Reviewer: Lupin Signed
Date: April 07 2022
Title: Chapter 9: The Queen of Mars Pt 2
I'm really loving this arc! You had me at Jim and Clara getting more heart to heart time but I'm now hooked on the crazy plot developments with Elara and the gang. My favorite part of this chapter might be the fact that Isstvel and Lyrei are getting further character development which humanizes them enough for me to not resent them as much. Even with all the adventure in this story, I just felt like they kind of made me feel like Jim and Clara are not truly free to do anything without them looming over and reminding them of their (and humanity's) captivity.Even if Jim is going a little easy on Isstvel now that they're friends, I really love the fact that they're reflecting on the morality of their actions since it makes them way more likeable at least in my opinion. I'd be kind of resrntful if I were abducted and treated like a hamster but maybe that's me and I'm too much of a free spirit.
Sorry for going on a tangent here lol. I'm very excited for the next installment! Keep up the fantastic writing!
Author's Response: Like I said in the end notes one of the big themes of this particular arc is the Aelmari, in particular Lyrei and Isstvell, evolving enough to realize exactly what they've done, and we're also seeing the fallout of how they treat other species in general. Isstvell and Lyrei are probably reaching these conclusions faster than most Aelmari given that their particular adventures were unexpectedly dangerous and the "inferior" species had to save them instead of the other way around. It's hard to say someone deserves to be your pet when they've saved your life that many times. Of course the question is now that it's all done, what do you do about it?
Also as a general thing, I think that most people who have visited giantessworld would probably take the Aelmari up on their "join us on the worldship!" offer in about ten minutes, those of us who were left after we all tried to join the catgirls anyway. I don't know if you've read the Culture series, but the Aelmari take a very similar approach to "free spirits," in that they definitely understand that some humans want excitement and wouldn't want to stay on their worldships in luxury for their entire lives, although as you noted they want to follow you around for it. If you lived in this universe they'd probably try to make you happy by setting you up your own space adventure, although hopefully it wouldn't go as off the rails as Jim's usually do.