It is my pleasure today to share some feedback I received about Dark Empire from a (somewhat anonymous) friend and reader. We did a really informal interview over IM, so keep in mind that this isn’t intended to be a writing sample.
DDS: Hey, just finished your book. Couldn’t put it down, it’s fantastic. I hope there’s another one coming soon! Thought I’d let you know.
PCS: Thank you so much! I’m working on book 2 slowly but surely! May I ask who or what was your favorite part?
DDS: Well, I’m intrigued by Del, of course. The swordplay aspect is interesting (but that’s biased as I am a martial arts teacher and fencer) and I like that she has some magic too. I like her independent/defiant streak a lot. I enjoyed her and Balex fighting alongside the Khanda’s Warriors as an action sequence.
PCS: What would you like to hear more about?
DDS: It’d be fun to learn more about Miran. I instinctively like him a lot though he seems like he could get himself into trouble by doing something naive. And I kept getting drawn in, surprisingly, by the king trying to figure out his relationship with Del.
PCS: I had to put in the martial arts and the arranged marriage culture.
DDS: The last thing that really caught my attention were some of the more innocuous details. There was a line about Del not letting the King’s cooks make her Worvani food because they didn’t quite get it right. It made her much more real.
At one point, I started to worry that the—I don’t know what to call her—the Celestial-like creature locked in the tower? I thought she might have noticed Miran and something would happen to him in this book and I was feeling this drastic protective instinct over it. Like “If you touch that kid, I’m going to make you regret it.”
PCS: Don’t worry. More on Miran is coming. You’ll have to wait and see. (twirls invisible villainous mustache)