River Born: A Torrent Of Memories

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Ma'at (Maat to his friends) is a nearly of-age young man, only son of the clan chief in a village of transients and outcasts. He always wondered where his father's clan came from, but the village elders don't often speak of their origins.

A blissful life along the River Torrent is interrupted by a surprise visit from an old friend of Maat's father. Strange machinations of a foreign expedition, and meandering, playful hints from a local river god help the young man to gradually unearth bits of his clan's past on an adventure that proves to be out of his world.

What to expect:

* A non-standard fantasy environment involving a steamy subtropical island and clan-based kin networks.

* A subtle isekai setting the importance of which is slowly revealed throughout.

* Invasions, culture clashes, and other forms of conflict

* A river god and holy shrines, among other deities.

* Combat with wooden ancestral war-clubs and war-bats.

* A nested and extended first-person backstory reveal around chapter twenty-three.

[Complete as of 6-30-24.]

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: AKArmbrust

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 17
Views: 15,895

Chapters(47 total)

What readers say about River Born: A Torrent Of Memories

“This story is very good. Style: The style is really good. The author is able to keep up the perfect tone for the story. Their word choice is good. Their way of writing is unique. They make great use of the literary device of imagery as well. The tone itself…”
SkarabraeRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“I think if you like a large well thought out fantasy world with factions and lore than you will love this. The way the other builds the world is very elaborate and well crafted, if not a little much to process. I think overall it could grow to be something…”
C.H. MouserRoyal Road4.5 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(3)

SkarabraeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is very good.
Style: The style is really good. The author is able to keep up the perfect tone for the story. Their word choice is good. Their way of writing is unique. They make great use of the literary device of imagery as well. The tone itself is a humorous one, which is fitting considering how the story is a comedy.
Story: The story itself is great. It is paced how it needs to be, getting into the action right away before slowing down quite a bit. It also develops at exactly the right place. The story itself is about a boy named Ma’at, his friends, and his life. The story goes into a good amount of detail on it and does this plot very well. It also has great descriptions and incredible worldbuilding. So, all that helps out the story a lot.
Grammar: I couldn't find any grammatical errors. That doesn't mean they don't exist, but I couldn't find any.
Character: The characters, main and side, are all three-dimensional, well-depicted, and realistic. They are very interesting to read about. Ma’at and the people around him are quite compelling and likable enough to make you root for them in the story.
Overall, I highly recommend this story.
C.H. MouserRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I think if you like a large well thought out fantasy world with factions and lore than you will love this. The way the other builds the world is very elaborate and well crafted, if not a little much to process. I think overall it could grow to be something great.
Style: The Author's style is very elaborate. The descriptions and overall cadence seems to be well formed and work as intended. I think some of it could be worked on some to draw the reader in a bit more but overall done well.
Story: The story was very thought out and has an ancient lore feel to it. I knocked it a little as I think the Author could of lean into the story a bit smoother to not make the reader not think too hard but was done well.
Grammar: Grammar is not my strong suit so it is hard for me to rate. As a reader though I can say with confidence that not one grammar mistake broke my concentration or harmed the story in any way. Overall I thought the grammar and punctuation was perfect to the undiscerning eye.
Character: I felt that the character was done pretty well. I could see him becoming a great character but I would like to see a little more depth. His thoughts and impressions more and a little less world building but this could be me.
Sir Neutron StarRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
‘A Torrent of Memories’ is a story with only hints towards the magic available within this world as many mundane rituals are considered as magic just as actual magic is.
The early chapter’s flow feels a bit slow and sluggish to me as I feel descriptions of the world are missing. Something that is rectified within the following chapters, however, with the story flowing much more smoothly with chapter 3 going forward.
It is a slow start with the world being slowly introduced first and characters getting added to the story with each chapter. We learn about the clans of the Stormlanders, the Plainswalker and Outlanders - humans- and how they have gathered on this island and the conflict between them. The story is ripe with lost knowledge of language and mysteries that appear mundane to us are mythical in their eyes. But while the mundane is garbed in the mystical, actual magic or at least something akin to it also exist within this world.
Grammar is on point without any obvious flaws to be found so far. The only minor problematic is the formatting of the third chapter which can easily be cleaned up and didn’t affect my reading too much.
As for Characters: they are all well written with Maat struggling in the community he is a part of as humans are considered weaker than the rest. We see him as smart and helpful as he teaches the other children. His father and some of the other kids like Sara and Lloyd are also being build up, with his father being source of intrigue in the later chapters.
Overall I give the Story 4 and half stars as the story’s flow and pacing pulls the rating a bit down at the beginning.