The Homunculus Knight

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Bringing rest to the unquiet dead is not an easy or simple task. It requires compassion, wisdom, patience, strength of arms, and suicidal courage. Paladin Cole, a warrior sworn to the god of death, has these qualities. Surviving in a land ruled by blood-thirsty monsters is also not without difficulties. To live beneath the shadow of undeath takes intelligence, caution, determination, and the occasional moment of extreme daring. Natalie Striga, a barmaid born and raised beneath the vampires’ boot, knows these truths. But saving a town and potentially the world from an ancient nightmare will take everything this unlikely pair has and more. The vampire-controlled mountain town of Glockmire has barely recovered from a series of recent calamities when the holy knight Cole arrives. Tasked with putting the many varieties of undead to rest, Cole has grimly resigned himself to a lonely existence…until he meets a clever young woman named Natalie. Events push the pair together as Cole investigates the lurking horrors within and without the town’s walls, while Natalie hopes to get revenge on the undead monster responsible for her mother’s death. A gruesome discovery in a ghoul’s lair adds new context to Cole’s hunt and Natalie’s tragedy as hidden schemes and squabbles among the vampire nobility threaten to bubble over into a disaster. As the pair unravels a series of mysteries, Natalie slowly realizes there is much more to the world than Glockmire, and much more to Cole than meets the eye: despite being a divine champion tasked with fighting undead monsters, Cole might be even less human than the vampires he hunts. What to expect- High Fantasy with strong horror elements but never hopeless or pointlessly grim. Heroic male MC who firmly believes in his mission and purpose. Clever female MC who is trying to do her best in a bad situation. Lots of monsters, both classic and new. With worldbuilding taking a lot from real-world mythology and traditional fantasy. What NOT to expect- Any Lit-RPG or Isekai elements. Chapters- Every Friday, typically 4-6k words in length. Now with adiscordserver!

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2021
Author: jayfiction99

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 1,137
Views: 721,678

Chapters(232 total)

What readers say about The Homunculus Knight

“The positives: - Incredible worldbuilding. You are transported to the universe Jayfiction has created, and its incredibly easy to get lost imagining the characters and their plights - It's been said by others on here, but it is very reminiscent of The Witch…”
theklicktatorRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“When I put it that way it sounds like a joke but this does happen at least once, and it is a blast! you follow the story of the titular Homunculous Knight, a heroic figure wrapped in an onion's worth of mystery and romance as he muddles his way through the…”
AngusOfTheDandelionRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

theklicktatorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The positives:
- Incredible worldbuilding. You are transported to the universe Jayfiction has created, and its incredibly easy to get lost imagining the characters and their plights
- It's been said by others on here, but it is very reminiscent of The Witcher or darker fantasy stories like Curse of Strahd. If you expect everything to be happy, you aren't paying attention
- Believable plot. Consistent characterization, recognizable growth, and great combat dialogue. This story has it all.
The cons:
- Grammar is inconsistent. Nothing immersion-breaking, but it does exist.
Overall:
Read it. Read it right now. You are in for a treat. I wasn't kidding when I called it a sleeper hit on this website. Definitely a cut above many of the other stories that a person could read on Royal Road. Getting to know characters like Cole and Natalie is such a treat, and seeing the story mature and become more complex is always wonderful.
Another point in the story's favor is that the author is able to balance the intricacies of a pantheon, the culture that builds in a world, but still makes the tale humanizing (pun intended that you will understand when you read the story). You're going ot get lost the moment you step foot into Glockmire, and I don't see anything wrong with that.
It's a refreshingly unique story. The monsters, the magic, and the tropes are not unique, but they are told in such an original way that it's clearly a labor of love which deserves to be read, reread, and then read an additional time once you've taken a few days to absorb what Jayficiton is in the process of creating. I'm repeating praises here, but do yourself a favor and start reading this story. You won't regret it.
AngusOfTheDandelionRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
When I put it that way it sounds like a joke but this does happen at least once, and it is a blast! you follow the story of the titular Homunculous Knight, a heroic figure wrapped in an onion's worth of mystery and romance as he muddles his way through the increasingly dire circumstances the world keeps throwing his way, trying his best to come out of his struggles with his life and all his limbs (success not guaranteed, but you'll have to read it if you want to figure out how this is somehow not a spoiler). Enter Natalie, a barmaid
to whom nothing bad is ever going to happen, no don't look at her surname that is definitely not foreshadowing and you really should read it instead of not trusting me on this,
and watch as their paths cross and criss and cross again and maybe intertwine!
The story is extremely well put together, and to my knowledge always has a pay-off for everything it sets off.
I mostly read this on SpaceBattles, since I love the extra comments, lore, and being able to chat with the author, mostly coming over for the spicier content that's banned over there - it doesn't happen very often, but the story is much better at maintaining it's tone and vibe when it's not being kneecapped by those arbitrary rules.
I rate Homunculous Knight very highly, and thoroughly encourage everyone who likes a heroic adventure against the machinations of evil in a world full of moving parts and excellent foreshadowing to give it a whirl!
Bacon MacleodRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I am an old hat on this website. I remember when they first started letting people post original fiction.
I was around when Arcane Emperor and Legend of Randidly really started litrpg books popularity on the site.
I have easily read over half a million pages of content, potentially over a million.
this book is easily in my top 5 of best written content.
The characters are believable and human, and actually grow and change with the pace of the story
the world is fascinating and is gradually exposed to us without any exposition dumps
the progression is meaningful and satisfies that 'numbers go up' urge, without the story devolving into power ups interspersed between exposition
the romance adds to the story, acting as a supporting character to the tension, rather than being cringe and dominating the fiction. It's tasteful and sparing.
overall I'm just blown away. Each individual component to the story is fantastic, and they work together cohesively to create something is more than the sum of its parts. I'm honestly shocked it took me so long to find this move considering how good it is.
seriously, just read the damn book. its fantastic
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CythisiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
HK reads and flows beautifully, within the first few chapters you can feel the passion and building around it; I've taken my time reading HK versus other books here on RR, and I do not regret my decision to savior each item of literacy our author presents.
Reading this book doesn't give me vague mental imagery, but defining detail to what the scene depicts in text.
The political intracies, social standings, duchies- Cole, Natalie, Isabelle and everything secondary are not left behind. Closure, meaning, and fulfilling development is made here with this Homunculus Knight.
I thank you for where I've currently read to (book 3) and I'm excited to continue reading.
ExplorerOfWorldsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So, Here is the first review: This book really deserves the 'Horror' Tag, while simultaneously creating a fascinating world with intriguing characters and still containing a ray of hope.
With that said: Readers who are squeamish should probably beware, as, without spoiling anything, the Mc faces some truly disgusting foes, and the author is rather good at evoking explicit mental images.
JujubeanzRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The world building, characters, and action in this novel are top tier. This is a grimdark setting with lovable strugglers trying to make the world a better place, the best part of this process is the lack of out of character idiocy to progress the plot. However despite how much I enjoy reading this chapter to chapter I had taken issue with the lack of strategy our main cast has had with regard to combating a significantly larger and systematic enemy. That issue seems to be reducing in later chapters as the cast meets more knowledgeably factions and forge alliances, as this enemy makes trhemselves more known. It just took longer than I would have preferred. Overall I would definitely recommend to anyone that likes dark fantasy
Mad279Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Wow! This is so good. Deserves to have more readers. I'll definitely be reading the entire thing again sometime later.
What I really liked was the balance between dark and light. The horrors of the world were very well balanced by the romance.
Random words to reach the minimum number of words for a review. Apple music entertainment and media tenders for the next day I guess it was the same to the.
Mithradates EupatorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story manages to perfectly merge the energy of The Witcher and DnD: Curse of Stradh, with an extreme unique and really well thought-out and realised world building that meshes seemlessly with the aforementioned themes. Legitimately one of the best stories I've read on Royal Road.
It is an extremely well-written and compositioned story, and does not shy away from pulling punches. The fight scenes are amazingly described, as is the description of the use of magic and the effects on people. The looming sense of dread that overshadows daily life in Glockmire is skillfully weaved into the story as well. Some might find it a bit heavy on world-building and description, but I live for that sh*t, so this is just perfect for me.
The writing is flowing and natural, with a very nice balance between dialogue and narrative. I never felt pulled out of my immersion at any time (and I'm still very early on in the story). The only, and literally mean only, criticisms I have is the somewhat weird use of puncuation and commas; period is sometimes used where commas would be more natural and vice versa. The other is the extreme length of the chapters. I don't mind long chapters, but Chapter No.3 is more than 13k words, which even by my standards is a bit too long. But that's all that I have on my "negative" note list, everything else is overwhelmingly positive.
The male protagonist is a pretty gentle giant with a troubled history that is alluded to very early, which sparks genuine interest, and the clever use of his special brand of magic to incorporate the cover picture weapon is really damn smart, applause for that. The female protagonist is also interesting in her own right, having experienced trauma and lived/lives through it, making her the emotional, human element of the story so far; and she is emphatic and caring seemingly despite herself which is a nice touch. The background characters are really well-wrought too, with the pseudo-uncle/village merchant being an Ebeneezer S
QuantaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Best hiden gem I think I've ever found on this site. For the life of me, I can't figure out why this story isn't more popular here. I can only assume it jjust got overlooked and the bias towards promoting new fictions means few see it.
If you are one of those people, who like me, stumbled across this story and wondered if it is any good, it very much is. This is a dark fantasy, very reminiscent of The Witcher or perhaps Warhammer Fantasy. The world is well developed, as are the characters.
As for negative criticisms, I have few. The story could probably use a bit of editing down to make things tighter, but that is pretty subjective. The romantic subplot is fairly average. It doesn't take away from the story, and is important for the plot, but isn't where the story shines. And I cannot think of anything else negative worth mentioning.
In short, it is a very under appreciated story, and if you like dark fantasy, this is a must.
ThePurplePathRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A total hidden gem of RR. I feel like I’ve read a good chunk of the site but happened on the story through either another authors S/O or a “related story” recommendation.
This is not your typical RR story (LitRPG/Cultivation), but something you’d expected to be featured at a bookstore next to Mark Lawrence, Miles Cameron, and other high profile others.
The world is similar to the Witcher in its shades of grey. Terrible monsters, abusive magic, and people acting as the demons you fear. However, it is not a grim dark. Characters live in this world and have adapted to make the most of their circumstances.
If you’ve ever read “Weapon of Flesh” by Chris A. Jackson you’ll love this novel. A fantasy epic with a messed-up, beautiful real romance.
Thank you to the Author for sharing this for FREE. I would love to buy a paperback/hardcover copy!