Final Total: 5.5 (reshelved)

Reader 1:

Cover: 0/4 At first glance, I really loved this cover. The ship with the Kraken is well executed, the mood is high-fantasy, it looked like it was going to hit it out of the ballpak. Then I read the blurb. The cover doesn't match the blurb. It's pretty and whimsical (even with that Kraken) and it belongs on a children's adventure series, not a mature LGBT 'Black Sails meets LOTR' story. So while I love this cover... I don't love it on this book.

Title: 2/2 I like it enough to think it's probably related to the story, even if it's not mentioned in the blurb.

Blurb: 3/4 Nice, succinct intro to character, setting, action, main conflict, stakes, and question of the revolution. Bravo. Personally, though, I would like this blurb much more if there was less explanation of the things you're promising to deliver. You could axe the whole last sentence, if it were up to me. But, that might just be my taste in blurbs. It does whet my curiosity. The one thing I could possibly say is that you don't have to excuse your love story in that bottom section. Warn people of mature content if you must, but that 'plot exists outside of their relationship' bit makes it sound like you're embarrassed by the LGBT side of your story.

Total: 5 (I put this book back on the shelf)

Reader 2:

Cover: 4/4 Not a bad word to say about this. Lovely cover. Very well done. The composition is good, the fonts are great, and the illustration is rather striking.

Title: 2/2 Bit of a tongue twister, but in a fun way. It works well. I'm very curious about this wicked whisper and how it comes. Also, yay for alliteration.

Blurb: 1/4 I must say, after the interesting title and lovely cover, this is a bit of a let down.

The tagline at the top is neat, but the rest is a bit of a mess. "When a duty-driven Prince..." this sentence/paragraph could use with being broken up into smaller parts. You put a lot of things here all at once: a Prince, his duty, an ancient evil, a sailor named Arden, his choice of sacrifice, and that he is following in love with someone he shouldn't. That's a lot for one sentence, but at the same time doesn't actually tell me much about the plot at all. You have the right elements there, but they could all do with a bit of work.

I have the same issue with the second paragraph: it is essentially an info dump. I am still curious to read on, but markedly less so than before reading through the blurb. Which is a real shame.

Total: 7 (I'm interested in opening the book)

Reader 3:

Cover: 3/4 The thumbnail is fine for WP. The A is slightly obscured by the fancy W of Wicked, but the arrangement of the letters is nicely done and eye-catching. The author name and series is done perfectly, so no qualms there. The central image is fine for WP, but if it were a real book, the cartoony-looking octopus tentacles might too silly to be taken seriously.

Title: 0/2 A "T" for Trying too Hard. I have no idea how to interpret that phrase. Is it a twist off of "something wicked this way comes"? or did a wicked whisper have an orgasm? (A Wicked Whisper Came). If it's the first one, more needs to be there. And if it's the second, I'll retract my score and give you full points. If it's none of the above...*shrug*

Blurb: 1.5/4

The first line is a very good opener, and that continues into the second sentence, but meets with problems once sailor Arden is introduced. We were just on the prince and now, we're confronted with a sailor. Not a captain! A sailor. Who is this Arden when he's at home? We don't know, he just falls into the sentence and we find out some things about this stranger without knowing who he is first. Cart before horses. And that seems to be it for the actual story! Mysterious stranger Arden and his trails.

Beyond that we get some comparisons, (Black Sails/ LOTR) which can be very helpful, but then some abstract concepts which make the story sound more like a teaching parable and not a actual story. I'm expecting a type of Sunday School "and the moral of this story is that we need to accept all kinds of friendships" from this story based on that line. It's great that you've got a message in there, but I'd rather discover it and make up my own mind, and not have it waved in my face beforehand.

Just like with the title, I'm afraid you've lost me with "with full-cast ensemble friendships". I have no idea what that's referring to. Everybody is everybody's friend? Or they've dated everybody on ship and off? Or they all know each other from kindergarten? I can't put that together with magic, epic battles etc.

Overall, I have only the faintest idea about what happens in this story, but I have a pretty good idea about the concepts in it and what the author wants me to get out of it. Would that get me to open the book and start reading? Hardly. Back on the shelf it goes.

Total: 4.5 (I've put the book back on the shelf)