Title: Peculiar Soul
Author: TMarkos
Rating: M
Genre: Action, Adventure
Status: WIP
Library Category: Original Fiction
Chapters: 44
Wordcount: 200k
Link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/42433/peculiar-soul
Summary:

There are, I think, three broad categories of webnovels: things I won't bother to read, things I will bother to read, and things I'm eager to read. Peculiar Soul is in the final category. As I've said before, I think it genuinely should be a published novel.

The writing quality stands heads and shoulders above any gamelit or progression fantasy or LitRPG or whatever the genre wants to call itself. There are genuine emotional moments, actual payoff that isn't just powerlevels getting higher, and actual moral quandaries to be pondered. The protagonist suffers actual setbacks!

The worldbuilding is fascinating and expanded upon in the story itself and the long quote that opens up each chapter which reflects upon the contents of said chapter or an event that is currently transpiring. This, combined with slick propaganda posters, really pushes it to another level.

In general the story feels like it's being written by someone who actually knows their shit. It's amazing and, in all likelihood, fairly unique among the other internet-published novels just because of that.

That's not say I don't have some minor complaints - the general taxonomy of power classification could use some condensation / slimming down, every major Soul of each type having a name that starts with an S is rather cheesy, so on.

But in all in all, I think this story ranks a definite 4.5/5 for me.

 

I'm following this as well. TMarkos is a seriously good writer by any measure, with lots of imagination and great taste for artwork, and you can count on him to put a crapload of effort in worldbuilding and creating some serious bodies of lore for his universes. Together with Azalea Ellis, one of my two favorite authors in RR.

This novel is neither gamelit or litrpg, not everything in RR belongs to those categories. I'd say adventure with fantasy/supernatural elements and a setting loosely inspired by WWI.

I liked Inheritors of Eschaton better, but the author shows an improvement in characterization here, which was a bit lacking in IoE.

I concur with the 4.5/5, docking half star for some pacing issues and rounded up for voting purposes.

 

This is the best thing I've read on Royal Road. I binged it in a single sitting. I like the world a whole lot; the nations in this all feel like distinct entities, very much shaped by how they relate to the metaphysics of the more fantastical elements, which is a hard nut to crack. The soul system of powers is constrained and defined enough to be very easy to understand, while still having that feel of mystery to it.

It's a common failing to turn a magic 'system' into a D&D rulebook and lose all sense of the arcane. Not here. Although there are specific classifications of different powers, there's also a deeply personal and philosophical bent to them which the main character explores. He's a special snowflake for the nature of his power, for sure. This isn't a criticism. I love protagonists who have protagonist-tier powers. But he also stands out in the depth of how he explores how these powers relate to him, how they define his character rather than just adding skills to a character sheet. Sometimes the moral philosophy, particularly in conversations with the mentor figure, comes across as a bit told and unrefined, but I never minded that too much.

It has a bit of the 'generic internet voice' feel which is generally my biggest criticism with webnovels, but it's less pronounced than most. In some ways this even makes it easier to read because the narration is quite simple, sort of like Brandon Sanderson's prose. I felt like this flowed at a relatively quick pace for the most part without ever being so rapid as to give reader whiplash. Sometimes it felt a bit unstructured, as if events were just happening one after the other rather than following an unfolding plot, but that helped to get into the protagonist's shoes a bit. Sometimes the question of "what do you want" being asked to the MC was a bit on the nose, as if the author hadn't quite figured that out himself yet but was trying to turn that weakness into a strength.

The characters are likeable and fallible, and I can't praise the second part of that enough. They have agendas, prejudices, and weaknesses, but rarely to the point of caricature, and generally come across as people before NPCs. This backfires a little bit with the big 8, legendary souls who are supposed to be so powerful that they stand outside the law and reshape the world - the proximity to them tarnishes some of their mystique and makes them feel more mundane than their legends suggest. I suppose this is rather the point, showing them as people with powers rather than living gods, but I feel like the setup and reveal of this curtain being pulled back could have been handled with a bit more gravitas for some of them.

I like Michael, the protagonist, quite a bit too. Bad shit happens, as is wont to do to protagonists, but he strides the balance between being disaffected and turning into a snivelling wreck out of a hurt/comfort fanfic in the manner I want out of a main character - keeps on moving forwards, carrying a few new scars.

Nothing's perfect so I could find a hundred nitpicks to dock points for, but fuck it. Let's celebrate the good stuff when we come across it. For my limited experience of Royal Road this is definitely up at the peak.

5/5

 

I love it. It’s probably the best piece of original fiction I’ve read on RR and it’s so good that I’ve even subscribed to its patreon for the extra 3 chapters on it.

The characterization is where this novel truly shines. Each character is flawed and all of them have an agenda that they want to accomplish. This translates spectacularly into yesterdays allies becoming today’s enemies simply because of conflicting objectives that do not allow for compromise. And when I say enemies I mean the try to kill you dead kind.

The MC is very like able. His life has been pushed down what is seemingly a very rough roller coaster ride and he’s a survivor who is just going with the flow and doing what he feels is the right thing. As a result, he doesn’t know what he wants with his life, which I infer is because there is no time for him to sit down and think about it. It’s somewhat endearing.

I have only two complaints. One, the pacing is kind of fast. Two, the MC’s superpower is freakishly powerful. Like, so powerful that if the book continues for long enough then he could honestly become the equivalent of a nuclear deterrent. The saving grace for that is the protagonist uses his powers in really unique ways that are (most of the times) not extremely overwhelming for his enemies not because of a lack of ability but more because he doesn’t know how.

I’m going to say this is a solid 4.5/5 and round it up for voting purposes.

 

My only question is why isn’t this published? The world building is excellent, the protagonist and side characters are compelling, and the plot is exciting. For me, the best part about the story is that it explores geopolitics and imperialism in a way that is as far from 2d as possible. It’s not the quality of story I expected going in, and it definitely deserves to be in the library, especially given the other stories that have made the cut in original fiction.


5/5