The Hunchback's Reluctant Bride

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Hunchbacks don't get love. They get ridicule and scorn. That suits Wyrn just fine. As the son of a warlord, he resolves to die earning his father's respect in a tournament instead. The plan backfires and he's forced to marry a princess against his will.

She's 18, beautiful, and suspicious. There is no way a king would give away his ONLY child to a random man much less a hunchback. Something must be wrong with her. And so, Wyrn decides to give her back.

The only problem? She won't let him.

UPDATED as of May 1st, 2022 (new version)

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: LynaForge

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.0/ 5.0
Followers: 118
Views: 79,460

Reviews

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Community Reviews(9)

Willingly_IgnantRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Look at my name, now look back here. I, Willingly Ignant in all my glory & Ignorance both ignant & normal Ignorance willing & unwilling believe you should try this if you have ever heard a fairy tale as a kid. Not those sanitized versions Disney doles out, think Baba Yaga & the brothers grim tales with the twin brothers & the rabbit who brings back a herb & the lion puts his head on back wards so they cut it off again & the brother kills his other brother for sleeping with his wife despite the sword he placed in the middle of the bed. I really can't & won't spoil this, but this story right here? Prime content, no LitRPG elements, just good content. This chapter I just got done with at those final words at the time of this review have me raving for more. Bit of a slow burn to ramp it up but it's not boring or all about slowly ramping up some power scale, the summary explains it well enough without spoiling anything & anything I could reveal to you to get ya reading this will spoil all the fun in my opinion. That being said, hilarity & slice of life are the potatoes of enjoyment till get at the meat, & boy is it tasty.
Evelyn AdelbergRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a rare and quirky find. It follows the story of Vadde and Wren, who got brought together by destiny and a lot of misunderstandings and miscommunication.
Both the MC have their own POV chapters, which switch every so often depending on narrative needs. Both of them have very distinct flaws, but also a fair bit of redeemable traits. Overall they are well rounded characters, despite the absurdity of the situation they’re in.
The story itself is set in a low fantasy, medieval-esque world, with kings, bandits, sad knight tournaments (with like 5 participants) and a sprinkle of magic. Both fae and gods exist in this world and will on occasion walk the land to make things worse for our protagonists.
Its comedic style is really where this story shines. For me it was spot on, and I was giggling in front of my phone on several occasions. However, based on the other reviews, this humor can be hit or miss for a lot of people. So give the first two chapters a go, and if you don’t find them funny, then I’m afraid this story isn’t for you.
The grammar is the only weak point of this story imo. There are a lot of sections in the later chapters where I had trouble understand what was going on, or following the flow. I think it comes down to a lack of spatial and temporal indicators, so I couldn’t really tell where the characters were. Where they were going, and if a time skip had occurred or not within the scene. But it didn’t really matter in the end, since that was never the focus of the story to begin with.
TLDR: A fun comedy which can be seen as a retelling of the beauty and the beast, expect everyone is dumb and refuses to communicate (and that’s what makes it funny).
HoofHeartedRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Great start to a story with an intriguing premise.
The prose were delightfully breezy, which made for efficient pacing. The tone was consistent and enjoyable.
Grammar was where it needed to be. There were a few typos here and there, as well as punctuation errors (a lack of commas, to be precise), but nothing egregious.
The story caught my eye in the description. The way it played out in the chapter more than met my expectations.
A premise like this really hinges on the successful execution of well defined characters. I'm glad to say I was not disappointed in that regard. The author is able to give a lot of definition to Wyrn without relying too heavily on exposition. The result is allowing the readers to get to know Wyrn by observation, which doesn't sacrifice pacing and keeps the whole story feeling very kinetic.
Overall, I'd say I'm looking forward to reading more of this story. I'd like to see how the author characterizes the rest of the ensemble, in particular the titular princess. As the entire story appears to be built on their dynamic, she's going to have to be a good counterweight to Wyrn's cynicism. Going by the quality of writing thusfar, I'm very much encouraged by what the future of this story holds. It should be a fun odd couple romp. Good start.
Leks DarkmindRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
low fantasy setting. synopsis promised more humor / lighter read.
for me it's cringe filled days of several idiots. well written, very realistic. maybe more fantasy or adventure in later chapters. not litRPG, no system or cheats, even if mMC is relatively powerful.
some people enjoy this kind of thing, if you find relationship of 2 young adults interesting, try reading it.
CatAtTheHelmRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I wish the title field for reviews let me use a longer title, because I want to name the review Midsummer's night dream meets the world's most disfunctional family. If you know anything about fairy tales, by the second half of this work, the story achieves all of their Medieval darkness and fright. I'm not talking about the sanitized versions we get these days. I'm talking about the really old-fashioned ones that embrace the greed, tragedy and unfairness of life, where the skinny blonds always get Prince Charming and fat girls and ugly men always get the short end of the stick. Think the original, not the Disney, version of the Little Mermaid, or the original Snow White, not the Disney version.
I found the beginning was both slow and sometimes confusing. By the chapters in the early 20, I couldn't stop reading.
First, grammar: no problems here.
Characters: nice three-dimensional characters except the princess, whose motivations and character were too opaque for me to really find convincing. I had a hard time figuring out her motivations in the first half of the text. I had emphathy for her by the end of the tale. I found the hunchback beautifully characterized.
Story: the plot fits well into that Brothers Grimm style of dark tale. I had a hard time guessing how the author was going to end the tale, because it got really really dark towards the end. The twists and turns in the later half of the book kept me up to late on a work night. As someone who can usualy figure out how books are going to end, I didn't foresee the ending at all.
I did not find this story to be funny at all. Maybe my brain isn't wired right, but I found it to be fairly dark right up to the unexpected ending.
Style: This is where this story let me down. I found the beginning confusing and almost didn't continue past the first chapter. The narration was insufficiently clear as to what was really happening in the early chapters. I also feel like the Princess's motivations and desires were too opaque
DeveRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Overall interesting, kept me wanting to find out what happens next. I read through it within a few days.
There were a few things that could be predicted, but mostly it followed its own path showing the author's creativity.
To fans of the romance genre, I would recommend this and suggest ignoring the very negative reviews some people left. If you don't like romance stories, you probably won't like this and the negative reviews are probably relevant for you.
Regarding other aspects of the story:
The characters were varied but could have been developed better. Seemed like the male MC's character was focused on more, and it was easier to understand his actions and relate to him. He was a likable character. In contrast, while there were some insights into the female MC, some of her behavior was hard to accept at face value, which detracted from the story and made her kind of annoying. She didn't do anything too unrealistic, but she made a lot of unusual choices without there being a clear reason for why. To me, this made her come across as irrational, inconsistent and stupid at times, which I don't think was the intention.
Some of the other characters suffered from the same problem- insufficient insight into their behavior, which made them seem inconsistent and made the story confusing at times. A little more explanation could clear up these issues though as the overall storyline is good.
The main challenge I found with the story was multiple times the narrative was unclear. The majority of the story flowed well. But periodically there were sections where things became obscure and it read like a poem that has to be interpreted rather than a story. I'm not sure if this was an intentional style choice by the author, but for me it was confusing and pulled me out of the story. I almost stopped reading because it was so annoying. Luckily this was only in some places and not the majority of the story.
It's clear the author put a lot of time and effort into the story. I en
Bossbeast302Royal Road
★★★ 3.0
made it to chapter 13 before i had to say nope. i really enjoyed it but shaza was never put down, no misapprehensions were ever explained to vadde/wyrn or his mother brother father etc. ridiculous too ridiculous to keep going which was sad bc the story was so sweet. i may try it again another day:) i think you really have something here that could be great.
ShyBoyRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
I don't know if you've ever watched a jerkily animated movie. Where so much of the frames are missing - perhaps buffering or simply absent - that even our faulty human eyes notice it. Heck, not only notice, but begin conveying how wrong things are with the characters. How unnatural their moves look. How jarring it all is.
I had that feeling halfway through chapter one here. This of course is the style at fault. The style is so sparing in descriptions, and so lenient with jumping around, that you simply MUST fill in the blanks yourself... which is like with the absent frames.
But, if we were to continue the metaphor, you could still fill the blanks in - right? There's dialogue, after all. Except... no there isn't. Most of the times nobody says anything!
Father grunts. Or says "you'd have to steal a wife". Mother says nothing. Brothers say nothing. Is the father saying this so often? If so... why no reply? Humans nearly always reply to things too oft repeated?
Prince tells the hunchback something, hunchback never replies, prince assumes something out of it.
Hunchback and princess exchange... sorry, wrong word, they don't exchange a word. A word (let's be generous: a sentence!) is said in one direction.
Those missing frames are REALLY missing man!
Grammar: 5. Nothing wrong.
Story: 3,5. At least the premise seems truly intriguing. Hunchbacked hero drew me here. How it will be developed (and whether) I cannot rate, for I'm putting this down.
Characters: ekhem. How to say this. I don't really know? Even in 3 chapters, I lack information (those missing frames!) to tell you much about ANY of it. Father is disappointed. Mother is protective. Wyrn is hunchbacked, silent and more than "a little" slow. Princess... I can't say a thing about her. Unhappy about her marriage? Prince is... probably meant to be portrayed as an a-hole? Let's say, 2. King plot-device for me is the most developed character, where his role was to explain what's happening, make the premise happen and NOT
Shiny&ChromeRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
The misunderstandings in the 'Intro" chapters were pretty glaring, but I could stomach to get the story going.
Then the absolute refusal, by every character, to communicate anything to anyone.
This continues, and even gets WORSE.
I believe the author is trying to make a point, but that horse has been beaten so hard and long that it's a red smear on the ground at this point, I can't take it anymore.
The story is painful to read at this point, forcing me to drop it.