Rising from the Abyss

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

[Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge - April 2024]

A young orphan works hard every single day, trying to single-handedly keep his parents’ business alive, all the while tortured by a terrible curse.

Then came the day that a wizard became his mentor - and he learned that his entire life was a lie… His parents didn’t just die, they were brutally murdered; he was not cursed at all; his uncle was not in fact his uncle; and he could channel magic! Struggling to rise above the tragedy of his horrific past, he is now thrown into an entirely new world.

Day by day he must push himself to catch up with his new peers, learning the secrets of this vast new world, while studying the arts of combat, weapons, and magic!

Where do his strengths lie? What are his talents? Is he strong enough to overcome the obstacles in his way?

And why is he considered so unique?

The secrets of the academy, of the missing ambassador, of the hidden dragons, and of the empires and kingdoms marching to war in the east - all have been hurled into an abyss so deep that they should never be found.

Yet Yaric grew up in the abyss, and watching his new world get dragged down by the secrets, Yaric is forced to plunge right back in. But as Yaric already knows, staring into the abyss is easy. Falling in is effortless. Rising back out however, that may not be possible at all!

Only for those who want more than a brief synopsis...What to expect:

The mc is kind of overpowered, but not in a typical way. And definitely not in an obvious way. He does get more overpowered as the story develops though. Again, not in a normal way.

Yaric is central, but many side characters are very important. The world doesn’t revolve around him.

There willnotbe any training montages. Power is gained through effort, and training and learning is part of the journey. Some will likely consider the story ‘slow burn’ – the mc is discovered to have magical potential, and then spends many years studying. Lore is revealed as the mc learns. The journeyisthe story.

The mc’s journey will include training missions, fulfilling appeals (effectively ‘adventuring’), diplomatic missions, small scale skirmishes and large-scale wars encompassing multiple nations. Mysteries and crimes will have to be solved along the way. There will be monsters, creatures hiding in the dark, and apocalyptic behemoths. Oh, and there will be dragons. Very important dragons. They’re coming!

There will be combat, martial arts, different kinds of magic, and various forms of crafting. Different nations have different cultures; politics, trade, and wars between them are important. Battles aren't just groups of soldiers slugging it out.Ok, sometimes they are...

It might take a while to get there, but there are overarching plots over and above the minor plots and story arcs. The main plot starts right from the beginning.

The world:

It's less medieval and more Roman Empire/Ancient China, if they both had magic and thousands of years of extra development. Just like they had occupations such as administrators, secretaries, lawyers, architects, acrobats, firemen and accountants, so too does Malvec and the surrounding nations. The sapient population includes humans, elves, dwarves, draugr and lichs. Wildlife includes deer, bears, rabbits blah blah blah... ogres and vardøgers, trolls and gnolls, hellcats and nightwing bats. And much more!

Technology is more advanced, mostly due to the 2 main differences between those empires and nations like MalvecTime: Civilization has been around longer - by thousands of years. Mass production is common. Assembly lines have been developed. Various forms of schools and education are widespread. The jump to steam power, internal combustion engines and electricity (and everything linked to them) is practically the only thing missing. Essentially power generation and storage.Food: Mages drastically enhance food production, making populations both larger and more diverse. Everyone can be fed with far fewer farmers, so a much larger percentage of the population are free to take up other occupations.

I’m the furthest thing from an experienced author on RoyalRoad - any feedback or suggestions would be highly appreciated! The story is already planned out VERY far into the future, but plot suggestions or pointing out of plot holes would be extremely helpful as well! I hope to develop my writing abilities over time, aiming to get significantly better over the next few months. Thank you to anyone who bares with me!

The dialogue in some chapters may also include profanity on occasion. There are no harems or anything along those lines.

Chapters on Saturday to start.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: Falling Leaves

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 2,191
Views: 1,162,780

Chapters(115 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

StrahdsillystrawRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
"Rising from the Abyss" gripped me from the opening page and promises to keep me engrossed until the final one. The characters are a delight – their dialogues and motivations feel authentic and transparent, yet they hold a delightful hint of subtlety. The gradual world-building is masterfully executed; I never feel starved for information but rather led, like a chicken following a breadcrumb trail of lore to its coop. The grammar is solid, with my only qualm being occasional prose stumbles, but that's a common occurrence for most authors.
The allure of this read lies in its characters and the well-crafted world, both rich in depth and nuance. They unfold steadily, never overwhelming, but rather inviting readers to immerse themselves further. The narrative's strength is in its ability to captivate through the clarity of character motivations and the skillful pacing of information. You’ll find yourself rapidly pulled in, begging the story for another piece of the puzzle, but you’ll only get it right as you’re about to give in.
While encountering a few bumps in the prose, it's a minor quibble in an otherwise engaging experience. "Rising from the Abyss" stands as an enticing journey into a world where characters and lore intertwine, leaving me eager for more. Couldn't recommend more! 5/5
Bruce cRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story starts out with an interesting high mage wandering around, accidentally stumbling into a bad situation the MC was embroiled in. Once resolved, the high mage helps the MC enter an academy for magic (and combat).
From there, the MC plods his way through, trying to catch up to his peers (age wise - though never explain why he isn't put with younger kids with fewer years training). This arc centers completely on martial training with no actual education on either magic or basics of reading/writing/social/science. The dynamics of the MC interacting with friends and antagonists is ok, but not compelling enough for 15+ chapters.
DasaniRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a wonderfully crafted story that delves into a complex world of mystery, fantasy, and crime. It's definitely a slow-burn and not a story to be skimmed, but it's deep and rich with lore, and that's what makes it such an enjoyable read.
Style: The sentence structure and variety is perfect, and the character voices are very clear. The story is well-done and starts off with Yaric's situation, leaving the reader with many questions, and addresses them later, leaving you wanting more and more with every paragraph. Characters even have different voice quirks, and the level of detail the author displays is really encompassed within the style and word choice.
Story: So far, the story has been incredibly captivating, and Chapter 2/3 were really phenomenal. I can't say too much without spoiling the mysteries, but you grow and discover more alongside the characters, and you witness their development first hand. It's clear there is a lot of foreshadowing and lore for both the characters and world-building, and more is uncovered in each passing chapter.
Grammar: Perfect. Very minor errors if any at all, and they don't distract me from the story.
Character: We start off with Lloyd as the main narrator despite Yaric being the main character, but this really helps us learn about Yaric's situation from a more professional/guided perspective. Lloyd is very-well categorized, and his interaction and care for Yaric is deep and understandable. There are already many character introduced, but it feels neither overwhelming or confusing.
Overall, you should definitely check out this story! It's truly a phenomenal read. Good work author!
zhaerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story sure brings me back to the days of reading books from Raymond E. Feist and Robert Jordan, but its better!
I love the focus on the character, which moves the story forward, without me having to go back 15 chapters(in those books) to review what last happened to the lead. Initially felt the pacing of the story was a tad slow, but the writing really drew me into the story and there were enough details in the action, that the story did not detract from the pace of the overarching storyline. I just wish there are more chapter releases to binge on!
Absolutely no complaints on the grammar and just a few errata which the author graciously acknowledges and corrects on. I'm sure he'll benefit from a proofreader or editor. Heh.
Characters are well rounded and their decisions and thought processes makes sense in the story's context. The ones who have more extreme behaviours are not unbelievably so, and serve well as foils to the other characters. Associates of the lead could benefit from a bit more depth, but it has been satisfying so far in the story.
All in all, a well written tale that I'll eagerly continue to follow. Love your writing, Falling Leaves!
hellnhavocRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So this is good but its pacing is very slow, and I would honestly argue there are some chapters that are not really needed. Nice content more like side chapters. Now if you are ok with that pace then dig in. They are just now starting magic around chapter 40 and dont reallllly get into it until the late 50's. This is the kind of series you wish you found when it was already 5,000 pages
LexaeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don't often leave reviews, because I'm bad at doing them, but I'll do my best and I'll try to keep it as spoiler free as possible.
I'll start by saying that the star rating is mostly when compared to other web novels. Compared to other published books there is still some work to be done, mainly editing.
Story:
The story is a slow burn, you get to meet the characters, some stuff is shown and some is told. Some of what is told maybe could be shown, but it would have to be done very carefully to not break the flow of the story.
While being a slow burn, the story is interesting, things do happen, but if you want something that jumps right into the action... This might not be for you. If you want to see the main character throw spells left and right from the first few chapters, again this might not be for you. But the story is good, the world makes sense, it avoids some stupid tropes, like the school bully trope where the mc has to take things in his hands to defend himself, here the teachers are around and are competent. There is magic to be learned but until then you follow the main character learning to fight, some may complain that too much time is spent on learning that, but it makes sense when you think about it, there is no time pressure for the characters to learn at a breakneck pace. The action scenes are pretty okay, but they are some of the things that could do with some editing as sometimes it is hard to get an image of exactly what is happening. Another place that could do with some edits are the dialogue scenes, sometimes it is hard to tell who said what and you have to rely on context clues more than expected. As I've mentioned before, this is a slow burn, but we don't go with the characters through every day, there are time skips and we only stop for the important and interesting events. Said time skips are well done, nothing jarring about them and they are done in a way that still tells you about the story.
Grammar:
It's ok, no big issues but it is obv
LoeksnokesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Here, we follow the adventures of Yaric.
As in many "Hero's Journey" stories, the MC starts from a horrible place, and with some luck and a lot of hard work, slowly builds himself up.
The story is incredibly well written. There are 10 characters of import (three of which provide most of the negative force in the beggining chapters), but the main focus is on the MC and his mentor. There is no rushing the development of the MC, which I personally really like. There are no serious time skips where suddenly the MC is OP beyond belief. Instead. The MC works hard, and has some talent, and slowly that talent is realised.
Action scenes are fantastic. With a lot of careful and detailed descriptions, written by someone how actually understands fighting (both 1v1 and in formations). It is great!
One thing i really like about the story is that if people have their head up their ass, one way or another, then it comes out in time, and they are called on it. This includes major positive figures.
The story is a slow burn. It is very clear there are some long-term movements being built up, but we do not learn about them very quickly; the main focus in on the growth of the MC, which as I mentioned before, is not something that comes too fast.
I am hopeful as well that the five younger main characters will face some teenage growing pains, but I am also pretty certain at this point that the story won't be overwhelmed with too much melodrama, which is a serious relief.
One last comment. The author clearly loves to write. The chapters are beautiful to read. They are substantial. I never feel cheated by the shortness of a chapter, and something important always happens in each chapter. There are some minor cliffhangers, but I never feel like a junky looking for their next fix at the end of a light chapter which ended with another pointless cliffhanger (like I USED to feel when I was still reading, say, Mark of the Fool).
One of my absolute favourite "Hero's journey" stories
MerenosRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Think Harry Potter but more mature.
This story has an engaging hard magic system and breaks the mold in many cases.
First few chapters can be a little awkward, but this is one of the few stories that has made me cheer out loud and make me laugh uncontrollably.
The stares were worth it.
I hope the Author heals from their illness.
NecessitysslaveRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Finally, I'm up to date. (Chapter 70). Now I can sleep.
This story is too good! I have found it so absorbing that I have had trouble putting it down and sleeping as I want to carry on reading it.
So, Long review...
This story is well written enough that it pulls me in without worrying or even noticing the writing style. The only thing that comes to mind that pulled me out of the story to notice the writing was that the narrator calls an opposing team by a different name each time, each name being slightly insulting. It was funny and never confusing so I think the writer achieved what they were intending, but as the rest of the story the narrator is impartial this stood out.
On the one hand the story is simple. Tragic backstory, brought to a close by a travelling wizard by chance, enrolled in a magic academy, has trouble at first, then does well. However there is so much more. The background/worldbuilding is great. The idea that there are side plots ongoing in a rich and diverse world is almost taken for granted. It just feels believable.
I'm not the right person to talk about spelling/grammar. But nothing is standing out as an issue.
Characters are all well fleshed out and not two dimensional with a couple of exceptions. There are very few characters who are just or or even . Even most of those who are effectively just stereotypes give the impression that they are only stereotypes because they are not given enough screen time to show any other side to their personality.
TLDR;
If you have some time to dedicate to a book then read this story. Be prepared to have trouble doing anything else.
W.Z. LeeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The main strength of the author is in world building. Falling Leaves has a clear vision of the world and takes the time to paint it in the reader’s mind. For example, when depicting Yaric’s “nightmare” in the beginning and also in describing the initial village.
The action scenes are pretty good. Without spoiling anything, the mage battle with the interactions between the different magics and their effects are very cool.
A lot of thought has also been placed into the characters of Lloyd and Yaric. I was a little thrown by the change in POV in the first chapter, though. The synopsis and first section of the story had set up the expectation that it is a close third person POV around Yaric.
So having it shift to close third person around Lloyd in the early chapters was a surprise. But this can easily be fixed by just mentioning Lloyd in the synopsis. No need to change the actual story.
There are two things for the author to improve on: info dumps and show, don't tell. These are not big issues in the story, but I’m detailing it here as constructive feedback for the author.
In describing the magic system and historical events, Falling Leaves uses various characters’ dialogue or internal thoughts instead of using prose. It can work, but as a first time author, it came across just as an infodump out of nowhere.
In many cases, it’s a clear pattern of character speaking, a paragraph of info dump in the narrator’s voice but said through the character, and followed by the character speaking again.
There are also several cases of showing through action, but ending with the POV character thinking to themselves what these actions meant. These summarizing internal thoughts do not improve characterization; instead, it comes across as the author making sure the readers knew what the action meant. It’s unnecessary in many cases.