Skill Thief - The Color of Another World [LitRPG, Fantasy, Isekai]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Adam's life as a down-on-his luck college student goes from bad to worse when he's transported through a painting and into an alternate fantasy world. He quickly finds that he's gained the ability to steal people's skills – and souls – by painting their portrait in his tablet. It's the only defense he has against the ravenous monsters and suspicious locals he soon encounters.

Unfortunately, rather than a reprieve from the melancholy of his life on Earth, this new world is just as disappointing. Corruption runs rampant, and the common people suffer.

Adam judges his surroundings, and finds them...inadequate.

Someone else may have thrown in the towel. Instead, Adam watches. He plans. And it doesn't take him long to start making moves that will shake society to its core.

The denizens of the Painted World havenoidea what's in store for them.

What to Expect:

A strong focus on character development. Progression elements of growing stronger and more important. A main character who uses a combination of his unique abilities and his wits to outplay his opponents. A fully fleshed-out fantasy world with history and intrigue. Some city building elements.

Co-authored by KamikazePotato and Rafael Kaleen.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: KamikazePotato

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 2,710
Views: 260,490

Chapters(57 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

DamianSenpaiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Okay so I’ll just say flat out that I came into the story intrigued at the idea, but not totally expecting anything crazy when I came in. Reading the first couple of chapters, it’s easy get a sense of who Adam is, his frustrations in his life with where he is, how it drives him as he gets in this new world and discovers the problems with the city. A character like Tevin, who we have only just begun to pick the surface of is cool, and I recognize that him pouring his heart out is something that seems strange for a stranger, but he himself is strange and jot everything he does makes sense or is conventionally normal. The characters write themselves to be interesting, and they paint a pretty clear picture of what they want. The twist at the end of the 92 days of painting is just so perfect, I was watching the scene in my head as I read it in just the perfect style, almost like Spiderverse as I saw it happen. I commend you author, you can paint a scene like no other because I could see exactly what was happening, watching the twist with a smirk on my face as I saw Adam finally get to pull off his plan, and begin to understand how his power works. It’s also great seeing Tevin (and forgive me if that isn’t his name I’m so awful with names it’s like a thing I do), co-sign himself and force Adam to commit to things makes him such a good supporting character. Overall, love what I’ve read so far, highly recommend it, the first bit might turn you off but honestly I don’t think it will. Amazingly written, 10/10 I’m starving for more.
Ducky_Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Super good and excited for more. the writing and grammar is excellent just to get that way out of the way, but where the story shines is it's originality (in a skill thief novel no less). I don't know and can't guess what's about to happen next and what ends up happening is just as suprising as is fun to read—Very. Adam (the mc) is also very likeable, intelligent and reading from his perspective is nice, especially when he talks about his paintings. He is also a good person, and remains so. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I'm a fan of bad or morally questionable MC's because their twisted morality allows them to succeed more often, whereas Adam is just smart, fun and strongwilled enough to make things work anyway in a manner that doesn't reek of plot armour. The slow reveal of the mystery's of the painted world is just good worldbuilding. Just finished chapter 10 part 2 which should be a fairly good idea for potential readers as to whether they want to continue as so far it has 2 minor arcs or 3 'paintings.'
Nanashi22Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This start was so good. I seriously could not predict half of the developments comings and I love them all!
There is also some amazing potential couple material right here. Can't wait to see if it becomes a thing.
MC is also so fantasticly written, same as other characters. This level of fleshed-out is so rare that I don't remember seeing it before.
ThisGrainCharacterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Review has been updated now that story has evolved and become more mature.
Grammar is perfect, as expected. No mistakes that impeded the enjoyment of the story.
The style and execution of the MC's powers are pretty spot-on. Description and exposition is not too forced, and dialogue in general is pretty good. It is a bit lengthy in the beginning but only gets better. Though I'm not the biggest fan of light-LitRPG systems, this story leans into the strengths of such stories, avoiding the walls of text and while showing character growth in a more subtle way. The world of Ink is also a compelling setting and has some really good worldbuilding and issues that signal the forthcoming plot.
The MC is written fairly realistically, and I have to call special attention to the supporting cast. All the characters are written as flawed and belivable characters with complex motivations and backgrounds. This story has really outdone itself and has arguably some of the best supporting characters out of all the fictions on this website. This is even more impressive given that it's still relatively early on in the story, and this character development will only make the payoffs so much better. The MC himself also has very unique powers and weaknessess, making reading much more exciting.
In the beginning, the story pacing can be slow at times yet rushed at others. However, the story has definitely picked up momentum and settled into a steady rythm. The story is well thought out, with clever plans, realistic consequences and most importantly to me, incredible amounts of worldbuilding built into the action. The few direct exposition scenes are skillfully woven into the narrative, and at no point in time does it feel like a info dump. The story is also unique, giving it extra points in my book.
Tl;dr: Premise and story direction are really good, and I would definitely recommend a read. The style and language are also very very good, and has only improved as the book goes on. Deserving of
XtraRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Extremely well-written. Very strong start to the story. It's highly satisfying and the tension is so good. I highly recommend this if you're looking for an interesting unique book. The story narrative follows logically while making sure that you keep reading to find out what happens. Definitely worth a read.
RaunRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This story is a unique find from the beginning.
World Building
Its greatest strength is the world-building and imagery. The author paints a world that is fundamentally a muted grey, where the occasional shades of color are deeply significant.
Characters
The main character is a refreshing departure from the norm. He is not a typical isekai power-up protagonist. He feels raw and real, emotionally shaped by a past event that shadows his journey. He is smart, but is not a genius. His main strength is his dogged persistence, a determination to see and understand that fits well with the skill he has. The side characters are also interesting and add to the story.
Pacing
The plot is well thought-out and the grammar is excellent. The story moves at a slow pace; I read it over a period of months rather than in a binge, which suited its reflective nature.
Overall
A thoughtful and unique story with a deeply human core. This isn't a power fantasy, and the main character's emotional journey gives the story a heavier feel at times.
SwordudeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
An interesting world not yet fully explained at time of review, but we're starting to get a better idea, and it's beginning to seem like the MC's transmigration wasn't an accident.
The mechanics of various characters special abilities are interesting and not stuff I've seen much of before. Don't let the title fool you, while the MC can steal abilities the ability to do so hasn't yet (And based on how we understand it to work, might not) hit exponentially growth. He (currently) needs some time and effort to pull it off and it isn't guaranteed to work, nor is it a free ride even if it does work.
Speaking of characters: Tevin is the best murderer and I will hear nothing against it. I look forward to him getting more screentime (hint hint author!) And getting show off his chops. :)
MC is sardonic and caustic when under stress, but spoiler: he's so far pretty much always under stress so if you're looking for a MC of sweetness, light, and not partially lying to themselves then he ain't it.
The world is a little grim, but the story isn't without cleverness and humor. MC has pulled off some schemes successfully but it's probably too early to determine if he's a Holmesian genius planner or just really good and improv but at the very least he's entertaining to listen to as he gripes and whines.
Solid story, looking forward to seeing where it goes.
SadisticReaderRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I really liked the story!! I hope others are willing to try it out! Yeah that's all I wanted to say. I just need to fill the word quota so I can post the review :3
I need more worrrrddddsssssssss aaaaaa hm. What else can I say? I enjoyed how chill the MC was! He thinks so relatably in my opinion. Like how all of us would want to act and think while being in another wordl
DekoRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
I'll continue to read this series if I can, having to really and I stress the word 'really' force myself to make it through the first book of the series. It's so disjointed, the reasoning for anything is so flawed and bad that I get thrown out of the book every other page. I have put this book down more times in the last month after reading a single paragraph than I can count.
I don't know what to say? This doesn't have any of the author's voice, if this is the same person that wrote Outcast in Another World? There the characters had motivations/stories/inflection that built them into interesting points of reference in the story and world, but here, they're flat, so unnecessarily flat and 2D that it feels like a tremendous step back.
I see that there's a second author attached to this one, but I don't see any of Outcast in Another World's authorship in here at all. Maybe it will get better? I just... it's bad. It's so disjointed, it reads like a fever trip, mind journal, rather than a coherent story, what the heck happened?
PrinceNozRoyal Road
★ 0.5
I wanted so bad to like the book because the story is interesting.! But the MC is such an hypocrite and badly written, I can't stand it !
How can he wish (seriously wish) to die for 6 months, and surviving only because of his friend, but when he gains power, he automatically insult said friend by always questioning his "loyalty" ?? As said before, his trust issue resulting in the suffering of countless people because another friend of his "betrayed him" by a drawing context of all thing ??
Making the core ideas of the book portraying an MC wanting to die and questionning everything to the point of me deleting the kindle book... Because of a drawing context lost ????
I never hated a book as much as this. Shame on you authors.