Rebel Town Reviews [OPEN]

Despair Review

Despair

By 

ReynaSeaFlame

Reviewed 

By 

AmyMarieZ

Overview: Despair is a collection of short stories featuring elements of fantasy, horror and suspense. While some stories focus on mystical phenomena, others tend more towards the darker side, delving into heavier themes.

Structure: Each individual story in the collection is only one part, so it is easy to pick and choose a story to read without having to sift. The "Author's Note", however, is located right before the final story rather than at the beginning where it might make more logical sense.

Grammar: Grammatically, the stories in Despair are nearly flawless. On occasion, there are minor mistakes with tense or typos, but they are few and far between with only a handful occurring throughout the entire collection.

The only exception is the story "A Shady Arrest". While it is written in present tense, there are a number of locations where the story switches to past tense for a sentence or two.

Pace: The pacing in the stories is often too fast, in particular in the first two stories, "The Path to Death" and "Death is Only the Beginning". Throughout the collection, but in those stories in particular, events become hard to visualize and really feel attached to because they do not seem to read at real time. A bit more description of action and backstory could create a more engaging and memorable read.

Pacing improves in later stories. "Love Lost, Love Gained" and "Gained Desires" are comparatively well paced and easy to visualize. They give the reader adequate time to warm up to the story and develop attachments to the characters and plots.

Character Development: Character development seems to lack in some stories. "Death is Only the Beginning" has potential for great characterization, however the rushed pacing makes it feel as though important information is brushed over. This story seems to want to be just a bit longer and really has so much potential! The plot is perhaps the most compelling in the collection.

Characterization seems to be specifically lacking in the stories "The Path to Death" and "The Test of the Angels". Both of these stories involve a character finding herself in a situation without much explanation of how she got there. She is then thrown into a scene of intense chase and action. While the action is engaging, the constant panic makes it difficult to really become attached to the character. Showing more personality traits that make the character unique and enduring could help set them apart as individuals.