![The Borrowers [Cyberpunk] [Modern Fantasy] [Queer protagonist]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalroadcdn.com%2Fpublic%2Fcovers-large%2F154055-the-borrowers.jpg%3Ftime%3D1771706682&w=640&q=75)
by kclondon
A cyberpunk is betrayed by her witch boyfriend, and attempts to get her revenge before the soul she sold him rots away. Among Xenonaturals, witches are on top, and forty years of federal witch hunts and televised burnings haven’t changed that fact. Heidi is not a witch, she’s a trans woman, a career criminal, and a borrower of her witch boyfriend’s magic. She makes contact with a sapient artifact, comes to befriend it, and then has it stolen from her by her boyfriend and witches far greater than he. To beat them she has to make deals with her fellow borrowers, outcast witches, monsters, and her old crew of cyberpunks, while racing against the magic she borrowed, as it consumes her mind, body, and soul. Warning: Depictions of abusive relationships, mentions of sexual assault, & scenes depicting violence against children What to expect: Intrigue and diplomacy and a protagonist who's bad at bothOccasional outbursts of violence and action3-d characters and morally grey plotsA lot of problems that unfortunately can't be solved by swinging a crowbar at themA slow descent into madness and monstrosityA protagonist who just kinda happens to be trans, not a story about being trans.Some spicy scenes And absolutely, positively, no AI in anything I make. Apparently that needs to be stated. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 25 Oct 2026, 21:48 UTC
Entry forecast updated 25 Oct 2026, 21:48 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Not enough recent follower history to estimate a shadow rank yet.
Collecting data. We've only observed this story once so far — funnel ratios need at least two snapshot days.