I've worried that perhaps Book Five turned out to be longer than I anticipated. After all, my previous Tolstoyian work was Book Three, which maxed out at 123,000 words and 260 pages in Word. Book Five is a relative Titan (ha) at 150,000 words and 300 pages.
I'm huge!
I was worried about scaring people off with its size, but then I realized that my work is something akin to a dog whistle at this point. The people who hear it will come. I'm playing to my audience and they like what I've done so far. (I'm very appreciative if not somewhat bewildered by the enthusiasm.)
As I wrote, I trimmed. There were whole chapters cast aside that dove deeper into Larsa's history, particularly the history of the Tiberian Empire and the history of the predominant monotheistic faith. Some of that info found its way, in tidbit form, into other chapters.
I gave serious thought last week to completely restructuring the first half so we can get to the creation of the Titans that much more quickly. I went through it all and highlighted what had to go and what had to stay. I determined that I'd only be able to net about four fewer pages. Those pages included a lot of good character work, particularly for the Caesar, and some good world-building scenery. I decided four pages just wasn't worth it.
So, you'll be getting Book Five as I intended it. It's large, but I think you can handle it.
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