Of Astral and Umbral

i litearlly left royal road because i forgot the title of this story and couldnt find it until now

The parts that matter.

Unrelated to scores, this fic contains sexual content, but it's well written and isn't just a fuckfest hiding as a story. There are darker themes in this story that i won't spoil but basically if you're not a fan of torture (Not a primary theme but definately in the story) beware.

The also has lots of mixed pairings in it, while the MC may be straight there are side characters and background characters that aren't the same there. While i don't find that to be bad for me there may be those who aren't that much of a fan so be warned.

If you can get past that (Not that the second part is too hard to get past) this fic is definately one of the better stories on RRL, it is also fairly lengthy and recieving regular updates.

The grammar is good, no massive errors that make you think it's a machine translated mess, the grammar is at the top with other good RRL novels.

Characters. Characters don't feel like cardboard copies with copycat ways of speaking and thinking, they feel like actual characters

Style. The story does feature multiple POV's, but it's written well enough that it's still decent.

Story.. The story is good, but fairly often i had to go back a few chapters because at time it feels more complicated then it should be or just confusing. That said that may just be a personal problem.

I just spent a week bingeing through every published chapter. Can't wait to read more. Grammar and spelling are top notch. Characters are realistic and are well developed. Far more life to this fantasy world than the usual wish fullfilment around here.

Too much not fluff fluff. Too many unecessary secrets. Not enough useful information. Side characters are silly, stupid, or hiding something.

Good story but frustrating to not skip ahead at times. Recomended read if your persistant.

@Benztaubensaeure I sir am weak!

Recommended for those who like a 60/40 - Romance/Action novel with two strong main characters and a well established world + a few interesting secrets. Seems to be more targeted at a female audience, but from experience i say this can be enjoyable for the male part of the population as well.

Just some of the important points in advance as sort of a TL,DR:

Some of the points may well depend  on your patience + preference on that particular subject

Pro:

- high update frequency and long chapters

- strong main characters with an interesting personality

- they are good independent fighters (so none of them is the on that has to be protected 24/7)

- dark storyline, but with a lighter tone

- world is very interesting (+ the mystery is well-ish done)

- the names and different languages

- romance is complicated ( also some negative here- see Con)

- style is descriptive where it is needed and delivers most content in a manner that  makes it very interesting

- Grammar + spelling is excellent

Con: (May look like much, but is mostly nitpicking not real issues)

- Romance is complicated (a section of B2 can stretch your - or at least my - patience a bit)

- Darius (although this does not mean he is badly done, he is just annoying at times- which i guess is intended)

- Some of the side characters (at the time of writing this) are a bit questionable when it comes to depth (but this is fine, because the main chars are the focus anyway)

- Except for maybe two, all females (besides MC) in this Book seem to either be total assholes or not that much better (most of this can be explained by a few circumstances of the MC + the different lifestyle, but not everything)

- names and different languages are not the easiest to remember sometimes

Now for the more in-depth review (although not too much to avoid spoilers). Sometimes it might seem, like i am complaining a lot, but rest assured this novel is great and you should read it.

Characters:

MCs:

I really like the MCs and they are what drives this story. Both of them get established well, are interesting and are mostly differing from the normal stereotypes (although there is enough of that going on with both). They are also not entirely dependend on each other/others and can deal with most stuff on their own, therefore making the help of others feel like actual help not a necessity. The Romance is also interesting and more adds to the story and enjoyment almost all of the time. It also makes for a nice change that you have two battlemaniacs as the couple of this story, it makes for a much more interesting read.

Arianna, our Main-Main Protagonist/Heroine is a well thought out mix between absolute badass and a person who has real issues + insecureties. Additionally she has room to develope, more depth due too her past and her being in general makes for some nice mystery. She also makes for an interesting woman and her really slow and sceptical approach (although it can be straining my patience sometimes) to the other MC (who thinks this is spoiling something, cmon who did not see that one coming) is believable and adds to the story often enough. Her more either tactical or violent approach to most problems (depending on which it is) and her personality in general is one of the reasons this story is so great.

Nali (god that full name), our Secondary-ish Main Character (about every 4th chapter is one of his) is more the strong-Hero-Adonis Stereotype. However, he will get a more distinct personality pretty quickly and will act like a person, not 0-braincells Mk.1 . He also gets a good deal more depth from the past events and the resulting issues. His approach to Ari is also pretty believable and his hesitation (although again straining in a few parts) conforms with his character and past events.

Side Characters:

The side characters are pretty shallow for the most part. While it can be annoying sometimes (way too many barechested males for my liking, but to each their own - no not with sarcasm), it keeps the flow of the story and most of the characters would not really bring anything more to the table that would warrant such development. It couldnt hurt though to make them a bit more varied (although there are indicators that this happens/will happen). Speaking of shallow, what is up with the female population in this novel. Almost all of them we met so far are hardheaded assholes or just get a few lines. While for most that can be explained by various circumstances and is believable enough, this novel could use some more actual characters that are actually friendly/friends of Arianna. I do not mean a rival, but rather a confidant/best friend or even mother character (although there are a few likely candidates already, which have not really made an appearence yet).

Which brings us to Darius. He is one of the things that actually annoy me with this story. He is not badly written nor do his actions make no sense from his characters perpective. I guess most of this is intended and it does get better as the story progresses. However he is one of the actual characters in this story and is not unininteresting. Still annoying as all hell though.

Story and World:

The story is set in a kind of high fantasy setting, with a stronger focus on bestial/demonic races, which is a nice change of pace. With the addition of multiple languages (which can be a pain to remember sometimes) and some of the working being somewhat unclear (for reasons which will become apparent and are integral to the story), it makes for a potentially exceptional World (depending on where the story/explanation is going - atm its well done).

The story imo is about 60% Romance and about 40% Action/Mystery in a setting that, although often somewhat lighthearted and nice, can get pretty dark really fast. This is what makes this story interesting, as you do not have a case of: We must have romance, therefore story. It is rather a good mix of both, with enough mystery and developement to make it more interesting.

One of the gripes i have with the World building is, that the god/mortal ranks are not really compared in any detail. It is a bit weird to get all those ranks, but not really an impression of how much more powerful or different the abilities are. This will most likely be adressed in the near future, due to the current developement (!!!!!!!Spoiler-ish ahead:Test results!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Style and Grammar:

Not much to say here: The style is descriptive and impressive where it needs to be and the grammar is very good.

Short and to-the-point reviews ARE FOR THE WEAK!

A true masterpiece of storytelling. The characters, world and story are all well built, fleshed out and engaging. 

This is a very well written story, but in order to enjoy it you have to understand that it can feel like a very slow read sometimes.