The Stubborn Light of a Dying Flame [Isekai - LitRPG]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Did you try turning your System off and on again?

Ember is burning. The System isn’t just powerless to stop it, it’s holding the matches. With each new System glitch, the world descends further into chaos, and the most recent failure is dragging Earth into the fray.

Enter Rayna: an introverted bookworm who doesn’t even like video games. But when her only friend is kidnapped, Rayna follows her to Ember without a second thought. Now she is in way over her head, desperate to save her friend and willing to do anything she needs to in order to get both of them back home alive. If she can save the other ten million isekaied humans in the process, that’s just a bonus.

Navigating deadly challenges, an unexpected race change, and System glitches that feel way too personal, Rayna will do whatever it takes to get her and her friend back to Earth in one piece.

What to expect:

- Slow Burn

- Glitchy System

- Non-Human MC

- Large Cast, Multi-POV

- A Seriously Concerning Number of Hidden Societies

New chapters every Tue/Thurs (12am EST)

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Blenderbeetle

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 246
Views: 126,288

Chapters(120 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(7)

v0lcanoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So: This story as wasn't what I expected a good story to be, the pacing is different in a way I can't quite describe from most stoires, but it is definitely good. The fact that there's alrwady 1000 pages out and the first chapter was released only 9 months ago - and despite that, the writing comes across as well-thought out and enthralling - is impressive.
Enough about superficial parts of the story. Story itself - the MC isn't really non-human, they're just a humanoid race that's the closest equivalent to an elf - hence why 27 = young body. Looking young, and being constantly dismissed or judged for it, happens a lot to Rayna. In fact, being thrown around at other's whims regardless of what one's reasons are is a core theme of A Dying Flame. Yet, surprisingly, it doesn't feel frustrating (not THAT frustrating) that Rayna is being thrown around as much as she is. I think it's because she always shows agency - at minimum being vocally against anything she dislikes, at most resisting with all she can. And - fortunately - a lot of those who wrong her come around, or at least are set back; if not completely denied from their goals after wronging her.
Being very careful not to spoil - the main plot threads stay consistent despite how quickly the knowledge which the reader and Rayna both have keeps on growing. Huge revelations that bring about large insights into goings-ons always have another around the corner. And early characters and locations that feel temporary are relevant again later. This story juggles the many plot threads and perspectives well; each of them feel as though they have only one layer of insight when first read, only to gain new context from a later chapter.
As for the theme and setting - not enough descriptions are given and given at the right point in the story to build up the sort of vivid imagery the world of Ember would have. Character descriptions - even just basic traits - are infrequent (what does lady Umbra look like?). Architectural styles,
Alice LudenburgRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Not the best at reviews but here we go.
Its written well with character interactions feeling natural. The cast has great chemistry and can be pretty funny at times. The world is interesting and the burn isnt too slow. Despite being a slow burn the pacing isnt too bad but full honesty im biased there since I prefer slow burn novels.
All in all its good and I do reccomend reading it
Shadowlord4318Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Okay so here is my opinion on this novel. At first glance the plot might be the same as other generic isekai novels, but this one makes up for it with a great storyline and story progression. The selection of isekai candidates is less random than most other isekais, with a clear and valid reason for choosing the candidates. I find it a bit funny that a powerful creature like the System Administrator, that is thousands of years old could make a simple mistake like not realising that the candidates were unaware of how real the situation was or the fact that Rayne didn't have a chip when she first entered the warehouse in the first chapter. But I also find that also surprisingly human, and I can somewhat understand as he seemed to have never encountered a situation like this one before.
For the characters, I can say that the protagonist Rayna is smart and highly adaptive, as despite her lack of gaming knowledge she has adjusted pretty fast and is doing quite well, and I expect that she will only get better as time progresses and she gains more knowledge. Emma, despite her obliviousness and blinder in the first chapter, seems like a solid character as well. She is dependable in battle as despite her lack of actual combat skills and only gamer knowledge, she was still able to fight a monster and won with little damage. Other characters like Janet have solid personality traits as well, despite still being earlier on in the novel.
The grammar is flawless so far, as I haven't spotted any mistakes so far. Overall, I think this novel is good one despite it's generic plot and I think if other readers could look past that, they would think that it is worthy of a follow as well.
rvieRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The writing flows smoothly, with clear, easy-to-follow language that doesn’t get bogged down by unnecessary details. I really appreciate how the author explains the world and its systems through the characters’ perspectives rather than dumping big walls of text on us — it makes the story feel alive and lets you discover things alongside the cast.
The dialogue is another strong point. Everyone sounds distinct, and there’s a good mix of humor, tension, and heart in their interactions. The group dynamics especially stand out; the characters play off each other naturally, and you really get a sense of a team forming, with each person bringing something unique to the table.
Pacing-wise, the story does a solid job of keeping things moving. There’s always a sense of progress, whether that’s leveling, learning new skills, or revealing more about the System behind the world. The stakes build at a nice, steady rate without ever feeling forced, and the chapter endings usually leave you eager for the next.
Overall, this has been a really enjoyable read so far. If you like gamelit or progression-style adventures with a well-balanced mix of worldbuilding, character moments, and a bit of humor, definitely give this one a shot.
GavranekRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I found this book looking for a good "Non-human Lead" novel and, at least at the time I'm writing a revew (11 chapters are out), it's bearly relevant in the story. For now people's reaction on her inhuman look (MC is humanoid) is "huh? Weird, anyway.." I can see situation being different later in the story, but that's that for now.
While I haven't found what I was looking for, story is still quite interesting and writing style is pleasant.
MC isn't too OP, not stupid, but also not some genious that outsmarts every creature on her way(good amount of brain), side characters are good, worldbuilding good and not to complex. Action is good.
In general it's worth to check out
PuttnnamehereRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I've basically left my recommendations in the comment section, but here's the short edition. Needs an editor. Needs to basically rewrite the entirety of book One. There's tons of forgotten plot bunnies that I'm sure the author is struggling to juggle. The author loves to restrict agency of the entire cast so if that bugs you I'd say to skip. There is a good book here, it just needs proper cooking.
RikkiUWRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I have really mixed feelings about this. It's a great story, grammar is good, the characters are interesting an have personality. The situation on Ember, what's going on, what happened, the cataclysm, etc, are slowly being revealed. It's drip fed to us a perfect rate to keep us interested without becoming overly confused or annoyed.
At first the story was pretty much Rayna going from one disaster to another, generally not of her own making. It would have been nice if it slowed down and stayed in one place for long, but not a big deal. It was enjoyable.
Then all of a sudden we're getting vast amounts of historical flashbacks, some of which is interesting or relevant, but a lot of that is filler. Perhaps calling it filler is harsh - it was very detailed world building giving us a better idea of what the past was like. Not really my thing but fine. But perhaps having it right when several things are happening present-day and we can't wait to see the result isn't the best time for arguably irrelevant flashbacks?
Now at ch103 I'm just confused. We've gone from following one secondary set of characters to another for so long I'm beginning to wonder if the author has completely forgotten about Rayna. You know, the MC who the story is supposed to be about? Haven't heard from her since ch89. Not only that, but I looked ahead and she doesn't even come back until ch117. Again, it wouldn't be so bad if the secondary characters parts were interesting or relevant, but a lot of it feels like filler. At the very least there were chapters that probably should have happened earlier and at a slower rate rather than giving us a huge chunk of 'and by the way, these 4 chapters also happened way back in the tutorial', even if it would have had an impact on how we viewed things.
For all of that, I really was enjoying the main storyline. As it stands now though I'm having way to much trouble finding it amongst all the filler, so I give up.