I apologise for the double post here, but I thought I'd bring over my thoughts from the count thread to here, as they are quite lengthy, and here is definitely a more apt location to house them. I just today finished my extended period of slowly reading the Rise of the Sentinels. (On page 2 of the CS forum currently, if anyone is interested.) I've written some thoughts from the RP below in response to Braet's request for my verdict! Beware of spoilers, as there are quite a few in the below text!
So, to start with... I absolutely loved the plot, just as I really appreciate that of The Sentinels: Sleeping Giants. I wouldn't have read the whole thing had I not enjoyed it thoroughly. I especially enjoyed some of Zem's moments throughout that RP - very amusing at times! Though, on a more serious note, it is fantastic to see how Zem has developed both as a writer and as a judge of "what would be appropriate for my post" from then until now. ...and whilst we lost Tiger from the section some time back, it was also nice to relive his being here through Galen, who sadly died not long ago in Sleeping Giants... (I'm still wondering whether Astarot has been chosen to be a survivor or not!)
In terms of characters, I felt that Ragnar was interesting, and whilst I appreciated his death in the context of the plot, I would have loved to have seen him receive more development. To learn more about his past would have been great and perhaps to see how his interaction with Isolla would have manifested. On a sidenote, what happened to the Jaztec (spelling may be incorrect) in the newer Sentinels? They seemingly dispersed into the far corners of the world from what I can tell...
Kaella's development from then until now is something I also really latched onto for the entire thing. Her being quite a prominent character in Illrea's side of the story now piqued my interest to see how she went from being a relatively innocent, untested, young bard to the brittle, emotionless woman that she is now. One of the things I really love about her as a character, and I mean this as a compliment, is that she really shows how good you are, Braet, at developing a character gradually over the course of an RP (...or in this case, two RPs!). It would have been easy to have a big jump from one personality state to another, but you managed to make the transition, through Ragnar's death, the journey etc. as seamless and natural as possible. I'd be curious to find out, and I hope I will eventually in-RP, what occurred to her in the interim period between the two stories!
Aside from Ragnar and Kaella, the other character(s) that I enjoyed reading on were Mark, Busana and Matheld. All very different, but they each brought something unique to the RP that made into such a good story. Having assassins, priests, thieves, warriors and trackers all working and interacting together made for an interesting dynamic, that definitely kept my attention the whole way through. I can't not mention Ben too. After all, variety is the spice of life, no?
...but yes, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I have no regrets about reading it. My verdict is that it was good! May the second RP continue for a long time to come!