Second Chances: The Cursed Ring

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

For most realities, being assimilated into The Collective with its System is just the beginning. For Oliver Grant, it was the end of everything he held dear. But with the System came the opportunity for a Second Chance to reclaim what he lost, if only he is strong enough to seize it.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: citizenscribe

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 390
Views: 58,625

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

GurujiBabaGanoushRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
WARNING: This is NOT a simple edgy murderhobo story with zero character depth.
1)Excellent character work on MC.
2)The system apocalypse and the system itself are extremely well done and compare favorably to the best on RRL.
3) The fight scenes are enjoyable and are above average. Not "zomg! amzeballs! brilliant!!!", but definitely entertaining and engaging.
4) The plot is solid. There are several different levels of conflict that are present for the MC to face.
5) The story has a good internally consistent reason for the party to meet each other. This is unlike most LitRPG stories which traditionally struggle to explain how the ideal party members just randomly happened to meet each other.
Counterpoint to negative reviews about a lack of murder hobo-ness: (it's a vague peek into the genre of the plot, but I put it in a spoiler to be safe)
Title says cursed ring. Blue box identifies it as cursed ring. Guy promises cursed ring ANYTHING to bring wife back. Character growth and conflict happen because guy tries to figure out what "I'LL DO ANYTHING!" means.
Most stories use the death of loved one as just a veneer to justify writing a one dimensional character who becomes an edgy murder hobo. If you want only that, you will be sorely disappointed
Don't get me wrong, I love the classic LitRPG murderhobo and mayhem story where the sole goal is to become as powerful as possible. Nothing beats this genre to give delicious delicious popcorn entertainment. The sheer variety of different ways you can write the system makes this genre amazing.
But this story breaks the mold by trying to write a complex character and it actually seems to be succeeding. Instead of the sole source of conflict just being "become more stronk! punch villian!", the conflict in this story includes internal character growth. (Yes it also has plenty of action and interesting powerups)
Face it, no matter what LitRPG story you read, no matter how hard the author tries, you already know the ending: even mor
SilverstroRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story has the makings of something special, I think.
The first chapter hooked me more than anything on this site ever has. With a few paragraphs, the depths of loss and sorrow our MC felt were powerfully conveyed and as a reader I felt an immediate connection to them as a result. As the chapters progressed, there were moments that delicately expanded on this already amazing foundation, and the main character's motivations feel incredibly real and present in their decision making.
The expanded cast is developping well, each charming me in their own way.
It contains several classic LitRPG elements and while it doesn't push the limits gimmick-wise, it instead is applying these elements to characters that make me eagerly await a new chapter. How well this is maintained will be important as the story progresses.
Thinking back, at no point did a grammar or spelling error pull me from my engagement with the story to the point where I don't even recall spotting any.
I had a small pile of new-ish stories on the site I spent the day flicking through and it is almost a shame I read this one first since it eclipsed all the others in my humble opinion.
Can't wait to read more!
ZillimRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So disclaimer, I dont read chapters from side characters.
Good news is, only had to skip four chapters and only lost some 1/4 chapter of main story line once.
The story so far has a lot of potential. A very different take on the tutotrial and equipment. The perk system is also deceptively simple at first, but the synergies are a delightful surprise. Almost no typos or grammar errors and the story flows well (caveat the claimed condition earlier).
It is worth a read as it is a better story than most new hobby author out there, so give it a try for something completely different.
DragonLordValeyronRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I generally don't like stories with multiple leads but this one is great. It feels like a DnD party with a really cool dynamic.
Furthermore, this story brings in some interesting ideas to the concept of post apocalyptic litrpgs, its freash and interesting.
Honestly I am looking forward to how it progresses!
KO_KingRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
im finding it really hard to read after the team up. it makes no sense, he suddenly lost his extremely serious and epic motivation and is playing 'mr nice guy' doing random boring stuff. last reviewer is right its a really good story that takes a steep nosedive after the random illogical team up. hes supposed to be mad with grief not on holiday wasting precious time and resources.
it started off really good, 4-5 star good, top rated level good, epic, well written. no exaggeration, it was very good initially. the only way this story can be saved is a rewrite to remove the team up and sticking to the opening theme, or at least sticking to the opening character motivations, character and story,
is he a guy who is driven mad with grief chasing resurrection or is he a guy just trying to have fun. pick one becuse he cant be both.
i havent gotten that far but theres been a mention of consumable stat increase items. if he shares these i will actually drop this story because loosing a loved one is life changing and world shattering, its like loosing both arms/legs, it never goes away. you cant go from a desperate mission to bring your yesterday dead wife back (she literally just died) to suddenly sharing the items you need to bring her back to life with strangers you just met, have no attachment to, and barely even like.
imagine you lost both arms, and had an item that would get it back, would you disregard that item? would you give it away? would you prioritise being a nice doormat rather than getting your arms back? thats exactly whats wrong with this story, not only does he continually ignore the ring, his only lifeline, he takes every opportunity to hinder himself. it would be beter if he at least faced moral dilemmas between doing the rigtht thing and getting his love back, but theres not even that. the way the mc behaves is extremely unrealistic. the only explination is that he didnt love his wife at all, or even like/care about her, he just wants to have fun. as soon
NayrukeRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
I really wanted to love this one it's starts off with a compelling hook to start off the story. System integration, tutorial yada yada... you know the drill however the MCs wife is killed before the tutorial starts and he receives a magical cursed ring with a personality that has gone through the tutorial several houndred times before and actually has a motivation, the ring needs someone to do really good before the ring runs out of chances, great. The ring informs our mc that to get his wife back he needs to do perfectly in the tutorial and if he gets really really strong there's a chance to bring the wife back and in order to do so asks if the mc is willing to do whatever it takes to get his wife back and to follow the rings instruction. Awesome everything good, good setup good chemistry between the ring and the mc and a cool build, (spear thrower which I thought was unique and fun). Then it goes wrong after a few fun tutorial chapters we get a huge interlude dump consisting of multiple chapters of 4 side characters that you don't care about because they are introduced through infodump and then on the battle royal tutorial stage the rings One Instruction was don't pickup deadweight and what does or mc do he picks up 4 magically hypercompitent characters the author really wanted in the story. After he groups up with them his motivation just drys up. Like it would have been cool to see his motivations being tested through making tough decisions that have moral dilemmas but he just is like oh I don't want to be a bad person so I'm going to put these 4 random strangers ahead of me and my wife. To the author I would suggest a partial rewrite if you still want the side characters in the story have the mc face actual consequences for grouping with them instead of being rewarded or just write them out completely and add more personally to the ring, the buddy adventure was the strongest element of your characters.