Phew. What a wild ride. So, what better time than at the end for me to break character and as the actual author say thank you to everyone who has supported me through this entire... 1400 page book (yeesh. No wonder the top review says that it was good but was taking too long).
So first, the thank yous.
First one, to my alpha reader. He won't actually read this note because it's not published in the google docs I send him, but I couldn't have done this without him. Or if I did, the book would have been much worse off (did you know that the "dave army" sequence from my April Fools chapter almost made it into a real one? Yeah. You have him to thank for me not including several stupid things).
Second off, to my parents. I have two truly great ones, who wanted to read through their son's litrpg fantasy novel even though they wouldn't normally read anything like this. So, even if it was a bit embarassing having you read my work sometimes, I love you both and thank you for your support.
And last, but certainly not least, everyone else who is reading this. That includes the commenters, the raters, the reviewers, and even the ones who just viewed without an account. Thank you all for the support, the kind comments, and even the rare cases of feedback that I got (which, I have to admit I probably got a bit defensive about, but that's just yet another area that I'll have to grow as an author).
Next, the shameless plug for more reviews/ratings =P
If you've read this far and have an account, please consider rating or reviewing my book. Or, since there are already a few reviews you can also upvote ones that you agree with.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Finally, I bet you're wondering what's coming next for this series.
The first thing that's coming... Is a break. Don't expect to see anything new from me for at least a month.
Then, I will probably start posting book 2 as an entire new book (I'll link it as a chapter after this one when I can). I know, I know. Blasphemy! I should just post all of the books under the same title like everyone else does on this site!
The reason I don't want to do that is because I want each book to actually be able to stand alone. So that way, if book 1 is good, and book 2 sucks the ratings can show that. Instead of having just one score that people have to update because book 1 was good, but book 2 sucked, but 3 was great.
Finally, the last thing I'm wanting is feedback.
This is the first novel I've written, so I'd like to know. What went well? What didn't? I want to keep that in mind as I begin writing book 2, and when I eventually edit book 1. I'm thinking about completing the series, going back through and editing the entire thing, and then publishing it on Amazon. But, that's future me's problem, and he can deal with it later.
Anyway, feedback. Some things that I already know that I can improve on:
1. Pacing. I've come to agree with the (current) top review on my book. I think if I cut about 200 pages out of this book that it would be much better than before.
2. Consistent characterization. I think I struggled the most with Megan and Emilia on this, but that might be because I just have a harder time getting into the head of a young woman (shocking).
3. Style. Specifically, the phenomenon I have mostly referred to as "point of view soup." It was worst in chapter 2 where I bounced around to too many people, but it also showed up some other times. While I think I handled it much better as the story went on, I think that's definitely an area that I can work on.
Anyway, if you have feedback but don't feel like posting a review, go ahead and comment it below.
Once again, thank you all for reading. I'll see you in the next book...
RESTART (REBORN AS A RELUCTANT DEMON LORD, BOOK 2)!