Desert Company

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

TL;DRA modern desert fantasy, featuring a linguistic magic system (Actual incantations?!?!)Currently writing volume 3.

Modified schedule: Releases every Friday.

(Previous Name: SToYA -> Desert Company)

Volume 1 - Retrospective

When Izdaha Saya receives a sponsor letter to compete in a high-stakes fighting tournament, she jumps at the chance. But the tournament is more than just a test of skill and bravery. It is a battleground for corporate greed, corruption, and the future of the three desert nations.

As Saya and her fellow fighters converge in a notorious company 'Al-Wa,' she soon discovers that the competition has been corrupted by those seeking to profit from its brutal spectacle. Some are motivated by greed, while others seek revenge against the system that has oppressed them.

Against this backdrop of violence and avarice, a girl, a boy from the slums, and a noble of an eastern kingdom struggle to find meaning in a world that seems determined to crush their ideals.Here in a small tale of many, they search for the courage to fight for their principles.

Volume 2 - Fistic Fiesta

The Piyesta de Kadayawan is afoot in Buhanggilog, and the people are looking forward to the festivities!

But to the local gangs, it’s a time of diplomacy and conflict. The death of José Pérez has left his squad grieving as they attempt to search for a new leader. At the same time, the Buhang government seeks a new president from the rajahs of each prefecture.

As rival factions jockey for position, the nation hangs in the balance.

The nation searches for leaders, but who is ready to take up the torch?

Volume 3 - Legacy of Toya

In the aftermath of the brutal ordeal with Tayang in Buhanggilog, the Izato LK Company embarks on a final expedition to the treacherous Twintail Peninsula, in pursuit of Thiệu Addja, the mastermind behind Al-Wa.

The subjugation team is composed of fierce individuals, all with a personal vendetta against Al-Wa dating back to the infamous 1978 Dineh Kazaad.

As they plunge deeper into the peninsula, Ayai Toya, the unyielding leader of the 'Desert Company', is forced to come to terms with her complicated history with Thiệu, as Izato seeks to vanquish their most formidable foe yet.

Thank you for everything! Now have aDiscord server!

Information

Status: Cancelled
Year: 2023
Author: Wander Natamaru

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 254
Views: 76,689

Chapters(138 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(7)

Arthur InverseRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Small Tales of Yahmajo Alautl is a great place for anyone who enjoys languages and the mixture of multilingual people. Even better, it is done in a fantasy setting where we quickly come to follow our heroine Saya as she prepares for a tournament with her Grandmother.
We see how large the world is in a timely manner when she goes through the city and we take different points of view on what is happening in the world.
Overall I think this is a story to keep your eye's on. The author is growing quickly and has a thirst to improve. They also have an obvious handle over multiple languages as proven within the story. The magic system is well thought out and makes sense, giving you that slight chill when you read them aloud, only adding to the impact of each spell when used.
There are a few errors here and there but nothing I would fault the author too heavily for, especially when they are improving as fast as they are, within a short time I am sure they will cover over these minor things quickly
Eric VanderlipRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Desert Company centers around the Dineh Kazaàd, a high-stakes competition surrounded by mystery and controversy, and the sinister Kazaàd company 'Al-Wa', which gathers ten fighters from around the world by choice and force. Will those seeking to overthrow the tournament get their way?
Style: Perspective switches smoothly between characters. The pace is solid and exciting, if a little verbose. Many times the same information is repeated multiple times with different wording, slowing things down. There is also occasionally some strange use of words (ie: "inoculated"). (Hopefully this review is out of date and a round of editing/condensing has elevated the story to its full potential.)
Not really a flaw, but the deluge of hard to remember names can be overwhelming. Dialogue can also be intentionally hard to read at times, simulating in-world language barriers (“Yu bi supiikin’ Galag while yur asleep. Sori zat mai Galag isn’t gud. Ai raik kerubin.”).
Story: The worldbuilding is deep and satisfying here. An extraordinary care has been given to mapping out every facet of this fantasy setting, evident in the names of places/people and the different fictional languages. An entire magic system has been created around 'saharic mastery', with its own spells and vocabulary. The Dineh Kazaàd (the tournament) provides the backdrop which drives the narrative.
Grammar: Easily readable. The minor mistakes do not detract from the story.
Character: A rich cast of characters each with their own motives, personality, and history. As with the setting, it's obvious great care has gone into fleshing everyone out (as is important in multiple POV narratives).
Conclusion: I recommend Desert Company because of the excellent mix of worldingbuilding, action, and intrigue. The story is gripping and the lore extensive. It's a fun read.
HaidRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Desert Company is a profession of the author’s love for languages, and in that regard the author has managed to spin languages into a terrific fantasy world blending multiple cultures, customs, and even created a magic system based around languages - and, as someone who can understand Chinese, layman Tagalog, a little bit of Arabic, and manga levels of Japanese, I must first say I am extremely biased. This is exactly my type of story where the worldbuilding feels exceedingly genuine and personal to the author, and it shows through the writing. However, as with any story, there are major issues that I feel need to be addressed, and I’ll do my best to mention all of them below-
Style score: On a technical level, I feel the story’s about perfect with the writing style. Descriptions of scenery and setting are pretty and imaginative, obviously heavily inspired by real-life cultures, but the vocabulary helps disguise it all behind a veil of magic and fantasy. The writing flows at all times, and sentence structures are varied enough to keep me engaged throughout. Action is also written in a rather fantastical manner, swordplay and magic both intermingling in a poetic form, and is a delight to read through and through. I didn’t expect anything less, though, knowing how much the author loves the art of linguistics.
On a more emotional level, however, I think the writing style is too matter-of-fact. Many times, the characters are simply doing this, doing that, and it doesn’t particularly evoke any emotions in the reader though it evokes plenty of senses with its fantastical writing style. It’s a bit of a strange thing, but oftentimes it seems the writing is beautiful simply for the sake of being beautiful - take for example a certain scene in chapter 4. Something terrible happens to one of the main characters, and knowing how good the writing style is from the past three chapters, I naturally expected a rather powerful, emotional shift in the narration to properly reflect the
OfatoruRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I saw the title by chance and wondered if the author just wanted to use some fancy letters or really knew how they should be pronounced. Fortunately, it's the latter.
This story might be not for everyone. The language barrier is something which can scare away people, just like the fact the author chose a multiple protagonist storytelling. But for someone who can understand (even if just some of) the words, or intrigued by an alienated feeling brought by the foreign languages spoken, this story is a treat. The author clearly has a love for lingustics which can bring joy to like-minded fellows.
And even if you are not into linguistics, the story can still keep you entertained. It reminds me a bit of Dune with its alien yet familiar world approach, although the political struggles are not in the forefront - as of Chapter 19, at least.
-Toru
VVerityRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A story deeply rooted in the author's love of language and history. It is a chronicle following Saya primarily, as she moves through a land that the author's richly tailored into an interesting blend of multiple cultures that blend as much as they compete. The world is very large, and Saya's story may only be a very small part of it but the author writes it full of life.
WhiteRose-BlueSpaceRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Honestly, this is one of the most unique settings I have seen so far on the site. The author has an extensive knowledge of linguistics and they have found a way to flawlessly implement that passion into their writing. For example, the magic system here has multiple levels based on different in universe languages. There's even a unique ecological environment caused by the planet's odd orbit. Everything in here is well crafted and thought through, with it showing through well.
But enough of a general overview, onto the specific section scores.
Style:
Lovely, nice prose that conveys the setting and story well.
Story:
The story does take a while to setup (not a bad thing) and isn't the clearest for a bit. But that all does get sorted and book one's plot is simple and fun, with points of intreague scattered about. After all, who doesn't like fighting against mega corps?
Grammar:
I see no issues here at all so full marks here.
Character:
They're pretty good with solid motivations, but they haven't stuck too much in my head. The accents some have do give those characters a clear voice however.
Overall, of you are a fan of good world building and amazing magic systems, give it a shot!
molenirRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
Have you ever come accross a game, with an extremely steep learning curve? I've played several like that, and thoroughly enjoyed them. But it was hard to get into them at the beginning. I have several other games like that, which I tried to get into, but the enjoyment level, simply did not match the steepness of the learning curve. I'm sure they're fun, and great games, but given I'd need to spend hours and hours, slogging through tutorials, and walkthroughs, I eventually decided I'd rather give up and try something else.
This story is rather like that. You can tell the author obviously has a lot of passion for the story they're telling. But its such a steep learning curve right from the beginning with tons of words that mean nothing to the reader, but which are meant to give depth and meaning to the world. Sadly, after trying to slog through several chapters of this, I finally gave up. It might not be fair. At a different time, in a different mood, perhaps I'd have been willing to give this story a bit more time. But at the moment, I'm looking for some light, entertaining reading, not some super dense world building.