Description

Dargania, once a royal kingdom ruled over by the great Dargan family, has fallen into the clutches of a traitorous group of Barons. Forming an Oligarchy, they rule the land with an iron fist and have done so for seventeen brutal years.

Arcos Blade, a young man sold into slavery, wastes what is left of his life in a Baron's salt pit. When an opportunity presents itself, he takes his chances in a fiery escape.

But just as he thinks his destiny becomes his own again, he runs afoul of an enigmatic assassin. Indentured into her service as a debt, Arcos is pulled into a dangerous profession once more.

Alongside a motley group of wayward souls, Arcos must fight for his life in a brutal world filled with duplicitous characters and monsters of all shapes and sizes. All the while finding his place in the freedom he seeks.

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Hey all!

This is an adult grim dark fantasy epic, so expect quite a few chapters!

What to expect:

Determined main characters, chiseled by tough childhoods but slowly opening their hearts to the possibility of friendship, redemption and love.

Plenty of dynamic and deadly fight scenes.

A deeply lore-driven long-term saga with mythology and magic.

A multitude of storylines that will collide in various and dramatic ways.

CONTENT WARNING:

Being a grimdark fantasy, this story will deal with dark themes of an adult nature.

Which includes: torture, death threats, attempted SA and committed SA, death, slavery, deep-set trauma, cruelty to animals and children, and graphic violence and sexual content.

So fair warning for those who may feel uncomfortable with such subjects and please take a break should it be too intense.

Book 2 of COTBis online! Click to read!

Community Reviews(1)

TheLumberj4ckRoyal Road

★★★★ 4.0

I love this story and I'd say that its catered to an adult reader. So maybe the tags need to be adjusted. Still it is such a good read that I binged it during exam season...
Normally I don't write reviews but this is so criminally underrated and hadn't any reviews that I felt compelled to write one.
What's good about this story:
• The world building is great, I enjoyed the anecdotes at the beginning and it doesn't feel like I need to make an excel spreadsheet just to remember the Geopolitics. The myths/religions are great.
• the characters have each their own motivations. I could emphasize with them and understand why they did certain things. I think the characters are really well written
• I enjoyed the soft magic system very much and I am excited to read more about it, bc as of now it has been barely scratched upon
• The fights are well done and it's gory but not unnecessarily so
• I really like that this story doesn't shy away from trauma, Gore and other less savory aspects of the world the author is trying to share with us
Whats makes me hesitate to give it 5 stars:
• The biggest issue is the typos and grammar, almost all chapters had some mistakes. Idk why the author didn't use software to quickly proofread it, but sometimes i really struggled to understand what the author wants to tell me... BUT the author answered to some of my earlier edit suggestions and is fixing the mistakes. Props to them.
• I didn't like that the martial progression of the protagonist and the other characters was so quick. They learned a craft that probably takes decades to learn in around a year... That's seems crazy to me. On the other hand one could say that up til now it was more of a prologue and maybe they are going to learn more or get even another teacher (there is one candidate that comes to mind). But still.... the protagonist was a slave for half their life, I feel like they should get a better education (especially writing), like basic first aid, stealth and more.
Things I s