
by J. A. Hurt
Volume 1: The Book of Vines (Volume 1 is fully written and completed to be released.) Dante Del Negro spent thirty-five years breaking his back on a dying coffee farm in the mountains of Puerto Rico, carrying debts, family expectations, and land that never gave back as much as it took. Then the mountain collapsed. After dying beneath red clay and stone, Dante awakens in the void between worlds, where two gods argue over his soul like property. One sees him as a tool. The other sees him as a test. Neither asks what he wants. Their bargain gives him a second life as Cole Solari, a noble child in a world of magic, monsters, bloodlines, and divine cruelty. But reincarnation is not mercy. His memories are sealed. Ten years of his new life are stolen from him. His new family is wrapped in secrets, servants wear collars, children are trained for war, and his father watches him less like a son than an investment. Cole has already spent one lifetime being used. In this one, he intends to learn the rules, survive the monsters, endure the weight placed on his back, and make sure the world regrets underestimating him.
No streak history
Rank updated 14 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Entry forecast updated 14 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Overall Rising Stars shadow rank
deep field · ~#4293 of 7,637 · 4243 below #50
By genre
beats 75% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 29% of similar stories
Hidden gem — exposure is the bottleneck
Readers who find this story follow it at a high rate; there just aren't enough of them. In our cohort data, near-daily posting lifted the odds of reaching 25 followers from ~0% to 17% — more chapters, shoutout swaps and ads buy the eyeballs this conversion deserves.
At this conversion, the Psychological Rising Stars bar (≈2 new followers/day) costs about 512 views/day — the story currently gets ~25.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 20–49 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.