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I normally know within the first few chapters if I am really going to like a book. I have always said I really wished I could get the first half of any book and then pay if I wanted to read the rest. So many books are frankly not worth it. There is unfortunately no (legal) way to get a good preview of your book.
Anecdotal evidence: I bought a book I was hesitant about like this one off of smashwords after getting about 25 pages in or so.
For your book, I would recommend the first 31 pages (until the end of chapter 5), if you want to really hook me.
So how did I get over my hesitation on this book? I am going to plead the 5th on that one, but I would swear in an Oorstemothian court that I own a legal copy of the book and that I read the book after buying it. Hopefully the Oorstemothians don’t see the equivocation there. 8-[
[b]The cover[/b]
The cover is not very good. I don’t have any problems with the actual scene. In fact, the demon being represented so prominently made me look twice when I was glancing through books. But the art style, which I can only describe as 3d animation without the animation, is not my thing. Also, the fish netted leg seems to be connected too high on the demon and doesn’t look right.
I have no idea who any of the characters are (other than Tom) in the picture and I read the book! Is there a guy wearing a crown tied up in the back?
The question is why the author felt the need to say two were “especially” close. Tom could have been close and not known it. Remember that at around this time, Exador and Ramses are walking around talking to each other. Tom could have been in a hallway one floor down and Talarius could be viewing them as close on his 2D mirror.
The other option of course is that Tom is so powerful he is ultraviolet and Talarius can’t see it on his mirror. I find that unlikely. I don’t think he has reached god status yet.
So, there is some uncertainty in the book when Talarius is scanning the “Palace of Evil” with his mirror.
He sees 4 dots of interest. He sees one green one running around and 3 blue ones. Two of the blue ones are close together and one of the blue ones is light blue, perhaps slightly turquoise.
First, the missing information: is the light one the one on its own, or is it with one of the dark blue ones?
Now onto the fun analysis. Obviously the two standing together are Ramses and Exador. We know that around this time they are conversing. The other arch demon in play is Bess so she must be the other dot. The green one of course is a Level 4 and therefore Tom. But we later see that Rupert registers as green and we know he doesn’t leave the palace until later. So where is Tom? Well at this point we don’t know Bess is in Astlan, so we should assume one of the blue ones is Tom.
Obviously if Tom is a blue, he is the lone one. That would make him an Archdemon. However, if the light blue one is the lone one, then it may be the mirror isn’t exactly calibrated to the arbitrary human classification of demons. That would mean that he is a very very strong 4, something we already knew/suspected. However, if the dark blue was the lone one… that would be interesting. It would mean Tom outranks either Ramses or Exador at this point and is unquestionably an Archdemon.
Final question: is Tom an Archdemon at this point?
I didn’t say you were insane. I said the opposite. I said I am starting to believe you are more powerful than you let on and pretend to be not right in the head to trick people otherwise.
This book makes one paranoid really quickly.
Page 391: “Get a good luck at our guests?”
Page 393: “It is too similar to some of own introductory texts and we should …”I downloaded the book rather recently so I assume these typos haven’t been fixed.
@AuthorGuy, your book is awesome. Read through it twice (so far). I swear each time I figured out new things. Right now I have serious paranoia about Tizzy. I am convinced he is a demon of much greater power in disguise at this point. Still working on pulling data from the book to support my theory. At the moment most of the things I find support both cases of Tizzy being nuts or him being a seriously powerful player/observer.
Also, consider this an audition for beta reader. I am fully willing to take uncompleted works and help you ferret out typos/inconsistencies. :d/
Can T-A-G (who is more serious than Tizzy) comment on the current status?
Is the next book (beta) x% done? Is TAG too busy with actual paying work to work on it? It has been awhile since we got a real update and not just a “nope, not ready yet”. I suppose my real question is if forward progress is being made on it and when would be a reasonable time to expect it. (I understand you don’t want to commit to anything.)
I disagree, I believe Vaselle’s scenes are quite important. As for Tal Gor and Rupert, I feel that they had too many short interspersed scenes. Please remember that there is legitimate cost each time you switch perspectives. And when they don’t relate to the “main” events directly, they can be rather difficult to deal with.
I also found the constant “I went out to swear in more people” thing from Tom annoying. I realize that was all Tom did for a significant period of time, but there was far too much detail there and it is during that time that you could have focused on the adventures of either Tal Gor and/or Rupert. Each one should have maybe a chapter or so dedicated to their exploits. Instead, the entire thing felt extremely disjointed.
Also, if you want to talk about something to add… I would have loved to be in on the discussion between Saint Hilda and Barabus. Talking about church doctrine and how Exador was able to twist it would have been awesome (although, probably hard to write).
P.S. I see how hard you work to keep things on a logical timeline while at the same time showing different points of view. It is very admirable. That being said however, it makes for bad story telling. Especially when stories diverge and their re-merging neither imminent nor obvious.
I use either the Kindle app or Aldiko Premium. Both have the ability to annotate while reading. I don’t like interrupting my reading to take notes. I just highlight and move on. Later I go back and fill in detail for myself.
The tables would be in an appendix right? I probably would not need it right away. I will switch to the pdf version if that is really a problem. I had issues with reading your tables on the kindle on my phone the first time around anyways so this will be nothing new.
Another spammer for the River Styx
http://astlan.net/Forum/tabid/388/g/posts/t/72/Air-Max-2015-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%B8%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%B5-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BD-%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%BF-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BC%CE%BF%CE%B4%CE%B1%CF%82#post1948
http://astlan.net/Forum/tabid/388/g/posts/t/71/Air-Max-Stand-en-el-mundo-de-la-moda#post1947
http://astlan.net/Forum/tabid/388/g/posts/t/70/Air-Max-2015–Stand-in-the-world-of-fashion#post1946I had no issue with it inline. It was very obvious to me. I also skipped most of the date system thesis by selecting the next chapter.
Hah, thanks Tizzy. I will be sure to hit the report button in the future. That is one of those buttons you forget exists because when you first see it you don’t believe it will ever be useful!
The river styx does have its drawbacks. Assuming he re-emerges, he might accidentally stumble on this site again. But he won’t remember the punishment you gave him last time! That could lead to an awkward cycle.
I assume torture would work better for ensuring future compliance. But a demon would have better information on that.
@Tizzy, no demon can possibly be as bad as these spam bots.
List of spam topics:
http://astlan.net/Forum/tabid/388/g/posts/Adidas-wings-chaussures-ameliorer-l—a—permeabilite?m=1099#post1099
http://astlan.net/Forum/tabid/388/g/posts/New-balance-economical-sale-made-usa-by-using-cost-free-postage?m=1097#post1097And obviously this one.
[quote=Tizzy;1130]oh wait that’s the third chapter of book ii…never mind.[/quote]
Tizzy, you are truly evil. You keep referencing the next book which is driving me to madness. I recommend saving this method of torture for the souls you really want to punish. ](*,)
Any word from TAG on when the book (or at least an ARC) will be done?
