“A book without a single death. Just the sights, sounds, hopes and dreams of a family.”

This bold summary is how Marien Rojeck is pitching his debut novel, The Kosharv Development.

Written for elves yet intentionally lacking everything we enjoy. No political intrigue, no strategy or battle tactics. The entirety of The Kosharv Development follows half a dozen characters across 150 chapters and some 800 years in-setting as a farming village grows into a sprawling city. Said setting is a standard Far Reaches offshoot but lacks the themes that make The Far Reaches such a compelling setting.

Each conflict is small and self-contained, the personal problems that gave me traumatic flashbacks to when I was younger. Trying to be cool in front of friends, wetting the bed and trying to clean the blanket without your parents knowing, becoming incredibly ill and needing to suffer through the day. But unlike real life, the characters don’t enlist in the military to drown their sorrows in the blood of their enemies, nor do frequent faebeasts attack sideline their emotions. They confront their feelings.

I was bored the entire time. The stakes are too low, and whenever something interesting seemed ready to happen, such as the military arriving to recruit villagers, none of the main characters joined. Side characters joined and there were a few heartfelt goodbyes, but it was as if everything worth reading about happened to a character I didn’t get to read about.

It’s too cutesy. Things go too well for everyone. It lacks real conflict.

The first protagonist ends up becoming the patriarch of a large and branching family, but he lacks the weight and authority you’d expect of an elf responsible for so many.

I’ve been in that position before, but the author, only 414 years old, clearly hasn’t.