Ohana Reviews

Review- Sunset Blood

Reviewer- kinalhariya
Book- Sunset Blood
Author- ZK_Morgenstern

Blurb:

Blurb is well-written. It shows us who, what and why about the story. We get to know what the story is about from the blurb itself. Blurb is longer than what I usually prefer, but it wasn't tiring at all to read, so all's good.

Moving towards the chapters,

Awesome start. The way of describing the choir was beautiful.

Ouch! It hurts to know that teachers don't think of you as capable of becoming anything. But for her, it seemed like it was usual and expected.

Her tiredness felt relatable. Although grateful to the people for involving her, it can be really tiring if the essence of the thing they are doing means nothing to her. This might have been happening to her for so long seeing she keeps getting transferred because of her parent's work.

The way the things look to her and how she describes them sound really poetic.

I didn't feel good being on that side of lens- this sentence creates a great impact and touches my heart.

I found it a little abrupt. She was there with her friends taking photographs and then at the end she felt some special energy in home and then she went to the kitchen and again left home. Did she just come home to leave right away? Or was there something that I missed?

Her different thoughts make us find out about her personality. The kindness, the questions, the selfishness, the philosophical thoughts and at the end barely managing to hold onto the happiness.

Informing others that she is leaving must be really hard. Her pain and emotional state is described really well.

Speeches can be really hard. Her nervousness was described really well. The fact that even after trying, she couldn't muster up the courage felt relatable.

Katya was behind her in school, but instead of their interaction, we found Enya at Katya's home suddenly. Right now and even before, the change of scenes have been really abrupt.

Although it was at the last moment, the feeling of being an outsider finally disappearing, it must have given so much strength to Enya.

I guess Enya is confused between Katya and Artem. The feeling and confusion must have been too much to handle.

Enya lied to Katya that she had something to retrieve from her room, then stayed outside with Katya still beside her? That doesn't make sense.

The difference in cultures, missing one's homeland even though you love the place you are living is portrayed beautifully.

Her trying to find her identity, where she belonged to was shown really well. As she noted down how different countries and cultures had impacted on her, how she was a mix of all of them really touched my heart.

Enya's feelings were clearly depicted as she reminisced about everything while packing her bag one by one.

I loved the bond she has with her parents.

*****

Enya's emotions and thoughts are well described and they really connect to the heart. However, she isn't the person described in the blurb. It was said that she was a social butterfly until she went to Jordan. But here, that role is more of Katya's and not Enya. All those troubles she has to speak up, make friends, staying behind Katya, wishing she could hold conversations like her; all these attributes make up for an amazing characterization but it doesn't make her the social butterfly she was claimed to be.

Descriptions and detailing are so beautifully written that it feels poetic. I can vividly imagine everything. However, I cannot deny the fact that the descriptions are overpowering the story. Make sure to balance it out.

World building is no doubt done fantastically. Every place, every situation, all the people; everything is portrayed well to let us imagine the world she is in.

The move has just happened, so the main storyline hasn't taken place yet. However, from what I have read, Enya has really made a connection to the readers. Plot is a bit slow-paced but it flows well. Look out for the parts where the scene/location changes. The transition needs to be more smooth and clear.

I wouldn't be pointing out grammatical errors as it was mentioned in the form.

Last words,

Writing style is a bit different from what I prefer. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't work. It is just a personal preference. I have read a few popular books which had somewhat the same style of huge poetic descriptions and the story in between. So this book will surely spread if it reaches the right readers.

Thanks for choosing me. Keep writing!!