The Bard of Xalir (Complete!)/The Archer of Adelbern (Complete)/Book 3 (Coming Soon)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The Bard of Xalir (Complete):Norman Benson grew up working on his family’s farm, always dreaming about becoming a famous bard. When his brother Henry and his daughter Arienneare kidnapped, he leaves his home to save them. Armed with a knife and his trusty mandolin, he must make new allies and brave the horrors of the world. Will this be the adventure Norman has always dreamed of, or will he find himself unprepared for the task?

The Archer of Adelbern (Complete):Norman Benson is back! It’s been two years since his last adventure. During that time, he’s had vivid dreams about his childhood friend Zadona, but he hasn’t seen or heard from her in years. But that all changes when a surprise letter from Zadona asks him to head north and speak with her boss. Will Zadona be the same kind girl from his memories, or will he find himself in the crosshairs of the deadly Archer of Adelbern?

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: BlueMintish

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 306
Views: 39,378

Reviews

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Community Reviews(6)

Ace-omiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a well-written piece of fiction with a clear narrative structure and well-defined characters. The setting, the farm, and the descriptions of the world are vivid and bring the story to life. The dialogue between Norman and Arienne is believable and the humor is light and enjoyable. The use of storytelling to keep Arienne entertained is an effective technique that also allows the reader to get a glimpse into Norman's character.
However, the plot feels a little underdeveloped and lacks depth. It is not clear why Henry and Arienne were kidnapped, or what the main conflict is. This could be a larger issue that is preventing the story from fully realizing its potential. The story leaves the reader wanting more.
Overall, this is a charming and well-written piece, but it could benefit from more fleshing out of the plot and conflict.
Continue your journey :)
Jrobledo64Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story provides just enough context to keep it flowing. Foreshadowing is used excellently! Characters are all realistic and likable. So far chapters are being released at a steady and reasonable rate. Excited to see where the story leads. Looking forward to chapters to come! For a story about someone named "Norman" the story seems really intriguing.
Scholar_GirogiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To begin with, this review is a long time coming and it is a travesty that not enough people are reading. Nonetheless, The Bard of Xalir by BlueMintish is a great work of storytelling and let me tell you why.
STYLE: [4.7] The flow of the prose is consistent and has that feeling of a nice calm wind that amps up once the main conflict arises, i.e., the kidnapping of essential characters cared for by Norman. The word choices is not complicated, but not simple, just enough to get to the point with bits of pizzazz, which makes sense, as the MC is a bard, so its very musical, if that could be put into words. Lovely!
STORY: [4.75] I read up to the 8th chapter, where things rev up a notch, and overall, the plot and world-building is intriguing enough to establish whats necessary. The homely starting village is always a nice bit storytelling and I enjoyed reading it all.
GRAMMAR: [4.65] By moral code, I have to assert that I am not an expert in grammar, punctuation and all that jazz, but from what I read, there is no glaring mistake that took me away from the overall experience.
CHARACTER/S: [4.7] Norman is an enjoyable MC. The whole father and daughter dynamic is immediately set up in the first chapter, and the way they talk and interact is realistic enough to put a definitive smile on my face. As for the little munchkin, Arienne, she, although short, is the foundation of this story and the MC's rescue quest. The rest of the cast is serviceable to keep the flow going, and I am intrigued to read more of their progression and development as the story goes on.
Overall, dang good stuff. I enjoyed reading this thoroughly, and will revisit this once I have more time to read. Keep on writing!
dzr8x9xcRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
If you want a more traditional fantasy story (without LitRPG elements), this is the story for you!
The style is well executed traditional fantasy with light D&D elements and good descriptions of the setting. The story is generally told in first person giving good insight into the main characters feelings and thought process as the story unfolds.
The story is a typical fantasy adventure story with a bit of a twist that in my opinion works really well.
Grammar is excellent, with almost no typos. The vocabulary is neither overly complicated, nor excessively simple.
The characters are extremely well done. The main character is a husband and father, which is different from most fantasy heroes I've read, and those relationships drive the MCs character motivations. The various people the MC parties up with throughout the story have a good amount of depth and feel like real people. Minor characters don't feel shallow even though they have comparatively little screentime: they make the world feel real and lived in. Especially well done is the villain! The villain's motivations are really hard to fault even if he is the antagonist to the main character. No spoilers but read on to see!
The author says he's working on book 2 but as it is the story has a very satisfying ending, so I think it's worth a read!
gpanthonyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I enjoy the very folksy intro to Norman and that he feels like a pretty relatable everyman protag. Nice to see a hero without a tortured or troubled past, but a good guy called out of normal life to a grand adventure! Looking forward to seeing the story really take off!
Summit-the -DragonRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Overall, this was a good story. It has themes of music having magical properties and this bard going on a venture that i will not spoil. It is also somewhat low-key
Story: The pacing was good. It did not go too fast nor too slow. The preface was also pretty good two. It starts quickly and the man goes on his venture quickly. The only thing is i feel it is just a series of events with a common thread, but not enough to weave a plot.
Character: The main character seems to be a little two-dimensional. He has a history, but we only see him do things that most anyone would do. Very few defining traits. He seems to normal and straight from a mold. If we see him taking different approaches or see more of his thoughts and desires, that would help.
Grammar: The grammar was good. I only saw two mistakes. There is not much else to say about this one.
Style: This writer has done well. They have a voice and are not afraid to express it. We see this in the sense that the word choice and how everything is phrased. The only thing I would suggest is adding more differences between in how each character speaks.
Overall: This is a good story. I have few complaints about it and would recommend it to anyone wanting a fast-paced but low-ish key story.