#the murder of santasia

[virtualitythegamer]

The Murder of Santasia by georgia sanders: A Look Into The Horrors of Hollywood (a story review)

I just recently finished TMOS yesterday when I wrote this and dear lord the story has me on a chokehold. Like, this was definitely worth the read! But first off, let me write up an honest, no-filter review about it because I need to get it out of my system lmao so let's get to it! (This is my first time writing a serious review so bear with me haha)

THE PLOT

In this story, we play as Caroline Reid who gets scouted by the infamous Hugo Lloyd (a well known celebrity in Hollywood who owns the Lloyd Studios) primarily to act as a replacement for the world famous Hollywood actress Santasia Evergreen who was mysteriously murdered in her own home, specifically so that Lloyd Studios can finish wrapping up a movie that Santasia was supposed to star in. The catch here is that Caroline was specifically picked because she "looks like" Santasia; she's a "spitting image" of her. And so she gets hired into the studio, gets proper acting training, and gets transformed into a first year up-and-coming actress under the name of Celine Reyes.

The bad thing however is that the longer Caroline/Celine sticks around in Hollywood, the more she finds out the film industry isn't all that glamorous and the more she learns that there's more to Santasia's death than it seems...

THE LOVE INTERESTS

The story introduces two love interests to choose which will influence the story branch you'll play through and the ending you'll get.

First is Nicholas Lloyd. He's one of the beloved famous actors in Hollywood and he's the son of Hugo Lloyd. Not only that, he was Santasia's boyfriend back then and he was very close to her back then. Considering what happened with Santasia, Nick starts off as the typical grumpy distant guy who sometimes comes off as rude and cold especially to MC (although it's kinda understandable considering she looks like her dead girlfriend) but is later revealed to be more of a sweet guy who cares about his loved ones the more you learn about him in the story. I loved their friendship in the story so much and how they help each other with the conflict in the story regarding the mystery of Santasia's death. Plus, grumpy characters tend to be amazing when they're well written!

And the second LI is Donovan Crawford, a popular singer who is known as "America's male sweetheart". In a way, he is kinda like Justin Bieber but in the 1900s: very beloved by the female population. If Nick is the black cat, then Donovan is considered as the golden retriever. A sweet, caring gentleman who is a literal ray of sunshine. I really love how he's always there to support the MC every single time and how he radiates so much green flag energy that you can always trust that this guy can't do anything bad. He's basically the dream guy, if you ask me. (I love both Donovan and Nick, don't come at me please)

WORTH THE READ?

I can positively say that yes it is worth the read!

The story was beautifully written. The mystery of Santasia's death was handled so well and the love interests are so amazing that it was hard to choose. Even certain side characters like Lauren for example get good development as well. Not to mention how god-tier the advanced directing which made scenes like the dance scene during the date with Donovan feel so cinematic. That specific scene was even animated! It was clear that the story was handled with so much care, and kudos to the author for all the hard work considering how coding is very hard in writing Episode stories.

TO SUMMARIZE

PROS:

Best advanced directing. It makes most of the scenes feel so cinematic.

Well-written love interests

Well-written main character

An entertaining murder mystery thriller that will get you hooked til the end.

CONS:

Limited customization on MC and LIs. This is due to the story using advanced overlays which are necessary to properly experience the advanced cinematic-like directing. This is also because the story heavily emphasizes how MC is supposed to be a spitting image of Santasia so drastic changes can't be made.

Gem choices. Although they're not exactly much of a con because they don't affect anything at all. They're there because this story was written as a contest entry, and contest entries were required to include gem choices in order to qualify. Treat them as a way to support the author, by the way!

Overall, I recommend this story to people who:

Love the mystery, suspense, and thriller genres

Is interested in stories that take place in Hollywood

Love a strong female lead

And, love murder mysteries

TLDR: this story is an amazing read, writing and directing wise!