What Will Be | Book 2: The Fifth Stage [Book 1 Complete]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Book 1: Perseverance

Death is the end. At least, it should be. When Will is ripped from the life he has and the woman he loves, the last thing he expects is to be reborn as a baby with his memories intact. In a world where magic makes the impossible a reality, how much of his new life is Will prepared to sacrifice for the chance to reclaim what he lost?

Book 2: The Fifth Stage

Regrets have a way of weighing someone down. With his hometown behind him, catastrophe on the horizon, and the dangers off adolescence hounding his every step, Will has some hard truths to confront if he is going to survive long enough for his ambitions to matter. Can Will find the strength to face them? Will he still be the same person if he does?

For fans of Reincarnation, Progression Fantasy, LitRPG, and character-driven stories.

Releases Scheduled for Tuesday and Friday AEDT

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Until otherwise noted, this work will only be available on RoyalRoad or my Patreon. If you see this work published elsewhere, it is not with my consent.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Googieman

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 3,816
Views: 1,538,061

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

FgalbRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The author has clearly planned out what he wants to do with this story and fleshes out characters well. Actions follow motives and humour is well applied. The magic/system structure is starting to be shown and I'm interested in seeing how that fleshes out. Early days yet but I'm excited to see how the story progresses
CragenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It’s rare to find such a polished work on RR.
The story progresses at a good pace and is written with a maturity that elevates it. Well thought out characters that act logical and natural in the context of the world they live in. Although the isekai premise is nothing new the writer makes the story well worth the read by the quality of writing. Binged all chapters in one morning.
TheShadowSlayer_Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What Will Be is a really interesting novel about the slow and steady journey of a man reincarnated into another world. Unlike many isekai stories, we take the time to go over his childhood in exhaustive detail. At the time of writing this, almost five hundred pages into the book, I’m pretty sure the main character is only five or six years old.
It's a really refreshing and quite interesting take on the struggles of an adult mind dealing with the life of a child, including playdates, learning about magic, and negotiating a seemingly omnipotent System. And of course, making sure no one learns he’s way older than he should be. The writing has a surprising depth which makes every decision, minor or not, feel impactful and consequential.
Now, about those advanced review requirements.
Stylistically, this story is a slow burn in the truest sense of the word. The characters, magic, and setting are all explored in slow, methodical detail, giving us a true appreciation for how long and impactful childhood really is. After all, most people barely remember anything before age ten. While I acknowledge that this pace may be too slow for some, I think that it’s a nice, thoughtful change of pace from many of the more plot driven stories out there. Almost everything in this book happens because people are being people, not because the plot has intervened.
In regards to the grammar, this book does really well. Ideation and deliberation, which make up a large part of this story, are conveyed clearly and with suitable context. Characters speak like real people, and narration helps everything flow smoothly.
In terms of story, we’re still in the beginning stages. Most of what we’ve been through so far is exploration of the System, how to grind XP, and how the culture of this world deals with such an omnipotent judge of their existence. It’s really interesting, and revealed through pleasingly diegetic channels and conversations, but the plot hasn’t really started. The “inciting incident”
LeporidKnightRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I started reading it as a casual comfort story then I couldn't put it down. You don't have to like dogs to read this, but reading this makes me want to play with my dogs. The power system has a lot of layers. Book one was a blast and book two is hinting to be great too.
11_DoJo_11Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
It has an interesting system that i have not come across before, with the focus being mainly on a single 'skill' rather than classes or levels (though the skills do have levels). The characters are nuanced, with insecurities and strengths. The story is still getting going, but so far the everything is looking great. The world building is very interesting as well, especially in the way that the presence of the system has had a notable impact on society. Also i like the epigraphs.
Titanbomb66Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Honest, this was one of those really enjoyable slow burn type of books to read. Great world building, good introductions to characters, and enjoyable characters to have read. Only thing I disliked at times was how slow it can be sometimes. There would be times would it was just Will sort of going into an inner talk tangent and it just wouldn’t be that important to the story so I would skip some of that. But overall the book was a great read and I would recommend this to anyone and to give it a try.
The cliffhangers after every chapter was somewhat annoying and his main goals are understandable but also doesn’t quite make sense to me.
GekyumeRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
(one of few books on royal road I've given more than 3 stars, i don't hate you author <3)
Well written in terms of grammar and general coherence, author clearly proof reads.
It's kind of generic, but if you haven't read the genre it's a good first book.
What i don't like is how forceful the railroading feels.
mc in his 30s (5 year olds body), has a skill that helps with perseverance and 5 years to think through his plans on getting home, mindlessly follows a kid into a dangerous forest, the kid gets hurt, and the mc completely throws away his plans, starts picking nonsense short term skills (dog taming), instead of long term skills. Dude could've even picked the more general taming skill, 100% the author is just rage baiting.
He's still basically safe as long as he stops going into the forest, mc knows this, reaction makes no sense.
I understand the author's intent, just doesn't make me want to read more.
StormblesssedRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
The story is generally well written. It just suffers heavily from not delivering on its expectations/promise.
It seems the story will be about someone trying their all to achieve their goal. But he MC just doesn't really make any decisions that actually do this.
This leads to a massive disconnect where the MC is constantly thinking about achieving their goal, yet consistently making choices that don't seem to lead to that outcome/pay-off. This sadly makes it very jarring to read at times.
Honestly, I think if all mentions of the MCs goal where removed from the story it would make his decisions and the story make more sense 🤔
FaercesRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
My biggest gripe with this story is the shallow and predictive reactions of the side characters to our main character's core skill progression. And the fact that he ruminates on his 'uniqueness' so often it begins to get a little bit tiring.
Like, we understand, he's supposed to be very strong but you don't have to drill it in our head over and over again. Some characters especially feel very one-dimensional for this purpose.
ElaiyuRoyal Road
★★ 1.5
This reads like a standard LitRPG with over the top child prodigy tropes and toddler monologues. The only bonus is it's minorly unique system but that's it.
I have read dozens of stories with this exact plot and this fails to capture the uniqueness and charm others have had. I feel like it could do alot better to explore the culture because the bits we've been shown are so surface level. It's well written though don't get me wrong, but nothing special.
Welp, guess this stuff just isn't my cup of tea....