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Bookworld Online: Marsh Man
Bookworld Online: Marsh Man
470.5k Views 18010 Favorites 321 Chapters 0 Chapters/Week 1065 Readers
4.2 (124 ratings)
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Synopsis

Welcome dear friends, to the Virtual Reality Full Immersion System called Bookworld Online!

Your name is David Drake and you are a 10 year old slave to the Marsh Hag. You were bought from your parents when you were only a small child at two years old. You don't really remember your old family at all. That's a good thing, since you would hate them on sight for selling you to her. All you've know for your whole life is pain. You are usually quickly healed and receive a lot of training and experience as her unofficial apprentice.

It's unofficial because she would never pay to have you registered as an actual apprentice. To everyone else, you are just the boy she took pity on and brought into her home. What they don't know is that you are much more than that. So much more.

You are her food. She uses you as her own personal buffet and she indulges herself quite often. You even have the permanent scars to prove it. You have learned many things from her, mostly without her knowing, since you have been helping more and more with her spell work the last few years and her potion making. The only parts you can't do are the magic condensing rituals that her potions require and the mana infusions that a lot of her other creations need.

Do you wish to initiate the Main Storyline with these parameters?

Please Note: I publish daily.
Second Note: I changed this story to a fan fiction. It is based on Swamp Boy (https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/4342/swamp-boy). The old story (on another site) is about 4 years old and was dropped after 19 long chapters. The author hasn't been online since then, so I figured it was safe to do my own take on it.

Genre
ActionAdultFanfictionFantasyMaturePsychologicalSlice of LifeTragedy
Fandom
Bookworld Online
Tags
Body Tempering Character Growth Childish Protagonist Complex Family Relationships Disabilities Discrimination Disfigurement Distrustful Protagonist Fantasy Creatures Fantasy World Fast Learner Harsh Training Interconnected Storylines Sadistic Characters Virtual Reality
Related Series
Summoned Again? (Shared Universe)
Table of Contents 321
Reviews 13
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    FIEND
    Status: c120
    1.  Its aight. Better than most novels on this site. Lets start with MC.  The character MC is easy to like. He is intelligent, but naive. Incredibly fast at learning, but also slow at other things. He grows as a person and realizes no matter how smart he is, there is always smarter more apex predators out there in the world.
    2. The style was unique, well done.
    3. Grammar - flawless
    4. As for the story, it is  well mixed and seasoned with adventure, action, drama and cringy romance. It's understandable, not everyone can write respectable romance with strong ml. You will find yourself journeying with the MC from his origins at the swamplands with his fostermother/abuser/ to the army and eventually the cliche Magical Academy Arc (hit or miss troupe, miss on this one, but its not too bad when you watch MC smart mouth and take a literal piss outta everyone and get away with it)
    5. Plot armor thicker than mc's foreskin, but it's explained well.
    6. Abuse was done very realistically, it wasn't downplayed or over exaggerated, and the effects of PTSD were shown, and not brushed off like some novels do
    There should be one thing to be warned of. This is a borderline harem. It isn't harem by dictionary definition, but it teases the troupe. Every women you will meet in the story, practically bend over and beg the MC to f**k her w either  actions or intentions.  The women in this story are clearly just for fanservice, and  are parodies of actual women. They are just made to boost his image. Bend over bitches.
    Below is just a general rant on the women of this story. Feel free to skip
    His first s*xual experience was with his abuser. The author justifies it by saying it was consensual but I think there are far more darker undertones to when your abuser f**ks you, consensual or not. If author wanted to go abuse route, it would have been reasonable to say MC should have been somewhat traumatized by the act.
    But in anycase, his first real s*xual interest he has is with this 30 yo stank milf. It was repulsive and sugarcoated to say the least that the only women in the sh*tty village that sympathized with the abused MC had watched him grow up from age 10, chooses to be his lover over all the f**king things she could have been to him. Like this women could have chosen to be the mother figure he never had, an older sister, a trusted friend. But no. She chooses to f**k him in her desperation over the lack of a real man in her life. Overall just very slimy vibes from all those s*x scenes with her. Later on we see a really unrealistically written army scene where women share the same barracks and dorms as men. (Imagine how many women get knocked up in that barrack alone). Ofc there is another shameless uncalled for fanservice where yet again another women bends over for MC. Well, its not as bad as with Deane the milf, but the army chick and MC have this weird s*xual tension.
    Another convenient fan service is when the farewell present from the Commander is a goodbye kiss. Conveniently the commender is a female, but imagine they were a dude instead. A respectable women, once again s*xualized, MC practically bones her over a kiss and its brushed off with an apology out. Imagine the amount of herpes in that camp tho. 
    He later gets engaged to a descent women, but his fiances friend/relative Selena fights over MC. Idk if its a joke or not, but we get yet another thirsty whore after MC d*ck just to show how amazing MC already is, in case we didnt realize yet.
    I think the worst of all these cases was this random mage. She gets so f**king wet when MC shows off his boat magic that she throws her panties at him before she steps off. Lastly we get this old ass mofo librarian who tries seducing him. When that doesn't work, she takes him onto her f**king lap and cooes this man like a child and kisses him like some mother bird while they bond over slavery. Its disgusting. Idk, call me crazy but it's a shame that women are just portrayed as nothing more than fan service and not as respectable individuals. I guess I expected too much when the author sets the bar high with his story telling. But do be warned when I say that the s*xualization and "romance" is just as cringe as your average Japanese dense isekai harem plot.

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    I *highly* suggest anyone that reads this story pay very close attention to the "Tragedy" tag. 'Cause this story *earns* that tag. Over and over and over again to the point of outright Grimderp. It's got an interesting plot, no lie, but yea. Be ready for this to *start* dark, and *stay* dark. Guro warnings as well.

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    YBone
    Status: 318 the end is here

    "Marsh Man" is a very well written "realistic" fantasy novel. "Realistic" because the author may write anything he so desires to fit in a fantasy build enviroment that doesnt fit in our real life or known form of community or society but still made it so that the protagonists way of life feels so real. The protagonist starts with nothing as he slowly starts to earn everything he has to his person as the story progresses. If the author reads this review, please remove the name of the protagonist from this novels summary and prologue chapter. It would be in the spirit of your story as your protagonist realy starts with nothing. 

    The story itself has been written in such a way that you can feel with the protagonist as he stumbles through his life. As the years flow and he gets older we as the readers see what choices he makes and what consequences can follow in all their glory. The painful ones and the beatifull ones. Grammar and choice of words lets you read every chapter from start to finish without feeling a weird pause. Story elements the author wrote and left open are slowly being reintroduced and explained as the time in the story flows. Some you see coming, some are not good or fully explained but most are very well integrated and beautifully used. This novel earned his tags and I would recommend to first read the first 10 to 20 chapters as they represent the "tone" of this story before deciding to read further or droping it.

    I personally read from chapter 0 to now and I was hooked. It was something else to read after so many other novels that felt dumbed down for a wider audience. I would like to thank the author for his work and im looking forward to how you finish your work of art.

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    Ligma_Bolz
    Status: completed

    It's really a great story. I really suggest you guys who stumbled here to read this. There's a slow start and yeah I know it's really boring to read something like that but pls try to push through it. Be careful of the 'tragedy' tag tho. It's not for weak minded folks coz there's a lot of painful parts. Like LOTs of it. 

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    Coheed27
    Status: 320 epilogue

    There are so many things to say about this story. First, it’s a Great read. Second, it’s a journey. Betrayal is a constant and strong companion throughout this story. Betrayal of friendship, trust, friends, family, everything that could be betrayed was betrayed. Frustration for the MC and at the MC will exist in this story too. The MC is not a perfect person. He is strong willed and sure of the steps he takes in everything he does. However, his kindness towards people that show him kindness is often abused. He lashes out in anger to retaliate. The characters that are around the MC are all nuanced and flushed out enough to not feel 2D. You can understand the characters motivations and it’s never like “evil character will evil” because that’s what an evil character should do. 

    The MC was intentionally left ignorant by his master, his associates, his “friends”, his leaders for almost his whole life. The MC is a force but the story proves that even though the MC is strong, without knowledge and how things work in the society, he can and will get manipulated. 

    I recommend reading this story. There are painful parts, their are emotional parts, but the pay off is worth it. 

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    Kuroblitz
    Status: 287 settling back in

    This will probably the last chapter I will read on this novel or maybe continue it if I get my emotions sort out... Reading this has been an emotional Rollercoaster of a journey, once you start to settle it suddenly turns around. With all the sh*t that happened with the MC I just couldn't keep up with it 

    Spoiler

    especially since all ships leads to doom... It's still a novel I would recommend especially since it has a great character building

    Ps: I will probably read some generic slice of life webnovel after this to sort out myself

    [collapse]

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    Mr.MooFace
    Status: C244

    Absolutely flawless and captivating writing.

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    1 Likes · Like
    EternalFortune
    Status: 149 academy antics part seventeen – the...

    It's a dark grim story, written based on a a medieval swords and magic where there's pretty much dumb politics and racism along with slavery which give you more dark nuances within. 

    It's a game, but it's more offline game with VN like setting in a virtual realistic way of things and reincarnated person role playing game. 

    Hey, it's fun. If you've read the author other's series called morbis, then you'd understand thr character is like that one with more emotions within and less cold blooded. 

    The MC is smart, but dumb at the same time. A diamond within a scrap dumb where the slave owner might be better than most of the wizard he met... 

    I can only say just read them, I'm still reading them myself so I can't say much about it, but it'd potential.  Hope the author ahine those potential so I can enjoy them more than I do now... 

    Don't give virtual cookie bokuboy, give a real one lol ??

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    idulfingz
    Status: 251 academy antics conclusion

    Decent writing, but the worst kind of Beta pushover MC. So much of the story doesn't make sense because the MC just lets everyone abuse and push him around when it is convenient for the plot. The same MC is blatantly stronger, faster, and smarter than literally everyone around him... He just takes it because reasons? He could leave at any time and no one could stop him, but he just does what they tell him to. It's like swiss cheese with all the plot and logic holes. The story has so much potential, I kept reading with the hope it would improve. Unfortunately, the MC just becomes more of a wet noodle as the story progresses.

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    Spoiler

    All in all, this is a very good story. I especially liked the beginning, because the novel didn't baby the MC but outright mistreated him, abused him, battered him - a very rare occurence.

    This makes the novel very satisfying because we see MC overcome his past traumas and grow from them, making the character growth so much more meaningful.

    The style, the flow, the grammar are not spotless, but much above average of this site.

    The characters are, for the most part, not two-dimensional.

    It seems to have a direction and a plan, and the world elements don't just come out of the author's ass on the fly. Everything seems nicely interconnected, no loose threads are left hanging. The story, in fact, is beautifully polished and easy to read. I cannot, in good conscience, give it less than 5 stars.

    But it has its flaws.

    I will be very honest. I was recommended this novel because it was said to me that it had a tortured MC, and I read it with according expectations. This is important, because the flaws I will be pointing out largely have to do with these expectations rather than the quality of the novels itself - i.e. If you don't have the same expectations, these flaws may not be flaws in your eyes. Accordingly, the good sides I will talk about will not be necessarily good for all readers.

    At first, I was delighted with how the story went. MC was abused, mistreated and manipulated in every grotesque way ranging from verbal abuse to having his whole body mutulated and sometimes s*xually harrassed. It was delightfully painful and enraging to read, I loved to hate the hag who was so terrible to MC.

    [collapse]

    Spoiler

    after the hag went somewhere and left him

    [collapse]

    the story then took a turn for the "worse".

    Spoiler

    MC, metaphorically speaking, now conquered the boss area of the game and went to the beginner area to dunk on the noobs, i.e. Now, without the big bad hag MC was the biggest and baddest boy in the game

    [collapse]

    there was no longer any tension. Some clown tries to mistreat the mc?

    Who do they think they are? The hag? MC makes quick work of them.

    Some problem arises? Hee, that isn't a problem for the MC who has passed the school of life in the marshes. It isn't difficult at all to do something so pathetically simple. After all, MC has had to do similar things under the abusive control of the hag, who demanded nothing but perfection, but all the while he did it being wary of snakes, bugs and monsters.

    Some penalty against the mc? That is nothing compared to what the MC has experienced under the abuse of the hag.

    See? 

    Spoiler

    after the hag was gone, the story became lukewarm and lost its tension. Sure, there were some minor inconveniences. Some entitled and arrogant pricks picking trouble, unreasonable bosses or what not, but they were all so lukewarm.

    [collapse]

    That is my main problem with the story so far.

    Also, why is MC so confident? In the beginning of the story there was a lot of psychological struggle going on. MC fearing and hating his captor and slaver, struggling whether to lash out, try to rebel and eventually having to succumb to the abuse. Even befor ehe learned to think, he was raised by an evil monster. I was expecting MC to be traumatised, wakimg up every day in nightmares, fearing even his own shadow - not going tueeee over every problem.

    MC is way too powerful. I don't have anything against it, but he is, for all intents and purposes, a cripple without an education, who was abused his whole life. It shouldn't be an excuse for him to act tough, at least not only an excuse, it should be a mighty obstacle. But he solves every problem that comes his way without batting an eyelid and better than everybody else by miles.

    Another problem is, how come the people are so kind and understanding? While he was enslaved, there were no people willing to help him, and they feared and discriminated against him. After he becomes free - well, people still do, but too many seem to instantly get his problems and become accomodating. 

    Again, that is me just speaking about my expectations. It doesn't make the story bad in an objective view, but it is my review.

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