Introduction:

The Council of Gods was written by Dark_Ghostie. This story follows the Zodiac signs, more specifically, Gemini, on an entertaining journey. Gemini goes on a series of trials that test her emotional and physical strength in the hopes of becoming a god, hence the title "The Council of Gods."

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Detailed Feedback

What Worked:

I like how you capture the personalities of the other gods. Libra, for example. We get a strong impression of Libra because of his first line of dialogue being to bet on Aries and Gemini's love life. That's something I can totally see a Libra doing, so it makes sense. All the personalities for the gods make sense.

Later in the story, Taurus is convincing Sagittarius to go to bed. Taurus is being very stubborn and won't let Sag do anything other than go to sleep. It's very in-character for Taurus considering the traits of the sign. My brother and closest friend's sign is Taurus, and they are the most stubborn people I've met. I can absolutely see them doing this.

The plot of the story is very interesting and fun to read. The concept of Gemini going through varying levels of trials is creative and entertaining. I enjoyed reading about the trials you came up with. This is one of the few times I'd love to read a prequel since I think a prequel to this story showing the various trials other gods went through would be super interesting.

The trials themselves are pretty cool. Any of these trials could kill her or bring her emotional/physical torment, yet she goes through with them, which makes for an interesting book that leaves the reader wondering what trial will come next and how it will play a role in Gemini's character and the overall plot of the story.

The concept of the zodiacs and the council of gods is super cool. I haven't read many zodiac stories, so this is all new to me. Being able to dive into a new world with fleshed-out concepts and creative ideas was a lot of fun!

I liked the final fight between Libra and Gemini. I think it was a good way to wrap up the trials and also provide a good action scene for the climax of the narrative. I enjoyed the story beats you put in there, like Gemini spotting Aries and Virgo in the crowd and gaining a second wind to get up and fight because of them.

The backstory between Gemini and Aries is intriguing. I like the idea that Gemini knows this history about Aries, but Aries' side of the story is completely different. It's a classic type of backstory between two leads, but it goes a step further since it directly impacts the plot and character development. It's the foundation of their relationship, which makes it so fascinating to think about.

It's also a very easy read. Even though there's a lot of worldbuilding and new things to learn, it's written in a way that's easy to consume. Seeing as I haven't read many zodiac stories in the past, I appreciated that you made it easy to read.

I mentioned the backstory earlier, but I'd like to elaborate on Aries in particular. Aries is an intriguing character. I like his backstory with Ophiuchus and I think it has potential to be expanded on in future installments. You wouldn't expect the God of War to hold such remorse, which is a nice play on his role in the story.

Overall, Aries has an interesting personality, and he was also given more depth than I was expecting. Since Aries is a god, I was expecting him to have a different personality than he was given, so I liked how you subverted expectations in a unique and fun way.

The theme of never giving up is a classic theme that works for this story and the characters. Seeing as you've said this is the first book and there are more to come, it makes perfect sense for the first book to cover a classic hero's journey that will set up more for Gemini's adventures later on.

Lastly, I mentioned it with the last story I reviewed, and I'll mention it here too: thank you for consistently using UK English instead of switching between US and UK English. I've seen a lot of authors use both, so I appreciate how you used UK English only.

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What Didn't Work:

I understand this is a short story, but the first chapter has a lot of exposition that makes it hard to focus on what's going on. We got an entire prologue of exposition, then even more in the first chapter, which was a bit much. For future stories, I would suggest spacing out how much information you give the reader all at once and trying to find new ways to give exposition.

For example, maybe try giving exposition through dialogue. Maybe instead of telling us what Aries did, show it through dialogue when Gemini and him interact for the first time. There are plenty of ways to make exposition more engaging, so I'd suggest playing around with it and finding what works for you!

There are tense issues where the text flips between past and present tense incorrectly. You are writing in past tense, so present tense should be used very rarely, like in direct, italicized character thoughts.

For future stories, I would suggest giving the male and female leads more time to bond and grow. Aries and Gemini are interesting as individuals, but I didn't really buy their romance since they didn't have many growing moments together. For example, the restaurant scene could have been fleshed out more so we could learn more about these two and why they care for each other.

While on the topic, there were a few moments that could have been traded for more development between Gemini and Aries. Chapter 2 is a primary example. I don't recall Leo and Aquarius' relationship having any impact on the plot. Since it happens so early in the story and doesn't come up again later, it hurts the pacing a lot and could have been replaced by Aries and Gemini interacting.

It's a short story, so filler moments like that really stand out and hurt the pacing. For future short stories, I'd recommend keeping the filler to a minimum.

In general, I would suggest spending more time with the characters. There are a bunch of them, so I would recommend fleshing out their relationships more, especially the relationship between Virgo and Gemini, and Aries and Gemini as they are super important. I like the gods and all the characters, I would just like to see more of who they are, if that makes sense.

The description in the story is okay as is, but I would recommend adding a bit more personality to the emotions and how the world is fleshed out. I would suggest focusing your descriptions in other areas. Things like their outfits and appearance are always fleshed out, but giving more description to their faces during conversations, their body language, how their voice sounds, etc. could benefit the audience since we'll get to see more of their emotions during the scenes.

Especially during character interactions, I would suggest tightening the dialogue by including more expressions of movement and giving the audience more time to linger in the moment and gain a better understanding of the main characters.

For example, during the restaurant scene there's a moment where Gemini eats her food in slow motion, but it isn't described. When Aries says "When I said slow down, I didn't mean eat in slow-mo," it feels a bit out of place because we had no idea Gemini was eating in slow motion. The only cues we got were that she slowed down and she had a brilliant idea. I would suggest giving just a few more words to set up Aries' line and show us she's eating in slow motion instead of relying on the dialogue to tell us.

That's more of a nitpick so it's not a huge deal, it just felt a bit out of place when I read Aries' line because I didn't recall the slow-mo eating being shown.

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Summary:

- Interesting personalities for the zodiac signs

- Fun plot

- Aries and Gemini have a great backstory together

- Aries is an interesting character

- Easy to read despite the world being unfamiliar to the audience

- Theme that fits well with the story

- Consider using less exposition in the beginning

- Some grammar errors (tense issues)

- Consider giving the male and female leads more time to bond

- Consider including more description of character expressions, body language, etc.

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Overall:

The Council of Gods is an engaging zodiac narrative with plenty of characters to grow to enjoy over the course of the story. It's an easy read with only 15 chapters plus an epilogue and bonus wedding chapter. If you're looking for an entertaining book that follows the zodiac signs in a unique world, then I would recommend reading this!

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Thank you for submitting your story. I haven't read many zodiac books, and even less on Wattpad, so this was a nice change of pace. It was an entertaining read and I enjoyed the overall concept and plot of the book.

I know you've confirmed you're writing a sequel, but I don't know if it's out yet. I hope you do write it if you aren't already since this book has a huge world with limitless plot opportunities I think you should explore.

I'm excited to see what you do next with it, and I hope you keep writing since this was a great read. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any further reviews!