The Dreaming Sceptre (Completed)
Self-Published
Community Rating
Description
Endless nightmares plague the desert city-state of Zabyalla.The Merchant Prince Cas wields a vile magic to control the dreams of all those that sleep within its walls. A pair of thieves break into his palace to take his secrets and treasures, yet a grisly fate has awaited all those that failed in the past.There will always be heads for Cas' pikes.A fast-paced dark fantasy adventure.This story has a sequel calledThe Ogre's PendantAll stories and characters - includingThe Dreaming Sceptre -written by Traitorman are created by and are the intellectual property of J.M. Clarke
Information
- Status
- Hiatus
- Year
- 2019
Tags
Royal Road Stats
- Rating
- 4.8/ 5.0
- Followers
- 265
- Views
- 26,071
Chapters(3 total)
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!
Community Reviews(10)
- thricebornRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Whew! Came here from The Ogre's Pendant for this prequel and it did not disappoint! Short, sweet, and to the point, this story reads like an old school high fantasy novella. It's got the action of Conan the Barbarian and a setup that reads like Dragonlance with a sprinkle of Lovecraft and Tolkien. Haven't read a story in this style in years, didn't realize how much I missed it.
The plot flows from one point to the next, and while a little light on some details,
(Minor complaint really, but for a man that was starved for days, Kyembe certainly seemed a little too well rested to infiltrate a merchant princes mansion the night he arrives in a new land. Just a minor personal complaint that comes with this style of writing, where the characters are fallible but always come out on top. Doesn't detract from the story, and again this comes from the style)
it really doesn't matter too much. The backstories and world building present definitely make up for any shortcomings there.
Grammar is impeccable, found maybe two errors? Yeah, no complaints here.
Love the characters, truly. They have unique and opposing outlooks on life that manage to compliment very well. Definitely see D&D/Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms infuences here since both characters are half-breeds of a sort, but that just adds to the style. One complaint to the author:
I'm afraid that Wurhi may end up playing too much into the tropes of her other halfs nature, which is something I did see in the other book. That's all well and good, and she has her moments, but I don't want to see this turn into a situation where she just becomes a point of comparison between more "normal" characters and Kyembe and the Solidblade (who shows up in The Ogre's Pendant). Kyembe for example, is slightly OP but not unnecessarily so, such as in comparison to another famous elf (Drizzt Do'Urden). Wurhi seems to be edging closer to the bad side of the cowardly rogue trope and getting stuck there, which would suck for such a great characte - Eritis sicut DiabolusRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Criminally unpopular, this short story is excellent in every way.
- KaishinRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Yep. Pro level. Fantastic writting, fun and entertaining story. I was looking for something good to read and founded. U Will not regret reading this and next book.
Yep. Pro level. Fantastic writting, fun and entertaining story. I was looking for something good to read and founded. U Will not regret reading this and next book.
Yep. Pro level. Fantastic writting, fun and entertaining story. I was looking for something good to read and founded. U Will not regret reading this and next book.
Yep. Pro level. Fantastic writting, fun and entertaining story. I was looking for something good to read and founded. U Will not regret reading this and next book.
Yep. Pro level. Fantastic writting, fun and entertaining story. I was looking for something good to read and founded. U Will not regret reading this and next book.
Yep. Pro level. Fantastic writting, fun and entertaining story. I was looking for something good to read and founded. U Will not regret reading this and next book.
Yep. Pro level. Fantastic writting, fun and entertaining story. I was looking for something good to read and founded. U Will not regret reading this and next book.
Now?
Yep. Pro level. Fantastic writting, fun and entertaining story. I was looking for something good to read and founded. U Will not regret reading this and next book. - RabiemanRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0The Dreaming Sceptre is something else.
You're sinning if you don't read this. I would not be surprised to find it on the shelves of a bookstore with "New York Times Bestseller" on the cover. And even compared to public published novels, it's excellent.
The characterisation is something from another world, and the prose sucks you straight into the novel.
I actually feel guilty reading it without paying for it. So if you are on the second page of the reviews, and are still wondering if you should read it. Go for it! Otherwise you're missing out on one of the best Sword & Sorcery reads of your life.
The only negative is that it's too short, luckily there is a sequel. So that is not really a qaulitive complaint. - RevveraRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Not bad for a prequel.. nice compact and shows power limit and scale of its world.. we now have a wizard and a scout … If I were playing DND I would add in a soldier or archer/hunter and a strongman for a full party
Two normal MCs with zero mental issues.. demon hunter is best in combat with VS a single demon, while being well rounded in combat and can work as cleric but weak vs a hoard of fast agile creatures, archers and water.. rat is best in scouting and spy but lacking in combat … - Rustle RootsRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0A wondrous tale that won't allow you to sleep for sure!
Genre:
A Sword and Sorcery fantasy, the genre primarily focuses on exciting adventures and I would definitely say that this story clearly achieves its genre! I want more of this!
Protagonist(s)
If you hadn't read the story yet, read it already! I love the protagonists, they're both likeable characters that I'm definitely looking forward to read on more about. You can grow to care about them. I would say more but I wouldn't want to spoil the chance for the reader to get to know the characters themselves!
Worldbuilding
The world is quite vast, as the characters would mention people and culture that are quite varied from one another. They are mentioned somewhat in passing (afterall, we need to stay in track with the plot!) but it shows that the Author had developed how their world works. Surely after this chapters, we may get the chance to explore more right? The heart of the story is in a city that is plagued by a Merchant Prince. The city was developed nicely and portrayed the life of the people residing within it.
Writing Style
Each chapter was made by the Author to be a fulfilling read! The chapters are well length and paced for maximum satisfaction of the reader. Right now, five chapters with the length of 70 pages! I do admit that some of the long block of texts have made me unnerved from reading it, although it may be because I am reading on my phone. However, one can definitely say that the Author was well descriptive with their world, protagonists' actions and such that you could imagine the scenes through your mind!
Grammar
Quite good! There's not much I can say on this, but I managed to seamlessly read through the story without anything that put me off. You're doing great!
Magic and Wonders
This one does not require of any long exposition to understand what exactly one character is casting from the other one. It's simple and direct, you get what you read and also feel that wonder that sorcery and spells - DeadorblindRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0Great short story. Nice flow, plot, and likeable characters.
Plus its "only" a prequel to the Author's other story. Its a nice break from the wall of text, made up of stat screens found in other stories here. Don't get me wrong. I still love reading AH, IR, PH, etc.
I myself am going to start binge reading the next story right now! - cosmicDeguRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0This is a cracking Sword and Sorcery novella, the writing is great, the characters interesting, the plot exciting. It reminds me somewhat of Leiber's Lankhmar tales. The setting is fun, being a bit different from the standard s&s. I'd definitely recommend and look forward to reading more by the author.
- deathless.smileRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0I can find no flaw in this story, for it delivers exactly what it promises: High Fantasy with the author's heady prose. While it is no groundbreaking plot or novel deliverance, it sticks to the well-conceived formulas of Swords and Sorcery wonderfully. The author truly executed his ideas in a magnificent fashion. Very recommended for a change in pace among the stories on this site.
- The OxRoyal Road★★★★★ 4.5This is a marvelously constructed heist story. Wurhi the Rat is down on her luck in a big way, her partner got himself killed by the Big Bad, leaving her to shoulder both of their debt to some evil loansharks. She is just about out of options other than fleeing from Zabyalla with the clothes on her back.
In all honesty, I don't understand why anyone was STAYING in Zabyalla, since Merchant Prince Cas was using a Dream demon to terrorize his business rivals into funneling all their wealth to him. In exchange for being his personal dream thug, Prince Cas allows the demon to feed on the terror of the entire inhabitants of Zabyalla in their dreams. This means horrible nightmares for everyone, and for the select few every night, death. So I personally would be selling my house at a loss and moving to Tucson.
Wurhi meets Kyembe, a man who just might have the power to help her rob the Evil Prince Cas. So we have a buddy team of a hell-fire throwing mage and a ratgirl theif. Awesome, Fun, Intense, Funny. Good Read.