Intro:

The Shadowed Sun was written by Aravis-Brightspell, and it earned the third place position in the "Best Potential" category in my Padauk Mini Awards. 

Aravis is a special case here, and let me explain why. I have judged Aravis' work multiple times now in both the FN Awards and the Padauk Awards, and if I am not mistaken, Aravis is the first and only person who has submitted multiple times to my contests and placed in all of the submissions thus far (that have been judged).

First, Aravis received an honorable mention in the "Best Writing Style" category in the Fairy Night Awards. Also in the FN Awards, Aravis would go on to win third place in the "Thriller/Mystery" category, a very difficult and competitive category. However, it doesn't stop there as Aravis has won twice in the Padauk Awards so far, earning third place in this category that this review is for, "Best Potential," and second place in the "Best Presentation" category.

Aravis is absolutely on fire, and no, that's not a pun because the book has "sun" in the title, though I do like me some puns. What a talented writer, and I hope you guys check out their work and leave a follow!

With that being said, let's get into the review of The Shadowed Sun, the esteemed third place winner in the "Best Potential" category, AKA the hardest category in the Padauk Awards.

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Short Feedback

I've read The Shadowed Sun twice now, and each time has impressed me. Aravis, you've said that you like giving the world more nuance and having readers figure it out as they go rather than giving a lot of exposition, and that's one of the things I appreciated most about the story: how it went about the sci-fi world.

I remember while I was reading it, since it had been a while since I read it last time, I was furrowing my brows, trying to remember everything. Then, I read chapter 2, and I was like ohhhh so THAT'S what chapter 1 meant, and it may seem like a small thing to get excited about, but I appreciated how I was able to quickly put the pieces together and figure things out on my own, so that's probably the biggest praise I can give the story: how it goes about worldbuilding and giving context for events in a way that makes sense for the pacing and overall narrative.

But that's not the only thing that works. As you can tell based on your placement for the best writing style category with this book in the FN Awards, the writing style is also very strong, and the SPAG is overall very, very good, so the technical stuff is handled well too.

It's a little early in the book to comment too much on the characters, plot, and themes, but all three of them are unique so far, and I can tell a strong book is going to come from this that I'm super excited to see.

All in all, this book SLAPS, and you guys should give it a try, especially if you like sci-fi.

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Summary:

- Awesome worldbuilding

- Strong technical writing with the style + SPAG

- The narrative elements are unique so far

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Overall:

The Shadowed Sun is an engaging narrative with a lot of potential to grow into an outstanding, memorable sci-fi piece. Its strongest trait is its interesting world that doesn't hold your hand and instead challenges you to pay attention and piece everything together on your own, though the rest of the narrative is a highlight as well. If you're someone who enjoys science-fiction and good worldbuilding, then this is the perfect book for you!

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Thank you for signing up for my Padauk Awards! You know I love your work and am always ready to see more of it, and I'm excited to see what's to come from you in the future. I hope you keep writing since you have a crap ton of talent, and I'm sure you're going to continue winning awards!

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I'm going to start leaving this new note at the end of all reviews since Wattpad removed pms.

If you would like to keep in contact with me and ask me for more feedback on your work, I have a Discord server for all readers, writers, and friends. I'll leave a link in the inline comment here for anyone who would like to join.