Rebel Wars - 2018 Awards [CLOSED]

FANFIC WINNER || Cosmic | Doctor Strange

Cosmic | Doctor Strange

By Fever09

Review by ESHurricane

Overview

This is not the first time I've had the pleasure of coming across this story in a Wattpad Award, and each time is a treat for me. Cosmic tells an intricate tale of the apprentice to Dr. Strange, and a boy that literally falls out of the sky. It's an incredibly well written romp through the world of science, magic, and everything in between.

Cover/Title

The title, Cosmic, is eye-catching and relevant, and I like that it specifies Dr. Strange in the title. Without genres, I find a lot of fanfiction flies under the radar on Wattpad these days, so it's nice to know from the get go what we're getting into.

The cover depicts a man's face, which I assume is the main male character, aka the boy that falls out of the sky. He's handsome and pensive and I think it's a great choice as the main focus for the cover. However, I feel that the layout could be slightly different. I feel like the diffused text over his face kind of takes away from both the title and his expression, so perhaps moving the next to a darker area where there's less going on would be more impactful for both things.

Summary/Description

The summary is excellent. I'm not a fan of big long summaries that practically tell the whole story. I like a little bit of mystery with my fanfic, and the promise of something interesting to come. There's a cute back and forth with quotes, and then the summary consists of a single line: in which a boy who falls from the heavens is a harbinger of darker days to come.

I love that. It's relevant, it tells me what's about to happen, sets everything up and gives me a plot for the future. I open the story knowing that it's set in the MCU and that bad shit is going to happen. That's all I need to know to get sucked into this tale. And to be honest, the to-the-point kind of summary gives me hope about concise prose inside, which we'll get to later.

Hook

I normally don't have any use for epigraphs and all of the pre-story things that go into a lot of Wattpad books, but I very much enjoyed the Epigraph in Cosmic. I thought it was a very intense storyboard of relevant gifs, and together with the lines of poetry painted an amazing preface for the story to come. It hooked me in right away and I ate up every word, excitement building for the first chapter.

Grammar/Structure

The grammar and structure is impeccable here. Very very rarely I noticed a filter word or two (he felt something happening instead of just something happened) but it was so few and far between that it didn't take me out of the story nor distract me. And if the only thing I can find in a story is the tiniest bit of passive voice and it doesn't even distract me, well then that's a fantastically written story.

Characters

Now, full disclosure time, I am not familiar at all with the Dr. Strange universe or lore. I'm pretty far into other aspects of the MCU but have not seen or read any Dr. Strange, so I'm drawing on purely reader reaction here unbiased by the fandom.

I really enjoy these characters. Stephen is interesting and multifaceted, and comes off as the likable genius of his craft. Shyanne is headstrong but with a lot of heart, and being privy to her inner monologue but then watching her stammer and balk at getting her Master title was so charming. Her banter with the other characters had me laughing out loud much of the time, and I feel that she's a great female lead with wonderful qualities and a healthy personality.

The characters all have very unique voices which is important in a cast like this where there are a lot of characters lurking around. I enjoyed David as well, the descriptions of his facial expressions and eyes while he spoke short lines were very poignant. I found a lot about these characters were written just as much between the lines as in them, and I adore that feeling of knowing these people.

Narrative

It's refreshing to read fanfiction in third person POV. I tend to lean towards third as a preference when I'm reading, and though I don't mind a deep first with strong narrative voice I find third gives a lot more freedom to explore more than just one character. This is definitely played well here. The author gives an excellent third-multi experience without jarring headhopping and lets me feel close to all of the characters instead of distanced, which is an easy trap to fall into with third POV.

Plot/Pacing

The pacing has great flow in these early chapters, and I felt that it was just enough momentum to propel everything forward. I liked that the plot was very character-driven, especially with Shyanne, being as interesting as she is. It's a great start with her interactions with Stephen, and then the mayhem that follows is believable and gives a good basis for the plot to leap off of. And leap it does!

Closing Comments

All in all, this is a skillfully crafted story with interesting characters centered around a plot that feels fresh and new. It's well-written, well-versed, and definitely a must-read for fans of Dr. Strange, Marvel or any kind of magic in general, really. It's easy to see how Cosmic nabbed a first-place win!