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I really liked the troll fight (at least I imagine it as a troll). You never gave us any description of it besides grey skin and flaying arms and a chain, so we can only assume. It reminded me of the troll in the first Lord of the Rings movie.
The fight was interesting to me when Ira had to lean on Vanessa. I thought that’s how the whole fight was going to be x) I thought that since Ira can’t walk he was going to have Vanessa carry him around while he aimed at the beast trying to kill it x) But I suppose that would’ve been pretty dumb of him, they both would’ve been killed lol
I was just a little confused at where Ira was injured. You told us when he tried to stand up he began clutching his knee, so I assumed that was where he had broken it.
I thought it was a little cheap that you had two characters named Johnny and Pete. Honestly, the names you’ve been using so far have been exotic, and it’s really noticeable when you throw in two named so boringly. It’s like you just thought ‘hey, I’ve got two minor characters that need to talk in this chapter. Since they don’t really matter, I’ll just give them some boring, common names.’ Or maybe you did it subconsciously, I don’t know. But it was painfully obvious to me.
What else, what else. Oh, I’m not sure what to think about Ira’s relationship with his brother anymore. The way he flashbacked to that scene, it sounded like he held a ton of fear and regret of that moment. Why else would it haunt him? So that surprised me. Also, I already said it, but the scene ended a little too abruptly. What happened to Ira after Louis turned? I’d like to know.
Sorry if these reviews sound harsher than usual x) You know I’ll always be your fan no matter what.
Alright!
This part does not have an effective voice. Try to actively describe the wait, rather than skip over it and refer to it as ‘after’.
Do you understand what I mean? Between the first sentence and the second, you have a space of time in Vanessa’s world. In our world (the reading world) this time does not exist; we skip from the period to the capital ‘A’ within a fraction of a second. Since, when we get there, we find that a longer period of time has really passed, it can make for some confusion. Try to make the wait longer in your words, making our’s and Vanessa’s world more similar time-wise.
Does any of that make any sense? Sorry if it doesn’t. I’ll just re-write your work to show you what I mean:
“She jumped a little at the sound of his voice and looked at his back in the dark. Her voice found itself and she stuttered out her reply, “Umm…”
See what I mean? Maybe my example isn’t the best you could ask for, but I mean something like that.
Well, I’m glad to see that you’re no longer making the same mistakes. However, you’ve gone from one extreme to the other.
You need to cut one of those spaces, between ‘muttered,’ and ‘And,’
Here again there’s one space too many, between ‘in’ and ‘a’.
Also, I think you could cut the ‘and’.
‘Knows’? Did you means ‘brows’?
Also, before the ‘turned’ I think you should add ‘still’. It might make it more effective.
“…but his stomach still turned..."
This affection seems a little weird coming from Zayn...
Too much 'they'! try to make it simpler. Also, why is Zayn info-dumping? He seems to a be naturally a little more reclusive.
Hef?
here again you make Zayn say something simply for the plot. Why would he shout out something confirming his identity? That's something for Ashe to do.
I absolutely LOVE this sequence! It has an ominous tone and builds up just right. However, I find that Ira’s reaction and subsequent emotions are not as clear as I would like them to be. Also, I’m pretty sure ‘monotoned’ is not a word. Maybe you could say “…his voice a dull monotone, as though…”
Other than that, don’t change this part; it’s awesome!
Jenth
Thanks guys for all the reviews... And sorry Jenth, I feel bad now :/
Darn, by the time I finished my review, you edited. I need to get on the ball! (My review was 6 pages long, hence the slowness)
Oh my gosh, so sorry for the uber late response! What can I say, I've been way too busy. I'll be getting quicker with my reviews, hopefully. Chap 7 is still in progress.
So wow, a huge revamp from your other version. I do like this one because it has so much excitement than the other one, and you include that demon thing, which was pretty cool and frightening. Also, I understand the plot a little more, now I realize that it isn’t exactly Zayn’s choice to go and seek out this ‘Door’, but he’s being forced to by whatever this demon thing was that wants it. As for Siohban’s predicament I’m still not so sure what she’s doing, or if her voice is physically inside his head like music or bells, or if Zayn is simply imaging her.
As for Zayn’s double name, use it sparingly. I mean, we’ve already got another character with a double name and it might get confusing! What is the reason for his chosen name? The meaning behind his real name? You did a great job with Vixen/Eden, because there was a good reason and a story behind it, make sure you do the same for Zayn or else it will feel unnecessary.
To me, this new version does lose a few things from your original version. There is much more personality coming through from all your characters in the old one, and in this, you lose most all of it. That is mostly due to the dialogue you had before. We also aren’t given the fact that Zayn is half blind.
Thanks for being patient with my sluggish reviews
Now that brings a completely new twist to things! I like this version better, well that might just be because I know who Zayn is now. So wait, is Zayn not his real name? And why did Venessa scream Luis? I'm sorry about all the questions, but I find that sometimes people asking what is on their minds helps me figure out what I should include or exclude in the next part.
I'm not shure if I'm right or not, but would has be right there, or is it is? I don't know, but it was bugging me.
Over all, I loved it. It clarified what I was confused about before and then confused me some more in a way that left me hanging. Perfect.
It's obvious I have a lot of rewriting and editing to do. Bear with me you guys. I've never written fantasy before or a novel so this is all a massive work in progress! Thanks for all the help and support it is much appreciated!
Chapter 5!! Woohoo!
This chapter has been much easier to follow than your others. Your descriptions are still your strongest technique; at least once every chapter I find myself thinking ‘wow’.
I never expected Zayn to be blind. It was probably obvious, but he was always in that torture room, and I just assumed it was too dark for him to see anything. So it was a small surprise to me. And by mostly blind, do you mean he can still partially see?
Things are still unclear to me. You said things were supposed to be revealed a bit in this chapter, but I can’t tell the difference. I still have no idea who’s good and who’s bad and who’s fighting for what and why all that crucial stuff. It feels like there’s really are no real motives, just that Zayn loves that girl who gave him her necklace, and is probably trying to find his way back to her. But you’ve made no mention of this, so I can’t be certain.
I really don't have any problems with this chapter though, I'll be backtracking to part 4 to see what you've changed
So great job, and good luck writing!!
Once again, simply amacing and a cureall for lethargy (yea I'm very tired but this definatly woke me up).
I agree with the revew above me for the most part, except for the bit about the begining, I really loved that. Most people eather would have tried and failed at what you did, not bothered, or were you. You actually said it in a way that was full of detail but not boring.
The only other thing that bothered me was the POV, although that was explained to the fullest extent by Rach. I don't know if this was what she felt, but i thought it was like their minds were one and that it wasn't intenchonal. It was really the unintenchional part that messed it up.
Thanks for another great read!
PB
Hi there!
I'm Rach, here to review. I haven't read the other chapters. Your title just caught my attention, and so I figured I'd check it out anyway. That said, I won't be commenting too much on story stuff (obviously), but I do have some other comments on a more...eh, technical side.
So, off goes.
First, I have to get a bit picky with your descriptions. Usually, I'm not the stickler on this, but you use the adjective 'perfect' here, and that's as big an invitation for disagreement as there gets. I'm not talking about the end, but the beginning, when you're describing this Zayn character. I was partially willing to take you at your word that he was beautiful. But perfect? I'm easy-going and I'm not going to believe he's 'perfect' until you show me perfect.
So my advice, in other words, is to cut out the perfect and the beautiful. Don't tell me that's what he is. Show me and you'll be in far better shape and you'll get the inevitable Mary Sue hounds off your trail when they come calling. (Not moi, other peeps.)
My other comment for now--unfortunately, I'm gonna have to cut the review short--is that the POV here seemed a little odd. In parts, it read more like first person than third. And at other parts, it seemed like you'd crammed two limited POVs together.
Such as...:
Unless Vanessa (your POV character here, I assume) is aware that his name is Zayn, he probably shouldn't be named in that above section. Because then it makes it seem like Vanessa knows who he is already, which wouldn't make too much sense. It also momentarily snaps us into Zayn's POV because it is so odd, makes us see things from his perspective for a moment, and then it's back to Vanessa... and it's all just sort of confusing.
Now, you could do all that with omniscient, but you'd have to make everything match the omniscient, which means no describing how beautiful the dude is--the omniscient narrator doesn't get to have opinions like that. (In fact, it was the 'beautifuls' and the 'perfects' that made me think it was first person at first.)
Anyway, I have to scoot, but I think I've been sort of confusing. So if something didn't make sense, please drop me a PM or post of my wall and I'll come explain in better and clearer detail for ya.
By the way--awesome title.
Rach