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Boo! I'm batman.
Read Quiet by @MarieGotLost
TLDR; Short, sweet, juicically painful, and leaves me wanting more pain
The story is very short. It only has one chapter.
Characterization: Minimal but semi-perfect - The atmosphere is heavy and tense from the start. The characters reflect that. There are a few moments where the quotes don't make sense, or leaves me feeling there is a lot of important information I am missing, but the tense and heavy atmosphere is supported by all characters by their behavior, their words, their interactions, and their silence.
World Building: Neutral - There is little world building. I can't tell if world building is even necessary as it seems to occur in the real world, so what little world building there needs to be will be on the specific region the story occurs in. The story focused on the characters with only giving us the minimal world building necessary to understand where they were going. At once I don't know if this is good or bad. Characterization and plot is its strength and it focused on that, but I also felt like I didn't know anything about the environment we were going into. At this point I am neutral because I don't know if world building is important yet. There is mystery, so it will be important to have some world building later as it plays a role with the mystery, but in the first chapter? Not really.
Grammar: Average - Typical things like punctuation and capitilization.
Word Usage: Heavy and balanced - The way things are phrased and the words chosen support the heavy atmosphere alongside the characters, making it a double whammy. The words are not intelligent, requiring one to pick up a dictionary, rather the word usage leans towards the simple side, but as this is from the perspective of a high school graduate, I can accept that.
Plot: Moar Pain! - The plot uses minimalism to its sweet perfection. You have basically one sentence to start you off with the plot. The characters then act in such a way to support that sentence, offering drips and drops of facts and their impressions of it. Then the chapter ends with a second sentence that changes the meaning of everything you have been given so far and leaves you feeling stabbed, exactly as planned. It is wrapped up nice and neat with a bow and a clear plan in mind.
Overall in its current state I rate it 3 smashing out of 5 with it easily being 4/5 if it keeps going at this beautiful pace. I can even see potential for a whopping 5 out of 5, something I have never seen on Wattpad.
This is how you do cliff hangers. If you like dark heavy subjects and mystery novels, you will like this.
I'm out with a smashing!
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If you are interested in learning to write, mastering the craft, want some really good reads, or just to chat and hang out with a mature group of adults, feel free to hit me up for a smashing discord book club that has lasted years.
