The Alien Review Shop

Edari

Title of the book: Edari

Genre: Fan-fiction

Author: anniereadsxxx

Reviewer: RowanCarver

Mature: Yes, content warning, contains mentions of suicide.

Review:

Blurb

The blurb is the author's hook, one short sentence. These are my favorite kinds of blurbs. If you can sum up your story into a logline then that's a very good thing. Something I have yet to master.

"She loved him more than anyone else in the entire world, and he destroyed her."

It raises a lot of questions, it addresses a theme (love), it introduces conflict, and it's short. You've pulled off something that most published authors struggle with.

Cover

I'm always a fan of a black and white cover. The text looks good, the picture is nice, it serves well for a fanfiction novel.

__________

Conflict

Harry Styles v Amelia

Character Analysis

Amelia is our main character. She is emotionally charged, dramatic, hurt, angry, and willing to take things overboard.

Harry Styles is our secondary character. He is poetic and creative and obviously, very very much in love with Amelia, and in the first chapter, he seems to regret that their relationship didn't work out.

The banter between other band members is entertaining and playful, I can tell you know them pretty well.

Plot

Every chapter switches between "then" and "now." The "then" chapters are memories or letters written by Amelia from back in time before the two separated. And the "now" chapters are written by Harry in the present as he wrestles with how much he misses her.

The prologue carries a lot of emotional weight. It is written from the viewpoint of the MC, who used to be Harry's lover, and he broke up with her and broke her heart. The prologue is a letter to him explaining how he hurt her, but it doesn't explain exactly what happened, so it keeps the reader guessing. "Don't be sorry! It was my fault for trusting you." The speaker is obviously really really...salty haha. The speaker also mentions that they are going to undergo extreme measures in response to the breakup. It's a very heavy scene. "I can't live without you."

The first chapter is written from Harry's POV, and it introduces his input. He writes a poem for Amelia and misses her very much. The rest of the chapter introduces other members of the band. It also hints at some ghosts from Harry's past, like the two years prior where he struggled with depression.

There is a big plot turn in the second chapter, which I won't reveal because of spoilers, but it explains everything that happens up to this point, and it concerns Amelia.

Theme

Pain, loss, suicide, depression, friendship, support, moving on from difficult times.

Summary:

The writing style is solid, the author seems to be well informed. The author sticks with third-person really well, and I didn't find instances of passive voice, I didn't find inconsistencies in tone, I didn't find variations in tense and person, the author is obviously well educated when it comes to the technicalities of writing.

The content of this work is fairly heavy. That's not a bad thing, and it's well conveyed. The plot is easy to follow (Amelia used to be Harry's lover, something happened to her, now Harry is alone and dealing with not having her around anymore). Not much is explained as to why they broke up (I read the first five chapters) but that's good writing, keeping the reader guessing and slowly revealing their relationship through the flashback then chapters. The banter between the band members is really fun to read; Liam in particular is an entertaining character. Harry is well portrayed as someone dealing with loss. He's distracted (I like that bit at the end of chapter one where he has a clumsy moment and goes into a rant without thinking about it), he's not really focused- he's sad, he's reflective, he acts like a real person dealing with the loss of a loved one. And he seems confused too which is good, I mean, I think that's an accurate portrayal.

I'm assuming the author is young, and I'm impressed with their skill level. The writing is clear, their work is very readable. The plot is easy to follow. The themes can be found easily, and the hook is plain and obvious. You've ticked a lot of boxes that a lot of authors struggle to achieve in their writing.

Because of some of the darker elements you've decided to include in this story, I would highly recommend adding a content warning chapter to the beginning of it.

See ya, 

Space Cowboy