Thanks! Just finished reading it. I would keep reading from Chapter 5 if I picked this up in the bookstore, especially because I really like Oyza. There was a pretty big tone shift from prologue to the first chapter, and I'll admit that I liked the prologue best. It's brutal, fast-paced, and suspense inducing in all the best ways. The transition to a dungeon was a big slowdown from that, but I was definitely invested enough to keep reading.

A few minor things I noticed: pg. 11, you're missing a year after "two", pg. 43, I think you have Laviana instead of Voy in one line of dialogue, and the last line of pg. 44 is really similar to the last line of chapter 1.

Things that I think really work are the Starmark system (don't fully understand it but I like the concept and trust it will be built upon further as the book goes), Oyza, Mapa, witchdust, and the murder of the emperor.

Don't love the dungeon scenes (not sure they add a ton, especially because most of the development happens when Oyza is taken out of the dungeons), and I was a bit lost as to how all these people connected until the knight showed up. I'm also confused why Laviana hates Oyza, seeing as she knows that Oyza never tried to kill her. Loved the moment when Laviana kills the emperor, Final note is that I love the character thoughts but there's kind of a lot of head-hopping within chapters, which kind of shock me from things (like chp. 1 where it goes from Oyza's thoughts to Yars. For me as a reader, I only like to be able to "see" into one head at a time) I think that chapter 5 could probably be chapter 2 or 3 if you wanted to keep things really tight.

Definitely reads like a real book though, and I'd love to keep reading!