The Raven Thief

Well, here it is at last. The traditional shameless review from the author. I want to use this as an opportunity to drop as much information as possible about The Raven Thief, and if you still have questions after — no matter how silly — please leave them in the comments, I'm more than willing to respond. ☞ What's TRT about? - The novel generally revolves around Spheris Arnadel, a habitant of the wasteland regions who gains the powers of Obsidian, the First Celestial and the God of Darkness as he struggles to survive and save the ones he loves the most... even with dire sacrifices and consequences. ☞ What's the world around the story? - TRT is set in a completely fictional, fairly medieval, magical world. Think of it as the Republic City in LOK mixed with GOT. It is a gritty world that is governed with so much politics. First ruled by the Old Gods, who were killed by the New. ☞The Outerlining Story? - The New Gods took over as Celestials of the Continent, however the war they fought had direful impact on land, unleashing Bridges that led into a hellish world known as The Abyss. Beasts called Hellbenders poured out of this Abyss and into the Continent. Thankfully, gifted humans who were born with the reincarnated powers of the dead Old Gods made it their task to slay these beasts. They were called Bearers. ☞Spheris Arnadel. Who is he? - Spheris is essentially an uncaring, bleak, hardened and self-serving 18 year old boy. He has been shaped by his harsh environment to prioritize his own survival above all else, leading him to adopt a callous and indifferent attitude towards others. The only person he cares for more than himself is his mother, and his lofty raven, Talon. However, his naiveness in aspects concerning magic will certainly amuse you and make you root for his story. ☞Romantic Interests? - Yes, certainly. But it'll almost be non-existent as it will only aid in Spheris's character growth rather than being some sort of side plot that drags the story. ☞What are his powers? - Shadow (Umbrage) Manipulation. I know, I know. Another character with the shadow powers, but trust me, you've never seen any character employ the force of darkness like Spheris will in TRT. ☞Overpowered? - Certainly, but it is going to be a grind. A lot of characters are going to put poor Spheris in his place, especially when he starts to think he's super powerful already. ☞Harem? - Can I swear? Cause I wanna say fork no. ☞One FL Then? - Well no. Spheris grows to be a charming guy; strong, and mysterious as well — the perfect woman wetdream combo. But he doesn't go bouncing from woman to woman. He's a traditional guy, and cares little for romance anyway. Well, at least he thinks he does. ☞Special Something? - Well, there's something I added into my version of worlds. In this story, the worlds where Bearers and Adventures travel to are owned and created by Humans, i.e other Bearers who have arrived at the greatest level of power. They gain the ability to manufacture worlds out of their own artistic minds and sculpt places and beasts of these worlds. When the worlds are not Regulated and taken care of, it falls into delirium and the beasts in the worlds enter the Continent to cause mayhem. Such worlds such as [The Abyss] and [Knightmare] are examples of this. Interesting stuff, I promise you. ☞Is it in any competitions? Probably not a question you will ask, but yes!!! TRT is competing in WSA24 and I really wanna push for something great. This is the most well-thought out and most well-written book I've ever conjured, my first WN project as well. So please, be nice, or don't be nice, be expressive at least. Tell me what you think? Ask what you need to. I'm new here, I might not be aware of some stuff, so I'll be really grateful for any support, help or guidance. And I promise you, TRT is a story you'll very much enjoy. Is it conventional? I don't think so, which has me a little nervous. However; levelling up, beastslaying, revenge, weak-to-strong, captivating characters, interesting and well described powers, one of my very best worldbuilding and fine writing? Come on, give The Raven Thief a try. (⁠◠⁠‿⁠◕⁠)

Honestly, I like everything about this novel. The characters feel alive, the world building is nice, it's well written, the combat and progression are nice, and I really like the main character with his bird companion. I hope this novel gets more popular as it deserves it.

A novel to strongly recommend : the lore and world construction is heavy, and by that, I mean this is awesome, it is well defined and complexe as it should be. Author was serious when he said that MC would be relatively overpowered but never the strongest. I find some good notions that remind me Shadow Slave like Consequence (Flaw) and Names : there will always be similarities with other books, so why not from the bests ? Overall, my discovery of the year.

This book is simply incredible! The plot is so well-crafted, with characters that leap off the page with their dynamic personalities. The main character is especially captivating, and the plot twists kept me on the edge of my seat. What's even more impressive is how frequent the updates are, yet the quality never wavers. It's evident that the author pours their heart and soul into every word. Definitely a solid 5/5 read!

It started really great, I liked the MC, the world and other characters, the author is certainly capable at writing captivating stories, but for me many things went downhill, when they finally got to the Abyss. And the MC and his behavior was the main disappointment. The MC, as author many times mentions, supposed to be some type survivalist scavenger from the wastelands, but his behavior was so stupid and naive, that it kinda killed my interest in the story. The things below are not major spoilers, but just some of his decisions. - Given his talents, he should have volunteered himself as a scout of the group as soon they landed in the Abyss, but he did nothing and passively followed without his input. - When they got to the cave to setup a base, nobody thought that it’s not a great idea to start a fire in the night in this extremely brutal hostile and unknown place and basically wait to be discovered by someone or some monsters. I didn’t expect much from noblefolk, but our ‘survivalist’ should know better. - nobody on watch while everyone is sleeping - mc goes out with a girl during the night and just casually talks, laughs and practices magic for the whole world to hear (hello, did you forget where are you?) - naturally the group is discovered because of the fire, but good thing, it’s just bunch of human scavengers. Here I thought, that MC would shine, but no, not only he doesn’t have any survival instincts and skills, he also is a bad judge of character, and decides to trust them, while Thorin the group leader had a good hunch not to trust them, but Cerene convinced him otherwise. - when Nero confronts her about her stupid idea, MC defends her as her being rational. I’m sorry, but there is absolutely nothing rational in trusting bunch of scavangers, who wanted to rob you while you were asleep. I don’t expect much from naive noble girl like Cerene, but MC who leads a similar lifestyle to these scavengers must know better. I was reading all this, while hoping that MC is just playing dumb, like he did during the heist in the beginning of the story, but sadly no, he is not playing dumb, he is just dumb. I expected for MC to shine in this hostile environment and showcase his survival skills in contrast to noblefolk, but in the free chapters, there is literally zero survival skills, intuition, decision making or judgement of character that in any way highlight the MC. All he has is random magic skills that appear randomly to save him and even his magic feels undeserved. His mindset is really weak and passive, that it allowed the events of story just push him in whatever direction with zero resistance. And lastly, the whole thing with Obsidian was also disappointing

A Perfect Five Star for this books. It's been really a long time since I have red about such an interesting book. I will Just say, go and read this of you want a fresh breather from all our goody toe shoes MC's. And As For Author, keep up the good work!

The author is very obsessed with world building, and I mean it's amazing how intense and well thought out the world building is. We get a glimpse of it in the first arc, where there's lots of hints and foreboding. But in the second arc, with the academy arc and the amazingly complex power system, it's becoming even more of a thrill. The writing is wonderful with little to no mistakes, the characters are one of the author's best strengths, like they're all so unique and not cliche at all. He can write a dialogue and you would know exactly who said it without any extra explanations. I've already spoken on the world building but I'm telling you it's one of the very best in this platform. You'll testify to it yourself when you arrive at the second arc. With a mid-paced story development and a complex MC, this novel deserves all it can get!

Been with this story since basically the start and can say with certainty that it only gets better as it goes on, from the world building to, what I think is its strongest point of character design. Writing quality The writing quality is incredibly well done with a conftable and smooth flow of reading, the grammar is near perfect with only very few mistakes. The emotional scenes feel emotional and the action scenes immerse you into the very fight itself. Overall the writing quality is near peak and well above average. Updating stability The stability of updates is consistent and regular, nearly everyday and even then it’s not for long before another chapter, or two, is posted. Story development The story development has a well paced story. Not to fast and not to slow, allowing you to easily follow the story while giving you enough of what you want before moving on to the next interesting section. This keeps the story fresh and as of chapter 72 I have yet to become bored. Character design This is what I think is its strongest point. The characters feel real with each having their own thoughts and personalities. And with the characters that it focuses on we get to see how each of them grows and improves. The side characters are a good mix with no one character the same. Overall the Author has done an amazing job. World backround The world building so far is very diverse with lots of different imaginative places that we can allow ourselves to immerse in, with a big range of different monsters and areas, so far not many communities or cities have been seen but that’s to be expected in the place the story is currently taking place in. The monsters however are all different with their own unique and interesting traits. One of its strongest points I believe are this novels monsters. Power system The power system, which is always something important for me. Seems to be well thought out, and versatile enough that the characters can grow along side their powers and build a fighting style that suits them. With each character gaining different and unique powers to help them specialise in different things. As of right now, there is no jack of all trades. Personally I quite like that, as it means that the Mc or other characters cannot just do everything by themselves and allows for more character interaction. The Author Finally the Author. This is another one of its strong points, as the Author is incredibly active and responds to the comments answering any questions readers may have while also taking responsibility for any spelling mistakes they have made. (Unlike a certain few.)

It's the best story amongst the one I have read in webnovel . The wording setting characters and everything is so amazing and cool. I am extremely curious what will happen next . Moreover action scene and their description is amazing , it's just like watching everything in front of me . Highly recommended everyone give it a try otherwise you will regret missing such a masterpiece .

Alright, everyone get low I wanna whisper something to you. this book... this book... IS FUGGIN AWESOMEEEEE! the characters! 10/10 writing quality! 10/10 worldbuilding! 10/10 power system! 10/10 dialogue! 1000/10 it has no clichés! it's so fresh and the action scenes are crazy good. I find myself reading and reading and reading, completely lost. It's so good!

It's a great book 😌✋, One of the best here on Webnovel and certainly has a lot of potential.... 😭😭But seriously Spheris shouldn't be suffering like this

Great all around. The characters appearance and clothing could be more descriptive but other than that this is a great novel. Significant side characters and compelling story, interesting powers and system. This is a well rounded novel which nearly flawlessly executed intermediate English with no problem. Looking forward to more.

Such a gripping read! I particularly like the fantasy and world building, and the fact that Spheris isn't some kind of beloved hero or grim villain either. But just a slightly weird young man struggling to survive in a kingdom to which he's at odds with. I'll try to leave points to up Spheris' character. The realms and depictions of the magical world are liberal and thoughtful, yet with room for imagination. I'm only in chapter three. I'll drop off here. I have to go back and keep reading.

Neptha! Neptha!! Neptha all the way!!! 🥹🥹🥹

It's my first time in this app, I want to become a writer and I'm interested in the fantasy trope. This book has really motivated me to take my writing seriously. It had very good story development and characters are maybe the best thing about it. And the World background feels so surprisingly real even though it's a fictional place. Even the writing skill is awesome. I'm impressed. If you don't want to have a fun time, please avoid this book.

World Background (4.0) Character Design(4.0) Just the first chapter, I felt drawn to the book even though I am not a fan of ML books. each line was either intense funny, or lovely. the author did an amazing job with his character, I love sphere(wish he wasn't a theif, could have make him my inlaw... haha). If you love book with lively/and Amazing scenes, and characters, then this book is for you. Overall, I rate this book (9/10).

Ok! Like I'm currently speechless, starting from your cover to the title, and the synopsis, the book is definitely a 5/5 then you move to the chapters he does great work on the chapter title it is really given❤️❤️❤️ and the way the author wrote the chapters the opening and cliffhangers, its a must read.

I dont't know if I want the pacing faster or if this steady pace is best for the novel. It's just not what I'm used to. But does it deliver? Abso-freaking-lutely! I've enjoyed everything from the first chapter. Their is genuine worldbuilding here and the MC seems actually smart! Yes!

The book premise is nice, the author done a good job setting up the Mc and you can tell just from the begining chapters it has potential. But our Mc so happens to want to be the good guy sparing 2 people within the first few chapters who put him in a shitty position. You can tell this novel will spiral into those typical novels with weak MCs that do brain dead stuff and get into difficult positions

It's not a terrible book overall. but it does suffer from a fair bit of convoluted plot armour, Spheris seems to unlock a lot of abilities that are just what he needs. the book gives me a feeling that things happen in the book to serve the point of getting the book to a certain point. Whilst this is true in all books, what is important is not letting the reader notice this. the world building is quite good, though, and it's what kept me going for the most part. Author, don't take what I say to heart. You will improve, you will get better.