Sleeping Eternity

Information

Status

Completed

Year

2023

Author

Ekological Chimera

• Chapter 4 - The Handmaiden’s Mistake
  Jan 31, 2023
• Chapter 3 - The Captain
  Jan 24, 2023
• Chapter 2 - The Colonel
  Jan 16, 2023
• Chapter 1 - The Custodian
  Jan 8, 2023

Reviews

Community Reviews(10)

• A. StargazerRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This story is great sci-fantasy.
  Overall I really enjoyed my reading of this story and my primary criticism is that the author needs to write and publish more of it!  No, seriously, it's a great story, it deserves to be told, and I want more.
  The author's style is quite descriptive and it's easy to form a mental picture of the events from their words.  This is supported further by the concept art they share in the story of the primary characters.  The story is well constructed, the word choice appropriate, and in general the author's style deserves full marks from me.
  Grammatically, I saw no glaring issues.  I wasn't reading with a particularly critical eye, so it's possible a few typos or awkward sentences failed to bother me.
  The characters are well done, but not particularly memorable except for the Custodian, who is a sort of sorceress/priestess. The rest of them tend to fit into tropes and didn't really wow me, which is why I'm deducting half a point from that category.
  The story is where Sleeping Eternity really shines.  Without spoiling it, this is a first contact story.  Not between aliens, but between two very different societies of humans.  One of them is an advanced intersteller superpower, while the other appears on the surface to be an iron-age society with a deeply ingrained religion.  Beneath the surface, however, the underdog society possesses a secret which could change everything for he interstellar Republic.
• BlackborRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  a masterpiece without a doubt, with a lot of potential for development and plot. But I have a feeling that it will be a very short novel :c
  But everything else is good, with an interesting character and a mysterious background that makes you hooked.
  I definitely recommend reading it.
• W.Z. LeeRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Sleeping Eternity does an interesting subversion of the alien contact trope since neither race is exactly alien. The Terrans, mentioned in the synopsis, can be seen as us in the future, with advanced technology capable of space travel and colonization.
  The other one can be see as us of the past, with medieval technologies like swords and horses. The biggest difference being the Custodian, a protector with magical, almost godlike, powers.
  This suspense hooks us right away in the first chapter. Are the inhabitants really human? How did the Custodian become so powerful? And she's not even the godlike figure worshipped, who's actually called Eternity? Who's that? Why is She sleeping?
  The author does great in keeping the suspense high, while adding characterization to the main players in the story. He even ratchets up the tension in the first arc by introducing a third major player into the world, with their own motivations. The minor characters so far have also felt real and not like cardboard cutouts.
  So far, the small payoffs along the way have been excellent. And I'm looking forward to all the big reveals later in the story.
  As for the grammar, very few problems. Almost unnoticeable. And also a very small number of sentences could be re-structured for clarity. Kudos for the author for responding very quickly and fixing those.
• Wilhelm DuyRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Sleeping Eternity opens with an intense standoff between the colonel of the Terran's republican and the custodian lady who wields the power of Eternity. The story has a great premise showing how the two civilizations contrast with each other. Now that we have established the story base value, let's get on with the details.
  Style score: Third-person narrative with multiple povs. Each povs gives the reader a glimpse of the character's feelings and thinking, enhancing the immersion in the story.  5/5
  Grammar score: I haven't seen anything significant enough to annoy reading so it's 5/5 for me.
  Story score: Woo boy, where do I begin? The plot has been beautifully constructed from the first chapter, contrasting Terran's republican and the custodian.
  The overconfident power demonstration of the replacement is quickly shot down by the Custodian lady with ease. I am impressed by the colonel's pov where he has become quite devastated and humbled by it.
  I wish it would be a little bit faster so 4.5/5 for me.
  Character score: Each of them has a strong and distinctive personalities, the serious but arrogant colonel and the dignified but disdainful custodian lady. 5/5
  Overall: It's a good scifi story to enjoy. I would stick around for more
• xotos750Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I don't know what to say, except that I very much liked it. I Can't see writing errors, so the only thing left is the actual story, which I found to be very good. The story follows a logical progression with interesting revelations, and apart from a few characters getting forgotten, it's good. That forgetting thing probably happened because the story has been on hiatus for so long, so I'm not counting it.
• Ace-omiRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Looking good, a masterpiece in the making! Story wise it's engaging and so is the writing, the story is well-established.
  The language is descriptive and paints a vivid picture of the setting, characters, and events. However, there are a few areas where the grammar and style could be improved.
  Sentence structure: Some sentences are lengthy and could be broken down into shorter, more manageable sentences for better readability
  Repetition: The description of Serana's appearance and the strange officer's uniform is repeated multiple times, which can be distracting to some reader, for chapter 1 at least.
  Vocabulary: Some words, may be difficult for the average reader to understand, and could be rephrased or explained in simpler terms
  Clarity: Let's see, example "Serana almost flicked her eyes to the metal construct but managed to stop herself," are unclear and could benefit from additional explanation or rephrasing. Maybe I'm dumb lol
  Overall, the writing is strong, but with a few tweaks, it could be even better. Good job!
• ArkaresRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Sleeping Eternity tells the story of the first contact between the Terran Republic, a nation of spaceships and super intelligent Ais, and the inhabitants of Eigos, a world of magic and fantasy. If that doesn’t already catch your attention, I don’t know what will. The premise is incredibly interesting and as far as I know, original, and while is still fairly early into the story, the few first chapters instantly shows the author knows what they are doing.
  Style: third-person limited, following two different POVs. The tense is consistent, and the author does a great job of weaving the information; not enough for it to be expository, but just the required amount for someone to understand the story. As a writer myself I can see how difficult something like this is, which speaks volumes of the work that was put into this story. There is not a wasted line in the first four chapters.
  Grammar: Fluent English. Haven’t caught any typos or mistakes, but I tend to have a blind spot for them.
  Story: At four chapters in, there is not a lot of say. What we’ve seen has a lot of potential and possibilities, specially with how little is answered. The idea that Serana could have not just the barrier but a lot more powers than we have been shown makes me want to keep reading, if only to find out how the Terrans will deal with that. There is several plotlines already being hinted at, and all of them are interesting. Athena, the division of the Terrans, Song’s subtle attempts...
  There is a lot of stuff that catches my attention, and of it is good.
  Character: Three so far: Serana, Ashwood, and Song, the former two being the POV characters. Several named minor characters have been introduced as well, including one that might not be as minor as I think, Aisac. Too early to tell.
  From what we’ve seen the characters have depth and real agency. Sure, we don’t that much about either, but the fact that we can see their thought processes as the events happen already shows a great deal of thought
• AbigonRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Absolutely loved reading this story, did so in one sitting.
  Slice of eternity has always been a mental teaser to me, and this managed to scratch it in a comfortable and slice of life/reality way that I usually wish was more expanded upon by other authors aswell.
  Time’s blessing so often seems to become the curse when there is more than one ever could wish for.
  Lost half a star for the end that left dissatisfaction and want to know more, even if it was a happy one for the main character.
• HaidRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Sleeping Eternity deals with the first contact between a mysterious human colony with mystical space magic powers and an ever-expanding human republic trying to take control of the colony’s moon. The hook is obvious, the first few chapters show off the strength of the story well, but, as always, there are things that I think can be improved to make the story even better than it already is. I’ll try to address as many of the minor issues I have with the story as possible-
  Style score: While serviceable and able to drive the plot forward at a consistent pace, I feel it’s a little bit light on the description side while there’s also too much telling of emotions and thoughts. Most of each chapter is simply internal narration delivering interesting information to the reader, when they could instead be showing us scenarios where such information would come up naturally either in dialogue or in action – to the story’s credit, the narration between the two POV characters is written with strong, distinct character voices, so it’s not actually all that bad. It’d be a bigger issue if it were just exposition, but that’s not the case here. The only other gripe I have with the sparse writing style is the occasional head-hopping between POVs (e.g. Aisac and Serana in chapter 4) that made me question if the story is really in third-person limited or omniscient, but, other than that, I think the writing is easy to follow. Moving around different locales and settings isn’t bogged down by excessive descriptions, which makes the pacing quick and breezy for the type of story it is. The narration is oftentime just vague enough to pull off ‘twists’ within each chapter, which add to the overall mystery aspect of the story. What little action there is in the story so far is also succinct and to the point, not overstaying its welcome. All in all, I think the style score deserves a 4/5, deducted from only because I think there could be more showing and less telling. Everything else is good.
  S
• OwenHGRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  A really fascinating first arc that tells a story of an space imperialists trying to invade a planet protected by a diety. It feels like Avatar with mytholgicial story telling and I really vibed with it. The Terran's seem a little underwritten as of now and I hope to see them expanded as the story progresses.