Ria of Shadewood [Fantasy, School Life/Magic Academy, Tournaments]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

After being told to lock herself in the basement and hide when soldiers suddenly showed up in her remote village, Ria finds herself abandoned and must learn to survive. Will she uncover the truth of what happened to her family and her village? And what will that mean for her future as she begins to make her way in the world?

Book one is now complete!

Book 2:

Join Ria on her journey of power-seeking and self-discovery as she travels to the capital city and begins her studies at Crysellia’s most prestigious school for magic. Thrown into the playground of the upper nobility will Ria be able to find her place? Or will the secrets of her past bring more danger than she could have imagined?

Book two is now complete!

Book 3:

After the events of her debut and learning the truth of her heritage, much has changed for Ria. The drums of war beat in the background, and the Grand Games draw ever closer even as a mysterious illness continues to claim victims from among the students at the academy. Mysteries abound, but will solving them bring Ria the answers she needs or lead to more danger and more questions?

Updates Monthly.

[Background for cover was edited from a photo by Myicahel Tamburini provided by Pexels]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2020
Author: Rydenius

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 635
Views: 761,785

Chapters(203 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

luda305Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've been reading this for a long time; I think as early as the first arc of book 1. The other reviewers here have captured a lot of what makes this great. I don't really know how much I can add to that. Ria is a great young female mage lead. Her learning magic is fantastic. The friendship making is adequate, though some of the shenanigans make up for that in significant part. The school arc is... well, I'm undecided on that yet. It's a big change of pace for sure.
Apologies if this is less coherent than most of my reviews.
darksevenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a fun progression fantasy starring a little girl who has to rapidly do some leveling up. In some ways the setting reminds me of isekai, in that the MC is taken out of her original environment and thrown into a new life which she has to rapidly adjust to.
This isn't a litrpg but there is strong progression. The MC goes from a village girl with some basic skills to learning magic, hunting, fighting and more! There's also a decent focus on crafting with a lot of the magic progression initally focused on constructions (scrolls) rather then instantly cast spells.
Style: The style is good! I enjoyed the way things were put together. As another reviewer pointed out, it isn't anything new, but it is executed very well.
Story: The story is interesting with sufficient depth and excitement to keep readers going. Sometimes it feels like the MC adjusts a tad too fast to things, but ultimately things balance out enough that this isn't a problem for me.
Grammar: The Author's editing is good and I didn't notice any issues that took me out of the story or otherwise bothered me.
Characters: The characters have real depth and motiviation. Everyone isn't just a cardboard cut out.
All in all I definitely recommend giving this story a try!
DragrathRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So I realized its about time I reviewed this one with the finnishing of book 2. This story has a strong start even if as otehrs mention it in some sense follows fairly well trodden ground it does so well in a consistent manner and does show a willingess to at times break the status quo and conevntions later on.
In terms of story it did trail off a bit at the end of book 1 as she struggled to reach a gameplan to gett into the circles where she can enact her plans of revenge, there was at the time a feelling of disconnected importance of events at least though with the power of hindsight I can safely say that things have come full circle in a good way with many of these developments.
My biggest criticism here in this story is the fairly abrupt jump from the end of book 1 to the begining of book 2 which skips a number of major events with lasting reprecussions that lead to a whiplash effect as you are yanked into a very different situation. The author does backfill what events took place but its a serious loss to leave out what was for all intents and purposes her first major battle which establishes a secondary antagonist as an additional looming threat unfolding in the background.
Otherwise book 2 was a great run full of political intruge magic as RIa inetgrates with the elite of magical society at the same ttime as she unravels secrets about her origin. Its a fun read to watch chaos unfold around Ria as she breaks conventions and expectations. The veneer of her being a "commoner" which another review speculated on does appear near the start however it ends fairly quickly for reasons which become quite obvious fairly soon. However with that plotline laid to rest it gets substituted for more interesting intruges.
As of now at the end of book 2 a number of her secrets are out in the open with the reprecussions of their reveal being quite significant and setting her down the path of achieveing the vengence she desired even if the consequences that come with that i
msngRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I like this story. It follows a young girl left behind after soldiers take away both her parents and the other inhabitants of the surrounding villages. She adapts and learns new skills to take care of herself and possibly travel.
Including magic from a grimoire and hunting/survival skills from the other villager who escaped the soldiers' notice.
The writing style flows and reads easily. So far there is no system, levels or any blue boxes, but there is a magic system. Ria is not OP, but she is a rather adorable character with a decent work ethic and the drive to reach beyond her empty village. As the story progresses we are introduced to more and more new characters. All of whom seem quite interesting so far.
There aren’t very many chapters (or pages) so far, so I will update my review as more turn out. If you enjoy this genre, this is a very entertaining story and you should at least try it out.
PS: As officially required for an advanced review, some details on the spelling and grammar: it is good. There are a very few minor errors, but most of them seem to have been found and mentioned in the comments and corrected by the author. Being willing to read and act on these comments meant I gave the book an extra star on the style score. And as far as I can tell, the author seems to have noted and responded to every comment where someone has spotted an error (or what they thought was an error). Hope this helps.
Review first written when Chapter 12 was the latest chapter. Updated when Chapter 27 was the latest chapter.
Lord TurtleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
TLDR: It's fun, it's varied, it has its ups and downs. Likable mc paired with some decent slice of life so far. Would recommend at least checking out 5 if not 10 chapters before deciding.
Slightly Longer: Overall I would say that the story so far is intriguing enough and we are slowly getting to see more of the overarching plot points emerge as we, learn more about the world and how it works. The only real downside for me lies in some missing information that could've fleshed things out better.
The timeskip between arcs likely got rid of a lot of useless fluff. But at the same time I can't help but feel as if Ria and co could've gotten a lot more character development beyond what they already had in Shadewood.
But ultimately its not a real problem and remains thoroughly enjoyable. As such I would wholly recommend giving this a go!
M-CRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Honestly, this is such a good story and Ria, the main character, is excellent. The world-building and the depth of the characterization, since the main character has lost her family and most of the people she knows, is stimulating. The events relating to Ria losing everyone happens immediately before the story begins. Then she discovers something amazing—she can use magic, and she has a lot of catching up to do. Ria, with the help of the only remaining adult, tries to move forward and find a place where she fits in. And so her adventure begins.
The story gives off a wonderful feeling, luring the reader into the story without overwhelming them. The narrative provides just enough information on magic, social structure, and the history of the world without it being overpowering. I’m looking forward to seeing the world-building continue to bleed into the confines of the story. This will hopefully make the story more realistic and impactful and even more engaging for the reader.
So, what does Ria’s future hold? Will she soon become a magic student, studying the power of spells and wards, learning to change reality to her will? Will her magic be enough to help against a threat whose powers greatly exceed hers? Is she willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—maybe even try to get revenge?
The writing style flows and reads easily. The impeccable pacing allows all aspects of the story to grow and develop into a traditional fantasy tale. The spelling and grammar are excellent with only a few minor mistakes, and these have been corrected.
Final Thought - If you enjoy YA fantasy stories this one is for you, as you revel in a most enjoyable read.
NicbrightsideRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Warning, may contain spoilers
STYLE:
A perfectly servicable vehicle for the story. It does not break boundaries, it is simply what anyone could expect from a third person writing style, there is little else to be said. My ownly complaint with the style is referenced further on.
STORY:
I am writing this review having read 30 out of the 56 available chapters and while some may decry that I feel the need to at this point. Why? Because I've read this book before. Now I do not mean this is plagarism, I simply mean that at this point the story has set itself on such well worn tracks that I feel I can safely predict what is going to happen. There will be adventuring, a probably easy quest that turns out to be far more difficult than it should be and the young group of friends only make it out due to how amazing the main character is. She will probably go off to magical school, be looked down upon by all of the scions of the upper classes while excelling at everything. People will try and hurt her but she will turn the tables on them, and if the author feels like mixing in some tradegy then the surrogate father figure will likely end up dead.
I very much hope I am wrong and that the author can come up with something new and enterprising, but as it is now I see so many hallmarks of such well trodden ground it has turned to mud.
GRAMMAR:
Cannot be faulted. The use of language, sentence structure and associated categories are to the degree I cannot think of a single time reading it where I ever felt something was wrong or did not work.
CHARACTER:
Like the story my main gripes stand with the characterst. While actions are understandable, at times they could use with more exposition, and I find this keenly shown in the matters of the secondary character.
Jarrel makes little to no overtures about the fate of his son, and while it may be unfeasible for him to effect a rescue I felt there should be more exposed reasoning behind this. Perhaps a conversation about how he -was- going
KombartRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
It's the usual heroes journey: Young mc experiences tragedy and injustice.
Those experiences fuel her desire for growth and the wish for revenge.
It's simple and you can foresee a lot of the major plot points, but not in a way where the story gets stale or boring.
The mc and the characters around her are mostly well written, tho sometimes the author falls back into cliché. Especially the adversaries are kind of one-dimensional and a step down from the otherwise venjoyable cast.
One of the major strengths of the story is the magic system and the way the author balances story progress and learning new magicstuff.
The magic system of this world, while not groundbreaking, feels expansive, gives a new spin on some old concepts and adds a few fresh ideas. And while it's definitely a bit sciency, the author avoids these huge information dumps or endless chapters of research and learning.
This gives the overall story a very nice flow where information is nicely mixed in with plot or character building. It never feels boring and there is almost always something actually happening in every chapter.
That being said, there is probably happening a bit too much. Sometimes you read like 15 chapters, enjoy yourself and all the action and plot, but then the mc goes to bed and you think "ALL OF THAT HAPPENED THE SAME DAY?"
Maybe that is a weird thing to complain about, but it feels a bit off and the story would improve a lot if the stuff that happened in 2 weeks would be spread out over 2 months.
Now up to this point I would probably give this story a 4.5 or 5.
But the biggest flaw of the story are the timeskips/fadeouts. It feels like the author enjoys it to build up tension/excitement just to cut it off at the most interesting point and fade to black.
Then over the next chapters you slowly find out what actually happened. I don't need every small detail, but it's a bit weird to skip major plot points or climaxes (or one time even a complete major storyline).
Like one time the mc is
blaze262Royal Road
★★★★ 3.5
This story honestly surprised me; came in expecting an adventure, but it's more of a fantasy slice of life (I probably should've looked at the tags first...). Anyways, this novel is a slow burn, nothing truely amazing happens throughout the book, but the human interactions and drama draws you into the story before you know it.
So, onto the four scores:
Style: The story has a very nice flow and builds the world slowly without dumping much onto you. Honestly, you won't know much about the world until roughly the 20th chapter. The mechanics of the world and magic isn't clearly defined either, but I personally like it that way. The other way usually leads to info dumps that drag the story down.
Story: Needs a little work. Like I said earlier, a slow burn and nothing spectacular happens throughout the book. Thought about reading something else quite a few times up to chapter 10. Also have a problem with believing in Jeni's inheritance, with the amount of things she was left behind with, to be specific. It would've indicated very powerful grandparents even if they were in decline and living in a village, they would've left enough things to protect their family, like magical traps, or such to let at least Jeni hide.
Grammar: Didn't see any grammatical errors until today on chapter 68, so I'm going to assume the author reads reviews and edits the errors out, so giving 5 stars.
Character: So I really like the characters. Each is unique and enjoyable. There were times when I had to reread a few parts because the characters didn't act like what we would do if our families were kidnapped, but then I thought, this is medival times and a magical world to boot. Our morals and the characters differring is probably accurate. I would've liked to see more of Amilee or at least drama that happened because of her though.
A solid 3.5 star overall from me with story content needing work on, but the pacing is fantastic.
misssaturnRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
The story had a lot of potential. Good plot start, likable characters, interesting system.
The beginning already has some tragedy going on. But the way the MC overcome that is quite ingenious.
One of the things that are not to my taste is the time dedicated to MC thinking about boys (seriously or teasing). Arranged marriages are also something that I dislike, but it would fit the medieval look a like scenario .
The school arc is a bit predictable with the usual young master/mistress stuff.
This story will be on a timeout for me while I wait for some events to happen, considering where it's heading right now doesn't look promising for me.