Hello dear readers!
First of all, just want to throw out a huge thank you to everyone out there reading this because hey, you deserve it. Thank you so much for sticking with us over the past two years, we’re having a great time writing this space beast and we truly hope you’re enjoying reading it. You are awesome.
Secondly, with Part 2 in the can, we’re taking a short little hiatus from regular chapters. Just a couple weeks. We will be back with Chapter 1 of Part 3 on November 14th and let me just tell you, Part 3? Yeah. It’s gonna be good. In the meantime, we’ll be posting some bonus content on our regular schedule to fill the gap so come back, there’s still stuff happening!
And finally, third! Caelum Lex now has a TvTropes listing! If you’re into that sort of thing, go check it out, fill it out, whatever you do. We’re certainly no strangers to tropes so that thing should be a wall, I’m certain.
And that’s it! Thanks again to all for reading, you make us smile on a daily basis, no joke. Let us know what you thought of part 2, what you liked, what pissed you off, what you want to see in part 3. We’d love to hear it. See ya back here for regular nonsense on the 14th and have a happy and safe Halloween in the interim!
Hayley & Jenn
Caelum Lex 
Looking forward to Part 3!!! I can’t wait!
Well you have to.
Haha thanks!
Thanks for writing, and drawing. Both are awesome.
Aww thank you 🙂
In terms of critique, Good things: As mentioned in previous reviews, the quality of the writing and art, the way you create atmosphere and details of world building with all the bonus snippets, you do both character building and action without either taking away from the other, the characters are individual, quirky, and yet sympathetic each in their own way. I also like the fashion of the future.
Things that bug me (a little, there’s nothing I really hate): Plot strains credibility sometimes even for space opera. All the near escapes from dire should-be-deadly situations. Now everyones’ overcome with grief because they lost ONE crew member after crash landing in enemy territory in the midst of battle. Isn’t it the only crew member fatility since the mutiny fiasco? I guess if the death toll was more realistic the story would be much darker. The rescue from the garden party – if I remember correctly only four of them managed to defeat and/or evade a whole contingent of guards. Sometimes plot twists seem a bit contrived – Leta’s near fatal illness due to blood poisoning. I don’t think that’s how sepsis works, and why in this advanced era can’t they treat it without a Society lifesaving McGuffin?
In fact the technology they have seems a bit lopsided. For example, they have FTL space travel, but the law library Ren studied in had actual books not whatever media the future might use. Not that I don’t approve of actual books, but it seemed anachronistic. But maybe this is deliberate, i get the impression much was lost of their history in the long voyage to this galaxy. So in terms of what I hope to see in Part 3, I imagine some revelations about the actual context and foundation of this interplanetary civilization will come to play as key plot elements. There has to be a reason the series is called Caelum Lex! I’d like to see an antagonist who is not a purely evil villain but perhaps just operates by a different set of values. I think there’s already potential for that. Beyond that, I just hope to see the potential of this great story continue to play out.
Ah man, you are totally on point. We definitely have a flirtation going on with shortcuts, particularly on thursday afternoons when we’re both at work and thinking ‘guhhh I don’t know this just needs to be finished’. Not that that’s an excuse, just y’know. The way of things. There’s a whole ton of arcs/plots/items we’d love to redo if we ever take on another draft of this. The tech slip-ups among them (he really wouldn’t have a real book for that, I honestly think I just wanted to draw books and then it just became books…I’m not sure, it was a long time ago, but that totally seems like one of my 7am decisions), although you’re right about some of it being intentional. I’ll not say too much more on that.
Hopefully there are less shortcuts as we go along though? We’ve definitely done a lot of easy-ways-out, but we’ve been making an effort lately (barring the inevitable timecrunch and accidental ‘written into a corner’ situation) to minimize them. Still, it’s a learning process. We’ll keep working on it for sure.
Thanks so much for the honest critique! Your opinion means a heck of a lot. And thanks of course for reading at all and all the kind words and I genuinely hope part 3 won’t disappoint 😀