Roar of Dragons

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Xander, 12, lives his life in fear, constantly worried about the next beating he'll receive for even the smallest of things. These fears become amplified when a wealthy man decides to adopt him, an event which causes significant changes in Xander's life. Though he's constantly afraid, Xander eventually begins to find hope that he's finally safe.

S.G. "Sig", 13, is mostly ignored by his parents as long as his chores are done and he doesn't cause any problems. As a result, he's taken to doing small jobs such as babysitting, dog-walking, and yardwork to earn money to pay for the things he wants whether it be going bowling with his friends, buying souvenirs at the zoo, eating out at a restaurant, or even something as simple as buying food he wants to make for himself. The one thing that makes him happy in life are the friends who stick with him no matter what.

Luke, 13, only wants to make friends and fit in, but he has a tendency to talk a lot no matter how much he tries to remember not to. On top of that, he's just started to figure out that he likes boys and feels confused and conflicted with himself as his family is an old and well-established one within the magical community. To make matters worse, he's not really sure about whoheis.

Greyson, 10, is Greyson.

Posting Schedule: Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1) This is not a story that will be filled with action, drama, or conflict between people. This is a slice-of-life/coming-of-age story that focuses on the characters' daily lives and and their internal struggles.

2) There will be some crushes early on but romance won't be much of a focus for the boys until later on, once they're a little bit older, though there will still be some relationships. Greyson won't have any for quite awhile, due to his younger age.

3) Xander's PoV in the first volume involves a lot of panic, freaking out, and self-put-downs; he's traumatized and healing takes time. This can make it difficult to read.

4) The story's main focus is on the boys' lives and how they grow and develop into the young men they eventually become. It'sfairly slow-burn for many parts of itso don't expect rapid character growth. Change takes time,especiallyfor Xander.

5) Note the Multiple Lead Characters tag. There are multiple main characters and this story is told in first-person present with in-chapter point-of-view shifts. You will also receive the same events from different PoVs as a result of some shared encounters, resulting in different views of the same event. Each of the characters have their own plots in addition to their interconnected ones.

6) Most of the lead characters will be introduced slowly over time. Xander is the main focus, but the other boys all have equal weight to each other even if their PoV fades or disappears for a time and regardless of how soon they show up in the story.

7) This story will take the boys up to and through at least early adulthood; the Sexual Content mature content tag is on here preemptively because of that. There won't be any sex until the involved boys are 18+ years of age. It will also be with their respective boyfriends/husbands and will not be poly; that said, it will be explicit/descriptive, and range anywhere from frequent to occasional, but it will remain within the amount allowed per RoyalRoad's rules and remain as less than 5% of the wordcount.

Cover art is a commission made by FuzzyFlowers00, it's Xander with his magitech glasses and streamer orb!

Chapters(205 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(6)

  • AThinkingCubeRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I just binged through the story (up to ch195) and I LOVE IT!!!! What a freaking amazing representation of some amazing kids. The setting? Well thought-out, and revealed drip by drip over time to keep you tantilized. Characters and characterization? Amazingly realistic and fresh, especially regarding neurodivergence. Relationships and drama are both appropriate and top notch. I personally love the POV shifts; the change in perspective can be both startling and enlightening. There is an element of mystery, too, as we slowly learn more and more about Xander. Slice of life at its finest. It will make you laugh and cry. The life advice inside is golden. What an incredible read. 100/10 recommend! You won't regret it!!
  • Dwayne PRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This is such an incredible story. I loved the original Xander story as well as the rest of the king clan, was so excited when I realised that you were working on rewriting this story. Can't wait to read more. Thankyou for the amazing story you are a gifted writer.
  • JarquafelmuRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Xander King has always been a favorite of mine.
    I just can't help but love the kid and my heart goes out to him every time he berates himself for not being good enough.
    So far this iteration of the story has been leaps and bounds better than it's predecessor and continues to shine.
    This is definitely one to read.
  • LazyLeopardRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Definitely the best YA slice of life I've ever seen.
    Creative world building and great characters.
    I look forward to more and expect this to hold my interest through it's completion.
    Past trauma is mentioned and may be triggering. PTSD is a theme of the early chapters. But overall the message is one of healing and overcoming the past.
    Spoiler Warning
    Grayson is hilarious and I'm still not sure how much of what he says is really true. Certainly a lot of it, but we haven't seen any evidence of the evil God.
  • AdiAdiAdiAdiRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    This story is nice, at the start we have a protagonist who is obviously struggling a lot, and it's really nice to see him come out of his shell as the story progresses, that said, at least where I am up to right now, i feel like there's not really as much character progression going on for the mc as there was earlier, its definitely hitting slice of life boxes, but it doesnt really feel like there's very much tension rn, whether that's interpersonal or some overarching plot.
    I think it also could be worth mentioning that there's lots of gay/bi guy characters, but there's very few women in the setting who aren't just in the role of caregivers/acting caring in some ways, there's no trans characters and I don't think we've seen any bi/lesbian women. It's not like this is some huge detraction from the story but it feels very weird that the characters are in this ostensibly progressive society and yet the only queer people who we seem to see are gay/bi specifically. It just feels like a few throwaway lines/characters to acknowledge that idk girls can be attracted to girls or whatever would make it seem much less lopsided.
  • plasticman74Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    Love love love the King stories I read a review where the guy said that their heart broke hears Xander berating himself but I think that he’s getting out of the habit since his ‘mind meld’  I can’t wait every week for my Xander fix lol thank you Kurt for your wonderful stories