Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I discovered this book through the author's AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit. There were a few problems with that, which I'll discuss further below after my critique of the actual text, but first I want to state the positive: Finishing a novel manuscript as a 19 year old is a great accomplishment. That's something to be very proud of--plenty of people set out to write books and never finish, so the author should absolutely relish her achievement. I want to state upfront that I'm not writing this review to be cruel. I'm writing with the sincere hope that the author reads this review and uses it to strive for greater success in her future writing and marketing endeavors. That being said, there's a huge difference between writing and writing well. Sometimes, as a writer (especially a young, passionate writer), you need to learn how to gauge your work honestly. Get feedback from people outside your immediate circles--friends and family usually won't be able to give you honest, unbiased critiques unless they are writers, too. Join writing groups and learn to thrive on negative feedback. The best advice I've ever heard on the topic goes as follows: 99% of the time when someone critiques your writing, they're right; 99% of the time when they tell you how to fix it, they're wrong. I read the first four chapters of this book, which were available in the sample. I couldn't make it any further. I'm a Kindle Unlimited Subscriber, so had it been enjoyable I would have read the rest; unfortunately, it was not good. The plot is about three girls on the fictional planet of Amara, one of whom has a special key allowing her to open portals to other worlds. After a brief intro where a man gets killed by some sort of energy alien, we're introduced to Rose, the main protagonist and daughter of the dead man. The chapters switch between the three main girls, each narrating in first person, and mainly revolves around Rose and her friend Phoenix buying birthday presents for their third friend, Princess Sylvia. The story is generic at best and boring at worst--over the course of the first four chapters, basically nothing happens. Rose orders a cake. Phoenix buys an ornament and flirts with a shopkeeper's son. Rose dances to music in her room. Sylvia sits in on a royal meeting and then leaves to meet her friends. There's barely any conflict, no stakes, and almost no characterization. Despite the girls all narrating in first person, there's no distinction amongst any of their voices. They all speak with a bizarre combination of Earth slang (remember, this takes place on an alien planet) and odd formality without contractions. The characters also have a tendency to randomly shoehorn exposition into their dialogue. At one point Rose explains her special portal key to her best friend Phoenix, who already knows about the key. "It's supposed to be passed through families, and I'm the only one left in mine, remember?" she says to her best friend, who presumably remembers. After four chapters, I'm not sure I could pick out a single adjective to describe any of the main characters' personalities. The writing is riddled with grammatical mistakes, syntax errors, and unnecessary repetition. I usually don't mind small grammatical mistakes if they aren't distracting, but I found at least one on every page--usually more. The author also tells constantly, instead of showing. Characters frequently describe one another's physical and personality traits and point out the shapes and colors of inanimate objects (such as a "long rectangular table"). The poor writing coupled with a middling plot make this book a very tedious read. It boils down to a standard first-effort novel which an older, wiser writer might stash away in a drawer to think about fondly when she writes her first real success years later. So why am I reviewing this unknown, self-published book when there are so many unknown self-published books, many of which are equally bad? Terrible marketing. As I mentioned at the beginning of my review, the author hosted an AMA on reddit. For those of you who don't know what that is, AMA is a forum where people who have achieved amazing things or are of public interest come on and answer questions from users. These include actors, directors, political candidates, teams of scientists, WWII survivors, and renowned authors. Prospective AMA candidates need to confirm their identity and achievements with moderators, who presumably decide whether or not the candidate is actually who they say they are, and also of public interest. Oftentimes, AMAs are conducted in conjunction with the release of a major project (such as a director's newest film) in order to garner interest from a wide audience. There's also an offshoot forum, Casual AMA, where people can host similar Q&A sessions while not necessarily being at the same level of public interest as, say, Stephen King or Obama. While I have no problem with an author using an AMA to drum up interest for a book launch, this author presented her AMA in a very disingenuous fashion. Firstly, her introduction stated she was a published author, as opposed to a self-published author. While technically, in the current book market, self-publishing is still publishing, everyone involved in the writing and publishing industries knows there is still a huge difference in how the general public perceives the phrase "I am a published author." That's not to belittle self-publishing, but self-publishing and claiming to be published outside of the writing industry seems, at best, disingenuous. When this information came to light, many users became angry that an unknown, self-published author was presenting herself in the context of an expert without any real credentials to back that claim up. As a result, the author gained a lot of visibility for her book. In this case, I don't think that's a good thing. I saved this review for a day later to avoid the main backlash towards the author, with the hope I can present something constructive. There was a lot of hate and sexism in the comments, and I'm sorry the author went through that. But there was also a lot of legitimate criticism of both the book and the manner in which the marketing was conducted. To prospective buyers: I do not recommend this book. The story is bland, the writing is poor, and it is not worth your money or your time. That being said, don't write the author off yet. She's still young and if she sticks with her craft, perhaps this book can be a learning experience and her next one will really shine. To the author: If you're reading this and take away one thing, I hope it's that you should never put your marketing before your craft. The marketing effort for your book was big and bold, and ultimately not warranted by the final product. It's great that you finished a book at such a young age, but there's a reason most writers scrap their first completed manuscript--it's usually not very good. Of course, there's nothing wrong with self-publishing and even charging for a poorly written novel, but when you go on a major website and present yourself as an expert in a craft when you don't have the experience or qualifications to do so, you risk lots of people viewing your work in a negative light. In one of your answers, you mentioned you self-published in order to maintain control over your work after it was rejected by over 50 agents. If I were you, I might have taken a step back and asked myself why 50 agents were rejecting my book. Plenty of agents get it wrong, but this time I think they got it right. In time, I hope you can use this as a learning experience.