Thorn's Edge

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Sometimes you've got to play the cards you’re dealt. Even if you don’t know the rules, don’t trust the dealer, and aren’t completely sure you’re playing with a full deck. When the System arrived, I was gardening. Head down, music on, in the zone. So I didn't notice the giant, fear-projecting squirrels until they went for my dog. My sixteen-year-old, scruffy white terrier, who happens to own my heart. I'm not a fighter, nor a gamer, and I've never killed a thing in my life. But I love my dogs. And anything trying to hurt one of them is gonna have to go through me first. Five minutes later, I've been dumped into something called a challenge scenario, dog in tow. Now I'm fighting monsters, making friends, and trying to keep us all alive while the creepy Santa Claus in my brain offers quests, classes, and abilities. A guy who tried to kill me swears none of it is a hallucination. Given my history, that's not as reassuring as he thinks it is. As mana reshapes the world and the System cheerfully insists that this is a rescue, not an invasion, I'm gonna have to learn how to navigate monsters, rifts, and multiversal bureaucracy without losing myself — or my dogs — in the process. Thorn's Edge is a character-driven LitRPG System Apocalypse series about surviving, and eventually thriving, at the end of the world. What to expect:– System Apocalypse / LitRPG– First-person, emotionally grounded narration– A reluctant heroine who becomes extremely OP and remains faintly baffled about it– Strategic thinking over reckless power fantasy– Dry humor in the middle of objectively terrible circumstances– Dogs. Soul-bonded, loyal, plot-relevant dogs. Absolutely no dog death.– Not grimdark. Not even remotely close to grimdark. But that said, it is an apocalypse. And people are people. Hope is never lost, but sometimes things look bleak. Content warnings: There's profanity, but not crazy amounts of it. There's violence, but it's not particularly graphic or gory. There's sensitive content, especially if you consider references to mental illness, death, and grief to be sensitive, but it's treated sensitively. (I think, anyway.) Posting schedule:Book One: Challenge Scenario - every dayBook Two: The Rift in My Backyard - every other dayBook Three: Finding J - Sundays & Wednesdays, unless I get so far ahead that I can go faster ***** Thorn’s Edge is a revised and edited relaunch of the series previously published here asTaming the System. The story hasn’t changed in any fundamental way, but it has been cleaned up, tightened, and given a series name that actually fits where it ended up going. (Olivia did not, in fact, become a tamer.) If you readTaming the System, you’ll recognize the events, but you may notice smoother pacing, clarified mechanics, and small adjustments throughout. Also a lot more Riley; I just wasn’t fair to him before. He’s a good dog. If you’re new here, welcome. I hope you enjoy the ride!

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2026
Author: Wyndes

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 218
Views: 13,446

What readers say about Thorn's Edge

“[This is a review I had made at Book 2 of the first version/draft of this story] First review for me (and English is not my first language so please excuse my mistakes) but the story has been so good so far that I felt it was a shame that it wasn't being re…”
DuamnalzohgRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Why aren’t you reading this story yet? The author writes like a professional. No rambling, no sudden tense changes or characters introduced once, never to be seen again. Characters’ reactions make sense and the story is well-paced. The descriptions let th…”
November WoodRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(5)

DuamnalzohgRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
[This is a review I had made at Book 2 of the first version/draft of this story]
First review for me (and English is not my first language so please excuse my mistakes) but the story has been so good so far that I felt it was a shame that it wasn't being read and enjoyed by more readers ...
It's really engaging to read about a main character (Olivia) who sounds and acts in a very human way with her own issues, priorities (her dogs, obviously) and logic (like not trusting the weird words that suddenly appears in her head, which sounds fair for someone who's not used to video games and such). It gives depth to the story and makes it easier to relate to her.
So far, the environment has been mostly realistic (as in, the story happens in our world, in the US) but it's gradually changing thanks to the appearance of rifts to other worlds and the subsequent increase in mana level. As Olivia reacted very quickly to this change, she got chosen to participate to a "tutorial" with other quick-to-act people. That (and finally reading the system messages) gave her the opportunity to learn more about the classes, the rifts, etc, and get a bit of a head start compared to the rest of the population.
The story is well structured and the writing style is great, so I hope you'll give it a try !
November WoodRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Why aren’t you reading this story yet? The author writes like a professional. No rambling, no sudden tense changes or characters introduced once, never to be seen again. Characters’ reactions make sense and the story is well-paced. The descriptions let the reader visualize the settings without trying to impress us with their vocabulary. It’s just good. I am strongly considering breaking my own budgeting rules to buy the epubs for this book and the sequel. Because I will want to re-read this.
RadthorDaxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
[Reposting my review from the earlier draft of this novel]
Love puppers? Like System Apocalypse? You'll probably like this story too!
It's very well written, has perfect grammar, and introduces a small cast of characters that have full, definite, and distinct personalities.
Olivia is far from perfect - a train wreck, in her own words - and that just makes her all the more real. She's no machine making the optimal move at every turn, and it's a refreshingly human trait. She forgets things in the moment, from stress or simple forgetfulness, makes reckless decisions, and her lifelong struggle with her mental health makes some things more of a challenge, but in a few others has equipped her with tools and techniques to help her cope. Will we ever find out how many levels she has in the Dissociation skill? Only time will tell.
The growing level of communication with her canine companions is well done, and novel take on the ability. One focused more on interpreting and intuiting the way dogs communicate rather than the crutch of "dog can magically speak english now" that many other fictions resort to.
The multiverse structure and system itself is well thought out, along with actual believable reasons for its arrival, with interesting modes and methods of interaction.
My only complaint is that there isn't already more to read!
Steven W WhitfieldRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The MC is a person whom has been dealing with the mental health care system of Florida for her whole life. At least she knows the words to describe her mental state when encountering reality breaking situation. People throwing fire, goblins, words floating in the air, fun things like that.
She has a good heart and loves her dogs, what more can you ask.
salientmindRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's like apocalypse parenting for dog moms in all the best ways.
The main character feels like a real person, reacts like a real person and struggles to overcome her own fears and flaws. The wins feel earned.
The dogs are great characters while still feeling like dogs, and BEAR is best girl.