The Mortal Acts

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The Mortal Acts is an epic progression fantasy with a lower focus on training aspects and a great focus on discovering new ways of using powers intelligently. I've always been drawn to stories where characters use their powers creatively to overcome opponents and obstacles, and I think all the possibilities can provide a great playground for twists and turns.

It's inspired by a variety of media, including Will Wight's Cradle, Hunter x Hunter, and Bioshock, so if you like the creative power use elements from those, come check it out.

This is my first serial, and please feel free to leave comments and feedback.

For backstory, behind-the-scenes, and other fun stuff, come chat on mydiscord!

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Blurb:

Riven Morell cuts short his regular life at school and home when his mother falls terminally ill. Desperate to find a cure, he travels to Severance Frontier, a desolate land haunted by hordes of ghosts, witches, and demons collectively called the Deathless.

But a miraculous cure doesn’t magically fall into his hands.

Things are worse in Severance Frontier than Riven had assumed. Ghosts are banding together into armies, demons are kidnapping anyone who strays out of settlements, and witches are enslaving everyone left and right.

Riven, of course, gets embroiled in the mess. Missions to curb the Deathless activity are one thing, but when it starts to look like this is just the beginning of a war that extends beyond the mortal realm, Riven has a hard time focusing on why he came to Severance Frontier in the first place. His mother is inching towards death with every passing day, but if he doesn’t face down the Deathless, what little civilization the Frontier holds will be overrun and destroyed.

Thankfully, it looked like the Deathless might just hold the secret of the elusive cure.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Cosmoseer

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.2/ 5.0
Followers: 270
Views: 117,696

Chapters(99 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(9)

ArbitRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Don't quite agree with the other comment on not knowing where the story is going in 4 chapters read so far. This isn't Dr. Seuss. Any interesting fantasy novel requires build up. One released in chapter form needs action. Both of which are evident here.
So far good reading. MC chasing for the cure, with several unanswered mysteries around. Interesting characters in supporting roles. To be seen if the author is able to draw the disparate pieces together, but I have high hopes.
Well written story, few typos but no major grammatical breaks. All around interesting read, especially if you don't mind giving the story time to develop.
Story deserves a higher rating than it has so far.
KevinADavisRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Great read overall! The first few chapters have been a strong introduction to an usual culture and setting. The magic is developing and Riven is flushing out as a character.
Story: The first chapter left me curious as I did not understand much of the implications, magical components, or positions used. I enjoyed the modern aspect of a limo melded with an introduction to magical characters and substances.
Style: The dialogue and pacing keep a steady beat while bringing in plenty of description to keep the setting clear. Adding in new levels of the culture and setting while keeping the action going is done well.
Grammar: Some sentence structures gave me pause, though I'm not skilled enough to identify the actual issues.
Characters: Riven is engaging. Innocent in some of the ways, driven to help his mother, and cocky enough to ensure disaster. Rio and Viriya have their own moments. Both have possibilities in the longer narrative. It will be interesting to see Riven's arc.
Overall, a great read that I'd recommend. The magic system seems complex and engaging. The few chapters I've read have left a solid understanding, though I would like to know more about the origins of Sept. Is it mined? There is a refinery, so it led me to believe so.
The author seems open to edits in the comments which bodes well for polishing an already promising story.
cycleofmotorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style : The writing is great and appealing. Everything flows and reads together perfectly without anything jutting out of place. The diagloues help exposing the outside world to the reader pretty well plus keeping some of the mysteries hidden.
Story : The prologue definitely is confusing so maybe reading it after the story starts to sink in may help. The pacing is great. The plot keeps progressing in a steady pace and connects with each other nicely like a jigsaw puzzle.There's a lot of action which keeps the story moving. The magic system is great but may need a little bit more of explaining.
Grammar : There are some miniature flaws in the grammar but nothing that will derail the whole reading experience. Some spelling errors are still present in the early chapters but it gets better as the story progresses.
Character : The characters are defintely well thought out and have their own motivations. The different motivations cause conflict & bonding among the characters.This works as a great foundation to develop their relations from. The dialogues are normal without any of the cringe inducing stuff. The interactions between and among the characters is great and realistic.
In a nutshell, the story is great. Just need to wait for the story develop. Deserves a higher rating than it currently has.
doombotRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Mother dying/dead? Check.
Father a huge asshole? Check.
Highly skilled woman around the MC's age working for his father? Check.
This reads exactly like someone's first young adult novel, and while that isn't a bad thing, it could certainly do with a little bit more background before throwing us into the thick of things. I'm four chapters in and have no idea what the hell is going on with any of the larger plot, what the magic rocks do, and all the characters come across as sorta assholes, which doesn't make me want to learn more about the story so I can figure out what the weird words mean and how magic in this setting works.
lurkernumber101Royal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Yes, just power through the first 10 or so chapters. The prologue is confusing and you need to have at least some information about the story to understand it properly. The style of writing is neither good nor bad. There are few to no grammar mistakes. The characters feel a bit wonky at times in the start but it gets better later on. Definitely give this a go and if you didn't like it after reaching like 20ish chapter then this story is not for you.
world_wandererRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
In short, this is an interesting novel that deserves a better score than it has now! I didn't feel tired or bored when I read this work. It has everything I like in slow-paced stories, and it gives a promising start!
Style:
I have no problems with the style, it's well used by the author to introduce readers to the world.
Grammar:
There were only several moments when I needed some time to think or reread to understand the meaning. In short, there are only minor grammar issues.
Story:
After barely passing through the difficult prologue, it became much easier to read the rest of the story. I like the direction, the Mc and novel are moving to. Besides, I also liked all the elements the author created for his work, but it would be good if the magic system got a bit more explanation.
Characters:
In short, they have their own motivations, I don't get the feeling that the author just makes them do or go just to move the plot. They are well-thought and interactions between them seem realistic.
Overall:
It is an interesting, slow-paced novel that I recommend to read. This is an interesting novel that deserves a better score than it has now!
StgBriaRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Overall 3/5
The mortal acts is around the average-ish quality for works overall with its big strength being a comfortable and easy genre to slide into and an expansive story told with a workman-like dedication. In some ways, that's almost the problem for me personally, because if the writer was slower and more methodical, there would be more quality in the writing and the chapter to chapter; however, I know the story would lose a lot of its appeal if it was regularly updated with such machine efficiency.
Style: 3.5
Bouncing down from above, the writing is rough but readable. It doesn't get any points for style, but the way the story is written won't turn you away or hurt your enjoyment. I believe the word is serviceable. I'd like more, but it's fine I guess.
Story: 3.0
I think the overall story and where it's going are good, but the way it's told chapter to chapter gets bogged down. I feel like I appreciate it more as a whole as opposed to looking at one chapter or another. There are certain elements that aren't quite so strong, however. Sometimes, I scratch my head and say, "why would you do it that way?" But for the short amount I've read into it, I think the foundation is solid. Where it goes is up in the air, but there is room to make a really good story out of it.
Grammar: 5.0
Not my strong suit but I didn't see anything that bothered me except maybe once, and who cares about that?
Character: 1.5
Mmmmmm. This is. Well. The characters didn't make me want to stop reading. I didn't HATE them, but I did dislike them. Everyone is stiff and stand off-ish. If you need characters in your story, this one is gonna be rough. I'd like to say it could get better like the story, that there is some potential here, but that generally isn't true. People might have a really good idea for the second act of a story, or the general premise, and have a hard time getting it off the ground. For characters, you kind of understand human beings or you don't. For the characters to improve
zapking5Royal Road
★★★ 3.0
A second or third random failure to communicate caused by a sudden interruption, perpetuating a misunderstanding. Horrible trope, usually limited to bad soap operas for a reason.
My annoyance with the MC has reached the breaking point, he is basically one of those infuriating Young Masters from a Xianxia. Constantly flaunting his family status while hypocritically disrespecting his family elders, and immune to punishment. Completely lacking any sense that there can be consequences for his actions.
There is no sign of anything to look forward to in the novel, just repeated fights with undead that don't seem to be leading anywhere except to more exposition that shoves the same detail that the undead are looking to ascend to escape the apocalypse at the reader. Meanwhile the characters in the story seem unable to grasp this as if it is some kind of dramatic irony or foreshadowing, but yet they are being directly told this fact through exposition repeatedly?
MTBRoyal Road
★★ 1.5
I'll try with an analogy:
Imagine your father's the chief of police in town. Your mother was years ago forcefully overdosed with a poison the teenaged son wants to help his father find a cure for.
When arriving in town, good old daddy acts like THE BOSS and assigns sonnyboy to one of his special crime unit investigators as an intern, to help handle some administrative stuff. For some undisclosed reason, the investigator tells his new assistant what he's currently working on - and that he's going to bust a suspected drug den. And includes the location.
At said location, sonnyboy pops up, because helping here will make it so he can help his father with the research with regards to his mother. The investigator tells him 'No', sonnyboy says 'Yes', and that's it. Oh, and the investigator has one good tipp to give: 'Don't die.'. From the exposition part of the chapter we know that sonnyboy hasn't got a clue what he can expect of the opposition, except nothing good.
So far with the analogy. To me, the story up to and including chapter four didn't make any sense because, from what was written so far, the situation outlined in the analogy doesn't make any internal sense. Except you assume there's a conspiracy where the father and the investigator want to see the son dead; but even then the setup is too dependent on the (stupid and unexplainable) decisions of the son.
Grammar and spelling are okayish.