Shattered Blood

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Origin Story of the AngelSong Series

Information

Status
Completed
Year
2021
Author
KevinADavis

Tags

ACTIONFANTASYADVENTUREMAGICFEMALE LEADMYSTERYURBAN FANTASY

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.9/ 5.0
Followers
29
Views
18,759

Chapters(40 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(8)

  • Nameless AuthorRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    STYLE
    The writing in this novel is extremely vivid. Whether it be in the description of certain scenes or the overall flow, it all meshes really well. The author has a handle on how to pull the reader into a scene and make it pleasant and immersive to read, no matter the occasion.
    GRAMMAR
    Baring some awkward sentences and minor mistakes, the grammar is completely fine and helps make the best first impression to a reader coupled with the well-written scenes.
    STORY
    A slow-burn story that allows you to immerse and learn about the characters and circumstances as we go. The mystery is very well set up and we're eased into it as Haddie learns more about the case she's currently assigned to. Sprinkles of the supernatural are found here and there and they keep the reader's curiosity to follow the story along and go to the next chapter.
    CHARACTER
    The characters are also written extremely well. Both the protagonist and the people around her are written realistically while still each having their own personal and interesting traits. Dialogue between the character flows smoothly and helps us understand how each of them works. It's possibly the novel's strongest point in my opinion.
    OVERALL
    This is a great gem of a webnovel, and something I expected to find in published format. The way the author structures chapters makes it work as a serialized story and keeps the interest high at the same time. If you are interested in the urban fantasy or mystery genre, this is a shining recommendation from me.
  • Ismail AkstonRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I'm new to this genre but I truly enjoyed this! The author skillfully crafted a fantastic world with characters I immediately cared for. To my mind, think that this book is off to a great start!
    It is a wonderful story filled with well-thought-out details and emotions which make the world and characters feel so real. The way the author weaves all this so seamlessly into the story makes it pleasant material to read.
    There were no noticeable spelling or grammar issues but instead the use of language is quite good. The descriptions were graphic, painting a clear picture of the world.
    Through conversations, events, and back story we gain an intimate understanding of the characters and connections between them. The characters are very interesting. They are fantastically written. The only real issue I have with the story is introduction was a bit loaded with information. This does improve over the course of the story, however.
    The story is somewhat dark and gruesome with fairly graphic descriptions of injuries but it’s extremely well done and believable.
    The entire story (that I have read so far) is very well written and easy to follow. The writing style is impeccable and obviously polished. The pacing was fast and very fitting.
    Overall, I think this is a fantastically written piece and I’m absolutely going to continue reading it.
  • AlexaLeeRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I’d originally planned on only reading 5 chapters however due to the quick pacing of the story and how short the chapters felt because of this, I read 6 before realising.
    Story: Haddie, a law student/intern, is embroiled in a paranormal murder mystery. Illegal dogfighting rings, people burnt to death and more await her. The one thing missing here for me is how quickly it moves on from the illegal dogfighting ring. It might continue in later chapters but so far, it feels a little forgotten. Haddie had planned to meet the suspect or trace him from the money transfer but then it isn’t mentioned for a few chapters. It would be good to add a little more to this or an explanation so that readers aren’t left waiting for it.
    Style: Well written in third person. It jumps POVs a couple of times in a very interesting way between Haddie and (presumably) the murderer but it was very fun to see how it started to come together.
    Grammar: A couple of spelling mistakes and awkward phrases but nothing too distracting. This gets better the further into the story you go.
    Characters: I think that the characters are the strongest part of this story. They’re extremely realistic and have very supportive relationships. Haddie (the MC) seems well fleshed out but I’d love to see more of Terry who seems very sweet! (He may be in further chapters more frequently but so far, he is not)
    World building: Very good. It immerses you in the world without drowning you with unnecessary facts. The small details (like the smell of grease and petroleum) in certain scene are really great and help to paint a clear picture of the world
    This is a well thought out book that is just the right combination of grisly, gruesome and intriguing that will absolutely keep you reading until the end.
  • BullerRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Not the biggest fan of mysetery genre. From what little of the stories I've read, I have learned to utterly become annoyed by the genre-tropes littered across the fictions. I have nothing against the genre itself, but most of the stories in it just can't help but do a few things the very same way.
    This is not one of those fictions. Somehow, I did not grow annoyed. Not sure exactly what's different about this one, but I'm guessing  that it's the approach for world building. Perfectly balanced, like all thing should be.
    5/5
  • CosmoseerRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Read up to Chapter 6 and really enjoyed it so far. It's a paranomral mystery about people being burned to death and a protagonist who works at a law firm trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. The intrigue is playing out really strongly and Haddie herself has been growing on me, though I wish the dogfighting thing would get more of a resolution. Great read overall!
    Story: This is where this serial excels imo. The mystery has started off strongly, and I'm curious to know where it will end up. There hasn't been any super strong clue or lead so far, but the tension and escalation has been handled well. Would like a stronger lead a little earlier to hook the reader into being really engaged like what happens next in the mystery? Also, I was a little miffed the illegal dogfighting business wasn't fleshed out in the first few chapters but I'm hoping we see more of it later. It felt like a big, personal thing for Haddie that shouldn't be glossed over. The paranormal stuff is interesting, and the burned body connection is well done. Now I'm just super curious for when Haddie stumbles into the paranormal side of the mystery.
    Style: The author has a strong writing style. The descriptions are well done without overstaying their welcome and the pacing is handled pretty well. I normally prefer more thoughts/internals from POVs, but I like how the sparse use of it helps highlight Haddie's character and tighen the pacing a lot.
    Grammar: Competently done. Author is clearly an experienced writer and it shows here pretty well. There are a few spots, especially in the first chapter, that pulled me out of the reading a bit, but it gets much better as the chapters go on. Might need an edit pass on the earlier chapter though.
    Characters: Haddie is the central character here, and it's great how we see her relationships with so many people, her work, her school things, and how that all slowly fleshes out her character. It's early enough that it's impossible to get a full breadth of he
  • Invictus21Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I have always been a sucker for mystery novels, and that's why I decided to check this out. Now 10 chapters into it, I'm certainly am happy that I gave this a try. The story pulls you in quickly, and I can't help but look forward to the next chapter. Certainly an interesting story
    Style: The story is very well laid out. From the starting itself, it's clear that the author knows what he is doing and where he is headed towards. The way the story progresses makes you completely immersed. The only thing I found a bit tricky was to keep track of when the perspectives changed. It could have been more clear when that happens.
    Story: Full score on this account. It's good, and it promises a lot of good to come. Which I am definitely looking forward to.
    Grammar: Grammer mainly was ok. There were no glaring errors anywhere. The flow could have been better in some places. I'm sure it would improve with time.
    Character: The main character progresses along nicely. Some of the other characters could use more details. But with it being a mystery novel, I believe that would come in time.
    Overall a great work, and would recommend everyone to give it a try
  • Alpha_guruRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    STORY: A paranormal mystery story about a serial killer who burns his victims to death and our protagonist who works at a law firm, trying to find the culprit. The mystery is very well set up, with very few clues so far, just enough to grab the attention of the readers. It's a slow burn, which might be a turn off for some readers used to fast pacing stories so I would suggest putting out some stronger clues early on but that's a personal opinion.
    CHARACTER: I think this is one of the strongest points of this story that might grab the reader's attention despite the pacing being a bit slow in earlier chapters. The characters that have been introduced so far have been fleshed out really well with distinct personalities and the conversations between them can be refreshing as well.
    STYLE: No issues here as the writing style is very strong and sounds professional with vivid descriptions, whether be it of characters, surroundings or situation that provides a very immersive experience and you'll hardly notice while breezing through the chapters.
    GRAMMAR: Nothing to add here as just like the style, grammar is impeccable as well
    Overall, a very good story with great foundations. The only thing I would like to point out to the author is that the plot in the earlier chapters might not be too captivating to the readers new to this genre.
  • CookieCrumbleRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    Like real life, it was very unlikely that a single track straight happening line is the only thing around. Shattered blood, mirrored that with plot and subplot nested together, interwoven in a stream of tension, always hanging in the air.
    Even when our protagonist simply received text, emoji littered text I might add, the looming that it is, had never been sidelined. Ready to haunt the reader by the next paragraph.
    The story took place in unspecified city midwestern USA. Our protagonist, Haddie No Last Name is struggling between keeping up with her law studies; dealing with his paranormal father; and internship at the local law firm where she was trying to helped her overworked boss defending alibi-less, wreck of a client targetted by achievement-chasing local DA while on her own investigating the paranormal, unexplainable aspect of the murder that totally outside her job description. Also, have I mention she had a passion project catching the local dogfighting gang?
    Yeah, she had a lot on her plate.
    The thing is, that’s almost entirely hers. It’s her want, her sense of idealistic justice —willingness to see that one clam would be thrown back to the sea and live for another day.
    Which of course as logic dictate, meant she is left behind on everything.
    The author handled her personality spot on, consistent. Showing it in every small act; the way she said she’ll give reccommendation even though she’s an intern (who does that?) and the speed when she helped her friend when their car broke is just telling.
    Although the way that the story opened (Ch.1) was littered with as much as twenty tangents (alliteration, not actual count). I know this is supposed to be how the author established the mood, however imagining —imagining description that is, took quite a bit of brainpower. So when the next paragraph demanded that we hold on to another and another and another environ, uncorrelated physical descriptions, the previous one just sputtered out. More emphasis on internal mon