Did not make it past first round SPSFC4. 

Did not make it past first round of SPSFC4.

Did not proceed from initial round in SPSFC4

At halfway through the novel, I did not see evidence of Latine representation, which is the specific Indie Ink 2024-25 award I was reviewing this novel for (Latine Representation by a Latine Author). 

Given other novels I needed to judge for SPSFC4 finals and Indie Ink, I had to drop this one, but the world building is interesting! 

Just wasn’t compelling for me as a reader/felt like a chore to pick back up. 

Weird/confusing even at nearly a fifth of the way through the novel. Not worth moving beyond slush phase. 

Clunky, not invested in characters even at nearly a quarter of the way through the novel. Better than some of the others up to that point, but not good enough to make it beyond slush/to QF. 

Didn't find characters compelling, in particular - one femme character was overly obsessed with her looks (e.g. leaving behind a "beautiful corpse") and it detracted from the story for me during slush phase. Not compelling enough to propel into the QF. 

Really weird physical descriptions of characters were a big turn off during slush phase reading this one. E.g. comparing someone's arms to having a gorilla for a mother, calling their lips/chin/other physical attributes "oversized" which often elicits thoughts of subtle (or not so subtle) racism towards Black folks, even if that was not the author's intent. Didn't flow particularly well. 

Unfortunately the file transferred incredibly strangely to Kindle, and the rest of the team didn't particularly recommend. Nixed during slush phase for SPSFC4.