Alisiyad is/was one of my favorite webnovels from the start, to the point of me borrowing the site design and layout for my own novel.

The story is about two ordinary people thrust into an extraordinary circumstance. It starts out simple enough with two people who are outwardly contemptuous with one another while (at least one of them) secretly longs to simply be around the other.

The prose is beautifully written. I generally have a bad habit of rewriting other author’s sentences in my head to make it flow better in my mind, but I rarely had to do that with Alisiyad as Sarah was extremely quick to fix the errors that were pointed out to her.

I will admit that there are parts that seemed as if they should have been drawn out longer, but its more of an afterthought because I can tell you that while reading Alisiyad, I was constantly chomping at the bit for more, frequently finding myself disappointed at the lack of a "Next" link.

The supporting cast can seem a bit blurry at times, though this may have to do with the fact that Russ and Liseli are more concerned with getting themselves out of their predicament.

The author herself openly engages her readers in conversation, responding to most if not all of the comments that are left.

I don’t really know what else to say about this story except that I believe it to be a Web-Novel landmark.

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I was hooked on this story immediately.  The characters are instantly relatable and the situations they’re in I know can hit home to so many people, especially the burgeoning relationship between the two main characters.  This isn’t a heavy fantasy piece so if you’re looking for flaming swords and sorcerers, you’re barking up the wrong tree.  I would say this [more . . .]

When you strip away the details, every story is about one thing.  Some stories are about war, or mystery, or friendship.  A lot of stories are about love.

"Alisiyad" is one of those.  But it does it so well that it reinvents the love story.  Liseli and Russ start out as [more . . .]

Alisiyad is a story, first and foremost, about people.  Our protagonists have stumbled into another world and they are trying to get home.  It’s not easy creating a world different from our own, but Sarah does it well, successfully including bits of history and myth without overshadowing the plot. 

As Liseli [more . . .]

Summary: Two young adults, Russ and Liseli, are transported to a magical world of Alisiya. After drinking water from a mysterious river, they are thought to be a part of a prophesy. Russ and Liseli get tangled in a web of lies and deceit, as well as keeping secrets from each other that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Likes: What I liked most about this story were the characters. They aren’t remarkable nor are they perfect. They are flawed and driven by emotions. They are real and relatable. They are ordinary people dropped into an extraordinary situation. The author lets the characters be themselves, flaws and all and its refreshing to see that they aren’t one dimensional. The plot was well-written with twists at every turn. The author has a good grasp of language and uses it to the stories advantages, knowing when to tell and when to show. She doesn’t waste space on unnecessary details. It feels as if each word was purposely put on the page, without regards to filling up the chapters. The chapters were of reasonable length and I found them to be just the right size, not pandering for a specific word length. When the author had finished telling everything else she wanted the reader to know, she moved on to the next chapter. The romance between Russ and Liseli is tragic, but beautiful. They aren’t the perfect people and they know that. Only when they realize to accept themselves, they accept each other. Yet despite this, they still keep secrets from each other, like real people tend to do to the ones they love.

Dislikes: The story is that the chapters are broken in parts. I felt like I was stuck on one chapter for a long time. This is just a personal preference and it didn’t detract from the actual story itself.

Overall: I found this story enjoyable. It was a little hard for me to get into at the beginning, but once the action comes through, it’s non stop and well written. Even if the plot were completely boring, the author is wonderful with characterization.

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