Hi Deb, I'm Dee with the WDC Super Power Reviewers. Thank you for asking me to review Chapter One of your novel, Black Seven: Legend of Venetta. I'm very happy you asked. My Initial Reaction: This is a really good story! So far, it has kept my interest throughout the chapter. I don't normally review a lot of sci-fi stories, but this one got my attention from the get-go. I'll probably keep reading and reviewing more chapters, as long as they continue to keep me intrigued. One of the first things I want to say is that the title is interesting. I'm guessing once you incorporate that information about Part One, Two, and Three into your book synopsis or "blurb," it will tell the reader a bit about the complexity of the story. In fact, it was this complexity that kept my interest. Your description line "Three women, three times, three planets threatened by one cataclysmic machine," is very cool and imaginative! I'm really picky on sci-fi stories, as far as what ones I enjoy reading, but I can already see this will be a "good read" in my book! The theme seems centered around ethics in science—balancing ambition with morality, and possibly reconciling family responsibilities with professional ones. Through Makayna's determination to share her research and save her team, as well as the conflicting dynamics between her father and his colleagues, in my opinion, I believe the sub-themes seem to be about the struggle for power and control between different groups of people, the consequences of those struggles on their relationships, and loss, loyalty and determination in the face of adversity. So nice job setting up the theme through the various conflicts within the story and setting it up early on. What I Liked: The point of view is consistent, with the story being told from Makayna's perspective. This allows me to experience her emotions and thoughts firsthand. I also enjoyed learning about Makayna's close relationship with her father and how she felt about his work. This gave a strong emotional connection to your protagonist and added depth to her motivations. I really appreciated the detailed descriptions of the setting too, especially information about the technology, which helped to immerse me in the world of your story. In sci-fi stories this is very important to me, if I'm going to keep reading. The added tension of her father gone missing, added a layer of intrigue to the plot as well. Overall, I found these passages to be well-written and engaging. I also found Malen to be a very interesting character, and I look forward to seeing what he does to help his people. What I Didn't Like: Honestly, there isn't anything I didn't like about this story, but I would have liked a bit more background information about the experiment itself and its potential consequences to further my interest. Not so much information that it would constitute info dump, but enough to convey the importance of the experiment's findings. I did find that the conflict between Makayna and Sylar Jebbs wasn't really explored in more detail either. There are a few areas of passive writing and a few spelling/grammar issues, but these can easily be edited with a good grammar checking program. With these corrected, I would give this a five-star rating. Final Thoughts: Overall, this story has several strengths, including well-developed characters, an engaging writing style, and effective use of description and dialogue. The plot is well-executed, and the tension is maintained throughout. With some minor improvements, such as providing more background information further exploring conflicts, and improving a few slower paragraphs, the story has the potential to be even more compelling. I will probably get to Chapter Two shortly. My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!" .
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