Title: Louder Than Words
Author: BloodyRavens
Characters: Seo Inguk, Hwang Aerin (OC), Kang Minhyuk, hwang Yoonhye
Genre: Drama, Angst, Fluff, friendschip
Category: Boy x Girl
Status: Completed (10 Chap)
Description: Everyone has scars. For some, those scars run deeper than others. Hwang Aerin grew up bullied by her peers. After an incident in high school she stopped speaking. Seo Inguk was a man who had everything; a good job plus a loving wife and son. However his world was turned upside down when his wife and son died in a tragic accident. Aerin lived her life avoiding others, holed up in her studio painting all day. Inguk put on a smiling face every day, but in reality he was only a shell of his former self. They met when Inguk was assigned to be Aerin’s handler for a gallery. She was the frustratingly shy artist who made her brother do all of her deals for her and he was the pushy gallery curator who refused to let her have her way. As they discover each other’s wounds and learn who they really are, can they help the other overcome the pain left by their scars?
This is the story of the voiceless and the pretender

Title (7/10):
I think the title does have some relevance to the storyline but somehow to me, I think there will be a more suitable title than this one for this story. The title itself isn’t commonly used on AFF and it’s easy to search your story up with just the title. However, I feel that something is lacking but I really can’t put a finger on it. I think the story itself needs to elaborate a little more to explain exactly what is louder than words.

Description & Foreword (9/10):
I honestly think your description really helps the readers to understand what will be happening in the story and what to expect. However, having already read the ending, I think your description makes the ending seem really surprising and different, though that can be taken both ways. Your description makes the story sound like how two people are going to help each other overcome their problems and ultimately end up as a couple and therefore it gives your readers a heads-up to what the ending is going to be like. From your description, I feel that it drives your readers off into a slightly different direction than how the story goes.
I feel that you have gone a great job in inserting pictures of the characters and some very brief information about them. This helps the readers to understand the characters more and to know who’s who without getting confused in the middle of the story, so well done for that!

Graphics (9/10): 
The poster is beautifully made and it definitely fits into the theme of the story. Though again, like your description, it’s a little misleading because of the two main characters in the story do not actually end up together, unlike what is thought by the reader after seeing the poster and the description.
I personally like the way you used a single colour background rather than plain white or graphics. This is less distracting when reading and it’s easy on the eyes, especially if you’ve been in front of the screen for too long.

Character Development (8/10):
I think Inguk’s character is realistic in the way he is really sad and depressed that his wife and son are both dead, though I doubt that a handler of an artist will go this far for their client in their personal life. I would like to have seen how he had gotten over the tragic incident involving his wife and son - it seems that he had moved on rather quickly and was able to help Aerin regardless of his situation. I think in this case, Inguk’s character needs a little more explanation and expansion on his story.
As for Aerin, I thought she is the typical ‘weak girl who was bullied in school but then a boy comes in and they started as friends and ends up together and then he breaks her heart’ type of person. Honestly, I don’t really know what to say for this character. It’s interesting how she developed a trauma from the heartbreak but this truthfully isn’t the most original idea out there, as harsh as this sounds. I liked the way you wrote about the process of her regaining her voice but somehow I thought it was a little too soon for her as she regained her voice the minute she was told the truth by Minhyuk.
Overall, I think with a little work on Inguk’s side and a little more on Minhyuk and Aerin’s ‘after story’, the character development would be flawless.

Appearance (6/10):
The mark may be a little harsh but personally, I found it really hard on the eyes to read your story. Don’t get me wrong, your layout is lovely and beautiful but the font is really too small! This may just be me but I always have to make the font bigger in order to read it without squinting my eyes but every time I do that, the gap between the lines is too small and it makes the words stick together too much - I ended up having to lean really close to the screen to read this.
Another thing is that a lot of users read fanfics on mobile and because of your layout, it’s really hard to do so, even when the story is ‘made readable’. To be honest, this kind of put me off a bit because personally, I only read on mobile and therefore it took some motivation for me to read it off my laptop. If possible, I would recommend you change to a similar layout that allows reading on mobile comfortably.

Originality & Plot (7/10):
This section in the review is probably one of the hardest to write on. For your story, I feel that you have started on a good point and you have developed it well. By truthfully speaking, this isn’t the most original story out there as I have recalled reading something very similar to this. In fact, the plotline of two people helping each other with their respective problems is definitely not uncommon at all. Though typically, those two characters often end up together as a couple, which is different to your ending.
I have mixed feelings on your ending. It’s surprising, sure enough, but is it really what we, as readers, want? I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who wanted Aerin to end up with Inguk rather than going back to Minhyuk. I just thought that because it was Inguk who helped her through the problem that she would develop some kind of feeling for him and that Minkyuk had left too much of a hole inside her that he would never be able to fill. I think personally, for me, I would like to see Inguk and Aerin together with Minhyuk as one of their best friends - but then again, that would be the typical ending in these situtaions.

Flow (7/10):
It’s really nice how you have ended the whole thing in just ten chapters. The way you haven’t put in unrelated things in there is really good, though again, I thought it would be nice if you have inserted some extra things as well like how Aerin and Minhyuk worked things out again and how Inguk found himself a new love in more detail.
I also think that the time skip was a little too much. So much happened during those six years and yet they were only explain briefly in a few paragraphs. I, as a reader, would love to see what happens in detail in those years.

Writing (8/10):
Your writing style is really descriptive and it certainly helps the reader to build an image in their head about what is going on, though not to be rude, I found myself skipping through some of the text to get the to conversations and interactions between the characters. On the other hand, the way you used footnotes in some of the chapters to explain certain Korean phrases is highly praised!
I really like how you wrote Aerin’s part in first person, it really helps the readers to understand what is going on inside her head as she didn’t speak for the majority of the story. However, there is one thing that made me confused for a bit. Like how you have put Aerin’s name as a subtitle before the story switches to her point of view, you used Inguk’s name before his section and that made me think that it would be in his point of view instead of in the third person’s point of view. I’m not sure if I’m the only one who was confused by this but I just thought I’d point it out to you.

Grammar & Spelling (9/10):
I am not sure as to whether or not you’re a native English speaker but your grammar and spelling makes me believe that you are of a high level in the language. There are no major problems that will cause difficulties in reading though I would like to point out a few things that I have spotted while reading. First of all, you used a comma instead of a full stop/period at the end of a sentence inside speech marks/quotation marks. It would be completely fine if an attribution of speech comes between the quoted sentence but if there is no continuation in the speech, a full stop/period should be used.

For example:

“Aigoo, my sister is such a hard worker,” Haeyun cooed as he patted my head and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. I smiled stiffly, my lips really just flattening into a thin line as I looked down.

You ended the speech with a comma even though there is no continuation of the speech afterwards. In this case, the use of a full stop/period would be correct. If you would like to know more, I would recommend this site to you. Other than this, there are a few misspelled words that are not much problem to the whole story so I won’t dwell on them too much.

General Enjoyment (8/10):
Personally, I don’t really read these types of story as I’m more of a romcom person but reading this story gave me a fresh feeling. It’s been a while since I’ve read stories like this so it’s quite fresh in my memories. The first few chapters I kind of skimmed through since it was towards the last few chapters that the ‘meat’ laid. I think from chapter 5 or 6 onwards, I found myself wanting to read more and more because I was curious to see how Aerin and Inguk would end up together but to my surprise, they didn’t! Though it’s still a wonder to me as to why Aerin and Minhyuk ended up together again, I’m pleased that the story ended on a good note.

Total score: 78/100
Reviewer: Saki1017
Reviewed on: 30/08/2014
Comments and thoughts: Hi! First of all, thank you for requesting! This is my first job since I’ve joined this shop and I’m delighted to have been given your story! I hope I wasn’t too harsh with the review >_< This is also my first time reading a fic with Seo Inguk so I guess this is a new experience for me~ Please do tell if there is something you’re unsure about or would like to discuss about! ^^


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Credits to Saki1017 (S1017) @ Steph's BookClub Review Shop (SBC)©

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