(Wonderful writing, too sparse to fully draw me in. Heretic Dreams - Details (ifdb.org))
Wrath of a vengeful God
In Heretic Dreams, the protagonist is a “Pathfinder”, one who can, through meditative sifting through the void inside, find the luminous threads that lead to the precious ores, salts, and minerals needed for the tribe’s survival.
But she has been greedy in her past, biting off more than she could chew. She has eaten of the Deceiver, and part of Him now fuels her powers.
He didn’t like this. And He has her scent…
Heretic Dreams shines with beautiful prose. A handful of sharply evocative sentences per page, flashes of lightning illuminating vivid scenes or locations. The brightness of these paragraphs leaves the reader in darkness, inviting the mind to fill in the blanks, triggering the imagination.
Demanding too much from the imagination, perhaps.
Despite the broadening understanding of the backstory and the setting provided by multiple replays, I found the sparsity of the information offered too scant to grasp enough of the context to fully engage with the story or its protagonist. The fragmentary nature of the narrative left the thread floating free, unconnected, too unjoined to achieve true depth.
But perhaps this does serve the theme of the story. The inability to take control of the important moments. The protagonist’s as well as the player’s choices are subordinate to Fatum, Hubris leads to downfall, there is no escaping the Word and Pledge of the Dark God.