The Gods are Bastards

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

It was a world of sword and sorcery, but that was a thousand years ago.

The last elves live on reservations.  Dwarven forges have turned to clockwork and steam.  Drow emerge from their underground city not to raid, but for trade and diplomacy.  New technologies and advanced magics have made the world smaller, safer, richer, and more polluted; dungeon delving can only be done with the proper permits.  Paladins, the great warriors endowed by the gods themselves with power to drive back evil, have not been seen in decades.  The Age of Adventures is over.

Until it suddenly begins again.

Without warning, the gods call forth two new paladins...into a world at peace where there are no demons to slay, and the bureaucrats and industrialists who run the world are less happy to see them than the kings and queens of old.  In a cramped landscape of complicated politics where adventurers are no longer welcome, what are the mighty warriors of the gods even supposed to do?

Well, first, they're sent to school.  And it all goes downhill from there.

Information

Status
Ongoing
Year
2023
Author
Webbonomicon

Tags

ACTIONFANTASYADVENTUREMAGICSCI-FISCHOOL LIFEMULTIPLE LEAD CHARACTERSHIGH FANTASYDUNGEON CRAWLERSTEAMPUNK

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.7/ 5.0
Followers
3,487
Views
4,174,574

Chapters(640 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

  • vitus979Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I've read the story up to Volume 17 on the author's website.  Great to see it coming to RR.
    One of my favorite web serials, great setting construction and good dialogue.  The only (slight) downside is the dilution of the primary cast so that a horde of secondary characters get spotlight time.  This is a similar situation to Wandering Inn, another favorite webserial of mine.
  • CedocoreRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This was one of the first webfictions I ever read, so I'm definitely biased here, but as I re-read it for the first time in many years, I find myself enjoying it even more than I remember. Nearly everything about it is excellent - the characters are vibrant and stand out as unique, the dialogue is interesting and not dry, the writing is complex but not verbose. My only complaint is that sometimes, in brief moments, the writing is a bit crude when it comes to some female characters - but if you can look past that, you won't regret it.
  • FicWaderRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This story is of an epic scope, if you want a comparison, Sanderson's Cosmere.
    The setting is relatively comparable to the setting in Mother of Learning - "magi-punk".
    The characters are engaging, the character growth shown in this story is amazing. Most growth is of course done by our cadre of young adult students that wield powers they aren't ready for, when our cranky ancient elven Archmage Headmistress collected them for her "outdated" Adventuring Academy.
    Main villains are competent, some extremely so.
    As a deeply entrenched, continent-spanning conspiracy to usurp or kill gods, should be.
    End spoiler.
    The setting is actually not "it" for me, as I enjoy pure high-fantasy setting instead of magi-punk much more, but the series really is worth it.
    The books are amazing, and the only book series ever that made me enjoy reading with changing POVs.
  • GarrdorRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This is one of my favorite webseries, and I'm currently in the process of rereading the whole thing on their website because new chapters started being released.
    I'm very happy to see this story on Royal road, cuz hopefully that means a whole new audience will find and enjoy it.
  • JTTBearRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I had never considered the combination of magic-steam-punk with the old west and political machinations. Now it is one of my favorite sub-genres, even though this is the only example I know of.
    Great characters, great pacing, great plotting, good twists with out excessive cliff hangers. I was glad to see it start posting here, I am hoping it will continue past where it was when Webb started to Evil Overlord book. Which now that there is more of it I'll give another chance. I'm not a fan of serialization but I put up with it because there are great stories that are released that way.
  • JjamesjamesonRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    The most important thing to know about The Gods are Bastards is that the experience of reading it is regularly punctuated by awe at the author’s foresight, worldbuilding, and sense of humor. It is, simply put, a cleverly-written work that respects the reader’s intelligence and rewards them with some of the best-executed witty banter, lovable characters, loathsome villains, and incredible plot twists I’ve ever seen.
    The Gods are Bastards expertly toes a very fine line: it is a story that is completely saturated with with genre and storytelling tropes from fantasy, westerns, and science fiction, but the way it calls attention to those tropes in-universe doesn’t stray into breaking the fourth wall, and indeed there are actual, sensible reasons that things are the way they are. It is simultaneously a way to keep the reader’s immersion while also advancing the major themes of the book, namely individuals (the characters) struggling against the artificial constraints of society and its institutions (which reinforces those story tropes). Very little of this world is as straightforward it first seems, which gives an incredible depth of nuance and complexity to otherwise shallow tropes and genre conventions.
    The Gods are Bastards is one of those stories that is so immersive, inventive, and emotionally evocative, it will never stray far from your thoughts even years after you read it. Though this story may not be for everyone, due to its sheer length if nothing else, acknowledging that staying power is the highest praise I can give it.
  • KikanoloRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    The Gods Are Bastards is one of my favorite ever web serials. I have been following it on its site for years now, and it has an incredible world, a great magic system, and amazing characters. Right now only the first 3 books are on RR, but there's 16 total so far and hopefully more to come.  The characters are really what carry the story, both the main characters and the supporting characters, but the world, plot and setting really allow them to shine. The story strikes a great balance between lighthearted elements and heavier aspects, and does a great job with both. The story expands significantly in scope and scale from the beginning to where it ends up, but it does so well and without feeling bloated.
    It is definitely a slow burn kind of story, so don't expect fast power or personality progression. The characters develop and grow naturally through the arcs of the story, and it feels very organic and natural.
    For new readers, I'll mention that while some of the main characters absolutely start out close to insufferable, they all have wonderful character arcs and a few grow into some of my favorite characters in fantasy. So if you find yourself considering dropping because you can't stand a main character, stick with it and you won't regret it.
    I would very strongly recommend this story, its long but absolutely worth it.
  • btillyRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Archmage Arachne Tellwyrn has spent the last 3000 years being a loose cannon, impatiently confronting nations and gods alike. Now she has started a crusade against stupidity by founding a university that teaches people how to really think.
    Her latest class is small, but promising. Gods, queens, and even Mother Nature have sent children to her school. They will have a lot to learn. The gods have declared that the world is changing. But a great doom is coming, and few know it. Even fewer have any idea what that doom will be, or when it might come. Her class will need to be prepared.
    But first, they have to learn to not kill each other...
    Expect a lot of world-building with a complex magic system. All told following first person points of view of an ever expanding cast of characters. The characters start with vastly different abilities, positions, life experiences, and philosophies. All of which change over time as they grow. I'm particularly impressed at how well conflicting philosophies are fairly portrayed.
    Currently we're on the 16th book. I really like the style, and am sucked into the world and story. I took a half-point off of grammar because there are some typos. And likewise some of the characters came across as slightly flat. But overall I am extremely impressed.
  • greycatRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    If you've just stumbled across this story, you're in for a treat.  Get comfy, and get ready for a hilarious, thrilling and engaging epic tale.  This story has been in the works for a few years, even though it's new to Royal Road.
    Style: The Bastardverse is a sprawling world with many different cultures.  The story opens in a "wild west, but with magic" setting, but the focus shifts many times as the story unfolds.  There's a university run by an overpowered, egomaniac archmage.  There's a frontier where human pioneers interact with aboriginal elves (think "cowboys and indians").  There's political intrigue in the imperial capital.  There are gods (two different kinds), demons, dungeons and dragons, at least 4 different types of magic users, paladins, monks, wandslingers, pirates and thieves, relics of an ancient civilization -- a little of everything!
    The author mixes humor and drama in a skillful and compelling way.  If you've read "Only Villains Do That", you'll have a good idea of the author's writing style, and the themes that they like to tackle.  This is a work that was started a few years prior to OVDT, but is continuing after OVDT's hiatus, so you may expect the early chapters to be less sophisticated than the later ones.  Even with that, the writing is stellar throughout.
    Story: For a story of this size and complexity, the pace remains vigorous.  New characters, new settings, new plot arcs, and new layers of intrigue and detail are introduced in a way that makes sense, connecting naturally to characters and settings that we've already encountered.
    Character: All the major characters, and quite a large number of minor ones, are fully formed, with their own thoughts, feelings, goals, abilities and limitations.  Their interactions are sometimes tense, sometimes violent, sometimes hilarious, and always well thought out.
    A good chunk of the story, especially in the early arcs, is a "coming of age" tale for the university students.  These characters experience ma
  • Amargo ScribeRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I just caught up with all 8200 pages and counting. What an incredible series this is. I can't recommend it highly enough.
    When I first began reading it, I found the author's tendency to jump back and forth between a wide variety of character storylines frustrating, and I saw in the comments at the time that I was not alone. One commenter asked if it was possible to skip Sweet's chapters (one particular character as you might have surmised) and still follow the story; the author replied that it was not. At the time I sympathized with the commenter. Every time it seemed I was about to get sucked into the storyline with the school kids, Sweet's story would interrupt it! But now, Sweet is one of my very favorite characters, and I enjoy every chapter we get with him, including when he turns up in other characters' stories. Again and again, this happened as I read through the work; it took some patience when new character storylines were introduced, when I was already invested in other ones. But every single time the author turned out to be right and I was wrong; those characters and their stories absolutely enriched the work.
    That said, if you are not ready for a gigantic work with an absolutely sprawling cast, each of whom will get developed very deeply and patiently, then you might want to save this for a moment when you will be.
    It's not just the characters, though. It's the world, and it's the politics. The world is very well thought out speculative fiction system and history wise. But the politics is just exceptionally well thought out. There's real wisdom about human nature baked into the assumptions undergirding these storylines. This is honestly a work that will make you think, not just entertain you. I love that it is set at the outset of an industrial revolution equivalent in a magic world, and I love that the focus is on the most important effect of that from our own world: the way transit and communication speeds suddenly connected everyone to everyo