The Nightcore Trilogy

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Going to space was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime, but for Reece Danielson and his crew, it was only the beginning. As the fresh astronauts aboard the Zhengzhou International Space Station start their on-the-job training, Reece is shown a discovery that changes his entire worldview. It isn’t long before a tragic accident aboard the station sets off a series of events that not only puts the crew in danger but also puts them at odds with each other. The events quickly escalate into a man-made apocalyptic incident on the planet's surface. A virulent plague is prematurely released, which transforms everyone into flesh-eating undead, and that is only the beginning of the troubles. There are far worse things down there than zombies, and possibly a few of them lurk on the station itself. The Nightcore Trilogy thematically begins with a heavy sci-fi feel coupled with a gritty space-based horror mystery. The story's layers are slowly peeled back, evolving into something much more supernatural, mythological, and high-fantasy in nature. It's a mix of elements from survival horror, zombie apocalypses, ancient mythologies, supernatural stories, and harem anime. It contains semi-descriptive sex scenes (traditional and non-traditional), descriptions of gore, profanity, and adult situations, so I recommend it for mature and open-minded audiences only.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: Daniel J Hull

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.8/ 5.0
Followers: 164
Views: 142,455

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

Karmic_BacklashRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
First things first, and this is really the only negative thing I have to say. The author's dialogue writing and formatting (at least as of chapter 12, which isn't a short read) is a bit stilted and akward at times. Paragraphs tend to drag on at times and the MC has a personality between that of a shoe and a normal human being. Of course, I don't hold that against he author, it's just how I see it.
Beyond that, very excellent story. The author does a good job of building plot points together and humanizing its characters. Though I do have to admit something that caught my attention several times, and it concerns the female characters in the story.
This is something I've seen authors doo on the occasion, and honestly I don't blame them. It just happens.
The male characters get pretty standard descriptions, body type, general apperence, outstanding character traits, stuff like that. But the female characters are not so much. Every single time one is described, words like "Ample" and "Beautiful" get applied to every feature. It's not sexualized really, even during the lowkey sex scene, but it's just distracting in an otherwise pretty serious and dry story about hive mind vampire zombie god werewolf apocalypsi.
Speaking of that, damn did that plot twist hit like a truck. Everytime I thought I got a handle on what the story was going to be about, I was surprised and delighted to discover that there was every more depth. I stopped at chapter 12 (as of the time of writing) and my expectations were shattered at least 4 times.
Hopefully from here on the author doesn't throw too many more surprises without reason. Getting the back to back Apocalypse, Murder, Vampires, and Werewolf details dropped on us so quickly was a bit jarring. The groundwork is set for a very interesting story so it just needs a solid foundation to be a good one.
Granted, the story is quite long and I'm reviewing the beginning portion. So it's entirely out of both my and the author's hands if this is to b
NatarajaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The MC and other characters take their shift onto a space station. Up there, there is a lot to experience and discover. Science fiction, Romance, Thriller, all the aspect are remarkably developped. It's nice to have a good science fiction story on the site, it's rare. It's a bit slow but promises to be epic!
- Style & Grammar
This is well written, no grammar, syntax nor style issues. The layout is good which makes the text pleasant to read. There is an excellent balance between action, descriptions and reflections of characters, good job! Please note that English is not my native language, so I may have missed some things...
- Story
The plot takes quite a while to get going, which may discourage most Royal Road readers. That said, the plot elements are interesting and well done with lot of aspect: politics, relationships, epxeriments, etc.,Iit would just be nice if things happened a bit more quickly.
- Character
They are well brought, well described and especially their emotions and their interactions. The MC is interesting, likable. The secondary characters too. The drawings are beautiful and really help to get into the story. I would really like the opportunity to see the MC in action more often.
SushiBoi497Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
First off, I loved the spaceship side to the story. Looking at the detailed illustration of the Zhengzhou Station was super cool and a little detail that most novels don't include. I enjoyed the realistic actions that the characters took and the jump from mythology to space zombies. The book hooked me in. Only complaint is chapter amount hahaha
SR FauthRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
OK let me just preface this by saying there are MAD SPOILERS in this review. So if you don't want this amazing reading opportunity ruined, then get your butt over to chapter 1.
With that being said, let us begin:
STYLE SCORE: 5/5 Seriously. The masterful blend of genres, the colliding of characters. The fast-paced story. The detailed world. The growth of the plot and mass expansion of affected parties within the world itself.
The writing is a wonderful and skillful blend that brings out each general best points and blends them seamlessly together. Just the first 19 chapters I read were enough to place it in my top 20 favorite horrors of all time. This is simply amazing and I cannot wait to read more.
STORY: 5/5 WHAT DOESN'T THIS FICTION HAVE?!?!? I warned you there would be spoilers.
Zombies, Space Stations, Illuminati, Werewolves. Seriously, weren't just happy having this be a horror were you author man? Had to skillfully craft a horror that combined every possible aspect you could in ways that surprise your readers and surpass each prior moment in your writings. Fine, I see how it is. Keep surprising me. I cant give you more than 5/5.
GRAMMAR: 5/5 There were some small issues here are there. Mostly corrected. Nothing impacted the story enough for me to really complain. Personally, I have a rough time with grammar so I have no room to be picky about the small things.
If I had to give constructive feedback about one thing? Time the chapter endings. Some were phenomenal, and others left me thinking about what just happened. In a badly confused sort of way.
CHARACTER SCORE: 5/5 Your MC and the sub C's are amazing. They develop well, and rapidly. They mesh together. Their back stories are phenomenal and well written. There is drive and reason for being. Everything has a purpose and you never know who is going to backstab someone or try and steal a mysterious core when no one expects it.
The MC is smart, but not arrogantly so. You balanced that extremely well and in a
Consistent MilkRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall, this is a must for hardcore science fiction fans who are looking for something with a serious amount of dedicated work put into it.
This is the first fiction that I have read on this site, which I can call 'proper' science fiction. That is, the author tries his best to make the technologies used believable and realistic. The artwork included is incredible from my point of view and adds further depth to the story at crucial points. Albeit the technological aspects sometimes becomes so technical that it might disrupt the immersion of an average reader. To be fair though, this fiction does have the 'Hard Sci-Fi' tag - so beware.
The storytelling is slow and mature. The characters are crafted very well and feel distinct from one another. The concepts used are unlike anything I have read until now. It combines mythos, science, and horror in a unique way.
The writing style of the author is reminiscent of professionally written science fiction novels maintaining a proper tone, but it might not be attention retaining enough for some readers.
Dylan KingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Full disclosure: I'm writing this review as part of a review swap. As such, I fully intended to read a decent amount and review based on what I had read.
This did not happen. I read Book One in its entirety when I'd no intention of doing so, and I'm so glad I did. Nightcore is absolutely bonkers fun that, as the story progresses, doesn't seem to take itself too seriosly, capturing everything cheesy and over the top I loved about the first three Resident Evil movies expertly. If that sound like your kind of thing, then this story is for you. Below, I'm going to mention a few critiques that I hope will be useful to the author, but I want to make it clear that I had a great time with this book and fully recommend it.
Story:
Nightcore begins as a tense sci-fi horror, played relatively straight - as some of the other reviewers, who perhaps didn't make it through as much of the story, mention. However, there is a shift at the 30% ish mark where it starts to become clear that the tone of the story is shifting quickly to something a little more over the top. Characters craft double katanas, theres a no-reason threesome and before you know it, our MC is using an entire space station as a bullet shield as they crash land upon an zombie/mutant ravaged earth, before being rescued from giant zombie direwolves by a spear-wielding vampire dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl.
I told you this story takes a turn.
For what its worth, I don't think the shift in tone is handled badly at all. The author weaves the more fantastical elements into the narrative slowly at first, and the prologue helps prep readers that all may not be as it seems.
However, it is worth the author being aware that the promises they make in regards to tone and plot are broken, and this will frustrate some readers. Some of the people who came for the gritty sci-fi horror space yarn will be frustrated when the story takes a hard turn away from that; and many of the readers who want to read what the story becomes in l
Eric VanderlipRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Spacefall is the story of Reece Danielson, a freshly trained astronaut who boards the Zhengzhou International Space Station and discovers something horribly wrong.
Style: a consistent perspective and smooth writing. Dialogue is natural. My sole concern lies with how verbose the text can be. In an admirable effort to provide detail, the same information is often repeated multiple times with different wording, which hurts the pacing. (Hopefully this review is out of date and a round of editing/condensing has elevate the story to its full potential.)
Story: Conversation and events flow naturally. It's obvious great care has been given to every facet of the worldbuilding, complete with frequent illustrations (which is a rare treat). Reece's journey to the space station, together with the well-researched setting, moves the narrative smoothly towards the overarching plot set up by the prologue.
Grammar: Excellent. My need to edit (for grammar reason) went mostly unfufilled.
Character: Reece is a relatable engineer excited about his trip to space, making for a compelling, sympathetic protagonist. The rest of the cast is all fleshed out with their own personality and mannerisms. The interpersonal interactions and tension are exciting to watch.
Conclusion: Despite the pacing, I recommend picking up Spacefall because everything else is there. Meticulous and well-illustrated world-building. A plot which confidently knows where it's heading. Characters who are interesting and endearing. It's a fun read.
TinyAngryWoman357Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've only read the first chapter, but my interest is peaked. The author does a good job of descibing crewmembers, surroundings, and main character's internal thoughts. Intrigued by the "zombie rat." I liked the nontraditional use of old gods instead of the typical Christian God. The included pictures don't always match the descriptions, but that's on the artist.
James TadhgRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
One of the very first things that stood out to me when reading this story is that the author loves space shuttles. I too am a sucker for them, and it was fascinating reading about the intricacies of the design of both the shuttle and station the crew docks at. Plenty of attention is paid to building the "world" these characters inhabit and how their skills are crucial to maintining operations so that they don't, you know, die.
The story has a gradual start, introduing us to Reece (our protagonist), and the many characters aboard the space station before getting into the hook. And the hook is good. Really good. A mystery is set up with little clues before then hinting that something is going on and it involves the absurd number of Biologists aboard.
My only real complaint from having read the first two chapters is the density of the paragraphs. I think they could be split up for ease of reading and better flow. The descriptions of the station and its workings are great, but sometimes the author spends too much time describing the way characters look, as in:
As the shuttle commander explained the docking situation to the crew of the space station, Reece began to take the measure of his new crewmates. Aside from the four who Reece had casually studied as they spoke, there looked to be another four people in the mess hall. He spotted a man of dark complexion, thin, yet thickly muscled who looked to be in his twenties. He had a strong-looking face and thick lips that gave him a look of perpetual readiness. He had a shaved head and clean-shaven face and sat behind the red-bearded man. Another man, with an even darker complexion, was sinewy and looked like he was in his early fifties. He had flaring nostrils with salt-n-pepper short-cut hair and fitting sideburns and laugh lines across his face that gave him a pleasant look. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor near one of the walls of the module, eating slowly from a plate of greens as he watched the exchange. Another
FireShardRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Overall, I enjoyed this story very much, with great writing, story structure and a believable story with an intriguing plot that kept me wanting to read more.
But as I say that, despite the well written characters, there would occasionally be an inclusion which I felt was either felt out of character, frustrating and only present to serve the plot in the direction that was needed to progress rather than fitting the character and what was built before. Although despite my complaints, many of these issues were only minor things despite some of them having a larger presence, and they could be looked past and forgiven for the overall and entertaining story that was being told.
Although I still believe this is a great story that many people would enjoy, many of these minor issues built up over time and made the story less entertaining to read, but this can be seen as my own personal issues with the story rather than a lack in quality of the writing. In the end, I will not be continuing to read the story, but this shouldn't discourage others from reading it and forming their own opinion as from many other reviews it seems that many are enjoying it.