Slumrat Rising
Self-Published
Community Rating
Description
He would sell his soul to escape the slums. Nobody's buying.
Truth Medici has to fight every step of the way to get out of the Harban slums. If he fails, his parents will sell him and his siblings to the brothels and gangsters. The slums are short of everything except cruelty. But it doesn't have to be that way. The Starbrite corporation offers wealth, power, a dignified life to those blessed enough to make it through their brutal selection process. The truly driven can even get access to the System Astrologica. The System that can turn an ordinary person into a Demigod. In a world where angels and demons are hired help, "Demigod" is achievable.
Of course, power like that, wealth like that, you have to fight for it. And if there is one thing Truth can do, it's fight!
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Volume 1 & 2 Available on KU, Kindle, Paperback and Audible!
Information
- Status
- Ongoing
- Year
- 2023
- Author
- Warby Picus
Tags
Royal Road Stats
- Rating
- 4.6/ 5.0
- Followers
- 4,523
- Views
- 179,994
Chapters(5 total)
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!
Community Reviews(10)
- imhotepRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0It is rare so rare for me to genuinely care about the characters.
Each character here is brilliantly complex, highly detailed and they live in a world so far from ours yet so close that it feels real.
The grammar is great, few to no spelling errors and most importantly the plot moves forward at a pace that is perfect - enough time for depth and horror to set in as you feel the calm acceptance of truly despicable conditions as well as sufficient speed to not get caught in the cycle of violence, suffering, horror and redemption.
This is a classic that I would buy in hardcover.
Note - if you're a person of faith...you may not like this book as it fundamentally questions beliefs around God and life. - AJ FluffRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Ok, I need to just write this review or I'll keep putting it off in favor of reading this utterly amazing book.
This is a quintessential underdog story. But the underdog is a 17-year-old boy from the slums of the slums and isn't afraid to do some nasty things to get him and his siblings out of even nastier situations. When your choices are "study your ass off for a miniscule chance at a semi-decent life" and "your youngest sister and brother become druggie whores", the choice is kinda no choice at all.
So Truth (our MC and the only truth I now need) studies his ass off, exercises as much as he can on the malnourished diet of a street kid, and even resorts to questionable level-up potions when the offer presents itself. And through it all, this character is presented in such an amazing way. I understood Truth in a way I can't say about many other MCs. I understood why he made the choices he did and the hope he desparately clings to because, if he doesn't, he's nothing. It's beautiful in a very grim sort of way.
But the other characters aren't lacking either. Truth's siblings are just as driven and will-succeed-by-any-questionable-means-neccesary as he is. But they're also heart-breakingly human as we're exposed to just how much their life circumstances have shaped them. How the shadows of their parents constantly hang over them, blocking out so much of that light they strive for.
Don't get me wrong, there's violence and gore here. But it really came across more as action gore. Splatterpunk might be a good word for this writing style. It's sentences are fun and bouncy. Nothing is flowing or overly elegant. But it's full of pep against the very dark, unfair world it describes.
Now stop reading reviews and start reading this amazing book! - BlessingOfNoOneRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0This book was so good I felt the need to review it and make you all as miserable as I did.
I started slumrat rising after the latest work of the author. That book made me feel almost nauseous sometimes, in how deep it cut. I knew he (he?) was good. I was right trusting my guts. His style is just what I need: direct, incisive, witty.
This book is something. This books played all my chords, but mostly: this work makes you really really think hard about the Truth.
This is not a cultivation story, this is not a hodge podge of mysticism and weirdness, or some kind of gore fest.
It also is all of that in all the best ways a "human" mind can conceive.
The grammar is good. Just minor typos here and there that a good round of editing will clear out.
The characters are all full of life, and so much of them are memorable, even if, sometimes, there are some cracks on the secondary.
It really doesn't matter.
This book is good and reminds you of something important.
Love the others as you would like to be loved, and nothing else.
Having read all of it, I can finally lay down my sword. - COCOARoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Imagine your a kid in the slums, you live with your sibs, you see the gangs, they won't get you out, drugs same deal, dealing won't save you, trash? What value do those outside the slum give it if it landed here? No, you see one way out. The company that can order whatever it wants, that the scary gangsters kneel to on the street at the chance of payment, who makes the stuff that people pay a premium for even from the trash. You go out and find this company, the true strongest gang there is as far as you can tell. You get more resources and start experiencing more of the world. Disturbances happen and while things change your ideas of what you are across context keep percolating. And so you go around questioning why is the world like this? And if all the world is a slum full of rats what is a human? So you wander the world slowly seeing it widen out and seeing hints of possibility as you learn about yourself and the world.
Alright now steep all of this in a highly functional setting based off of Gnostic theology, a ton of philosophy and a society whose technology is entirely logical for the setting as you learn more. Probably one of the best character developments you may read with deeply enriching characters reflecting many aspects of the world and what it could be. Read it you will likely enjoy it. Several of the books are out for sale too which helps you see how the arcs all pull together.
Style
Overall style stays steady for the context of Truths Pov, and that framing is important due to the way the settings magic works. Stylistic shifts in how we see things directly echo very specici understandings Truth gains or experiences and a throughline of who he is remains the entire time.
Character
In a similar fashion the style highly reflects characters both in Truth and in others, as all kind of embody their own worldviews and knowledge based that give a given concept on how things are. So that same pattern in style interweaves with character to make each character - GideonValeRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0My one issue with this book is the identity crisis the main character has throughout the ENTIRE story. I get it, but I also just scroll past it when he starts monologuing about how bad his childhood was. We know. Let's move past it and find ourselves. Hopefully soonish cause its a lot to take in
- GuurzakRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Everything about the story is just incredibly well done. Characterization, check. Worldbuilding, check. Pacing and plot, check. Just enough hints at the secrets of a much larger story our protagonist is as yet oblivious to, check. A fun magic system that's presented intriguingly and without over-explanation, check. This is going to be one of the all time classics on this site.
- HightechzombieRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Slumrat Rises was not an easy read for me. I loved Truth and how he looks out for his siblings, but much of the first book was a depressing slog that did not make want to keep reading.
I picked up the series again a year later, persevered, and had a phenomenal time with the rest of the series. I think this is a read that will forever stick with me - the reflections on a just society, the cruelty of God, the rat and human based philosophy. I just loved it. It will stew in my mind for a long time and I am so glad to have read this. - Lazerus56Royal Road★★★★★ 5.0This story is a fucking wonder. usually my highest praise of reviews on this site is it's everything I love all smashed together.
these books are far beyond that, far beyond, In that like true innovation we have been given that which we didn't even know we wanted or needed. a full refresh and reimagining of the genre that I hope gets a bunch of imitators like fuking dark souls rip offs just to get one more wiff.
warby your work is a treasure that made me laugh and cry and I'll be following from now on. all the best! - McTower713Royal Road★★★★★ 5.0Truly a fantastic story, from start to finish.
A refreshingly smart and thoughtful writing, with masterful characters and Platinum tier pholosophical/ theological bantering.
The gradual and constant Evolution of Truth, the whole magic system, the setting, the lore that shaped It as much as the story...
I Will probably carry this story with me for a loooong time.
And I swear to God, nothing Will stop me from putting a Doctor Bones Bro in my D&D campaign. - One-really-messed-up-dragonRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Simply amazing, this series will make you think, it is a life changing work of fiction and philosophy, all wrapped in the neat package of one of the best fantasy stories i've ever read, right up there with Sanderson.
The very best (and only) Theo-Punk that money, and sacrifice of at least 25 lambs can get you.