All That Glitters Ch. 25

I think, hindsight being 20/20, it would have been better to leave the "cliffhanger" at the confusion of Wassim Andjuran, discovering himself covered in blood, though his intended victim lived. Alternately, the end of the chapter could cut to Henadi Noor's point of view, finding herself also spattered in blood and yet still conscious, still restrained, and still staring down in shock at a basket where she expected her head should have by now been.

That being said, you are the author and if you intend to kill off a character it's entirely your right to do so. However, leaving everyone on a cliffhanger that made it seem that you had done so, when that was in fact all a feint, was a bit cruel, especially for those who had to wait for the next chapter to be released.

Sorry you got trolled by readers, and welcome to the club.

I would've respected your decision even if you had killed off Noor. It would've been sad, but you have the right to shape your own narrative however you want.

The people telling you to "suck it up" clearly haven't experienced harassment for writing.

I can only thank you for this story and I look forward to more of it.

On hindsight.

I think you needed some support when all the negative messages came in. But it is a demonstration you have the ability to build up characters that people really care about :-) Tefler went through the same thing :-)

If this came out as a book, you would finish the story and readers could only comment after reading the whole book and not affect the book halfway through.

On hindsight, you could have taken excerpts of the new text and done it count down style from the two drop ins.

T-8 hours - the new story text

T-4 hours - the new story text

etc.

You would still need to explain the timeline from drop in to cutting the head off. Why did it take so long? Why couldn't they rescue Henadi before hand?

Also, as written, Kim could be in the shadows 20 feet away rather than next to Andjuran. It is still confusing as to her location.

Not sure about the rolling dice. If you roll the dice enough every character WILL die. If that is the case then all the initial major characters will die and some minor character will rise up through the ranks to become major characters. Except of course they can die too. Even GRRM had a direction for his story and I don't think characters died at random, at least I don't think so :-)

I don't think they had a moments rest or hesitation in the preparation to rescue Henadi . But someone said they were twiddling their thumbs . When of course the only hold up would be the Union not issuing the critical warrants needed in a timely manner . Before invading a non Union Planet .

WW55 . Do you honestly think you have any say in how and what an extremely gifted artist does and handles his craft ? There is no one especially the author that could benefit from your input .

And for the other below you to suggest that the author is " playing with your emotions " . Wow .

That sounds like a very high compliment . He is very good .

I wouldn't have been upset if you had killed off Henadi, as well as Analisa, but to ass this off as a chapter, when the entire first half was a repaet of the previous chapter was lazy.

It was a cheap trick, and the work, up to this point didn't deserve it. Chapters 24 & 25 should be one chapter.

Imagine what GRRM went through when he killed off Rob Stark in GoT.

I, for one, find it hard to believe that you would not expect your readers to be upset when, in fact, you were playing with their emotions. I believe that the reason people read a story is to be entertained and maybe learn something new from what they are reading. It is the authors responsibility to keep their readers happy and interested, not the other way around.

A great, though short, resolution to a very long story arc.

I for one suspected the resolution of having Kim take the head of Najmaddin with her Katana. The way that the whole section of the beheading was expertly written to build tension in the cliffhanger, but there were a few clues in there.

Firstly, the fact that Andjuran was standing close to his henchman so, if Henadi's head had been taken, he would not have been so covered in blood 'from his chest to his feet. That could only have happened if he was standing so close to a decapitation.

Secondly, there had to be a reason for the two individuals in jump suits to have HALO'd in to the Temple. It seemed obvious that one would be Raymond Clark, and it was a calculated guess that the other would be Kim as she has a high skillset.

Third and finally, I have been binge reading this story for the last two and a half days, so have gotten used to bgtddybr's style of writing. Hey, what's a guy to do when he's at home on Furlough during a Lockdown.

One final point. I could not agree more with the personal statement made at the end of this chapter, both about internet trolls and the curbing of our freedom of speech on the internet. It is I think something that we all want to say at times, and you stated you position exceptionally well.

First off I want to thank you for a riveting story, though I was cliff hangered on chapter 24, I suspected what came to pass. A masterful part of story telling is leaving the reader in absolute need to see the rest of the story. You are one of a handful of amazing authors here, I rank you with Tefler and CH Darkstrider as my favorite authors (whom also have a Patreon following)

For the author abusing punks that are out there, give your head a shake and take a long look in the mirror. 1. You are entitled to nothing, Bigtddybr is creating this story of amazing quality of which you contribute absolutely NOTHING and thus have zero say in anything. 2. In a world of fiction it is the author's right to do as he/she wishes to THEIR story to and guess what it may not all be sunshine and rainbows you sanctimonious troglodytes. You want a say in how the story goes then fund Bigtddybr enough that he can write you a story all your own, elsewise there is a long walk off a short pier in your future. 4. All in all you should be thanking Bigtddybr for creating a story you are so passionate about, not chastising him for the direction he chooses, don't like it? I dare you to do better, if not STFU