Ward of the White Worm

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Olli always wanted to run away from her home. With negligent parents and apathetic schoolmates, she spent her days plotting ways to run away to somewhere else. Finally on a dark cold night, she packs her bag with granola bars, scrounged up quarters and dimes, and some water bottles to find her Somewhere Else.

From beyond the suburban world and the concrete walks, something listened.

Now Olli got her wish to be Somewhere Else, a strange world stratified by class and blood, where the steam-and-bone powered gears of industrialization continues and the forest's darkness hides capricious beings.. and above all are ever watching Distant Gods.

A partial epistolary tale.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: VVerity

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 11
Views: 13,676

Chapters(56 total)

What readers say about Ward of the White Worm

“Style:The prose and style of writing places the book in a sort of Victorian setting. It is fluent,immersive,but most of all, itis extremely detailed and descriptive. The chapters are quite short, which is a personal favorite, bit the amount of visual detail…”
Jordan Elias R.Royal Road5.0 / 5
“Style: So the overall style of the author's writing is good, it is descriptive and paints the picture for the audience. Expect visual details that the author uses to set the table for the setting along with meaning behind each action. The only reason I woul…”
simplyleoRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(4)

Jordan Elias R.Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style:The prose and style of writing places the book in a sort of Victorian setting. It is fluent,immersive,but most of all, itis extremely detailed and descriptive. The chapters are quite short, which is a personal favorite, bit the amount of visual detail packed into it is really amazing.
I would say this is one of the stories strongest points so far, i—it's really amazing. The world building is great and we'll executed.
Story: The concept of the story is both strange and intriguing, following the fate of Olivia, as she maneuvers herself in a new world.
The author uses dialogue as a form of exposition, and from the start, it's obvious that the author has a firm grasp on the direction of their story, and has established it with intrigue right from the start.
Grammar: honestly, no faults. In my opinion, prose is clean and that shows how much effort the author has put into editing and proofreading.
Character: Olivia is a quiet girl who is still confused about the situation she has found herself which is understandable. The character dynamics are well written and their dialogues are relatable.
Overall, the book is quite interesting, and I definitely want to see where fate takes our young MC.
simplyleoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style:
So the overall style of the author's writing is good, it is descriptive and paints the picture for the audience. Expect visual details that the author uses to set the table for the setting along with meaning behind each action.
The only reason I would give it 4.5/5 is because of the consistency in the chapters lengths. It's important for those reading the story to properly settle into the chapter and consistent chapter lengths help that. Also some of the chapters do feel a bit too short.
Story:
The story writing is great it's easy to follow and flows very well. You mainly discover the elements of the story through the MC's interactions with the other characters, and the setting reminds me of a grimdark steampunk world. As of Chapter 8 I can say that it is executed well and there are no plot holes or anything that would lead you astray.
What's important is how everything connects together as most of what we know is pieces of lore in the world and part of the fun in this story is understanding through Olli how she fits into the puzzle.
As for the genres attached to the story, I would say to not look too deeply into it right at the start. Because the chapters are fairly short in some cases these genres such as "Magic", "Adventure", and "Slice Of Life" will most likely play a part later on in the story.
Grammar:
No issues with grammar so far, it reads well and there's nothing that I've seen that hurts the delivery of the story at first glance.
Character:
I would say the character dynamics is well written. You can see this through the interactions with the Olli (MC) and Theodore. I feel like it'll take more time before we learn of the motives behind the character's actions but with how they've been developed so far I would say it's good.
What I would like to see is more depth with the characters and essence that makes us understand the actions between them.
Overall:
I like it, I would recommend those who like bulk reading to save it for when a larger portion of th
Catnip FortywinksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The first chapter is really easy to understand and comprehend. I can quickly understand what's going on, but it's not until the next chapters that we get to the main selling point of the story. Chapters 1 and 2 could be fused together without any problem, though.
STYLE
The writing of the story is very descriptive. I can't help but notice the amount of visual details as the author introduces its settings. It aids in guiding the reader's imagination, not limiting it. I am personally a visual person, and I can assure you the details of the story are easy to imagine. That itself correctly sets the story's mood in your mind.
The vocabulary is also great, something I hope to have more of myself. The word choice tickles my fancy and it also contributes to the story's overall mood. The diversity of words doesn't affect the story's clarity.
GRAMMAR
It's a given. The author is very proficient.
STORY
The beauty of the story lies in how quickly the main parts of the world are established. Perhaps it also has something to do with the word count. The author successfully creates an established world in less than seven chapters. The use of conversation as a form of exposition is present and is overall a great way to explain more about what's going on Somewhere Else.
This sentence sums up Chapters 1 to 7 as follows:
"Harshly confuse the MC, then drop the lore!"
The story's plot points are present and well-executed. There's a clear timeline of what is going on and it is not confusing to read. Although where it currently is is not my cup of tea, I can see a lot of people enjoying the story. Though with the constant progression of the plot, I still can't see where the slice-of-life theme fits in.
CHARACTERS
The main character is amazing. She captures the essence of a person her age; her attitude and her mindset are really well done.
The other characters, including Theodore (or Earl), are also written well, having captured the feel of 'ye olden times perfectly. How the
MrNobodyisHome (E. Anderson)Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Grab your niftiest top hat, your best tailcoat, and your shiniest shoes; we're heading to Somewhere Else.
STYLE
Authors like this make me excited to write these sections of a review. They know what they're doing. They have their own voice and this strange, archaic choice of words and way of stringing together sentences that work so perfectly for this story's theme. It's all in 3rd person (my favorite) with the occasional switch of POV and bizarre intermission chapters that help construct this maddening world our MC has fallen into, but more on that later.
GRAMMAR
Another perfect score. It almost feels like it was edited by a professional. Wouldn't be surprised to learn as so.
CHARACTER
The only character of note that I can pull out of my brain so far is the MC, Olli, who is, for the most part, a typical teenager and serves as our eyes for this steampunk domain. She's just as confused as we are, and that's okay. I haven't really got a feel of the other characters yet, but I feel as though this is one of those stories where if you keep reading you'll fall in love with them. So, these four stars come from "feeling".
STORY
Olli's ran away from home. The plan was to go far and start anew... maybe to like another city and she ends up in a whole different dimension!
Her new world is old and scary, weird but interesting. Luckily, she isn't left out on the streets of this place. She is housed, fed and... where am I going with this? That's probably how you'll feel reading it!
But trust me, it is way more interesting than this God-awful review. Each chapter is a beautiful collection of words that slowly peels off a layer of this onion of mystery one at a time, and it is a joy seeing more of it unravel.
It's good stuff! Give it a go!