Sun and Shards [kobolds, tiny people, & cute furry animals defy giant humans in epic progression fantasy]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In a perilous world lorded over by giants—both human and beast—the miniature Shykind have managed to carve out their lives in the sun and shadows, thanks to their unique survival skills, arcane knowledge, and hidden settlements. Sylven, a headstrong Shy eager to prove himself, embarks on a daring rite to grab an egg from the fearsome kobolds five times his size. Disgruntled kobold Vikka is desperate to ditch her unwanted egg and the suffocating social order of her nest. A misunderstanding magically binds her and the tiny would-be egg thief.

The unlikely team must navigate the frontiers of their homelands, where they are captured by true monsters—human beings who use their imposing size to subjugate and exploit the smaller races for magic, labor, and wealth. Their survival and escape will depend on trust, cunning, and unexpected alliances. The humans' pursuit of mysterious shards that facilitate arcane energy and progression have them racing against the Shykind elite in unlocking deeply-held secrets.

Featured on Royal Road Rising Stars Steampunk, School Life, Ruling Class and Romance Genre Lists!

An epic story of the smallest heroes holding their own among foes and challenges that tower over them at every turn, Sun and Shards is packed with:

adventure and action

deep world-building

slow burn progression of unique shard-based magic/bonding system

giant/tiny interactions

cute creature taming

magical school shenanigans

and little bits of fluff, angst, romance and whump

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: wigochick

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 147
Views: 38,252

Chapters(70 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(5)

JD HopkinsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Let me start by saying, this story is definitely not written for me. Then let me clarify what I mean by that and why I still rate it as one of the best things I have ever read on Royal Road.
Target audience is a thing. I am not part of the target audience for this story. It just isn't my cup of tea.
But I can think of three people off the top of my head I will be highly recommending this story to, because I know what they like and this is definitely the type of story that is right up their ally.
This story is beautifully written. Honeslty, everything I have posted on Royal Road has been first draft, before hard edits. Not only does this read like extremely polished work, but the prose, from wording to description, is clearly well thought out and cleanly written. It is, quite frankly, intimidating to read as a fellow writer.
The world is interesting and well thought-out. I will not lie and say any of it is unique, but I will say that it explores a variety of ideas and fantasy cultures other stories barely talk about in a way that puts them in the forefront and fleshes them out in ways I have personally never seen before. The world building is great.
There are complaints from others about the first chapter being confusing regarding the smallfolk 'Shy,' but I think those comments are very unreasonable considering the cover and synopsis clarify that quite well before you even begin reading the story.
Overall, this is very well written. Polished like a freah cut diamond, and definitely something I will be recommending to a few friends.
I have only one complaint, which is why I dropped the story score as low as I did.
The story bounces between perspectives between characters too rapidly and it isn't necessary. If it were only two perspectives, I think it would be okay.
However the author juggles three characters and alternates too quickly. The truth is, the content could remain the same while just reorganizing and it would be a smoother read.
Other than that, this story i
WeavervaleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: 5/5 This is written in third person something. It had head hopping in the first chapter, very off meta for RR but fine. I won't ding it for that.
Okay there's three POVs in chapter one. Hmmmm. Okay so in traditional fantasy, this would be a strength. Here in royal road this is a deterrent. It's neutral in terms of this review. The final POV in chapter one is far more omni than the others, based on psychic distance.
And there's a fourth POV at the start of the second chapter.... Alright it's settling on two pics that were not the starting ones. Again this is a very strong choice and I respect it but it's just not what the meta is about.
Grammar: 5/5
The grammar is super clean. There are less errors there than I could really complain about.
Characters 5/5: They are very strong in the actions and Incan see the author understands characterization. Alright I can dig it.
Story: there's a bit of work here between the kobolds and everything else. It's moving. It's cute. The prose helps it. If anything it's distracting how often it swaps heads and that is a problem. I don't get to just stay with a character. I need that.
Mukund_Vishwa95Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
It is a part of a Review swap.
I'll go through each section one by one :
Overall
It was quite a nice story having different povs throughout the chapter, but if I am going to rate this on my personal level then I would respectfully state that I do not feel comfortable or can have have difficult time in connecting with characters in a 3rd person perspective.
But, if we ignore that and focus on the facts like Worldbuilding, peacing, transition and these perspective it was flawless on that point.
Style
This fiction deals with multiple perspective between male female human non-human characters introduced in the story which definitely give it a strong plus point but what I think it lacks in it's initial chapter was "Don't tell, show them" Concept in starting chapters I was having a bit trouble but as story progress it definitely becomes easier, author did quite a improvement their!
Story
It is a fantasy story with elements of survival and exploration.
It features cultural conflicts, physical and emotional challenge especially in this ch 12 I just finished reading. I don't want to spoil anything so I just keep it at this.
Characters
Characters are well developed author took first two chapter just on character introductions and I'd say was worth it, and because of that point I think they are pretty developed but because being new to this kind of stuff I think author avoided describing much details of characters so mostly through the story I was having my own imagination instead of authors.
Grammar
Well I'm not a person to judge on this point so I'll simply state it was nice and clean... FULL POINTS.
book devouring duckRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I was barely engaged until the 20th chapter. Then it started snowbaling. Secretive underground industrial civilizations, life and death struggles, exploitation, conspiracy. The momentum builds to an unfathomable degree, until it sweeps over you like an avalanche.
(As i stated earlier the series takes a long while to get going, but good luck stopping)
P.s. actually has maps later on
God of LiesRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
First chapter review.
I had almost no idea what to expect from Sun and Shard. I had only glimpsed the cover. Thank god I had or I might have been lost! We open with two characters, a male, and a female, whose paths have not yet crossed. One seems to be animaline, a female, expected to lay and fertilise eggs, but not keen to. And a male, who seems to be hunting, and may be human (not quite sure yet). There is a lot of fantasy world-building and language which came thick and fast, and I was a bit overwhelmed at first. But the style is something special - well paced and exceptionally well written, with great language choice. And when we settled into the female's narrative, I felt myself carried along nicely. There is not a lot of story hook/problem yet, though I do care about the female. A slow build then, but getting to know the characters before the shit hits the fan is important. This is a talented writer, even if I am a little lost in this new world so far, and I want to read more!