Wretch [Book 1 Complete]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Once, the world belonged to us.Now, it belongs to them. The creatures of the night.Humanity clings to life in scattered strongholds, rival factions huddled behind crumbling walls while the horrors in the wilderness pound on the steam-powered gates. The sacred Flame bestows reality-bending powers to the worthy, but gives the same power to the horrors that haunt the night. In one such stronghold, a young man is caught between ruthless hunters and the abominations from beyond the wall. Desperate to rise above his insignificance, he dreams of wielding the Flame’s blessings. But the Flame is without mercy or prejudice.To earn the chance to climb its ranks, he must endure in a fading city ripe with hunger and danger.And when the flame demands cruelty and grisly transformation, he must decide.Does he still deserve to be called human? What to expect:[x] Explicit violence. Seriously I mean it, you've been warned. [x] Bloodborne inspired horror. [x] An Eldritch abomination or two. [x] Progression Fantasy with religious undertones. [x] Property damage, peddling stolen goods, jaywalking and manslaughter.[x] Release Wednesday and Sunday 12:30 CEST Book 1 complete and book 2 is written but going through editing.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Emilsola

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 2,896
Views: 394,548

Chapters(73 total)

What readers say about Wretch [Book 1 Complete]

“This is an interesting story set in a harsh, walled-off world. Creeping horrors roam beyond the walls, and when they break through, carnage follows. The rich live high up in the Spires, far from danger, while the poor are left to rot in the Lows. It’s a wor…”
A.RosariaRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Not a chill read at all but if you’re into darker stuff with constant pressure it’s definitely worth it. Like no warmup at all, you’re just thrown straight into chaos with the chase scene and it kinda never lets up after that. The sewer part especially was…”
BabyNicoRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

A.RosariaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an interesting story set in a harsh, walled-off world. Creeping horrors roam beyond the walls, and when they break through, carnage follows. The rich live high up in the Spires, far from danger, while the poor are left to rot in the Lows. It’s a world where those who have don’t care about those who don’t. When disaster hits, people in the slums can only hope a hunter is nearby.Style: Functional, no-nonsense prose. Medium to fast-paced, with the worldbuilding unfolding naturally as the story moves forward. You don’t have to wait long for things to get ugly, and the atmosphere is clearly and effectively described without overdoing it.Story: Wretch is a thief living a hard life, sold by his mother at a young age to a “Blessed” criminal. His goal is simple and obsessive: learn how to become Blessed himself so he can find his father, a Blessed hunter who vanished from his life. That singular drive gives the story focus and momentum. To find his father he needs to grow into being worthy. A message his father left him in a book. However, it could have another meaning, to find out, will have to keep reading.Grammar: Mostly clean and functional, it flows. Dialogue is clean. The few errors that appear don’t distract from the reading experience.Character: Wretch is a solid protagonist, small, feral, not handsome, but fast, determined, and dangerous when cornered. He survives through instinct and grit rather than heroics, which fits the setting well. Later in the story he will meet more named characters each with their own distinct personality. Almost forgot, Wretch got an affinity for eating rats.Anyone who like grimdark, with a tint of horror, would like this story, also it has it's light moments, with a system of gaining levels by killing other blessed and regaining something that resembles a core, an ember.
BabyNicoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Not a chill read at all but if you’re into darker stuff with constant pressure it’s definitely worth it. Like no warmup at all, you’re just thrown straight into chaos with the chase scene and it kinda never lets up after that. The sewer part especially was intense, kinda uncomfortable to read in a good way.
The setting is probably my favorite part, the whole Spires vs Lows thing feels really vivid and you can picture it easily. It’s got that grimy, desperate vibe that actually sticks.
MC is rough but in a good way. Just trying to survive and willing to do some pretty messed up stuff if needed. Makes him feel real, even if he’s not someone you’d “like” exactly.
Autistic AuthorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Usually, I only read the first chapter of a book with the goal of improving my prose, then stop because I don't long for more.
But this one... I'll keep reading.
Beautiful descriptions that feel easy on the mind. The city is alive and promising for the adventures we will face in it. Even I, who struggles to imagine visuals from words, could enjoy the paragraphs about environment.
Dialog fits the setting and flows well. The dark moments carried a lot of tension. Can't really judge characters too much yet, but those that I saw were interesting and showed their personality through action. "Show, not tell" is done very well in general.
The story seems very promising, building up a lot of questions that make you want to know the answers. I am very intrigued about what the power system is going to be about. What kinds of people will he meet? What's up with those monsters? And many more.
Very, very few grammatical mistakes slip in here and there. It didn't bother me much, if at all, and mostly because I am paying a lot of attention to prose because, as I mentioned, I'm trying to improve mine through reading.
Besides that, there is NOTHING I could criticize.
[I only read the first chapter so far even if it states otherwhise in this review]
Conrad StokesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've been reading this story since it was a couple hundred followers, so I was happy to see that the author not only made it onto rising stars, but also broke over 2k followers as of writing this review.Frankly the whole "bloodborne inspired" theme caught my attention when the author advertised on reddit and at first the characters and world building seemed flat, but as the story goes on, we, the readers, get to learn more and more about the world and system in a way similar to how plot and characterization unfolds in Fromsoft games, so that's a plus!The story meanders in the beginning, but when it picks up, boy, it had me burn through those chapters wondering what is going to happen to everyone's beloved rat boy next. I won't spoil it, but when you get there, you'll know what I'm talking about.Can't complain about the grammar, didn't notice errors or typos that ripped me from the story.Overall it is a good read and one of those stories I like to come back to every so often to catch up on and read for a burst of fun. Frankly, I feel like the author's set up some big expectations when they compared it to Bloodborne in their intial catch with me, but so far the story has not disappointed.
DWWRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is probably the best rising star that I've read in ages.
It's rare that actions have consequences in RR lit but it does here in spades.
Excellent characters, who are well written and have their own multifaceted motivations. No 1D npcs here.
The progression system is well thought out, and actually fun.
The world building is pretty good too, the descriptions of the city is incredible. It's really easy to visualise.
Definitely worth a read.
EldritchScholarRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm excited for more, it's a great time and amazing world building. The characters are super addictive and likeable. I love the execution of this story's grimdark. The author has a way with words that isn't pedantic or meaningless prattle, every description serves a purpose. The progression feels great and rewarding, it isn't just a stat page or numbers going up. The power system and the peoples reverence for it feels genuine and ingrained in every aspect of the story. Super good overall, very excited to see more from this author. This story deserves even more praise than what it is getting, I love every aspect of it so far.
Bunch of words to fill the requirements, blah blah blah blah blah author is cool blah blah blah characters are awesome blah blah Wretch is such a funny lil guy blah blah blah give the story a shot even if you don't like the tags, it's much better than most in their category blah blah blah I love the Richter's Hunters blah blah blah rat child blah blah praise be to the embers blah blah blah woah I still haven't reached the requirement this is crazy, Ive written short stories shorter than this review my god, why
CalabanVIIIRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I really enjoyed this one!A bit gruesome but its fitting for the world this story plays in. There's a few quirks with the editing of certain paragraphs and sometimes it gets a bit hard to follow exactly what's happening, but the story itself is pretty good and I'm always a fan of bloodborne inspired stuff. The abilites and the stuff with the titles is great imo. Characters are nice and well done, world building is genuinely excellent and refreshing. Maybe that one scene with the hunter's vow was a bit too excessive and felt a bit too forced, but the other hunter stuff, especially the auction and the slight hints towards the city's politics were great.Overall, greatly appreciated this story and recommend it to anyone with a stomach for gore and violence.
Hadeez21Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don't usually leave reviews, just rate the story and move on. This one is special, it deserves something personal. If you like gritty, dark, will make you feel something story this is it. Striving for something better despite being dealt a bad hand all your life, that's Wretch. Can wait for more chapters. Grammar, dialogue, prose all good. This one deserves a 5 star.
LobotistRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So will preface this review with saying that I am an adult reader.
So for younger readers who are looking for the constant hits of dopamine to lvl-ups, know that this story look at progression literature from a healthier perspective - by not being a story rushing from one lvl-up after the other, that suddenly finds its characters grown out of the reality built around them.
Instead the progression is in the background supporting the story while in turn being kept grounded and not breaking the world by its function.
While the first chapters has some issues with the main character, we soon see him face his new reality, and he pulls us along his adventure in a down-to-earth way. All while letting us readers discover the world around him.
Our dear writer has a for the most part a great handle on pacing, and figured out how to show, not tell. I say it this way since the first chapters are the hardest to read in this story, were the writer fumbles on this rule. The author might have been a bit excited, since it feels like they can hardly wait to get the story on paper. However, the moment their story starts fleshing out, the pacing gets on track - immensly improving the style.
As for category. It is stated as a horror story, but is in fact body horror to be exact. To fit in the actual horror category the characters would actually have to be fearing monsters in the world, which I think you'll easily find that they do not.
The action part is very well written, but I have gotten confused more than once. Not in by who does what, but in what is going on. I had to continue reading a sentence or two to actually get the picture right. I suspect this only happened when the monsters are so wierd that if the picture in my mind didn't correlate with what is in the authors. An actual picture om the page might solved that.
! Do note that I am a distracted reader so if the description of the monster is bad, it might be because of me, and not that they are actually written badly. Look for
MammisRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Wonderful writing. I could not stop reading. Love the MC, his team and the power system. Well balanced. I usally do not read horror and grimdark, but this one is absolutely great. The beautiful cover caught my attention and then I couldnt stop. Read it , you will not be disappointed. Looking forward to book 2.