Review for bomi_- // Reviewed by: pilsuk123

Title and Story link:  

Reply [Answer Me] (Completed, reviewed with 22 chapters)

Title: (20/20)

Even without reading much into the story, the title was already perfect as it is. It was memorable, easy to remember, special, relate well to the story and stands out from the rest. It gives readers a clue to what they're about to read which is about receiving threatening and disturbing letter and with the letters having 'Answer Me'. There was a chapter in the middle of the story which completely clearly explained the theory behind the title which is never reply any of the letters even though the letter demands an answer because when they do, they'll die somehow. I thought it was a very well-thought of title and it's perfect in every sense!

Overall Appearance: (4/5)

The story's overall appearance was great. It's clean and it gives off a horror vibe even without a background picture. The thing was that the size of the words can get a little small, I had to zoomed in really close to read comfortably. And also I've mentioned before about the empty spacing but now I'm used to them. Just try to stick to two-three empty lines space, especially for the f/d or it might look too empty.

Description and Foreword: (19/20)

I loved the description and foreword part, it's the exact type of story which I'll never fail to read because of it's interesting and it just draws me in and forcing me to read even though horror or suspense is definitely not my cup of tea. Still, I was drawn to it and I was dying to read the story just by reading through the description and foreword of the story. The description was lovely, I loved how you wrote it. From brining out the main points of the story to showing a peek of Luhan with Sehun conversation together. I was creeper out in the beginning of the story, ready to not like it because it's not my style, but with the short part of their conversation together being placed in the description, I'm in. It sounds original and awesome and a story that's ready to blow my mind and it did! I was smiling from ear to ear just by reading their short convo, I swear it's just so sweet yet original.

The foreword just further teases the readers and it made me so sure to love this story already. 

What was especially great with the description and foreword was that it definitely make the readers slightly know huhan from it. We get to know the Luhan is receiving the letters and he's asking Sehun, who is an infamous delinquent, and how their characters is. Luhan being a shy and Sehun being the teasing and cool person but of course as we read on, it's not as simple as it is.

Plot: (22/30)

I have to be honest that before I reached the last few chapters of the story, I was solid sure that I'm going to at least give a 28 for plot but after the last part/ending, which is the main judging aspect of plot, I had to reduced some of the marks. There's so many parts that I loved because of how perfect they are and there are some which makes me frown and scratch my head in confusion.

The introduction and body of the story was clearly amazing and near-perfect. There's was almost nothing that I didn't agree because it was delivered well and there isn't much going on yet. The story gets really amazing at the part where you false directed the readers into thinking that Sehun might be the stalker. I thought that part was brilliant, I was in a complete trance to believe that Sehun is the stalker, it was a roller coaster ride. At first, I thought it was Jongdae because he asked for help and Luhan helped and also he had contact with both Sehun and Luhan but later I thought it was Luhan himself when he starts to scare himself to no end, and maybe it could be Hyuna, and again back to Sehun and back again to Luhan. I was still unsure who the stalker is until the part where Luhan was for sure slightly crazy and hallucinating that it can't be himself and I realize I was back to square one again with nothing. 

The only part at the beginning that I was quite bewildered and confuse at was what can Sehun really do because it looks like many came to him for help even though he's infamous for being a delinquent. He can answer any question with perfection and yet he cannot do the same for Luhan's stalker? Could he read minds just as what Luhan thought? So he's just a delinquent? But why does Baekhyun recommended him to Luhan? 

What drives the story really well and strong was that you didn't make it clear who the stalker is until the very end. It keeps me from feeling bored or lazy to read on because it was constantly interesting and it made the readers curious throughout the whole story. You didn't give clues even, you just make it even more interesting and confusing in a good way in a story.

Everything was great until the last few chapters when the revelation starts. I think the main reason why I felt that the ending wasn't strong enough because too much was thrown to the readers in a short notice. You can reveal taokrislay being police before or after and the past about Jongin before or after but instead it felt as thought it was all tied and just spread to 2-3 chapters which can be too much for one to take.

Even though I wasn't so sure about making taokrislay as police or investigators and whatnot, the past story definitely help in backing up the story strong. 

I love the part about revealing Kyungsoo and how it all went down to Kyungsoo death but it was made clear about how Luhan who happens to be the main culprit of his death or knowing that Sehun helped with it and him not remembering anything at all. It's too weird because it happens not during childhood but it was just couple of years ago. (4 years was it?) So he just forgets all of it? Forgets about Sehun? About Kyungsoo? About Jongin? And how does seeing Sehun so often doesn't spark a single thing to Luhan? 

Maybe it's just me reading too much into why because of too many dramas but was it because of split personality or block memories or accident? I felt that the aprt wasn't as clear as the other scenes but it still fits into the story well. It flowed really well and it makes sense but I'm just not 100% convinced. 

All in all, the ending was satisfying and good but the way through the ending was slightly confusing for me. Also I remembered about Sehun visiting luhan in the mental hospital and he left for a moment to get drinks, I thought Luhan woke up and killed himself knowing that Sehun left. /dramatic sound effect/ That's probably the worst way to end the story but it's just the dramatic me interpreting it for a moment.

Moving on the parts that I loved which are endless but I'll mentioned a few that was memorable and crazy good that keeps me on an edge are:

1. Hyuna being murdered in a disgusting and horrible way but it achieves the 'horror' genre you're aiming for!

2. ​Beakhyun and Chanyeol part. About Chanyeol waiting for Baekhyun who's obviously died because of Luhan killed him. The drowning scene was so creepily scary, I thought it was delivered flawlessly in a creepy and it showed a side of Luhan that readers finally could see. The back/past story. It was strong and amazing that I thought it could stand by it's own in another story.

3. Sehun's room. I love how you described it, and I love how it reveals everything and how Luhan came into the room and the secrets just all poured out in that room. 

4. Ending as the ending. It ended just with them escaping and the roof top scene was freaking good and satisfying.

Originality: (20/20)

There's so many plot twists that my heart can possible take. The plot twists were not only original but it was captivating as well. I was completely not expecting anything but I was in a complete shock state to know that Sehun used to be one of the victims too- that Sehun went through a similar phase of having a stalker. That immediately drew my attention more and it's more believable that Sehun was so keen on helping Luhan but he was giving off a cold and cool attitude. It would be strange for me at first that Sehun was so willing to help and was constantly there for Luhan but after all they're not only attracted to each other in their sick ways but also Sehun received such letters too. The ending hold the craziest plot twist ever, I'm just so in love. I love how it all turned around so completely different from mine and almost everyone's prediction. I've mentioned before in immm, the way you tell every story is just freaking genuine, real and original and I have no more words.

Language: (18/20)

Since the story wasn't on text selection wasn't allowed for this story, I can't help you pick up the errors or mistakes in the story as I read but most of it are all minor and small ones so they didn't have any impact. However, there was quite a few of mistakes in every chapter be it spelling, typo or grammar. Proofreading would've helped!

Writing Style: (20/20)

This is just my second story from you and I can already recognize your story just by your writing style. It's very refreshing, concise and it helps to highlight the story's plot. It's definitely addictive to read on because of your writing style and you used a variety of vocabulary throughout the story. There's nothing else to futuer add because... just because you're good like this.

Characterization: (25/30)

There's quite a lot of characters in the story so why not start easy with Luhan's parents. I feel that their actually pretty useless in the story because they come and go and didn't make much of an impact. I was thinking that maybe Luhan mother would play a part in the ending since she overheard Baekhyun's convo with Chanyeol but it's nothing much but it did helped with the building of Luhan's character. We get to see how he lives and gets treated in the family which I feel was part of the reason how he went crazy. His parents didn't even bother with nothing but give him more trouble and worrying factor.

Next, I felt that even though it's so natural to see Sehun and Luhan together and how I knew that in the story they'll be the main pairing, I did feel that Luhan trusted Sehun too much and obviously too quickly as well. Most time, I don't quite understand Luhan. He's shy but he cares for Sehun so much and he will do everything for Sehun which includes slapping or stop befriending Baekhyun. It was still rather weird at times to see how Luhan is just in a complete delusion even though Sehun might feel the same way towards him, it's quite silly because they developed quite almost too quickly and perfectly. It would be nice to see a chapter with them jus together, no other characters and getting to know each other or bond together without the subject of the letters or anything. Just them.

Okay, this might be unfair to say but taokrislay's characters were all pretty unconvincing especially in the end. When they appeared out of nowhere to help, shouldn't Luhan be suspecting or something? Moreover, they're acting as undercover, shouldn't something can be pretty obvious. Lay acted too perfectly upon seeing Hyuna dead and convincing the evil and creepy Luhan that he wouldn't tell... 

The most natural pairing added into the story had got to be chanbaek because it's just so natural and it flows in the story. Both of them together and because Baekhyun is Luhan's friend. I actually quite liked how chanbaek is in the story and would probably anticipate the most from the spin-off/deleted scenes/diff point of view story!

Flow: (24/30)

The flow of the story at the beginning was near perfect with the ideal pace and everything just seem to flows smoothly from one scene to another. The ending pace was too quickly and I feel that too little was spend on writing the ending parts because it held so many surprising and shocking revelation. It would've been better to spread the ending to maybe 2-3 addition chapters to clearly write everything. The starting of the story was perfect though, the pace, the speed, the amount of problem and everything was ideal and easy to catch up. One last thing, even though you wrote on the last chapter that the next chapter would be about the past, it would also be great to actually emphasis it in the beginning of the chapter itself because sometimes I go reading through 2 paragraphs or so and suddenly I realized that it's in the past so I had to go back to the start to read again with the knowing that it's currently in the past.

Reader's Scope/ Overall Enjoyment (5/5)

I was in completely awe and respect for you being such a genius writer in both fluff side and horror/angst side as well! If you could make me, a 100% non-horror reader, to love your horror story, everyone will definitely love this story! Especially those horror readers! I was in a whole new world when I'm reading your story and everything felt so real. I'm sure everyone would've enjoyed and loved this story as I did!

Bonus (+5)

At first I was so afraid that you'll be too focused in trying to make the story as scary and as creepy as possible that it might take away the originality and spark you usually have in your stories but I was relieved and so glad to know that you managed to keep the story great as you always do! And still managed to balance enough scary scenes and parts to make sure that you did the 'horror' tag justice! 

Final Score/ Total (182/200) = 91%

A/N:

I have no words. I feel that life have just been pulled from me after finishing the story because I have nothing to look forward to anymore because the story have finally come to an end. /cry a river/ I have to apologize though because this ''review'' isn't actually one, it's more like my intense thoughts and comments in a page and some advice which I'm sure you don't need. There isn't much I can say because the story basically have everything I looked forward to in a story, any story. Plot twist, achieving tag genre and delivering it well, great main character chemistry, variety of scenes to bring in a story, building plot and in a story, satisfying ending, so on and so forth. I think you did delivered the story extremely well! Would definitely recommend this story to everyone! (ps. I look forward to the day where the story will get featured since it's getting so much attention rn! All the best^^)

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