Hello everyone, MotivatedSloth here!
As explained in the synopsis, rather than a review of the story itself or a humble-bragging of the author singing praises of his own work, here is some more or less technical info that you might be interested in:
- In regards to romance - While there will be several important girls playing their part in the plot and several potential romantic interests, in this story I’m (unlike in any other novels of mine) putting much greater weight on the story and much lesser attention to the romance. As such, while relationships between characters are a vital part of the story, I won’t be pushing for any forced or lucky developments just for the horniness' sake.
- H4rem? - No… and no? This calls for a bit better explanation as nowadays it's hard to say what’s still a normal relationship and what’s already a h4rem. In short, my mc’s goals are not about getting a feel of everything that walks on two legs. And to a degree, monogamy is just as common in the world of the story as it is in real life. So while it might not be obvious who will even be the real romantic interest (as there will be several) there is, in fact, the main girl. I’m just not going to make it as obvious as others tend to be.
- Is this, in any sense, an adult book? - Yes. I don’t house even a shred of doubt that certain developments in this story might go beyond what young people should stray away from. This is supposed to be a dark, nitty-gritty novel that takes your expectations of a fantasy world and puts it into the grinder of a multi-dimensional and complex reality. Magic isn’t the ultimate solution to everything, the power of friendship won’t appear to save the day against an overwhelming enemy. And when forced into a corner, the characters will have to make hard calls rather than small concessions. So yeah, blo0d and sp*rm will be prominently featured in this novel, although I will try to keep all within a relatively good taste.
- Is this a VR novel or a fantasy one? - In all honesty, I’m more inclined to classify it as a “low” fantasy? Originally this term describes a story that takes place in a “real” world with the added touch of magic/werewolves/different dimensions. And at its core, this is what this novel is about, an adventure of a man forced into dangerous circumstances with a mission to find a way out. But let’s not claim there are no elements of VR. The fact that everything practically happens in a VR has an insanely heavy influence on the rules and the lore, although it only plays a secondary part most of the time.
- What’s the release rate? - Welp, I would love nothing more than to claim I can do two or three chapters a day… But that’s not real. Not with how long the chapters for this story are coming out. So let’s say…
1 chapter/day 7 days/week. I will try to figure out a posting schedule and stick to it but well, you know, life happens. Still, once I find some time to redirect parts of my focus away from other projects, I might raise it to two/day.
- If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments to this review or in the novel itself, and I will do my best to reply in a timely manner.
- If you want to support this novel, make sure to vote/comment. If you are feeling exceptionally generous today, dropping a review would make my day!
- Once again I'm encouraging you all to join the discord, as this is the first time I will actively try to post some references/maps over there to make the story easier to understand.
And with that, I wish you all the best and hope you will have a blast reading this piece!
