I’m losing interest in the plot here.
I feel like the author has made Navier into a side character and is trying to weave a complex backstory for why Rashta is acting the way she does.... and it’s starting to wear me down. I just want actual plot development. We’ve been spinning our wheels on this whole “Rashta is a slave, here’s the 35-part history channel miniseries on it” thing for waaaay too long. I get setting up and solidifying the antagonist, but cmon man. We’re 50 chapters in, and we’re basically in the same place we were in chapter 15, save for a few details here and there. I heard it said once that a lot of people think a good antagonist is one that makes sense and is relatable, but this isn’t true. A good antagonist must be interesting before they can be anything else. Rashta isn’t interesting, she’s a got-damn annoyance and I resent her for taking up so much of the plot with her inane predicaments. At this point, we know more about Rashta than we do about Navier. That’s not always a bad thing to have a more developed antagonist, but in the context of this story, I don’t think it’s a good choice of character development.
I’m terrified that we’re going to get another 20 chapters of beating a dead horse about Rashta’s character before we actually get to something interesting in the story. I initially started reading this story because I thought it was actually going to focus on Navier and Henley, and how they grow closer, and maybe a half a chapter here and there about how Rashta is scheming to remove Navier and steal her position. Maybe we actually reach the event that was previewed in ch1 at some point in the next 50 chapters, and then we get to see the aftermath of their empress swap. How each side deals with the inevitable political falllout, Navier’s new life with Henley, how she deals with him being a fkin BIRD, rivals in her new palace, dealing with the nobles of her new home; these would all be really interesting topics to explore, but I just don’t see the story getting there before chapter 150.
I love this story, I really do. But if things keep going the way they are, I’ll end up dropping it pretty soon. It has so much wasted potential and it’s aggravating to read.
Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED talk.