Description

The storm inside Kaela has always whispered. On the night of the Harvest Festival, it roared—and nothing in Ashgrove was ever the same.

Haunted by grief and the terrible power that cracked her world apart, Kaela flees into the wilds, leaving behind the village that now fears her.

In the mist and shadow of ancient woods, the storm grows louder—hungrier—and strange creatures made of glass and lightning begin to stir.

Lost, hunted, and breaking apart from the inside, Kaela must decide whether to fight the storm she carries... or become what it wants her to be.

"I'm still me," I whisper into the empty woods.But the storm beneath my ribs hums, and I wonder how much of that is still true.

Community Reviews(1)

blugailRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

Probably the best AI-assited/Human-guided story I’ve read. It does feel like it’s building up to something, rather than spinning its wheels. Kaela, the MC is fleshed out nicely, and we know her motivation.
The story contains vivid imagery, detailed descriptions and uses grammatical devices such as parallel sentence structures.
Where it falters a bit is in the monotonous of the style. I feel like it’s using the same ultra-rich detailing, no matter whether it is appropriate or not. It might help if the author chose two distinct complementary styles and swapped between them to break up the mood and give the story movement.
Characters are mostly good. Kaela comes through loud and clear, but most of the details we get on the other characters focus on their physical aspects, like Lior’s golden hair.
It would have been nice to start things off with deeper discussion between Lior and Kaela. It would have given their relationship more gravitas.
The only real issue I see with the grammar is that the story shifts tense at some point. It starts off in present, and then shifts into past. Not a huge issue, but it’s there.
The biggest suggestion I have for the author, if they want their stories to become popular. Is too rethink Kaela’s motivation a bit. Right now, it seems like her biggest struggle is an internal one. Like her worst enemy is herself, even more so than the storm inside her. This sort of introduction robs the character of agency (readers wish she’d made other choices, so they have trouble identifying with her). It’d make her more likable if someone in the village antagonized her and that was shown to us rather than the sort of vague “she felt unwanted” feelings she has.
But all-in-all a competent story that seems to be going somewhere.