A Journey of Black and Red

I had no idea what to expect before I started this story, but straight from the beginning I was hooked because of this story's unique (on RR) and archaic use of vocabulary and sentence structure. I love the way it is told, it is easy to read and also incredibly fascinating.

I read all 26 chapters (so far) in one sitting because I was so drawn into the story and eager to find out where Ariane's journey to become a full fledged vampire would take her next. 

It is descriptive but does not suffer from long drawn out sentences. The action scenes are well written and informative of what happens and there's some good humour sprinkled here and there. 

Regarding grammar; I don't recall finding any mistakes however there were some typos here and there. They are few and far between so they did not deter my reading experience. 

Honestly, 10/10. Good job & keep on writing.

~ 

EDIT: Just reached chapter 70, the story’s still as great as ever. We’re now quite a bit further in Ariane’s journey and the pacing’s still the same. There has been no lack of intrigue, vengeance and Hunts among others. 

The Journey of Black and Red is a story about a young girl named Ariane that has been turned into a Vampire. The story is a Dark Tale, and those trigger warnings are serious. The story churns your gut and makes you extremely uncomfortable in the first arc, yet that is the exact reason why I believe people should read this. It makes you connect to tragedy, to cruelty, and to the vicious nature that permeates Vampire society and it is oh so thrilling. 

The First Arc is a survival story, and it is dark, gruesome, demeaning, and generally extremely uncomfortable as you watch her struggle against her fate. Yet, later on, when you see her succeed, the joy, the relief, the comfort, the victory is all the sweeter. 

This story is weird in that it stars at the darkest moments the series has to offer, and the first arc is a struggle against your queasy gut to read through, yet, I implore you to read on, because the story is not about struggle itself, it is also about victory. 

The second arc and onwards have a much more light tone and you get to explore the world with Ariane as she travels around the world on her escapades. 

The World itself is 1800s Earth, and with the lifespan of a Vampire, we get to explore a lot of historical moments and how they translate into the fantasy setting. Personally I find myself excited for the 1900s and WW1 and WW2 to see how things will be when we get that far in the timeline (if we get that far in the timeline). Seeing the historical society mix in with our fantasy one I can only be in awe at the mastery with which it has been accomplished. No complaints there. 

The Characters are one of the strongest points of the story: From the first page itself you will find yourself drawn in by the dialogue. With an extremely well fleshed out personality we get to see her struggle in accepting her new reality and how she changes over time. Growing, learning, improving. The side characters also have extremely interesting personalities and overall it is the force that drives the stories (along with a masterfully planned plot and exciting events of course). 

The Way that Vampires were handled is also something I find myself taking points from. The Bestial nature, the unique language, the various unique body language, and traits bring to life a fantasy creature of the night in their full glory. I love how each vampire feels like a person of themselves and does not instead succumb to a stereotypical vampire role instead. That along with the struggle of the Thirst and her predatory nature as a vampire it is oh so well done and a treat to read. 

The only thing I can think that I can complain about is that the pace feels off sometimes and that is very rare. 

Overall a Must-Read for those that can handle the first Arc.

TL;DR Give it a try.

This story hits all the right places for me, but the best parts are the vampires and the protagonist. The vampires are portrayed as true monsters, they are mysterious and frightening in their nature, not just their supernatural powers.

The protagonist is lovable and believable. I found myself giggling reading her thoughts on her circumstances. 

And the author’s style is unique and quite enjoyable.

To sum up, the story is great, the characters are fun, go read it :3

Good writing, story isn't for me though. If you enjoy reading about vampires then definitely try this story out.

 I am not normally a fan of vampire stories but I find this one to be a story I look for updates for a couple of reasons.  First the MC is really well done.  LIkeable, realistic, makes mistakes and grows in knowledge and power slowly.  You feel liker her journey is your journey.   SecondI like the slowly developing world that while it has many normal vampire tropes, it still feels original and interesting.  I look forward to this story adding to its world.

It's one of the better things on RoyalRoad, a really fun read.  I just read the whole thing in one sitting. If you haven't read it yet, I absolutely do reccomend that you take the time to do so. 10/10 would reread

This is a story I didn't realise I needed until I found it.

This is a story of real vampires, they drink blood, sleep during the day and definitely don't sparkle. 

The plot is fabulous, exciting and interesting the main character has to fight for her victories and it doesn't get boring.

The characters are engaging and the non-human mentality is well done.

All in all, it's a good read and worth your time.

(review written after reading all 23 chapters currently available)

Finally a Story to at least temporarily stop my craving for Vampyr or World of Darkness storys.

With a nice pacing and good worldbuilding similar to WoD it is a nice read. 

My one criticism is that the first ark could have been a bit more detailed with one or two "missions" more or more discovery of the underlying workings of the supernatural world. At the same time it avoids the usual needed Infodump and such information can be included when needed.

I for one would enjoy a deeper look into magic at a later date, till then

Looking forward to MOOOARR :)

Let's start with the world. We are in 1800 Louisiana and it gets sold by Napoleon to an emerging USA. I never read about a story in that setting. Just that simple fact made it enjoyable to me. The author does a really good job at making it believable and transporting you there by the way the characters speaks and their views. For example, black people are slaves, natives are savages, women should be proper and not do certain things.

The setting is nice but what about vampires? Indeed it's not the real 1800 Louisiana and it's not our world either. There is multitude of magical beings. Vampires being at the forefront in this one. They are pretty much the classical sort. A notable difference imo is that they all have this predatory part under the surface that is a part of them and that they can unleash or more worrying lose control of. They are predators, damned monsters that should be put down. Not your romance interest.

Now let's get to the plot. Until now I feel like there is not much to say. It's a story about the mc surviving. She discovers and has to adapt to her new state while being threatened by others. The most important here is the characters.

Ariane. What a godamn good character. It's like she just Charms you through the story. She fights relentlessly to survive and to get her freedom. Not only her freedom from other vampires but also freedom from her impulses. She has to fight the Thirst to still be in control of herself, to still be a bit of her old self. Her death was horrible. Her new life started really bad but she still had a sliver of hope. She gets what she fights for. It's not just all dark and gloomy. We also get wholesome moments.

The side characters are good too. They all have their own traits and are consistent with themselves. Loth felt a bit like a deus ex machina to me but it's consistent with his personnality. He feels lonely and also helps other magical beings. Like I said there is not really a overarching plot as of yet. Mc is still adapting to her new life and just trying to survive at the moment. So the characterisation has to be good and the author deliver.

If it's so good why not 5/5 stars? A thing has been nagging me for a while and it's how easy vampires are to kill. During the day they are absolutely powerless. Does that mean I could kill the Devorer myself? He has no humans vassals to protect him. Why did the assault of the order failed so hard? They would for sure launch it at dawn.

My real problem here is that Ariane doesn't ask herself those questions. She has proven to be pretty smart but at no point does she wonder about those things. It's literally her biggest weakness. Not like she can forget it, it happens every day. One of the first question you would have is how do others vampires palliate to this fatal weakness. Yet she doesn't. Her magical companions don't seem to know anything about it either it seems. Maybe it's just an oversight by the author but it's a pretty huge one then when it's the biggest weakness of vampires.

This is the first time I've done a review, but I am really liking this story and feel that others should know of its worth.   If you want a story that is consistent in quality and updating, has an author that knows what they want to do with the story, who is doing a great job with what they are working with, then read A Journey of Black and Red.  Do note this does not have an OP protagonist, so heads up there if that is what you like to read. 

 Though i feel like i could have expressed my thoughts better, i sincerely hope you give this story a chance and a least read a little of it.