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AshlynForge - We Can Go Back

Title: We Can Go Back
Chapters read: 7
Score: 7.5/10

INTRODUCTION
We Can Go Back delves knee-deep into a world where people with superpowers are the norm. Engaged with disturbances caused by a variety of exciting factors, the novel explores the superhero genre with action and an unexpected nod at character exploration. Beautiful as it may be, the story's shaky flow, descriptions, and lack of smooth transitions can create a rocky and confusing start that'll gradually turn into the marvelous story it is now.

What I LIKED about your book:
First off, the world-building is great.

Early on in the story, we get a whiff of the fictional world you're trying to build. As the story progresses further, we get to see more of The Fan and it's inhabitants. We get to see that it's a futuristic city with three different and unique classes namely the Elementals, the humans, and the imps. Most of the city's vital details are all revealed through the characters narration and this gives it a sense of balance and authenticity as the information is spread out throughout the chapters and is given through third-hand poiny of views.

Personally, The Fan is a greatly developed world for me. It serves it's purpose as the setting of the story while helping in back stories, in plot development, and in character exploration.

The story's plot and set-up is a very intricate twist to the superhero genre. Although there are still some details that still haven't been explored fully at the time I chose to do this review such as the production of elementals and people on stasis, it deviates from the superhero cliche and twists a lot of aspects. We are thrust into a world where superpowers are normalized and not admired. A world where the powers are produced and we get to see the consequences of it. Typically, these type of genres doesn't appease to me but the story's inclination to character exploration mixed with some action definitely pulled me into the story.

The characters are also well-developed. Landers is an interesting character indeed. He piqued my intrigue ever since he first made his appearance. I can see that he thinks lowly of himself and so do the others around him. His past is also mysterious, as we see that he doesn't know his parents. Personally, every aspect of Landers just intrigues me in a lot of different ways. But moving on to the characters, I can see that you've introduced them well into the story and gives them rightful places and worth in the plot's development.

What I DIDN'T LIKE about your book:
The premise is a bit confusing, for me.

First, we are introduced to Lilian's family. We get to know that her mother is dying of an illness and her father is giving her his energy in order to keep living. We're also introduced to her brother Gus who's handling the situation with her mother badly.

It's a great introduction since it paints Lilian's family's picture and introduces us readers into the characters. But as the story progressed, the relevance of these characters faded away except for Lilian. Gus wasn't mentioned again up to chapter 6 and still hasn't made an appearance after this scene. He's mentioned to be with an aunt but all the details surrounding this remains very blurry. Her dad also disappeared and it didn't really warrant the reaction I expected from Lilian. The circumstances of his disappearance was also very unclear.

Moving on in to the Newbreeds, I had a hard time processing what Newbreeds are. At first, I thought they were cadets in The Fan's force, then I thought they were new elementals. Then there were those with the reptilian features. The lack of descriptions and depth towards the term painted a really blurry picture for me.

There's still a lot of questions, but I think they'll be answered if I read further into the story. I feel like the Newbreeds will be answered too, but it just really confused me that it was worth mentioning.

CONCLUSION:
It was a fun read, but I had to be patient.

The start was really rocky as it went from different perspectives and hopped from time to time without clear transitions and it prevented me from getting a proper footing into the story. Reading further though, the story progressed and turned out to be one that is likable by my tastes.

This is definitely staying in my library.