Author: Cross-Warrior

Summary: Talia never asked for any of this.

When a magic-filled night flips her world around, all she wanted to do was to go home. Not find out that fairy tales are real or that she was the only one who could save their realm. A realm which she thought she knew, but ends up being completely twisted. Now the only way for her to return home is to save a world of fantasy full of strangers. Doing so can awaken the person she's always meant to be, but when her enemy is the strongest fairy, her stronget self may not be enough.

Reviewer's Remarks: Nightmare is a retelling of the well known tale of Sleeping  Beauty. Although the summary is quite vague - the story itself is appealing and beautifully depicted. The aspect I enjoyed about this story is during its' commencement we are offered a glimpse of Rovena's - the fairy who has cursed Talia (I bet you know how it goes with the spindle and all) - tale and her motives behind cursing the child. 

The story consists of four chapters in total so there wasn't much plot development. I'm keen to observe how the story will proceed - something tells me there's going to be a plot twist in the end. I'm an avid reader of fantasy novels - especially the fairy world - so it's no surprise that I really enjoyed this work.

Overall it's an intriguing read - again, I cannot offer that much of an opinion considering it only has four chapters. The style of writing is formal yet comprehensible. My main concern is the character development and the dialogue writing. Firstly, the character development - although the characters seem pleasant it was difficult to actually like them. This is because I wasn't offered enough information about them to actually like them - their characters felt forced. Secondly, the dialogue writing - although there aren't many grammar or spelling misconceptions in the description, there are quite a few in the dialogues. For example, when Talia is in the library and her brother barges in unannounced she asks him "So, were you needing something?" Unless the author did this on purpose to portray Talia's poor grammar - it's obviously not right. Another issue I came across in the dialogues is again - how forced everything sounds. 

So, in conclusion Nightmare is a fascinating read and I would totally recommend it to fans of the fantasy genre.  

Rating (out of five): 4

A note to the author: I really really really liked your work. Except for the points I mentioned above - it's a satisfying read. Technically speaking I would've given your book a three star rating - but the plot line was really good so I couldn't resist. One more thing however - I noticed you haven't updated your story in quite a while. Keep in mind that in order to attain a widespread and loyal audience you must pay attention to your publishing schedule. 

Link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/42915311-nightmare-wattys2016

Reviewer: CookieMonster_359