Book: Trial By Blood by Atomica_

Judge: Sammy

For: Mystic Awards 2018

The book cover gave me vampire vibes, which was cool because vampires are cool, but odd because of the genre it's in. The title gives it a bigger vampire theme, which reverts back to what I first said. The description is pretty accurate because from what I've read it relates to what she/he has summarized, but the mood swings is pretty unnecessary, no offense.

The plot is immediately disclosed by chapter four, but the writer still keeps the pace, which is what I really like about them. The chapters are very interesting the more you read it, but the first and second chapter were pretty puzzling, that I had to read it over a couple of times to understand who's speaking and what events are going on around them. And the editing work is very impressive. Besides mixing up words in chapter one, there were hardly any cringe - worthy errors to make it a complete eye sore.

Again, there were hardly any grammar errors, but I would really appreciate if the writer would pin point that this is this character's pov and so on. Their writing technique is very consistent, and I like that about this book as well. But it is a bit boring sometimes as putting in necessary fonts in certain places where needed are missing. And from the beginning of the story, the transition from chapter one to two was very confusing, as the location of the characters changed too quickly, mixing me up and making me think too much.

This story is different in character imagination and background, but with setting and theme as well as the vibes you get from it is very similar to a couple of books that I've read before. But what is unique is the addition of Asian people as the main characters, which is a very polished touch to it as you hardly ever read books with Asians as the main/leading role in a story, so that is the most unique part about it. And the events that the characters go through in their life, an average preteen to teenager can relate to their life experiences, as they are pretty much around that age group.

Finally, the characters. I love the main character, but she is a bit too cliche for my taste. But great personality overall. And the best part is that you don't know who is the bad guy yet, because the main character is in a frenzy as to whom she can trust. But the side characters, especially the Gillian female, they are really interesting as well s mysterious. It's cool to see how they interact, and how each person is connected to another. And that what makes the characters stand out.