SEVERANCE [Hiatus]

Information

Status

Hiatus

Year

2024

Author

phocium

• Chapter 2 (Prologue) : The Witness
  Aug 23, 2024
• Chapter 1 (Prologue) : A Mother's Love
  Aug 23, 2024

Reviews

Community Reviews(7)

• RetsuRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Even though I'm not a big fan of sci-fi like stories, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. The narrative was gripping and consistently kept me on the edge of my seat with its action packed and emotional moments. The dark, gritty world is vividly portrayed, and the characters struggles felt genuine and relatable.
  The plot is incredibly engaging, filled with tension, action, and emotional highs. It takes you on a wild ride through intense and heavy themes, which might be overwhelming for some readers, but it undeniably keeps you hooked from start to finish.
  The writing style perfectly matches the world it portrays, blending dark, gritty elements with moments of humor. This balance keeps the narrative engaging, even if there are a few moments where the flow feels slightly choppy. The progression system is entertaining to watch unfold, with just the right amount of information given to keep the reader invested.
  Ace, the protagonist, stands out as a particularly strong character. His bravery, determination, and protective instincts towards his found family make him compelling to follow. His flaws and inner struggles add depth, making him feel like a genuine character with real worries and goals. However, while Ace is well-developed, some of the other characters could benefit from further exploration to enhance the reader's connection to the story and its themes.
  The grammar is solid, ensuring the story is easy to follow. A few minor issues are present, but they don’t significantly detract from the overall reading experience.
  Overall, this narrative offers a captivating mix of suspense, emotion, and intricate world-building. It provides a vivid glimpse into a dark, dystopian setting where survival, family, and strength are central themes. With its strong atmosphere, well-developed main character, and intriguing power system, it's a memorable read that leaves you wanting more. A bit more focus on the supporting cast could elevate it even further.
• HDMahRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This story is a very fun unique progression story that is incredibly well done. There is a large cast of characters that are all likeable and fleshed out, there is great action that stays excitng, and a very unique world that feel big and very well developed. From the alien overloards that introduced the system to the fuedal houses that exist in the aftermath of the system as well as some pretty cool monsters make me very very excited to continue to read this story!
• S.D. HussRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  When I first started reading this book, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. With the tags being what they are. It’s labeled as a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, LitRPG. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but found myself totally immersed in the book.
  Style: The author’s style comes across as good and efficient. Each scene is well constructed, and takes its time. The prologue was 3 chapters long. And does a great job establishing the proper exposition for the world and characters. Part of me wanted it to go into greater details about the invading alien race, the “Interlopers”, but it ended up working well, setting up the mystery and setting the tone of the story.
  Story: The story begins with the initial invasion, exploring the mother, how the system is introduced, and leaves us at a bit of a cliffhanger. There is a time jump that brings us to the true beginning. Ace and his adoptive siblings. There is immediately a strong sense of personality with each one. And they activate their powers, introducing the face of the system, Warden 190845362. I thought this character was a great introduction, entertaining to read. The battle against the bird with a crowbar was pretty entertaining too.
  Characters: The characters are likable and I enjoy them quite a bit. Ace is a great protagonist, and the siblings each feel fleshed out. Thalia and Icarus stood out for me. Pretty nice battle against the sever beasts.
  Overall, I am very happy with this book. Strong character development, intriguing magic system, and well written fight sequences. If you’re in the mood for something great. Give this book a read!
• SkarabraeRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Style: I like this story's style a lot. It has literary devices, in particular a lot of imagery that helps with the story's tone and set various scenes within the story. The author has incredibly good word choice and is able to set the tone very well with it. The author's way of writing is also unique. And I can safely say that the tone fits the story perfectly. It is a dark tone, and that is just right. In particular, I like how the author is able to establish a sense of danger.
  Story: The story is great. it is paced at just the right pace. It develops at the right pace too. So, no complaints regarding that. The story itself is a sci fi story about the Earth being affected by some alien force that seems to want to get warriors from humanity. It is also a LitRPG with a system involved that is a character in its own right. And all these elements are handled incredibly well.
  Grammar: I couldn't find any grammatical errors. That does not mean they don't exist, but if they do, they are most likely not distracting enough for most people to notice them.
  Character: The characters are great. They are all well-depicted, realistic, and three-dimensional. The main character is great, and the other important characters are good too, which makes certain moments very heartbreaking. I have no complaints here.
  Overall, this is a very good story and I recommend it.
• Elijah KingRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Okay this is an interesting story: aliens invade, earth is conquered and a new power system is introduced to build up humanity for possible exploitation? (Not sure yet where the author will go with this but its my best guess!)
  I do like the main character a lot though.  He is brave, determined, and always doing his best to protect his found family and friends. His motivations come through pretty well and the author does a good job of showcasing his inner thoughts and struggles. It made him feel like a genuine character with real worries and goals.
  The themes of survival, family, and strength are strong in this story. Ace and his siblings live in a dangerous place called the slums, and they have to face big challenges, like monsters called Sever Beasts. The idea of Sever energy is really interesting, and it adds a cool twist to the story. It shows how people can get stronger through hardship, but also how dangerous that power can be.
  One thing that could be improved is the development of the other characters. While Ace is well-written, some of the other characters, like his siblings, could be explored more. This would help readers feel even more connected to the story and its themes.
  Overall SEVERANCE does a great job of keeping readers interested with its action, tension, and strong main character. With a little more focus on the other characters, it could be even better.
• alingteaRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Severance is unique in the way it introduces its LITRPG elements, and the evil alien race that torments its characters. There's a big plot in the works, and from where I left off-- there's going to be a lot of drama.
  From most scifi litrpgs I've read, many fall into the mistake of relying too much on fancy, cool scifi set dressing. But Severance has a foundation and backbone in emotion, which I hope that it will continue to carry on in future chapters.
  Style - there can be a lot of CAPITALIZATION. Do what you will with that info, I know it can be a dealbreaker for some. Other than that, the writing is succint and does what it needs to tell its story.
  Story - plenty of setup for a big world, crazy systems, and some mystery on the side. As I said, this story cares about drama beyond just fancy set pieces and action sequences, which I appreciate. Things might be a bit cliche at the start with the orphans and such, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
  Grammar - no big mistakes.
  Character - right now, Ace is a pretty run of the mill orphan kid. He works best when he has other people to play off of, and there can be times when the dialogue between characters will either be incredibly character-driven, and other times when they sound like robots, who are talking just to move the plot forward.
• NebulaRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  Phorcium has proven to possess a knack for originality, and seems to have some skill in adding tension and subverting expectations. That being said, there is a lot of room for improvement. The beginning seems to suffer from a lack of direction, but sets up some interesting questions in the first few chapters which are answered relatively quickly, marking the official start to the story.
  As of now, i've only read up to the end of Chapter 20, and can say that i'm only now feeling like the story has begun. I recommend that everyone who's feeling skeptical about reading on after the first few chapters stick it out until around chapter 20, so that you can get a solid feel for the direction the story is going to be heading in.
  What do I like about SEVERANCE, so far?
  Although the story starts off a bit unfocused, we do end up enjoying some more stability as the story finds a stable viewpoint-- I can't say much more without introducing spoilers.
  The introduction of system elements is interesting, and doesn’t feel rushed. Phorcium has set up a tone of mystery underlying the society which has sprung up after the Interlopers appeared. There is a sense of a shadow at play, adding a flavor of intrigue to the notes of curiosity I feel about the enigma surrounding the aliens, their motivations, and the history of humanity over the last 15 years.
  Room for improvement
  Aside from the typical typos, grammatical errors, and first-draft remnants that seem to fall through the cracks during the various editing cycles (trust me, I get it), I feel that the character that the we end up following is a bit tedious to read.
  A lot of the times, I find myself utterly uninterested in the main character. He's a child-- not childish, literally a child at this point. That comes with all of the emotional immaturity that you can expect from an enraged youth who has just been granted more power than he knows what to do with, with the potential for more.
  To conclude, this story has a lot of potential-- b