Brutally Honest Reviews™

🌟In Pain and Blood

Title: In Pain and Blood

Genre: Fantasy/ LGBT Romance

Blurb:

For twenty-nine years, Dylan's life in the spellster tower of Demarn has been one of endless magic lessons, frequent dalliances with women, and staying just far enough on the side of good to avoid being singled out as a threat to the overseers. He longs for freedom, but his only chance lies in becoming a leashed weapon for the king's army. A chance he readily takes.

But it wasn't meant to be like this.

When a routine scouting mission goes awry, Dylan is left unleashed and alone. Terrified he'll be branded a deserter and prey for the King's Hounds, he struggles to make his way back to the safety of the tower. But as the whispers of a strange armed presence in the north grow the closer he gets to the tower, what was once a scarcely-imagined threat to his home may be all too real. If home is no longer the haven it once was, is anywhere safe anymore?

Status: Ongoing

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Starting Points: 30

Cover: I really, really like it. I remember the first time I saw it, and thinking it was corny and poorly made. Looking at it now, it reminds me of the Goosebumps series or like....old Disney channel movies haha. The words are easy to read, and it looks professional enough. Anyway, I think it's great. No points lost.

Title: Reminds me of another book I reviewed here. Besides that, it sits the genre, and it's decent.

Summary:

*Stares*

-Huh. This summary is pretty good. For once. What I really admire about it, is that you seem to have a very strong idea on what you're writing about, but—there is always a but— I'm finding it hard to follow, and more importantly, care.

-For starters, you start off with introducing the protagonist, Dylam—which is always a good way to start, but then then you introduce this place called the "spellster tower of Dansmen". My interest has piqued, but other than the fact that we're given information about Dylan being quite frankly, a hoe (his business, I don't care), getting to trouble, and going magic, no information is given about the tower. To me, that's a bad start. If the tower was given a name I'm sure it has some importance to the story or character, so a little background should be given for clarity...or something.

-Another thing that is weakening this summary is the seemingly meaningless things that are thrown in to build around this character you're presenting, and then you decide to throw in the conflict. It just seems forced, rushed, and it leaves me not caring about any of this.

-For example, this excerpt seems to be thrown in without context or an actual reason. It almost seems random. Where did the army come from? Freedom? Does the spellster tower of Dansmen restrict his freedom: "He longs for freedom, but his only chance lies in becoming a leashed weapon for the king's army. A chance he readily takes."

-I think these ideas are pretty well thought out and all, but I don't know...I think a sentence or two can help tie these in more smoother, and give some type of emotion before we get the actual hook in the second paragraph (the best part).

-This was a lot of rambling. I'm sure most of this will be answered once I open the book, and I'm being difficult for no reason. Really, your summary is the strongest pone I've seen as of yet. I'm still taking off points because I feel like it could have been slightly better with a couple more sentences. (-5)