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Great Book!

"I really enjoyed it! Characters were deep and plot was pretty complex. A bit on the violent side but it doesnt detract from the story. Very dark but situations make sense. Ends kinda abruptly and later chapters will need some editing work. I'm assuming there's more in the works?"

MOAR PLZ

"The characters are characters, not caricatures or stereotypes where you could easily predict who they are and what they are about. I specifically enjoyed how no one was simply 'good' or 'bad'. These were people who made choices and were dealing with the consequences as best they could. This world isn't a fairy tale and not everything is sunshine and rainbows but it works with the setting. Some of the action scenes tends to lead themselves a bit to confusion, specifically with the fights and understanding how all the pieces are arranged. Character descriptions come in blocks after the POV character has met them but get overshadowed by the action only sentences later. Overall I enjoy the world and how it's being built. You get hints of scope and how much more the world is hiding, just enough to draw you in and keep you thirsting for more but not so much that it bogs down the action and plot. I'm looking forward to what comes next."

"THIS IS TOTALLY AN AWESOME STORY..ITIS A DIFFERENT OUTLOOK ON WHAT A NORMAL WORLD COULD BE LIKE..I THINK THAT THE AUTHOR HAS A VERY SPECIAL TALENT IN MAKING THIS STORY A POSSIBLE REALITY!"

Cool steampunk

"I really like the premise of this story, with the steampunk/medieval feel. The priest's murder draws us in, and you don't let go. I only read the prologue so far, but I hope to read more later. I liked the mention of the murderer's demons -- it sort of humanized him. Usually I don't like prologues, but I think that this one was very effective in setting up the history and setting of the story. It was surreal and interesting and it makes the reader want to plunge headfirst into the first chapter. Great work! Keep writing!"

Revolutionary

"(At the time of this review, the first 6 chapters have been released) ...Industrial Revolutionary, that is. 'The Cyneweard' is the kind of fantasy where characters swear all the time, but do it by a multi-syllabic fictional deity ("Humbolt-damnit' is as wordy as the best of them). It's the kind of fantasy where far more pieces of the world are mentioned in passing than we actually have time to talk about. It's the kind of fantasy that's probably going to be a lot longer than six chapters. At the same time, it's a relatively gritty read--and I wonder if it's not shaping up to be a noir-style mystery. The world outside is full of fantastic elements, but the action we're presented with is carried out with good old knives and pistols. What kind of fantastic elements? Well, there's magic of some kind, although we don't see any on screen. There's an early-industrial level of technology, so people are transitioning from swords to firearms. And there's some cat people in there, because cat people are always a good addition to anything. Don't think about it too hard, it's not crucial. What you need to know about is 'The Machine', a great big factory in the center of town. You see, this world has just hit its industrial revolution. This seems to be the crux of the story. Exactly what's going to go down isn't totally clear, because the movement of intrigue is a bit vague, and the characters who know anything aren't letting on. If you like gritty fantasy, I think you'll be quite satisfied. The dialogue is energetic, and the worldbuilding imaginative. Things move at a good clip. The narrator is constantly getting people into conflict. We have a small cast of characters, and so far they've put up a noble fight to resist the homogenizing forces of the dark, noir atmosphere. We can look forward to seeing personalities developed. The primary downside for me is that some of the 'grit' seems gratuitous. Obviously there's a lot of ugliness that comes with industrialization, and the 'Hard Times-esque' depictions of lower-class hardship could become interesting story elements. But the titular character, the Cyneweard, seems a little over-zealous in making sure that we know he's a bad person. So far he's killed four unsuspecting people, two of them just so he could ask who someone's boss is. Not a crime boss, mind you, just an every factory overseer, something that must be nearly public information. But if you can overlook that, there's entertainment and a promise of unfolding conflict."

Intrigue and world-building galore!

"First of all, I echo a sentiment from another comment somewhere that the initial "fight" scene is a bit difficult to follow, which is strange because it's pretty graphic. I think the issue is that in an attempt to make the throat cutting scene brief, we're left with weird placement of the bodies in the room. I'm not a skilled assassin by any means, but it usually SEEMS like a good throat-cutting happens with the assailant surprising the victim from behind (or maybe I've watched too much TV?). When the scene is described with the attacker shoving the body backwards, it sounds like the attacker is standing in front of the priest, which makes sense because then we also get a description of the priest's eyes as his throat is being cut. To make things simpler, so that readers don't get confused as they try to visualize what's going on, all it would take is a word here or there to straighten it out. The attacker could be moving forward as he slashes at the priest so that when he shoves the priest backward, it's not like "Wait, what?" Because my automatic assumption is that the attacker has come at the victim from behind to do the evil deed. I understand there are stylistic reasons why the author has done the opening paragraph the way he has, but if the following paragraphs are overly confusing, the risk is losing the readers attention immediately. That said, I loved my glimpses into this world. I have only read the first chapter, however, so things I might say here could be addressed in the next chapter. I loved the names in the story, the sense of the larger world, like the Chop, that just sounds fantastic. The House of Humboldt is a great name too, and Little Mille, etc. I loved all this stuff. The Machine was actually the weakest name. It works, of course, I'm just saying that it pales in comparison to the other fantastic ones so far. Which, speaking of names, I'm not sure why the character we're following in the first chapter isn't given a name yet. For me it makes the story clunky, but perhaps this is addressed later on. I do think there should be a really really good reason to not name a character the first time we meet them. Even Brandon Sanderson names Szeth the first time we see him slaughter an entire wedding party (if my memory serves me). There's some really great description going on, and excellent details, which definitely make me want to read more. Keep writing and posting! Can't wait to see how much this develops!"