To Catch A Sorcerer

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The king wants every sorcerer dead. And he thinks Gray is one of them.

The king of Lismere doesn't ask. He orders. And what he wants, he gets.

His latest decree? Exterminate every sorcerer bloodline.

Which is a huge problem for Gray, because the king’s right-hand man is convinced Gray’s the long-lost son of Lismere’s most notorious sorcerer.

If that wasn’t bad enough, someone -something- is stalking Gray’s hometown. People are dying. The local mages are vanishing.

And Gray? He’s stuck as a prisoner under the cruel eye of the king’s right-hand man.

Gray can’t protect anyone while he’s waiting to be dragged before the king and executed.

If he wants to survive, Gray has to outwit the king’s enforcers, endure politics and betrayals, and uncover dangerous truths lurking behind every turn ... even if it means facing what he fears most about himself.

Only posting on Royalroad - if you're reading this somewhere else, it's without the author's permission.

Some slow burn progression, but it's real slow. There's no levelling up for the MC until well into the story.

There's some darker themes and elements. While the protagonist is a teen, if this was a movie, I'd rate it at least MA. And there's a lot of cussing.

What to expect:

- flawed teen MC

- found family

- chosen one trope

- no early OP moments

- very dark in places

- jokes thrown in occasionally, to lighten the grit

- lone wolf and cub trope (but super slow-burn)

- everything's pretty slow-burn, tbh

- character-driven

- background romance but it's minor

Posts are sporadic - no setschedule rn.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Fur Goblin

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 233
Views: 108,355

Chapters(132 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(3)

CollusiveDreamerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What a fantastic fantasy romp his has been so far! Efficient characterization and snappy style, this hooked me from GO and kept yanking me around every time I thought I was catching up. To so quickly and painlessly introduce such a large and colorful cast without overwhelming the reader is a feat unto itself. Atop that, Fur manages to keep me engaged by ensuring I only have the information that Grey has, so I feel enthralled and lost, without actually getting lost in the plot.
It seems impossible to round out side characters this well in such little time, but every person in this story has felt like a person and if you read a lot on this site then you know how many struggle with that. Fur doesn’t just not struggle, he excels. Everyone Grey knows and meets is introduced to us through Grey’s relationship with them, but Fur manages to show us just how much more there is to them, and get us to start guessing the ways Grey might be wrong about them, without writing a whole damn thesis about it.
Mild character discussion in spoiler, no major story or plot points.
As long as we’re talking about Grey, how incredible to find a fantasy that is not afraid to allow our eyes and ears within this world to genuinely be a nobody for a little while. Grey isn’t just poor and a dishwasher, he’s a loser who actually loses and is allowed to, he gets cocky and screws up an exam, sometimes he manages to deceive people, sometimes he’s caught lying red handed, and he doesn’t have the time to juggle 5 people’s expectations of him. He shows us everything likable about him while also being ignored by every girl to ever exist. He doesn’t love anyone without complexity and doesn’t hate anyone without nuance, because he’s not a flat copy-paste from a 90s anime.
And it’s not just his circumstances, but the story itself and our access to information is treating Grey like a loser. We might get a hint that Grey is being blamed for something, or that there is a conspiracy afoot, but we get to be as fl
KittyJinglesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
FYI missing a Tragedy tag, def not a light hearted fun story. As advertised it's slow progression, eleven chapters in and no powers, but definitely hints the MC is sensitive to magic and has hidden potential. Also it's very easy reading, the writer makes the dialogue and world building very familiar and readable. Totally read this if you like: Down on their luck orphan types with hidden scars and watching them struggle, Teens that want to get out of this place working sucky restaurant/tutoring jobs or their issues with single parents, hopes of learning alchemy to try to get away to college, World that has kind of a love hate relationship with mages.
It's a mystery if it's a suicide, but definitely the person's dead and it's a shock. I thought with the title and the YA friends it would be like a crime caper or where the kids have to catch a sorcerer or prove their teacher is the criminal. The tragedy tag would probably help signal the mildly depressing mildly anxious tone of the story
Reader1606Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Oh I love writing in this story, love reading all the ideas whirling in characters heads. Really good understanding of emotions too.
Mc is very stubborn and will do lot of things out spite. Kinda naive too, but it's fun reading him jabbing himself in his head every time after he does something stupid. There are insane situations and I can't guess plot twists at all, I'm just reading chapters on my tippy toes.
One bad side if you consider it is, skills development pretty much remains in background (because they don't even have time for that?!) and character development is main focus. Because of all the shit happening all the time. Also lot of the characters are pretty bitchy, which is one more reason to love story.