The Mage Aristocrat: A Progression Fantasy Adventure

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In the kingdom of Rivenna, power flows from magic. The realm’s stability and military strength rest on the Gifts of its mages.

Quinten, the only child of a noble family, has always dreamed of the Gift awakening within him. But that dream fades with the deaths of his parents and the weight of being branded a traitor’s son. Fate, however, has other plans—and Quinten soon discovers his powers are far greater than he ever imagined.

When a mysterious sickness brought back from a failed campaign sweeps through Rivenna, devastating the mage population, Quinten’s hopes for a quiet life and escape from court politics begin to unravel. As tensions rise with a warlike neighboring kingdom and societal shifts unsettle Rivenna’s noble ranks, Quinten must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice to protect those he loves—or if the cost is simply too high.

As duty and power collide, the fate of a kingdom lies upon the choices of one young mage.

You can expect a 3x/wk posting scheduled: Monday, Thursday, & Saturday for the foreseeable future.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: MRhodes

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 955
Views: 342,692

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

Jmalexa343Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Amazing story so far, I really like where this book is going! One of the few stories where I login immediately at the release of a new chapter, can't get enough. Hope this story goes for a while, thank you so much for writing! I'd sign up for Patreon if you had advanced chapters to read, not sure how much of a backlog you keep.
KreshdunRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Definitely worth reading if you enjoy aristocratic politics and intrigue. I love the depth of the story too, combat, relationships, intrigue, drama. This story has it all and more. The magic is also built up enough to be enjoyable to read, but not overwhelming with detail that it becomes a bore. So far an excellent story and I look forward to more.
NerocarsonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A great read I found to be addictive. The main character is a wholesome young man with his family taken away from him. We're along for the journey to see if that tragedy changes him for the worse or better.
Spoiler Alert
I love the book so far. Especially love the apprehension to the marriage decrees, the mostly realistic reactions to complex political scenarios.
SaltySepiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I actually made a profile just so I could review this story and one other. Time to give back a little for the fun I was having reading the story.
Overall Score: 4.5
As you will see, I didn't give full 5 stars to any category and yet this is definitely a case of the whole being more than the sum of it's parts. I'll admit to some bias, as you'll see below, but I highly recommend the read. With some cleanup, this story is worthy of a published novel.
Style Score: 4
I love how the story seems to flow from one event to the next as the obvious next step. Almost as if the author simply starts us down the road and then sits back to see what the outcome will be. All of the events and actions from the characters feel realistic (even the outlandish ones). Normally I dislike stories where the author just lets events unfold as if they had no plan or plot in mind. But in this case, it is obvious that the author very much does have a plan. It seems to give us the best of both worlds. Two reasons that I gave a four star review: First, the author seems to still be trying to find their writing style, definitely not something be ashamed of as a new author. Second, with the story blurb and events in the story making the direction of the story obvious (a good thing) the events of the first several chapters tend to feel a bit like an overlong prologue rather than the first act of the story that they are. (Perhaps that belongs in the story section but I honestly don't think it impacts the story. More of a style thing.) Both of those items are very small and definitely shouldn't keep you from reading the wonderful story.
Story Score: 4.5
Here is where I will admit my bias so take what I say with a grain of salt. I love stories about medieval political intrigue with some magic mixed in and this story definitely scratches that itch. Much of my comments in the style section fit here as well. The plot is excellent and seems well developed as if the author actually knows where
BarronRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I enjoyed this story so far. The grammar is good and the story started a little rocky but I felt that it smoothed out well. I agree with a previous reviewer that the antagonists could use some work and I feel that the author has time to address that. Overall I'm not much for political intrigue but there is enough outside of that to keep my interest. I look forward to reading more of this story and I will definitely add it to my follow list.
M3lchiRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
After a rough start I really like this one. To be fair the first few chapters are rough but if getting past that is possible it is worth it. The MC has a good power set that is interesting and doesn't feel like a copy of something else. It is also one of those rarer action fantasies where the MC's family plays an important role.
However, the villains tend to be cartoonish at best, and inconsistent at worst. The king is probably the biggest offender in this. He comes down really hard on some people, but lets others openly question him, undermining his authority.
Is he an insecure despot that'll do something horrible before letting the issues settle or not? It looks incredibly forced for some cases.
But that aside it is quite a bit better writing than the mainstream on the site. The MC does act like an aristocrat and demonstrates leadership skills. I'm looking forward to him developing his inner circle and a larger faction.
DropoutInDenialRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I enjoyed this story—it’s definitely entertaining. If medieval fantasy appeals to you and you have some free time to burn, I’d recommend giving it a shot. That said, I do have some gripes, which I’ll list below in no particular order:
One-dimensional antagonists – Many of the villains seem to be evil for the sake of being evil. For example (spoilers from the first 12 chapters:)
the king decides to kill the MC’s father based on questionable reasoning, making his actions feel more like a plot device than a natural development
Unconventional worldbuilding – The premise revolves around a disease that skews the magical population to a 20:1 female-to-male ratio. As a result, the male characters are treated like highly sought-after commodities, with women constantly vying for their attention. It’s an interesting setup but feels more like an excuse for forced romantic tension than deep worldbuilding.
Flat characters – Some characters feel like they exist solely to push the plot forward rather than acting in a believable way. Their dialogue and decisions sometimes seem dictated by the author’s needs rather than organic character development.
Overall, it’s a fun read, but the execution leaves room for improvement. If you can overlook these flaws, I would recommend this
ilvaltarRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Oh my god, this is horrible to read. The world-building is lackluster, barely described in any detail.
But the worse is the characters, everyone is stupid and act in the worst way possible.
You wonder how we're supposed to take anyone seriously.
It's such blatantly for the plot of course but this is ridiculous. Of course some people tends to act a bit stupidly, but I some point I really thought that they were just pretending to fall for the obvious trick...
AutobotRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
I tried to like this story, as it started well. Sadly the story quickly fell apart. The characters are flat with illogical actions contrived to only further the plot. The plot is nearly non existent, shallow and feels fake. The magic system is well thought out initially and the only reason the review is not one star, sadly the characters do not follow the system and seem to have random power levels. There is a weird prevalent theme of men needing multiple wives and hating the idea. Also the story seems to be based in a fuedal society, but all characters are single children making zero sense.
SeveralMistakesRoyal Road
★ 0.5
The characters are all extremely flat and one note. The power system is simple and feeds into an extremely simple power fantasy with all of the classic signs and symbols. The world partakes in extremely generic characterizations of areas and peoples. And heavy topics are horribly mishandled to the point of probably needing an extra content warning.