Update Stability: Average
I based this partially on the rate you were updating before the hiatus which was very good, but since itās been 16 days since the last one and you likely wonāt be consistently updating for a while, I had to rate just average. (But obviously, this isnāt a big deal and isnāt really part of your technical writing abilities. Authors get busy with life after all.)
Writing Quality and World Background: Both Above Average
Few errors, overall general good use of grammar. There was a sentence I set aside somewhere that I was going to use to explain one little quirk of your writing that could be improved for clarity. Alas, I canāt find it, but I can still explain. Itās the use of commas. If I recall correctly, you once said you knew you have problems with abusing commas, and in some cases, thatās true. But actually, I mostly found that you needed to adjust how you used them as in some cases you needed to add commas for clarity in more complex sentences with particle inserts.
Now with style and details, this is in first person, so I donāt expect much stylistic flexing as the voice should be of the narrator. So I think the complexity of the writing, meaning readability (such as the likert scale), is fine; itās appropriate for first person. Most people donāt āthinkā super descriptively but rather āspeakā more ordinarily in their mind.
With that said, that doesnāt mean they speak briefly in their minds either. Thatās why Iām always encouraging writers choosing first person to really dive into the characters with more of their thoughts and feelings. The writing doesnāt have to complex, but it should lean on depth and a tad more length. The MCās reaction to something shocking, for example, should be not be said in just a line or two, but several lines perhaps interspersed in different spaces of an entire scene. With your particular MC, I like how she phrases things in a bit of a sassy way, but unfortunately, it doesnāt shine through enough because her thoughts are often one liner responses to events that occur, like oh, thatās funny and moving on. If you lingered more and divulged into her amusement and conflicts, it would greatly make her come more alive. Currently, sheās a bit weak in the demonstration of her personality, making her sassiness almost feel forced just for the sake of a cool, quirky character rather than natural and real.
Character Design and Story Development: Both Average
And so, that leads us into character and plot. I was impressed by you fleshing out the minor characters, my particular favorite was the driver at the beginning. You were able to bring out his character and background in few lines, but they were very effective and natural. The MCās maidsā on the other hand feel like a contrived duo that makes me think of the enthusiastic maids of other historical romances.
As for the MLās personality, that too was lacking, perhaps because we see little about him and his thoughts, feelings, and motives for why heās a bandit and how heās so skilled as a blind man. I donāt dislike him. But heās forgettable, something that a ML shouldnāt be. Iād dare say to even dive into the cliches of making him more mysterious if heās a rebel of sorts for playing bandit and doing other ānon-princelyā activities. But that aside, Iād like to hear more of his story, what compels and interests him and why.
His group, as somewhat minor characters, fall into the middle of the spectrum of strong and weak characters found in this story. Due to the long fight scene, we got to see quite a lot of them in proportion to the FL and ML. While itās okay to delve into side characters, the focus should always be on the main ones at least at the beginning of the story once youāve established them and the storyās main conflicts. Once the FL/MC enters the castle, sheās also scrapped in place of the ML and his gang for a very long bar fight of sorts. Fighting and action in a romance story is fineā(hit 4k character review limit)
(continued in a comment)
āI love it when it exists in romance stories actuallyābut, given that they have a clear purpose. And this for this fight, I see none. It felt like a long insert that didnāt quite belong to the story. It felt disconnected. However, I do note that there arenāt many chapters and theyāre generally quite short, so itās early into the story and these chapters could very well serve a purpose thatās not immediately clear.
With that said, the fight itself was sloppy. While some bits were amusing or entertaining, I had no idea who was where and doing what and why people joined or started, what the problem was, why the assassin targeted them, etc. I have some loose ideas, but itās not organized enough for me to follow with a satisfactory degree of comprehension. And with how it ended, it confused me even more as it then jumped right back to the princess MC, a very jarring transition.
I see the hints of the assassin being some antagonist by someone who wants to disrupt the royal family and castle, for her to kill someone, and then the MC being contacted by someone shady about her fiancĆ©. But overall, it feels contrived, too sudden without any proper build up of the forces at stake, and the factions and their conflicting interests. Thatās why I felt a lack of solid footing or connection to the events at play.
Tying this back to the writing, I believe sticking with the MC/FLās perspective is best. Jumping around to the MLās view and then even his gang which are secondary characters adds to the confusion and disconnect of the characters weāre just starting to know and the plot thatās just beginning. If you want to show the MLās perspective, thatās fine, I just suggest showing it at a later point once the FL has settled down with the plot starting or under way, and weāve grasped her personality and situation better. However, no side/secondary character perspectives as they make the story too messy. Again the focus should be on the main characters, especially in a romance, and we can learn enough about them from the main charactersā narrative about them. Interestingly, I found that was the reason why the driver came off to me as more well-presented than the other characters. The method of sharing their personality and thoughts leads to different expectations. Tell me in their first person perspective, and I expect a lot of deep diving. If none, the view feels unnecessary.
To wrap up, you can write. You can definitely write with good grammar and vocabulary. You have good ideas, humor, and emotion too, but they just need to be brought out much more. At this point, it feels more like a skim, leaving me unsatisfied and wanting more. Slow down the pace and show a little more. Add more meat to the introspections and exploration of the settings and plots.
I hope this helps! I went a little deeper and more nit-picky with a more blunt approach than usual because I believe thisāll serve you better as feedback. Like I told you before, I have to read more chapters with better written stories that donāt require me to point out as many basics of writing and storytelling. In these types of stories like yours, I can talk more about the details of character and plot for instance. And you know where to find me if you want to ask questions. ;)