Void Runner (Sci-Fi Survival Adventure)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Janus Invarian spent twelve years scraping out an existence in Survivor’s Refuge.

He swallowed his pride andkept his family safe, no matter what. But a good man canonly keep his head down for so long.

After accepting the role of Aspirant, Janus is given a chance tocompete in a brutal raceacross theairless, irradiated wastes. A race that couldchange everythingfor him, and his family.

Janus will need touse his witsif he wants tolive to see the finish line. Because the odds arenot in his favor, and the competition isruthless.

With everyone depending on him,failure is not an option. Janus needs to do more than survive,he needs to win.

*Updates Monday, Wednesday, Friday*

What to expect:

Weak to Strong MC, Sci-fi Survival, Team Building, Lost Tech, Clever Villains, Loyal Companions, Space Monsters

Information

Status
Hiatus
Year
2023
Author
DBodden

Tags

ACTIONADVENTURESCI-FIMALE LEADCYBERPUNKSTRATEGYHARD SCI-FI

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.5/ 5.0
Followers
842
Views
388,323

Chapters(174 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

  • GrandpaRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Lovely story that got me hooked. Good world building excellent character and it doesn't get bogged down. I can see this being a published novel in the years to come.
    We need more stories in this genre. A little bit more descriptors on the biomes/communities would be lovely. Maybe a more drawn out descriptor for some items because unless I'm mistaken I'm seeing a lot of sand in my mind's eye. Good background story with the avenues for expansion if you decide to progress more with the story.
    Good politics and foreboding. Hopefully it doesn't fall flat. Its still early in the story . Based on what I think is going on in the story.
    Friction is good between characters. I can almost imagine myself there with them. Certain technological elements are odd based on the situation in world barring external influence. Or plot devices.
    Certain situations could have been given more space in the story. Like the introduction of the MC into his role or his friends more introduced his family etc. A relatable MC regardless.
    Assuming world history will be created as and when the story continues with exposition on what is happening in the background with sol 3 and the expansion.
    Regardless I'm looking forward to seeing what you accomplish.
  • KittyJinglesRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    If you liked The Martian, you'll like this hard sci-fi science all the problems adventure. It takes some time to get there, but if you like realistic portrayals of space life, it's a thoughtful look into dome life.
    The characters and world building are great. Janus is careful and hard working and the cast feels real. No one is annoying or flat. There are side characters that show the society without dumping exposition and slowing things down. They go into the sociology of it with problems in Janus's work or character interactions so you see it. Life in the space station setting is believable.
    It feels a bit more like a trad pub book than a RR serial, it's not exactly a dopamine hit parade. No sexy aliens or laser gun litRPG leveling. So far there's some class conflict and family drama, but no crazy tech or space battles or power struggle. It's well thought out hard sci-fi, we're talking waste heat and sewage and a guy just trying to live in the harsh realities of space
    Style wise it's well written with strong prose. There's some really great dialogue and the dramatic speeches really are dramatic. My main complaint is that there's not enough hints of future payoff policy in earlier scenes (I promise the Triliths are not rabbit sized)
    The grammar is excellent. Not must to say there
    There's no lazy YA cartoonishly evil adults in charge trying sort people in boxes
  • NitrowingRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I have just devoured this! A fantastic story and very well written. No part of it felt like filler/padding, just flowed well and very engaging. I'm surprised I never stumbled across this but so happy I did. The expansion from drudgery to planetary is done perfectly. I'll definitely being following the rest of the story...
  • Rupert GilesRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    At Chapter 13 of Book 2
    I started as enthralled and am now more highly interested. Why? A couple of reasons…. See below
    I binged the entire of Book 1 in 72 hours.The beginning of Book 2 felt a little disjointed from the end of Book 1 and I appreciate I’ve got a while to go but it’s just starting to feel a little too similar in story arc.
    The style of this writing is some of the best I have read here on RR - the pacing, character development and interactions are really detailed and believable and the author (s) keep you the reader fully engaged.
    Characters are reasonably deep in construct but I would like a little more explanation of the world context - just occasionally it feels just a little too much “just because that’s the way the mysterious xxxxx has always been “ - my OCD wants to know why something happens - but that’s just me.
    At the time of writing (B2Chp13) there are a few story arcs from Book 1 that haven’t been touched and are frustrating - but that’s a personal thing - I like all my story characters to be updated in parallel.
    Grammar is excellent and makes the read very enjoyable.
  • WoodchipRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    A gritty, down to earth survival story with some light adventure elements The author knows how to demonstrate character and atmosphere even with just a few sentences to work with. Like the title says, it really did remind me of what a certain video game was supposed to feel like, and more importantly, I didn't have to pay 80 bucks for it. Looking forward to more reveals about the behind-the-scenes story! Give it a shot!
  • JohnKretchRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Well written, well delivered, fun to read, thoughly pleasurable little gem.
    Sci-fi but not too hard, not too soft either.
    Let's see how it will develop but so far the things are good.
    Some of the plot devises are a little bit on the predictable side but nothing really bad.
  • Samuel J SmithRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    It's easy to "see" the world the author weaves for us. Vivid and gritty. I'm getting touches of 40k with some Martian mixed into the pot. I'm already invested in the characters, and there is a fair amount of mystery being built around this tech cult. Humanities worst is used to bring out a point.
  • McKleivenRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    a thought-provoking and engaging science fiction that takes the reader to a post-apocalyptic world. The author creates a realistic and dystopian future society where humanity has destroyed itself through war and conflict. The story takes us on a journey through chaos and despair, but also hope and resistance. The characters are well developed and gripping, and the reader quickly becomes attached to their fates. The book explores themes such as human nature, survival and togetherness in an in-depth way. the story is a thought-provoking and exciting read for anyone interested in dystopian stories and challenging themes.
  • JielharRoyal Road
    ★★★ 3.0
    Void Runner is at its best when the main character is solving engineering problems. It treats its subject matter with respect and care.
    Void Runner is at its worst when dealing with any kind of social interaction. The MC is a misunderstood saint who never does anything wrong and is nice and smart and hardworking and anything bad that ever happens to him is never his fault, it's always because of social discrimination; there's very little nuance, and characterization feels forced and clumsy. The dialogue is on-the-nose and predictable.
    If you want to read some engineering porn, Void Runner is for you. If you want the typical trappings of a good story, with good characters, dialogue, worldbuilding and plot, look elsewhere.
  • MozgovedRoyal Road
    ★★★ 3.0
    Ok, here we have some hard sci-fi. The premise is a barren alien world with very slim atmosphere and humans live in pressurised settlements, each acting as a city-state with no centralised government. The techlevel is low-tech lost-tech. I.e. lots of advanced tech like space ships is completely lost. And nobody knows why are humans living here on the first place.
    And we have some hunger games style planet tours run for the fun of it by some crazy tech cult, probably really in charge of all the humans.
    The story is fun until the hunger games trials start being absolute nonsense about politicking and some strange power play where it is absolutely unwarranted for by the context. I.e. they come to some trade outpost and they play some bullshit theatrics to impress the locals instead of just buying their stuff and moving on. And this bullshit just piles on and on making a great story of sci-fi apocaliptics on a barren world into a shitshow of political theatrics and psychological warfare with barbarians.
    The suspense of disbelief and lost potential is really killing the reading potential of an otherwise great premise.
    3 stats for now.