The REALM OF CRITIQUES

The Runestone Guardians book 1: Secrets of Solvefalske

Name: wolfeea12

Cover:

It's an eye catching cover that has all the elements it needs (apart from an author name). The rough edges and scratchy marks around the images does give it a bit of an unprofessional quality, but with some tweaks it could look really good. Careful about letters clipping off the edge. The 'Book 1' looks a bit more like an exclamation mark on first appearance. Generally it works well for a cover.

Blurb:

It's certainly an interesting premise and has a lot of intriguing elements. It mentions Solvefalske but doesn't say who or what that is. Also, it can sometimes be a bit off-putting to readers to have hard to read names in a story. Fantasy sounding names are expected, but if the names cause the reader to pause every time they come across it, it could become a problem.

'But it's cool. This is just a fantasy story, right?' This line felt a little weak and out of place, but perhaps it works well with the tone of the story and writing voice.

There is a nice final line about the destruction of the universe, but a little more set up or information would be good to give it some context, rather than just sounding like a cool thing to say.

Chapter:

The Prologue worked well to set up the story and a bit of the world, and introduce the main characters. The writing could benefit with a little more show and less tell. 'She was being chased. She couldn't get caught' is an example of simply telling the reader something. But showing us this through her actions and feelings, without actually saying it, can be more powerful and rewarding for the reader.

'No one could see her powers. No one could know. Or else, her life would be ruined.' Statements like this work great, but generally we need a little more context. Without revealing everything, there's ways of including detail and context rather than just saying dramatic-sounding statements.

There were a few info dumps that stalled the pacing at times. There's no need to pause right at the beginning to explain something that isn't relevant for the scene, but better to stay in the action of the moment. There's a time and place for world building, but try to fit them in organically when the time is right. Careful of tense shifts, going from past to present tenses.

So Solvefalske is a place. Perhaps the blurb could mention what it is, rather than saying 'it' exists in the 10th realm, as a reader could interpret it as a person or item even, without specific context.

It seems like a promising start to an interesting and detailed fantasy story. The characters were fun to read, and it's very imaginative, so extra points for the great world building.