Review Detail of WithJ in Empire of Souls

This is done as part of a review swap, but I haven't finished the entire 100 chapters. It’s not because the story is not good but I figured by the time I could finish all posted chapters, it would take me a month or something. By the way, this is the first five star review I’ve ever given. As of writing this review, I'm only at Chapter 26. Updates: Don’t really have any issues with update speed since I can’t even manage to read all chapters yet. Writing: Your writing is excellent with a strong list of vocabulary. I could perfectly envision the world through your narration. There were a few minor errors such as incorrect punctuations for dialogues, but it didn’t impede my reading comprehension at all. For example: Original >> "Alek-sandros." She said his name while testing it on her tongue. Edited >> "Alek-sandros,” she said his name while testing it on her tongue. Characters: I like the slow build-up of the MC. The MC is intelligent, resourceful, meticulous but also vengeful and ambitious. I wouldn’t necessarily call him the typical protagonist. He seems more of an antihero to me, but it’s always a lot more fun to read a protagonist that isn’t black and white. Lenia intrigues me as well. I love how ‘inexperienced’ and ‘childlike’ she is in the beginning but gradually, she is learning to become more individualized. World design: The world is still being built and we learn a little more about the world as each chapter progresses. I haven’t read all the chapters so I can’t say much, but as of now, I really enjoy the world design. There are some mysteries surrounding the world, but I think this is where I’ll have to read more chapters to uncover the world’s mysteries. Story development: Since I’m barely halfway through the story, I can only comment up to what I’ve read and so far, the story development is fantastic. Even when I was at chapter 12, I thought everything was well paced (be it story or character development) so I totally don’t understand why some reviewers were giving this story a bad review. A good story always takes time to build its character and plot. I’m glad you are taking your time to do so and not jumping the gun. All in all, it is a well-written and well-developed story with enough mysteries and action to keep you wanting for more. I’m definitely going to keep this story in my library and finish up the rest of the chapters! I’m so excited to read the rest of the chapters. MUST READ. BELOW ARE MY CONJECTURES AND CONTAINS A LOT OF SPOILER (I couldn’t stop myself from commenting on some things so forgive me for the essay-like response. Also forgive me if I got these religious reference and/or lore incorrect as I’m not an expert in this area. I merely did some rudimentary research on the subject): Reading all these comments criticizing you about how difficult it was to get through the first 10 chapters, which was super short and barely enough time for any real development in my opinion, made me super confused about the harsh/biased comments. So I decided to go back and re-read the beginning chapters and even did my own side research on this whole Tower of Babel, which I had no knowledge of beforehand. And boy were there surprises for me. Obviously there might be a chance that this is all in my head and I’m just overanalyzing. After researching what the events surrounding the Tower of Babel was, I think I could understand the beginning (seemingly confusing) chapters. According to wiki, the story of the Tower of Babel (in the Book of Genesis) happened after the Great Flood and was during a time where there was only one single human race, where everyone spoke the same universal language. However, due to pride and arrogance, the humans built the Tower of Babel to reach the gods, which infuriated the gods. God punished them by dividing humankind into different race and cultures. In the beginning chapters with the two soldiers showed the MC (aka the mysterious “soul”) being killed and then his soul fled and ended up revisiting/recalling his first initial life as An-Namrud—the life that set everything in motion henceforth. An-Namrud, the Arabic name for Nimrod, the king that supposedly rebelled against god and said to be Noah’s descendent (and when the system popped up telling the MC his class was “Human Ascendent”). Clearly from the beginning we can see the MC and Ishmael failed to defy the gods and was punished instead, one to be imprisoned in a mask and the other to suffer the continuous pains of reincarnation. Then the scene flashes to the husband and wife. It might be to illustrate the unintended ‘loophole’ and the birth of the “soul eater” because next, we see the “soul” going back to that reincarnation plane with their mini conversation before the soul is reincarnated again, this time into Aleksandros. Something obviously went wrong here because he retained his memory. As for Aleksandra and Lenia, I was weirded out by the creation scene in the brothel house. But then, I wondered, are they some kind of allusion to Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden? The image is just too similar. There was no need for Aleksandro to be undressed when all he did was use blood from his arm. So why go the extra mile to add in the description about the unabashed nakedness? Garden of Eden…paradise of pleasure…what symbolizes it than the brothel house? Eve was created to be Adam’s companion similarly to how Aleksandros created Lenia to be his second-in-command. Out of curiosity, I searched up the meaning of Aleksandros and came to “to defend man” whereas Lenia was linked to Helena/Magdalene…Mary Magdalene who was viewed as the sinful/promiscuous woman and former prostitute? Certainly this can’t all be a coincidence? I also wonder if the jealousy trait will end up being “the forbidden fruit”? There already seems to be a foreshadowing of the consequences of Lenia’s free will. I fell like all that leveling up thing, although fun, needs to be peeled away to discover the hidden themes underneath. There's so many allusions and references to lore and traditions, etc. Of course, since I'm only on chapter 26, I could be dead wrong about all of this but these are thoughts that kept nagging at me and I had to put it down. Anyways, this is already in my library and I will be slowly finishing the rest of the chapters :) By the way, this isn't usually my type of genre but I'm so freaking intrigued so I'll be following it. I love a novel that shocks my brain.