Abbernathy and the Cat Kingdom by @OctaviaLocke
Title
Your title is very intriguing, indeed. I wonder, however, if there's a certain element that would interest the readers so much that they would be dying to read your story? Why not call it Aelura or even just Abbernathy?
Cover
Your cover's image is great! Consider making the text of the title a bit bigger so that our eyes are drawn to it first, though.
Blurb
Nice work with the blurb! You've effectively lured me in with necessary information. Few can accomplish that! +1 point!
*since your story comes in 18 parts, I'll be reviewing three at a time, totaling to six portions of review*
The Promise of Dawn–The Promise of Dawn (Queen's POV)
The beginning of this story is spot on. The hook is excellent. +1 point to make your total two.
Shouldn't it be cat-man, since it's a new and unusual compound noun?
Feign is an interesting name for a villain. I wonder if you named him that on purpose because of its meaning, "pretend or fake." Very interesting, indeed.
In the second part of your story (called "Dawn"), you use the word "raze." I think you might mean "raise," instead. "Raze" means to completely destroy (a town, building, or other place).
I love the sacrifice and how it ties in with your blurb. Very touching. +1 for that and your total is three.
At first, I had initially thought that the extra part from the queen's point of view would be unnecessary. However, it presents some great new insights. However, I still feel as though it interrupts the flow of the story. When you replay the same scene right away after the readers had been hit by the impact of Lain and the queen's sacrifice, it takes away from that impact. Consider placing the "extra" part at the very end of the story. That way, it's more optional to read and the readers can relive the nostalgia of the beginning of the book after they've been hit by the impact of the end of your story. Many other authors do this, placing it at the end.
Chapters 1-3
Is Abbernathy in our world or a different one? If she's in our world, then the capital city of Laos in actually Vientiane, not "Triad." If she's in a different world (like I'm assuming), consider changing the location's name to something besides "Laos" so us readers don't get confused. "Mirea" is also something in our world—the Moscow Technical University. Define the terms a bit more frequently, too. I often found myself confused as to which one was the country and which one was the world (or neither?). -1 for the confusion to make your total two.
Make sure that when you write lists, you have the word "and" before the last item in a list. You also have some issues with commas (particularly and mostly in the sentence with the list).
If Abby's cats physically say their words aloud through the use of their mouths, then surround the speech in quotation marks and leave it as regular text. If not, simply and only italicize them. I also think that you should be more explicit in the question if Abby's cat is actually talking or if his "dialogue" is just Abby's interpretation of his body language. Make it clearer so us readers can properly understand it right from the beginning. -1 for more confusion and you're at one.
Lucy is a male cat? Interesting choice. I suppose. In retrospect to this comment, Lucien does sound masculine. However, I wish I would have known! I understand your intent to make it a surprise, though.
When Abby's dad forgot to exhale after Abby mentioned his name and his eyes started to well up, I initially thought that he actually had started to cry at his name. Of course that's ridiculous, but it was what I first comprehended. To avoid this, make sure that sentence is clear.
Instead of spelling Abby's apology out like t-h-i-s, consider simply italicizing it for the emphasis. If you really wanted that word to be stretched out as she spoke, simply describe it spoken so in the tag.
You have a smattering of punctuation errors in Chapter 3 (particularly for the use of commas and hyphens, or lack thereof), but the reviewers in the comments have already corrected them and I never go that far into detail. They all have great, detailed tips!
I love the parallelism with the persimmon grove and her fond childhood memories. +1 for the method used to make your total two.
Chapters 4-6
Interesting perspective with Lucy's chapter. However, aren't fireflies more of a yellow-green and brown? Yes, sometimes their abdomens shimmer with a ruddy hue, but looking from far away, it would just be brown. At least, those are the fireflies I see every summer.
Even more interesting with that perspective is the perspective from an animal who understands the human language, set apart from every other animal and even set apart from his human-speaking brother. Very interesting. I like it. The change of the point of view was a bit sudden and unexpected for me, but for now I'll see how this plays out. In retrospect, you switch views enough to make is consistent and spread out. +1 for the unique perspectives to make your total three.
It seems like the prisoner has a gag in Chapter 5. However, was the gag really forced down the prisoner's throat? Usually gags are strewn extremely tightly around the head, roughly pushed into the mouth and tied around the head. Or is it actually a cloth forced down someone's throat?
Baleen is an interesting choice for a name, meaning "whalebone."
Some of your sentences (especially in dialogue) have too many commas in it that really disrupt the flow. Consider the use of other punctuation like ellipses, semicolons, or em-dashes for sentence variety.
Lain is here and alive—great twist! I wonder if the queen is in the prison somewhere, too.
However, you make the mistake of switching to Lain's point of view for a single paragraph away from Feign's. You should be able to get the thought you want out without revealing what Lain was thinking. For instance, he could simply say it, or Feign could say that he saw it in his eyes or something like that. Make sure you only have one point of view per chapter.
You switch points of view to Lain again at the very end of the chapter, too. Perhaps Feign could swear he hear him whisper it or something like that. Then, it wouldn't switch but get the same point across.
Chapter 6 has a few run-on sentences that aren't punctuated correctly. I think that punctuation variety would help this as well as knowing when to separate independent clauses into sentences. Short sentences that be just as effective as long sentences. Perhaps focus on the language rather than the length. -1 for those accumulating errors and your total is two.
Something that I keep finding myself wondering is what Mirea/Laos is like. You mention places, concepts, and customs to us without any explanation. I hesitate in telling you this because of the way that people try to fix this problem. What many people choose to do is that after their new concept, they go into a paragraph or two telling the readers what this particular thing is. The problem with that is that the information is necessary and turns into prose. Tedious. It doesn't advance the plot if one does that. However, you must have a little bit—just enough so that the readers can go on. Find a good balance and you'll be spot on! This is a consistent problem, so I'm going to take a point off and you're at one.
It seems unreasonable for Margo to mouth all of that to Lucy. It's more reasonable for her to speak it, but it just appears unnatural for her to mouth all of those words. Yes, it makes sense in terms of where the story needs to go, but logically, it doesn't make sense.
Chapters 7-9
That being said, Lucy's italicized thoughts in Chapter 7 have a problem. The problem is that you put Margo's specific dialogue in his internal thoughts. That shouldn't all be a uniform italicized thought(s). I would suggest rewording Margo's dialogue in the thought so that it's not dialogue at all. For instance, you could say something like, Don't blow her cover...why? However, when Margo's phrase is separated and not apart, then you may italicize the specific dialogue.
Make sure you use semicolons correctly. I like that you're using them because a lot of people are too afraid to, but make sure you're using them correctly. The sentence I caught with one was incorrect because the clause that that semicolon connected to wasn't a clause but a fragment. Make sure that both clauses are independent clauses.
Like I said before, the world of Mirea and Laos needs to have more information for us readers! We're starving here! Who is Abby to the rest of the world? What is her and her father's rank? Who are the Mayweathers in relation to the Tells? Be careful of that balance, again!
I would recommend making maps for the world of Mirea and Laos as well as the cat kingdom. That way readers can correctly visualize your worlds. One site that I recommend is called Inkarnate. The maps there have a medieval feel (see the map on Piper to see what a map from there could look like).
I keep getting conflicting information about what your world is like, too. Is Mirea/Laos a medieval-esque world, or is it more like our world? Or is it futuristic? Run-down futuristic? I can't tell Something that you fail to do is world-build effectively, I think. So far, you have places and a bit of description. However, where is the culture? Where are the other people? Where are the ranks, the differences, the life, the economics, the government, the politics, the social aspects—where is your world? A world is much more complicated than places and a few families. You know that. Build your world into a complicated reality, just like today's world feels like. -1 for that and you're at zero.
Be careful that you add commas between coordinate adjectives.
Chapters 10-11.2
Interesting ending to 11.1. I love the connections between the human world and the cat world. However, us readers would never have guessed that Abby loved Sebbi that much. Consider making her feelings for him much clearer in the previous chapters. Also, I'm wondering why you have 11.1 and 11.2 long and separated. Why not condense it into Chapter 11? Is everything in both chapters all necessary to include?
That being said, I'd like to discuss something with you at this point of the story. The thing I want to discuss is purple prose. Perhaps you've heard it or perhaps not, but purple prose is basically something in a piece of writing that may be beautiful, but it's not at all necessary to the plot advancement. Many of your descriptions are extremely beautiful and I love the language you use, but I fear that some of them have been used as a way to lengthen your story (perhaps unintentionally) and to simply use your language. I've heard some writers and readers call this term "pretty nothings," because that's essentially what they are. Don't get me wrong—descriptions can be necessary, especially when it paints the setting in a necessary way or gives information that the reader needs. Simply be careful about what you're telling us and if it's necessary. If it adds an element, great. If it's there for length or for the beauty of the words, then it's not needed. I'm sure you would agree. I think this would speed up your story, too. I still love your descriptions, though, so I'm giving a point to put your total at one.
Speaking of speeding up your story, I've read the entire thing now and we haven't even gotten into the Aelurus kingdom with the princes and Abbernathy! It's been 18 parts! Is there any possible way to condense this since I feel that the majority of the plot will be in the kingdom? You don't want to draw it out too much. Make sure to keep the readers on their toes.
Finally, I will remind you to be careful with commas, again, and your punctuation variety to maintain fluency and interest.
Great story, if a bit slow! You have fantastic style, so I'm giving you a point for that, and I'm also going to give a point for making your writing vivid and emotional. Nicely done.
Overall, OctaviaLocke got three points! You have a great plot at hand. Make sure that your story is moving at a good pace and that you're giving us just enough information. Good job!
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