SCRIPTURIENT REVIEWS | OPEN

❄ WHEN WORLDS CROSSED | GWEN ❄

Reviewed by: summerwitch_

TITLE: When Worlds Crossed

AUTHOR: conquestofthesomnium

COVER

Love the simplicity and cleanliness of the cover. It doesn't have too much clutter and is appealing to the eyes. One look at it tells that the story involves two characters that are polar opposites. However, the cover seems to represent general teen fiction rather than what it is (teen fiction & fantasy/incorporation of time and space).

TITLE

It sounded beautiful. The meaning of the title is also described in the blurb and is related to the plot. And it fits the concept, theme and genre/s really well.

BLURB

I have no qualms with the blurb either. The author has taken to account important elements that a blurb must have. It says just enough about the main characters, the problems they face, and the start of their conflict. There's also a tension at the last part of the blurb so it's definitely a great hook.

PLOT, FLOW, AND ORIGINALITY

The plot is interesting and has a lot of layers of mystery hidden. It is exciting as well as fun. The flow of events is smooth and I really can't say anything about the plothole since the story is ongoing, and the succeeding chapters may answer those questions that are nagging in my head.

This story does seem unique, for it deals with a variety of concepts. Stories about portals, wherein the character is thrown to another dimension or world is uncommon, but this one seems special in every way.

The story starts with such an impactful chapter. Right away, you have built tension when the prince is being chased by Volmir. In the next chapter, the exposition tells us about the life of Adie as a student, her familial background and relationship, and her internal and external conflict. I really like that the story's plot—despite having mixed elements of other genres—focuses on tackling the problems the characters have. It's a coming-of-age story that narrates the problems experienced by some teens. This story is about mending broken relationships, which is one of the things I'm looking forward to in the story. Will Adie and her father have the chance to reconcile? What would become of Adie and David's friendship after his betrayal? It's about healing emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It's just so realistic and relatable. There's also some sort of political factor in the story. Though Volmir and his accomplices' real motive in hunting the prince is yet to be known. As well as aiming to gouge his eye out. How does all of it tie up in the end.

CHARACTER AND SETTING DEVELOPMENT

The characters are layered nicely and excites the readers with their action and silly entries. From the main characters to the secondary ones, all of them are so relatable and just like every person we meet once or everyday. Though all of them are portrayed in an interesting manner, the writer made sure that the characters aren't perfect and they have room to grow. Characters that are wholesome are full of flaws but are still human to make things right.

One more thing I love about this whole character development is Adie and Cres' relationship. It's a slowburn! Well, I think we'll finally get more romance from them at the latter part of the story. But it's a good approach for their relationship to slowly develop in a rational and realistic manner. Two people don't just fall in love. And for Adie, whose parents ended up separated, there's got to be some doubt in her heart when it comes to love. Plus, she has trust issues. So it's only reasonable that even though a prince just popped up in her bedroom, there's no way for an instant love. It's good that they start as friends first. It's very satisfying when two people gradually build feelings for each other.

GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, AND OTHER TECHNICALITIES

Great job for the clear description of the events, settings and character emotions. I applaud the grammar, spelling and writing style of the writer. I suggest toning down the use of big words in some of the chapters, which seems out-of-place from the other words you used. Nonetheless, most of the words used are simple and easy to understand. The sentences are constructed with clean execution.

There are no major grammatical errors. But yet, I would suggest you to screen through the draft for minor typos and punctuations because we can't ever be sure in that aspect. I have noticed a few stray errors, which I will point out in this section of the review.

– interchanging 'there' and 'their'

– use of interrobang (?!): As a general rule of thumb, try to choose one end punctuation for a sentence. A string of question marks or interrobang (combination of question mark and exclamation mark) won't capture the character's confusion as well as a carefully chosen gesture, action, or line of dialogue.

– shifting of tenses

– odd typos that I'm not sure if it's an autocorrect or not such as: chief (chef)

– British and American English: The word 'smelt' can mean a lot of things. Smelt is used as a past tense in British English though it's rarely used. Smelled on the other hand is used for both British and American English. *note: consistency is still needed when you use either type of english.

READER'S ENJOYMENT

I was hooked and ended up reading all tge available chapters. The story is definitely worth it. I enjoyed every bit of it. It is beautifully crafted with entertaining and relatable characters.