The Cunning Man (Schooled in Magic, but Stand-Alone)

Information

Status

Ongoing

Year

2021

Author

ChrisNuttall

• Good News
  Sep 27, 2021

Reviews

Community Reviews(3)

• AWildChocoboRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  TL;DR - classic underdog story of a non-magical person, learning to succeed in a magical world. I haven't read the schooled in magic series and I'm able to follow along perfectly fine. Don't let the fact its part of a series hold you back, this is definitely worth your time.
  This has been a fun read so far. I haven't read any of the schooled in magic books, but I'm definitely interested in them now.
  It seems to be a world in the process of an industrial and political renaissance. A classist society trying to justify its existence in the wake of rapidly advancing technology bridging the gap between the magical and mundane. A result of what seems like an isekai'd protagonist with cheat like magical powers trying to force her ideals onto the world, without considering the possibility that her actions have only increased the enmity between the aristocracy and the general public.
  Here we have the story of a boy born into this turbulent world who may just be the catalyst that sends it all over the edge.
  If you've ever wondered what would life in a world reeling from the effects of an isekai protagonist look like, this story gives an - if not realistic - at least plausible description of it. I get the feeling that the author has looked into real life examples of coups and revolutions, adapting them to fit the magical aspects of the world.
  The political aspects caught my attention, but there's also magic, steam tech, potion brewing, light crafting and rune work, and maybe a tiny bit of romance (not clear where the author wants to take it). If any of that catches your attention, it's worth a binge.
• ThecariusRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This is Nuttall's second work here on RRL, and, again, it's great.
  If you haven't read Nuttall's Schooled in Magic series, I highly recommend it. You DEFINITELY don't need to have read it in order to thoroughly enjoy The Cunning Man - the first few chapters are clearly written with new readers in mind.
  Style: Personally, I love Nuttal's style. It loses none of its charm in serial form, and is a great balance of description and dialog without entering "telling" territory ("show, don't tell").
  Grammar: Impeccable, as always. There are few to no errors in spelling, grammar, or otherwise. Par for the course.
  Story: Through chapter 7, the story is already off to a running start. Nuttal's done the thing he usually does, and we probably won't see the characters from the first few chapters ever again, but otherwise we seem to be set up to go places! In fact, Adam's already gone places.
  Character: It's early days, but so far Adam is one of my favorite characters in the SIM omniverse. Since this novel originally began as a novella, Nuttall clearly had time to develop his characters. They're "3D," or, at least, the main four we've spent time with so far (Adam, his two masters, and Lilith) are, and I'm looking forward to seeing their further development.
• BjorneRoyal Road

  ★ 0.5

  It's just an ad for amazon and WordPress. The author has removed the fiction from royalroad. I know there's the "
  No spam. This includes links to other sites for no reason, nonsense posts, and repeat posts in multiple forums." rule, pretty sure this would fall under it. I mean really, most stubs at least give you a chapter or two on royalroad and don't require external links to get a taste. Bad form.