Just to prove that I have not fallen off the face of the earth (just moved to Maine), I figured I'd toss this out there to anyone interested. I entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest back in October or so--5,000 entrants submitted a novel in any genre they wanted. I sent my Slovak YA Fantasy that some of you have had input on. They narrowed it down to 836 entrants a week or so ago, and Publisher's Weekly reviewed the complete manuscript of all 836. (Well, maybe not the complete manuscript in some instances. There were some pretty lousy samples, even in the winnowed 836.) Anyway, I got my review today. Here she be:
manuscript review by Publishers Weekly, an independent organization
American teenagers meet Slovak fairy tales come to frightening life in this engaging if occasionally over-plotted fantasy novel. After his family's home burns down, Tomas and his parents move back to their native Slovakia, where Tomas finds himself plagued by strange visions and forebodings of events to come. His parents attempt to shield him from the shadowy events of his childhood, that caused them to leave for the U.S., but Tomas- still deeply self-conscious about the burns he sustained on his arm in a childhood accident- digs into the past. With the help of his fetching cousin Katka, Tomas investigates his visions and discovers their intimate relationship with the figures of Slovak folklore, including the trickster vodnik. Can Tomas navigate his way through a new country, and a bizarre new set of friends and enemies, without causing further injury to himself, or to his cousin? The novel is heavily padded with action- at times too much action- and the characters lack definition, or much motivation, but the author keeps the plot rolling, and there is enough humanity lurking amidst the Slovak nightmares to keep readers interested.
Now those of you in my writing group at the time (EUOL, MsFish, CtrlZed, Eric James Stone and Hauf (if he's still kicking around here)) know what a jumble this book was in after the first draft. So frankly, I'm quite pleased that I managed to hammer it out into good enough shape to warrant this review. No, it's not glowing with praise, but it ain't a total downer, either. It points out areas I knew I had weakness in--plotting and consistent characters--but still calls the book engaging and interesting. I've read some of the other PW reviews on these entries, and it could have been worse. Much worse. What do you all think?
Anyway, if any of you want to mosey over and check out my excerpt and then rate it, you're more than welcome to. Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00122GTYG
