Calamity Mandate

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Beneath the peaceful surface of a nation, a conflict between royal factions and secret organizations is coming to a boil. Drawing upon esoteric energies, those with Exalted powers rule supreme as they fight to shape the world in their vision. Yuzu, a simple pawnshop owner's daughter finds herself in possession of a mysterious ornate chest that has the power to manipulate destiny. Her normal life in an asian influenced Victorian era changes dramatically as she gets plunged deep into a dangerous, mystical world filled with secret rituals, horrifying monsters and ancient gods. Follow Yuzu as she entangles herself in the threads of fate to save her friends and family from the dark forces rising from the depths. She must develop her powers as an Exalted, find allies and unravel the mysteries that govern the course of history. The delicate balance that holds the nation in check has already been disrupted. How far will those ripples spread? - Author's Note - Book five is ongoing! Please enjoy! Update Schedule: Every Wednesday

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2020
Author: Rocket May

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 845
Views: 1,181,222

What readers say about Calamity Mandate

“So far I've only read four chapters but I love the story so far. The writing is descriptive and detailed without being too flowery. I also like how there's a good proportion of description and dialogue because some stories read more like a film script and…”
xkirakatRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Writing is Great, Characters are Great! Story is Great! And I'm not really good with reviews but I encourage everyone to give it a try. You won't know if u like it or not if you dont read all available chapters. Theres lots of plots and mystery, turns and t…”
GrisslyRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

xkirakatRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So far I've only read four chapters but I love the story so far. The writing is descriptive and detailed without being too flowery. I also like how there's a good proportion of description and dialogue because some stories read more like a film script and this definitely doesn't
I love the worldbuilding in this story. It kind of reminds of the manga Hunter X Hunter since there's detailed descriptions of different locations, items, cultures, economies and lore. One of my favourite part of the first chapter was the intricate description of the currency of bells and leaves. This creates a really rich and established world similar to that of George R R Martin's A SOng of Ice and Fire series.
The characters are great too and they have great dynamic and chemistry together. My favourite character is Xiang and love his dialogue with Yuzu. It's obvious that the characters are fully fleshed out and all of their traits and quirks are thought off instead of them being props to move the story along.
Since I'm only on chapter 4, I could tell that the first couple of chapters are there to introduce the really likeable characters and to establish character relationships. It has more a slice of life feel to it like Jojo's Bizarre Adventures part 4.
I'll continue reading this amazing story but so far I am impressed by it and enthralled by the world and the characters.
GrisslyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Writing is Great, Characters are Great! Story is Great! And I'm not really good with reviews but I encourage everyone to give it a try. You won't know if u like it or not if you dont read all available chapters.
Theres lots of plots and mystery, turns and twists and a bit of slice of life.
Don't let yourself be turned away by the multiple lead character tag. Theres a reason why its necessary.
RoseButterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
By which I mean, this site needs a mystery tag simply to tag this story. Being restricted to a genre is just too limiting. Calamity Mandate is that good. The story follows a collection of characters trying to uncover and/or thwart the evil/corruption looming over Noga.
There are wheels within wheels, plots within plots because each character is alive with independent motivations, secrets, plans, and objectives. The deception and intrigue practically drip off the page. I know that at points I was screaming at the characters for their folly, but the characters are alive, keep their own secrets, and make their own mistakes. It's fantastic.
Now, I've drooled enough about the characterization that thick enough to spread, so I'll only briefly digress to mention that the dialogue is butter smotth. That's all.
So, about that multiple lead characters tag. The story spends a fair amount of time away from Yuzu, but that's okay! Her 'skill' is best used moving, nudging pieces around at a distance, so those pieces need the opportunity to come into their own, which this format affords them. Yuzu, still clearly remains the main character, because only her abilities and supernatural 'experiences' are fleshed out with vibrant imagery describing how they look, feel, interact, and come to live. Everyone else has to cope with their abilities/experiences being treated like tools or factually recited, because they are not the protagonist. This divide in narrative focus really helps highlight how Yuzu plays across the greater tapestry of the story. Gorgeous.
Schedule an extended period of time, because Calamity Mandate is delicious to binge!
SeidhrRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It may be a cliche turn of phrase, but this work is truly a hidden gem on RR. I normally don't enjoy novels with multiple perspectives, but when this novel's characterizations, composition, and intricate world building make the world and environment characters in their own way. This makes every character more interesting as they are well written and interesting characters, as well as windows through which to discover more of the universe the main character lives in. I feel this is a work that readers who usually avoid multiple perspectives should still give a chance.
Calamity Mandate is lovingly written with excellent grammar and prose in general. I have not noticed grammatical errors and the prose is smooth and easily understood. The setting and world are familiar to readers of of the genre, but unique and at times both wondrous and disturbing in execution. The characterization is well done as well and I find each new character has a believable personality and brings different perspectives and interpretations of the world and plot. The story is detailed and, while it does take time to build, I would say that the added foundation is necessary in any story where the nature of the world plays as large a role as it does in this work. I find the pacing engaging and the details helpful in understanding the protagonists' culture, worldview, and motivations.
I once again highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a well crafted, beautifully written, and unique work on RR, I recommend this work as a top tier for the site and fantasy genre in general.
Sparky the DogRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've really enjoyed reading Calamity Mandate. It is well written and I did not notice any issues with typos or grammar.
What really makes Calamity Mandate stand out to me is how the world feels alive and the sense that there is a lot more we can learn about the world. Calamity Mandate follows a number of plot threads featuring different characters and it's really interesting to see how the different plot threads connect and collide. Time is spent on fleshing out each of the characters. I really like how the characters will make logical plans and then these plans often don't pan out the way they intended because other characters in the universe have conflicting plans. These collisions are what makes it interesting.
The power system in Calamity Mandate is shrouded in mystery and it is interesting to learn with the characters what the powers of an Exalted are and who the powerful players in this world are.
The story starts off slow as it establishes the world and the characters and really starts to pick up after chapter 20. The leadup to the end of book 1 in chapter 72 really cemented Calamity Mandate as one of the best novels I've read on Royal Road. I would definitely recommend giving Calamity Mandate a shot if you enjoy world building and a wide cast of fleshed out characters.
latychanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This book has been extremely gripping from the very beginning. I finish reading each chapter wanting to read more. I am recommending all my friends to read it, because I am so excited to talk about it with other people!All of the characters have their own personalities, and their traits are revealed through their actions, not just by saying their qualities (ie. "So and so is a kind, gentle person".) This makes the characters very dynamic and interesting, as more aspects of them are revealed as they are presented with different challenges. The characters are also realistic, some are more likable than others, and they each have their quirks and limitations which add to the depth of their personalities.The story is written from numerous perspectives, which is a difficult task to do as an author, but this book shifts from each perspective so seamlessly. Even though scenes shift between each different character, it is written in a way in which it is easy to follow and cohesive with the main story line.The first action scene of the novel blew me away! It was written extremely well. I had to reread it a second time to gain full appreciation of the writing skills, because it was just so exciting when I was reading it the first time I knew I had missed so many details by reading it so fast. It's amazing that this author has such an imagination and is able to convey it through words so well. Reading this chapter was as if I was watching a movie - not only was the action in the scene depicted - the mood, the emotions, the whole package was all there. It was as if I was there in the actual scene of the action. This chapter really showcased the high level of the author's writing capabilities, and made me even more excited to read future chapters where there would be more jam-packed action.Overall, my impression of this book has been extremely high. I can't really think of any constructive criticism to give to the author other than they release it too slow! It really is publishab
sporadRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an amazing story.First, the writing style is fantastic in both senses of the word. There is an enormous amount of detail in everything, the people, clothing, objects, food, architecture, whatever; and yet it never becomes too dense or a slog to get through. In that way it reminds me, a little bit, of Mervyne Peake's Gormenghast. There is an entire chapter that could be condensed to "a guy squishes juice out of a gross worm", and yet it's still exciting to read. That's a hard thing to pull off. And while the story seems to leisurely tour through, let's say, all the food served at a dinner party, it still maintains a pretty rapid pace overall.The characters are also very charming. There are quite a few of them and multiple points of view, but they're introduced slowly and logically in a way that isn't overwhelming or jarring. We start with character A, who meets B and C. Then we follow C who meets D and E. And it sort of spreads out through a cast of people. Presumably they will start to cross paths and reconverge later in the story. The characters are shown more through their interactions with each other than by just stating their qualities, which is a much stronger way to do things, and they are also shown to be very vulnerable. It's a lot easier to care about a character when they are shown to have weaknesses, fears, foibles, or things they are trying to protect.The world and setting is still vague in the early chapters, but small clues and tidbits of knowledge are slowly adding up to a bigger picture. The world is a fantastical not-China, probably in the equivalent of the late ninteenth century – telegrams, gaslight, scientifical skepticism. There is a description of old people quoting traditional poetry at each other, which is a very Chinese thing to do. It's nice to see things other than kung fu and qi included. There are also characters with British names (and blond hair), and some people with mixed names. The magic stuff doesn't seem totally Eastern, o
KreoloRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The style was quite tedious for the first dozen chapters (although I prefer a leisurely pace and lots of description to immerse myself in the story), especially when you read several chapters of descriptions of the clouds while climbing the stairs. But later such moments were reduced and the plot accelerated, and it became clear that for mc with the ability to control fate her presence “behind the scenes” is more suitable. A very nice style, describing the cultural context and myths, as well as the gradual and smooth development of the characters, reflecting their weaknesses and irritating sides. Among the "amateurish" level of writing on royalroad, this work is in the top 1%. If compared with lotm, then there is clearly not enough mystery of powerful creatures, they are too human, and therefore there is no that slight note of horror.
maelos61Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I'm afraid I'll have to follow some of the other reviews complaining about this, but the story is simply too slow paced. We've spent a small novel's worth of pages for a couple in-story days where everything is setup for the plot without much happening. In that novel's worth of pages the characters also aren't all that compelling, with the main character having less screen time than the side characters.
We've got a main character we barely know anything about besides that she has two brothers, no parents, has a loan-antique shop and some kind of mystical powers. We have some kind of friend/bully-victim of said main character that is a naïve pampered idiot, a naïve monk and a hunter with a gun. The rest of the characters are, up to this point, background characters.
The grammar is nigh perfect, dialogue and other style criteria are great and I feel like there's a decent story in there somewhere. It's just too slow and indirect for me.
The only reason I'm not giving it the 3,5 stars I believe it deserves as a novel, is because of the horribly inflated review values on this website. The fiction seems too high quality for me to penalize it with a bad review, but I simply can't recommend it.
WeldtRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This is one of the better ones I've read here
I has some downs like it is too similar to Lord of the Mysteries without being LOTM which is why I give it 4 and not 5 since it's been on my mind constantly
World building is kind of good and I especially love the characters they all have an agenda which don't fit a narrow focus like following a main quest in a linear story this feels like a spider web in the making. I feel like the main characters are not all the same and will react like their persona would react making it a well written story.
I'm a fan of few of the characters but some are a bit annoying but all books have ups and downs like the Frodo and Sam in Lotr I couldn't stand them still a great book.
Like most are saying about the pacing I would have to agree a bit still this story is in the conversations between characters and what they do it's not some guys journey over the eons to immortality so I do enjoy the slow pace a bit.
Keep up the good work @author I really like your work.