love great fantasy worlds mixed with well developed characters then Romantasy is your thing. Renalia mixes these elements, with those of the progression genre that is used as the base of the ability/magic system. Can't say I have seen it before, but is an intriguing concept and the first chapter promises a long and deep running story that will reward the audience for sticking around.
Grammar wise, no real issues were found! So for you grammar nazi's, this story is considered safe and you should give it a go!
Cover & Abstract:
As part of my first impressions review, I look at the cover before reading any tags or abstracts to judge what it portrays to a potential new reader. Renalia has a beautiful cover, a woman looking off to somewhere above the reader. The lighter colors pop against the darker background, giving the clear indication that this is a fantasy or supernatural story.
Moving on to the abstract the first paragraph starts strong. Our main character, and title bearer, is established as having the dream of gaining abilities and helping her parents. Making her instantly likeable. The mentioning of the work 'deck' also clues us in to the fact that this story indeed is a progression story.
Then we have another two paragraphs which feel to me as if they might need another rewrite as they run longer than necessary. This is only a nitpick though, as the abstract overall does a good job.
Characters & Contents:
The first chapter starts off with a young Renalia witnessing the birthing of her younger sibling. She is established as a normal little girl that loves her mother, but is also scared of all that is happening.
In this scene the motivation described in the abstract is already established. Renalia knows that she has to help, wants to help. Eve
CKJ5Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Disclaimer: This review is based on the opening chapter and may not reflect the story as a whole.
Renalia’s Tale [Deckbuilding] is described as a LitRPG story featuring high magic, progression, slice-of-life elements, multiple POVs, and a female lead.
The chapter begins with Renalia witnessing the birth of her sibling, a unique and grounded opening that immediately sets the tone. The author excels at capturing the perspective of a young child, making Renalia’s thoughts and emotions feel authentic. This is no small feat, and it’s especially effective for drawing readers into the protagonist’s world.
While I enjoyed the chapter, I found myself wanting to learn more about the world and Renalia herself beyond the immediate scene. Other than the fact that births are conducted at home with midwives, little was revealed about the setting or the protagonist’s place within it. Slice-of-life stories often introduce elements gradually, but it’s worth considering that the first chapter can be the deciding factor for whether a reader continues or moves on.
What compensates for this slower introduction is the strong craftsmanship of the chapter. The writing is polished, grammatically sound, and flows well, making it a joy to read.
Overall:
Renalia’s Tale [Deckbuilding] is well-written and offers an interesting glimpse of the world through the eyes of a child. The introspective and grounded start sets it apart from many LitRPGs. With a solid following already, the story appears to be on a strong trajectory. Definitely worth a read, especially for fans of slower-paced, character-driven narratives.
CT JohnsonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall
I want to preface this by saying I have never been interested in the deck building genre. That being said this story is captivating on its own merits and has a flair that's visceral in the imagery it brings as well as beautiful because of that.
Style
The style is elegant and mixes in magic with a very gritty and realistic view of simple life. There are times the contrast can seem out of place hit for the most part it helps establish the theme quite nicely and starts to feel like an epic fantasy.
Story
This is still in the beginning of the story and the world is still unfolding around us. While the pacing can feel inconsistent at times, the beginnings of a story are always the hardest to nail down, but the author has a clear direction and manages to pick up the slack by creating a vivid and deep world.
Grammar
There are a few instances where the grammar faltered a bit, but that was primarily the dialogue and interactions. A couple of times were the tense of the conversation felt not quite right. However, the overall style and setting of the story uses that too its advantage, and it doesn't break inmersion.
Character
The main character is elegant if not a little flat still. She has a lot of depth left to explore, and this is still the beginning so I have high hopes. A lot of the other characters seem shallow in comparison but they don't seem to play as heavily into the story yet. But the author shows a deep connection to the individual players of the story that promises a lot of amazing developments.
Overall this was a delight to read, and one I could easily recommend to others. It has earned my follow.
CarbonCopyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm quite keen on the concept. Instead of the traditional skills people in stories get, the skills are represented as cards. For as of yet unknown reasons the MC has the ability to harvest skills from undead that arise from the mire that surrounds her home.
If the concept is good, the character interaction is great. The characters bicker and banter. The MC is a child and feels like a child, if a rather mature one.
The story is currently has a slice of life and discovery aspect to it. The MC is discovering the world and the audience is along for the ride. Other perspectives come up and they add to the color of the world and allow an understanding that an uneducated child just wouldn't have.
Great story good read. My biggest complaint is that I devoured the archive in an afternoon and now I have to wait for updates.
ChowMeiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Renalia's name is in the title, which is good, because the whole story centers around her. The author has done a great job of creating Renalia. You can't help but cheer her on with every chapter. It's not often that you find a tale (haha) with such a likeable character. Renalia's Tale is worth reading.
CoffeeInMyDreamsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Renalia’s Tale has been on my to-read list ever since I stumbled across a post by the author on the forums a couple of weeks ago. I read the synopsis and thought:Deck-building? Like MTG or Hearthstone?! This couldn’t possibly be any-as I read the first chapter.-oh.It’s a coming-of-age story that has clearly been fed large servings of love and attention by the author. I was smitten by Renalia and intrigued by the power system of cards and deck building. The only gripe I have is that, due to it being a new fiction, there aren’t enough chapters for me to get my fix! It’s brilliant. I sincerely mean it. If that doesn’t convince you, dear reader, to give the work your time, then I will do my best to justify why this is possibly the next big hit.The style is near flawless. The prose flows like melted butter and effortlessly guides your eyes through vibrant, yet not overly-ornate, language that is descriptive and easy to read. Perspective shifts are clear and add excellent value to the story. The author also uses memoirs of the protagonist’s future self to add flavour and additional context to the chapter- I appreciated this decision as the alternative would have been to use time skips to add the information (As the author mentioned in his reflections).The story captured my attention from chapter one. As we are mostly shown the world from the perspective of a ten-year-old girl -which has been executed very well, by the way-, worldbuilding is subtly inserted via perspective shifts (Granny and older Rena) and through dialogue. The magic system is extremely interesting: I had no idea that deck-building was a genre/sub-genre and I’m glad that I found it.I have no issues with grammar and spelling at all. I didn’t spot anything and the lack of suggestions in the comments section suggests that the author is very meticulous with their work before release.Renalia. Wonderfully written character. The author has taken care to ensure that readers believe she is a little girl with a big
Conrad StokesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Disclaimer: this review is written under the pretense of a review/comment swap with the author.
I have to be honest. I feel like I'm just buttering up all these authors with high review scores, but I have to give this one a five star too. It is not because of the review swap, but because I genuinely like this story.
When I read the first chapter I kind of groaned to myself and thought "ok, I guess I have to read a depressing story", but the story quickly evolved with a very sympathetic MC and a deck building system that did not take me out of the world building. It's just such a smooth style that I never felt it was out of place.
Seriously though, if you were ever wondering "how can a sad, medieval coming of age tale mix with a deck building system" this story is the answer and makes me want to continue finding out how this character's story progresses.
Grammar is good too. There is a character who has "Yoda Syndrome" in that she has a unique way of speaking, but I liked that character too.
I will add this story to my favorites and hopefully when I am done with the slew of other reviews I am obligated to do, I can come back to this story.
Good story. Recommend.
CrazyCoreRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story has magical decks, undead creatures, hints of far away wars, and an oppresive nobility. But what really stands out for me is the way the story is told through the eyes of Renalia, a 10yr old girl.
A young child doesn't run at the shadow in the corner, they run for their parents. They might be proud to get full marks on a test, but the first thing they do is run to show their parents. And Renalia is the same, looking at a brutal and unmericiful world through the eyes of a child. Her relationships with her family and those close to her drive most of her decisions.
The style is good, but there have only been 6 chapters so far, so I can't really comment much.
The story is really good. It's a deck building story, but so far it doesn't appear that you can run around taking/earning cards, each person receives their own automatically (I have a suspicion that chapter 7 might add a way). The author also never seems to take the obvious route - the mc doesn't almost die from a vicious undead creature trying to disembowel her, she almost dies when she gets a relatively light cut to her wrist.
The grammer is good and consistent. I normally only comment if there are issues, because for the most part I don't want to notice the grammer, I'm reading the story.
The characters are great as well. The only character that's been developed much is the mc, although Granny got some time as well. The others haven't had enough chapters to really see who they all are, but the foundations are already there.
The mc though is really motivated by one thing - compassion. Most of her decisions are influenced by her compassion, her views are influenced by her compassion, even her strength to face huge struggles and life and death fights is fuelled by compassion. And when she thinks she's dying, she tries to use her 'last' moments to pay her debt, before apologizing for failing her parents. Other people are front and center of everything she does.
I'm looking forward to the next few chapters
167fiveRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To start with, I really like the characters. They're the highlight of this story, especially the grandma.
The first chapter did feel a bit awkward, and Mwafamy's name (I think that's how you spell it?) took some time to get used to. It just doesn't have the beat that lets other normal names flow smoothly. But the memoir at the end was the best. I like how the author didn't specify whether the mother was going to die, or the baby. I personally thought the mother was going to die, following the regular cliche, so the memoir talking about the miscarriage really surprised and shook me.
The other elements of the story is good as well, though the writing style is still a bit unsteady. But I think the author will only continue to get better.
However, I do wish that the author elaborated more on what Decks were. I was completely confused. The story says the MC's seventh card is [Resist Hunger], yet what about the other seven? And what is a main card? What even is Deck Day?
Overall, this story really has potential. I'll be looking forward to see how it'll improve.