Review: Magnificent and beautifully imagined!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2012
"Don't look over your shoulder,don't look in the skythe ocean is a stranger,the sun is a lie."Blink by Lloyd Poast is one incredibly imaginative and magical short story! It's a fairly quick read, but once you step into the world Mr. Poast created, you will not want to leave. It's furiously good. Enchanting, eye-popping and alluring, it's a tale like no other out there, and the only story I could possibly compare it to would be Alice In Wonderland, as it possesses the same dream-like, mesmerizing and mind-twisting quality, only, instead of lengthy passages, you get a condensed, easy-to-swallow-in-one bite delicious treat! An absolute must-check-out!"You're at both the end and the beginning of the world, Lance,"she said. "The ocean is a blank canvas for everything that is to come, and everyone who steps into the forest plays a hand in its creation. With every new thought, the tide moves out further, and the forest grows larger."At merely 12 pages long, Blink is definitely not a very time-consuming read, but most certainly one that you will want to dive into. It has everything a good short should have: compelling premise, excellent and satisfying plot line (complete with great conclusion), and a very memorable sneak-peak into the world that could potentially become a background for a phenomenal full-blown novel. Our hero, Lance Beckett, a seventeen-year-old high school student from Canada, steps into the majestic woods overlooking the small town of Angel Falls. The forest is no ordinary one, it has a very bad reputation in town and everyone stays away from it ("The regulars in the diner said that it was infested by madness and anyone that wandered inside was lost forever."). Lance knows very well he should stay away from it, yet - overwhelmed by curiosity - he decides to take a chance and explore a bit. From the moment he steps inside, weird things are starting to appear before him, and it's almost as if he got a sun stroke and his mind wandered off into some incredibly cool and wicked la-la land. He finds himself in the kingdom born from fantasies, dreams and nightmares of people who - just like himself - recklessly entered it. The air crackles with sparkly magic, the clouds in the sky look just like the reflection you'd see on the surface of an emerald lake, bubbles explode in cascades of silvery sand... Magical creatures everywhere (including dragons and gigantic spider-like women), imaginary girls, and a gypsy goddess - this world is mind-blowing and oh-so-poetic! Lance has to find a way out of this place, before he himself becomes a permanent addition to this fantasy realm.Lesson to be learned: don't ever take shortcuts through magical woods. Not unless you're prepared to follow Alice's footstep and fall into the rabbit whole."Here's a kiss wrapped in a falling star"In short: I loved it. There's no way to describe just how insanely good this short story is. It's not only the magnificent world creation and the originality of it, but also Llyod's excellent writing style that make this novellette stand out. It's, hands down, one of the best shorts I've ever read and if you can spare half and hour - please, do read it! It is so worth the time. I was literally blown-away by it.