Characters: Smashing! - The main character is slightly hard to figure out. At times she comes across as used to her life, the story even says so, and at other times she seems like she is struggling to keep up with it. She lacks moments of personality to see the kind of person she is. She takes the abuse, sure. She has thoughts and opinions, sure. But she is also just going through the motions, being on the receiving end of events, and lacks moments where she takes control of the narrative and shows the kind of person she truly is, at least until chapter 5? 6? Not much there. But despite this, she is still a lovely character filled with mystery and potential. It is just the nature of an abused person that has gotten used to a slave mindset to lose their individuality. She has clear relationships with everyone around her, opinions of them, and after a few chapters look like she will be at the center of a very interesting plot that will give her room to grow and regain herself.
Side Characters: so many! - Kudos to the author. She managed to make a full castle or mansion FULL of side characters, give them all a hint of individuality and personality, and keep them straight and consistent. Then you add even more characters as people show up and holy crap its a mad house. There are so many, in fact, that it gets a bit hard to keep track at times, so emphasising their roles at times could be helpful. Like instead of "Lady whats-her-face" say "The lady of the manor". It helps when you have so many.
Grammar and word usage: 1st person - This seems to be a pattern that people love to combine thought and narrative. It is grammatically incorrect to do it this way, but I love it anyway. It shows personality easily and enriches the character. The word usage could use richer words rather than more common ones to fit the formal atmosphere.
World Building: Slightly needed - At first you dont need it. You have enough characters to learn that world building would make it too heavy to process, but over time world building would be good to have so we can understand their role in the world and to enrich the mystery. Especially as people from outside the mansion/castle come to visit.
Plot: Smashing! - The plot is 95% smooth. Unfortunately, it has scenes of horror that are more confusing than mysterious and then it turns around and reveals the mystery to some things before the mystery even starts. Like knowing the butler is a mass serial killer before anyone dies. Despite these easy-to-fix-flaws, the plot is thrilling, starts almost immediately, centers around the characters, and teases me with plenty of mystery, dark fantasy, and juicy stuff. Most of all I hope the plot centers around the main character as right now she is a shadow of who she can be who has hinted at more. And then you have the cliff hangers! GAH!!
Overall, at its current state, I would rate it 3 smashing out of 5 and it is only getting better chapter by chapter. If it keeps going at its current pace it will easily be 4/5.
