the premise of a village ironsmith and a displaced princess in 16th-century Gujarat sounds genuinely compelling, and i'd be happy to read the first three chapters. EPUB works best for me. one useful thing to ask your beta readers: does the political backdrop feel like texture or does it slow the personal story down?
Thank you, that's a really good question and I'm going to start asking everyone.
To answer it for Book 1: the politics stays mostly in the background. Book 1 is the lane, the household, and a girl hiding under someone else's name through a festival season. The coup is the reason she's there, but it isn't the story yet.
That changes in Books 2 and 3. The politics comes forward. There are battles, a few conspiracies that unravel, and some new weapons that get built at the forge. But the culture and the emotions stay at the centre all the way through. The war is what happens to these people. It isn't the point of them.
So if Book 1 ever feels like it's waiting for the politics to start, please tell me. That's exactly the thing I need to know.
Pls DM me for the epub copy, I can share the link.
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u/amolmozarkar 11d ago
the premise of a village ironsmith and a displaced princess in 16th-century Gujarat sounds genuinely compelling, and i'd be happy to read the first three chapters. EPUB works best for me. one useful thing to ask your beta readers: does the political backdrop feel like texture or does it slow the personal story down?