The Calcite Chronicles, Part I: The Thief

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

What if the hero who was celebrated for defeating Hell lied to us all?

When a high-stakes heist targeting the kingdom’s treasury leaves Luca with only his life and a seemingly simple calcite stone, he's unaware that he's holding the key to a centuries-old mystery.

The legendary hero who had brought peace to the world for hundreds of years didn't tell the whole story. And while the world assumes Hell's resurgence is just another cycle of demonic invasions, the truth is far more complex, and the calcite stone is at the heart of it all.

As Luca evades powerful forces - heroes more ruthless than villains, and the archdemons of Hell - he begins to uncover the nature of the hero's lie and the stone's true significance: it could either complete what the hero couldn't or unleash an even greater catastrophe. But Luca isn't interested in saving the world; he just wants to survive.

Will the skills that kept him alive in the city be enough to save him from the dangers beyond?

***

What to expect:

- A slow-burn story (the protagonist has some advantages due to his background but will need to grow stronger to stand a chance)

- First-person POV with complementary chapters (decimal-numbered) from other perspectives

- Dark and mature themes set in a fantasy world where power and ruthlessness are the keys to survival

Information

Status
Hiatus
Year
2024
Author
R.Magnus

Tags

ACTIONFANTASYADVENTUREMAGICDRAMAMALE LEADHIGH FANTASYPROGRESSION

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.8/ 5.0
Followers
11
Views
17,547

Chapters(51 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(4)

  • Jeff_HowardRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This review covers through the first story arc, ending with Chapter 4, though I certainly intend to keep reading.
    This story is an underrated gem, pun intended.  The magic system involves refining gems and mineral formations into rings of power, each capable of a different magical ability.  Some are more powerful than others, but calcite has the blessing of the gods, and it's the only one capable of destroying Hell.
    Right from the beginning, the author paints a scene in the form of a prologue from 490 years ago.  Four heroes triumph over the powers of Hell, but they aren't quite able to finish the job.  When the first story arc begins, centuries later, we see the repercussions.
    The story follows the path of Luca in the first person.  He's the anti-hero type, a youth among thieves, who is willing to participate in the theft of something from the king's vaults.  The author does a beautiful job of creating a compelling cast of supporting characters: his mentor, Elandor, his love interest, Ren, and the cantankerous Joven among them.  They all feel like real personalities, and the dialogue comes across as authentic.
    The setting comes alive with meticulous description, including a tense lock-picking scene that must be completed in time before the band of thieves is discovered by royal guards.  Action is rich and well-choreographed, and the author succeeds in delivering emotional consequences when things don't go as planned.
    There are some rough edges.  The pacing can be a little slow at times, and the world building in the first few chapters is a bit dense, but overall these can be overcome, which is why I docked only a half-point on style.
    Overall, this is one of the best stories I've read so far on Royal Road, and I'm definitely enthused to keep reading.  While this was intended to be a review swap, I am speaking from the heart when I say that other readers should definitely check this one out.
  • keiraxstarRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    It's important I'm still giving this 5 stars because it's a really good story and I do think people should read it as a result, and I would definitely want the author to keep going.
    There's cool lore here, there's good characters with motivations and actions, there's a fun heist plot we open on immediately. Even the prologue has a fun little hook to it and is a proper prologue which I appreciate a lot (there's a lot of bad prologues). It's a good, fun fantasy story.
    The writing is very clean and consistent throughout and is strong when it's focused.
    The biggest blocker is that it isn't focused. There's so much packed into single chapters that they can take forever to read, and even within a chapter I would start to drift and struggle to keep going. This is either because:
    1. The story will abruptly halt to give way more description on a character than you need
    2. The story will abruptly halt to give a lengthy explanation of world or lore that you don't really need, especially because it does a great job of just showing people's skills, the gems in action, or because you just don't need that info to understand the heist and it's for your own notes
    3. Characters choose to talk like they're trying to chew up scenery, they're all trying to make their biggest mark or have a really big scene in their dialogue or be the most character they can and it takes forever
    4. The scene has too much in it and gives equal focus to all of them
    But that's why I still give it big stars. This is a good story with good characters told inefficiently, and that is extremely easy to edit down and clean up. It needs to pick a focus point/moment in each scene and hone in on that and just not describe the rest as much (chapter for is a ton going on). You lose the sense of urgency and the tension and stakes because of all the switched focus, which sucks because they're all cool. Just like too much cool sometimes.
  • A. StargazerRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    First of all, I want to start by saying that the opening of this book is fantastic.  The banter between the characters in the thief's group is absolutely brilliant and well done.  If this story was just 80k words of that type of content, I would have given full marks across the board.
    Unfortunately the second arc fails to live up to the first, in my humble opinion.   It's still good.  Quite good.  I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to high fantasy fans, especially those who enjoy references to philosophy mixed in with their reading material.  Because those references are definitely present, mixed in with the spices of drama, betrayal, tension, and a looming deadline.  That last bit was literal.
    I'm hoping that it's building up to something that's worth the wait, but at the moment I'm left hanging.  While the mystery of the village is interesting, as is the looming deadline, it is my humble opinion that the pace dropped off significantly compared to the opening of the book rather than riding the momentum that made me keep reading past the first chapter in the first place.
    The Style is well written and developed.  Full marks.
    Grammatically the author made only a few minor mistakes that I saw.  Nobody is perfect and for royal road it deserves full marks.
    The story starts out strong but levels off, which is why it gets a 4.5.  It's still very good and interesting, as noted above.
    The characters, likewise, are very well done.  The protagonist is a little standoffish, but that's understandable given who and what he is.  The supporting cast in the opening of the book is simply amazing.  Unfortunately they don't stick around, or else I'd give this category full marks too.  The antagonists are unlikeable, which, for antagonists, is a good thing.  I dithered a little bit before deciding to go with a 4.5.  The characters are very good, but the monologues and the self-justification wears a little thin.
    Overall I really enjoyed reading this.
  • BeomJunKooRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    After a failed heist into a kingdom's treasury resulting in devastating consequences, our protagonist, Luca, takes what he's got left on a journey for a better life than what he used to have. First off, Luca is a good, relatable character whom we want to root for throughout everything. Really gotta admire his will to keep moving forward even when so much of the odds are against him.
    I initially also loved the interactions he had with his fellow thieves during the opening heist - it all felt genuine and organic, for what little we see of it. The other characters that come after I will say serve their purpose well, keeping the following events intriguing to make the reader want to see what else could happen.
    Complimenting this is a writing style that gives us plenty of lively detail into the characters' minds/emotions as well as the world, without disrupting the flow of what's going on. It truly makes every scene feel greatly immersive. The grammar's only got very few and far between hiccups that doesn't get any points off, so full marks on both of them.
    As for the story, I'm genuinely invested in most aspects of it such as the imaginative lore it sets up, and of course Luca's journey. The overall flow, on the other hand, could be a little better, as the story's individual arcs so far seem to go on for more than they need to, and so at times it could feel like things are dragging. I've already mentioned this in a comment, but IMO story arcs operate better as small steps on the way to the destination and shouldn't take up too much of the story's portion.
    Still, this is overall a very good story worth getting invested in. Fans of things like D&D will especially love what they find here with its imaginative world and an exciting hero's adventure.