What We Do to Survive

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Disclaimer: I am adding this because it seems the tags and other warnings I've included here are not enough for some people. The main character from who's perspective this story is told is an awful person who does horrible, screwed up things to other people. As the story is told from his perspective, many of these things are presented in the way that this character sees them. I do not in any way condone these actions in real life. If you are not comfortable with this, this story is not for you. You have been warned. Please do not leave comments and reviews to this effect.

What do you do when you have nothing left, when everything you’ve ever loved is torn away time and time again until there is nothing left but fear, determination, and ice-cold rage? What do you do when the world is cold and dark and you are a tiny, insignificant speck living on a tiny, insignificant island.

Orion never wanted any of this. Once he might have been happy living out his life as son, brother, husband, father, and perhaps one day, grandfather. Life had other plans for him.Time and time again he was too young, too poor, and too weak.When you have nothing left, when everything you hold dear has been broken and torn away, what is there to lose? If it takes a monster to claw out a future for yourself, than a monster he would become. In a world where power is life, there is nothing Orion would not do to survive

As mentioned above, absolutely horrible, screwed up things can and will happen. Do not read if you are uncomfortable with that sort of content. As the author, I do not agree with, condone the actions, nor share the opinions of many of my characters. I believe that through fiction we can explore worlds and situations that are foreign and horrible.Do notbe inspired by and seek to copy the actions of these characters.

On a similar note, please be advised that the story contains explicit content. If you do not want to read that sort of thing, then this story is not for you.Allthe tags are there for a reason. The story contains explicit depictions of sexual activity, violence, and other NSFW things. To comply with RR policies, certain scenes have also been removed on this platform. Read with caution.

[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: ThatGit

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 1,625
Views: 1,221,038

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

tullsterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Finally, an MC that is willing to do (and actually does) whatever it takes to protect himself and grow stronger.
Would love to see some more concrete progression from the MC, like gaining a new enhancement or learning a new powerful spell.
Great support characters, and it is nice reading from their POV sometimes where we get to see the MC from a different perspective.
Also, some more *scenes*, iykwim, would be nice.
Constantine de BoudoxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I never really understood the popularity of the Harry Potter series and how they could even compete against works of fantasy genre giants such as Martin and Tolkien. Even the concept of a magical academy is at best weird. Why must mages in possession of god-like powers become cogs in a bureaucratic institutional nightmare machine? Those who can have everything are giving up their freedom, and not only that but choose to subject the rarest talents to mediocrity and obedience training we call school, instead of simple apprenticeship which was the go-to mode for most of human history.
Despite my reservations, and annoyance with the trope, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself reading one of the best books on Royal Road. I found well well-developed magical system, almost scientific in its nature. The natural growth of characters and storyline which at no point feels forced or rushed. It is obvious that this novel is meticulously planned and executed. I don't even want to think on how many times each chapter must have been rewritten and tweaked to produce a desired outcome. The best part is the clear window into the emotional world of each character and their outward reflections/consequences.
I don't understand why people are put off by sexual content, harem, abuse, and BDSM elements in the story, everyone has their taste I guess, anyway the novel is clearly marked as such.
To my personal FBI agent: you won't find anything in my basement. I know you are a professional creep but chill...
Darth_WaffleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
After a three day binge it is time for a review, I don't do these often(ever) but this story is that good.
But its 2am and I am tired so hopefully ill come back and edit this with more later.
With such features as a great magic system, a driven but flawed MC that stays interesting actually develops reasonably, and several long and short term threats that drive the story forward (at an admittedly slow pace)
Aside from some inconsistencies in the earlier chapters I have nothing to complain about.
Karl NordRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Dead dove story. The horror is horrifying. Please take the warning seriously. The story is driven (in large part) by extreme psychological and sexual violence. If you are not interested in that then please don’t open the bag. That said, I’d say the story leans more towards horror than perversion—the violence is taken seriously as violence—the violence isn’t handwaved.
Arbitrary point system
+2: The humour between the MC being oblivious about how scary he is, and trying to be nice to Miranda (or another side character). This makes it into almost a workplace comedy which contrasts really well with the dead dove elements. It reminds me of Overlord.
+2: Magicians feel really badass in this universe. The headmaster is terrifying. The horror elements do an excellent job of making the world come to life. Contrast is king.
+2: General worldbuilding is excellent. It is also generally shown. (E.x., The random fights between students are really fun; his first trip outside with Liam is really fun;) The brutal nature of the magical high school being a dog eat dog world is pretty original. The fact that it is a “Howl’s Moving Castle” is also awesome.
-3: An over-reliance on oaths to force people to act certain ways. This just removes natural agency from their characters. Slave collars are boring. It turns the dead doves just into props, which is boring. Obviously Miranda is the exception here, as her side POVs are excellent: Miranda’s resistance is what makes it interesting. Magical compulsion should be external to accomplish the internal. The internal nature of people should be free to express itself through magic. The beauty is in the struggle, not the subjugation. (E.x., Rhea converts to a torturer too quick, and the ritual does too much to change her personality IMO.) (E.x., The second years who lack personality after the ritual.) (E.x., The warbringer heir just feels like a repetition of arc 1. Her arc felt unnecessary.)
+1: As the story goes on, you can tell the characters
Normal7615Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm writing this review cause I believe I owe this at the very least to the author. I love the writing style, it flows very smoothly. The grammar is also on point.
The story is dark; it's not hidden how cut throat the world is and I love that. The mc's is a complex character and his complexity makes him interesting. I hope that we will get to see more of the world the author has built soon
Saher AssiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
i rate novel in terms of did i enjoy reading it or not . and this definitely deserve 5 star for an original.
Mc earn everything through his own strength and efforts, that what I like most about this novel, I was tired of author giving some type of cheats to an ex life wimp mc and he started acting all arrogant because of mercy of who knows some God like entity. And also author true to his own word mc is not antihero but a villain.
I will not spoil anything and sincerely hope that you pick this novel up and read it and watch as all the puzzle pieces fall together as the story goes on. I hope you read and find yourself asking questions about the story and predict what may happen only to be right or often completely thrown off just as I was.
TNTeadybearsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I enjoyed this book a lot. Definitely a different take on the wizard academy trope. Only weird thing noticed was how his mentality kept flipping. He kept doing bad stuff, feeling and about it and then going back to doing bad stuff without feeling bad about it.Excited to see more in the future.
hawkeye7513Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Not for prudes! And Not for those who dislike male dominance, objectification of women, and other fetishes. (Mind control, slavery, lactation, etc)
If your okay with the above, What We Do to Survive is a surprisingly lighthearted coming of age story about a boy being corrupted by the most dangerous EVIL magic school.
theguynextdoorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
If you asked me 2 years ago whether it's worth reading this, I'd say yes ofc. Depends on whether or not you're into more darker stories with a not so morally good protagonist. I really like it. Imho it's one of my favorite stories on the site too.
The issue is the frequency of chapters. We're talking months on end between chapters that aren't thaaat long. Even worse, the story feels like it's still in the earlier stages. If it ever ends at this rate (which it won't) it's a guarantee for it to be rushed and straight up disappointing.
Apparently the author is writing several stories at once, which is cool but as we can see here isn't efficient. The author might have their own reasons for doing so but don't expect this story to ever be finished.
theodiciesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is definitely not for the faint of heart. The tags are quite accurate. However, the storytelling is fantastic. The MC doesn't wring his hands, constantly stressing over every decision or moral dilemma. He doesn't always make the right choices, but he is decisive. The mental gymnastics the MC goes through to stay true to the memory of his parents while surviving Avalon are incredible. I am eagerly awaiting the next chapters.