Quote Originally Posted by Archimad View Post
I’ve recently discovered this web series and here’s my take (I’ve stopped towards the end of book 3)
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Strong points:

1) The author has put a lot of work in the lore (geography, language, history, magic, cultures… etc.) and it shows.

2) The main character, far from being overpowered, goes through hardships, makes a lot of mistakes and not the kind you can brush off. Some of them actually have everlasting (bad) consequences. Of course Catherine keeps on gaining in power, but if she didn’t, she would certainly be killed and the story would end.

3) A diverse cast with various motivations, running all across the good/evil spectrum.

4) Character growth (or regression).

5) Some original takes: the dwarves not declining but on the rise, the gnomes being technological terrors who can erase any kingdom/empire at any moment... and so on.


Weak points:

1) The writing style. Maybe it’s because English isn’t my mother tongue, but I find the writing quite heavy-handed at times. Especially during the battle scenes. By book 3 and the 2nd battle of Liesse, I didn’t even bothered reading who was doing what, what kind of magic field was raised, what spell was cast, what intricate maneuver was made. All I had to do was reading the dialogues only (5% of the text) so I could get to the important part: who fights who, who betrays who, who gloats about their evil plan and who dies.
It’s like listening to someone talking about their motorbike when you’re not a mechanics enthusiast. If they talk about the amazing adventures they had on it, it’s interesting. But if they just blather about its equipment, its spare parts, its speed control, its suspension rods, its augmentations, its price… etc, you’d get bored very quick. A lot of the war scenes reminded me of a bad Warhammer novel for the drag they were. However, it's the first web series I ever read, so its writing quality might be above the rest.

2) More often than not, Catherine’s inner monologues are put right in the middle of a dialogue, which makes the conversation more difficult to follow.
For example:
Character A: asks Catherine something.
Catherine: ponders for a while about what character’s words B evokes in her. Then thinks (for a whole paragraph) about something thinly related but completely different like the current political struggles at work and their results, the history of a certain region, her last conversation with character C, what she had for dinner… and so on.
Catherine: finally responds to character A.
Reader: “Wait, what was character A talking about again?”

3) The spelling is outrageously bad, especially in the beginning. Even by book 3, there isn’t a single chapter without grammar or typing errors. Even after the commentators gave a hand in spotting the mistakes, there are still plenty of them. Does somebody know if English is the author’s first language? (no sarcasm, I'm sincerely curious) Though to be fair, I’m the kind of person who gets infuriated when they come across an English speaker writing “it’s” instead of “its”. One day I even came across this error WRITTEN BY HAND (I mean WTF! What was their thought process? “Oh, I’m going to put a cedilla just in the middle of this possessive pronoun. Har, har! I have no idea what I’m doing!!”)

4) (Very personal take) I know it sounds superficial (and it is) but there should be a special place in hell for those who still describe characters by their hair/eye color when the reader has already known their name and function for 30 chapters. Can you imagine Dumbledore being called the White-haired elder or the Blue-eyed old man in the 6th book ? It’s just ridiculous and (quite) annoying. The 100th time they called the Black Knight “the green-eyed man” or the “dark-haired man” I started to think someone was in dire need of a writing lesson… At this point of the story, you call your characters by their name, their status, their job or even by their origins… Not by physical attributes which are common to millions of people!

5) I wouldn’t say Catherine’s attachment to Black is completely illogical, but it doesn’t look very fleshed out beside: “Oh, I know you’re using me as a tool and you are more machine than man but I would have never gone that far without your training, and I also kinda sympathize with some of your thinking and you are useful to me… so I suppose you’re my new father now!” Urh.


Neutral points (or weak points that don't matter too much):

1) I don’t get what’s the author’s take on the fight between Good and Evil in this universe. At first, it might look like Good and Evil are portrayed as obedience versus disobedience towards the Gods above. Morally speaking, it would make the words "Good" and "Evil" meaningless and nothing more than banners of different colors. Therefore, the fight between Good and Evil would look as endearing as Blue v. Red, Pizza v. Cheeseburger, Salt v. Sugar... etc.
However, one side does crucifixions, the other doesn’t. Even under Malicia & co., the Empire still fully endorses these kinds of atrocities. And they will burn the world to the ground rather than losing their power. However, it looks like the author tries to reduce Good and Evil to a question of cosmic allegiance by going "hey, look at all the bad things the good guys do! Are they that different? Hmm! Makes you think!"

2) It's a shame we haven’t seen any faction that refuses to follow the Gods' laws and is still decent. Because, on their best day, the utilitarian Empire still practices cultural genocide.
Black justifies it by pretending he just wants to put an end to the eternal struggle between Good and Evil (at least for half of the continent). But there’s nothing altruistic behind that since he chose the side that crucifies people.
In conclusion: I don’t enjoy this web novel enough to go on. However I’m still a bit curious about of how it will end. I’ll just go back to the forum from time to time in order to learn about the latest developments.
The story is a post-modern commentary on the high fantasy and sword and sorcery genres. Named are the unlikely heroes or dramatic villains, the real villains are a mix of fantasy authors/the readers represented by the gods wanting to read the same stories again and again, and Cat is a modernly moraled person trying to force through an arms treaty.

It is a fun read if you are into the genres and like trope dismantling, like the Stanley Principle for fantasy books.