What is your opinion?
Great plot and characters
"I stumbled upon this story by chance; it isn't my usual read, and perhaps that is why I like it even more. The plot is quite decent with a good amount of tension, action, and some memorable characters. As they go through hard times you can't help but feel for them, wonder what happens next, and it keeps you interested throughout. Maybe there are some bits and pieces that could be changed or delayed to improve the story, I'm not much of an expert there - I really enjoyed reading the story as is. Simply put, I didn't expect to be pulled in, but I found the story surprisingly good. Great job!"
Wow
"very nise"
Cool World-Building, Compelling Conflict with Great Characters
"Reading the works of Jacinta Horgan is like watching a budding professional find her footing and spread her wing. You forget that she's a young college student in her late teens as the maturity of her writing style, the quality of her characters and the depth of her plot reveal a skillset and upward potential well beyond her years. Rotten to the Core is an admirable endeavor in world-building and depiction of a bitter, bloody conflict between warring factions of good against oppression. The setting reflects familiar aspects of the real world, while delving just deep enough into the idea of a parallel place that looks and feels like our reality, but has its own set of parameters, values and unique details. As she builds her series, more backstory around the origin and underlying structure of the malevolent CORE, as well as the social construct around it would flesh the story out even more. As much as the interesting world-building elements and the thrilling, action-packed plot serves as drivers of this narrative the characters serve as the foundation and the greatest appeal to the readers. Adrian is a hero of heroes, with a mysterious past, a painful legacy with the death of his father and the painful injuries to his mother. His cast of supporting characters, each unique and distinct in their constitution form an admirable alliance in standing up to the better-funded, more powerful and ruthless Randall, who leads the evil CORE. Also admirable is her boldness in taking on relevant issues of social acceptance and sexual preference and the emotional and social impacts and pressures associated with these topics. The relationships, characterizations and interactions between these characters and associated with these deeper themes are some of her strongest outputs to date. The concept, the execution and the characters are all solid in this work. There's always room to amp the tension, fine tune the characterizations and expand on the world-building, but the mark of a successful story is whether or not it drives the reader to want more. And I - for one - am looking forward to diving into the sequel; BAD TO THE BONE as soon as she finishes it. By the way, I love the title BAD TO THE BONE as a great derivative of ROTTEN TO THE CORE. Very well done. Perfect example of effective creativity.."
Coming along very nicely!
"I love a story about guerrillas and insurgents and this one delivered. Wasn't afraid to capture the complicated ambivalence of any such movement. The action and the chemistry between characters is fantastic. I really got invested in this sense of community. Maybe two or three less teary-eyed exchanges would bump up the emotional impact of the remaining ones. Only use tears when it really really counts in my humble opinion. My only other suggestion would be a little more world building. Where are we exactly, what is the origin of the Core, how did it come to power and what did it replace? I think there is a lot of potential to have a really vivid universe here. Maybe some of those answers will be revealed in the sequel, which I very much look forward to reading!"
Solid start
"The author does a good job of creating an alternate universe quickly and effectively in the first chapter. The reader easily gets sucked into the story and identifies characters. It assumes the reader knows what is happening in the right places and doesn't reveal too much information to early in the chapter. The writing style could benefit from more active language by replacing passive verbs with active verbs to keep up the momentum of the story. A little more sensory detail (sight, sound, etc.) might also help the reader experience the universe and the story more fully."
The Mysterious Core...
"This story is shaping up nicely to be a solid dystopian story. It has good world building and concepts, such as the Core and Guardians. The one thing I might work on is clarifying why the main character attacked one of the guardians. I get that it was impulsive, but maybe include some background as to what makes him so angry right in that moment, so it makes more sense. Obviously the main character is a clever guy, so make it clear that his impulsiveness does not equate to stupidity. Nice job crafting the main character, though; he is the kind of fellow you'd want to get behind! Definitely a quality you want in a protagonist!"
