Shade and Flow

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In the Wastelands, if you were cursed by Shade, you were destined to be shunned, driven away, even killed on sight; you were a creature of darkness, of shadow, cold-blooded and unwanted. But, if you were blessed by Flow, you were the best humankind could offer, a role-model for any sapients.

Loke and Nova were born by the same parents, yet even though they embodied the two faces of the medal, they lived in the same dreadful circumstances, but what would happen if one day the greatest beings of the world decided that the siblings would become their Champions?

A Warning: There is an Anti-hero lead for a reason, and there should also be a Y.A. tag, but RR doesn't have it; therefore here it is. So, there's going to be blood, there might be carnage, but there will also be wholesomeness, romance, and affection. But most importantly, there will beAction.

About the LitRPG:This novel is a slow-burn, with a lot of character development, yet the LitRPG element starts in Chapter 3 and becomes more prominent as the protagonist evolves his Skill. Further elements appear in Chapter 38.

I'm not a nativespeaker:If you see any typos, please point them out, and I shall fix them as soon as possible. Thank you!

Release Days: Twice a weak

Release Time: ~09:00 PM UTC

Words per chapter: ~3000

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Anthony Szide

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 538
Views: 244,993

Chapters(94 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

ThiccboiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This novel is quite frankly, genius, and I'm tired of pretending it's not. The mixture of speed and quality is genuinly astonishing and I have only seen anything like it once before.
The style is mixed in the beginning, as we should expect, because we are getting to know the chracters and the world building ishappening at roughly the same time. Then the style takes an interesting turn and Loke has serious issues. The jovial structure slowly gets drawn away as the meat of the story is really pushed. The entire story is very descrptive and yet fast. We see things happen and sometimes the combat is quicker than the reader. It is a perfect way to do battles.
Grammar is honestly something I don't pay much attention to, because I listen to novels in a text-to-speech program. However, I think the author clearly has a very "learned" feeling to their writting. The only thing I can compare it to is the learning of a second language and the "textbook" like manner of speech. It rarely occurs and honestly most poeple wouldn't notice, but my college days were calling me and giving me flashbacks.
The story and style I think go hand-in-hand. Styles shift as the story does because the focal point is changing, and this author has made a great story. We join in right after a big accident and Loke is worried about Nova who are both new, then....we start to understand Loke's worries...and THEN...we START to UNDERSTAND the world. One minute you think you have an understanding and then BOOM, you are wrong. The world is like Fallout New Vagus in levels of quality and...strange. Would recommend.
Characters are TOP notch. Loke is a....[REDACTED]. There I SAID IT. But we love him anyways. Another character I love is M.J. who is introduced early, and she is "troubled" and a "quest giver" if you would, but then she completes the quest and she FEELS real. She is introduced in a very manic and hyperfocused state. Loke is thinking the whole time about the person HE knows and we the readers are sli
Orion1991Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm a fan of the author's previous novel and I'm really enjoying it. He is improving his writing in this new book and this new story has a lot of potential. Really looking forward to it. The system is a bit different than usual and this is a plus for me.
SophoclesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This novel is very well polished with an interesting power system the revolves around the concept of light and dark or shade and flow as its called. The characters have depth to them and don't feel like cardboard cutouts and there is an overall good direction to the plot of the story so give it a go. My only gripe is the occasional spelling errors though it's not a deal breaker
SoraNightRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
If you want a story full of adventure, levelling up and evolutions as well as an interesting class system, look no further! Albeit slow-paced at times, I found this story the same day as writing this review and I have already reached the most recently released chapter, 56. The quality for me is akin to Azarinth Healer, The Wandering Inn and Beneath the Dragoneye Moons, if you enjoy any of those stories you will most likely enjoy this one too! I am so excited to see what the author has for us, and I highly suggest to anyone with the ability to help support the author continue their work to do so if they want, again I am obsessed!
CelsicaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Full disclosure, I decide to support this author directly
I havent rated this perfect. ''Shade and Flow'' isnt as deeply crafted as some of the 5 star works on this website for a few reasons. There's no mind-blowing revelations in a multilayered timeloop.
But I love it in short, here's why I'm supporting this
1. Constant, self contained updates
2. Good worldbuilding and very clean litRPG structure. There's a bit of bloat when items are described but the abilities are not overwhelming like some other works. I love LitRPG but have 25 complex abilities (or literally hundreds...) just makes things tedious. Others have mentionned it but the duality of the setting is extremely well done.
3. A passionate author who's been reviewing his chapters for typos and seems just generally open to suggestions and criticism, and has been interacting with his viewers
Sometimes the luck of our characters seem to be a bit too good to be true; despite the harsh setting. There's some tough moments, but this work doesnt feel ''grimdark''. Fortunately, in the latest chapters, there's a few more moments that our characters explore the consequences of their actions and overeagerness.
Simply put, this makes for a really, really fun serial. The overall flow of the work is smooth and enthralling, a page turner; this makes for a great daily read.
Give it a go!
Kara manaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A really good story so far, keep going.
A very good begining, no plot armor, no power up, no harem so far.
I've read a lot of webnovel, and so far I love shade and flow. Not too slow paced, but not too fast neither.
The story have solid foundation. I will follow this novel
gduRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is very well done. The pacing is perfect. No slice-of-life meandering nonsence that doesn't advance the story. The worldbuilding is well thought out and executed. The characters and their relationships are rich and deep. The skill and leveling system is unique and well designed. No complaints at all!
AsmoGhostRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I love the story and the ideas behind it. Worth the read but know there are some grammar issues. But I really suggest reading the story and his other one I'm currently reading. Also my opinion does not matter because who cares, am I right?
Here is my actual critique. Word choice at points int the story are horrible. Thorax? Digitrade? You use these words like these to much and at some point you use words incorrectly. Dumb it down a we don't need you bash our head in with your lexicon.
See there I did it also. Poor word choice when your writing flows so great. Babble babble babble still loving this book.
So I need to write more words to critique this. How about some questions...
Do you have a proofreader?
Are you going to put these on kindle?
How about those dodgers winning the Superbowl with a hole in one?
Still not enough words.... Words words words this is fucking stupid... I'm typing on my phone while shitting and I'm done now. My legs are asleep and I just want to post this review. Royal road really needs to put a word counter on this because I have gone to far on this and I refuse to not post this review because some of his word choice really bothered me when this is such a great story.
NicebagdadRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Its truly what I wanted of a "chosen ones" story, power isn't just handed to them, they have to fight for it with tooth and nail.
The story has some really interesting worldbuilding and it makes me curious about future exploration and progress. So far there have been no true infodumps everything is fed to the reader in a peacemeal fashion allowing for you to rly think about the way the world works.
Its really good and I recommend anyone try it that like a little dystopia combined with magic and stellar worldbuilding.
TyirielRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Not gonna make a mess of things - It's just interesting. Things are dangerous, the world is bleak and the main character is just some seemingly random yet not-so-random guy.
LitRPG aspect is probably the thing handled best in this novel so far - It deviates quite a lot from many others and explains itself quite well.
The characters fall a bit flat, but they're not terrible by any means - just nothing exceptional. To describe them would be that they're written to be as diverse as possible, which can often make them very predictable, thus flat.
The story is as of yet somewhat unclear. properly reviewing it right now wouldn't be fair to either reader or author - It could go either the way of a "slasher" by hooking onto many objectives at once - gaining power through killing things or become very story-driven by hooking onto a single objective.
Then there's my issues with the novel:
He "Dies" way too often. When a main/support character comes within an inch of their life or sometimes even dies but somehow comes back to life, you usually enter a completely new phase with a story. Almost dying is almost always a massive deal in a story where they often take a break from the current arc to enter a new one.
In this story, "almost dying" is pretty much an everyday occurrence. It goes from "tough fight" to "When will the main character get knocked unconscious and lose 4 legs?". There's a massive problem there, and it's honestly quite easily avoided. Make enemies weaker, or have the MC actually avoid confrontations at times. The characters don't have to beat the unbeatable foe if they never fight.
There was one more issue I had; I really don't like "strange occurrences" as in: "Everybody else faces 3 enemies, the main character faces 100". I'm mainly focusing on the weird clockwerk dungeon arc - Why would they face a ridiculous amount of enemies that almost killed them? If the main character group struggles so badly, how could anyone ever become an adventurer without dying?
Th