Isabelle Reviews (CLOSED FOR NOW)

The Kingmaker (Fantasy)

Review date: October 17, 2023

Author: YouCanCallMeCorn

FIRST IMPRESSION: 5/5

TITLE: 5/5

COVER: 5/5

My first impression of the book is that it screams majesty, creativity, and power. The plan and thought of the cover is really remarkable and I could just envision it on the shelves of libraries. It's not plain, but it's clean and the weight of the dark theme is just perfect. I can already perceive what the book has to offer, and it doesn't disappoint. I don't see any discrepancies with the title as well. I just think that, for the cover, less is more and that they do go together just fine. Nice work. I was even wowed when I opened the book and found more variations of covers. They are all equally satisfying!

BLURB: 7/10

The blurb doesn't play. It starts with a good logline with a moderate volume of information—just what the reader needs. This is no ordinary blurb for me. I haven't read a blurb which starts with a character followed by a description. I've seen some stories putting the character descriptions inside the book with the aesthetics and to be quite frank, I don't think that style works for me. But this one did it just perfectly as the author put it in the blurb instead. If you check out my book A Tango of Silhouettes, you can also see the resemblance of the writing style in my opinion.

Maybe the only comment I can give is that it tends to be an information overload. There are reflections and conclusions at once, which must be pondered upon by the readers themselves first. But overall, it's pretty good. I just suggest going easy on the details and let the readers find out for themselves.

PLOT: 20/20

So the story opens with a Dancer. She is intimidated as they make sure that she has "nothing inside of her." There's an incorporation of deities (gods) and it intrigued me. I don't usually read books about gods and all, but I take it as a good sign that it seriously drove me curious. Anyway, after explaining about the intimidating the Dancer who was apparently afraid, the story progresses and delves into a background of legends. Momoi is compared to the Lotus Lady of the Northwest, one of the six deities. I like the unique placement of details. The beginning definitely gives legends a good name. The way it was explained and supported just made so much sense. It then goes back to Momoi and where she stands in life as a Dancer, and suddenly it was no longer a comparison but a contrast. The author was correct about Momoi's life being completely different and difficult.

What I can say here is that I'm in awe of how Momoi's story is told even in the beginning. The tragedy and irony are both present, and it's so clear I can almost taste it.

Feeling bad for Momoi being naked made way for an itsy bitsy heartbreak for me. The objectification and humiliation Momoi had to bear just makes the story darker, but it was well-written.

I really love how, for the next parts, specifically Chapter Two, more pieces of legends follow. The different points of view went smoothly from A to B to C. I mean, I found no glitches or sudden jumps out of nowhere.

The dependence on the moon adds a more human, more realistic and natural feel to the story amidst how dark it's supposed to be. The moon symbolizes a lot of good things, and I'm glad to have found an inclusion of a moon here.

As I went on, I realized that the plot is not just about authorities and slavery, but loss of hope, longing, and the crisis the outsiders' opinions inflict.

What I notice however, is that each chapter tends to be lengthy. I believe this will be easy to fix after witnessing the author's writing abilities.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 20/20

I found the characters have so much depth and dimension. Characters must be there for a reason, and here in this story I can say that each of the characters still have a purpose.

DESCRIPTIONS: 15/15

WRITING STYLE: 10/10

I appreciate the distinctive writing style that I know won't be replicated by other authors. It's deep, fluent, and descriptive as it is dark.

GRAMMAR/PUNCTUATION: 10/10

What topped it all was I spotted no errors in technicalities or goofs. The grammar worked just fine and punctuation wasn't an issue to me.

OVERALL: 97/100

This book blew me away. To say that I'm speechless is understatement. I'd definitely read this again.

Thanks for trusting me in reviewing your work! <3, Isabelle