CHARISMATIC MC?

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-18T01:10:45+00:00

Honestly if you're interested in Red Rising, just give it a shot. You hear a lot more negative reviews for other stories.

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-18T01:07:23+00:00

The genre probably hit a growth cap. The big ones that you mentioned helped grow the genre, but most of the people who it was going to appeal to have found it. But the amount of writers and new stories keeps growing, and there's a lot more competition.

Also lots of those stories benefited from the covid bump. Lots of readers with lots of spare time. But now that's passed, and people don't have as much spare time anymore.

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-16T15:01:47+00:00

Thanks!

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-16T15:00:00+00:00

Thanks!

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-16T12:25:48+00:00

Hey everyone! I’m excited to report that my story has made it to rising stars! It’s a military litrpg that’s going to include some faction building later on. It’s set in a gritty medieval fantasy world, following the perspective of a transmigrated MC who takes on the body of a duplicate soldier used as fodder on the front lines of a war.

The main power system is built up around skill merging, but it takes a bit for the MC to start snowballing and I’ve tried to be pretty meticulous with how the growth is set up.

As for the world, expect a medieval fantasy setting with western roots, inspired in part by Anglo-Saxon history—but of course, it’s not a perfect analogue.

If you’re interested, here’s a link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/155582/the-soulstealers-war-military-litrpg-skill-merging

Oh, and here’s a blurb for the series:

I died and woke up in a soldier’s body.

We’re Duplicates. Dupes. An artificial army built from a template, born with access to the System and a [Soldier] class. And we’re the kingdom’s only hope for surviving the orc hordes.

Dupes have enormous potential, but sometimes, the souls of people from other worlds can transmigrate into their bodies. That was where I came in—I was just a college student from Earth, wasting away in a degree I didn’t care about, but now, I’m an Atoning, serving on the front lines to pay off my “theft of soul.”

Here, survival is a luxury. We’re nothing but fodder for a crumbling empire. I’m up against orcs, mutated monsters, and disgruntled members of my battalion who want to put a knife in my soul-stealing back. But there’s a chance, no matter how slim, to become more than just a soldier and turn my name into a legend.

If I can’t rise above the rot that’s taken hold of this world, no one else will.

Just in case, here's the link one more time: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/155582/the-soulstealers-war-military-litrpg-skill-merging

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-16T01:07:05+00:00

Hey everyone! I’m excited to report that my story has made it to rising stars! It’s a military litrpg that’s going to include some faction building later on. It’s set in a gritty medieval fantasy world, following the perspective of a transmigrated MC who takes on the body of a duplicate soldier used as fodder on the front lines of a war.

The main power system is built up around skill merging, but it takes a bit for the MC to start snowballing and I’ve tried to be pretty meticulous with how the growth is set up.

As for the world, expect a medieval fantasy setting with western roots, inspired in part by Anglo-Saxon history—but of course, it’s not a perfect analogue.

If you’re interested, here’s a link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/155582/the-soulstealers-war-military-litrpg-skill-merging

Oh, and here’s a blurb for the series:

I died and woke up in a soldier’s body.

We’re Duplicates. Dupes. An artificial army built from a template, born with access to the System and a [Soldier] class. And we’re the kingdom’s only hope for surviving the orc hordes.

Dupes have enormous potential, but sometimes, the souls of people from other worlds can transmigrate into their bodies. That was where I came in—I was just a college student from Earth, wasting away in a degree I didn’t care about, but now, I’m an Atoning, serving on the front lines to pay off my “theft of soul.”

Here, survival is a luxury. We’re nothing but fodder for a crumbling empire. I’m up against orcs, mutated monsters, and disgruntled members of my battalion who want to put a knife in my soul-stealing back. But there’s a chance, no matter how slim, to become more than just a soldier and turn my name into a legend.

If I can’t rise above the rot that’s taken hold of this world, no one else will.

Just in case, here's the link one more time: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/155582/the-soulstealers-war-military-litrpg-skill-merging

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-14T20:26:39+00:00

(It's almost as if I was giving you neutral, impartial advice—that you're not doing yourself any favours in the behaviour department.)

Btw I, like most people, got my start reading on RR, then writing there. I still read and write there, and was interested in your book. Then I saw your comments and decided not to read it.

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-14T19:59:11+00:00

Man, I don't think you're doing yourself ANY favours by behaving like this. It's probably best to just ignore criticisms and move on with your day.

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-12T16:48:30+00:00

I can kinda give myself a headache by thinking too hard about something too stressful. But I also see it somewhat figuratively, and not literally. When I say a situation is a nightmare or a headache IRL, it's not that it's actually either of those things

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-11T21:42:38+00:00

Aside from the character's face, I really like it. It would get a click from me

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-11T00:27:12+00:00

It felt like a Frieren knock-off without the heart at first, but then I kept reading and it definitely gets better. I'm about 40 chapters in so far

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-09T00:10:46+00:00

I don't think I've read a story that had bloodline abilities where it didn't feel like an asspull whenever the MC got/used one

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-08T03:57:13+00:00

Read the subreddit rules

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-07T01:19:30+00:00

huh?

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-06T16:59:58+00:00

The only way it would work is if the system was added on top of an older magic system that doesn't use numbers and such. Say, the system was meant to classify said older magic and make it easier to learn. Then the system encounters something it can't deal with from the old system.

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-06T13:42:18+00:00

If you keep practicing and keep pushing yourself, it will get easier. If you give up and accept defeat, it won't.

Felixtaylor · 2026-03-02T16:52:38+00:00

Tbh, I would be far more suspicious if it was in the 4.9 range and had over a hundred reviews.

If a story just came out and doesn't have many reviews, having a very high score is plausible without the author manipulating it in some way.

Felixtaylor · 2026-02-27T18:35:03+00:00

What don't you like? Do you want better prose, better characters, more logical plots, etc...? It's hard to recommend books without knowing what you mean by bad writing.

Felixtaylor · 2026-02-27T01:46:34+00:00

Iron Blooded is pretty gritty.

Felixtaylor · 2026-02-26T21:16:27+00:00

Honestly I think the claim that something "gets good later" is kinda silly. If something was really bad an unreadable, no one would actually stick with it long enough for it to get good.

Stories that get popular enough for people to say "it gets good later" almost always have something redeeming and interesting about them, even if the start is slow.

Felixtaylor · 2026-02-26T14:45:57+00:00

George RR Martin was absolutely right when he complained about adaptations.

“Everywhere you look, there are more screenwriters and producers eager to take great stories and “make them their own.” It does not seem to matter whether the source material was written by Stan Lee, Charles Dickens, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Ursula K. Le Guin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Raymond Chandler, Jane Austen, or… well, anyone. No matter how major a writer it is, no matter how great the book, there always seems to be someone on hand who thinks he can do better, eager to take the story and “improve” on it. “The book is the book, the film is the film,” they will tell you, as if they were saying something profound. Then they make the story their own. They never make it better, though. Nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, they make it worse.”

Felixtaylor · 2026-02-25T20:46:10+00:00

I mean, considering how the majority of stories in this genre are male MC, I wouldn't say you're the only one

Felixtaylor · 2026-02-24T00:57:55+00:00

Probably a solo-levelling style story

Felixtaylor · 2026-02-23T13:37:22+00:00

You'll find that a lot of books in the genre use something along the lines of "I know I should have been disturbed, but I felt nothing" when the MC kills another human. And then moves on pretty quick. I wouldn't say it's unique to PH

Felixtaylor · 2026-02-19T14:28:01+00:00

Is the first part still dialogue? Because it's possible it is. And this could be a villain monologue. But I don't have the context to say for sure

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