The Derivative Saga #1: Neocopy

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

--- (see updated story plan at bottom)

In the city of urban dystopia Neocopy (in the year 2199), sixteen-year-old Aiden Huang lives the cushy life in as the son of the top executives of a pharmaceutical company. But when his life is thrown into disarray by the brutal sabotage of a rival company, he joins a group of "taggers", an anarchist collective of thieves, mercenaries, and hackers that steal, bribe, and kill to obtain the latest technology and trade secrets...for the highest bidder, of course. There, he meets the dangerous and beautiful Luna Velata, a mysterious girl with a barcode stenciled on her neck and a checkered past nobody fully knows.

As he navigates the treacherous underbelly of Neocopy outside the corrupt law system governing the city, Aiden is forced into a fight of survival against the powerful, oligarchical forces that seek to destroy him. Meanwhile, he also begins to unravel the secret research his parents' company was conducting on the Bar (an impenetrable barrier blocking off the boundaries of the known world), secrets that could spell the end of Aiden's world as he knows it.

*Updated Plan*

Here's a rough layout for the future of this story and what to expect.

There will be 5 Arcs (+/- 1, depending on how things turn out). Chapter numbers will vary per Arc, but as a wholeNeocopywill be equivalent to the length of a standard novel, if not longer.

A1:Academy Arc --- COMPLETED

A2:Shadow Raider Arc (ongoing)

A3:Blood Reconnaissance Arc

A4:Orbita Facility Arc

A5:Bar Expedition Arc

My release schedule is not set in stone, but I will try to put out at least 2 chapters weekly.

*What to Expect*

This is a sci-fi thriller with comedic elements mixed in. It will be intense -- this world is not forgiving -- but there will not be non-stop action. I have the intention of making every chapter meaningful, fun, or both, so if a chapter seems to go at a slower pace, it's supposed to go at a slower pace.

As always, please consider following and leaving a rating.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: Ant TheWon

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 5.0/ 5.0
Followers: 9
Views: 5,125

Chapters(20 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(2)

FrostyTNTRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
First of all, I’d like to say that I love the main character, he’s snarky or egotistical and thinks that no one can touch him because he’s the son of a big company. It’s peak. Also, I love the fact that the first scene with him was when he was standing in front of the principal’s office with a bloody nose. It just instantly introduced me as a crappy person, but honestly, a really well-thought-out protagonist.
I’d love to see where his adventures carry him next.
Style:
The author had a really distinct style which I liked, but something I didn't like was that sometimes scenes would drag on for too long without much happening.
Grammar:
Great. No problems.
Story:
Like I said before, the story is quite literally genius. We all know that usually in 'dystopian' worlds it's always someone who is at the bottom of the barrel. Scavenging for their livelihood, etc. But I really like the fact that this starts with the complete opposite. A really rich boy, suddenly thrust into the so-called 'slums'
Character:
So far the main character is the only one worth mentioning, the other side characters feel like they're just there to talk to him and take up space. But even with that, it's not like the MC, Aiden is bad.
wheresthesmutRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This review covers all chapters that have been uploaded at the time I'm writing this (1 through 11).
As the title of this review suggests, the first arc of Neocopy serves to establish the foundation for the story to come, and it does so in a strikingly efficient way. We get a clear sense of exactly the kind of spoiled, aloof, too-cool-for-school kid he is and what has made him this way within the first two or three chapters. The following chapters fashion a playground in which the author sets Aiden loose to flesh out this initial bare-bones archetypical sketch, showing us how he operates in each of the different corners of his world and uncovering some of his hidden depths along the way. Aiden turns out to have some competence to back up his bluster (at least to some extent), and his uncaring exterior breaks down a little when it comes to his sister Tancy. The rest of the characters occupy just enough space in the narrative to contribute their piece toward illuminating Aiden's MO; I found myself surprised that certain characters had as few scenes as they did (based on their roles, I would have thought they would need more development), until I got further along in the story and realized they had stuck around no longer than needed.
The worldbuilding is always tied to character, and as such, it never feels like we have to stop the story to just sit and over-describe things. Moreover, everything we learn about the world is presented in the way which is most relevant to Aiden's perspective, so there is really no such thing as mere set dressing here. A lot of it is what you would expect from a cyberpunk dystopian setting, but the author manages to put his own spin on some of those tropes.
There's no real action in the first arc (save the very fun and creative ziv-ball match early on), but the character-based scenes are engaging enough that you don't miss it. And once Chapters 10 and 11 hit... well, you definitely won't be left wanting for action at that point. The pacing