This book is for the reviews of the stories submitted to via the now-obsolete Pink Alpaca Reads. Beware: honest opinions ahead.
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Four souls are forced to lead an unexpected life after they lose their loved ones in a plague and are cursed by the wicked.
But after sixteen years, Ishvarā- one of the Four- returns with no memories of her past. Marrying Āryamnā slowly reminds her who she actually is and how he is more than a mere benevolent man who serves society.
On the other hand, Rājan fights with his darker side, losing and regaining hope in his quest for redemption. Fate gives him another chance at love by gifting him Indumalā but only if he is ready to change his obsidian and gloomy shades.
Memories return, secrets get unraveled and people from the ruins of past come back. Will the Four be able to make till salvation?
Review Proper
A. Blurb
The blurb sets up the interesting premise that this story holds. Complete with introducing our four mains, the conflict, and the world, I would say that this is one of the best blurbs I have ever read. It gives us the whole overview of what the story is about and that is the story of redemption, mystery, and second chances.
One comment I have is that the last sentence kind of felt off. The whole thing is already gold and shining then, the last sentence was...kinda thrown there. One thing you could do is to highlight what are they being saved from (because that wasn't made clear in the blurb) OR you could think of other ending sentences that could deliver the same punch and incite the same sense of intrigue.
Either way, this blurb is very well done. Good job!
B. Setting
I wanna scream. xD
This is just one of the BEST worldbuilding I have ever seen in my entire life. Emphasis on that because I just fell in love with the world right off the bat. EVERYTHING is just done in a splendid manner with enough attention to detail. Scene painting is no less than extraordinary. The vocabulary of this story vibes so well with the time period it is set on. Everything is just *chef's kisses*.
I'm not really well-versed on this but I think it's set in ancient India and that idea alone is a job well done! I can tell how much research went into this story and that paid off as you are able to introduce to us a world so vast and beautiful. I was able to get lost in the world of Aryavarta (idk if I am misspelling but I definitely forwent the a's with bars. xD) and that is also a job well done!
However, when describing small-scale settings, like a room, for example, some scenes are just glazed over and things not mentioned before are just popping out of nowhere as the characters are speaking. Not exactly a bad thing but it would help your story's improvement if you work on the scene painting of small-scale rooms. Big-scale scenes are already so good and done well!
