MAMACITA: Secrets of San Mar Valley by diamondELF193
Tagimpan Review Services — open & accepting!I have learned my lesson and actively not let my personal preferences get in the way too much of my review. Still, there are some things I didn't like despite this mentality I have. I want to preface this by saying that all the things I will be mentioning in the review is done so with the betterment of both your writing and my reading experiences kept in mind. I didn't point them out because the story was bad, in fact, I believe it's almost about to realize its potential, but a few technicalities made it fall just a hair short of that.
Title / Description / First impression (20/20)This portion is judged by the overall impression the fic is able to evoke at first encounter.
I do like this title a lot as it not only captured the vibes of the story, it's also a callback to something related to Super Junior. Very clever. Usually, I don't like longer titles because it doesn't stick easily in the mind, but it's the perfect use of subtitles that sealed the deal. It is easy enough to remember, and holds well in packaging the entire story.
The description is also interesting and has set the tone of the story properly, cementing the Wild West feel you were going for, and is done so in a concise manner. Good job on that as well.
Plot / Concept / Theme / World-building (18/20)This part talks about the general point of the story, from the plot, to the setting and world-building, as well as the genres and themes that the author has chosen to tackle.
Another good aspect of your story. I like how everything was put together. The only reason I deducted a point is because the narration lacked immersion. The setting is established, and had the "Wild West" vibe to it, but in certain respects, it seemed a little "studio-like", if that makes sense. It didn't look to me as a real place but a warehouse with set designs to make it look like a Wild West town. Nothing bad though, since this still had comedy in the tags, which makes this observation work in certain scenarios, like the hijinks and whatnot.
We did follow a bunch of subplots with the characters, which I both appreciate, for giving the story depth, but I have something else to say about that in the other criterias, which would be reason number 2 why I had to shave off another point from the final tally.
All in all, this plot is exciting and interesting. And you manage to bring it to life in a befitting way to your chosen genres.
Characterization (15/20)This criteria judges the way characters are developed, how effective their arcs have been in terms of fleshing them out, and how convincing the parts they've played in the story.
I had to give props where it's due: the backstories made sense and helped the plot advance. My main point of contention why I had to lower the score is because we had too many characters that are all interesting and driven that somehow I felt like we have completely left Oh Minji, the supposed main character, behind. She was always lugging along and easily veered to certain directions other characters wanted to point her at. It was weird, for lack of better words. She felt like a mere presence instead of the focus. Is this intentional on your end? Since I had no way of knowing, I had to go with my opinion. I don't think Minji's character was the MC. If anything, we should have starred Kyuhyun instead. The treatment of Minji's character made sense in a way that looked good for the "reveal" and plot twists, but it was an unfair for her as a main character. She was supposed to be the protagonist, she was in the description and Prologue, we started off with her, and yet she had the least depth. A sad story only works if the character was sad about it, and yet even in the Prologue, we quickly breezed through her witnessing his father's death, by her character's emotions immediately jumping to revenge without even going through grief. If it was there, I didn't feel it. I was so disappointed in her character treatment. She felt like Kyuhyun's, and every other characters' shado
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