Oct 23, 2025
One thing I'd like to note here is that whilst I appreciate how beautifully written your prose is, I feel like the hook isn't strong enough. We have met far too many characters in far too small a span for any of them to leave any impression on me. Even with my notes, I often fail to realise what vibe the interaction between some of the more 'minor' characters should have because they're just so dang many. I feel like you could've culled some of these or staggered them out, rather than frontload them all in the first act. I get that you need to announce your actors before you give them meaning, but given how compact your scenes are, it feels like none of them have any room to breathe.
Furthermore, I'm a little put off by the mystery here. We're roughly a quarter of the length in, and I feel like I've not been even hinted at any stakes here - or the little hinting that has been done (the inquisitors, of instance) has not lent any weight to any of the events. And despite the causal link between any two scenes catching my interest at first, I can't help feeling like there's an aimlessness to this whole thing. It feels almost like slice of life with a nice little twist.