🥇 1st place winner🥇
Silent by Kolgrim83
Title & Book cover - 10/10
Blurb - 10/10
Plot - 5/5
Creativity & Originality - 20/20
Character Development - 20/20
Story Flow - 5/5
Research & Attention to details - 15/15
Grammar & Punctuation - 10/10
Overall impression - 5/5
Total score - 100/100
I have no words to describe this book, but I will try my best to do it. It took me some time to actually write a review for this (and actually for all of the books in this category) because they were all exceptionally good and unique in their own way.
Returning to this book, the title intrigued me because it contained only one word. Usually, I'm not impressed by such titles unless the word has a big impact; this book falls into this category.
The cover is also perfect, and it fits the genre, the narrative, and, most importantly, the title. The simplicity of the cover goes hand in hand with the word 'silent'. I don't think there is another cover that would match this story much better than this one.
If you didn't get the overview of the story from the title, you will surely get it from the blurb. You can find just enough information here to see the theme of the book, and you can decide whether or not this story will be to your liking.
Regarding creativity and originality, I have nothing to complain about, and this goes hand in hand with the plot. I've read books about the main protagonist being in love with another male protagonist, but never in this form. I appreciated that the author wanted to place the story in the late 90's to give an insight into how they were treated back then. The mention of the period is a very important aspect, almost a key moment in the narrative.
Knowing the time period in which the story took place, you can understand why the main character did the things that he did, and it can help you judge him less or even sympathize with him.
When it comes to character development, it's very hard to make an impression based on a few chapters read, as most characters (in general) show signs of improvement in the middle of the book or even later. Still, I gave it full marks because the character, as flawed as it is, is trying to get better. You can see, even from the first lines of the book, that he is a complex character, with a very heavy burden on his shoulders and is afraid to disappoint his parents while still being afraid that they might not love him anymore.
The flow is perfect, and you will not realize how much time has passed since you've started reading. There are no hurried paragraphs, and the author avoided long and boring paragraphs that bring nothing to the narrative as well.
The author paid a lot of attention to details, and when you read the book, you can actually feel like a person participating in the story but watching from afar. I would base this on the fact that the author lived in that period, and this wasn't exactly research but writing from memory.
As one would expect, I didn't identify any grammar or punctuation errors, which made the story flow so much better.
From a reader point of view, now I can say that I had fun reading your book, but not because the story was a happy one. No. In fact, I was so disgusted with a certain character that I had to stop for a little bit and put the book down. It's been an entire roller coaster, but the book, overall, deserves to be read. But you should really pay attention to the trigger warning because it's not for fainted hearts.
YOU ARE READING
CLOSED - The Hot & Bothered Awards
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