Tides from the Deep

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Readers can expect:Hawaiian/Polynesian setting, Islands with Dungeons, deep lore and mysteries about the world.

This story is aboutTalia, the heir of the greatest hero to ever live, who is born with cursed marks on her wrists but still tries to become the greatest hero and the strongest hydromancer despite not being able to access hydromancy at first and only being able to level it through blood magic.

Synopsis:

Talia wanted to be a hero.

Kill Abyssal Creatures to level up, help the needy, and one day defeat the Kraken.

But fate dealt her a heavy hand. Without Hydromancy, there's only one path open to her: blood magic.

Will her unique blood magic allow her to become the next Kraken Slayer, or will it turn her into a monster?

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Maeve McCarthy

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.1/ 5.0
Followers: 2,144
Views: 455,057

Reviews

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Community Reviews(8)

slow2readRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I think this story is off to a really good start. It has very interesting world building. The setting of an island village and a water world is quite interesting. The magic system also seems interesting. I do not think i have read any books about hydromancy before and it seems interesting. The author's storytelling is really good.
I look forward to reading where this story goes.
Cheescake99Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
One of the best Books i’ve ever read so far.
Excellent Worldbuilding
Very Promising Magic System
Strong but not overpowered Mc
Interesting Side Characters wich breaks the standard stereotypes
Mysterious without it being to complicated
Overall very promising book would love to read more of it but I got to wait 10/10
David BatemanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Frankly, after 9 chapters it’s still hard to know if this is a story I’m going to like. Which is why I wouldn’t normally give an early review like this. However, I liked Maeve’s previous work and I see that potentially this might be a fun read.
The story itself is relatively standard litrpg. The characters have motivations for their actions and are likeable. Though the main motivation of Talia, the principal character, seems to be anger due to her treatment. Combining that with powers that are perceived as evil, and she seems likely to end up the villain. Not sure this is where Maeve wants the story to go, so I hope we get somewhere down the line other motivational factors for Talia’s choices
I liked what I read up to here, though I’ll probably come back and rework this review after more chapters come out
RajiroRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I am a huge fan of authors building their worlds from anything that's not Eurocentric fantasy or cut-and-paste Xianxia. Maeve does a wonderful job so far of painting a world that incorporates Indopacific cultures into a novel power system. It's difficult to break from the formula, and I appreciate the attempt.
Similarly to the author's last work, the story really carries a tangible emotional weight. This is not a Mary Sue story book full of sunshine; there is struggle, there is pain, and there is hope thrown somewhere in that mix. We aren't quite at grimdark levels of sadism, but difficulty and overcoming obstacles is a core element of the story so far. Additionally, there are juicy pieces of mystery going on in the background. We've got some unanswered questions that I truly am looking forward to getting the answers to.
Tides From The Deep has a well-balanced pacing between world-building and action that keeps me engaged. Fans of mystery, character growth, and more realistic/punishing character development would greatly enjoy this ocean adventure.
Please keep publishing this story. I'd very much enjoy finishing it.
brrrcoldRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
There’s immense promise but the author is making characters deliberately stupid for plot reasons. The MC is a complex character who’s dealt with abuse and humiliation. Then suddenly because an arrogant young master against a bitter old elder which leads to an artificially high stakes duel.
Another character started off rocky but through a life and death situation earned trust. Ok time to dump it in the trash for deliberate miscommunication to create bitterness. There are a few other instances such as MC suddenly trusting another student after being flattered after a single day.
The world and premise is amazing, flawed female MC in a Polynesian inspired fantasy world. Fresh and grabbing. But the recent lazy writing and mischaracterization is obnoxious. Dropped from an easy 5 stars to 3.5/4.
General PeacefulRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
I'll start by saying I genuinely enjoy reading this story - the plot is interesting, the characters all feel unique and dynamic, and the setting is unlike any other story I've read.
The caveats here are significant though, which I'll expand on in the individual scores.
Style
Pretty standard for RR, written 3rd person except in dialogue. Almost every moment is spent on things that advance the plot in some way, though some sections that don't flesh out characters more or seem contrived to add drama - necessary or otherwise.
Story/Plot
A mix of high-school drama and fast-paced action with sections of intrigue in between. Thinking My Hero Academia in terms of story beats should give you an idea of the style of story, if you've watched it. Where it differs is that whilst there is a Big Bad that needs slaying, the number of actors and groups/organisations makes this often seem secondary to survival and beating a path through the webs of power and deceit around them. All of this really makes the world feel real and the setting of a sprawling archipelago is unique.
Characters
As mentioned in my summary, all the characters feel unique and driven, and the web of mysteries around the world as it's known in-world gives plenty of room for character growth as secrets are uncovered and lies corrected.
The 3⭐ score is due to some of the characters' traits, typically in the displayed mentality/maturity.
- In early chapters it's revealed that most young adults, at 16, take a test to join the Water Riders, the foremost organisation in public service of containing dungeons, culling monsters and doling out justice where a higher power is required. This implies that 16 is where the demarcation between child and adult lies for the world, and you'd expect that given this and the difficulties of survival for those without magic of some description, that children would have a fairly advanced level of maturity by that point. MC Talia consistently and to a lesser extent SC Fiora demonstrate a
AlcatrazIsland5Royal Road
★★★ 2.5
I have never read a story this well written where I disliked the main character. She's arrogant to a fault, obtuse, and a fucking brat. She's a terrible friend and at the same time thinks that because her mother was such a a big deal that everyone should immediately like her and want to be her friend. She also immediately falls for every provocation or challenge and thinks that because she's the daughter of the previous Kraken Slayer that she should be perfect and good at everything she does even if she's never done it before and so she doesn't put any effort into trying different approaches other than brute forcing her problems and then just giving up once she fails for the first time. She's also just dumb and doesn't think anything through. Like of course you can't summon a water board your primary mana channel is less than level 1 when the minimum is level 2, and it literally says it's dormant in your status screen! Just an annoying person with no identity of their own desperately holding onto the image of the mother she's never known and using it to inflate her own sad ego. She desperately needs a reality check. The author should just scrap this whole thing and rewrite it with an actual likable, interesting MC.
sleepy gender fluidRoyal Road
★ 1.0
The grammar gets worse with every chapter. There are large sections that are double copy pasted and the combination of immaculate spelling while mixing up characters and using disjointed sentences makes me suspect use of AI or aggressive use of a correction tool. It's sacrificing quality for speed, and it just gets harder to read every chapter.