The Shadow Binder - Post-Apocalyptic Progression Fantasy

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The stars are going out.

This is the only certainty, besides his own name, that Casek wakes with, strapped to a table among the ruins of a faintly familiar building. Armed with only a strange voice in his head and what few, fragmented memories survived his age-long sleep, he must escape his prison and survive long enough to build a new life of peace and happiness for himself.Unfortunately, the world outside is one ravaged by the Shadow: parasitic, demonic entities that sustain themselves with the energy of other living beings.

World by world they have stripped the stars bare of life, and now the dying embers of a once-great human civilisation fight a losing battle against an inexhaustible enemy. The last human city, Oreia, remains hidden from the enemy, and its force of Shadow Binders continue to stand firm - a final, formidable bulwark against the ever encroaching dark.

However, their numbers dwindle by the day, and the Shadow prepares its forces to overwhelm the last of humanity's resistance. If Casek is to survive for long, he must find the city before it falls, and somehow discover a way to turn the tide against impossible odds before it's too late.The Shadow Binder is a progression fantasy set in a post apocalyptic setting. New chapters every week.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Dylan King

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 145
Views: 13,263

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(2)

AlexanderScottRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Shadow Binder is a bit of a mystery from the start, but the gaps fill in quickly. The read is an exciting one and readers will enjoy the steps the story takes in early chapters. I do think that Casek is an interesting main character, and the enemies are plentiful and strange.
Casek wakes up in a strange room, and it appears he's been asleep for along time, and while he slept, the world has changed in so many ways. He's lost everything, his family, friends, and the world has been taken over by shadow creatures. However, while he slept for ages, a way to fight to the forces that took over his homeland (world? don't know yet), has been discovered.
Upon waking, he learns some of this (from a voice in his head - mysteries upon mysteries here - which is good!) and gains abilities to fight back. This is the fun part. The action scenes early on are entertaining and well written. Enjoyable read - highly recommended! : )
LordAetiusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I found this an easy to read post-apoc progression fantasy which hits the tropes in that genre and has lots of potential. Some of the tropes in this genre aren't my favorite things, so personal taste no doubt colors this review.
Story: Casek wakes chained to a bed with very limited memory about where he is. A voice in his head tells him he has to move, and we are thrust into a nightmarish vision of a research facility infested by the Shadow, which manifests itself as a variety of supernatural creatures that can only be fought with 'magic', which fortunately Casek finds out he has. I felt pulled into the action and the worldbuilding was drip fed well over the first few chapters. By the point I stopped reading, I had a good handle on the story set up.
Grammar: A few niggly errors but generally clean. The prose was a strong point, with some excellent descriptions of the building Casek is trapped in, and the emotions he is feeling.
Character: Casek is fine as the MC the reader can self-insert and imagine themselves in this predicament. Tauph, the voice in his head, has some mystery. However, these are the only characters in the section I read. I didn't find either of them especially unique or interesting, so there wasn't really a character hook for me. The enemies are mostly mindless spirits, so this didn't help me either.
Style: It feels like a RPG where the character wakes in a room and gradually explores the world, with a voice in the head to provide info on how to fight, use magic etc. There are no stats, so it's not a LitRPG. The style was functional and clean.
Overall, even if pure progression fantasy rarely excites me, I found this to be a well paced, action packed start with some interesting worldbuilding ideas.