The Salamanders

Information

Status

Hiatus

Year

2018

Author

JackWake

• 13.9
  Aug 25, 2022
• 13.8
  Aug 1, 2022
• 13.7
  Jul 24, 2022
• 13.6
  Jun 15, 2022
• 13.5
  Jun 6, 2022
• 13.4
  May 26, 2022
• 13.3
  May 13, 2022
• 13.2
  Apr 19, 2022
• 13.1
  Apr 11, 2022
• Interlude - Investigations
  Mar 26, 2022
• Interlude - Moonlight Part 3
  Mar 21, 2022
• Interlude - Moonlight Part 2
  Mar 11, 2022
• Interlude - Moonlight Part 1
  Mar 5, 2022
• 12.26
  Feb 9, 2022
• 12.25
  Feb 7, 2022
• 12.24
  Feb 1, 2022
• Interlude - Amber Star Part 3
  Feb 1, 2022
• Interlude - Emerald Star Part 2
  Feb 1, 2022
• Interlude - Emerald Star Part 1
  Jan 4, 2022
• 12.23
  Dec 30, 2021

Reviews

Community Reviews(10)

• TheHuscarlRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Updated as of chapter 4.15 and 2k pages in.
  Not much of an expert on grammar. Though imo it's quite good with most errors being misspellings from time to time.
  Story wise, pretty much slice-of-life most of the time. In some of the earlier chapters (one of) the main driving factors of the story is introduced. Right around the 2k pages another major event happens, and not many really impactful events happen inbetween. But things are happening a lot faster now than in the beginning (in the story development) and there's still been a lot of worldbuilding (original-ish world, different unoriginal themes put together in an original way that fits, plus really original elements) and a lot of character-building. But it isn't a riveting action-packed story.
  Which brings us to characters. Well the story is character-focused, and it does it really well. Characters are coherent in their actions (in the way humans are) and develop over time.
  Style-wise, well it's character focused and uses multiple POV's (mostly the same 2, but there are other in the interludes). Action scenes (which've become more common and longer) differ a great deal in clarity. They're well written and engaging imo, and they're written from the POV of, well the POV, so not everything is clear all the time (and neither is it for the POV). This might not be for all but i like it (also might just be bad at keeping track of things).
  Also it can get pretty grim/brutal but in a realistic sense and not the gory/depraved sense. And the magic system is pretty thought out and there is a skill-system/system-system for everyone, but it's not the typical sort and more of a non-invasive/meditative thing. It's hard to describe, easier to read about ;)
  Earlier i wrote that if you really don't like the slice-of-ife you can skip the 2.xx chapters and skip to more action-focused stuff. This still holds true, but i re-read some stuff from earlier chapters as it stays relevant and i forget it, so i wouldn't recommend.
• Klarg on a BargeRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I was just giving look around for something good then I stubled upon this beauty I binged it in two days and honestly I'd have to say it's one of the best novels I've read it has a great story in depth characters and an immersive world I want to force the author to write more and more but you can't force out a masterpiece such as this
• MyriddinRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  At first I thought it might be pretty cliche, and I wouldn't have minded that too much to be honest, but really after about 8 chapters the grit and darkness shows itself and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I can't really say its more realistic (what with the magic, and the alchemy) but I definitely like the tone which the story is taking, and the magic system (from what I've seen at least.) seems well thought out and interesting to follow.
  Style : 4/5 : I like the style mostly, and certainly I'd normlly give it a 5/5 if not for one of the more recent stylistic choices you made, where it was a sort of diverging time-line to follow 2 different characters as they experienced a certain event. 3 chapters of character A, and then 2 chapters of character B from the same starting point, and maybe its just me but I REALLLY don't like it when those splits happen. It might be because I feel like I'm reading it again when the time-line goes over stuff, and I end up skimming it and only really focusing when it reaches new again. I mean it was hard for me to get through, but overall the style of writing is great so its still a 4/5. And sorry if that seems unfair, but I just haaaaaate it when stories get split like that. Though I'll admit its not as bad as 'Displaced' lol. If I had to suggest something I might split the stories ABABAB rather than AAABBB, just so that there's less divergence for the reader to deal with.
  Story : 4.5/5 : Seems like a great story so far, not much has happened as of yet,but there's still room to grow. I don't like too much a split in MCs though, so that lessen's it a little for me, since you did it in a chunk split AAABBB rather than a more even one. Again, if you want to see a train-wreck of a split look at Displaced. A bloody AAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBB split and I can't even.... at least your's was short. And sorry for being so mean to 'Displaced' in this review, but its the other story which had this huge problem in it.
  Grammar: 5/5 : Its good grammar,
• BinLoxRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Worth a read! Please use Oxford commas though, author.
• chromecausationRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Well-written and has interesting worldbuilding. Has one of the best-written gay characters in all of fiction, although it takes a while for that plot line to develop. All characters have interesting flaws that play off each other, and the author is willing to take the slow but more interesting path for character development. Highly recommend.
• GrimzbyRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  I really enjoyed the world building and character of this story. Most characters in a litrpg genre are sometimes portrayed to unrealistically or are very overpowered when it comes to their abilities that encounters almost seem comical. This story does not suffer from that as they are heavily grounded in the world and in comparison to others.
  This storytelling method can act as a double edge sword though because sometimes they are a little to grounded as they slow to a halt in their character development. The pacing needs to increase in order to feel actual movement in the story, instead of them often just trudging along. Sometimes you can read about 20-30 chapters without anything actually happening in terms of growth of the main story plot or characters.
  Overall I really enjoy the depth this story has and I wait patiently for the next chapters to come out. Hopefully It's soon...please be soon!
• mioRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  i like it, it is well written, and the world is well made.
  sometimes, though, it is hard to follow. the system with the classes sometimes seems a bit complicated, and some events are really difficult to grasp.
  like when the bouncer guy gives his comments, there's really not that much of a context for it... or the chapter after, with the thoughts about the school... they're clearly ryan's, at one point, but then they continue after ryan leaves?
  maybe they're both thinking about the same thing? but then that's really a confusing way to write it...
• Worst-answerRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  so.... how is this???? i will start with REALLY FRIGGING SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW,  i'm pretty sure that since beginning to current chapters, like 3 years passed, and with 3k pages of contenent, that should show you  how much  is "slow". Anyway this novel it's true to it's tags, so Slice of life ??? sure alot of that, drama??? the mc are micah (with a focus on micah ) and ryan , so the drama you can expect is arguing with your parents, love etc, not really  exciting, but there is actual action thanks to the tower, but after a while of the same things over and over again in like 1000 pages things tend to get boring. About the tower  , in like half of the novel i have read (i stopped like around 4.10 , so yep half of the novel) we get mostly in the same  floors,  only now around half something happened , but still i kinda  of had enough. The background world seems badass, but we are still  stuck on a city, everything knew we hear it's mostly through others, before get an actual first  view of the world, i bet lots more of chap are going to pass (even though ryan actually had a bit of world experience, but it wasn't something really excting) , (possibly when micah is finally done with school,so alot.). so in the end is this worth it???  if you can put with childish c...p, and drama , and well  LOTS of slice of life, then you can give this a read, i gave my rate because Objectivly it's not bad, yet it didn't hype me, since the beginning to half novel i have read.
  Of course, this doesn't mean  i'm done with the author, he is good, and maybe i will like more his next story.
  .
• OrderedChaosRoyal Road

  ★★★ 3.0

  As of the latest chapters for this review, i would rate it a 4.5 or 4, but that's just because i believe your strong suit is in writing emotionally charged/dramatic chapters. Otherwise overall, its a 3. You've got a great story but imho it feels like you're taking the show, don't tell aspect a bit too much(unless that's how you want it to be). We really don't get much background knowledge unless Micah or Ryan experience it which is great, but a few sentences in the first few chapters explaining what the towers are would help us establish what kind of place it is. Telling is okay sometimes. Another reason is that your dialogue writing seems clunky. In other words, imagine a rapper without flow. The rhythm of the conversations seem off and i find myself having to reread because i get lost in conversations(moreso in the earlier chapters, got better in the latest ones). Otherwise, your story is great, and Micah acting like a complete idiot at his age is great because most of the "young people" that people try to write seem a bit off generally.
• The ValeRoyal Road

  ★ 0.5

  Reading through to 2.24 (all  that is currently available) I have a few observations. Firstly, excellent initial dungeon foray. After that point however things start to go a little off kilter. A few chapters are spent on slice of life casual no consequence things while a rather high tension conflict point/cliffhanger is left unresolved - the tension and momentum of the action is squandered completely by the time we return to it.
  Following that point we are basically stuck exclusively with a slice of life story that has some slash overtones. I went back to check the tags at one point (I never actually bother looking at tags before reading a story - I rely on the blurb/summary to draw my interest) and the romance tag lends me to believe this is the case, though it may just be a consequence of the writers chosen portrayals rather than fact, though it seems too consistent throughout for that to be the case to me. If this was not the writers original intention, I reccomend they read through the story as though that is exactly what it is supposed to be to understand my interpretation, and keep it in mind the potential overtones of future scenes. If it was the authors intent, excellently done laying the groundwork - I'm not a fan os slash myself but this is very smoothly written if intentional.
  My biggest issue is the youthening of the main characters mentalities, emotionally and intellectually they read as much younger than their stated ages to me. There are also some other oddities such as two individuals two-three years apart in age taking the same class and what seem to be some retcon details containing information that should really be coming up earlier in the narrative.
  Decent portrayal of traumatic trigger responses and development throught hat area - the author is leaning realy heavily into the drama and slice of life genres (which I persoanally find incredibly dull. There's a shopping scene for crying out loud!) - this is not an adventure story at this point thoug