Siege State

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Orcs, brutal, cunning, and prolific, pushed humanity to the brink. Humankind retreated into massive, fortified cities to survive.

In an age long past, we banded together, fought back, and waged a war of extermination. After decades of bloody war, we won.

Or so we thought.

Now, our ancient enemy has once again reared its head. And humanity, still reeling from the eradication wars, still huddled in their cities, have been afraid to once again exert their dominion over the land. And now we're out of time.

Monsters, and worse, swarm in the wilds. Idealists, those humans who have manifested magic, struggle to turn back the tide.

Join Tom, as he strives desperately to become an Idealist, and save his House from ruin, his city from destruction, and humankind from annihilation.~~~~~

Welcome to Siege State, an action-adventure fantasy with a fresh lick of paint on the fantasy LitRPG genre.

The story is more of a slow burn, and I hope you find the pay-off satisfying.

~~~~~

Release schedule:

Three chapters per week: Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

Information

Status
Hiatus
Year
2022
Author
J W Walters

Tags

LITRPGACTIONFANTASYADVENTUREMAGICMALE LEADGRIMDARKHIGH FANTASYPROGRESSION

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.6/ 5.0
Followers
2,012
Views
1,339,149

Chapters(124 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

  • sabazurcRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    If you are looking for nice action/fantasy on this website you found one of the good ones on this website. One of those stories I read in one setting. MC has good character, actions are reasonable and story flows well. Abilities and magic introduced are also interesting and worldbuilding is nice as well.
  • Beaste01Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This is excellent. I read a lot of RR litrpg and this is up there with the best of them. It's not a light hearted romp but more red in tooth and claw. The hero seems a bit wooden to begin with but as you read on it all makes sense. The story is engaging although I'm not sure what part the interlude chapters play. They help with the sense of world building but the author has given enough indications of skill and knowing their craft that I'm hopeful it all ties together. Anyway I'm happy to read along and recommend it if you're looking for something new.
  • ClavitaRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    There's just so much good writing in here. I can't recommend Sage State enough. I would say that by chapter 9 everyone should know if this story is for them but I'm willing to bet you would be hooked as soon as we shed the initial setting.
    There're some things that can turn off some readers - how MC is relentlessly beaten down for the first few chapters, MC's emo attitude (although it does get better with time), his OP skill (just the one), interludes that don't really connect with the story (it's great for worldbuilding but it's very removed from any of MC's struggles or conflicts), occasionally incompetent characters (although, to be fair, those are politicians, so it's not out of realm of possibility for them to behave that way) or MC dumb mistakes (while they're good for character growth it can still be a bit frustrating to read about, since MC is a sheltered teenager). Those are all the possible problems I can think of that can make someone dislike this story.
    It's just... there's so much more here that in your average webnovel. It's better than most self published books too. Everything, from worldbuilding through character interactions to plot, just screams *professional writer*. You can tell that the plot and the world are well thought out, tension grows where needed and you get enough pay off to keep you engaged while the mysteries just multiply behind engaging dialogue and engrossing descriptions.
  • Hussam_02Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Absolutely astounding! The characters feel so alive!!!!!!! There are no spoilers, but the way the author uses the MC's backstory to influence his choices is brilliant. I find myself extremely happy to see a new novel to binge.  Hopefully, the story will get more recognition so the author can spend more time on it.
    Great Work so Far!!!!!
  • JamalCheat2Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Been reading for a while now and I absolutely love how personal the magic system is. There are no short cuts to gaining power and even the culture around characters have an impact on how they have to move through their world. Very good stuff. The MC deals with some very heavy themes but by the point I’m at it balances out in a very satisfying way that matters. No super overpowered edge lord Mc and I heavily appreciate that.
  • MemnokhRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    5 stars! Excellent and fun high fantasy fiction! Great story telling and world building. The characters were all quite wonderful and I really enjoyed the magic system the author created. Just finished the battle for the city and I hope this story continues and expands out into what appears to be a well thought out fantasy world. Definitely recommending this to a few friends who frequent this site and enjoy this style of story.
  • RocksNPebblesRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This is what most of us are looking for...an imaginative world with a creative power system. It has a bit of a YA feel to it with a clear script of sequenced events, but the writing quality, world building, magic, and combat are all excellent.
    The pacing is solid and this is a story taking itself seriously as a true book in motion, not as a gimmicky too fast paced web serial only. I can see this one going all the way into a series of 5 or 6 books as the author has planned with efentuao kindle or KU publishing. The world is an onion with revelled layers and expansion at the right times into a broader and broader view of the world.
    And very importantly it is consistent in its logic without any breaks in rules or continuity. No chosen one mechanic with special powers. Though as a mixed hard and soft magic system, many things are possible. It is a skill and tier system type, so don't expect any stats or health points. Though who knows, maybe at some later point a magical artefact could offer some numerical aspects, but I doubt it.
    It matches my favourite type of LitRPG which has a limited number of skills which are all used and matter. No candy store nonsense with skills for walking or throwing every 3 lines! If anything I might compare it loosely with he who fights with monsters in terms of having a small set of defined powers which can tier up, along with essences, enchanting, etc.
    I'd compare it to Harry Potter in some ways with clearly defined magical skills and talents in the world, but with a deeper layer of LitRPG mechanics and a system underpinning all of this through a world wisp mechanic which thankfully is non sentient which avoids all the oracle problems of other stories. Something for others authors to follow! Never put an all knowing being at the start of your story which is at the beck and call of an MC who is desperate for information.
    So the HP ref is quite a positive one where we see sturdy and warrior magic users in traditional d&d type roles such as
  • isntthatweirdRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This story is crazy good, like seriously. The characters are nice if a teeny bit shallow but that can be fixed(there's 6 books planned), and the world is extremely fleshed out, the worst part of this story is literally the inconsistencies of the first 20 chapters, but even then the story is 4 star at the least. This is a story I really look forward to following, and has the ability to become truly amazing and special. Keep it up author, this is an amazing start to a book series.
  • ninjaneerRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I really enjoyed the premise of this story. The way the system is only present for some folks, but not all, is something I haven't seen much of in other stories. The tag post apocalyptic is a little misleading in that this seems more post post apocalyptic. Combined with the rare system user, I can see how this world developed to get the noble houses of today. So I think the world is well developed and internally consistent, creating a new and enjoyable read.
    Note: haven't gotten to see the actual system yet at of chapter 11.
    Style: as mentioned above, it's something of a new take on LitRPG that I haven't read before. Plus it's well written.
    Story: the story follows the troubles of the main character as he struggles to meet the standards of his noble family lineage. It follows a believable sequence of events that keep the reader wanting to know what happens next. I know I was disappointed to hit the end of the current chapters and look forward to the next one.
    Grammar: I don't recall really seeing any grammatical errors thus far. I find it to be well written and have yet to need to stop, scratch my head, and wonder what the author was trying to say.
    Characters: the main character has clear motivations and behavior. Over the first 11 chapters, there is clear character development happening and his actions make sense.
    Going forward: I hope to see how the author implements the system with the main character. The reader hasn't seen any blue screens yet but it is clear that it exists for other characters.
  • 2Icy4YouRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    OVERALL:
    The story is Grimdark, its in the tags. It's clear its meant to be a darker story and it pulls this off without being too edgy, MC progresses well, gamelit system is well thought out and feels different than a lot of other systems in a very good way. I'm always excited when a new chapter drops and I'm eagerly (if impatiently) waiting for more!
    STYLE:
    Style is nice, and clean. Grimdark, Gamelit in abundance, you can tell the story is meant to be dark and the author does a great job conveying that without being too much for the whole story. Well paced and thought out, a lot of attention to detail.
    STORY:
    The system, the characters, the monster, and the impending threat of the Orcs are obviously well thought out and the author sticks to it throughout the series, it's clear and easy to figure out skills and how they interact with the world, monsters, and people. I'm very much a fan of how the author retains the tension of the story but doesn't let it consume the entire story, yes its dark, yes its got death and pain and emotional anguish. But it's also a beautiful world full of color, excitement, a good bit of humor, adventure, as well as love/romance in the perfect dose to not make the whole story just a misery fest. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story progresses as the MC grows. Having the interludes to showcase the wider world and other peoples struggles/excitement is a very welcome part of the story, showing refreshing complexity, and levity. They're well placed as well, I don't feel like I'm missing out on the MC's story by reading the interludes.
    GRAMMAR:
    Grammar is solid, sentences feel and read fine. Very few grammatical errors, to the point where I didn't bother to mark them down as they didn't interrupt my reading experience. I wasn't ever jarred out of the story by an error. Only thing I can really think of that bothered me a little, was the tables showing skills and descriptions, they would sometimes be a little different or clumped together