The Black Pyramid

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Elevator Pitch: Long lost brothers team up despite their differences to save a pantheon of gods! Non-Euro setting, some Spanish, and native mexican mythos/language.

Author's Note: Fun tropes propped up with the floor dropped out beneath them. What's left is a taut rope. This is my first novel. It is complete at ~127,000 words with series potential (though I'm uploading chapters day by day). I have other unrelated works brewing.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2025
Author: dturov

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 5.0/ 5.0
Followers: 9
Views: 4,977

Reviews

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Community Reviews(1)

akaMithosRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
[Disclaimer] I know the author personally (coworker); this did not impact my opinion of the work nor this review. Additionally, I read this work with a pdf manuscript provided to me directly rather than using the royal road page. I have been assured (by the author) that the content is identical.
Overall - 5/5 Embracing Heresy is a potent mix of NK Jemisin's thought-provoking worldbuilding, Brandon Sanderson's effective narrative payoff, and Lev Grossman's tight pacing. And somehow, even with all of those factors in play, my favorite part of this work is still the character writing. An absolutely gripping read that is begging for continuation.
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Style - 4.5/5 I debated over 4.5 or 5 for style back and forth even as I was about to post this review. I settled on 4.5 not because I think there are any actual flaws, but because I think there were a few instances where aspects of the style that I consider to be positive combined to be momentarily unfavorable, but in such a way that it may have been an intentional choice. More on that in a second; but first, the unambiguously positive:
My absolute favorite thing about Embracing Heresy is how the characters' individual personality comes through even while the narrative itself remains solidly in 3rd person. The style of the narration changes subtly between "PoVs" so the reader can really feel Aquiles' reserved frustration, Arturo's inner turmoil, or Josefa's quiet determination. Plus, later, several small PoV swaps and associated style variances to highlight characters that would otherwise go unnamed really fill out the reader's visceral connection to the narrative.
I also appreciate the author's ability to use style modification to highlight other changes in the story (moderate spoilers ahead in this example)
At first, the reader really notices each chapter beginning/ending with "buenos dias/noches" because that's clearly not something other stories use. Then it fades to the background because it