Status Updates From The Call of Chaos (The Forg...

Took four-fifths of this book for the plot to start carrying itself. In the process, it somehow glossed over the most important worldbuilding and character development elements.

The plot still isn't here yet. It's like Lord of the Rings if the ringbearers had no actual objective or motivation. New threads of plot have appeared but there's no telling if they're related to the story at large.

As soon as Kendra meets Cor'il, her personality completely changes. Instead of being the slightly cynical, self-preserving thief she starts as, Kendra jokes and laughs and isn't at all wary of Cor'il even though it's apparently her rule to never let her guard down.

So a third into the book and the plot from the synopsis/blurb is only now starting to rear itself. The problem is that none of the major events in the book are treated as such. They're about as mundane as the protags' goalless journeying.

Been introduced to several more characters. Not sure yet how all their narratives will come together. Hopefully as it does, each of the characters develops a more distinct voice.

For now, their names and circumstances all seem like different clothes for the same character; and all too often, their internal voices sound no different from the narrator's.

Enough errors and poorly constructed sentences to make it clear that the story needed an editor before publication.

It's not the best written story, but I'm still gripped by the premise. A combustible man searching for peace and answers? A mysterious book he can maybe read? A thieving girl he'll no doubt encounter later? The Call of Chaos has all the right narrative pieces.

It starts in a fantasy tavern. A little cliched, but not terrible given the story justification. Granted I'm not far into it, but what irks me the most is that the dialogue is all one huge exposition machine. It doesn't read the way someone in this world would actually speak, and characters have lapses in intelligence that only serve to better inform the reader through inevitable explanation.