After reading through the ending of Odrsjot, I noticed some feedback regarding this particular section, notably how rushed it was with the destruction of Lerris when the author took tens of chapters developing a sense of closure in that journey. In addition, I noticed some criticism of Shell's presence throughout the book and how much he has overstayed his welcome in the series, which I can understand. I can suggest that the faults of the story finale through several reasons: (1) the chapter limit of 200 at the time would have led IC to rush through and end it to fast, (2) poor planning on IC's part, or (3), character favoring. Note that they are not the only reasons that I could suggest and I acknowledge that there could be more to it that could contribute to the rushed ending, but now that the 200 chapter limit has increased since then, I wonder what could have been done to the story if IC was given more chapters to write for this particular story. This is where I came up with this thread.

So, let's say that you are the author. What changes would you make to improve the story? It could be any book.

6911393
I mean the 200 limit was optional even back then, we just didn't know better. As for planning, I don't think there's ever been more than a rough timeline.

As for Shell... One can almost feel sorry for the character. He started as a frontline war hero, got sent to deal with some monster science project and proceeded to lose everything to it/her.
He lost his reputation, his position, broke his last promise to his wife, his daughter killed herself to spite him and finally he lost his mind. In the end dying as a monster himself.

I don't think it was anymore rushed than the final confrontation with Axan in book 1.

6911393
I remember Skirts mentioned this himself in either a blargh or on a podcast, but something that always bothered me (beyond Lerris) is the foreshadowing of the Grand Choke all the way back in the first book. Yes, the self-imposed 200 chapter limit often led to uneven pacing throughout the books, but the Grand Choke was sort of hyped up for almost three years... and the huge twist came after Rainbow had successfully crossed it, while she was in the ocean.

Also, Innavedr is entirely too long.

6911490
I kinda like how Ledomare got explored and fleshed out more thoroughly, especially Blue Nova. Although by Odrsjot, I was hoping for more Book 1 style flying far away and discovering unknown cultures, and was a little disappointed that they remained entangled with Ledomare for another entire book. I also thought Xona, being foreshadowed since Eljunbyro, would feel more like another vast empire. True, the multiple languages, tattoos etc were really complex and fascinating, but the land itself kinda felt more like another smaller country around Ledomare, like Searo, Franzington, etc, since we didn't really see any places in Xona besides Lasairfion's fortress (don't remember that so well, it was floating, right?), and the warzone.

By the way, was Lasairfion meant to be the leader of all Xona (and her fortress effectively the capital), or just a regional leader or warlord? I think I assumed the latter when I read the story, but that may have been because I had the preconception that Xona should be huge and travelling from border to its centre would likely pass through some smaller settlements.

6911465
Shell murdered the entire population of Aridstone as unwanted witnesses, cut communication with his superiors to escape being reassigned after one too many failures, and (almost) killed a friendly officer for not breaking prisoner protocol at his command. He was already a monster from day one, most to all of his suffering was self-inflicted, and in my book he deserves no sympathy whatsoever.

A little more on topic, the pacing in this series isn't always perfect. I think the reason Innavedr feels so long is because it's so condensed chronologically; while the first two books cover at least several weeks each, Innavedr only accounts for a few days and is action-packed almost cover to cover, so there's very little to ease the tension it builds up.

6912931
Not just chronologically. It had too many plot threads going on at once, too many side stories. I think we were in 4 or 5 groups at one point (possibly more if you're counting all the antagonists.) Something that was mostly fixed by finding the ship.