Quarter Finalist

Assessment:

Plot/Idea: Mates: Minerva is well-plotted, entertaining, and engaging. The imaginative storyline focuses on the importance and stakes of friendship, with plenty of potential betrayals, self-realizations, and personal revelations along the way.

Prose: Baker's prose is charming and compulsively readable, especially the cheeky dialogue and witty banter between characters.

Originality: Mates: Minerva features some truly creative worldbuilding, like the novel's elaborate backstory and the concept of "gloffee". Baker's eclectic cast of characters is also notable for their unconventionality, despite containing common types like werewolves and vampires.

Character Development/Execution: Baker skillfully manages a wide cast of characters, all with their own individual chapters and elaborate problems, like Minerva, who is struggling to become a guardian due to her magical difficulties, and Izaak, whose unconventional career choice is at war with his vampire nature. Impressively, every single one of these characters also links to a wider story arc, about helping Roxana escape an awful marriage.

Blurb: A delightful, character-driven fantasy novel about a group of supernatural friends helping to prevent an unwanted wedding, Bridget E. Baker's Mates: Minerva will no doubt bewitch readers with its entrancing plot and relatable cast.

Date Submitted: May 31, 2022