Tenebroum

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

How long will it take for a murdered thief to distill into something monstrous? In this story the darkness only grows stronger, and its reach only grows wider as it expands by devouring the life that surrounds it. This is a dark fantasy where evil is awhere, not just awhothat focuses on slow progression, undeath, and atmospheric storytelling.

This story is complete and stubbed. I will update it when I launch the sequel.

Book 1 (and audio) available here.

Book 2 (and audio) available here.

Book 3 (and audio) available here.

Book 4 (and audio) available here.

Book 5 (and audio) available here.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2022
Author: DWinchester

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 4,239
Views: 331,399

Chapters(16 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

pupproRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Quite good. Well written. The novel features no spelling errors that I have found. It also features very few grammatical errors such to the point that they are barely noticeable if at all. Story is good, developing nicely and with a good pace. I find the character aspect to not be quite what it could be in that I don't feel as much depth as I could, if that makes any sense. The style definitely matches the theme the author was going for and in that, I applaud you. I believe that to reach the grim dark aspect of the story it was required to sacrifice some bits of character to reach it. My reasoning is that to showcase the full range of a character you need to have more contrast than is available to, let's say, a malevolent spirit of a swamp. However, this story does feature at least one other pov to my knowledge and it may include more later on. If I feel this story has added more to it later on in the character department I will try to come back here to update my rating for the character score. Lastly, I'm not entirely sure if I understood completely what each rating was for but I did my best.
TLDR good dark story about a swamp that does swamp things with a good helping of evil.
A V DalcourtRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Grammar: Nothing noticibly wrong, though it's obvious by looking through the comments that people have pointed out things, and that the author has since corrected his fiction. Good trait to have.
Style: The story is told through a distant third person narrative, lending itself to an hands-off approach to the atmospheric tension as the story evolves. Yet, I find myself wondering how this story might improve if the author did a close third person narrative instead, and focused more on showing and less telling.But that's not what this fiction is at this time, though I saw shifts towards active storytelling later in the fiction.
Story: The story is uncomfortable and sinister. It starts with two dispicable men, one of which commits a trifecta of dispicable acts, leading to the slow evolution of a cursed land. Overall, I've never read something quite like this before, and really enjoyed the novelty with themes I'm already a fan of. I partcularly enjoyed the slow uncomfortable tension, rising in each chapter, bringing with it the anticipation of how this curse will evolve, mature, and eventually break.
Character: The character is the setting itself, which in of itself is a clever angle to write from. Through out the story new characters who interact with the setting each with purposes of their, but those characters are shared with us from such a distant narrative that, unfortunately, the cast can be regimented to their role instead of feeling like fully fleshed out people, and as a result I wasn't able to form an emotional attatchment to anyone. This method could be intentional, as the setting itself certainly doesn't get attatched to interloppers, but this is what made me wonder about a close third person instead of the distant third.
Overall added to my favourites because the premises is interesting and the author's execution of the tension and atmosphere is worth experiencing.
BROBOTICUSRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Its a systemless dungeon core story, tho not exacty.
its abilities are fun beliveble. I belive the story immencescope for growth, and is quite a reffreshing story
the spirit is not exacty human but close enoughf to undestand hassimple and beliveble motivations.
And the minion crafting/enslavinf is a fun and unique
CobbaltRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I like this story very much. The writing is very vivid, and my favourite chapters are the ones reading like a mini horror story. The horror and evilness of the lich and its necromantic magic is striking. I don't usually like protagonists that are evil or this immoral, but the MC here is a completely monstrous lich that is as inhuman as one gets. There is no question of its morality because it is amoral.
There is some false advertising though, I wouldn't really call this GameLit or a Dungeon Core story. This is pure fantasy, maybe progression fantasy at most. It seems like something that could potentially exist in the Forgotten Realms setting of DnD. What this really reminds me of is the stories of ancient liches in high fantasy stories who've ended up conquering entire swathes of lands with kingdoms inside. Our heroes get the quest to defeat this evil lich, and they set out into a deadly labyrinth, at the end of which is the powerful lich they have to defeat. This story, though, is not about the heroes, but rather about how how one such powerful lich came to be: how it originated as a resentful ghost, became a wraith by feeding on blood and resentment, then became a full-fledged lich with a phylactery, and how this lich slowly gains power and expands its domain of influence, all the while dealing with adventurers, mages, nobles and the corrupt church.
ColdHeartRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A dungeon core story that is not really about a dungeon. There is no system or stats, only a collection of dark spirits merged into a single undead entity slowly spreading their evil infulence over the world from its swamp. Every powerful foe it defeats gets added to the collective broadening its knowledge and power, other lesser foes get revived as undead to serve it for eternity.
DaishiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love stories from "bad guy" pov and this is the first I've found in a while that's done well. Usually the bad guys tend to follow one trope or another and are entirely to predictable etc etc i really appreciate the creativity, forethought and traps that are utilized and the complete disregard for good guys feelings
DuckhuntjoeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I greatly enjoyed the work so far, and I must add that if you had some sort of Pa-tr-eon I would gladly donate like 10$ or so a month to help keep the creative juices and motivation flowing. I also guess I have to make a besechment towards you that we keep the lizards around for longer, because I really like the idea that the little murder swamp will eventually turn into a full blown deity.
FrogtyrantRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
As a humanoid frog, I am no stranger to the darkness of the swamp. But even I was not prepared for the horror that lurked within the pages of Tenebroum. This is a story that delves deep into the heart of evil, showing how it can grow and spread like a disease.
The tale begins with two despicable men, and their actions set off a chain reaction that leads to the slow corruption of the land. As I read on, I could feel the darkness growing stronger and more pervasive. It was like a shadow creeping across the pages, devouring everything in its path.
The main character of the story is truly terrifying. A Thief that slowly distills into something monstrous after he died. I could feel his malevolent presence in every word, and it sent shivers down my spine.
What struck me most about Tenebroum was the way it focused on slow progression and atmospheric storytelling. This is not a story that relies on jump scares or cheap thrills. Instead, it builds a sense of unease and foreboding that only grows more intense as the story progresses.
As a fan of dungeon core stories, I was pleased to see the genre turned on its head in Tenebroum. The evil spirit controlling the swamp was unlike anything I had ever encountered before. It was a unique and refreshing take on a well-worn trope.
Overall, I would highly recommend Tenebroum to anyone who enjoys dark fantasy and atmospheric storytelling. But be warned, this is not a story for the faint of heart. It is uncomfortable, sinister, and deeply unsettling. But for those brave enough to delve into its pages, it is an experience unlike any other.
FrohomoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
one of the best dungeon novels out there even if at the start, i hope the writer keeps writing for he is writing my subjective masterpiece book. i encourage you to read 10 chapters before deciding to drop this for you will be suprised of the quality, it is very dark and in the mind of pure darkness but the world building is nothing but amazing and without many characters hes managed to make a compelling story. i encourage you to read this book it is one out of very few to fit my very small window of great books. PLEASE KEEP WRITING THIS, thank you.
Imthebest69Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love the concept this novel is fresh and i like how he isnt a dungeon but basically became a deity like entity not only that i like the world building and the grammar is great there are no mistakes to be honest if this had more chapters this definitely would be trending