Great start to the story. You've already started to develop the characters, and the storyline is incredibly interesting. Good job, and I can't wait for more :)

~carm~

An interesting premise, but this runs close to an info dump. Instead of dropping all of this information on us at once, perhaps try axing it and going with a prologue/chapter 1 that will grab your reader's attention now and keep it all through the story. Integrate the background information as you pull the reader along - but don't put too much info weight on, as the hook's line might snap and you might lose your readers.

Think of it this way: they don't need to know all that delicious information right away. Keep 'em wanting more, keep 'em guessing. That's how you keep 'em.

Fishing metaphors... I have been doing too much fishing this past week.
LOL, but I'm being serious.

Also, having an orphaned child as a main character (I assume the little girl is going to be the main character?) is somewhat cliche, but if you handle it wisely, it might work. Just be careful not to downplay the pain of living without true parents, or finding out this information. Losing parents is quite the shock and leaves a void, and it doesn't fade in a year or two. (I understand you might know this, but I'm trying to cover all my bases in this review, and its a frequent mistake made by authors writing protagonists who are orphaned).


Good luck!

--JAK
(Please check out my story, too! :D)