Dynasia [Urban Fantasy, Progression]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Jacob Caibo has always wanted to become an ecologist, but life has other plans for him. While gearing up for summer, he's attacked by a creature from another realm, meets a fellow student who can use magic, and encounters a rogue mage hellbent on using him for an experiment.

So begins Jacob's discovery of himself, his ability to use magic, a realm filled with magical creatures, and an order of Rangers dedicated to fighting those creatures.

I wrote this because I wanted to read a fantasy story that follows a character who starts with no knowledge, no magic, no unrealistic motivation or willpower, on their journey of discovery, and all the developments magical, mental, motivational, and physical, along the way.

This story will have multiple pov characters and will follow them over years as they mature from adolescence into adulthood. This is an urban fantasy that involves a magical realm in a state of balance with Earth that the characters and story will move in and out of. There's going to be lots of progression both magical and psychological, with a dash of politics, mystery, and ecology thrown in for good measure. It's gonna be a long one!

What to Expect:

Progression

Character focus

Complex magic system

Ecology, nature

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Elojkz

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 78
Views: 64,613

Chapters(126 total)

What readers say about Dynasia [Urban Fantasy, Progression]

“In urban Vancouver, the not-so-popular high schooler Jacob got involved in a magical mess and opened his eyes to a new fantasy world. This action-packed urban fantasy proved to be a thrilling read. The world was constructed robustly, with a comprehensive ma…”
matt_kleinRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Jakob is a teenager with a big dream: he wants to become an ecologist. Thanks to his strict parents, his access to nature has so far been limited to an inner-city botanical garden, which he visits far too often. Thanks to puberty, Jakob begins to flirt with…”
FarbmondRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(8)

matt_kleinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In urban Vancouver, the not-so-popular high schooler Jacob got involved in a magical mess and opened his eyes to a new fantasy world.
This action-packed urban fantasy proved to be a thrilling read. The world was constructed robustly, with a comprehensive magic system, hints of fantasy governance, and even detailed descriptions of mythical faunas and floras. At the same time, these elements are smoothly integrated into a modern life that most readers are accustomed to. For me, this partial escape is enjoyable.
I especially appreciate the level of attention put into describing the psychology of the characters. Throughout the chapters we see various personas being illustrated, whether through broad strokes of flashbacks or fine depictions of stream-of-consciousness. Besides the traditional internal monologue, we see Ethan using powers akin to a more immersive telepathy. The juxtaposition of internal thoughts and vicarious memories provided an extra avenue of character expression.
Every chapter leaves a nice cliffhanger, and the overall plot is building up in a good direction, with conflicts stacked on top of each other. I look forward to seeing the average modern high school life clash with the world of fantasy and magic, I am certain that it will be a thrill full of new magic, new conflicts, and new discoveries.
FarbmondRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Jakob is a teenager with a big dream: he wants to become an ecologist. Thanks to his strict parents, his access to nature has so far been limited to an inner-city botanical garden, which he visits far too often. Thanks to puberty, Jakob begins to flirt with delinquent behavior alongside his love of flora and fauna in order to bring a little excitement into his life. No wonder with his parents, for whom even going on vacation is associated with incalculable risks and dangers. Whereby "delinquency" is a strong word for the behavior that the previously so rule-abiding boy tries out - we're talking about the level of "fare dodging". But well, everyone starts small!
And as predictable and boring as his life seems so far, it changes abruptly with the appearance of a magical tiger.
I won't reveal any more about the content, just this much - the book is well worth reading, so try it!
Story & Style:
The story doesn't do things by halves and throws the reader straight into the action with an interesting introduction. The narrative style is very pleasant to read and in third person.
The story combines breathtaking action with great worldbuilding and lifelike characters. The pace of the narrative adapts to the different situations, sometimes you are swept along and sometimes the story ripples along at a more leisurely pace to leave room for inner monologues and descriptions. Fans of action/battle scenes get their money's worth with detailed descriptions from the very first chapter!
The chapters end with a nice cliffhanger that makes you click on the "Next Chapter" button.
The only point of criticism, but this is a purely personal one, is regarding the fight scenes. These are described very extensively and in such detail that I started to skim over them.
Grammar: Nothing to complain about, everything's great!
Characters: The characters have depth, even the supposed bad guys. Instead of a two-dimensional cartoon villain, the author presents us with adversaries who still have eno
FiddlesoupRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Story: This story is interesting. Part isekai, part urban fantasy masquerade. An evil magical scientist is heading back to work searching for his next victim, someone with the magical signature he needs to continue his research. Character: Enter Jacob. An average teen with overprotective parents. He's a fun protagonist, well-written, with believable motivations and actions. Because his parents are so overprotective, he has a bit of a rebellious streak, always fooling around or at least dreaming about it. He's just a normal kid, and then he discovers magic is real. It's an enjoyable hook. Ethan seems to be the villain. A man with the power to travel between worlds. He is obsessed with learning everything he can about magic and has no qualms about how he achieves his goal up to and including murder. The mom and dad, like I stated, are overprotective. Let's give a few examples. They give their son a ridiculously early curfew. They ground him at the drop of a hat. You get the picture. There are other characters, but I want to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. Style: This is solidly well-written, with believable dialogue and easy-to-read prose. Grammar I noticed few grammatical mistakes.
IvolucienRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Fabulous stuff! Great character of personality growth, from scared mouse (metaphorically) to an increasingly confident young man. The MC is, for now at least, not OP, but has a lot of implied potential that is just starting to be tapped.
Will we see more of the one other background character who has the same rare trait as Jacob? Who is committing the heinous crimes? I'll be waiting for the next chapter...
RavensFantasyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style/Story: The story follows the character of Jacob as he tries to invoke a bit of his rebel side. Upon his attempt he is faced with something that is both amazing and scary all in one. He is introduced to a world he didn’t know existed as he is attacked by a strange looking tiger. Even stranger, he finds out magic exists! As the story is set up, this shows great promise to be a great story!
The story is set up well and introduces the characters nicely. There is enough description within the scenes that help the reader visualize the scenes. So far the story does well at leaving on cliffhangers, which makes you want to keep hitting the next chapter button to read more. There is some great world-building placed throughout the story as well!
The structure and overall flow of the structure is pretty good. My only complaint is that there are some longer paragraphs that might be better if they could be split somehow.
Grammar: The grammar seemed pretty good to me.
Characters: The character of Jacob seems like a relatable character. He hasn’t had a rebel streak yet but as he tries he finds himself in an interesting situation. Jacob’s reactions to the situation seem real. His curiosity about the world and his curiosity for magic has my interest as I am interested to see how this will affect his overall character and character development.
We haven’t been introduced to too many other characters yet. Jacob and his connection to his mom seem real and relatable. Even if his parents are a bit overprotective. Camilla, seems to be an interesting side character too. We don’t know much about her yet, but I'm interested to learn more about her. Then there is Ethan who is introduced in the prologue. Ethan, to me seems like he could be the villain of the story. Overall, the characters are done well and seem well-developed.
In Summary: The story follows Jacob as he stumbles upon a new discovery by chance. With the brief introduction to the new world that I have read so far, it has me w
Caz LewisRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
No knock against most of the stories on Royal Road, but a lot of times the characters are flat or painted with giant thick pain rollers where everything is just all there right from the start. That is not the case in this one. After a killer prologue and 3 chapters I am already digging the focus of nature that is naturally(see what I did there?) blended into the story. With exciting well executed action and good ole magic twisted in, it almost gives the story a calm then rush then calm again feel that I rather like. Quite frankly, I am not sure if I have ever read a story with a similar feel.
No grammar issues that I saw, maybe a few word choices that seemed a little weird, but that is a more a personal preference. Then again, one of the characters is a teenager, so probably very appropriate.
Characters so far are interesting and well done, plus there is still plenty more to discover which I rather like. You get a good serving of who they are, but the way the story is written you know there is more there that you will find out as we go along. That is really hard to do right and you don't always find that. I did take a half star off for what felt like a little too cookie cutter parent characters, but that could also be that we just haven't seen what is below the surface.
The story so far is very interesting and jumps between worlds almost flawlessly. You can tell a lot of design has been put into how it all functions. How it all comes together should be exciting.
While the descriptions and action flow very well, I did finally I take a half star off because a few times I thought the descriptions didn't feel right. The comparing the tiger to a house cat fell short for me. I know what the author was going and it conveyed the idea very well, but if you compare a tiger to a housecat it kind of takes the scariness out of the tiger. But that is probably just a me thing.
Overall, if you like nature, interesting characters, magic, and portals this story is a must read. Or if
ZosmyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This book isn't something I'd usually read, but it's still interesting enough.
Style/Grammar: They're both the best I've ever seen on a review swap, probably on par with actual books and the stories on the best rated list. I'm sorry that there isn't too much to write here- it's just good and easy to understand.
Also, it's third person POV. I dunno if anyone really cares (I read a 2nd person POV book once, it was pretty unusual, to say the least) but that information is there if you want it.
Story: It's good, following the pretty classic "magic has always existed (on earth), you're special and are about to enter this world of magic" storyline. Thus it'll have isekai-like themes but be more grounded as a low fantasy novel.
The author has been setting up the world (as far as I've read), but the blurb and prologue definitely promise some action later on.
The worldbuilding is pretty good, no complaints there.
Characters: This is genuinely making me think of changing some of my other reviews.
1. I love the MC- he's relatable and acts how a normal(ish) person should act, at least in my opinion. And with the descriptions the author puts in, I can practically envision myself as the MC. Even some of the best stories still have the MC as someone you watch, vs having someone you truely could see yourself as.
2. Side characters are also extremely understandable, fulfilling roles that I'm used to seeing. No dumb actions or unexplained motives- and I'm glad for that. If I had to give some criticism, I'd say that they're a bit generic.
Final message:
I'm a guy who doesn't like low fantasy. That's just who I am- sure I can read it, but I'd always go for a high fantasy book if it became a contest.
As a person who doesn't prefer low fantasy, I will still say that this author was good enough to make me want to read the book and continue reading.
I look forward to seeing how this book turns out.
RickHFoxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This story starts off with a bang. The opening shows a lot of fun concepts that will get touched on and played with as the story progresses. The magic and the way it plays into the fights is kinetic and fun in a way I don’t often see. The particular kinds of violence on display goes beyond the usual fireballs and lightning bolts and that’s always a pleasure. I can already tell that there will be a lot of cool twists on the magic system and its complications will play a fun role in the story overall. I also very much enjoyed the scenery of the opening. Without spoiling too much, it takes place in an unusual place and this easily could have been more of a problem than a strength but the descriptions were vivid and left me wanting to know more.
The characters are also a lot of fun and there is a good attention to the personalities and motivations to them. I’m excited to read more when I have the time to devote to the story. I’m sure it will reward the attention you give it. Overall, this is a very fun story I definitely recommend to fans of urban fantasy!