Hello and welcome to the first round of the Fantasy and Sci-fi Category. Here are the results

SongOfTheNightengale Chosen
Through to the next round ✅
The sisters characters are distinctive enough in their behaviors, improvement could be made in making their narrative POV voices a little more distinctive from each other.

LoveNeverDies13 Even In Death Our Fates are Bound
Through to the next round ✅
I appreciate the concept of this story, as it highlights a topic that isn't often discussed. However, I'm a bit confused about the level of research you conducted, since some parts don't quite seem realistic.

paleverse Reap The Whirlwind
Through to the next round ✅
I absolutely love the way you use descriptive words. It really brings the story to life. The chapters did feel long with a lot of exposition. Brilliant cliffhanger at the end of chapter 3

dyingfrominside Drowning In Echoes
Sorry this book has been eliminated ❌

Your descriptions are very good and your words paint clear scenes.

Unfortunately I did find quite a few spelling and grammar errors as well as tense issues.

I think this book could do with an edit and maybe tightening up in parts.

NEosHoward The End and the Beginning
Through to the next round ✅

Never read anything like this before. It's wonderfully written and from the perspective of the murder in the first chapter. I'd love to continue reading this. The only critique I have is that numbers should be written as letters, for example ONE instead of 1.

MikeMacColin Legend of the Black Dragon
Through to the next round ✅

The introduces an interesting sword, but it remains to be seen how it relates to the two main characters. I'm not yet invested in them, and I want to know more about what just happened in the river. Mervella's POV notes that Rhojeka is shaken from using her magic on the ferry; however, I didn't quite get that from Rhojeka's POV, with her thoughts and emotions. The narrative is heavily descriptive and would do well with more 'showing' and tightening.

ravenwood666may The Ice Warrior
Sorry this book has been eliminated ❌
The opening sentence is ambiguous: a person speaks, but we're not sure who yet; the initial 'description' tag could either be referring to one person, two persons or even three persons (Is Rose her [=who is ""her"" referring to? Silv who is not yet mentioned?] grandmother who is or is in the presence of her captain?; is Rose both her [=whose? Silv's?] grandmother and her captain?; is Rose with her [=Rose's?] grandmother and her captain?). Consider rephrasing or adding a line before for clarity."

wdhenning The Ranger and the Pirate Princess
Through to the next round ✅

Interesting story, with promising directions it can go. Needs an editing pass for some minor issues, with a couple subtle typos, a capitalization error, issues with verb tenses (always tricky with first-person) and possible punctuation mistakes. Might want to reconsider the chapter breaks; 1.1 and 1.2 could have been combined into a single, possibly long but nevertheless complete, chapter, and 2.1's ending was a little abrupt (we're told to judge on the first three chapters).