At first I thought my biggest problem was finding the right point in the different storylines to make the split, but after accomplishing that I realized there's another problem: the individual endings are all kinda... depressing.
At the end of the book...
- Hero #1 and #2 indulge in a graceless massacre of enemy soldiers. No moral lessons are learned. No one grows or changes. It's just violence.
- Princess #1 witnesses the suicide of one of her friends and gets sucked deeper into a life of prostitution.
- Princess #2 is shoved off the top floor of the castle and left for dead.
- My heroine escapes an attack of enemy soldiers only to find herself trapped in the crypt of a chapel after it burns to the ground.
- My other heroine is abandoned by her mentor and left in the hands of a cruel teacher.
- My anti-hero is arrested by the high king, tortured, and thrown in prison.
And just to be clear: these are my main characters. Could it be any more depressing?
As awful as this all might sound, I really don't think I mind. This story is built on the premise that the people have been abandoned by their gods. Society has come to the brink of ruin and the last shreds of innocence are being purged. Despair is what my characters need to feel before they awaken to the reality of what's needed to save the realm.
But if I could pick one word to describe this story, buried in the middle of a dismal plot, heartbroken characters, despairing heroes, and prospering villains, it would be hope. Hope is a tiny thread in this story that glimmers ever so faintly. Hope—I hope—is something that becomes more evident as the series goes on.
Is that glimmer of hope in book 1 enough to keep readers from getting depressed? We'll see.
*Gulp*
