That has multiple reasons that I won't get into, but I will say that it's moving ahead. The word count is at 30K on Book 24, so there's at least modest progress since my last update. Some days it can fly and some days a few words is all I've managed.
I can say that one of the factors is the change of characters and the number of characters.
One of those is the Starfire. The entities always been their own character, observing and recording events. I don't remember how it happened, but it just seemed like from the beginning they were meant to record like a video camera. No sensory experiences except visual, but at least they have that. Sometimes I think I should have done that differently, but when I started, I just felt that they could "see" in the normal spectrum and had perfect memories, which the Inari took on by blending with them.
And the Starfire entities can only observe, so everything that they experience is generally a second-person POV. The regular characters all have a close third-person POV. It does help distinguish the Starfire visions/memories from regular character experiences. (For the reader, 2nd POV is really a 3rd POV as an observer. The observer is a character fully and with all senses, but what they observe is only what they can see and hear and interpret through their lens ala The Great Gatsby.)
In this book, I am giving the reader two events--the history of the Starfire to answer the questions that have been left for this point and the Ethalian coalition battles, so multiple perspectives, as usual. I didn't want to get too many, however, so I've limited what parts of the story to tell of the battles.
But this isn't the final book. There's a big showdown coming in Book 25. Book 24 simply sets up the final battle. And it will be final.
Buckle up! This ride is just getting started... THE END IS THE BEGINNING describes this book perfectly, and it's also the beginning of the end.
Keep reading!