So I read
https://rentry.org/Melisende>The hot season had just begun - and for people living on this southern coast of the continent, the wind blowing from the depths of the land meant one thing: the strange people from the south would be coming.People including climate and weather stuff into their stories is always so much fun to see.
>Ch. 1 to 3Chapters 1 to 3 are setup. Cant really say much about them, very standard.>Ch. 4Oh boy, now we are getting into it. The description of the space in the beginning was well done. I dont know why, but I feel like the writing in general improves at and after this point. The previous chapters weren't badly written at all, but somehow the way this one was written felt really easy and pleasant to read, way more so than the previous 3 chapters.I liked Melisende's first interaction with Akira, and like her I was also fooled to think that the one doing the punching would have been the abbess. Good subversion of expectations here. >Ch. 5 to 6"...the trick is not dying when I'm killed. " gave me chuckle. The entire scene at the Rychenbach manor ballroom was amazing. The descriptions and the flow worked really well, and kept me very immersed in the scene. Not many stories here have managed to get me into a similar flow-state of reading, but this one did.>Ch. 7 to 8The interrogation scene was very good.The escape and confrontation with the deadbeat scenes were a lot of fun to read, and at times were really intense. The ending of the 8th chapter, damn. Amazing. Melisende is a badass.>Ch. 9 & EpilogueA Twist! Definitely did not see that coming.Had to have another anon explain it to me what was going on though as the ending didn't really explain it. I don't know whether this was intentional or the result of the problem that I mention below, but if it was intentional I gotta say that I do approve of this way of writing, even though I was not brainy enough to put the pieces together myself.Overall, it was a good story. I can see why it has garnered the reputation it has.
If I may give criticism, in some scenes it is quite difficult to decipher who is doing which actions
for example, at the beginning of ch. 9.Around what year does the story take place? I would like to place it somewhere on my mental timeline.
