Shroud

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In a world of haves and have-nots, Caeden is a rarity. A shrouded who isn't Uber-rich. Orphaned twice over, he has no idea who his real parents are and doesn't care. Raised on the outer reaches as a blacksmith by his adoptive uncle, Caeden is content to live the simple life.

He should have known better.

Those in power are not going to leave him be. Not once they find out a secret Caeden himself didn't even know he had.

Now he is plunged into a world he never wanted a part of. Filled with competing families vying for power, a militant religion, and a rebellion unconcerned with collateral damage on their path to make a new world order.

Caught up in the middle of it all, Caeden has to learn fast if he wants to survive. Good thing they are sending him to school.

New chapters Saturday and Sunday.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2022
Author: IronOak

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 311
Views: 560,777

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(8)

SaldaeanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A really well written book. It has a rich, well thought out world. Characters are interesting and complex. The writing style is compelling, descriptive. No obvious editing issues. I'm not usually one for following books before they have a big backlog, but this has been really interesting, and I'm eager to see where the author takes the story from here.
TechmanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Very enjoyable story. Rich, vibrant worldbuilding with a fascinating magic system that has endless possibilities for creative builds and unique fighting styles. At this point there have been several different story arcs, and it's been cool to see the characters (and author) grow and develop their skills. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it so far.
DavethemanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A hidden gem.
Boy it's an entertaining read. A good mix of world building, beaurocrasy, magic, and shenanigans.
The MC is a crafter and brings that perspective everywhere. The initial world conflict has already been established. I don't root for either side. They are both jerks, but the military has to follow actual rules.
The school is the harsh military school type. This will be good.
ModaghairRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The magic has interesting limitations, exposed and revealed in a sensible manner and without info dumps. The world reacts believably to the dynamics of power presented, and how magic works (and how new technologies change that) has believable effects on society. The main characters each confront their consistent flaws in different ways and help each other with their struggles and with being their best selves. The technicalities of writing are excellent.
Overall, Shroud is a standout power progression fantasy.
wanderingHawk1Royal Road
★★★★ 4.0
It is really well written. Few grammar issues, clear writing style, and the world is interesting so far.
Sadly I personally started disliking the story around chapters 22-26. I feel like the progress of the characters is all over the place:
Cae had the most IP of his group and two shrouds before the timeskip after he had the least. Not to mention how disappointingly he uses his "sharp" shroud, I expected extremely dangerous attacks from that shroud that are practically unblockable instead his "sharp" attacks seem no stronger than an icicle or earth spear, elements which have far wider usages. He also never uses the reverse of physical enhancement which I suppose could be a good attack.
Lily has become a Mary Sue within a couple chapters she went from weakest with least control to getting a splinter, an evolved shroud, the most IP, more control in both shrouds than Cae (in fact she seemingly had more control of her ice shroud in minutes than Cae over his physical enhacement in weeks..), apparently she can easily fight both Cae and Erik at the same time, she can apparently become intangible(not sure if I read that right) and her personality feels like it did a rather sharp turn towards aggressiveness in a couple of chapters...
I have to admit I prefer stories with strong leads which isn't a tag here so that is kinda my own fault. I feel like Cae doesn't really have any drive in this story, yes he wants to get strong for his uncle (he proclaimed reaching 1st place) but is his end goal? As far as I have read his progress is not impressive compared to other students if you add the lack of ressources compared to most of the islanders and his greater interest in smithing instead of improving his combat ability (which can't be ignored since he will have to serve in the military) I don't see how he will accomplish that without plot armor.
As I said the in the title the story is not for me but if you are interested in a well written story where the mc doesn't have to be the b
Earth GrumbleRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Two chapters in, and I am wanting to know more. Always a good sign. The conversations are a little brusque, and that was were I dropped a star. Honestly, it's a little unfair to review after two chapters, but maybe more people will read and will drive this interesting little trip forward.
good luck and hope all goes well.
ThesseanRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I had fun reading Shroud, lots of interesting ideas. It's a shame the Author lost interest/wasn't happy with it, towards the end. I would have really loved to read more of this Universe and how it intersected with others. The main villain was a bit of a letdown to me, and I would have preferred more of a focus on international conflicts and to keep more of the POV on the main character, but that is just my preference.
Alex7321Royal Road
★★★★ 3.5
The story is written very over the top. It's like the excitement is dialed to 11 every second. Constantly almost dying, giant conspiracies, extreme abilities, etc. That said, it is reasonably enjoyable even if all the characters and plot points are a bit one dimensional and all over the place. This is not heavy reading or anything, it's just simple light enjoyment. The author picked a direction and a writing style and stuck to it. So at the very least the story is consistent. Some people may love it, others may hate it. It's a very polarizing style, so it really depends on the reader and less the writer if you like it or not.
I will continue reading it for the moment.