As of this review, chapter 4 has posted of Honor and Truth. Honor, one of the title characters, is an 18 year old girl who sets out to discover her destiny. She begins her journey with little in the way of possessions and no memory of her life before age eight. She has strange abilities that set her apart and place her in danger if the Scientists capture her. One of the central conflicts brewing in this story is between science and faith with faith being the underdog and Honor the developing savior for the downtrodden marginalized group.

The story is still in its infant stages. Honor has just arrived at Sinistral, a city that may hold some answers for her. The story is building, but there a prevalence of telling rather than showing that keeps the characters and action distant. In the third chapter, a character is introduced but rather than have him introduce himself, we are told his name and family history through narration. Before the story begins, Honor has roughed up a goon twice her size. This gives her incredible street cred, but we only get to hear about it, and it begins to seem like empty boasting. The second chapter is titled History in which Old Mother tells of Honor’s arrival to her home and informs us of the general conflict that exists between Believers and Scientists. While this information is useful, Honor is not aware of most of it. The entire plot of the novel is laid out for us by Old Mother: How Honor will find her own road, save the people, and so on. It would be far more satisfying to discover this with Honor rather than be left waiting for her to do as Old Mother said.

Illustrations are provided of various scenes that help the story progress. The author explains on her blog that the story was originally conceived as a manga. The illustrations are helpful with picturing the characters and break up the text into easy chunks.

Honor is an intriguing character. She has all the elements of becoming a strong heroine. The text just needs some careful editing and fleshing out. If the author can present the scene, rather than telling us about it, her story will be very interesting to follow.

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The first chapter is well-written and solemn.  An 18-year old girl is leaving the only home she can remember in order to find out who, and what, she is.  There’s a dignity to the two characters that comes through nicely.  Note: each page opens with the same music playing. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you can turn it off for that page.

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Honor & Truth takes place in a dystopian near-future, where the war between the religious beliefs has been replaced by an all-out war on religious belief itself, by atheistic science; which refers to believers as "The Dim", and has marginalized them to a wretched underground existence. In an effort to wipe them out utterly, the Scientists succeeded in poisoning the Believers to the extent that a whole generation of children were born with severe birth defects that killed all but a few; a few seemingly normal children, with powers and abilities the scientists had not forseen. Now those children must be guarded, until the day they can join in the fight against the Scientists; as the Supreme Scientist rushes to capture enough of these children to study what it is that they have inadvertantly created, before it brings down their world. Honor is one of these special children, cared for by Old Mother, who is her guardian, and cares for many lost and stray kids. Now eighteen years old, Honor sets out to find her destiny in Sinistral City, unaware of her past, her central importance in the coming struggle, and of the forces arrayed against her. 

From chapter one of this lively tale, the writing is excellent, solid, and descriptive, and the characters are well-developed and interesting. Around chapter three, the story really begins to kick into gear, and every chapter only keeps the pressure going, introducing new characters, tensions, and possibilities. Each chapter is illustrated with anime style artwork by The Artist. While I personally find a lot of "anime style" stuff to be somewhat overbearing, the art here is unique to itself, drawn with a simplicity and subtlety that is quite lovely. There are also short side stories that illuminate certain characters, motivations, histories, and in-between-the-chapters scenes, that are often revealing. It updates about twice per month (or every two weeks). But there are also multiple writer’s blog entries in between, to keep you posted, and keep you from freaking out waiting for the next installment.

Check out Honor & Truth. It’s worthwhile and worth your while. 
You know I’ll be there.

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