Wife After Death: An Eldritch Horror Romance

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Hello, human. My name would set your tongue on fire and boil your brain, so you can just call me Irene. I'm here to help.Heaven has been abandoned. The Kingdom has fallen into disrepair. Your prayers are going unanswered. I know it's a lot to take in.My sisters and I are gonna fix it. Hey, someone has to. Otherwise, you're on your own. We know what it's like to be lonely. We are going to make sure humanity is never lonely again.

But we can't do it alone. That's what the Warlock is for. Caspar Cartwright is a hapless hedge mage I've saved from the scaffold and the noose. I've plucked him from his grave and sent him back with my power at his fingertips and a mission branded into his heart. Face the servants of the dead god, find the key, open the gate to the Kingdom.

And let me in.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2025
Author: Dukerino

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 1,132
Views: 245,319

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

AMATRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: It's a character driver story which switches between points of views multiple times, but still maintains the style. It goes from romance to action to story and back with effortless grace
Story: It is exactly what it says on tin. And then a lot much more. Once you know the rules of the story, it doesn't break them. It foreshadows a lot of ways in which the normal rules can be subverted and then does the same at the most unexpected time. There are twists and turns, but all rational. The ending is optimistic and fantastic.
Grammar: There are only so many ways to describe and eldritch horror, this story devises newer and more elegant ways of doing so, and then makes them adorable. Does the very mention of the name of the eldritch horror cause reality bending destruction: Yes, but she also goes by Irene. And her friend is Bina. So yeah, the grammar is excellent and on point.
Character: Each character is unique, with their own unique voice, talents, thought processes and idiosyncrasies. Even the unnamed people have personalities, which make this world seems so much more alive.
It is a fantastic read, binge it. This has a final ending point, which is great as it ends while promising eternity.
CastInStone1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
If you want to read about a unique and great romance, with incredible world building, riveting story and action scenes and almost perfect pacing, read it.
It's funny, it's serious, it's lewd and the stakes are high, what more do you want?
-----------------
Please stop asking me to add words, I can't post this review without adding more F*cking words!!! But I have said all that needs to be said, deal with it.
HantarosRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Dunno what to tell you, I was promised an Eldritch Horror Romance and that’s what I got, with all the craziness that implies, it’s a pretty sweet story with a reasonable amount of action scenes thrown in, it’s a completed book with 41 chapters and one of happiest endings I have ever seen(objectively speaking), so if the tentacles don’t scare you off I suggest giving it a read
Hunter MythosRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This isn't in my wheelhouse. If you don't know, I'm mostly a writer for progression fantasy, action, stats go up, and cheap thrills.
But sometimes a guy just wants to read about the struggles of a good man who meets an eldritch deity who becomes his wife in a captivating and well written story that's not the usual fare.
My only criticism is that the intro was so immediate and hard to grasp that I wish the author would soften it a little and ease us into their style.
You have a powerful style. Short. Crisp. Sharp. Accurate. Stylish. Witty. It's so powerful that the average reader might now know what to make of it at first because you do a wonderful thing called showing and not telling and not holding the readers' hands.
However, the average reader might get tripped up by how great and sharp your writing is. This might be strange to say, but at least for the beginnings, please consider easing people in a little so they can warm up to what you're about to give them.
...
Or don't. Because either way, this was fantastic to me. I'm just saying the above as something you might consider.
Other than that, the story had me gripped the moment Cas meets Irene and that's when I knew I was in for whatever this was. It was weird. It was romantic. It was sexy. It was emotional. And it just reminded me of how fun reading can be and how it can absorb my life and keep me up at night and ruin my sleeping schedule and make me forget I have writing to do.
That's what Wife After Death did to me. I lost a day of production because this story was just that good. Freaking hell, it wasn't just Romance and horror. The action sequences were some of the best written stuff I've read in a while. It was punch-y and visceral and real and to the point, and awesome. It was fun and humanizing, especially when the twists and turns started to hit.
And wow! That twist at the end! Holy shit! I can't believe I didn't see that coming. It was a simple twist, but it was so well-executed that it brought to poin
InadvisablyCompelledRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
An incredibly fresh little story, one that is well-paced but also in many ways easygoing. Despite the setting being in some ways quite grimdark, the entire point of the story is to remove that grimdark fate. It's aspirational! The author also manages to drop in some interesting and coherent philosophical aspects to life, death, and gods, without seeming actually preachy about it. While it's difficult to articulate the difference exactly, it feels like it's the setting and not the author trying to tell the reader about their opinions.
The romance is cute and fluffy, and while I'm not sure the sex scenes are necessary they also don't particularly detract - and most importantly, they're genuinely plot relevant. After all, when you're an eldritch entity, nothing humanizes you faster than having to experience all those weird chemicals flowing through your neurons.
The most important part to me is that the story does what it needs to and ends. So many stories on Royal Road drag out beyond what they ought to and suffer thereby, but this one knows exactly what it is doing and has not an ounce of waste. Highly recommend.
JadeSidheRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I really wasn't sure if I was going to like this story as it's so far out from my normal. The world building in this is absolutely amazing. I am truly engaged in how this world works, it's history and it's machinations. The romance is equally well written and actually involves romance with progression of realistic feelings. This is an incredible story.
MiqoteZeitRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is well written and charming. It's length is just right, nothing feels rushed and nothing drags. The epilogue is a masterpiece of closure to a story that many writers could stand to learn from. Could the author add more details and flesh out more interactions for even more reader satisfaction? Sure. Does it need it? Absolutely not.
Kudos to the author for writing such a wonderful story and I look forward to reviewing Princess of the Void when that story comes to a close.
Plasma KnightRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A lovely story with great romance, character arcs, development, and all throughout interesting plot. 5/5.
Each character is suited for their logic and how they act, no silly out of character moments for plot. Just story, development, descriptions, and a wonderful tale to read along with until the very end.
jumpsplat120Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
When I read a book by an author and really enjoy it, there's usually a bit of apprehension to read one of their other works. Sometimes it's because it's their earlier stuff, and they hadn't had the practice, or sometimes it's because the world is similar enough that we end up up comparing and contrasting instead of enjoying it on it's own merits. Sometimes, an author stumbles into greatness once and just fails to replicate it; a literary one hit wonder.
So after we had caught up on Princess of the Void (Dukerino's other work, which you should definitely check out if you haven't), we added this one to the backlog, intending to get around to it at... some point. There wasn't much eagerness, because while we absolutely loved PotV, the assumption was that the smaller, earlier version of "stronger/spookier/deadlier woman in relationship with red blooded man" story just wasn't going to be as good.
And once again, like the fool we are, we were so, so wrong.
The story is a tight 500 pages of an alternate history America(?), where on page one, our MC is strung up by friends and neighbors for being a warlock. Which he isn't, at that point. But which he does become. And his patron is the beautiful, human loving, tentacled Miss Irene (who is the second eldritch entity we've read about with that name, something something nickel), who fills him full of powers and shoots him off towards the totally-not-the-Pope so she can get the key to Heaven.
It's hard not to spoil things in the attempt to describe what exactly about this story we like. It's brutal and gorey, but also soft and warm and romantic. It's fast paced, but also creates space for character moments, and never feels like it's rushing. It's got an actual end, and the predominant religion and the world building we get oblique glances at are so artfully woven throughout it's kind of insane that this story isn't higher on the "Top Finished Fictions" on this site.
Likely that's to do with the monsterfucking.
And ya know what,
terrapinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Caspar, a devout follower of the state religion, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Catholicism, is lynched for witchcraft and unexpectedly offered an eldritch bargain by the wisecracking narrator Irene. Together, they set out through the forlorn countryside of a crumbling theocracy to steal the key to Heaven and…renovate it? It’s not entirely clear yet.
Style: 5/5
From the synopsis, I was expecting a very light story. And it’s often lighthearted, but just the first few paragraphs make it clear that this is written by a Serious Author. From interesting new vocab words to poetic metaphors to oddly specific architectural details, DukeyRhino makes their world come alive. The narrator can read mortal minds with ease, leading to a sort of first-person omniscient perspective that works well to detail Caspar’s adventures and dole out necessary exposition seamlessly. And the absurd dark humor of…basically the whole conceit of the story is complemented by observational humor from Irene. This isn’t (just?) a comedy though—scenes run the gamut from punchy action to doleful discussions about cultural philosophies evinced by the conjugations of certain irregular, labile verbs.
Story: 4.5/5
The plot has definitely taken shape at this point, though I expect many surprises to come. Plenty of tension has built for showdowns against various antagonists, while Irene and Casper continue to meet new and interesting allies and obstacles to keep the story moving in the short term. I can hardly say the explicit chapter 21 caught me off guard—it was clearly coming for a while—but I did worry through it and the following couple chapters that the plot would slow down or focus overmuch on Casper and Irene’s interactions. But things quickly picked back up again.
Grammar: 5/5
I found one typo in the first ten chapters, and even that could have been a clever pun.
Character: 5/5
Irene and her sisters are eldritch beings, which are hard to write convincingly, especially in a first-person perspective, when th