To Conquer The Stars

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Death was supposed to be the end. For Mark Shepherd, it was just the beginning.

Run down on Earth, Mark wakes to the screaming alarms of a starship crashing onto a desolate world. Stranded on the fringes of mapped space, his only lifeline is the dying wisdom of an ancient alien ship builder.

To survive, Mark must master the art of Starship Engineering, forging everything from intricate fusion reactors to cold warship hulls. But escaping a dead planet is only the first step in his journey. The broader galaxy is unforgiving, run by cutthroat corporations, pirates, and corrupt empires.

When Mark forms an unlikely family, his rising technological brilliance paints a target on his back. Greedy factions want his skills enslaved or destroyed. In a universe where freedom is enforced with railguns, a quiet life is a death sentence.

To protect his own, Mark must build, expand, and rise from the unknown to challenge the titans of the galaxy. But such a task is easier said than done.

He didn't ask for this second life, but he will seize it. To survive is human. But to conquer? Well, that's just destiny.

***

What to Expect:

- 1 Chapter Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays

- Initial Chapters are 2500-4000 words

- As the story progresses, the Chapters shift to 3500-6000+ words

- Slow Burn

- Slice of Life

- An MC that doesn't let things slide

- Primary focus in Technology and Exploration, but Action will become more frequent as time passes

- A more "grounded" sci-fi experience that will slowly loosen its chains

- Army building, duh (Not as of yet)

Advanced Chapters on my Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/cw/Crimson_Reapr

This novel is also available on Webnovel, Wattpad, and Scribble Hub (Under the Handle of Ghostly_Immortal)

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Crimson_Reapr

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 260
Views: 71,480

Chapters(89 total)

What readers say about To Conquer The Stars

“Book Review - 5/5 Stars I couldn't put this down! From the very first page, the author grabs you and doesn't let go. The protagonist is exactly the kind of character you want to root for - flawed enough to be relatable but competent enough to keep you inves…”
James KriegerRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“There's a certain sense of subversion of tropes that happens from time to time in this story. Something you expect to happen, but then it goes off in a different direction. I say that as a good thing as I am very familiar with the military sci-fi genre and…”
Rasc117Royal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

James KriegerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Book Review - 5/5 Stars
I couldn't put this down! From the very first page, the author grabs you and doesn't let go. The protagonist is exactly the kind of character you want to root for - flawed enough to be relatable but competent enough to keep you invested. Every time I thought I knew where the story was going, it threw another curveball that had me frantically turning pages.
The world-building is phenomenal. You get just enough detail to feel immersed without getting bogged down in exposition. The magic system makes sense and has real consequences, which keeps the stakes high throughout. The author clearly put thought into how everything fits together, and it shows.
The action scenes are incredibly well-written. You can visualize every move, every close call, every desperate moment. But it's not all fighting - the quieter character moments hit just as hard. The relationships feel genuine, and when characters are in danger, you actually care what happens to them.
The pacing is perfect. There's no filler, no dragging middle section. Every chapter serves a purpose and drives the story forward. The ending is satisfying while still leaving me desperate for the next book.
If you're looking for your next addiction, this is it. Clear your schedule before starting because you won't want to stop.
Rasc117Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There's a certain sense of subversion of tropes that happens from time to time in this story. Something you expect to happen, but then it goes off in a different direction. I say that as a good thing as I am very familiar with the military sci-fi genre and yet it feels like I'm reading a brand new script for the first time in a while.
As for the MC, he can be a flawed human, just like any, but man, does he learn fast from his mistakes. There was a short time where it felt like he was what he was described as, a giant brute, but he suprised me by playing the long game and beating his foe after playing passively all along and only acting when the right time comes. Which brings me to my next point, he feels like he is his own character in a story, rather than the usual author's self-insert. He can feel like a mystery sometimes, like his own person that had a life before this and that the author doesn't always tell us everything, but actually shows it us, a great example of 'show, don't tell'.
Pacing wise, it seems slow for now, but I think it would speed up a bit, then slow down again, and so on, like back and forth. Kinda like a company having periods of fast growth then slowing down to consolidate, which is very immersive as that fits the story.
I don't see any problems with grammar. I'm sure there were some errors during book one, but it seems that has all been fixed. By the time of book two, grammar issues are effectively gone, even among new chapters.
In the almost three years I've had this account, I think this is the first time a story that I think is worth it to try to make a written review since I assumed it would be hard to do properly and yeah, it took me an hour to write one page worth of words.
RevonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story grabbed me by the jiblets from the excellent balance between crafting, combat and worldbuilding to the well written emotional scenes that made it a misty day. It didn't let go until I got caught up.
Style: Solid and steady writing style nothing feels forced.
Story: The overall story feels consistent with enough details to make it living breathing universe
Grammar: Not been a issue and when there have been minor errors it gets fixed fast.
Characters: Main cast is written with enough depth to make you feel for them. Minor chars are unique in there little details, that they are easy to remember.
Overall the story was a nice reading experience that kept me as a reader engaged and hooked from the very first chapter until I got caught up to the most recent posting. There were plenty of scenes that made me giggle in real life and other scenes that hit me right in the feels. The entire thing feels like a well balanced story with plenty of opportunities to make a long running series. For anyone that likes reading scifi stories, I would thoroughly recommend giving this one a try. You will not be left disappointed.
Scorpion9827Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
One of my favorite books in the genre. I love the starship building, love the technical talk and the descriptions on the designing abd building of the ships and weapons.The relationships are great and compelling. The author does a good job of making you care for the characters and what happens to them.
SiletRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story doesn't have much new things going for it in terms is sci-fi, and that makes it pretty safe. But the safety doesn’t mean boring. This story is anything but boring, the setting is solid and feels ‘lived-in’ while the characters feel alive and breathing. I just finished book 1 and I’m itching for more.
If you want a good sci-fi story about a guy figuring his way around a futuristic world like you are, then this is the story for you!
CausalReaDer_03Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I created this account a few months ago after some issues with WebNovel and I caused me to flee to the hills. But that's another story for another time. Anyways, this was one of the first novel's I ran into, along with BSE, when I created this account. I finally fully caught up to it and got to pick this one up, and let me tell you, oh boy it hooks you. BSE and TCTS are like 2 sides of the same coin in the fact that they have main characters that don't take sh*t, both play on your emotional strings, and the MCs aren't complete idiots. Of course, pairing this up to BSE is not fair to either novel, but its to give a sense of how addictive this is.
The only thing the author could work on is the grammatical errors every now and then, but aside from that, a great story with great potential. Just not a big fan of the learning chapters, they kind of drag on, but they aren't many and they kind of work to setting up Mark's journey. I just dont like chapters that feel like info dumps, its a personal grievance of mine.
But as I said, fun and addictive read, 10/10, woukd recommend.