The Road of Hollows

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The System arrives far earlier than intended. In 1851, the world is forever changed as monsters and magic emerge from the shadows. And yet, the Apocalypse does not rush, especially in the Old West. The fall of society is slow, even as every single person gains a connection to the System and frontier towns and villages disappear into the night, demons and creatures out of myths and stories begin roaming the woods, and caravans disappear without a trace. A boy and his sister must learn to survive as the world slowly crumbles to ash around them... or die trying. Updates: Twice a week, once on Saturday and once again on Wednesday.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Dragonication

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 381
Views: 25,452

What readers say about The Road of Hollows

“This fight scene doesn't mess around. The writing is sharp and direct—short sentences that punch through one after another, building energy without getting flowery about it. The author gets that when you're describing a battle, you need clarity first. Save…”
DameDaneRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“I initially gave it an overall score of 5/5 stars when I first started reading, mostly because the premise was pretty cool. But what began as an interesting post on Reddit quickly turned into a very amazing story that I could not quite put down. Style? The…”
DurnhamRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

DameDaneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This fight scene doesn't mess around. The writing is sharp and direct—short sentences that punch through one after another, building energy without getting flowery about it. The author gets that when you're describing a battle, you need clarity first. Save the fancy prose for later.
The atmosphere is thick and oppressive in all the right ways. Everything feels heavy—the smoke, the ash, the heat, that metallic smell of blood. You're right there in it. The details make even the magical stuff feel real and grounded. You can practically feel the weight of the weapons and taste the dust. This isn't your typical clean fantasy where everyone stays pristine—it's messy and brutal.
What really works here is that the violence isn't treated as cool or heroic. People get tired. They hurt. Bodies break down. Winning doesn't mean walking away unscathed. And scattered throughout are these small, tender moments between characters that give you a chance to breathe before diving back into the chaos.
The world itself is interesting—there's this weird mix of elements that shouldn't fit together but somehow pull it off. The author doesn't stop to explain everything either. You pick up the world-building naturally as things unfold, which keeps the pace moving.
The relationships between characters feel real, not forced. That ending especially shows the author knows how to shift gears—pulling back from the epic scale to focus on something personal and intimate. It's dark fantasy that doesn't flinch from consequences, written by someone confident enough to let the action do the talking.
DurnhamRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I initially gave it an overall score of 5/5 stars when I first started reading, mostly because the premise was pretty cool. But what began as an interesting post on Reddit quickly turned into a very amazing story that I could not quite put down.
Style? The prose in itself is very interesting. The style being used here is kind of Limited POV, but this one is extremely limited, almost like a movie that is being written. Things are shown and rarely ever told. The personalities of the main cast manifests through their actions and words, and the choices they make within the story and I gotta say that's pretty awesome.
Grammar is as perfect as I care, since I haven't really encountered issues that pulled me out of the story--or issues at all, really.
The story? Well, that's still unfolding, but it's a System Apocalypse so I kind of know how or where it's eventually going, but this is precisely where the setting shines. Because if this was another System Apocalypse in the modern world, then we can definitely predict where it's going. But this being set in the old west makes it more unpredictable. Where is it going? Idk. But I'm in it for the long ride.
Characters? Like I said, they're very well-written. The author has a way of making characters shine through their actions and words, which I really enjoy.
ElfiqueRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
"Honestly, I’ve never seen anything quite like this before. It’s so good and seriously deserves way more love and attention. I’m completely attached now
Also… I adore Lily with my whole heart fr. If anything bad happens to her, I’m dropping this story immediately. I’m emotionally invested and not okay about it"
So, this is what I wrote in the initial review and, after twenty chapters of this, I can safely say that I still haven't found anything like it.
As a lot of the other reviews mentioned, this story reads like a movie. The scenes are shown and rarely--if ever--told. And they flow really well too, just like a well-made movie.
Just like the writing style, I think the grammar has been perfect. Not much to talk about here tbh.
The story itself and the setting is where I am truly amazed. When I said that I haven't seen anything like it, I mean it. I tried looking for other progression stories set in the Old West and haven't found anything that really captured the cowboys and indians kind of feeling. Also, I am not a historian, but it feels like the author really did, at least, some research into the cultures of the natives, but I guess someone of real native american descent is gonna have to check this one fr fr.
The characters feel like real people. I'm not sure what the author is doing that's different from a lot of other authors, but the characters here, no matter how short their screen time is, feel like real people with real lives and real personalities, which... in this genre is honestly refreshing.
I'd rate it 10/10 if I could, but I can only give 5/5.
Himbo HunterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Only a mind beaten down with years of going into niche wikipedia/fandom rabbitholes could've made this. The writing is excellent, a real submersive experience and compared to the author's previous works, it's a great marker for his development in the style of his prose so far. Will always continue reading. Unless he introduces ghosts.
SaucingtonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There's an interesting technique at play here: We call it "Visual economy" and "defining character through props". You're using a can and a knife to tell us volumes about these characters. That's half of the chapter. You didn't need dialogue or a long "I WAS BORN AT A VERY YOUNG AGE, WE DIDN'T HAVE A LOT OF STUFF" intro. You show us a can he's risking his life and freedom for, one he refuses to drop even as 'metal rattles against bone' and he's in agony. Nor do you tell us "he had a knife in his pocket". You show us how he got it, and even use that as a subtle way to introduce stats (Dexterity) before revealing the system. This is a tight, professional chapter.
We know from every disney movie that the hero has to do something early to make us root for them. You do this but make it gritty (my favorite). The boy is a thief and is running. So you pair him with Lily. He's running *for* her. He drags her along and feeds her first and even sings to her while the world burns. You use this to establish that "He's a thief BUT WAIT: He has a superior moral code". So we don't just see a random street rat get powers in the end, but a deserving guardian.
Some beloved tropes (these were previously links but reddit kept removing my message): Crapsack World, The System Apocalypse, Soul Eater
You did a fantastic job of grounding the fantastic here. You didn't rush to the numbers. You gave us 90% of the chapter as action and descriptive, palpable imagery that let us taste the fuckin street dirt, smell the can of beans, and feel our tummies rumble with hunger. This is western dystopian survival horror mixed with LitRPG system apocalypse and it's the best shit RR has to offer.
Bam.
VillainezzRizzRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
First off, really didn't expect this level of prose on Royal Road of all places. Quite frankly, it's amazing. But let's get to the details before I go full fanboy and gush again.
The style is perfect for me. It's like reading a movie if that makes sense. Yeah it's a book but it also feels like all I'm reading is everything I can see on a screen. Things are happening and characters are doing things and I have to be the one to interpret what they're doing and I love that.
Grammar is perfect but I have a very low bar for judging grammar anyway and most mistakes don't really affect me. That said I don't think I've noticed mistakes in this story. Not big ones.
The story is the best part for me. A total 10/10 so far. It's definitely litrpg, but it doesn't feel bloated. The system isn't constantly talking and being annoying, which I enjoy a lot. And I've yet to encounter any big plothole that takes me out of the story. I don't wanna spoil but this feels like RDR2 but with fantasy races and magic and stuff.
Where this story really shines is in the character work. Just about all of them feel like real people in a real world. Sure, some characters only show up to die, but they still feel alive anyway. Lily is my favorite and if anything happens to her I'm dropping this story.
And please—PROTEC MY BABY LILY AT ALL COSTS, Brother! I reckon you can do it~
ReiRizzRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The text presents violent content in a manner that maintains strict discipline. The author uses simple language to express his content without using complex words for demonstration purposes. The author demonstrates complete understanding of violent events which occur with rapid intensity and create chaotic sounds but at times produce moments of sharp clarity which reveal everything.
The sensory details create most of the essential work. Smoke gets described in different ways that all matter. The experience of heat creates the impression of a heavy object which pushes down on your body. The material surfaces display detailed elements which include scales and leather and metal and dirt. Everything in the environment includes both weight and temperature. The fantasy elements acquire authentic value through their tactile details which create a realistic appearance.
The combination of different music styles creates an engaging experience. The battlefield shows both rifles and dragons which maintain their appropriate positions throughout the battle. The entire area creates a frontier atmosphere because of its cavalry combat methods and its open prairie terrain and its fortification design which establish a base for the magical elements to connect with actual historical elements. The combination brings together two different elements which create a successful outcome.
The audience learns about the characters through the movements and perceptions of the characters instead of through their extended inner dialogues. The main character uses immediate details to understand the world by observing how things move and measuring distances and recognizing vital information for survival. The method demonstrates personal characteristics through the way people respond to difficult situations.
The story maintains its fast movement throughout all its scenes. The author keeps describing events but the audience remains in a state of heightened awareness. This text requires readers to stay
RhumageRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is a triumph of show don't tell. I read it holding my breath. I liked it from the first chapter, mostly because the author is great at depicting three-dimensional characters, even those who only appear briefly. I held back reviewing until I could comment on the quality of the narrative because for me it's all about the story-telling and it has been going from strength to strength. Great pacing, great characters, great story-crafting. It's tick tick tick from me.
LynnetheRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Started off promising, fairly quickly jumped the shark.
I came here because this should have been a winning premise- What if a system apocalypse happened in the American west circa 1870?
For the first dozen chapters it delivered. The characters react fairly believably to their world suddenly having the rules changed. The MC gets a standard issue killing=theft=power ability that, if it had been moderated, would have been fine.
It wasn't moderated. If the story stuck to the western theme and kept to solo monsters and small-scale engagements on the frontier it would have worked.
Instead we quickly get to army-level confrontations that spiral the MC's power level off the charts. As icing on the cake they get a *second* theft ability because everything also has to be Solo-Leveling now.
So, decent premise that misses its execution.
Please- drop the "Low Fantasy" tag. This story lost the right to that when an army of elves fly in a dragon as backup only to be met by an army of orcs- that coincidentally also fly in a dragonrider as backup.
MurkelRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
I mostly liked the first 13 chapters, which is book 1 (chapters are long, six to eight thousand words). One big problem was that when there was a very big battle the system mechanisms introduced for the MC did not matter anymore. It was written as if nothing had changed, when an extraordinary amount of progression-changes should have happened. Also a few logic errors but they are not too immersion-breaking.
Pre system, during the first battle, which the MC experiences as a passive bystander, some important logic is ignored:
The small isolated town is attacked by a large group of Comanche riders, and both sides ignore all common sense.
The Comanche, later explicitly said to be cautious, staying out of gun reach and probing for weaknesses before attacking a location, simply ride through the town. Even if they should still win, they have no reason to throw away their lives.
The town's people on the other hand act equally clueless, including the sheriff who we met earlier and who seemed to be someone with great experience. Instead of hiding behind the cover of their houses, many run into the streets? Including the sheriff??? Who is promptly quickly killed by an arrow after doing his remaining job for the story and shooting a rider who was about to shoot the MC.
Later, at the book one's final battle, all system logic is suspended. By the logic of MCs advancement, he should be hundreds of times stronger in all stats than anyone else on the planet. By mid battle he should be casually strolling around at German autobahn speeds and casually slap several enemies per second to their deaths, himself dodging everything, if anyone can even follow his movements. But the effort he seems to have to spend remains more or less constant from beginning to end.
The MCs special perk that during the battle gains him as many stat points in all stats as a level up, from any enemy slain, not just his own (a scaling mistake I think), is shown to work over significant distances, so he should ge