What We Left Behind by @Stxrkissed

Genre: Romance/Sci-Fye

Chapters Reviewed: 6 Chapters

Update Schedule: Every Tuesday

After the Spiderweb Virus infected Earth, many people have no other choice but to leave the planet they love and move elsewhere. As for Fei Hong, she leaves her home, leaving everything she loves, to move to a planet called Erisua.

Warning: The author has given me permission to use spoilers for this review. I may touch up on a few minor spoilers, so please read at your own risk.

It's been a while since I've opened a book and have been hooked from the very first sentence. It resonates with the reader the moment it's read. From that point on, the first chapter is filled with detail and gives a bit as to what Fei Hong is leaving. It's not just Earth, but the people she loved, and her home, which has been infected by this Spiderweb Virus. Not much is known beyond that, but it's enough to make readers interested on what is going to happen next.

That's also because of how beautiful the story is written. It's one thing to describe the details around a character, but it's another thing to turn that into an art form. I absolutely love seeing that. It shows the dedication the writer has thrown into the story, even if the chapters are on the shorter side (which isn't bad as the chapters provide enough information to create a perfect scene from start to finish).

There are a couple of things that can be fixed, but when I list them, I can honestly say that these things come and go depending on the chapter. Sometimes, it's one chapter that's missing one of these corrections, other times it's something I just see in the beginning.

The first think I noticed when reading was that some paragraphs are indented, others are not. While indenting is technically correct when writing a story offline, it's okay not to have chapters indented since there's not an indent button, nor is there an easy way to indent on a phone. All that matters is consultancy. As the writer, you've got to choose whether you're going to follow traditional right way of indenting (and indent every paragraph) or disregard that and ignore the rule, making none of the paragraphs indented. Personally, I have no preference when reading, but it's best to choose one way of doing it and stick with it. This problem goes away as the writer sticks with one of the styles after a few chapters, but the first few inconsistencies were a bit unnerving to look at.

When reading, I was a tad confused with the timeline in the beginning. From what I gathered, Fei Hong took a spaceship to another planet located far far away. When she landed, twenty years have passed, but she's still seventeen. That confuses me. I'm wondering how this is possible and how time stayed still, especially since her grandmother is there on the new planet. I wished this was explained a bit better when this happened in chapter one to paint a clearer picture, but I could also see this point being brought up later in the story. I'm also curious as to how long she's been on Erisua so that I can understand her feelings a bit better. While it's clear she misses home, I'm just curious how long it's been since she had left Earth.

All that aside, this story is just very intriguing. There's not much more I can critique on for improvements as this story is still just starting out and with the amount of good this story has going for it. That's because the author knows how to provoke emotion from the readers. There are times I feel happy for Fei Hong as she has made friends on this strange planet, while other times, I feel very sorry for her as she's an outcast there. That makes for an interesting storyline that I, for one, am interested in reading in.

My favorite part of this story so far has to be Fei Hong's relationship to her grandmother. It reminds me of my own relationship with my own grandmother, who, like Fei Hong's grandmother, doesn't always remember things the way that they should. When that happens, it's very heartbreaking, but yet it's nice to see Fei Hong do the right thing in correcting her, as that will help with memory. At least, that's what everyone says whenever I visit my grandmother. Seeing Fei Hong deal with this really tugs at my heartstrings a lot, especially since it's so realistic and well-written.

Overall, I love where this book is going, despite the couple of problem areas that could easily be edited out. Since it's a story that is starting out, I don't know much about the plot other than the fact that it's about this young woman who has to try and make this new planet her new home. I would love to see where the author takes from this and continues on as it's beautifully written and well executed.