60,578 Words

Solspear: The Burning Door is a coming-of-age epic fantasy, complete at roughly 136,000 words across 109 chapters, and the opening book of an ongoing saga set in the world of Dulkair. Gavin Solspear and Ifraetes Sootstride are platonic soulmates — found family, not romance. Other characters in the story frequently misread their bond as something else; that's intentional, but if it reads that way to you too, I want to know. Getting that distinction right for readers matters a great deal to me, and it's one of the things I'm most hoping to learn from this process. The story follows them from childhood through a supremacist cult's attack on the town that raised them, and into what they become in the aftermath. Expect real violence, on-page character death, and themes of religious extremism and grief. No on-page sexual content. I'll be releasing the manuscript in four sections rather than all at once. After each one, I'll send a short set of questions, and readers who return thoughtful, timely feedback will get the next section — this isn't a test so much as making sure everyone's time goes toward feedback that's actually useful to both of us. What I'm most interested in: whether the central relationship reads the way I intend, whether the slower, character-driven stretches hold your attention, and whether the ending — which sets up a longer series rather than resolving cleanly — lands as a satisfying place to pause. I'm looking for readers who enjoy character-driven fantasy and are comfortable giving specific, honest feedback rather than encouragement alone.