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Azarinth Healer – Book 3 – Out today on Amazon and Audible! Massive edits. M a s s I v e. Please release me from edit prison.
🕑 Added 2023-12-11 17:00:44 +0000 UTCHey everyone. Book 3 of Azarinth Healer is finally done and available on Amazon and Audible.
Wonder why it took longer? Because the draft was about as long as the first two books combined.
A literal fuck ton of cuts in this section of the story but most of our efforts went into trying to make the characters feel better, their motivations more real, the emotions more present and grounded. There were plenty of new scenes added to achieve that and near all of the present scenes were either changed or entirely rewritten, especially in the first half of the book. Then of course we also improved the dialogue, pacing, overall plot structure/flow.
Of course all changes were done with the intention to improve upon the original story and without changing the overall plot developments. These were (yet again) the most extensive changes so far, so I’ll be very interested to hear what you think of them, how the scenes work compared to the original and compared to what you remember of the story. Do you like it? Do you hate it? Have you never even read this story at all but are just here for the vibes?
It’s up now either way. Check it out if you’re interested.
Continuing same as with the previous books, the original chapters have been taken down due to KU exclusivity, and same as with the previous books, a part of the revenue goes back to Royalroad who’ve hosted the original webserial for its entire duration.
Links:
Amazon:
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNNYXRFW
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CNNYXRFW
DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CNNYXRFW
Audible (If this takes you to the front page, there's a message up top that says go to audible dot com or something): https://www.audible.com/pd/Azarinth-Healer-Book-Three-Audiobook/B0CPQ4Y33K
A few more specific thoughts from here on out. Including spoilers (fine to read if you’ve read chapters 151-323 already).
I wasn’t sure where to split chapters for book 3 but going through more and more of it, the best section would’ve been the revenge arc (Trian, the Redleafs, remember that eh? Been literal centuries since I wrote that). But that just wasn’t enough for a full book. And it would’ve been kind of a downer to end a book on. So I went on and on, trying to find something for an ending. And yeah, it became a pretty massive thing. And turns out that there was a lot of fluff in there too. And I’m not talking about nice and comfy slice of life scenes or funny interactions but just… Ilea flew here, now she flew there, oh here’s the same fight we’ve had before but it’s yet another one. Still knights? You saw the cover, right? Yes. Knights of the Rose. Remember those?
There were a lot of those.
One thing I was worried about with cuts in general was that things wouldn’t feel as prolonged. Got a comment recently about that in book 2, about how the training with the Hand and her team didn’t feel nearly as long as in the serial. And I agree, though I do think a big part of that is the release schedule the story was on back then. I think it’s far easier to stomach a similar monster fight 3-5 times a week with some slight differences than reading those 5 chapters back to back in a book, followed by another 50. I know that to some, the grindy feel of that section added to the eventual payoff and I agree there personally, but I’m not sure it’s the best for a book.
So we tried to find a middle ground. Tons of training still there but more dialogue and interactions to make things a bit more fun, more fights skipped over to have those that are there feel fresher, and a bit more cohesion once Ilea goes North. But not too much. Will be interested to hear your thoughts on those changes. Of course we added a ton of character depth here too, because there wasn’t too much going on in the original, or at least the execution was lacking. Skill issue.
The more difficult rewrite was the first half. The revenge arc. I’d known that section would be a nightmare to edit as soon as I’d thought about working with a publisher for real, like 14 millennia ago. And it was. Almost a complete rewrite. I think it works better but let me know your thoughts. This is the most interesting to me in terms of feedback, because the changes were pretty extensive. Mostly in terms of emotion and tone.
Those are pretty much my thoughts. One funny thing I noticed when I edited the evolution (the 300 one ey) is that I must’ve been fucking tired from setting those up. Because when she finally gets the upgrades, Ilea seems to fucking hate everything lmao. She’s so tired and done with everything. Should be a little less like that now. And generally a bit more purpose and hype but ye, let me know what you think if you do check it out. As always, even if you don’t, ratings help a lot, also on the previous books and the audiobook. But don’t feel obligated to do anything.
Big thanks to both my editor and copy editor at Portal. As well as to Andrea for the audiobook work.
And as always, thank you for reading.
Comments
hill44
Just finished the book, and overall its much improved over the unedited version. Was a bit disappointed that Ileas activities in Ravenhall after the death of Arthur and before going north got cut, but it makes sense with the reworked revenge arc so Im not gonna complain about it. The way its been rewritten is objectively better in my opinion. I am curious though, when or if the healer from the Shadowguard, the dust mage, and the wood mage that eventually end up in the Sentinels will make it back into the story, or if their future appearances get cut as well. My one nitpick comes in the form of a few times where references to things that got edited out remain in the story. The ones I remember are, first, in the class description for Empress of Ash it mentions training with a ruler and the only time I can think of that happening was resistance training with Elana which got cut. Second, Terok mentions not wanting to face the Undead Rose Knights as he already almost died to them once, which doesnt happen anymore. Last, Ilea no longer has the talk with Maro where he tells her that upgrade points come every ten levels after level 300, yet she references it later. I think there were a few more, but those are the ones that stuck in my head.
Narf
Just put in the order for the physical book and am looking forward to compare! As Benjamin already asked above, could you please post the epub/pdf for the chapters covered in this book as you have done with the other releases so far? That would make crosschecking and comparing a lot easier.
Benjamin Warlick
Any chance of getting a document with the old version of those chapters like we did with the other books? Or did I miss it somewhere.
hill44
Just at the point where Ilea and company are about to leave their hideout and go after Arthur, so no comments on the book overall, but so far it feels more coherent. Trians revenge arc makes more sense, and Trian himself is acting more like Trian and not whiny emo Trian I want to smack. Im a bit undecided so far about chunks of story just getting cut, like Ilea and Kyrian going after the lighting mage that Dale sets them on the path of as it does have some implication for how Ilea gets on the trail of that later smuggler group in Riverwatch. Will reserve judgement until I get to read the rewrite in book 4 or 5 when it comes up. Other stuff thats missing, I get that its more a nostalgia thing for me just wanting to see those some events with good editing rather than having issue with them gone or condensed into other scenes. As far as where you decided to end book 3, I think that maybe leaving in all of Ileas activity in Ravenhall after Arthur is killed (going purely off table of contents it looks like that got cut down significantly and resistance training is a big thing for Ilea and I think thats gone) and giving that a good edit/rewrite and ending with her leaving for the North might have made a decent if slightly short book compared to 1 and 2. Book 4 could have been her arival in the North up to her sitting atop the mountains with Maro about to descend back into the plains or there abouts. As final note, Ilea attempting to make friends with wildlife is a welcome return, not just because I like those interactions, but because its a nice way to show the less aggressive and a bit silly side of Ileas personality, just like with her food obsession.
Narf
I've already added the book (the actual, physical thing) to the shopping cart. Just waiting for a few more items to add to take advantage of the free shipping that entitles me to before I press the order button.
Arthur
I'm looking forward to jumping back in and seeing what changes you've made. Thanks boss
Hayden Pech
Haha I’ll trust you on improving your story mate, I’ve read it front to back twice now. I’ll hold off on my next re-read until more of the edits are complete! I’ll just grab the book for the library tho :)
obviousPenname
Looking forward to reading through these changes! I've been lurking for the most part, since I wanted to build up a backlog of KU Azarinth before I did a reread, but I think it might be a good time to start back up again.
NoReTr3aT
I'm split. On one hand rereading azarinth with edits is fire, on the other my reading list is already so long and I already read all of the original azarinth. Hmmm...
Justin
Thanks for the extended explanation! I've been reading your work for a few years now and I've had my reread or three. I will admit to that section being one where I skimmed a bit more. Anyway the training and fight scenes should be even more enjoyable now!
Tetrisman87
Awesome to see it finally released! I've already got the audiobook. It'll be interesting to see what you've added and changed around. Excited to get the paperback later this week! Looks like book 3 covers some of my favorite parts of the series so im looking forward to listening to it!
Siggmundur
Hell yeah! I haven't read the last 300 or so chapters, solely so my 4th re-read of Azarinth Healer can be listening to an audiobook version of it. I wanted to listen to this story while not remembering everything. I've stayed subscribed though, because Rhaegar deserves my money.
