School-life & Swordfights: A Clubs and Stubs Tale

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Warning: Clubs and Stubs contains strong language and situations throughout that may not be suitable for younger readers.

"This story takes place in a fantasy world with a modernish setting. It mainly follows four students of Hardires High School who are members of one of the greatest Team Arena Squads in the history of gladiatorial school athletics.

Already two-time high-school world champions, they have entered their fourth and final year of high school in hopes of capturing a third straight world championship—something that no other school on the continent has accomplished.

As they prepare for an upcoming match with a rival school, it becomes evident that keeping their two-and-a-half-year winning streak alive will be tougher than expected. As both personal and external problems abound for the student-gladiators, can they manage to keep it together under the constant pressure of being the perfect fighting unit?

A blend of action, drama, adventure, and humor collide in this brand-new series!"

Thanks so much for checking out my story! This is the first time that I've released any of my work to a public space so any feedback, be it positive or negative (but please be respectful if so) would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping that this story is only the beginning of a long-running series of short stories set in the Clubs and Stubs universe.

Temporary Book Cover Design by David Watson

The release schedule is rather tentative, but the goal is to release a chapter every 2-4 days. I want to make sure that every scene is the best it can be before it’s released, so it may take a bit longer especially if it's a longer chapter. However, no chapter should take more than a week to be released. Each scene varies in length, but are usually between 1,000 to 2,000 words.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2020
Author: Kagan M Fallfield

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 7
Views: 10,338

Chapters(17 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(7)

PrayJWhiteRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Kagans storytelling provides not only a dream world full of curiosity and fantastical characters with unique power, but also realistic situations, people and emotion. The kind of story that leaves you waiting to see what will happen the week after.
MannyBlancRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The world, characters and lore the author has created has a lot of potential if he decides to continue with this series. Minor issues/grievances can always be ironed out. With the right support and exposure this can be something very special.
GlacialfuryRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Despite this not being my typical genre, I found the story engaging and you can feel the MC's growth from his time frolicking in the sunlight as a deer in the prologue to a heart to heart conversation with Principal Eppers about an upcoming fight. He changes and grows in his new skin.
There is room for growth as a writer, indeed, this is true of us all. However, this was well written and thought out and if there were mistakes in grammar I didn't notice them.
Well done and keep writing my friend!
TheWitchOfTheRockRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
High school sports drama, but in a magical, fantasy setting. Sounds good to me! The characters have loads of personality, and when i'm reading it's more like I'm watching the story in my head.
Style: I'm not pulled from the story by the style at any point, so I gave it a 5
Grammar: there were a few moments where the grammar did pull me out, but it was more like a double take and a quick reread to get the meaning intended. Not much of a problem. 4.5
Story: It's a basic story, but a good one which is made more interesting by the fantasy setting. 4 stars.
Character: ok. If the story is basic, the characters carry it. This isn't a bad thing. I always say any story can be carried by the characters, and these characters are full of personality and life. Already, I feel like if I was given a line from one of them without being told who the speaker was, I'd be able to say who said the line. 5/5. Very good. Will follow and read the rest of it.
VelaraRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
School-life & Swordfights is a well written novella, about four school boys attempting to stay out of trouble long enough to win an important gladitorial match.
Its an enjoyable romp, that executes well on the concept, with minimal flaws to its name.
Style
Stylistically the story is quite well done. Each chapter ends with a short outro comparable to the episode preview in a TV show, which is an outstanding way to maintain excitement without neeeding to end ever chapter on a cliffhanger.
Stylistically there are few weakness with the writing. The author tends to have superfluous amount of adverbs, and redundant phrases or filler words are unfortunately not uncommon.
However, the story maintains a consistently playful tone throughout, that is quite delightful. It's apparent that the author had a lot of fun crafting this story, which makes for an enjoyable read.
Grammar
The grammar and spelling is quite good, with minimal errors, and the author us quick to fix errors when they are pointed out.
This makes for a smooth reading experience with only the occasional stylistic oddity to bump you out of the story.
Story
The story is also quite strong. Despite having a more slice of life feel to the scene, each scene clearly has something going on either in the foreground or background that moves the plot along.
Callbacks to previous events are frequent, and gratifying as a reader to get answers to questions raised in previous chapters.
The world building is also quite excellent, and aside from an intentional info dump during the first chapter is meted out quite well. The setting has a strong D&Desque feel to it, and I was left feeling like I read a story set in a very well crafted homebrew campaign setting.
Fantastical elements are often introduced in nonchalant ways that I found quite charming.
Unfortunately the slice of life feel works against it in places, as despite all the chapters having some element that moved the main story forward in it, there are definitely entire ch
Lewis AldanisRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I appreciate the lore the author put in, it is enjoyable in its telling. I would recommend the novel Kings of the Wyld to the author, in that it has equally crass and engaging humor. I can see its inspiration but because of its roots it falls a bit in depth of character. There were some words that were unnecessary in describing characters' actions, more showing less telling, less words e.g. scene 1 "Fenrick could feel his cheeks burn red with embarrassment as the students around him snickered noisily in their seats." To: Fenrick's cheeks burned as the students snickered around him in ridicule to his answer.
YAK EdgeRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
School life & Swordfights is your typical high-school drama about the local sports team before the most important game in their life... but it is set in a modern fantasy world.
Story 4/5
And that is certainly where School life & Swordfights excels. The setting is so vibrant with history, lore, and trivia packed into every corner. And each piece wants one to learn more about this world, its cultures, and societies. It is a bit of a bummer that the story never leaves the basic premise of the high-school sport drama. Instead of following the four protagonists, one would rather explore the rich and fascinating world. Likewise, several scenes feel like filler. The story could omit them, and nothing would change. The fight against the goblin-kin, the game against Draycen, and the prologue are the most notable cases. A notable mention goes towards the prologue, as it also creates a fake premise and feels disconnected from the rest.
But to end this part on a positive note, it is also nice that this is not your standard medieval setting but that it evolved into a modern one. More of these should exist.
Style 1,5/5
One of two things that hold School life & Swordfights back, is the style. More often than not, we are told what happens, instead of shown. The at times, excessive use of adverbs and adjectives contributes to that. This also causes the fight scenes to drag down. They are too descriptive to create tension and thrill, which is a bummer since the fights are the climax of the novella. There are also a few inconsistencies and scenes where I was thinking that it didn't make sense.
And while I found the lore interesting, backstories and worldbuilding are injected clumsily into the story. A more organic use of exposition would help. But after a thorough edit, these shouldn't be an issue I would say.
One last aspect is the humor. The story doesn't take itself too seriously and uses the kind of overt names and humor, my 13-years old self would love and come up with. It is obv