Love In the Dandridge Manor

Review based on chapter 1, will update every 5-10 chapters as story progresses. "Translation" is not applicable for english-speaking audiences, as this is an original work. Likewise neither is update stability, as it's the first chapter with no timeline or schedule given to compare against. This leaves the final 3 categories to judge against - Story, Characters, and World. The story is the "weakest" of the three, simply because this is the first chapter of a longer work. I waffled between a 4 and a 5 rating because of this, as it's still too early in the work to judge if the story is a strong element we see the characters experience, or if the story is emergent from the characters, their interaction, and their growth as people. Rated 5/5 because as there are several hints towards long-term plot without any indication if it will be plot or character driven, which in a first chapter is an accepted line to walk. The character designs start in the first few paragraphs as sketches, barely more then outlines. Had they stayed that way I would have rated it low, but even in the space of the first chapter huge swathes of the two perspective characters have been filled in, and even were there no development of the others would warrent a 4. But the author does provide glimpses of the Lady Mae, Issac, and the groundskeeper! Suggests towards character-driven development, and provides a very strong basis for it. The world this happens in is left unsaid, but provides information about it enough to create an image of it after just the first chapter without ever directly falling to exposition. As with the other ratings, based mostly off potential and what is left open/in progress towards from the first chapter. Overall, a strong initial segment. As a constant reader, I rarely find historical romances that hit these notes as precisely as they are here in the first chapter. Will update periodically as the story progresses.

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I've been regularly coming back to this story for the characters, the world, and the intrigue in the plot. The interactions between everyone, from the lowest slave to the wealthiest nobles, have been solid and engaging. In the span of the first ten chapters, we see Kyrie, shy and isolated, open up a little more to the other slaves in the manor. We see her mature into her own, engaging with Isaac's teasing flirtations while he simultaneously begins to recognize his desire for her as well. We are also introduced to the class divide between the slaves and several nobles within the world and the differing ways in which different households treat their slaves. I've enjoyed the slice of life aspect of the story to a great degree and I look forward to seeing where the mystery and the plot go.

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