Beta Reader Group discussion

Good evening.

I have a 54k word SFF ms with the following pitch:

It has been several years since the dark lord ceased his attack against the one kingdom that protects intergalactic peace. Most citizens of the kingdom have forgotten about that night -- blocked the horrific event from memory -- and the not-so-young King Asmoph and Queen Jessa enjoy food and wine daily as if to forget the same.

An elderly prophet, Solaris, is the only one who believes the dark lord will return. A wise counselor who has outlived all of the living Dagmarthians and knows their ignorance. Solaris finds himself questioning his ability to see a future attack with old age as he has not had a vision since before the attack. When Solaris fills on wine during the annual Feast of Peace this year, he has a vision of an attack and manages to warn Jessa in his drunken state. When his warning is ignored, watchtowers alert the kingdom of invasion during the later hours of celebration. Solaris flees with Asmoph and Jessa among some other survivors in escape pods, but leave countless citizens behind.

Then, Asmoph and Jessa have their firstborn child named Kodus on their settlement in a faraway planet. Solaris sees pieces of a new vision that hints the dark lord’s defeat, but he is left to question a white light at the end of his vision. Asmoph and Jessa accept the vision without doubt and create an escape plan should the dark lord find them. The settlement is compromised when a strange storm brews and blue lights descend from the sky. Again, Solaris flees with Asmoph, Jessa, and Kodus among other frantic survivors to their escape pods underground. This time, Solaris realizes he must stay back to stall enemy soldiers drawing in on them. A completed escape leaves Asmoph and Jessa unsure how to continue on their own as other pods have spread far and wide. The only important rule now is that Kodus cannot leave home until he is ready to face the world outside and has the powers to defeat the dark lord.

Constructive criticism requested for the ms.

-Joseph

Hi Joseph (and everyone else).

I’m currently looking for beta readers for my completed manuscript and I came across your post. If you're still open to new readers, then I would be interested in a swap if you are. My story is a sci-fi thriller with a noir edge, currently sitting at around 100,000 words. Here is a (very) rough blurb:

In the not-to-distant future, privacy is a thing of the past. Our lives are monitored and recorded by implants and watched by an all-seeing eye—a government agency called NEXUS.
While some fear the Network, others have found a way to use it to their advantage; one of these people is Nasir Khan. Khan is a private investigator and hacker, and he’ll break into the Network and the feeds direct from people’s implants, for a price.
He’s used to trouble. Everyday he deals with clients looking for missing wives, stolen money, a cheating husband. But when a client calling themselves only “Anonymous” contacts him, things get interesting.
What starts off as just another job soon becomes a murder coverup involving a former government bigwig, mysterious hit men, and a former politician who could be a damsel in distress and could be a femme fatale. And the worst part is, they all have some unknown link to NEXUS.
The question isn’t can Khan use his wits to solve the case, but does he have what it takes to survive.

If that sounds interesting to you, please get in touch with a direct message.

For anyone else reading this, I'm also available to be a critique partner or beta swapper. So if anyone else sees this and is interested then feel free to get in touch. I’m interested in most genres. My favourites are sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. The only genres I don’t feel I can give accurate feedback on are romance stories, erotica, and historical fiction, as I’m not a big reader of any of these. Although fiction with a historical backdrop where historical accuracy isn’t paramount, I can provide feedback on, no problem.

Thanks everyone. I hope to hear from you soon.

Warm regards,

Kirk.

You DM'd me and I just responded.