Metal and Magic

I write this review as of chapter 30. Metal and Magix is a rarity on RRL in the sense that it reads and is structured like a book, and a pretty good one at that. The story follows "Candle" Enys, the daughter of conservative local nobility in a small vilage. Her blue eyes and lack of magic make her an outsider and an embarrassment. We follow her story as she tries to find her place in a world threatened by a looming crisis.

Style: clean, seamless and beautiful. The descriptions are really well done. I would say it's close to professional level if not already there.

Grammar: perfect, but I dropped a star because of a few typos. Nothing that a little bit of editing won't correct. It doesn't ruin the immersion.

Story score: I would say that it starts a bit slow, but at the same time the world building is simply insane. I am talking about Tolkien levels here. There is a social structure, a deep magic system, different people with different cultures etc... and it's all introduced progressively so as not to interrupt the narration.

Characters: brilliant. The characters are fleshed out and believable, even the secondary ones. The author manages to show their personalities in a handful of words and every signle one of them has depth and secrets we want to uncover.

Verdict: Metal and Magic is a good Fantasy book and should be enjoyed as such. If you liked the Wheel of Time or anything from Raymond Feist, you will enjoy it a lot. I can only recommend that you add it to your "followed" list.

Read what’s on the tin, I love this story. Real slow buildup, even now 37 chapters in and there are only tidbits here and there for the world building (in a good way: the world seems solid, the author just hasn’t spoon fed the readers with it). Even the smallest threats seem dangerous to a character who clearly has a unique ability, but not one lending her help in combat (yet).

So like I say, it reminds me of classic High Fantasy, specifically a Tad Williams’ story. Not quite as refined, the grammar needs help in places and the flow sometimes come off stilted, but I am really enjoying it.

This is one of royal road's gems. You know the ones. They pass by, unnoticed but by the canny few, and then one day they apear on the trending list and suddenly others like me can read. We can read and understand just how much passon and craft has gone into makeing this work of art. Well worth a read in my opionion. Even if it doesn't seem like you're type of thing, you may find yorself suprized.

Quite well written with excellent world building and even includes an interesting historical allegory about the rather violent exploration of Africa and the New World by Europe only this time the natives can defend themselve to a certain extent.

Grammar and overall writing style are perfectly serviceable, barring some minor typos.

Overall I say check it out, it's a lot better than anything else on Trending and the author seems to be willing to commit to the story based on how long it's been updating.

Baed on the title you might think this is a standard fantasy novel attempt on royalroad but it's really not. For starters, the quality of the writing, worldbuilding, characters and pacing is all top notch by royalroad standards, and I can't honestly tell much of a difference from a published work.

Secondly, and maybe more importantly, the magic system and world is actually interesting. This novel more resembles Sabriel or Codex Alera in that the world is populated with various creatures incorporeal and corporeal that we don't know much about, and the magic system seems inextricably linked with them. There's also this interesting ancestor cult thing going on, which also seems related with the magic system. The author also does a really good job at building suspense and danger in this first arc, and charcter motives, at least for right now, remain nebulous and interesting.

Overall so far I'd say this work is as good as gets on royal road and I'd highly recommend it. (So far ;p)

I’m loving the world building and story. Grammar is good and any mistakes there are don’t bother me. It’s a shame that this story has been out for months and hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves so I’m writing a review and I’ve never bothered to write one before so I‘m typing this to help support the story since I’m enjoying it so much.

I just finish the chapter 37

There is no perfect story so a 5 star rating is kind of weird but Candle's adventure deserve to be put in the highest sphere of Royal Road, next to Mother of Learning.

There is so many things to love about the story.

The characters are great. Candle is not helplessly naive or coldly smart but a very balance character and you can fell how much she is going to grow throw the story.
The side characters have the same quality of being balance. They are not comically evil or eyes-rolling good (I know it's not a real expression). At the beginning of the story I specially like the way the sister is describe and the fact that she is not a living cliche of the loving sister. Her affection seems real but not absolute in the face of social pressure or her own happiness. The writing doesn't force judgment to the characters and present them in the context of their world.

It's another quality of the narration, the comintment to the world where the story take place. In a way, the story is told like if we already knew the lore and we learn what it is about organicly. The social order, the magic, the politic ... you guess a lot at the beginning (which is intriguing without being frustating) and little by little you learn more through the way the story go. Not once the author decide to bend her way and drop a little info-dump to help the story and it's impressive (that why I talk about commintment). Especially because I guess it's harder for her to write that way without losing the reader.
This way of building the story kind of it remind me the Royal Assassin. But Metal & Magic is way more generous in magic ;-).

The writing is very good and I don't think somebody will have much to say against it. I appreciate the choice of certain word to less "modern" or "popular" synonym, it's particpating to the unique mood of the story.

The story although took a lot of unexcepted turn since the beginning, none of them are incomprehensible but they will surprise you if you read it like you read other Royal Road story. Not being able to predict where the story his going is very exciting.

Anyway, the story is good and you should read it.

The only bad point I could argue is how the chapters are split. They were few cliffhanger that had could been very frustating if the next chapter hadn't be available. The lenght and the content of the chapters are not bad but because of the way the story is read it's sometimes felt short. It's more of a feeling than a criticism.

Althought the title. The author doesn't seem closed to change it and it's true that Metal & Magic is not very original, even if it's kind of accurate. I don't say it's a bad title but a story of this quality and ambition deserve a much better one.

Now, stop reading my comment full of mistake and use your eyes to read Jemima's work, it's amazing.

Belivable characters, a story thats not self explanatory but lets you taste the world she lives in. Good all around worldbuilding. Magic system has a flavor of the old suspicious tales told by old religious/witchcraft belives.

Creepy, yet a quite solid story

Good grammar, good storyline.

This is not my cup of tea, at all, yet i find myself unable to stop reading. Very much deserve a 5/5. 

This story is fantastic and a gem I didn’t discover until just today. RIP me because I should be getting ready for work as I’m instead writing this review.

This story places somewhere in my top 10 royal road stories. Yes, it’s good. Yes, you should read it.

In case you’re wondering what else is in my top ten and if you may or may not have similar tastes, here they are: Mother of Learning, Forge of Destiny,  Metaworld Chronicles,  A Practical Guide to Evil, and Super Minion

#IsThisInTheCosmere, #Interesting Magic System, #NotCardboardSideCharacters, #RationalProtagonist, #GunsvsMagic, #OriginalWorld

A good story set in a unique fantasy setting. Looking forward for new chapters!