Review: Stories rated individually
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 2, 2014
Empty Vessel - 5 stars - very good, gripping story on the high seas. The captain is a very sympathetic character but he is unfortunately cursed from the start.The Smell of Death - 1 star - I have no idea what was going on. I got easily confused with the characters, and had to go back and read over the last passage to see who was who. Then, it ended abruptly without any resolution! Of course, I have no idea if anything WAS going on, so maybe no resolution was needed?Safe - 5 stars - Told from the point of view of a grave robber his cockney narration really drew me in, and kept my attention. It seems to be a simple story of his nightly life, but there is something waiting to even frighten a young grave robber. This horrific twist got me in the throat. A very great read.Cupcake Goddess: Soulfully Sweet - 3 Stars - This is cute, but there isn't enough story to give one any solid idea as to who the characters are.May I Go Play? - 4 stars for the beginning, 1 star for the ending - a typical story of an evil haunted house, and the tragedy of the poor family that inherits it. The story drew you in, introduced the main characters, and I grew to like them. The ending was like a written sledgehammer it happened so abruptly, and quickly. I wasn't scared, or even appalled. I was sort of puzzled about what happened, and whether or not it did, and so I went back to re-read the whirlwind event. Then I was sort of, "oh! Well, that's it then, isn't it?"The ending was not written with the finesse of the majority of the story, and I felt denied because of that. Maybe if this had been a novel instead of a short story the author would have had room to produce a true, thrilling scare. As it was, I shrugged (literally), and continued.Blehdward, The Vampire Who Couldn't Sparkle - 0 Stars - The author would have held my interest better if she had just written, "I hate Twilight."Francesca - 2 stars - The story is atmospheric but it just felt like a vehicle for vengeance and gore. I really did not care too much for the story.Soul Eater - 5 stars - The best is definitely the last. Very well written, and the characters are engaging. I would like to read more.As a collection I am giving this 3 stars for two reasons: Some of the stories were just... ugh! Bad. The other reason is that between each story is the link to a longer novel by the author. In the Kindle version it is a link directly to Amazon. I don't mind marketing, but this collection was marketed as short stories NOT some short stories AND links to books without even an excerpt.