Reviews of The Changeling: A Quest For Time

This book feels like coming home after a long day at work. It's relaxing, calming and soothing. Like a walk through the woods, or the feeling of having submitted an assignment and no longer having to worry. To anyone who would like to EXPERIENCE a well-writen story that leads you by the hand in an extremely pleasant manner, then this is the story for you. I can only hope the future content continued to be the same level of excellence as this has been.

I wrote this as part of a review swap, so if that should factor into your opinion, please consider it. I have a lot of strong feelings about this novel, which I'll just call GODS from now on. Truthfully I did not get far, and I believe there is much more to it than what I just read, but what I read was deeply flawed not because of its prose (which do need refining) or its concept (which I find interesting). I'll start with an anecdote. I was given two puppies for my 13th birthday. I had no siblings, and before then I had no real bond with animals, though I had kept fish in aquariums, and snakes in terrariums, and things like that. I had even been afraid of dogs for most of my childhood, after I was attacked by one. I was anxious about having them, but a bit excited. I don't think I expected to get so attached to them. For 10 years on, my dogs were like the siblings I never had. I treated them like family. They were there with me for my ups and downs, through the difficulties of my **** years, and even when I had been locked out of my grandfather's house in the bitter cold, in the dead of night, alone on a mountain top. I had taken them outside, because the largest of the pair, Rainier, was whining. I didn't have my pants on, just the shorts I was sleeping in, and my jacket I left inside. It didn't occur to me that the wind could slam the door locked behind me. So I waited, for hours, huddled with my dogs against me as I tried not to freeze to death. Eventually my grandfather, somewhat addled by his age, noticed I was outside and let me back in. If it had gotten any worse I would have had to break a window. When I lost my dogs, I was about 24. It was an remains the worst, hardest experience in my life. I can't recall it without tears in my eyes. Shasta, the smallest of the pair, we lost first to kidney failure. There was nothing we could do. Rainier, the largest, we lost to nerve degeneration in his hinde legs. Toward the end of his life, I carried him out into the yard--very big dog, cradled in my arms--so that he could barely prop himself up to use the bathroom. I watched him day and night as he lost control of the lower half of his body. Both Rainier and Shasta had to be put down. I was there for Shasta, hand on her head the moment her life ended. Rainier, I couldn't bear to watch. It was too hard. That was my brother. Now, I'll take a moment to compose myself. Good. What struck me while reading GODS was, firstly, that there was no conflict until the third chapter. That's very unusual for a novel, where conflict is the driving force behind all plots. Someone has something they want, or something they want to get away from. Conflict doesn't always mean fighting, but there is always a driving force behind a story, and that should be evident from the first chapter. I didn't see that, so that troubled me. When we reach the wife and husband, I thought their interactions were somewhat alien, but perhaps that's a cultural thing. As someone who's been married for five years, I think I have some qualifications when talking about married-life dialogue. I thought it looked a little too clean, and a little too sterile. Then again, I can only talk about marriage from an american point of view. If my remarks on this seem brief and unhelpful, that's because it's a digression from what really troubled me. We'll get there in a moment. The next thing that struck me as strange was that, after the main characters had shrunk down, they did not remark at all on the safety of their child. I think that would be a parent's first concern, the immediate threat that their progeny could be under, to say nothing of other problems they might perceive. Later, the author demonstrates some confusion about the relativity of time. When we say time is relative, that's because we cannot objectively perceive time, we can only look at it from within its yolk. In fact, it could be argued that time as humans imagine it is just a helpful construct that has no scientific meaning. What we think of as seconds, minutes, or hours could mean completely different things to other creatures, and we would all have different understandings of its scale. None of us are able to see outside of that yolk--that natural understanding--intuitively. I don't think the characters could understand that time was changing when they were within it, because time is relative. Only from the outside would someone look at them and think they were moving slowly or quickly. All of these qualms, I think, are minor points. The prose could use some work, but it's decent enough. Slight changes would improve the readability immensely, and even a few little tricks could make the whole work read better. I found myself catching issues constantly, but they weren't structure breaking, just bothersome. What made me decide that this novel wasn't for me goes back to my anecdote, about my dogs. Not everyone loves their pets, and not every culture feels quite the same way about them, but I do feel strongly with regard to man's best friend. I do not believe for a second that my own dogs would have turned on me in such a ridiculous fashion, but let's say that they did. If I were in that situation, it would hurt me immensely to fight against my own dog, my brother. That the characters didn't reflect on this hurt the story. They did not reflect much at all on anything that was happening to them, but merely reacted to the circumstances. And that's fine, it's fine... but I can't get those moments out of my head. Those moments of love, those moments of difficulty, and surprise, that I shared with my dogs for ten years. With more context, I could believe these characters just didn't care about Shaggy, or didn't feel close to it, or didn't feel like Shaggy was a member of the family. With the context I had, all I could think of was my own fallen family members. I would have done anything to avoid hurting them. That my decision played a key role in ending their lives hurts me to this day. It'll hurt me for the rest of my life. I think GODS has something to offer, for someone. I think its lack of thoughtfulness and heart make it too alien for me.

This novel is terrifying, but it also manages to be a fun, interesting read. The characters feel very developed, very human-- and are easy to associate with. I love the interactions between the male and female protagonists. Action is well-written, easy to follow, and utilizes the environment to further reinforce the tone. The main conflict is something I haven't read about before in a web novel, so is refreshing and new. Oh, and the Author's mastery of English is virtually perfect. I've been reading this for weeks now, but I figured to give you a review for that sweet, sweet XP. You get one of the very, very few 5.0's I've given. Great work, Author! Let's work hard towards the future.

I'm gonna be honest here. The story is really interesting. While attracting the readers, it provides an enjoyable read. However, there are some things that were annoying. I'm going to give a review now: ─Writing Quality 5/5 Word Usage: Let me give you a piece of advice here: DON'T try to use different words and phrases UNTIL you've thoroughly understood the usage of that word/phrase in a real sentence. Using synonyms is fine to not have repetitive words; however, if you've not still come to understand where, when, or how to use it, it would be better to not use it at all and go for the same word you know how to use. Word Repetition: Some words get used too much in every paragraph. For example, I got annoyed hearing "her" every few seconds while reading. I checked until chapter 12 and there were like +600 times that you used "her", which means 50 per chapter. That's a lot. I understand it's hard to write while giving attention to such stuff, but why not use more creative sentences? I, as an author, understand that one can get affected by the atmosphere itself and use the same sentence form all over again. If you go and check out an official and professional book, you'd understand that they keep the repetitive sentences and words at a minimum. And even if you have to use them, putting some different, creative sentences between them would lessen the effects, which it might have on the readers. Grammar: I noticed some problems here and there, but it's almost perfect. Writing Style: It's great. I never felt bored reading, so keep things up as how they are. Punctuation: I found you using it right in sometimes and wrong in some other times. I guess you need to edit your work before publishing? That would help a lot since some wrong punctuational problems would make the readers confused. If you're a native speaker, then maybe you should take a look at your work before publishing? If not, it's fine. Putting minimal errors aside, I think I should give something between 4 and 5 stars, so I will go and round it up to 5! :P ─Stability of Updates 5/5 25 chapters in 8 days? Sounds beyond perfect! Keep releasing chapters at this rate and you can get to the TOP! 21 per week, or 3 per day, is ideal in WN! ─Story Development 5/5 We have to talk about it when there are +100 chapters, but things look to be fine until chapter 24. I like how things progress forward. One can keep reading until the end. However, what most of the writers find difficult is continuing this process when we're going forward in the story. While the background gets more immense and huge, it gets harder to move the reader along with the events. ─Character Design 5/5 You have your style and I like it. I can get a good connection with the characters. Their appearance, behavior, and objectives are realistic and understandable ─World Background 5/5 It's set well. There are some flaws but maybe it's because there are not many chapters yet? Anyways, not gonna spoil things here so I'm going to end my review now. Overall, it's a good read and I'd place it at the top compared with the other novels of the same genre. (Let's be honest, there are many ****ty novels out there in WN that don't deserve their spot) Keep up the good work and don't drop it. Oh, I was going to forget! Lemme advise you a bit: 1- Release one of your chapters at 00:00 time in China (To get those **). Release the others during the time that your novel has been read more than the other times. You can also consider the location of the majority of your readers and release the chapters according to that information. 2- Split the chapters with too many words into more chapters with fewer words. 3- Always be in contact with your readers through the "Author's Thought". It can motivate them to give comments, keep on reading, and enjoy the story to a greater degree.

Oops, almost forgot the tradition of Webnovel, my bad. Here's what I have been planning when I began writing this book. Writing style: Well, I am trying my best to present the story in simple English while also providing decent immersion. Characters: This is one part of the story I can say with my chest puffed up, they are realistic. Most of my efforts went into designing characters that are life-like. World Background: This is set on Earth involving its numerous complexities. I assure you that any magical phenomenon set in the story will have a solid logic. Grammar: Well, my language is almost perfect. Though it may not be on the level of standard publications since I barely spend about an hour of editing per chapter. Updates: Well, this is something for the future. I am currently uploading 3 chapters per day, but don't know how long I could keep this up. Maybe if I go full-time writing, this would be easy. Let's leave it for the future. Conclusion: Have a read and see for yourself. I haven't used any cliche till now, so hehe. Expect a good reading time

Absolutely love it! I can't explain why I love it without spoiling, but this is a definite should read! The world background is laid out perfectly without interrupting the flow of the story, the development of the story is excellent, and the writing quality is wonderful. I love the main character, and it's not even that far into the story yet! This novel is easy to read and has a fascinating plot!

The remarks listed below can be seen as suggestions rather than glaring mistakes. They are quite subjective in character and merely portray my idea of the aspects of your work that have the potential to become more. This, however,- does not mean that I find your writing to be lacking. Quite on the contrary: when placed against other stories here on web novel, and I certainly do not exclude my own leisure storytelling, I find that your writing is certainly above the medium. Nor do I claim to have the ability to successfully tend to the remarks made below in my own work,- I merely hope to tell you, to the best of my ability, how it is to read your story. Firstly, I am a reader that wishes to be submerged into the scene. You already greatly succeeded in this in most scenes, but unfortunately, it is - abruptly so - entirely lost in others scenes. I know you have the ability, and would greatly enjoy seeing this in every single scene you create. The dialogue is decent and engaging, and I seldom feel as if the dialogue is obligatory and forced. I do not, however, enjoy the sound effects. I have come to find that many disagree with this, but in my personal opinion; they sound juvenile. Incredibly so. To the point that it disturbs the flow of your story which you have so carefully build. Again, this is very personal, and it has been often brought to my attention that this is quite a controversial point. Concerning the characters, I believe them to be entertaining but they don’t pique my interest in any particular way. I sympathise with them, but ever so often I fail to completely grasp them, and I lose the psychological character I had build of them in my head. Overall, I sincerely believe you did a good job. I enjoyed reading your story and look forward to seeing more of you in the future.

It's a really good. It takes sc-fi and kingdom building and combines them in a clever way. There are not many like it in webnovel. So it's a must read

I was thoroughly intrigued by this novel. What started from just reading a chapter or two lead me to read 13 chapters. Everything is good, the story, the words the author uses to convey his thoughts and the general concept. There were a few mistakes here and there but I believe that the author can improve himself as he seems to value the opinion of his readers. I will be waiting for new chapters of this great novel

Hey there! Good day for writing! If you wanted to see whether you can get paid by distributing the current work or getting financial support by writing new work, you might want to contact rebecca.review@outlook.com. A brief introduction, some sample charpters or links will be appriciated when reaching out.

Hi. As for the review you asked. First, I absolutely loathe the whole ‘level up/stats' thing. When I found out your novel was following this path, it disappointed me a lot. But it’s my preference, and not a problem on how you write it. I decided not to read after reaching chapter 8. You write very well and I hope you know it. It’s fluid and coherent, so I feel I have little to review on this part. Now, about the plot. It’s intriguing to a certain extent, but perhaps a bit tiresome. A reader needs ups and downs to breath. But the first 8 chapters are a lot of ups. Keeping readers on their toes for a long made them mentally tired. And perhaps they don’t return to your book because it makes them holding their breath for too much time. It’d be good to intertwine with some humor or whatever. From what I read, there are two points that bothered me a bit, but after start reading chapter 8, I think only one is really important to mention. The first chapter. It’s not interesting nor made me thirsty for more. I found the part about the aboriginal tribe a better enticing introduction that the glimpse of future in the first chapter. I advise you to check with other readers their opinion about it as well. First chapters are crucial for getting readers. Anyway, your book is not everyone’s cup of tea, but is fairly well written and I wish you success.

I think the story is good. I like the way author has written the character and scene details. Looking forward to more releases, keep up the good work

What else can say other then more more more mote more more more more more Keep up the good work The writing quality is really good Nd very attractive