Tales of Jeb!

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Book One (Farmer): When Jeb gets his first Class, he is expecting to become a Farmer like the rest of his family. Instead, the Paragons tell him that not only will he become a great Mage, but that he will slay a monstrous dragon. Faced with the choice between giving up the life he's always known or rejecting the call to save the world, Jeb makes the only choice he can.

Book Two (Student): After being forcibly taken to the Capital, Jeb begins his studies at the Academy. There he learns how different his hometown's culture is from the world at large.

This is a fairly slice-of-life LitRPG, and updates are at 1808 GMT WF

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: Lawless Air

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 1,831
Views: 2,092,988

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

Bruce cRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Our MC Jeb starts out in an obviously happy family in a farming community. As he approaches adulthood, he expresses the desire to remain and contribute to this environment. His extended family embarks on an extraordinarily well though out plan to give him all the possible skills (and Skills) to let him explore the broadest possibilities for growth in whatever he chooses.
Add in a few quite enigmatic (and probably overpowered) external mentors and his inquisitive, but introverted nature and his growth takes some remarkable directions... that he seems completely oblivious to.
With a bit of plot armor, he attends an arcane university with both little practical knowledge or finances, where he cannot fit any of the known, accepted study plans. However, he is allowed to explore a wide variety of subjects... resulting in a unique growth for his magic.
Other than the passive, third-party voice common to tales of introverted MCs, the grammar and writing stylefine with little to no noticeable issues.
The world building is quite good, with the various branches of magic and Skills very well thought out. Initially there was a lot of talk about synergies and conflicts between Skills and Classes, but those references become more rare as the story progresses (not sure if this is intentional because he gains higher parent Skills or just just unintentional).
The unique feature of this story is just how good it presents the various primers for the various Skills he is exposed to. The story presents just enough detail to be realistic without getting bogged down or show obvious defects or hand-waving. It is a bit inconsistent on how long it takes to gain skills.
The MC is quite naive and can't quite make solid emotional connections with the people he meets. While his apparent brilliance helps, the loss of those ties makes some of the other people's actions and reactions less believable. For example, his family spares almost nothing to help him develop, but he doesn't seem to acknowl
Eder LvanonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It one of the novel i like the most
Not my first language so sorry for any mistakes.
What to expect to find in the story:
1.slowburn story
2. Head in the cloud mc (really focus in what he do)
3.system
4.weak to strong (happened but not story of fighting at all- i am at chapter 226)
5. It story on boy that become man and try to find his way
He really like magic and more
RscottysBRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Excellent writing and a simple story that nevertheless grabs you and takes you along for a fantastic ride. Still in the early stages of plot development imo, though the MC has already started to come into his own. Being a classic progression fic, the world clearly places importance on gaining levels and skills. However, the main draw for me is that a lot of the story is about life beyond (or despite) levels and magic powers.
Style:
So far, the writing quality has remained superb, and the tone (and style) very consistent. There is a constant subtle grim overtone that the MC is oblivious to having grown up sheltered in a large extended family rural environment. But the overall tone is upbeat and relaxed, despite the MC being a workaholic whose idea of a break in training is working on some other skill. Something else I appreciate is that the pastoral flavor of the place really comes through in the writing.
Story:
While I'm kind of aware there is a plot, it's not obvious. So far the story has just been the MC training, innovating and generally wowing the residents of Humdrumville with his genius. There are multiple directions the author can take the story and any of them would serve it well, and even from the very start it is clear that the story will progress and not flounder in the same place.
Grammer:
No issues whatsoever, and if there are any-- they are minor enough to go unnoticed. Good usage of punctuation, and really all I have to say is that the story feels polished to read.
Character:
The characters are well fleshed out, and while the main character is obviously someone special by the standards of the story's current location, he is not the main focus of all the other characters-- they have their own lives and goals. As a bonus, I've never felt the urge to skip parts of the story due to lack of interest in the subject of those parts.
I hope this story continues well into the future, cause I'm kinda invested in Jeb's journey now :D
S1qwemRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So far what I’ve read of this book feels like it’s still in a long, long introductory phase, I’m not sure if the book will ever really progress in a meaningful manner. The single biggest issue I have is that there’s just nothing to the book so far besides character sheet changes and vague hints, which doesn’t really make for the most compelling read. It’s a quick skim though, since the book doesn’t really change much between chapters and even story arcs.
The writing is technically good. No awful spelling or grammar issues noted, and the style reads in a developed form. However, there’s no real content. After reading 200 chapters there’s no real worldbuilding beyond generic scenes with a couple of unexplained future plot hooks. I couldn’t tell you how the economy works, how the government works, or how society works. The first 200 chapters don’t really show any change or growth in the main character beyond “he added another skill to the list and did something that nobody believes” and that doesn’t really change even when the setting changes from generic village to generic academy. Said skills eventually all get merged back into one, which begs the question of what story purpose they served in the first place.
Finally at the end of the 200 chapter introduction the main character pops out again, this time being at or near the top of what I assume is the power level pyramid, if I had any idea of how the world worked. He hasn’t really learned anything about the world, he doesn’t have a direction, he’s made no strong relationships beyond business partners and fellow academics. He’s still just a blank slate learning about magic. The Druids are forbidden in the republic, his family is still a bunch of inexplicably high powered farmers, the guy who kidnapped him from his village is forgotten, and I don’t know why. The only difference is apparently now he’s at the top of the power pyramid and his numbers have gone
Slice of life style novels are great but even if they don’t p
Seb35Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
While others have mentioned issues with the author's writing style and whatnot, I just want to say that I really really enjoyed this story, and recommend everyone to at least give it a try! The lack of descriptive writing in the first book doesn't detract from the story at all.
And I just want to mention that at its core, this story is really about the growth of Jeb as a person, and his exploration of magic. Yes, there is a small farming focus, and a larger music focus, but both of those really come from a lens of exploring different types and different uses of magic.
Full disclaimer, there is lots of music in this story though, and Jeb since Jeb considers music (bardic magic) to be a form of magic, a good bit of the first book is spent learning music.
Regardless, I really enjoyed this story, and hope that the author continues to write such a great story!
SilentSargonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is just plain good work. The protagonist isn’t some OP monster that levels up ridiculously fast and slaughters everything in his path. Quite frankly I’m getting a bit tired of those stories. The main character is actually a character that people can sympathize with. Yes, it’s definitely a slow burn story, but that’s part of why I like it. The protagonist trying very hard to NOT become the badass warrior is refreshing especially since it doesn’t seem to be a plot device to set him up as the “reluctant hero”. That might change in future chapters, but I actually trust this author to do so through believable character development. I’m writing this to try to promote a story I think more people should be reading. Hopefully this helps. Good work deserves awards. That was pretty much my review. Now I’m just typing to comply with the ridiculous 200 word review requirement. Seriously. You can go now. The review is over. Apparently being able to express my opinion in less than 200 words is completely unacceptable on this platform. Oh, you’re still here? Way to stick it out! Well done. Wow. Still not 200 words, huh? Y’all ever consider that more people would review stories if they didn’t have to write a mini novel to do so? No? Maybe you should. I’m about to press “submit” again. Pray for me.
SkyRebelRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an advanced review (I’ve read/seen more chapters and given feedback along the way) and I’m related to the author (so I want to see them do well and have some bias in my review). However, given these caveats, I will do my best to cover the four areas fairly and without spoiling anything.
Style: This is, as mentioned, a slice of life story. The story follows a teenager named Jeb as he gets his class and works to improve himself. As with the rest of the litrpg genre, there will be a number of blue boxes and numbers that get bigger.
Story: As this is a slice of life story, the plot follows the main character as he grows and interacts with society. It is not an action filled story; this is not the type of litrpg where the characters grow stronger through endless slaughter. If you are looking for an action story, you should probably look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for a slice of life story, or if you haven’t read a slice of life story before, I recommend giving this a try.
Grammar: There may be a mistake here or there with spelling, grammar, or punctuation, but in my experience the mistakes are few and far between. While grammatically correct, the author sometimes uses complex sentence structures when a simpler, clearer structure could be used which can make parsing some of the sentences a bit harder. It’s still correct and it’s still clear what the author is saying, but it sometimes takes a second read at times.
Character: The main character feels like a real person. Although his actions are not always optimal, they are reasonable given his age and knowledge. The other characters are realistic in what we see of them, however, given the amount of time spent with them through where I’ve read, we have to infer much of their motivations. From the actions they take and the words they speak, the characters are internally consistent.
Overall, I believe it is well written grammatically, the main character feels like a real person, and it is a decent slice of
moosemoralsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Jeb! is a child of many generations of Farmers who grows up with and around the expectation that he will gain his Farming class when he turns 16 and follow in his ancestors footsteps.
Jeb! is therefore horrified when the System gives him a magic class - and a quest - instead, and quickly decides to (respectfuly and politley) do what the heck he wants and nuts to the System.
With the support of his loving family, the local Librarian, a passing Bard, and the inate ability to focus hard enough to ignore such petty needs as food and sleep, Jeb! works hard to improve himself and make his numbers go up!
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I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this story so far. Yes, it's a LitRPG but the stat blocks aren't overwhelming and the system is interesting and clearly well thought out. I especially like the subtle hints that people have been living within the System for a long time; at least long enough to develop theories to help each other get the most out of their options.
Technical skills are also good, no spelling mistakes and very few grammar mistakes ("stylistic choices that I would have made differently") to pull me out of the flow.
A cosy place to rest away from the grimdark.
razorknightRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is not for everybody, but it is perfect for some people. That person might be you!
Jeb's story is one that is slow, meandering, seemingly quaint, and humble. This is the story of a young man who believes that he wants to be a farmer - and sure enough he still loves plants - but what he discovers he really, truly loves is Magic in all its forms. It is his long, slow, wandering exploration of a series of interesting and complex magic systems, various crafts he can use to support his magic, and theoretical concepts that are all a foreground to a world building that is tantalizing.
This is a love story between a young man and Magic.
It is also very frustrating due to how many questions there are, and how rarely answers seem to come along. Every chapter there are questions answered about magic and the setting, and every chapter raises two or three new questions. I promise you that it is endless, and it's frustrating because I want to know more NOW, and so does Jeb, but he's more patient than I am. He's also a hard worker who explores what he likes at his own pace, and the author delivers on details that most others would skim over.
Inversely - and for the same reason that they write from Jeb's perspective - they also skim over details that Jeb is seemingly oblivious to. Connotations and implications that are obvious to the reader go unnoticed by Jeb.
Jeb is brilliant. He is a genius. He is a big dummy. He is naive. He is Jeb, and I love him. He is perfect just the way he is, and I could strangle him sometimes.
The style is very barebones in a particular way that I find fairly unique to this story. It's essentially written from Jeb's perspective, and written almost like Jeb's own thoughts. He only knows a person's name when he thinks its important to do so, not because he doesn't care about that person - he DOES care about them - but because he simply doesn't think to do so.
I hope that this doesn't violate any rules or upset anyone, but I believe that Jeb is b
RauthrMysticRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I friggin love this story! I'm a huge fan of magic. It was my first draw into fantasy and why I love elves so very much. Now our main character may not be an elf but he is a mage. The first part of the story focuses about him at home. It introduced you to the system and really gets you used to it. The Litrpg aspect is very well done and enjoyable. I absolutely recommend this story!