Eight

Woah, i have been simply impressed by this story, i did not expect it to be this good just by looking at it, mainly because the title, cover and synopis do not do this story justice at all, there is simply so much i want to cover here.

A sixty-four old man suddenly finds himself in a unknown situation, with no idea how he got there at all, and discovers that he is not in his own body anymore, but has the body of a eight year old child. After finding civilization and being rejected by it, he goes in the wilds, a dangerous place to live in, atleast he has the neccesary skills to survive, but having the body of a eight year old does not make it easy.

Seriously, Eight is simply such a greatly written character, beyond the confusing start where he has no idea what to do at all. Even if he may be in the body of a eight year old, he still got to sixty four years old on earth, and that experience does show a lot throughout this story, he acts and think like a person of age, even if the new world does surprise him at times.  There is only one other character, and they havent really had any real communication, however the otter is such a great addition to this story, she is a great help to Eight, and can be quite strong on her own but lets Eight grow on his own, guiding him from time to time, while also being a mysterious character due to her very nature.

The world the author has crafted for this story, shows a ton of promise. So far not much has been revealed so far, especially of civilization, essentially nothing in that aspect. The system used in this story is sort of a standard one but also distinct enough on its own, though more is clearly going to be revealed eventually. Another small thing is that this story has cultivation elements used for its leveling. So due to the nature of this story, the world could use a lot of development, but i can assume that will come with time, as more chapters are released.

The plot is not exactly clear beyond Eight surviving in the new world he is in, but i dont want anything else currently, the focus on survival so far, it made this story quite the unique read, him being not alone at all makes it even better, even if there is still the problem of communication kind of. I can accept that this story eventually will move beyond that, but what i have seen here so far, gives me hope that the author is going to handle that well. Though just a warning, as said there is not any real plot so far, and that can be a problem for some readers, so if you want a plot driven story, you sadly wont find that here.

Near flawless grammar, if not utterly flawless, there are almost no typo's to be found in this story expect in maybe the newest released chapter, showing just how far the author went in making sure it is fully readable and that grammar would pose no problem to readers.

The author has just such a great writing style, it fully fits for this story, making every aspect of it blend very well together. The pacing is simply great, the slow pace of it so far feels just right, the story flows so well and it is easy to understand what is going on, but at times it may be confusing, however that is intentional, especially the start. There is also quite good detailing in this story, with a lot being described when neccesary without it getting overwhelming, also everything feels realistic so far which is another plus here.

I do fully recommend this story, it is a great addition to a underrespresented niche genre on royalroad, please give it a try, you may actually come to love this story like i did.

I do like it. It's well written from a technical standpoint and the characters are interesting. There are two things that unfortunately ruin it for me though and I don’t think I’ll continue reading.

One, the pacing is really slow. In the current chapter, chapter 31, there's still no plot development and the two characters—only two characters in the whole story—are stagnant in their development. It's in the same place as it was in the first chapter, trying to survive off the land of a new world without very much world building. It just feels like a survival fiction story akin to Gary Paulsen's Hatchet with a small sprinkling of fantasy elements. A slow pace isn't bad, and I would even say I prefer it, but it's so slow and so heavy on the almost "slice of life-ish" survival aspect that I don't feel like it's really delivering on it's initial premise.

The second point that I don't like is extremely subjective and may be a positive to some people. The thematic ideas that this work is drawing upon are very spiritual, i.e. inner strength. Those ideas don't really connect with me but they're well written and I would continue reading despite them if it wasn't for the fact that it extends into the magic system of the world. It goes into brujeria, which is Spanish Witchcraft, and chakra/qi.

I personally shy away from Chinese fantasy novels a lot because many of them have elements of the Wuxia genre which is similar to what this work seems to be shaping up to be. It's a very soft magic system. Yoga and martial arts fueled by the power of inner strength energy isn’t compelling to me and the spiritual ancestral magic is similar. They’re very flexible magic systems that don’t obey hard and fast rules, it’s convenient for the author but as a reader, and as someone that prefers hard magic systems, it feels unfulfilling and cheap to just hand wave away how the character got stronger with “inner strength” and the help of some spirits.

Grammar is excellent, spelling is excellent, characters feel real and lively, and the setting is unusual.

There are mysteries to pull a reader in, as well as day to day, chapter to chapter there are exciting happenings.

The overall structure of the story is good so far, while the twists have been reasonable. It has a 'man against the elements' feel to it. I was worried when the Otter was added that she would devolve into a pure comic relief and ruin the story, or contrary would be so helpful and useful that the feel of progress from surviving his environment would fade.

Instead, the author managed to thread the needle correctly on those two extremes by having a world so very hostile that the idea of surviving without help seems unrealistic.

While the writing is good, the place where the story really shines is the portrayal of the main character. He is smart, loving, adventurous and humorous.  It might be a very subjective view but he is the best MC I have seen in a really long time. 

Keep up the good work.

The story mostly seems to be writeen in a pretty good manner which makes the upcoming chapters more intriguing while also delivering the sense that something happened in this chapter itself and it was not all just a bridge to get to the main story or plot. Well done. 

This is such a fun book that has so much complexity to it that I can't wait to turn each page  (or virtual chapter)! I love how there are descriptions of how to survive in the wilderness and you gotta love the otter as well. ❤ I love Eight and can't wait to see what the future brings!

First things first, you should know that this story really takes its time for each scene. If you're looking for fast paced survival thrillers, this ain't it, chief. 

In this story we have a world of magic where an old man gets a second chance at life because a god happens to loot his corpse. However, the man ends up needing to fend for himself in a forest full of dangerous monsters with powerful magic because of a misunderstanding. Did I mention he's 8 years old now? The odds are pretty well stacked against him... But only in the beginning. 

This story takes one element of this world to explore every arc, but weaves it all together seamlessly, though slowly. 

The power system is a mix of Celtic druid craft, spiritualism, and cultivation. Monsters pop up among normal animals due to magic but nature's spirits (both the dead and druid protector kind) keep them at Bay. We have your basic cultivation here with absorbing monster cores to get stronger  but it's combined with the guidance of spirits and a system that teach skills naturally. On top of that, one can also use magic and qi which can be regained by meditation. It's a cool magic/cultivation mix that really works. 

The one trouble I have with the series so far is that there's really no threat yet. Sure, there's the threat of being out in the wilderness with nobody to help but a very fickle spirit, but it's no threatening church/empire/demon king. Hopefully that will change in the arc starting after chapter 30, where eight might just join civilization. 

Overall, it's a great read if you're a sucker for a good world system and are prepared to explore it for an extended period with pretty well written fights interspersed within. 

They've been spun in a thousand ways but some still manage to make them interesting.

I particularly love the fact that the MC has normal survival and hunting skills whilennot being some super soldier or things like that and also the way that he made him adapt to the traumatic experience.

I also like the skills he matured during the years which I am sure will become powerful tools in the future.

And thumbs up for Dr. Otter-sensei. :D

As for style story and everything else they're all good for me. I only noticed a grammatical error but that happens.

I like this story, it's got a lot of things I personally like and not a lot of things I personally dislike. Here are some of those things, starting with the more positive:

• First just to get it out of the way, the grammar and wording of the story is great. If you find a reason to dislike this story, it wont be the actual quality of the writing.
• I've said it before I'll say it again: always a fan of survival litrpgs from the perspective of an uninformed protagonist. That's basically all the first 27 chapters of this are, a guy trying to figure stuff out and survive.
• An actually reasonable explanation for the MC knowing a bunch of random stuff. A former documentarian (documentarist? documenter?) production guy, he's got vague memories of a bunch of interviews from experts. Also he's a fairly big nerd, which translates into caution and genre savvy.
• The story has a guy reincarnated in a kids body, but the guy doesn't start actually acting childish. Granted it's just him and an otter in the story, there could be a middle school arc eventually, but fingers crossed we don't get any of that.
• The skills are pretty gnifty impressions of the right way to do something, or knowledge skills are memories of him learning that knowledge that can be more or less detailed. No information downloads out of nowhere, no ancient spear fighting art tracers correcting his stance. I like the ratio of hard work to effective and interesting mc.
• Clear surface reason relatively early in the story for his reincarnation, while maintaining a fair bit of mystery to allow for some wonder. As in , readers know a god reincarnated him as a reward, but he never had a conversation with that god or an expositional character selection moment.
• Cool magic system that starts basic and leaves room to grow, again without making the MC OP. The capability for the MC to eventually be a powerhouse is certainly there, but it's not given to the character on a platter. Plus I like when there's qi stuff and Mana spell stuff in stories, personally.
• Always a fan of his type of build: 
  Spoiler: Spoiler

   all rounder magical and mundane Ranger classes.

   

• Character has a well developed backstory and personality, often a hard thing to pull off in a lone survival story. Really evokes some surprise emotions. Bonus points for managing that whilst not being cringy edgelord nonsense.
• Cute otter.
• Hints at a larger unexplored world, both natural and spiritual.
• Like an mc who struggles, the guy almost died a bunch of times without taking that final step, without it reeking if too much plot armor. Also like that the MC is cautious, and genuinely terrified of turkeys and everything else. The low level mobs like bugs and plants have almost killed him at basically every encounter.

Some less positive things

• Seriously detail oriented. I'm a huge fan of going into the weeds on survivalist details personally, the kind of guy who downloads and reads survival guides in case I'm ever in a plane crash, but I can see that being an issue for some readers.
• Because of the above, some people may find it to have a slow pace, but I think it has a good ratio of crafting minutia, learning, and life-or-death situations.
• This is just unfounded paranoia talking, but because of the detail to surviving in the first thirty chapters I worry that there may be a lack of an over arching plot. Like it seems like the author has a passion for describing making simple tools and stuff, and I hope this story doesn't stutter after the MC gets slightly more established. Although judging by the characters wonder at discovering magic, it could just turn into a wandering protag in a dangerous world sorta story, which if done correctly isn't necessarily a bad thing.
• Little bit plot armor-y, everything he survives is reasonably explained and consistent with the world he's in but still a lot of close shaves in the first few days. Also, he one shots the most dangerous (or at least coolest) thing he fights after almost dying to flies and fungi. That's a fairly specific and minor gripe of mine tho.
• While the story does give a reason, the mc does know or have access to a bunch of random knowledge suited for his current situation.

All in all I like it, it checks most of my boxes, neat world decent character fairly realistic, I highly recommend it.

When I read the first few chapters, I was immediately hooked and incredibly optimistic about the future of the novel. So far I haven't been disappointed. What so thoroughly impressed me was not the quality of the characters, though they are wonderful, hilarious and relatable. Nor was it the witty remarks or fun inner dialogue, despite how entertaining and creative they are.

What struck me as so incredible was the color that the author adds to the writing as a whole - something so rarely seen in RR novels that I barely hesitate in calling it precious! What 3seed has done is create a story that seems to breathe a life of its own. A cohesive ecosystem in the form of writing that speaks to you through quiet woobs of humor, and through the remensiences of lost passion and those dear to us. This novel, despite featuring an otter (along with her side-kick Eight) as the main character, is more human than any I've read in a long time.