SOB (Old Version)

Information

Status

Hiatus

Year

2023

Author

Godlyskeleton

• Announcement: Soul of Blades Rewrite! + Time-Travel story!
  Dec 19, 2023

Reviews

Community Reviews(9)

• KO_KingRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This story sure knows how to deliver when it comes to conflict. This tale's strength lies in its ability to pull you into its high-stakes scenes. The MC's skills and capabilities are quite unique and focused and are a pleasant read. And they are well balanced by greater challenges which is rare to see. The story falls in line with some of the litrpg greats, in terms of narrative scale and journey. But I can only hope it maintains originality as it progresses & doesn't commit to cyclical storytelling. It's a stumbling block for many stories like these even the best that are top in many sites (that I won't name- but you know which ones!)
  The world-building is another strong point of this story. As the MC is out into the wider world, the concepts and elements introduced are things that are doin extremely well, and exciting to read about. The glimpses into the Empire, with its complex history and nature, adds an intriguing layer to the mix that leaves you curios, interested and wanting more. It'd be exciting to see the upcoming chapters dig deeper into this expansive universe.
  I'm not much of a 'numbers go up' guy, but that appears quite often here.
  The real question or element that keeps me hooked is the constant tug-of-war between the MC's evolving abilities and the monumental challenge that is hinted to be ahead. It adds quite a gripping twist to the narrative. Eagerly waiting to see what's next!
• Larkspur WrenRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This is an exciting and meticulously designed LitRPG that had me craving to play an actual ARPG with this exact system. The early progression is fast-paced and satisfying. The skills are well thought-out, and dare I say, balanced in ways that would probably be the envy of at least a few real-life game devs. Most importantly, they are fun, the action and the associated dopamine hits jumping out at you from every frenetic paragraph.
  The writing is more than competent, taking us straight into the action from a closed third person POV and giving us plenty of moments of internal reflection as the protagonist faces challenges at once terrifying and deeply rewarding. There are the occasional POV shifts as well to give us a wider context of the world and build intrigue.
  My only real nitpick is that Alex the MC can feel somewhat one-note in his development so far. Granted, the story is framed as one of solitary survival, which understandably limits the scope of his relationship to the world. However, I personally would've liked to see another side to his character other than that he wants to survive and become stronger. YMMV though, and it's entirely possible that such nuance is already in the works in the upcoming chapters.
  Overall, a competent and exciting entry into the genre that is sure to catch some eyes.
• Lile BanRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  This fantasy adventure story follows Alex, a young man and martial arts practitioner, who finds himself reincarnated in a strange new world after his untimely death on Earth. Thrust into a dangerous jungle filled with threats like giant horned wolves and monstrous gorillas, Alex must fight to survive this harsh environment.
  The story wastes no time plunging the reader into the action, beginning with Alex's bewildering arrival and immediate need to battle deadly beasts. We get a strong sense of his confusion, but also his determination and skill as he manages to defeat the creatures using his martial arts abilities.
  An intriguing game-like system of levels, stats, skills and feats is central to Alex's progression in this new world. He gains power through defeating enemies, acquiring new skills, and achieving feats no one else has unlocked. This lends a video game feel to the fantastical setting.
  Alex shows resourcefulness and adaptability, learning to hunt and forage in the perilous jungle. He seeks higher ground, scaling a mountain to gain a better vantage point. Here he observes a large settlement of the wolf-like humanoids he's been battling. This promises future challenges ahead.
  The pacing is fast, with Alex facing one threat after another. But we also get quieter moments where he reflects on his old life and determines to survive, both for himself and the possibility of somehow returning to Earth. The story has an atmospheric quality, with vivid descriptions of the strange lands Alex traverses.
• tiredRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Lots of fight scenes which are done all right.
  But aside from some cameos no other characters.
  There is some grand story stuff being related but at least so far 14 chapters in it's mostly a man and his system defeat monsters and his numbers go up.
  If that's your thing give it a try
• MaidsWillBeMineRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  I'll be honest here I haven't read through too much of the novel, as you can see. But i have read enough of it to reach some conclusions. The novel needs editing, BADLY. In just the first couple of chaps i've seen a few places where the text could have benefited from the change in sentence order, sentence structure, and also changing things a bit so they fit better, and to avoid redundancies. I suspect that if i kept reading i would have lowered the rating more, but i have read only a couple of chaps and messing the book's rating up based on my small sample would have been irresponsible and mean.
  When i say redundancies i mean, the Narration states that MC seem to have found himself "In the middle of nowhere" and then the MC states "Well, looks like i'm in the middle of nowhere" in the very next sentence.
  When i say thing could have been reworded to fit better, i mean like, things in the 1st chapter, where MC states that he's been lazy about his sword practice and suspects that if he put more into it he could have done better on the international stage, then he goes on to explain how he spent years non-stop in the dojo with his sword master grandpa and was about to go fight in the world's kendo finals.
  Ohhh, and MC would have absolutely NO REASON to be carrying a katana to his competition. Kendo practitioners use  bamboo swords "Shinai". There IS A DISCIPLINE, that predates Kendo, that uses steel, it's Kenjutsu, where they'd use katana.
• ConfusedscistudentRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  (Reviewed around CH. 38)
  The story is written satisfyingly but hard to stay with in the long term. The character faces struggle in the form of enemies that are presented as challenging opponents, yet the regularity with which he defeats them makes the story feel like there is no external struggle whatsoever aside from the character generally getting stronger. Internal struggles too, are lacking in this story, with the character having a relatively static personality - the majority of emotional lifting in this story is placed on his background of once being a world-class athlete, with very little emotional emphasis on the actions and the fights he gets into in almost every chapter.
  The one good thing I can say is that the fight scenes are written very well, but the regularity with which they happen makes them feel very formulaic.
• ReadingWordRoyal Road

  ★★★ 3.0

  Nothing particularly wrong with the grammar or style.
  The setting and concept is fine. Nothing new but certainly workable.
  Story: But I just can't get enthusiastic about a story where the MC is killing higher level opponents left and right with godly techniques he's never used before against fighting styles he's never fought against before, popping levels like skittles, spamming a 1sec cooldown ability, getting a free skill upgrade because because, and overriding the system. This isn't plot armor, this is a plot bunker.
  The also story suffers from the "scale" issue (very common for system stories on Royal Road)--it uses a linear stat/experience system instead of logarithmic. This means things get out of hand very very quickly, permanent Dragonball powerups every other chapter which leads to hill destruction, mountain destruction, country destruction, continent distruction, etc. in very short order. Then the author has to figure out some way to fix their scale mistake--in Wuxia this is commonly resolved by transcending the current plane. For this story, a "slow" might be a good start, i.e. minimal stat boost per level thus allowing lvl 1 to battle lvl 10 without being demolished in a heartbeat. It does not resolve the issue entirely but should help. A similar problem also exists for skills--I won't comment further.
  Character: Kendo, cool. I mean I took a few karate lessons so I relate a little more with the MC. But we don't really get to know anything the MC except that he really wants to win the tournament and then he dies. Then he magically becomes a super-emotionally-stable-dude who knows wilderness survival and can outrun wolves. It is just really hard to relate and empathize since there is no inner struggle/tension. As an author, try think of someone you know with similar characteristics to your MC and then ask yourself, "how would they react if they were placed in this situation?" What fears would the MC have? How can I help the audience understand the personal
• WaryorWearyRoyal Road

  ★★★ 3.0

  Story contradicts itself in the pre- inciting incident.  In the story itself, numbers could be removed and it would be better.
  Dude is working a new System and new world with no equipment, and murdering 10, 20, 30 levels up.  He’s got more mana than God for his fights, he’s gotten to skip through the low levels with no stress.  He’s gotten Cheat codes from dying and he’s got more stats than the next 8 guys together.
  He even only gets one level from whacking THE Dungeon Boss when it’s level 27 against 60+ and his backup dancers.  He goes to 28!  If my frail self punches an aircraft carrier into skuppering, I’m going to get more than an attaboy or I’m turning these fists on the System…
  But it’s boring dialogue o’clock when MC meets other people, and that was too many hits to my enthusiasm.
  Its a 3 story because you’ve already read every aspect of the story somewhere else.
  It’s actually a 2.78, but that’s not a selectable option.
  I can still recommend it as a baseline for folks who are new or folks who LOOOVE the “System in a  🏰” genre.
• ZcuronRoyal Road

  ★★ 2.0

  Found this tab open in the background, so I figured I might as well drop a review of this memorable work, even if it is a bit belated. For this reason the review will be of the story as it was when I read it a couple months ago. I mention this as the story has since been stubbed, and as I no longer have access to the parts I read back then, I'm doing it from memory.
  What does this review mean?: 2.5 stars is my starting point, and I go from there.
  Style: Everything is constantly restated and reiterated. X happens. Next paragraph; X happened, in different words. Next paragraph; Did you know X happened? I'd estimate that what I've read thus far would be cut in half by simply removing the repetitions.
  If it happened just once I'd say it was a grammatical issue that an editor would fix, but as it happens page after page after page, I can only conclude that it's the author's unique way of writing. A poor one. So due to how annoying I found it to read these repetitions, and the sheer opportunity cost involved --What if those words were spent on other things?-- 0.5 stars.
  On second thought, 1.5 stars. I don't think the fight scenes were bad.
  Just... Why?
  Story: I've read long-form cultivation works before, so I'm profoundly familiar with the myriad intricacies and mysteries of the Dao. I.e. the 'vocabulary' or 'letter' of Xianxia stories.
  This story certainly features the letter of Xianxia, but its spirit appears to be missing. It covers the 'same kind of thing,' and throws 'the same kind of words' at you, but they both appear devoid of meaning.
  It also has severe pacing issues, where one moment the MC learns something, then 'expertly' applies it seemingly minutes later, only to be ostensibly contradicted by the story's system when it summarizes the MC's familiarity with the thing at a figurative 0.5%.
  There's also a bizarre time skip, where you go 'how will the MC deal with this?' --> time skip --> story: 'the MC dealt with the thing. It was difficult and he struggled, but