Skyrates?!

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Sky pirates have stolen Sir Broderick's beloved donkey! He'll do anything to save his noble steed from these dastardly foes. Including teaming up with thewizard whose home he accidentally incinerated and go on a quest around the land of Caldonia, where everyone worships giant chickens and colorful language takes on a new meaning.

Unfortunately, I cannot completely guarantee a schedule due to my own past irreliability. However, I will enable public schedule, so you can see when I've scheduled one.

Schedule is M-W-F at 6:09am EST.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: C. Ron Ickler

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.1/ 5.0
Followers: 314
Views: 118,354

Chapters(157 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

ArmorienRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: This is easily the most entertaining style and type of writing that I have read on this website. It really is a callback to my childhood, where such exquisite prose was far more rampant. It has very comical and playful energy to it that carries the story through its entirety and is just so chockful of clever wordplay, and dialogue that upon re-reading just makes it better. The author shows plenty of skill in this department and it's just incredible.
Story: So far, it's a prelude to an adventuring story of sorts involving the titular 'Skyrates', frankly while it's possible to keep up with what is going on, I think that a little more detail and exposition would help. This is easier said than done of course, and to make it in line with the overall pace and speed might be difficult, but I think it would elevate the story to a new level (ie, perhaps include a quip or two about what makes Caldonia fantastical).
Grammar: Perfect from what I can see, no evident problems. Do note that there are creative liberties taken with grammar in regards to the spellings of specific words, but that they do add a degree of humour and comedy to it, and it's obvious that it was the authorial intent behind the text.
Character: The quality of characters largely plays hand in hand with the quality of the style, which enables us to see their unique dialogue and sense of humour come to life. As for an objective assessment in disregard of humour, that would not be possible quite yet, as the story is still quite early into its course, and can be difficult to assess.
But yes, if you like a comical fantasy story that doesn't take its self to seriously, while having writing that is nothing short of great, then do give it a read!
Arthur-67Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
When I saw the title skyrates, my immediate thought was maths, inflation and high prices.
The title gives no hint of the eccentric, outlandish and fabulous tale that is Sir Broderick's journey.
Style- The novel's style can really be summed up as unique.
It goes on tangents where it might explain the origins, use and meaning of a single word that gets briefly mentioned in the story. It reminds me sometimes of a children's story, in that's one of the few times where I can ever remember reading such a style. Similarly it also sort of reminds me of a hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, a very enjoyable novel.
This unique style is one of the story's strong points and what makes it unique to everything else I have read or RR. Of course, with the style being so different,
it may likely dissuade any newcomers who are unused to such a eccentric style and have only seen the standard ones on RR.
With such a style there might be some longwinded sentences but it's not really an issue unless you're trying to read it aloud in one go. Furthermore, when you get large almost short stories on single words or chicken vs egg and a style like this, that longwindedness does go with the theme.
Grammar- the grammar seems good overall, its a little hard to judge due to how some words are changed for effect but overall I didn't see any issues so good job there
The characters are just as eccentric as the style in most cases. WIth most sentences involving some sort of swear or exaggeration, you would expect to see in such a style.
In that, you cant exactly say the dialogue is natural but it all fits beautifully with the characters the author has created, they are more often than not very enjoyable to read.
In terms of the story its easy to see there is a lot of fleshed out enjoyable world-building, given with how the story is written, even small inconsequential story
building areas are given a lot of thought and depth to match the uniqueness of the style e.g. Logicius Fallaciousnessius Exemplified
BullerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
"Help! I'm experiencing death by accents!"
That's about how I said it in a discord chat after reading the fourth chapter of this story. Might have changed a few words to make sure there wasn't any swearing.
But seriously. Comedy/Satire is a very obvious tag in this story and I can't help but think as a few events as quite... ludicrous. Style is fine enough to read when ignoring that awful bit of accents and the story is hilarious. Might wanna tone it down for long-term effect or get some more running gags but still. Good stuff. 5/5
MethuselahRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The only criticisms I have are with the use of the word ‘Thicc’, however insofar as this is a criticism it is also entirely subjective, and the lack of clarity between in-chapter scene switches.
Chapter 1: This chapter reads like an absent-minded, over-caffeinated artist discussing their work. I love it, and I hope this writing style persists. The absurdity and talk-about-anything vibe I am getting from this story so far is, indeed, making me smile. The only negative stand-out was the use of the word ‘thicc’ which I dislike for its hyper-modernity.
Chapter 2: I love the dialogue and your use of accents with the characters. I can feel the pirate pouring into frame. “This feels very antagonistic and honestly I’m not here for it, chup,” is, just, fantastic–haha!
Chapter 3: The ridiculous list of spells for each and every this and that was pretty amusing. If I’m reading it correctly, the bits with the Dr. are a scene switch, if so, perhaps include a marker therefor? Such as ‘-’ or ‘#’ in between the scenes.
Chapter 4: See above for the scene switch, again with the Dr.. Speaking of the Dr., this man’s spell-casting is the thing of Heros and he is a Hero in his own right!
Chapter 5: I absolutely love the officer.
If the jokes make you cringe, stop it. If the jokes make you laugh, good. This story is the sort of story that reminds you, you-the-reader, that you’re taking this too seriously. For that reason, I loved this reading.
SR FauthRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Allow me to preface this by saying: holy hell.
And with that ... let us begin:
STYLE SCORE: 5/5 The style and setting of the world are great. It centers around a drunk Knight who, frankly, gets roped into absolutely insane happenstance that you wouldn't imagine. Every chapter could be its own short story if it wasn't for the connecting characters and world. The style is laughable, engaging, and can lose you in a heartbeat causing you to go back and wonder what really just happened.
STORY SCORE: 4.5/5 The story is a wild ride. You literally cannot guess what will happen next. While the chapter titles are length, descriptive, and can give you a general overview of what to expect, the saucy details and bird-oriented jokes will leave you looking for more. The story is centered around a knight who has so much satire packed into his body he could power Hollywood single-handedly for the next twenty years. My only gripe with the story is that there is so much alliteration that the jokes are sometimes hard to get. The constant chicken jokes also wear you down after a while, even when they are done in unique ways.
GRAMMAR SCORE: 5/5 It's impossible to guess what may be spelled correctly or misspelled on purpose. Read two chapters. Go ahead. I dare ya.
CHARACTER SCORE: 5/5 The characters are funny, engaging, confusing, and bring out so many different emotions that I can hardly begin to describe them all. It seems you blink and some new character has come and gone, only to have affected the world in ways that you wouldn't think three sentences were capable of conveying.
OVERALL SCORE: 5/5 I loved the read. And I am going to continue following it, even if I get a headache sometimes.
nerdy_asian27Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The amount of mayhem that ensues in this story is beyond anything I've ever read. However, that is not to say that it's bad in any way. In fact, it's quite endearing and unique.
Style: 5/5 Although the lingo implemented can be quite confusing and even offputting for some readers, I find this to be the factor that accentuates the story beyond what it already is. I find myself laughing at many instances due to how over the top the wording can be. Overall, the style is hilarious and unique.
Story: 4/5 There is so much going on that I often times find myself unsure of where exactly I am in the narrative. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. I feel like, in this story, I'm "going along for the ride," chugging through a plethora of wacky events. These types of stories are fun in their own sense.
Grammar: 5/5 Despite the lingo, I could tell that the story is written with very proper grammar. It's hard to spot any sort of errors.
Character: 5/5 Every single character is hilariously distinctive from one another. They all bring some sort of flare to the narrative and their interactions and dialogue, especially with Sir Broderick, are extremely funny.
Overall, this story has been one of the most unique reading experiences I've ever had. Nonetheless, I've enjoyed reading through it and I encourage anyone else to also give it a try.
some total kretinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
TL;DR: It's like reading a book by Terry Pratchett after you, everyone around you and the author took some acid. The author while writing and you and everyone around you before reading the result. And it's surprisingly fun, even if Pratchett is subtler. Overall great fun, but I will have to be in a specific mood for this one.
MOROSERoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is a fairly light-hearted yarn with a farcical sense of humour. Drawing on the genre of farce, it is filled with somewhat absurd situations, buffoonish characters, and dialogue in various accents by people at various levels of inebriation. This humour shines most when the characters begin to interact and engage in off-rails, comical dialogue that can resemble Spamalot. It also does well at introducing its plot and keeping up suspense as to where the story will go from here.
Style: A comical style that resembles farce, this is done consistently through slightly absurd and humorous characters, situations, etc. The style is quite idiosyncratic, but it works well with the rest of the story. At times, it felt like it had already established its comical tone well, and didn't need to employ frills like writing out loud noises since the reader would already understand how the tone was meant to be read.
Story: The story is mysterious at first, and takes a short while to get going. It feels like the beginning could give a clearer sense of where the story is going, but the story is nonetheless interesting and hence the reader may keep going to find out what is going on.
Grammar: While the accents and writing are quite prominent, they are deliberate. The grammar is generally solid.
Character: The farce of the story is furthered by inclusion of appropriate characters with names like 'Broderick the Shitfaced.' Most of the characters can act in a slightly absurdist or left-field manner, and that helps to further the comedy of the piece.
Dylan KingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
An absurdist comedy with a unique setting and some serious laugh out loud moments.
For Fans of: Discworld, Howl's Moving Castle
Story:
The story here takes the absurdism of the Discworld series and turns that sucker up to 11, creating an experience I found incredibly similar to reading The Colour of Magic for the first time, where I had absolutely no idea what could happen next. The pacing could use some work, and there could definite be a better balance between comedic wanderings and actual story happening, but overall if this style of writing is for you, Skyrates is a wildly enjoyable ride.
Characters:
The characters here are appropriately ridiculous, and work hard to add to the chaos unfolding on the page. I did find it hard to distinguish between the various members of the cast, as their dialogue leans so heavily into the same pool of madness. That said, this feels very 'comedy-first', and the characters do all serve that purpose rather well.
Grammar:
Few small typos, no real issues here.
Style:
The style is definitely the trickiest element of story to wrap your head around. The prose wanders significantly to set up punchlines, that, while funny, muddy the pacing a fair bit. This means that whilst I'm enjoying what's happening, I'm not getting enough actual progress, and I wind up skimming looking for the actual story. This aspect definitely needs tightening--a better blend of promises and progress, together with comedic wandering more tightly interwoven with the actual plot would take this from good fun, to utter brilliance.
I'll certainly be reading more of this, however, am excited to see how it evolves.
bokhiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Updated 16/02/2022 with disclosure.
Disclosure: This is a review swap, though I have written this review as honestly and impartially as possible.
Skyrates?! Is extremely unusual for Royal Road. As it says on the tin, it's an absurdist fantasy with its own lexicon, which is both a strength and a weakness. It's unique and quirky, with real Monty Python and the Holy Grail vibes.
Style: 4.0
The style is completely unique and totally consistent. The author does an excellent job at characterization and worldbuilding through diction and syntax (and not in the least because of the consistent use of its own internal lexicon), but its strengths are also its weaknesses.
I deducted 0.5 for its density--because of its unusual use of commonplace-words and relatively complex structuring of sentences and paragraphs, there is a higher-than-average cognitive load on the reader. Some of the deliberately absurd sentences require multiple passes to understand (think of that time you were in Gr. 7 and you used to sit around the lunchroom doing rounds of, "I know that you know that I know that you know that I know..." etc., etc. The intent is obviously humourous, but in combination with everything else that's going on it can be a bit too much).
I also deducted 0.5 because the internal lexicon is occasionally very sexual without rhyme or reason. Whereas I don't see anything inherently wrong with sexual things, it sort of has to make sense. (See spoiler tag.)
For example, the horizon is consistenly referred to as the whoreizon, but there doesn't seem to be any reason behind likening the horizon to a whore--at least, I don't see the connection. In conjunction there are casual references to male and female genitalia as part of the lexicon*, and it's a bit odd since I don't see why these words are replacing the usual/mundane ones. There is also copious use of the word "thicc". I assume there is a reason for the sexualized imagery but I couldn't figure it out--it was just sort of there for no d