State of the Art

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In a near-future world where reality often feels like an afterthought, players escape into A Realm Reforged Again—a groundbreaking VR MMORPG offering unparalleled character customization.

Follow Jason, Ryan, Emmy, and Sophie as they navigate personal struggles both in and out of the game. Within the virtual world, they take on new forms: Jason becomes Vaelith, a reluctant but powerful dracan mage; Ryan experiments with power as Kaelyn, a felinae priestess; Emmy creates Elyssia, a sylvani tank embodying who she wishes she could be; and Sophie transforms into Leoric, a towering burrovian ranger seeking freedom from familial and societal expectations.

But when the game's AI Creator-Gods, tasked with ensuring player happiness, begin to meddle with their choices, the players must confront unexpected challenges and questions about autonomy and self-acceptance.

With themes of identity, agency, and transformation, State of the Art sets the stage for an epic journey of self-discovery in a world where fantasy and reality blur.

(This story is also posted on Scribblehub. I will endeavor to keep both websites synced with chapters)

This will eventually contain all 5 Books of the Golden Dawn series, set in theA Realm Reforged Againuniverse.

[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Clo

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.9/ 5.0
Followers: 158
Views: 92,944

Chapters(131 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

Anabel SnowRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Note: I have read up to book 2 chapter 5, not book 1 chapter 5. This is not just a first impression review.
If you like body transformation, gender/trans, or self identity exploration themes, you'll love this story.
Character
Despite the story having four PoV main characters, they are all interesting and well written, so even though I usually prefer a single POV, I'm not minding it for this story. The depth that the author explores in each of the characters feelings and thoughts is very deep and realistic.
Story
The out of game plot and drama is as interesting as the in-game plot and drama, especially in book 2, but I won't spoil why.
There is so much conflict and way more politicking than I was expecting in a story with these themes, which is great. Sometimes transformation stories feel a bit cookie cutter and cliche.
Grammar
Didn't notice any grammar issues, just a few typos here and there.
Style
The narration is excellent. I took off half a star because the constant PoV shifting can be jarring at times.
I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter! it is a travesty this story does not have more readers.
AveryBrownRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A very good character driven VRMMO story.
This story sits in a weird place compared to similar stories in the genre, but I think it excels at what it’s aiming for as a character driven plot focused more on internal dialogue and the ways the protagonists see themselves in their interpersonal relationships.
What this story is not is a happy body affirming trans wish fulfillment story.
it follows different perspectives on what it means to be trans and to discover that about yourself in less than ideal or ethical circumstances. The gods of this story are flawed and irrational in a very Greek way.
Critiques:
- The timeline is really squeezed in. Lots more happens in a single day than feels reasonable outside of the narrative. e.g. Kaelyn becoming world famous online and doxxed within like… 9 real life hours overnight? Because she danced for a bit in a starter town and had a few pictures leaked.
- There are a lot of different character perspectives, maybe too many, and it seems like more are going to be added on top of the new character in book two is evidence. 5 ongoing perspectives in a story that updates twice a week leaves a long time between consecutive character chapters, but that’s more a problem with this as a web serial and not a finished published series that it feels designed to be read as at some point.
MWCCRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
WHAOWHAOWHAOWHAO
There are so many good things I can say about this book
Starting with that, I never skipped a chapter. Even the word heavy RPG elements chapters. I read every word, and I never got bored. I enjoyed every part of it.
Second thing, I can only dream of writing characters as well as these. These don't feel like characters; they feel like real people. You go in thinking you're going to relate to one character, only to find pieces of yourself in all of them.
Third, because of the feels. For me, it was all of the gender and repressed childhood feels, but there's a little bit of everything for everyone. For the gender questioners and the cis, for the neurospicy and the average joe, and for the RPG haters and the RPG know-it-alls, this book is for everyone, and I would be stupid not to scream at you to read it.
Cloe has done this world a great service by writing this. Hornet said Git Gud
Cloe said Git better.
This, right here, is peak fiction.
ReyBattyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall, this is starting as a fantastic series (I read the first 10 chapters, so it's an intro review). It's intriguing, and the character development is phenomenal right out of the gate.
Style
It is a GameLIT story where the words flow beautifully, and the writing style is direct and straightforward. It is very approachable and easy to fall into.
Story
There is a lot of build-up to getting into the game itself, but once we do, it's discovered very quickly that the developers are slipping memories into the MCs. The slow build-up is great because it gives a lot of time to get to know the characters, and the intrigue in the memories simply sinks its fangs in immediately.
Grammar
It reads well. Nothing dropped me out of the fiction or was so awkward as to make me pause and re-read. There are no awkward turns of phrase. It's very easy reading.
Character
By far, this is the highlight of the story. The characters are introduced wonderfully and with enough details to really make you care about them and feel their differing viewpoints. There are multiple MCs, each with their own perspective and problems, but I never felt they were rushed or shallow.
ZerriTheFoxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love the characters and the lack of time jumps, everything seems so much more real and personal. Makes me wish they had fox girls so that I could be part of this world too. I look forward to seeing how this characters develop as the story continues. As always, Thank you for the chapters.
Sable99Royal Road
★★★★ 3.5
So overall this is a really well-written story. If you've read QuietValerie's "Trouble with Horns" universe, it's very similar... but for a few reasons I'll go into, I just didn't enjoy this story and had to stop reading:
First, the story follows four protagonists. They are all very interesting characters and are each well-written. Unfortunately, focus is divided between these characters and so the story moves 4 times more slowly than it otherwise would. This really dilutes my interest the characters. Generally, I strongly prefer following only one character. I was not particularly interested by a couple of the characters, so that also did not help.
Secondly, I really found my personal suspension of disbelief challenged much too often. I just could not believe the events that occurred or could not relate to some of the actions of the characters. Mechanics of the MMORPG seemed too unbelievable at times, or the emotional responses of some of the characters were just too intense or unrelatable.
Thirdly, I think a bit more thought could have been put into world-building and technology. This is sci-fi after all, it's a "what if" about the future and technology, it should not just be a vehicle for telling the story you want to tell. More thought should be put into the consequences of the technology and how it works. This is something QuietValeries stories excel at. It might be unfair, but I just found myself disappointed.
Still though, it is obvious this author has a lot of talent and it is likely that other readers will enjoy this story just fine, so go ahead and give it a read if you think it sounds interesting!