In the Shadow of Heaven
by javert
- Profanity
- Traumatising content
Yan BarCarran is the orphan daughter of a spacefaring clan, about to graduate from the school where people with the one-in-a-million God given power are sent to train. She's about be chosen for an apprenticeship which will set her down a lifelong career path. She's hoping for a research position, but instead, she's given an opportunity that will puts the weight of the universe on her shoulders.
Aymon Sandreas is the de facto leader of the Empire, wielding the unfettered power that being a theocratic dictator provides. But he's getting older, and he needs to choose a successor. He needs someone whom he can shape into a leader: someone who will carry on the traditions of the Empire, someone who will be able to make hard and correct decisions, and someone who he can stand to spend the remainder of his mortal life working with. He picks three students: the talented and thoughtful Yan BarCarran, the impulsive and striving Sid Welslak, and the mysterious and troubled Kino Mejia. Only one of them will survive their apprenticeship to take his place.
Yan's life quickly spirals into chaos: her best friend, Sylva, is in love with her; she can't figure out how to make her new coworkers get along; she hates the man who is supposed to train her to survive possible assassinations; and, on top of all of that, she learns that the Empire has been conducting a secret genocidal war for centuries. If she's lucky enough to survive, it will be her job to lead it. As it turns out, though, surviving that long is a big if.
Updates often.
ACT ONE: New Creatures with New Hearts
POVs: Yan, Aymon
Complete act. Chapters 1-42. Approx word count is 225,000 words.
To catch up on the story faster, you may consider reading the abridged act one.
Table of Contents / Reference Sheet for part one can be found here. Contains spoilers.
ACT TWO: The Realms of the Unreal
POVs: Yan, Aymon, Sylva, Sid. +Kino bonus chapter.
Complete act. Chapters 43-89. Approx word count is 329,000 words.
To catch up on the story faster, you may consider reading the abridged act two.
ACT THREE: The Eyes that See the Glory
POVs: Yan, Aymon, Sylva, Sid. +Halen bonus chapter.
Act currently in progress. Chapters 90-current.
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Engaging character/story-Great mix of magic & tech
One of the best-written pieces that I have read in the past year, not just here on RR, but in all fiction by traditionally published and self-published writers. The voice is solid, consistent, and interesting. The world-building feels deep and complex, but so far no info-dumps, just well-laid bits of description and trivia and song lyrics at the start of each chapter. This is a world where religion matters, but one that is built on science and engineering and "magic" - not sure if it is only telekinesis and telepathy, or if it is "Force"-like in the manner of Star Wars, but so far it is a great mix of technology, magic, religion, politics, spacer vs. grounder culture, Imperial-capital planet vs. Rimworld-planet culture, and the switch from being a student at the end of college to entering the working world - not a coming-of-age as such, but more of a story about going from theory to practice. Also, a nice change of pace from the evil/amoral cultivation societies or apocalypse stories that I see much more frequently. A great read that I highly recommend as of Chapter 10.
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Pretty good.
The story is nice but, the plot progresses so slow at times. The main reason is because there is a lot of different pov's which do start to get annoying in my opinion.
I like most characters. Grammar is great.World building is also done pretty good. Just that the pace is too slow.
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Great
This was the first work which really got my attention on RoyalRoad. And software at it managed to keep me reading till chapter nine. The plot is well established well in the early chapters, and Yan has her own doubts and motivations.
As much as she is still someone with agency. Her back story was well woven into the main plot. And give a good clue as to what drives her. The world manages to expand and continue to be fascinating, while revealing the more intricate layers behind.
It wasn't entirely to my taste, but it has managed to surprise and retain my attention. Will recommend to someone who likes science.fiction fantasy, with an eye for well thought out world building and good explanations.
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Overly vague and plodding at the start
This fiction suffers from some glaring issues despite the general competence of the author. First is the absence of a prologue; there is no hook presented to entice further reading and instead we are immediately dumped into the life of lesbian spacer girl, which was frankly quite dull. Second is the overabundance of inane detail; we learn much about how to get from A to B, what is eaten and where, how rooms are arranged, etcetera. But when it comes to important world building information we are left in the dark.
Everyone we encounter in the first 10 chapters seems quite impressed with Yan’s mentor but we never learn anything about what they know that makes him so renowned. Likewise we are told that she lives in a galactic empire of sorts where a standardized religion seems to play a large role but again no details. Also Yan’s motivations for accepting her mentor and thereby placing her life and happiness in jeopardy are quite vague. This isn’t a good start to entice continued reading if you cannot tell.
As such I’ve found it difficult to motivate myself to read past the first, quite long, 10 chapters as the details and impressions of an interesting future story are sadly absent. Apart from a general lack of detail of the wider universe even the powers of the protagonist are only vaguely alluded to. Instead we are treated to a litany of lengthy description and dialogue which I can only call inane as they have little to do with an actual plot.
I’m sure that the story does eventually progress and those details are given but know that you have a bit of a slog to reach them prospective readers.
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Beautiful
A facinating sci-fi setting, which RR has a large lack of, with a small dash of 'magic'. The theological thread doesn't come off as overbearing, but mearly an element of the setting/character(s) and I thought well used (personally, my philosophy would probably most accuratly fall under 'agnostic theism' for however that tempers your reading of my words.)
I have a small ding due to character(s) who are/become important, but have only learned superficial information/growth. This is exacerbated due to other important characters having direct PoV chapters so we have a lot of information on them directly, which skews the growth/information as far as Main Characters to be lopsided; atleast, as of the writing of this review. Caveat, there is a bit of illusion as this is a web serial rather than a book, so the separation between distinct 'books' is heavily blurred and techniques that work between books aren't as easily effective/influencing on a regularly-expanding story which the serial-posting brings.
Still, I await each chapter with bated breath- like a flower slowly blooming, each petal unfurling is more facinating than the last.
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Amazing character growth
This story features some of the best character character growth I have seen in a story. Characters actually react to situations and change because of them, add this to engaging world-building, interesting polotics and an awesome mix of magic and sci-fi and you have one of my favorite story's. :)
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Well written
Despite generally not liking religion or most religious themes, and the annoying fact that every character so far is either gay or disabled for whatever reason, this story and characters are well written and enjoyable. Even if you're a bit leery, I recommend giving it a try because it draws you into the story and makes the characters come to life.
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thanks for the blurb
Thanks for the blurb describing the type of book it is. I wish more authors added that information.
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Excellent, captivating story
I'm not very good at reviews, and moreover, I'm not very good at saying good things about what I review (I'm more inclined to point out the negatives), so this won't be too long. I'll preface it by saying this currently one of my favorite stories on this site and I also believe it's one of the better-written ones.
I guess I'll go over the scoring categories.
Style: TBH, not entirely sure what this category is for. The writing style doesn't have anything wrong that I've noticed.
Grammar: I can't remember noticing a single issue with the grammar reading this. I'm sure some exists, but it's minor at most.
Story: The story seems to be well thought out, there's actual progression, direction, etc, which immediately puts it leagues ahead of the vast majority of content on this site. The main issue for me with this story is that it's slow. There were many times when I just wanted things to happen already. This is the only thing keeping me from giving this story 5 stars overall. I think the main reason for it feeling so slow is because there are many parallel threads, especially in Act 2.
Characters: The characters are consistent and individual. They have progression. They behave realistically, or at least believably. No Mary Sue, characters other than the MC are actually characters as well, etc.
The setting is interesting and, as far as SciFi goes, highly consistent. I also enjoy the fact that rather than blatantly violating the laws of physics at random points and then following them at others, the story breaks the laws of physics in specific, consistent ways and generally follows them outside that. There are some things about the setting that are a bit confusing and left unexplained (as of chapter 94 anyway), but it's generally good.
Overall, I'd give it 5 stars if not for the pacing.
I'll leave off with praise for the author for their consistent bi-weekly updates.
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Soundly Constructed Characters, wonderful Sci-Fi
A great example of well written, character driven, science fiction. The story is told from multiple perspectives, usually one per chapter, all of which prove interesting. The story is fairly slow paced, driven by the characters and their decision making process.