In My Opinion

The Chimera by tetradymite

Title: The Chimera by tetradymite
Source: ELGANZA, INC. | AWARDS by TheCieloCommunity
Category: Adventure

Mature: N (blood, death, mild profanity, violence)
LGBTQIAP+: LGA (main characters)
Status: Ongoing
Special note (judging): I had five books in this category, and the other judges (TJDW1989 and bangtanrewinds) had four and one books, respectively.
Result: 98/100

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*****

Rubric:
- Title: 5
- Book cover: 5
- Description (blurb): 5
- Plot & storytelling: 15
- Character development: 10
- Writing style: 10
- Grammar: 10
- Originality & creativity: 10
- Emotional impact: 10
- Pacing & structure: 5
- Accuracy (if non-fiction): 5
- Overall enjoyment & engagement: 10
Total: 100

*****

Total: 98/100

Title: 5/5
A Greek mythological creature, illusory hope, or genetic amalgamation? This word's definitions are as diverse and bizarre as that original creature, and I'm all for the implied mystery and ambiguity.

Cover: 4/5
Plain and simple. Just rows of chimera in relief with the book title in the middle, again feeding into the mystery and ambiguity. My only complaint here is the lack of your name. You're the author. Give yourself some credit! Fitting it into this cover would be tricky, though. Maybe you could move the title up a bit in that middle section to make enough room for you to add your name in a smaller font below it.

Blurb: 5/5
The thing I love the most about the blurb is how it doesn't take itself seriously. There's a subtle, implied humor throughout. My favorite line has to be the one at the end: "Now featuring 55% more plot than originally intended." That's such a great line. The short tagline at the top for the blurb preview is also amazing, and I'm definitely down for a glacial slow burn, although I'll be interested to compare the speed of yours to mine. There's nothing like torturing your readers with a slow burn. But anyway, there are no grammatical errors in this blurb, and I honestly can't find anything I would change about it. Maybe the hook isn't the strongest one out there, but I think the tone you've set is probably appropriate for the story, and it's right for the readers you want reading your book. It sounds like this is a fun work in progress that you're figuring out as you write, which is what I do, so I'm excited to see where this goes.

Plot & storytelling: 15/15
I was expecting a lot less coherency from the impression I got reading the blurb and the cast of characters chapter, which I was okay with, but there's a plot! A meandering plot that isn't in a rush to answer all the questions and would rather take as many detours as possible to savor the sights, but it's a plot, nonetheless. And since that's basically how I write, I love it. Who says you have to plan everything out? Just go with the flow and see where you end up.

I love the little intermittent chapters pulling back to give the chimera's perspective on the goings-on, and I love how there is no one main character. You easily shift the third person to focus on whomever you wish, and you refocus on another character so smoothly. The ambassadors' visit is a great example of this. It's like you had a camera focused on one person in the dining hall, and then you shifted the camera to a person who then left the room, following them to the next room and the next characters, changing focus to a person they spoke with or walked past, and so on, creating a perspective constantly on the move with flawless transitions.