Hey all. This is just a review from a random dude so yeah.
I'm not that satisfied with this review tbh so I'll probably delete and repost it.
I'm calling this Deep Sea Embers since that's what I've known it as.
This review contains slight spoilers, but nothing massive. I think.
It's really, really good. It's basically a cross between the dark reality of life and warp of 40k, sealed relics from LoTM, and lovely eldritch creatures from amazing human being H.P. Lovecraft.
The synopsis is also a little bit off, or maybe some odd way of revealing a story detail, but the mc travels to become Duncan Abnomar. His actual name is "Zhou Ming," a man with the wonderful and fulfilling job of middle school teacher.
The whole deal with the world in the story is that 10 000 years or so ago, there was a "great silence" that sunk the world into the dark ages. What essentially became of the world, is that the ocean is now the enemy. Literally. The only thing that humans, among other races, can do is hide for cover under a god that literally comes from the same place as the ones who want to hurt them, and hope they can live to see tomorrow.
Of course, that's not to say they haven't made their own advancements. For example, they've made the steam engine so advanced that our main character can't even tell what half of it does.
But the only reason they can even do that is because of the church, which is naturally supported by a god. Heck, the church even has to make a special list of what you can read lest you imagine and attract the attention of some warp demon. There's even a fallen sun that's trying to take its place back from a fake one.
The church doesn't even try to hide the existence of those scary things, but actively tells citizens about it. That's how you know things are serious
So where does the mc come in?
Well basically, the mc randomly becomes Duncan, as mentioned. Duncan happens to, oh you know, be one of the greatest pirates in the world leading a fleet of hundreds.
But that was a hundred years ago. Now? He's one of the most dangerous things in the world. His ship, the Homeless/Lost Home/Home Dreamer is #5 on the Churches list of dangerous stuff.
If you've ever read LoTM, then you know that's… pretty high. SCP works too I guess.
It's not even a relic anymore, but a "vision," which can literally manipulate the world around them and tell when someone's talking about them.
So why is he so dangerous? Because he's the only thing ever recorded in the world to have entered the warp and come back alive. Well, maybe not alive.
Funny thing is that Duncan, or rather Zhou Ming, has pretty much no idea how dangerous he really is. He's literally a walking disaster and has no idea.
When he tries to fish, he literally hooks his line on a giant eldritch octopus so massive it casts a shadow on the sky from inside the sea, and yet what he thinks he's doing is fishing a regular old tuna.
He does things with a hilarious, albeit necessary precaution as well. Random coffin that has a beautiful doll in it? He sinks that sucker right to the bottom of the ocean!
It's beautiful.
The characters are all really charming too. There's a talking goat head that only Duncan can quiet, Alice the living doll who frequently loses her head, a girl wearing a goth dress who uses a sea demon dog as a wrecking ball, and the Homeless/Lost Home/Home Dreamer itself where literally everything has its own will, loyal to their captain.
I highly recommend it. Props to that Qidian editor, cuz they know what they're doing.
