Free Book Reviews - 2023

7 • These Wounds Bleed Black

Book: These Wounds Bleed Black

Author: E. C.Millington

Username: @ElijahCole11

Genre: Fanstasy/Action/Thriller

Chapters read: 10

Title: This is one of the most captivating titles I have ever come across. The words flow perfectly and strike a vivid image. It ends with hard consonants and really registers in the mind.

I believe you spent a lot of time to find the right title. Maybe you summed up the story as "Black Wounds", before discovering the punch line.

Cover: I've seen two so far, and both are amazing. The grayscale translates well into the overall dark, shadowy feel of the story. I've seen the cover concepts in the book itself, and I think this is a good practice (creating complete multiple cover choices) for writers to exercise more often.

Most times, a writer may have many different ideas for a cover and try to put it all into one. Instead, create a few then choose the key elements which jump out, then combine them into one piece.

For the current cover, I'd like to know what on earth all that tiny text is at the bottom? The blurb? It makes the cover look like that of a movie. Maybe that's what you were going for.

Blurb: Starts with a bang. Anything "global" piques my interest. Did the writer pull it off? I always ask. I want to find out.

Great choice of words, and nice structure. The conflict is stated clearly; we know where the main trouble lies.

I spot a few redundancies. Words like seem, just, only, and any adverb weakens your writing. For an example, the story begins with a quote:

Weaker: "At the end of the day, the people you love and the people you protect, they're only out for themselves..."

Stronger: "In the end, the people you love and protect are out for themselves alone.'

First Impression: I never thought I'd read a superhero book. The few I've read in my lifetime were extremely cliché, typical, and boring. 

However, as I dive into the first few sentences, I am in for a pleasant surprise...

•••

Inciting Incident: So many things happen in the beginning, I have to do a double take. When does the action really begin? I find it in the chapter where Chase discovers the time machine. It's stated clearly, and affirms the start of a new chapter. Pun intended.

Main Character: Chase is something else. You can tell right away his personality has been developed extensively. Just the idea of a flawed superhero is one to bring out the confetti for, but a flawed superhero with such a deep personality? Where are the fireworks?

But seriously. I breathed his oxygen, felt his crippling fear, and thought his thoughts. Each goal, motivation, fear, is on open display for the readers to understand and connect to.

This is astounding character development. And I'd like to know how on earth you did it.

Other Characters: Each character there is, no matter how minor the role, has a story. You put a load of work into putting flesh on characters other writers would leave in a cardboard cutout state.