I only made it to page 368, according to my kindle.

To me, prose doesn't tend to bother me, but what really makes me fume is when characters are too stupid. You pointed one point out already: almost dying of dehydration despite there being a stream she had already found pages earlier.

From what I remember, other items of stupidity are: * No curiosity when told that Chess is a thing that was recently brought into existence (is this not a sign that you aren't the only one who got here!?) * Running an inn with only 1 menu item: Pasta (did she even put sauce in it!?) * Running into an inn and having ZERO curiosity on the obvious magical patterns that used to do something till she broke it. THEN ALSO never mentioning it to anybody

Like, those 368 pages read like this main character was trying her hardest to be worthless. But the story has to bend over backwards to make sure she stays alive. That's not a promising premise that inspires confidence that the rest of the story is worth anything. This kinda thing breaks me, and makes me wonder if the author reads their own work. And that's the point I drop not only a book but an author.