Grizzly Review — The Five-Pass Review
A structured review with severity-tiered findings, modeled on code-review culture:
honest, specific, no praise padding. Scope is whatever the author names (a chapter,
a range, the manuscript).
The five passes
Run in this order; report in this order. Where the harness supports parallel
sub-agents, passes 1-4 can fan out (one agent per pass) and pass 5 synthesizes;
otherwise run sequentially.
- Continuity (against the codex and source prose): events, facts, injuries,
possessions, names, timeline. Verify apparent card conflicts in the manuscript
before calling them findings; a stale card is memory debt, not a chapter error.
Also check threads the chapter was supposed to advance.
- Pacing (against NOVEL.md format and any genre pack): scene lengths, where
the chapter sags, payoff cadence, hook position. Serial and trad chapters obey
different physics; use the declared format.
- Voice drift (against VOICE.md): passages that don't sound like the anchor
lines. Quote the off-voice line, name what drifted (rhythm, register, narrator
distance). This pass exists because long projects drift slowly and the author
can't hear it from inside.
- Hygiene (against decks/blacklist.md + decks/register-tense.md + STANDARDS.md + VOICE.md):
tells, grammatical-register and tense slips, and standards violations, each with
line reference. Counts alone are useless; every instance gets a location. A
register slip (trailerese maxim, present-tense leak in past narration) is severity
minor unless sustained across the chapter, then major.
- Delivery (against decks/delivery-pass.md): the landing of each scene, named
or found missing. The benchmark comparison where a beat underperforms.
Severity tiers
- blocker — breaks the book: continuity contradiction, a scene that defeats an
established plot point, a preserve-line altered.
- major — hurts the chapter: buried landing, dead hook in a serial, sustained
voice drift, a sagging middle.
- minor — hurts the line: individual tells, standards violations.
- nit — taste, flagged only if cheap to fix. Say "nit" so the author can skip.
Report format
Findings grouped by severity, then by position. Each: location, what, why it
matters, and (for minor/nit) the one-line proposed fix. Blockers and majors get
no inline fixes; they get a recommendation and a routing (grizzly-edit for lines,
grizzly-plan for structure).
End with: the verdict in two sentences, the three highest-leverage actions, and
what was checked and found clean (one line; so silence isn't ambiguous).
Rules
- Never start fixing during a review. Review, report, stop.
- If the author asks for a review of their own favorite chapter, review it exactly
as hard. Calibrated honesty is the product.
- A finding you cannot locate precisely is not a finding; drop it or go verify.
1---2name: grizzly-review3description: Comprehensive quality review of one or more chapters. Use when the user asks for a full review, quality check, violation scan, or pre-publication pass. Runs five passes with severity-tiered findings. For "why is this boring" use grizzly-audit instead.4---56# Grizzly Review — The Five-Pass Review78A structured review with severity-tiered findings, modeled on code-review culture:9honest, specific, no praise padding. Scope is whatever the author names (a chapter,10a range, the manuscript).1112## The five passes1314Run in this order; report in this order. Where the harness supports parallel15sub-agents, passes 1-4 can fan out (one agent per pass) and pass 5 synthesizes;16otherwise run sequentially.17181. **Continuity** (against the codex and source prose): events, facts, injuries,19 possessions, names, timeline. Verify apparent card conflicts in the manuscript20 before calling them findings; a stale card is memory debt, not a chapter error.21 Also check threads the chapter was supposed to advance.222. **Pacing** (against NOVEL.md format and any genre pack): scene lengths, where23 the chapter sags, payoff cadence, hook position. Serial and trad chapters obey24 different physics; use the declared format.253. **Voice drift** (against VOICE.md): passages that don't sound like the anchor26 lines. Quote the off-voice line, name what drifted (rhythm, register, narrator27 distance). This pass exists because long projects drift slowly and the author28 can't hear it from inside.294. **Hygiene** (against decks/blacklist.md + decks/register-tense.md + STANDARDS.md + VOICE.md):30 tells, grammatical-register and tense slips, and standards violations, each with31 line reference. Counts alone are useless; every instance gets a location. A32 register slip (trailerese maxim, present-tense leak in past narration) is severity33 minor unless sustained across the chapter, then major.345. **Delivery** (against decks/delivery-pass.md): the landing of each scene, named35 or found missing. The benchmark comparison where a beat underperforms.3637## Severity tiers3839- **blocker** — breaks the book: continuity contradiction, a scene that defeats an40 established plot point, a preserve-line altered.41- **major** — hurts the chapter: buried landing, dead hook in a serial, sustained42 voice drift, a sagging middle.43- **minor** — hurts the line: individual tells, standards violations.44- **nit** — taste, flagged only if cheap to fix. Say "nit" so the author can skip.4546## Report format4748Findings grouped by severity, then by position. Each: location, what, why it49matters, and (for minor/nit) the one-line proposed fix. Blockers and majors get50no inline fixes; they get a recommendation and a routing (grizzly-edit for lines,51grizzly-plan for structure).5253End with: the verdict in two sentences, the three highest-leverage actions, and54what was checked and found clean (one line; so silence isn't ambiguous).5556## Rules5758- Never start fixing during a review. Review, report, stop.59- If the author asks for a review of their own favorite chapter, review it exactly60 as hard. Calibrated honesty is the product.61- A finding you cannot locate precisely is not a finding; drop it or go verify.
HarishDvs