Stonesong [An Illustrated Grimbright Fantasy Adventure]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Long has Mika, an otherwise devout princess of the Deep, dreamed of the wonders of the surface. Of endless oceans of trees, feathered carnivores and magical lightning. But the Overworld is a dangerous place, populated by warlike peoples who dwarf her already diminutive species in both size and brutality. To cross the boundary into that world is forbidden to all but a very few…and most certainly to her, a weak Singer in possession of a vital treasure. But when the horrors of the surface find their way below, Mika must choose: embrace the brutal, or face a fate worse than death.

~First place winner of the Royal Road Community Magazine Contest, summer 2022~

*Note: The dungeon side of the narrative will build slowly over time and only really kick off at the beginning of the second arc*

This story features a bisexual non-human MC and includes unconventional, probably kind of weird versions of high fantasy species like elves, orcs, and goblins. It’s also got elements of manapunk and flintlock fantasy, varied modes of gender expression, polyamory, multiple different sexualities but no explicit sex, grotesque lovecraftian body-horror abominations, fantastical versions of prehistoric animals and some very gratuitous hand-holding.

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Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: KittraMcBriar

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 678
Views: 80,990

Chapters(29 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is pretty elaborate, with layered worldbuilding as a backdrop for a grim adventure. Plenty of fantastical things have been introduced, but are just treated as normal within the context of this new setting, so information comes across slowly, with a more natural feel. The writing is quite polished, and is technically skilled to boot; I didn't notice any grammatical or spelling errors. Overall, the premise is intriguing, and the narrative has been executed well. Good start!
DanceLikeAFoolRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
TLDR: Worldbuilding. Monster/Fantasy Race Mains. Beautiful Art Priming Chappies. Enjoyable.
Initial impression: The author walks you up to the pool and then pushes you into it at the deep end. After a bit of sputtering, you realize you kind of like it. In this regard you're on pace with Mika.
Style: The author prefers to use art to set some of the chapters and it works. Royal Road needs more art, to be honest. There is a lot of description that goes into the world-building. A lot of names for classes/slang/what have you. From my perspective the writer makes a lot of broadstrokes initially while they sort out the shape they want and then go all in on the details.
Grammar: There's nothing jarring or horridly inconsistent. You can tell the author gives it a once over, which is a lot more than I usually ask for from someone without a professional editor.
Character: There isn't a whole lot of agency for the main character initially, but being swept up by a vast array of interesting and deep characters works. Just ask studio ghibli.
Story: I call it a slow burn dark fantasy because there's no obvious point A to point B plot mechanic. Mika has goals and does her best to work toward them, but all in all the story is revealed minute by minute, chapter by chapter, making it seem aimless when instead it is just a layer of threads leading toward a larger design. The majority of the story centers around lost knowledge, and the writer correctly(in my opinion) doesn't just give you the knowledge at the beginning.
Vitaly S AlexiusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Yay, am not only writer with art headers on RR now! Great job on the arts Kittra Mc Briar! Keep on drawing more awesome things!
Now that art praises are done, here are praises for the story:
A well written dark fantasy from the point of view of Mika, a princess of the deep ocean of trees.
A quality non-human MC with modded version of tolkie-ish races all of which are very fun. Love the manapunk and flintlockpunk stylization! :]
ZagarothRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an interesting and excellent story and world, one which is filled with danger and darkness, but with a tiny, growing spark of light and hope. There is a path to a better future. We just don't have the dungeon core *yet*. But for all that I love this work, it does have some flaws. How important those flaws are I leave for you to decide. I enjoy it enough I can live with them. :)
So, I am knocking the style score a tiny bit, because of one thing that is difficult for me: A lot of important characters with similar traits were introduce in a fairly short period of time, and that makes it hard for me to solidify a character in my head when new characters are being rotated in before the older characters are solid. If I was going to give advice for the future: Introduce new characters a few at a time, make them as distinct as possible, and give them time to be familiar to the reader before introducing new ones. Otherwise they blur.
Now, aside from the issue of characters being introduced too fast, the individual characters are interesting and do become fleshed out, but are a touch weakened by so many of them needing to do things in the story before you really know them. And they may be more fleshed out than I can hold in my head, because of the line blurring in my head.
The author's grammar is great, I have caught no typos or corrections, so there is nothing to glaring if there are any issues.
Evelyn AdelbergRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This story is great. With its unique setting, distinct main character, and smooth prose, it’s the perfect read for someone wanting a break from LitRPG and isekai. However, I will note that this story is on the slower side.
I will say this about the setting however: the fact that it is a combination of so many genres (sci-fi, fantasy, mech, steampunk) makes it a bit hard to understand, especially at the start. It’s not too distracting, but noticeable when compared with everything else in this story that’s just about perfect.
In my notes I also write down ‘Interesting how the author plays with tenses’ but I have no idea what I meant by that at the time ^^;
Style 4
Story 4
Grammar 5
Character 5
TealiciousTeaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I recommend it!
The style is reasonably easy to read. There are a few paragraphs that are dense with descriptions. The richness of the descriptions is pleasant to read through. Overall I prefer it. This is not bad but impacts the ‘easiness’ of the reading.
At the start of the story, events are launched forward at a fast pace. Along with the characters, it is the most compelling part of the fiction. When I stopped at chapter five we were about to dive into an epic moment. So, great work on the cliffhangers.
The grammar is on point. The writing is clear. I didn’t do a thorough check but on a causal read through I did not spot any major errors.
The characters are cute and likeable. Our MC is the definition of lovable.
Character work is at its early stages but everyone feels unique and different and outgrowths of a grander, weirder fantasy world. Weird in the best ways possible. The character art enhances this impression. The added visual media gives greater immersion. All the characters are relatable and understandable so that is a pro. No one as of yet has huge depth as we bounce from plot point and action moment. That is fine in the early stages.