Lia was walking between classes when the targeting on a wizard's lightning bolt went awry and the bolt struck Lia, killing her on the spot. And that would have been the end of it, had her best friend not managed to somehow preserve her soul and bring her back...as an entirely new species of monster called a Swarm Queen. And, apparently, she was going to be trying to take over the world, make everyone into part of her swarm. Eventually. When she got stronger.
Well...she already died once, so what harm is there in giving things a second go, right?
(Main character receives no gender bender. The genre tag remains there because gender bending does feature in the story, but there is no "minor" tag to properly illustrate that)
Series has a strict update schedule of "when it comes out, it comes out". That can mean two chapters in one day, or over a month between chapters. Both have happened in the past. This is something I write on the side while "turning my brain off", so just keep in mind that releases will be inconsistent.
If you want to be notified when this does update, check out my discord, I post notifications there: https://discord.gg/5TuC5ju
READ THE FOREWORD: I cannot stress this enough, this series is different from my usual fare and there come some caveats with it. In the foreword I address a lot of comments and questions I foresee people having. A lot of tags are also speculative, so there is also a brief explanation of them there as well. If you find yourself having questions about a tag, the foreword is the place to look/ask questions.
Also posted to Royal Road.
Cover image courtesy of Dev1325, go check out their store or instagram if you're interested in it: https://wildphototaker1325.picfair.com/
https://www.instagram.com/wildphototaker1325/
- Chapter 187: EnnuiMay 19, 2025
- Chapter 186: Post-Exploration DebriefMay 14, 2025
- Chapter 185: Fae, Forever.May 9, 2025
- Chapter 184: Mothers’ WorryMay 3, 2025
- Chapter 183: CeliaApr 25, 2025
- Chapter 182: Visiting Villages, Making PlansApr 5, 2025
- Chapter 181: City LeadershipMar 30, 2025
- Chapter 180: Civil ServantsMar 26, 2025
- Chapter 179: ExpansionsMar 20, 2025
- Chapter 178: A Surrender to RememberMar 16, 2025
- Chapter 177: ForumitesMar 13, 2025
- Chapter 176: Another Interview?Mar 10, 2025
- Chapter 175: Preparing a SurrenderMar 8, 2025
- Chapter 174: The Tables, TurnedMar 6, 2025
- Chapter 173: FaeMar 4, 2025
- Content Warning
All Rights Reserved- Ongoing - Updated May 19, 2025
- 2114 reading
- 597 plan to read
- 67 completed
- 91 paused
- 144 dropped
I'm not sure why I have stuck with this one for so long, maybe I had still some hope that certain elements would still get turned around, but alas, they didn't.
The story is basically split into two distinct parts, the split more or less coincides with a hiatus around ch. 50.
The first is a fun story about a resurrected girl turned monster having to survive in a lethal dungeon while she has to come to terms with what she has become. I'd give that part a 4.5/5.
The second ruined any fun I had with the story up to that point.
We follow the MC's descent into Mary Sue-dom while she plots to end discrimination and inequality, neither of which we are shown in the story and according to the author's commentary are less of an issue than in our world, by committing/threatening genocide, enslaving all survivors and brainwashing them into liking it. Normally, this would be presented as wrong, but in-universe, everyone who disagrees is either actively punished or immediately "sees the light" and switches sides after a short chat, all the while agreeing that MC could never do anything wrong...
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If you read the description you know how this novel is going to be.
Fighterman481 is a great author and most of the stuff they write is going to be good. This is no exception. I rather like swarm novels and I fully expect this one to be quite good.
2 things I don't like.
1. Amelia doesn't feel like a person. This might be because of some reason before we meet her but she kinda feels more like an NPC than a character.
2. The MC went from a glorious spider, scorpion, and beetle hybrid swarm queen into a worthless rat. Honestly almost dropped the story the moment she chose the rat evolution path. It seems like the author watched some funny rat meme and felt like making the MC into a rat. I don't hate rats but this is a major downgrade regardless of the stat gain.
The author is good, the story has the potential to be a really fun read. But really hoping Lia becomes an insect again.
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Loved the story.I've reread this twice now and decided to make a review and I decided the best way to do that is to tell the other reviewers they're dumb.
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The gender bender tag is for other characters. MC is rarely right, but it's cause she doesn't know what she's doing rather than stupidity and I love it.
Love the morality debates.
3QGN73:
1. You don't like that the story is split between the exposition and actual story?
2. She doesn't really come to terms with anything. It's explain VERY early that it's hard baked into their DNA to adapt to any for. (Be it their own or as an interest)
3. She doesn't get rid of inequality or racism? Any member of the swarm is pretty much incapable of seeing another member differently cause of race.
She never committed genocide. Where did you get that from? She avoids killing as much as possible.
4. Everyone who disagrees with the swarm is punished? Everyone sees them as good?
Among mortals yes. Among gods it is a constant debate.
Among the mortals just about everyone is firmly against the idea of the swarm. Before conversion the least holstile someone gets is reluctant acceptance cause they know fighting is useless.
DvaDI: I have less complaints about you.
1. Amelia doesn't act like a person. That's on purpose. It's explained later.
2. The rat thing. (People are weirdly hung up on that on Royal Road too.)
That's for 25!!! Chapters!!! Oh no!!
chapter 6? To chapter 31 she's a rat. The rest she is a kitsune. Seriously people 1/6th of a series someone is a rat and you wanna drop it.
It is a major stat and ability gain. It was mentioned chapter 1-2 that she will be rapidly changing species.
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Pretty good story so far, enjoying it thoroughly. I am looking forward to new chapters.
Grammar is good, characters are sparse so far so no comment, and creatures and concept are very creative and interesting.
Slight spoilers!!!!****
The gender bender tag is for sub characters not main as stated by author (like it since every female MC these days was a dude for 40 words of the first chapter). So far this is NOT an insectoid swarm (it was one temporarily) so if you are looking for insects you may want to look elsewhere. The First secondary character you are introduced to has yet to make a real reappearance due to reasons explained at the beginning (op side character), which does make it feel like a plot fixer or explain why things happen (literally is the driving force of the current plot but that’s understandable) but at the same time it’s pretty funny due to you having to wonder where all the rats are coming from.
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