Intro:

The Other Land was written by AutumnsWhisper. It won second place in the Fairy Night Awards for the best concept category. It is a dark fairy tale following the idea of dark Peter Pan alongside other elements, and you'll be surprised by just how much of an emphasis is placed on character dynamics/relationships, making for an entertaining and thought-provoking read.

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Long Feedback:

The Other Land has an awesome vibe to it that you can feel from a mile away. Even after reading just the first chapter, you'll see the vibe of the fantasy blended with modern concepts and fall in love with it like I did. There are some very interesting descriptions and settings throughout the narrative that will sell you on the concept even more. Everything feels very cohesive and rich.

While on the topic of richness, the character relationships and how they're presented is my favorite part of the story. Every character has a distinct personality and relationship with one another. Everyone has a reason to feel the way they do about the others, and it causes their dialogue to often be tense and full of subtext for the reader to pick apart and analyze.

Lastly, due to the close attention to detail throughout the narrative, there are high stakes and tensions, making it so there's never a dull moment and you're always wondering what's going to happen next. Every scene feels very purposefully placed to evoke the strongest emotions out of the reader.

The only criticisms I had were about the flashback in chapter 1 being a bit hard to follow and some of the sentences feeling a bit unnecessarily split, but since I already covered them in the core review in the FN Awards, I won't dwell on them here, especially since they don't take away from the awesome concept. All in all, this was a very fun read.

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Summary:

- Mysterious, cool vibe

- Incredible character relationships

- High tension and stakes

- Some sentence structure critiques

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Overall:

The Other Land has a unique twist on Peter Pan and what relationships really mean. Sometimes they're complicated, sometimes they're very complicated, and sometimes they're so complicated you can't even begin to understand them. If you're someone who enjoys cool concepts mixed with excellent character work, then this is the perfect book for you.

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Thank you for submitting your story to the Fairy Night Awards, and congratulations on placing second. I had a blast reading this story, and I look forward to seeing the other books you submitted to the contest!