Strangers in the West [COMPLETE]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Athshin, the Western Continent, is often called a dying land. it is a wasteland of rocks, dust, and ruins. The people there cling to the past as they tell stories of the old empire and fantasize of how it could be revived. But not all who seek to restore Athshin have the purest methods in mind.

It is in this land that five travelers, strangers to eachother and Athshin itself, find themselves lost and stripped of their belongings. Although they initially unite under the common goal of survival, they slowly find themselves uncovering a tangled web of zealotry and deception that could endanger the soul of the Western Continent.

This is a high fantasy story set in a land inspired by the folklore and cultures of Central and South America. There are four perspective characters that are switched between as needed.

This is a complete work, with the sequel in progress. If you want further stories please check outTales of Domhanda, which is where I post short stories featuring the characters or are simply set in the same world.

Thank you for your time.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2020
Author: Murph04

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 27
Views: 33,244

Chapters(63 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(2)

HeyHeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is my first review so bear with me.
Even if someone would put a gun to my head, I could not point to a single section or paragraph that I didn't enjoy. Everything in this story has a purpose, nothing is ever forgotten and everybody feels like a real person in a world that could exist.
We follow a group of people who get together through circumstances, but unlike the usual stories they are not immediate friends and although they got closer, there still is a difference in the friendship level between the different members.
For example Frost and Azeroth are better friends than Vedek and Azeroth at the end of the book
And I really enjoyed that dynamic.
Style:
I can only say that it was incredibly impressive. The world felt lived in, we never lingered on moments longer than needed, the fights felt fast paced enough to be exciting and the dialoge felt natural.
I think it was my second favorite thing about the book with the characters taking first place.
Grammar:
I have given it 4.5 stars since I found some small mistakes like missing " or something like that every few chapters. Nothing that would take you out of the story or anything like that. Just really small things.
Story:
Oh boy, were do I start. It is a journey of the characters and how they grow in this new land (for them new). The main villain feels threating and the plot is really well woven into the story with some suprises that I didn't really notice at first.
If I were to read the story again, I am sure that I would find a lot of smaller clues that hint at the overaching plots.
The factions in the Land all feel believable and you understand their actions (even that of the "villains"), but i don't want to spoil anything. So just read it already.
Characters:
There are three main POV's Legion, Vedek and Cole. These three will have the most amount of obvious character growth since we can see their thoughts, but the rest of the cast is as fantastic as they are.
I will use Cole to showcase what I mean but every
Theo G.Royal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I'll admit, I had a hard time getting into this story at first. There's something about the style of it that makes me feel like the early chapters drag on too long, but it eventually finds its stride. Part of the issue is the fact that this story is written in a more literary fashion than most stories on Royal Road.
The story is about a rag-tag group of adventurers who go to the "Western Continent" for various reasons and all get caught up in events happening there. One of the joys of the story is the setting itself, which eschews the traditional medieval fantasy for a truly unique world that borrows from South and Central American cultures.
Style:
This is going to be the aspect that most people won't like. The writing itself isn't bad, but it feels more traditional. If someone told me that this story was written in the mid-twentieth century, I would believe it. It has hallmarks of authors like Frank Herbert and Anne McCaffery.
Murph04 spends a lot of time painting the world of the story through the prose. While the prose isn't extravagant by any means, it also doesn't have the bombast or wit of more modern stories like the kind you would generally find on the site.
The story also suffers from Properidic Nounitis, a common affliction in fantasy novels where hundreds of proper nouns are thrown at the reader with little to no context. A multitude of names and places are mentioned just in the first few chapters, and I couldn't be bothered to remember even half of them.
Story:
One of the highlights for me is the epic feel and scope of the story. I won't spoil anything, but it goes from the characters wanting to get their stuff back from bandit bugs, to stopping a nefarious plot with millions of lives in the balance. In short, I enjoyed the ride.
Grammar:
I don't judge the quality of a story based on things like spelling and punctuation. As long as I can read and understand what's written, such small matters don't concern me.
Having said that, the editing here is top-not