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Blurb:
Mary Arden's first impression of the Oregon town of Sunshine is that it doesn't fit. The town is constantly rainy with heavy fog. But she's soon busy helping her mother set up her dream boutique after her nasty divorce.
But she soon notices things. The local kids stick together. There are a lot of abandoned buildings. There are hundreds of lost children. There are things in the woods, the water, the sky.
Not all stories have a happy ending.
Bad End
by StarRoseColors
A review by Tiya Malik
A dark fantasy horror book about a girl named Mary Arden, Bad End is a story set in the Oregon Town of Sunshine. Paradoxical to its name, the town lacks any amount of sunlight and is mostly covered in mist, rain, and fog. The main character and her mother shift to this town mainly because of inexpensive houses and for her mother to set up her dream boutique there. However, they are completely unaware of the mysteries surrounding the townsfolk and of the danger that lurks close by until things from the nightmares start to take place.
The storyline of the book, intriguing and promising in the beginning is quite a bit rushed. Initially, I found that the author has a knack for writing thrilling and bone-chilling scenes because the words are so effortlessly strung in the chapters setting off the story, presenting a fairly vivid representation of the town, its people, teenagers, and adults. Nevertheless, Bad End doesn't meet the built up expectations, for three chapters in, things start to go downhill not only in the story but with the plot, character arcs; practically everything. Most of the times, it felt like I was reading behind the scenes of The Stranger Things.
It seems as though the author focuses less on coherence and cohesion and it appears as if nothing is happening, but everything is, at the same time. The abrupt transitions, from one point of view to the other, are really confusing and just a little more work on it can help tremendously. Even the plot goes additionally off the rocker when the adults in the town turn a blind eye to the occurrences, so maybe the author can fix that too by adding a motive behind their ignorance. I could feel that the writer is much of a pantser kind, like myself, and has been making up the story as it progresses, but it takes a turn towards the fatuous lane, making one lose interest thus, having a little framework before going into the writing can be beneficial here.
Well, on a positive note, StarRoseColors' way of penning down the details is great. They have created a beautiful description of the town and surroundings every time it comes to world building.
Grammatically, I noticed almost no error, so that's another point for the writer. The manner in which the sentences are written is pretty good and would have been excellent had there been justice done to the plot.
Talking of the characters, Mary Arden is your strong-willed person with lots of mettle and wisdom put together. For instance, I loved when she avoids taking decisions that people in horror movies do and advises her mother to do the same. Those sections were the funniest, and the ones that readers will definitely enjoy.
Speaking of the mother, she is a nicely written character up until the point where she begins spewing gibberish excuses for her misplaced thoughts and dim-witted actions. Other characters seem forcefully introduced only for the sake of taking the plot towards an unpredictable twist, which to me had been quite foreseeable, and there are times when you will feel that the characters drop out of thin air and so, their presence was asinine to me.
Many-a-times, the readers might find themselves asking questions such as, "wait, what's happening?" or "where did he/she come from?" or even "who's talking now?"
Therefore, I am rating Bad End 2.5 stars out of 5, and I hope the author takes the criticism constructively because don't get me wrong, the writing has too much potential but has been wasted on an unhinged plot. The author, albeit failed to make proper use of it, can do wonders with such powerful descriptive type of writing only if they outline the plot and twists beforehand for an improved rendition.
