The Shadow Awards | CLOSED |

· Teen Fiction Judges Reviews ·

____________

Hello judges, participants and readers alike!

Today we bring you the judges' reviews for all the books that were registered into the Teen Fiction genre, winners or no!

Please keep in mind that these are the individual judges opinions, and different judges have different review styles and techniques. If you are not satisfied with your review, we unfortunately cannot do anything more, but we are deeply sorry if you feel that way.

A massive thank you to all the judges who put in so much effort to write these reviews, you guys rock!

_____________

Worth - Madeline243 

  I'm going to start off by saying that the main character, Lila, is extremely relatable *and* realistic, something you don't find in many books. She is neither extra optimistic neither overly pessimistic, which is so hard to portray. The way in which she expresses different emotions is refreshing. She herself is troubled, and has evidently tried to end her life, but when she regains consciousness and no one can see or hear her, she still acknowledges that other people, her friends, family, too are suffering. She shows common human emotions, accurate human nature through her insecurities, decisions and feelings.

 Personally, I grew very attached to her from the very first chapter. I sensed a lot of symbolism in the story, through her friends, one who is just plainly kind and thoughtful despite her suffering, one who doesn't forgive as easily as she loves, one who feels guilt and feels he has let Lila down by cutting her off, and thus destroying her one outlet for her sadness, one who wants to make her jealous by choosing her best friend over her when really it's Lila who he wants, and many more. The characters on the whole are relatable, but some of the decisions they make, seem as if they are confused or conflicted or plainly irrational. 

However, the portrayal is commendable for a better part of the book. The grammar of the story and the language is quite satisfactory. It's very well written and I rarely found any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors while reading. The language is also quite easy to understand, with simple but meaningful words. There aren't any major errors I found as such. Punctuation was aptly used. The plot has been written very well. It's quite uncommon to see books that focus on human emotions more than clique plots. The concept of a person waking up from a coma and no one being able to see or hear them while they can, is not uncommon for books of supernatural or fantasy genre. 

However, what struck me the most was how the book played out this concept gorgeously. It further enhances the realistic factor when it's observed that many of the narrator's so - called "friends" unhesitatingly call her names and criticise her behind her back while yet others harbour feelings that they're afraid or feel conflicted to show. 

Although each future focuses on a single different character, there is a convincing connectivity in the book. Each chapter is simultaneously preceded by a chapter dedicated to an emotion, which provides a certain foreshadowing of what is to come in the next chapter, and is a genius idea. The book expresses heartfelt emotions and human nature extraordinarily, which is an amazing feat. I enjoyed the book quite a lot and I would surely definitely recommend it to all those readers looking for something different to read. It's a crowd pleaser and definitely has the potential to rise further up.  

One Tough Cookie - ajuren