Sep 05, 2021
Yay, review time! I've been waiting to review this for a while, this being the only novel I've kept up with the uploads and not binged once it was done. I truly like this novel, it being one of my favorites in the contest. it was fun reading all the uploads while working on my story, and I commend you for finishing. now on to the review.
Starting with the plot for this review. The plot is overall strong, with a good, clear path on how they go on in their lives, and move from place to place. You also do a great job setting up a clear goal for the players and have a good direction on the story itself. I do feel like the plot weakens a little towards the end with the heavy focus on the basketball side compared to the characters, this being a heavily character-focused story and all. the story does pick up some after Lokesh gets injured, and I do feel like focusing on him was a good idea as well. the story would somewhat benefit with a little more time given to the other characters near the end, however. even with the flaws, however, the plot itself is still great, and I love the baseball portions, they just become a bit too much of the focus, taking away from the characters at times.
Speaking of the characters, they're up next. The characters are clearly the strength of this novel, and they do a great job tying the novel together. I loved the development they got over the course of the story, all five of them. You could truly feel what everyone was going through, and you did a great job making it easy to put yourself in their shoes. I found myself rooting for Kobayashi, Keon, and the others. You also do a great job of exploring their environments, and how their locations affect them. I feel Keon and Obai benefit the most from this, with their respective cultures changing who they are, for good and mainly bad. My main issue is that the development starts to fall away near the second half of the story once they reach the pros for everyone but Lokesh. I wanted to keep hearing about their personal lives, and their development gets somewhat stunted by this, though you can see them still developing in the background. I also liked all the rivels and opposing players. Deandre felt like a real NBA center, and I liked how easy it was to hate him, even if he was somewhat one-dimensional. overall though, I loved the characters, and feel like they were developed well and were likable.
When it comes to the world, it does exactly what it's supposed to do. Like I said before, you use the culture and location of several of the players to help explain what they act as they do. You also explain the current state of the NBA well and make it clear how the teams are positioned. Not much else to say here.
Overall, I really like this novel, it being one of my favorites in the contest, though tbh part of that is because I love basketball stories lol. I don't give out ratings, but if I did, this story would have a really high one. You did a great job of making what I like to call a complete story. Great job, and good luck.😀
