What do you think?
Rate this book
Weaponsmith #1
Weaponsmith: Volume 1: A Crafting LitRPG
[I accidentally got engaged to the evil owl-goddess who is obsessed with the number-three and now I have to make weapons for our new adventuring guild][Volume 1] In an era in which ancient gods live in the world’s cities together with their mortal followers, forming tight-knit guilds and powerful temples, the disfigured ash-caster and blacksmith Hineni has lived his entire life as a reclusive outcast. Hidden away behind layers of clothing and just as many walls and doors, he only ever leaves the house in the dead of night, so that neither the gods or anyone else can ever see him. However, on one of these night-tide outings, he finds that has gained the unwanted attention of what is seemingly a perfectly normal owl and through his unwitting efforts at simply filling his nights with acts of personal meaning, he ends up promising himself to a creature that is perhaps even less versed in human ways than he himself is; a mysterious, odd owl-goddess that nobody seems to have ever heard of, Obscura. Hineni, having had no greater purpose in life until now, finds himself willing to accept this turn of events and dedicates himself to creating a brand new adventuring guild, under the watchful eyes of the ancient entity Obscura, who has only one, clear, proclaimed goal - - To hunt the BIG FROG! BIG FROG! BIG! [litRPG] [Soft romance] [Base/Guild-building] [Pact with a deity] [Crafting] [Slice of life]
286 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 8, 2022
174 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
D.M. Rhodes
42 booksHi! I'm a professionally (Podium Entertainment) and self-published YA fantasy author of over 30 books and am obsessed with dungeons, magical worlds, and characters who fight tooth and claw for a place (or people) to belong to. If you’re craving a new escape, my books are waiting on Amazon, and if you prefer to listen while you dream, check them out on Audible.
Let’s go on an adventure together! °( ~ )°
Let’s go on an adventure together! °( ~ )°
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 6, 2023
Read the complete web version on Royalroad on 2023-March-06:
A polarizing slice of life webnovel mixed with faint LITRPG elements and a found family vibe that tries but, at least in my opinion, fails to achieve its goal of reconciling its central themes of breaking from a self-criticizing spiral, learning to rely on others and defending one's loved ones.
There's a lot to praise Weaponsmith for, the author is fairly deft in establishing the world and setting, introducing readers to a world dominated by deities that control aspects of life and our protagonist, a loner by circumstances, soon enters into a pact to become the ostensible weaponsmith to a nascent god. He's initially very reluctant to do so but soon realizes this presents an opportunity to re-invent himself. He gains friends and allies he can trust until we are introduced to the antagonists who are a bit of a enigma initially but they then take a back seat and only spring up occasionally as we see the protagonist build out his new chance at life.
Throughout the novel, there is a mystery of the protagonist's murky past that he can't quite remember and the constant numerology such as the repetition of threes and fours as well as hints about the divine interspersed throughout. The author mostly succeeds in these elements and knows how to use these themes to highlight the sometimes absurd situations the cast find themselves in.
But Weaponsmith starts to falter around 2/3rds of the way, where both the slice of life sections start to become repetitive and the plot starts to ramp up as we learn more about the protagonist's past. Plus, the themes introduced in the latter half are only lamp-shaded but never interrogated or explored, most notably the title, as the protagonist is a weaponsmith and he directly sees the weapons he creates cause death and destruction but he shrugs it off as not his problem. The novel even acknowledges it is a callous attitude to take but then immediately leaves it as is. It feels like following an arms-dealer selling weapons to a colonizing force but then it's OK lets move on to him saving his friends from evildoers no need to think about the people being brutalized as a direct result of his actions. There is a sort of in-universe explanation
Perhaps I've read the novel without a critical eye and since this is my one and only pass through it and I'm judging it too harshly but the novel does not succeed in having its cake and eating it too. The ending doesn't feel earned, the characters quipping like Marvel heroes in the face of literal gods or nigh-mortal dangers completely breaks the tension of knowing whether our protagonist will succeed or fail. The apparently hinted lore bits in the early parts of the novel did not help tie off the novel's conclusion.
I'm reminded of
Overall, Weaponsmith is a decent webnovel that bit off more than it can chew, I recommend it to those who are looking for a light and funny slice of life LITRPG about breaking out of your comfort zone and overcoming depression and welcoming people into your life. This would encompass about the first half of the complete webnovel (or Volume 2/3 of the series). Keep reading to completion if you are intrigued by the mystery set up in the earlier parts but your mileage may vary on how satisfying it will be for you.
A polarizing slice of life webnovel mixed with faint LITRPG elements and a found family vibe that tries but, at least in my opinion, fails to achieve its goal of reconciling its central themes of breaking from a self-criticizing spiral, learning to rely on others and defending one's loved ones.
There's a lot to praise Weaponsmith for, the author is fairly deft in establishing the world and setting, introducing readers to a world dominated by deities that control aspects of life and our protagonist, a loner by circumstances, soon enters into a pact to become the ostensible weaponsmith to a nascent god. He's initially very reluctant to do so but soon realizes this presents an opportunity to re-invent himself. He gains friends and allies he can trust until we are introduced to the antagonists who are a bit of a enigma initially but they then take a back seat and only spring up occasionally as we see the protagonist build out his new chance at life.
Throughout the novel, there is a mystery of the protagonist's murky past that he can't quite remember and the constant numerology such as the repetition of threes and fours as well as hints about the divine interspersed throughout. The author mostly succeeds in these elements and knows how to use these themes to highlight the sometimes absurd situations the cast find themselves in.
But Weaponsmith starts to falter around 2/3rds of the way, where both the slice of life sections start to become repetitive and the plot starts to ramp up as we learn more about the protagonist's past. Plus, the themes introduced in the latter half are only lamp-shaded but never interrogated or explored, most notably the title, as the protagonist is a weaponsmith and he directly sees the weapons he creates cause death and destruction but he shrugs it off as not his problem. The novel even acknowledges it is a callous attitude to take but then immediately leaves it as is. It feels like following an arms-dealer selling weapons to a colonizing force but then it's OK lets move on to him saving his friends from evildoers no need to think about the people being brutalized as a direct result of his actions. There is a sort of in-universe explanation
Perhaps I've read the novel without a critical eye and since this is my one and only pass through it and I'm judging it too harshly but the novel does not succeed in having its cake and eating it too. The ending doesn't feel earned, the characters quipping like Marvel heroes in the face of literal gods or nigh-mortal dangers completely breaks the tension of knowing whether our protagonist will succeed or fail. The apparently hinted lore bits in the early parts of the novel did not help tie off the novel's conclusion.
I'm reminded of
Overall, Weaponsmith is a decent webnovel that bit off more than it can chew, I recommend it to those who are looking for a light and funny slice of life LITRPG about breaking out of your comfort zone and overcoming depression and welcoming people into your life. This would encompass about the first half of the complete webnovel (or Volume 2/3 of the series). Keep reading to completion if you are intrigued by the mystery set up in the earlier parts but your mileage may vary on how satisfying it will be for you.
December 9, 2024
As with all the D.M Rhode stories, this book is everythign about the characters and low in worldbuilding and non-existent in anything that you can describe as progression fantasy. The character grow in emotional bounds, not in skills]; the stats don't matter and everything else is so generic as to be almost placeholders for the actual world/city/races etc...
But what it got is hearth. This is a hopeful story. If Reborn as a knight is about forgiveness, depression and motivation, about what it means to be empty, then this story is about living again, about healing from trauma and the small steps in recovering a routine, making friends, having a life.
The rest? The gods, the smithing, the politics? They honestly are window dressing, barely there and explored in the most cursory manner possible. You don't even need to remember like 99% of any of this plots, because they really don't matter. The other 1% will be repeated by the narrator.
But it can make you cry. It is raw when it needs to be raw and thoughtful in the right beats. If I hadn't read Reborn as a black Knight, I would have given this a better score, but everythign that this story is trying to do, it was done far better in (at least) the first novel, such as:
* Introspection of loss.
* Recreation of familial links.
*Lack of direction and how to forge it again.
*Repetition of a phrase of idea as a clear plot point weaved through the narrative into a satisfying conclusion.
*Depression.
In the end, is a good story, but its terrible as anything that has to do with progression fantasy or anythign really about fantasy, D&D inspired or power fantasy. But if you feel like you are in a slump after reading the same stories of this genre over and over again, this is a great palate cleanser.
But get the audiobook. Holly Jackson as the owl god is pure gold.
February 16, 2023
DNF……probably?
The start of this book is super weird. The MC is a complete recluse due to severe burns in his past, but yearns for human interaction. He literally just stares at people walking by outside his window everyday. The MC also suffers from extremely severe fear of interacting with others. It was so severe that it was painful to read and cringy.
He accidental makes a pact with an owl god that is more animal than human in its personality and interactions. These conversations were suuuuuper confusing to read. I know it was deliberately written that way, but it wasn’t super well done. I had to reread portions multiple times and still didn’t figure something’s out until many pages later.
This wasn’t fun to read. I know the author is laying groundwork, but it was too much. I will take a break and consider coming back to it later.
The start of this book is super weird. The MC is a complete recluse due to severe burns in his past, but yearns for human interaction. He literally just stares at people walking by outside his window everyday. The MC also suffers from extremely severe fear of interacting with others. It was so severe that it was painful to read and cringy.
He accidental makes a pact with an owl god that is more animal than human in its personality and interactions. These conversations were suuuuuper confusing to read. I know it was deliberately written that way, but it wasn’t super well done. I had to reread portions multiple times and still didn’t figure something’s out until many pages later.
This wasn’t fun to read. I know the author is laying groundwork, but it was too much. I will take a break and consider coming back to it later.
June 26, 2023
Good but Quirky
Firstly, this is a good book. Fun characters, interesting world, dramatic history, and some comedic moments to lighten things up. It’s huge, too. Technically it is edited very well, and has practically no superfluous exposition. That’s where things get interesting, but it is also quite the mind-screw as you are slowly (!) allowed to piece together who and what the MC is, what he does, what he wants, what he needs, what his back story is, what the world is like, etc. none of this is bad, but it does make the story an investment. You are just beginning to reap that investment when book one ends. Do I recommend it? Yes, I do: but be prepared to work a bit with the author to appreciate what is here. Nice work. Now I must read book two.
Firstly, this is a good book. Fun characters, interesting world, dramatic history, and some comedic moments to lighten things up. It’s huge, too. Technically it is edited very well, and has practically no superfluous exposition. That’s where things get interesting, but it is also quite the mind-screw as you are slowly (!) allowed to piece together who and what the MC is, what he does, what he wants, what he needs, what his back story is, what the world is like, etc. none of this is bad, but it does make the story an investment. You are just beginning to reap that investment when book one ends. Do I recommend it? Yes, I do: but be prepared to work a bit with the author to appreciate what is here. Nice work. Now I must read book two.
April 22, 2025
I really wanted to like this one. The concept of a blacksmith LitRPG with a magical owl companion/god? That’s exactly the kind of niche I’m into. And honestly, the owl was the highlight—fun, quirky, dark and probably the most engaging part of the story.
Unfortunately, the main character just didn’t land for me. I found him frustratingly unrelatable, to the point where it pulled me out of the experience. There’s only so much suspension of disbelief I can manage, and watching a supposed weaponsmith not know how to make or buy a saw? That kind of stuff drove me nuts.
I gave it a fair shot because the core idea had promise, but in the end, I just didn’t enjoy the read. Great concept, but the execution didn’t work for me.
Unfortunately, the main character just didn’t land for me. I found him frustratingly unrelatable, to the point where it pulled me out of the experience. There’s only so much suspension of disbelief I can manage, and watching a supposed weaponsmith not know how to make or buy a saw? That kind of stuff drove me nuts.
I gave it a fair shot because the core idea had promise, but in the end, I just didn’t enjoy the read. Great concept, but the execution didn’t work for me.
June 18, 2023
A Quirky, Amusing Read.
Hineni is a scarred and lonely man. He lives in his parents' large, empty house and works alone in the attached forge. When he must go out among the people of the city, he covers his face, body, and arms so he doesn't have to see the expressions of shock, pity, or disgust on the faces of those who see his scarred form.
This is his life. Until the night he goes into the forest to gather wood and meets an owl.
This novel has interesting protagonists in Hineni and Obscura; and a mysterious antagonist who is only perceived by observing its minions and attacks on Hineni and his goddess/wife, Obscura.
Hineni is a scarred and lonely man. He lives in his parents' large, empty house and works alone in the attached forge. When he must go out among the people of the city, he covers his face, body, and arms so he doesn't have to see the expressions of shock, pity, or disgust on the faces of those who see his scarred form.
This is his life. Until the night he goes into the forest to gather wood and meets an owl.
This novel has interesting protagonists in Hineni and Obscura; and a mysterious antagonist who is only perceived by observing its minions and attacks on Hineni and his goddess/wife, Obscura.
December 25, 2022
This looks like it will be interesting.
It was weird how much this book emphasized frogs, the number four, and the number three.
The author probably had a grand time organising everything.
The book was okay. It was great to see the protagonist mature and come out a better person at the end.
I did not enjoy the author breaking the story to show stats, but I've grown to automatically filter those out by now.
I'm not sure if I would read the sequel or not. This was like a slight fever dream at the end.
We will see what the future holds.
3/5 Stars
It was weird how much this book emphasized frogs, the number four, and the number three.
The author probably had a grand time organising everything.
The book was okay. It was great to see the protagonist mature and come out a better person at the end.
I did not enjoy the author breaking the story to show stats, but I've grown to automatically filter those out by now.
I'm not sure if I would read the sequel or not. This was like a slight fever dream at the end.
We will see what the future holds.
3/5 Stars
January 11, 2025
I fell in love with the sadness that clung to Hineni and felt so deeply for him as he was experiencing social anxiety, body dysmorphia and such an overall dreadful time of it all. But then Obscura made an appearance and she has been a character like no other. It was such a joy to listen to the audiobook and hear how their relationship developed. It's definitely been a 5 star read for me and could just have joined the list of my favourite books.
June 10, 2025
I was pretty excited to find a crafting LIT RPG, but i couldn't get past the weird in this one. A guy who burnt his family, then meets an owl that is kinda a human owll...then he starts having sex with it? Not so sure about this series. It is overly simplistic in the crafting and the magic too, so overall just not something I'm a fan of. I can never get past the whole humans having sex with non human things in books like this even without any of the other issues.
July 25, 2022
Loved it couldn’t put it down. The concept is great. Found myself looking for parts with the goddess more than the others. It would have been a 5 but as others have wrote the whole 3 and 4 quirk thing got tedious in some bits, some situations it was needed it’s not so much and just kinda took away from the scene. Can not wait for the next one, one of my favourite reads in a long time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2022
I’m going to say four, not the frog four, four out of five, because I enjoyed it, but I also thought about three because the not-explaining-stuff gets a bit wearing sometimes. You don’t have to explain everything! Just some. Not quite enough.
December 4, 2022
This was a strange book. I loved it though, and was saying things 3 times to people and avoiding the number 4 for a few days.
It felt like sitting infront of a warm furnace with a bowl hot frog soup, or maybe watching the adventurers go by from your favourite table in a guild.
It felt like sitting infront of a warm furnace with a bowl hot frog soup, or maybe watching the adventurers go by from your favourite table in a guild.
December 25, 2022
Liked the concept of a crafting-based LitRPG. While there was definitely crafting, I thought it would take the look of something deafferent. Still a fun novel with the owl goddess being a number-obessed, frog-haiting entity who gained power by investing weapons in her magic and giving it to others.
May 25, 2023
Characters can not support the book.
The storytelling is practically non-existent. The narration is weak and garbled. The story itself is just boring. This is just poorly done overall.
The storytelling is practically non-existent. The narration is weak and garbled. The story itself is just boring. This is just poorly done overall.
May 29, 2023
Enjoyable
Different , I enjoyed characters and each seems to have back stories that will be interesting from hints see in this book. Looking forward to the next and seeing how develops
Different , I enjoyed characters and each seems to have back stories that will be interesting from hints see in this book. Looking forward to the next and seeing how develops
June 27, 2025
Reader never gets drawn in to care about the characters. Numbers have meaning, but it is a secret kept from the reader leaving the reader feeling like the text about numbers is completely meaningless and a waste of the reader’s time. Good author, just some holes to plug.
January 18, 2026
Wow. No. Just no. The writing is passively descriptive and boring, slow, sounding like an inexperienced writer frankly. This is going to be a hard one to not DNF if you start it. But hey, you’re up for a challenge, right?!
February 17, 2023
A little quirky
The concept is interesting and the story isn't bad. It does get a little too quirky for my tastes in some places but not enough to be off putting
The concept is interesting and the story isn't bad. It does get a little too quirky for my tastes in some places but not enough to be off putting
March 15, 2023
it just is
I can’t tell you why you should read this. I enjoyed it. I am hooked on the slice of life style of writing. It just caught my attention and held it.
I can’t tell you why you should read this. I enjoyed it. I am hooked on the slice of life style of writing. It just caught my attention and held it.
July 10, 2025
Brilliant! Definitely worth reading. 5/5 for me.
January 4, 2026
Has its charms. Needs editing to about half its length, as well as to correct word use and sentence structure. I only read the first two chapters. My wife likes it better than I do.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews