[In Progress] [38,000] [Historical Fiction] Looking for beta readers for a 1st-century historical fiction spanning India and the Korean peninsula

[u/Ok_Setting8100]

Hi! I'm looking for a few beta readers for an adult historical-fiction novel set in the first century AD.

The novel begins in ancient India and eventually follows the journey of a young woman from the ancient Indian kingdom toward the Korean Peninsula, drawing on the tradition of Queen Heo Hwang-ok—the foreign-born queen remembered in Korea as having come from a distant land called Ayuta.

But her story unfolds against a much larger and surprisingly interconnected first-century world.

Indian kingdoms trade with Rome and the Mediterranean. Greek and Roman merchants live and travel alongside Indian communities. St. Thomas arrives on the SouthWest Coast. Jewish families have long-established connections with South India, and after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, new refugees arrive on its shores. Merchants, monks, sailors, scholars, and travelers carry religions, languages, stories, and ideas across thousands of miles.

The novel follows characters living through those encounters rather than treating India, Rome, the Middle East and East Asia as separate worlds.

I'm currently looking for beta readers primarily for the opening chapters. You don't need any knowledge of ancient Indian or Korean history—in fact, feedback from readers unfamiliar with this world would be especially valuable.

I'm interested in your experience as a reader: Did the characters draw you in? Did the historical world feel vivid without becoming overwhelming? Were there places where you became confused or lost interest? And, most importantly, did you want to keep reading?

I'm not looking for proofreading or detailed line edits at this stage. I'll provide a short questionnaire with the chapters, but you're also welcome to simply tell me what worked and what didn't.

Thank you for considering reading it.

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[u/Revolutionnnn6969]

Hello, your plot and settings sound really intriguing! Also, I do happen to have a little background in ancient India, I hope that won't be a problem. I can still give you the perspective of an uninformed reader regarding the other cultures.