YAY! I must say i'm a huge fan of your work. I randomly started reading Metanoia a few years ago and hunted through your website for your other writing. I adored the God Eaters. I have a copy my friend printed for me and put in a binder so i could take it with me when i didn't have Internet. I also have one your actual printed copies.

But enough gushing. I find this story to be highly interesting and I hope to see more of it in the future. Keep up the good work!

Just reread and I got a tiny little thing that might be retcon-worthy: when James think about what he’d do if wealthy, he wants to by his parents a new car and pay their mortgage, which gives the impression that they’re not rich. Now we know they’re politicians and lawyers and that sounds kind of rich. At least so rich that they wouldn’t want/need his money.

It was good to be reminded just how cool this story is; I look forward to reading more. I had to admit I skipped the whole Jared-storyline, having read it before, I wanted to read the newer James-chapters more badly. It not that the Jared-bits are /bad/, I’ll probably read them next time I reread Summerlands, it just that James is so /cool/, I find it more exciting reading about him building factories than about Jared being afraid of Deimos. Though I’m still excited about finding out where you’re going to take him, maybe more than where James is going, because James story seems more straightforward when compared; /anything/ could happen to Jared.

Now I think I’ll go revisit the vampires :)

I would love to leave you a long, wonderfully written and thoughtful review, but I just read for about 8 hours now (gawd I'm slow) and my brain is mush. I just wanted to say that this story was a blast to read. It shook me up, spun me around, and left me feeling decidedly giggly. It also managed to drag me out of my depression before it got worse for which I am super grateful; I was beginning to annoy myself.

I love your characterization and the way you don't focus too much on the relationships, but allow them to compliment the rest of the plot in a tasteful way. I was slightly put off by how easily James seemed to embrace his role in the rebellion or rather how resigned he was to spending a large amount of time and possibly dying in Summerland(s?). It wasn't that it didn't seem believable for his character, I think it was that you switched to Jared's point of view around the time that sort of thing develops. The thing with Jared was really confusing in the beginning when he thought it was a dream. The fact that he was in an entirely different area than James took more time coming across than it should have (in my mind, it just wouldn't click). I was fascinated by his character though. He was remarkably likeable. In the beginning I had thought I wouldn't like him, nor had I really thought he would be a major character. But his section was really enjoyable, if a bit misplaced and confusing. I forget, had you mentioned the Bloodwood Three before that section? Because afterwords you are very casual mentioning them despite the fact that the reader is still confused about them ("are they gods? but they're human? guh, I feel so frickin dumb").

Personally I feel your beginning chapters up until James is introduced to Tarlach are probably your strongest though I am too sleepy to really remember why. Your very first chapter where you introduce Ynyr made it somewhat hard to get into the story because the names you were throwing around messed me up a bit. Really, the only thing that kept me reading was the fact that it seemed so different from every story with elves I've read. Your writing was a bit flowery that whole chapter, though it thankfully cleared up quite a bit afterwards. However that made it hard to follow some of the descriptions in that first chapter so I was pleasantly clueless as to what Ynyr was doing when he got caught (though I don't think you really said) and I made up what the Maze looked like for myself rather than read the description a third time (sorry!). If I had any other criticisms of any other chapters, hell if I remember them. I cannot pronounce Ynyr's name to save my life and I cursed you several times for naming him something so y-heavy, just so you know. I apologize for that. I also apologize for how stunted and unhelpful this review probably is. I think I just pointed out things you already knew. More apologies for my poor grammar and spelling.

Thank you many times over for writing this and sharing it!

Goddamnit, kid, this is the second time I've stayed up all night reading one of your works (though, in all honesty, I've probably stayed up all night reading The God Eaters a couple times...)!

Very good. While it is slightly apparent that this is a work in motion, nothing's jumping out at me as horribly not jiving. I like this James kid. He sounds wicked.

Sorry I'm not more articulate. Aforementioned staying up all night. _

-Sets Jikan

Heh heh. I like.

It's AMAZING. I love the politics, war strategy, and the variation of character personalities. I especially love how sarcastic humor's used to offset the potential absurdity of some elf land-esque thing.

One thing though; the intro of the story seemed too much like a pretentiously written beginning to pointless elven porno. The circumstances seemed kind of cliched and lame, but I'm really glad that it's better than I expected. In fact, it's about a hundred times better than I expected. The incorporation of modern warfare technique into some fantasy setting is really intriguing.

I hopped over here from haunting Riverside. I love Metanoia and your fiction, but this is by far my favourite piece of your work. For something which is effectively off the cuff this is amazing.

I'd love to learn more about the Bodags and the other races that you keep tantalizingly introducing us to. It sometimes seems like you're sort of skipping over descriptions of other peoples and other places, just giving the bare bones (very awesome and interesting bones, though...!) Maybe that's something you could elaborate more on in your final draft?

Thank you so much for this story; it's the kind of addictively well-written story that keeps me up far later than I should be at night, and I love it.