Talk:Heart of the Beast/@comment-25630395-20170804100819

wfwa judging

SPOILERS

I really enjoyed this! All of your characters were engaging and unique. You had pulled in from the beginning. I can definitely see ACOTAR's influence in the story, but you managed to take that and add your own ideas to it which turned out to be fantastic. Jas's death made me tear up a little, and I really felt their struggle to save Solerion. The end felt like a victory for the reader, too, since we were rooting for them to succeed.

You were nominated twice, for best hero and best antagonist. I nominated Ray for best hero because I think he's fascinating. He's doing the 'wrong' thing to accomplish the 'right' thing, and at several points in the story I wondered if I could really trust him. But turns out he had good intentions at heart and I was shocked at how self-sacrificing he was. He was a complex, three-dimensional character and the love he felt for his home was very real and relatable.

Averitha is an amazing antagonist. She's creepy and evil enough to make me hate her, but her lovely one-liners and monologues make me root for her (a little). She poses a very real threat, she nevers fades into the background and you never forget what she's capable of. I think you did an excellent job of illustrating how horrible she really was.

A few nitpicks. I felt that Ash and Ray's relationship progressed really quickly, almost to the point of not being believable. He says he loved her the moment he saw her... but why? She'd just been captured to be used as a pet... to tick off Averitha? His motivation there was a little unclear. I did end up buying their relationship in the end, but it moved pretty fast nonetheless.

Best of luck the WFWA!

END OF SPOILERS