Something big is coming. What could it be? What could it be I hear many of you screaming at me with growing anxiety as to when Chronicles of Eden – Act IX will be released. Well I’ve got big news coming. A whole bunch of exciting things are about to go down at once, and it’s totally going to blow your mind.
But it’s not quite ready at the moment to say, so just wait a little longer for that part. But for now there’s a topic that I want to ask you all first about the story.
Chronicles of Eden is at the heart a harem story, with one lucky (really lucky) guy and a plethora of girls that all want a piece of him. And yes, the girls do develop a romantic bond with one another and they all become one big happy family. Everyone wins, right? It’s perfect the way it is, so there’s no need to change anything, right? Maybe. Maybe not. According to email and comments I’ve received about the girls who all want to be Daniel’s mates there’s a difference of opinion.
Here’s the official shot of Daniel and all the girls who join his harem. Girls that fall for him, girls that he falls for, girls that fall for each other, and after everyone’s fallen over multiple times for one another they tend to get it on as most romantic partners do in adult rated media. For those of you counting that’s 12 (13 if you count Triska’s inner demon, Kitten) girls who become a part of this family. So, what strikes you as odd about this, you wonder?
If this were a realistic story, which it’s not because of magic, monsters, and general stretching-of-reality for the sake of the story, there would be a big difference in the way it would play out. Daniel would likely be dead from exhaustion of getting busy with so many girls. Let’s be honest, anyone would be. But this isn’t reality, it’s fantasy. It’s made for entertainment, for adventure and drama, for readers to see horny monstergirls doing what horny monstergirls do best. So things are obviously different in this story as opposed to one grounded in fact and reality, mostly as a means of appealing to the readers who want to see a bunch of cute girls chasing after one lucky bastard.
Having said that there are some stark contrasts to some comments made about this large family. Some readers want Daniel to get it on with more girls, to see more varieties of monstergirls and him doing the horizontal tango and the vertical cha-cha-cha with them. More monstergirls is never a bad thing to some. Other readers are saying the number of mates is perfect the way it is, and are hoping the status quo won’t change in the future. A varied amount of girls with different personalities and dynamics with one another, it’s perfect so leave it alone they say. And there are some that say he has too many mates, that most harem stories of this genre don’t have the hero collecting so many beautiful lovers like this.
Let me just put in this in case you didn’t see it listed with the group shot above. This is the complete harem that Daniel has in the series. At this moment I have no plans to incorporate more lovers into his family. That’s not to say friends can’t be made still, but these are the only girls that are going to love him and vice versa. This is what was planned to be given to him, with each girl bringing something to the table and appealing to the various tropes that certain readers like to see. The number was chosen for a reason that will be revealed later on in the series, there is a purpose planned for all of them.
So with that in mind, what do you all out there really think? Is Daniel’s family perfect the way it is? Should he take on more mates and extend his loving heart and nature to other monstergirls that desire and could benefit from it? Or should some of these girls take a hike and let the guy get some rest as he’s likely being killed by snu-snu at this point? Any thoughts about the matter? And while we’re on the subject, which girl is your favorite? Which is your least favorite? I’m curious to know who readers claim to be the true queen of this harem.
I don’t know if any more girls should be added or if it should stay the same but definatly don’t get rid of any of the current girls as they all add something that would make the story somehow less if they were no longer a part of the harem. I will say if many more get added it would become more difficult for them to all get face time though in the story. Personally my favorite is Triska or Specca.
This is true with so many heroines coming into play. Face time is spread equally for now, but too many girls could hinder that. As you’ve noticed Daemon and his followers don’t get much time, though that is luckily intentional for them with the books so far. Their roles will become more prominent soon, and with more characters coming later on it’s going to take more chapters to get through the events and cover all the action. Of course not all characters live forever, as you’ve seen before. And with the big war of the gemini and their army looming on the horizon it wouldn’t be too hard to believe if some friendly faces fell from the series.
Of course that means if certain characters get the axe that frees up more screen time for others, right? Silver linings 😛
My general idea is that they are still have a lot to go for their journey and that they inevitably will meet new people and form assorted bonds and affections. I think that they have been in a small portion of the kingdom, which in turn is only part of their world, and since Twilight is on the other side it seems kind of silly to make any decisions about adding or not adding to the harem. For instance, what if they meet a character that is relatively minor and there to push the plot along and everybody loves her and wants more of her? I think the kitsune that saved Daniel should join their group at some point, not the harem per se, I kind of envision her as more a big sister type. That being said I prefer Alyssa and Clover for sassiness and Luna and Pip for laughs.
The journey is indeed still getting started for the long run, and the confrontation with Twilight isn’t planned until the end. Twilight is ‘the’ big bad in the series, so there’s plenty more to see before she and Daniel come to blows. That being said there’s certainly more bonds and affections to come. However the only ones Daniel is set to love and take as his official mates are the girls seen in the harem picture above. I’ve openly stated when that picture came out before Act VIII was released that those girls were ‘the’ girls for Daniel. This doesn’t mean friendships and bonds among the group and others can’t be forged still, and Act IX will touch upon that as well. Just don’t expect to see Daniel pushing his luck with taking on more lovers. I mean, even for a fantasy story, he’s pushing his limits as a man. That’s a given.
I personally think that he has too many mates and too little friends. I get that he is really caring towards monsters but that does not mean that all of them must fall in love with the guy. For instance, I was really hoping for clover to just stop hitting him in the nuts and become friendly but was really not expecting for her to just fall in love with him. That being said, given her past, I was somewhat mollified. My vote for then queen of the harem is goes to Triska.
Quick question: What in the hell is Felicia doing in the picture??
This is actually going to be brought up in the next book. As much as the girls don’t mind sharing Daniel, it does raise the question of where that line is. How much is too much? How does Daniel justify his reasons for taking on so many mates, how does he handle the guilt of keeping so many to himself, and how do the girls accept his reasons? How do they handle having co-mates and what are their feelings on that?
To add to this I’ll bring up your question. That’s not Felucia in the picture, that’s Cindy, her daughter. And this artwork was made before Act VIII came out, which means Cindy’s been destined to join the harem at some point. With her introduction to the group at long last in Act IX this is going to bring up this important question with everyone and the readers. Just how many mates should Daniel have, and what sets apart the girls he loves from those that he only wishes to help in this world?
As I’ve said in this post the number of mates he has is fixed and was chosen for a reason. There will be friends made and even rivals, not every girl he meets will become his mate. But the number of girls Daniel feels that ‘connection’ with are limited in this regard, and will be better defined in the next book.
That and let’s be honest, one of the draws to a harem story is of course a bountiful amount of cute girls. This series meets that requirement with high marks as it was always intended.
I’ve notice that you have the books in the paper back format congratulations on that. This is some exciting news for someone who collects books as a hobby. The only problems is that you have them being released in reverse order so when will the paperback for Act 1 be out because otherwise I’ll have to wait before I begin to order them. I know that might come-off as OCD but I can’t stand obtaining books within a series out of order. Lastly when can we expect Act 9 to come out, and will the pre-order be posted pretty soon?
They are all still being uploaded and setup on the Amazon store. All books will be available soon with the proper store pages.
Awesome can’t wait.
I haven’t commented before, but I did want to make my voice heard… You commented on his… superhuman stamina. I agree that this is a guy that should be dead… so in my mind at the least, this is a carry over effect of drawing on the pure lust of his harem. The more lust he draws in, the more… impressive the feats he can carry out. Meaning, of course, that the more monsters love him, the more he can love. So, in this land of fantasy, we can use fantasy to explain the violations of biology that should have this poor dude dead from over exertion. Using my completely made up reason for his ability to… keep it going, this would mean that more than the 12/13 members of the group could join… and obviously, some girls could go off and do side stories but still love him and empower him when needed (easy to manage characters for side stories, or if long enough, side books would be Clover w/ the story twist that came in IX [and that’s all the spoiler you get there from IX], Squeak who could become an ambassador with another ant girl tribe [like Saffron’s… not a spoiler, there is a picture on the website], Kroanette who could have to work to re-establish a working centaur community or Triska who could need to re-establish a working relationship with her mom and let them know what is coming in the world…)
So should one or the other be done? Should BOTH be done? I’m my mind, having more than 6 primary characters in a harem (that’s 5+1) cuts into character development. However, as long as time is spread around evenly, and development is shared, than more than that is fine as long as development continues. I personally would like to see stories devoted to girls individually, allowing for a more in depth development of their character. Maybe a book of short stories and/or adding a canon short story to the end of books as they come out? This type of development would allow for the answer of “if Sandy is so strong, why can’t she pick up the rucksack?” and “what does the world look like from inside of Luna’s head?” and “I like girl X, why can’t I get more of her story told?” to be addressed. So, I guess I’m of the “it’s fine as is” to the “more would be ok” crowd… but they should have ‘time off’ from time to time. Send Luna, Kitten and Pip out to get supplies from a nearby town and investigate that rumor that another pixie was seen there. Have them leave the main story for half a book or so and when they get back we get the short version of what happened… but then put the long version told from Luna’s point of view as a short story at the end of the book. And it the 4 souls traveling have grown up time together, all the better for them. This gives the protagonist a chance to rebuild his reserves some but still provides the adult themes that are part of this story.
If more girls are added, I’d prefer if they were a tad more… transitory. Like the girl that shows up, has Daniel fall head over heals for her, but ends up loving another human and leaving after learning the lessons that he can teach… or the monster that actually manages to claim his seed… or the monster that dies… or the monster that gets added but fades to the background because when she is out of sight everyone forgets she’s there…
OK… this ended up a lot longer than I wanted. I really should comment more often and with shorter content… But since you asked, my favorite character is Specca (who has been delegated to a supporting role in story for way to long) but a very close second is Falla. My least favorite character is Alyssa… and I know of lot of folks really like Alyssa, so let me point out that I liked her in the beginning, but her overly harsh treatment of her fellow mates and her inexcusable lack of being punished when she messes up makes her a threat to the stability of the group. Not to mention that her punishments when applied like they are would cause severe bleeding at the least and have a potential to tear (or worse) the colon… that’s an ugly thought that I try to avoid. I get that in the current hierarchy in the harem, Alyssa and Triska are the Alpha and Beta, so enforcement does fall to them… but no, she’s disruptive.
Just finished act 9 please tell me the next act is soon. I LOVE this series.
Act X will be the first publication of early 2017