Reviewer: Kit (KitZimmerman)

Requester: King Eden by RowanCarver

Book Title: 5/5

There isn't much to be said about the title other than its easy-to-remember and original three-syllable combination, which also has a nice ring with the flow of vowels and consonants.

Book Cover: 4/5

The book cover is attractive, yet could be polished further between color scheme and text overlay. I like discovering why certain visual elements were chosen for works as I progress through them, and l appreciated understanding the starburst effect as I read, which seems to be an allusion to an aspect of characterization not just for the protagonist but also for other characters in the story.

Summary: 4/5

Despite the well-written attempt to do something different, the use of past tense in the form of a pseudo-historical record of events set in the future didn't strike me as much of a blurb as it did a historical narrative meant to substitute to exposition.

Grammar & Punctuation: 4/5

Hardly any mistakes made the story flow well and naturally, though there was one at the beginning of the opening chapter—misuse of an apostrophe in showing possession for a singular noun, which should have been plural, if I'm not mistaken—and a few other minor errors throughout. I specify the beginning error only to address it for correction, as it did give me pause as to what I might run into throughout the rest of the narrative. 

Fortunately, there weren't many other errors, most of which seemed an oversight of proofing software and human skim-editing fatigue, but nothing overly jarring. Despite some recycled semantics, which still succeeded in painting thematic and vivid imagery, the varied syntax was not only welcomed (mostly due to the rarity of effective execution in other works on Wattpad), but it also kept me interested.

Note: I noticed quite a few instances where Wattpad converted em dashes to hyphens and en dashes, which has happened to me several times as well. (Vexing indeed!) But I had become familiar enough with Carver's elevated writing to ignore it. Lastly, there were some formatting errors, but I didn't necessarily factor this in with the Grammar & Punctuation scoring. I just thought it was worth mentioning, as I can tell a lot of care and attention has gone into this work.

Character Building: 4/5

There were a few slip-ups in the character-building, but it was otherwise exemplary. Those slip-ups only really seemed to happen in one of the areas that also happened to make King Eden stand out against other works I've read so far on Wattpad—the dialogue. Combined with carefully crafted and well-paced descriptions of characters (which hinted at deeper underlying backstories), the dialogue flowed well at nearly every turn and contributed greatly to characterization.

Writing Style: 5/5

The style choice was easy to read, making for a smooth ride throughout my ride to Chapter 12. There were a couple of moments of transition from first to second person, which left me scratching my head, but on the second instance, I realized I wasn't just following the narrator's story through first person, it was written as a pseudo-memoir (if not, I believe this should be addressed). 

My only critique, then, would be to have this somehow established earlier on with some elucidation as to the meaning of what seems like dates or timestamps at the end of each chapter (e.g., "WC: 2427" in Chapter 1). Despite my nitpicking, Carver seems to have found a unique voice and style I encourage every author to find for themselves.

Plot Originality: 4/5

The narrative was written well enough to keep me returning for more due to the unique approach to necessary story beats. There were some wise, informed decisions on how to approach the narrative structure through the medium of short fiction, though there were instances I was missing key information, such as the nature of corruption and the undead, in addition to some characters and geo-political elements. 

Due to the unconventional naming customs in the world Carver created, there were times when I wasn't sure if certain proper nouns were referring to a person or a place and how those people or places related to other people and places. While recognizing the difficulty of establishing exposition through appropriate pacing in a condensed story form, I see areas where it could be improved to help orient readers and allow for more enjoyment of the plot.

Reader Engagement: 5/5

In terms of engagement, Carver kept my attention, and I looked forward to my reading sessions for this review. Every description was intentional, well-crafted, and added simultaneously to recurring themes and world-building elements, culminating in a visceral world filled with characters that felt alive even as they strived against the decay of the wastelands and continued devolution of human morality.

Comments:

Though not perfect, King Eden reads like the graphic novel it was originally intended to be and is a mature work I would recommend for any fellow fans of post-apocalyptic tales reminiscent of Mad Max, The Walking Dead, and The Last of Us with trace elements of Arcane.

Overall Score: 35/40