The Value In Being Alone

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

There’s value in being alone. The idea that humans are inherently social creatures has led many of the lesser minded of our species to believe they have to be surrounded by others for every waking hour of the day. As such, the gentle peace of solitude is a delight unsought and unappreciated by the unintelligent masses.

At least, that’s what Kaburi believes. Bitter and spiteful to the world around him, Kaburi rejects each and every person who comes his way. But when a new student with a mouth fouler and a mind greater than his own, he finds himself questioning that long held belief.

Maybe the real value in being alone was not dealing with people like her.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Kaabii

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 5.0/ 5.0
Followers: 4
Views: 5,264

Reviews

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Community Reviews(1)

MrLightningBoltRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Not gonna lie; when I came across this story for the first time my expectations were not very high (maybe for the same reason as yours). I decided to give it a chance nonetheless because the synopsis was intriguing enough.
I'm glad I did; it quickly proved to be a perfect example of the old "don't judge a book by its cover" saying. The Value in Being Alone is a fascinating journey of philosophical and emotional growth from the perspective of atypical teenagers in their late formative years. The development of the protagonist and first person narrator (Kaburi) is very well done and his interactions (especially the dialogues) with the rest of characters have a great balance of humor, wit and introspection. The main cast slowly but surely grows on you, which makes the ending particularly satisfying.
I have to give some word of advice though. As much as I like it personally, there are some things you should be aware of this story that might not make it for you:
- The plot is entirely Slice of Life focused with some subtle romantic undertones (especially near the end). If you expect classic action or over the top drama (typical Japanese manga/anime school gangs fights, soap opera romance, etc) you will be disappointed.
- Chess is a big part of the storytelling. Many scenes are algebraic notation transcriptions of chess games with literary elements. While in my case they weren't an issue (even as a non professional chess player who can't read algebraic notation and doesn't know chess theory at all lol), I can understand if some people find them dragging or too distracting. If you are a chess aficionado like the author himself/herself, you might appreciate them even more than me.
- As the author himself/herself admits it, this is kind of a experimental first-draft concept, so you will see some "bizarre" things here and there like random fourth wall breaking jokes and minor inconsistencies. They are very secondary details IMO that don't detract from the core of the story.
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