Review: great writing & environment; wished for more
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 11, 2012
"On the Matter of the Red Hand" was very well written fantasy novella.  In it, we follow Thom, a "judicar" (a lawman) who is asked by what I assume is the equivalent of a mob boss to look for his missing sister, Rebeka.  The story takes place in a fantasy city named Teredon.  Judicars are aided in their investigations by "serum," which enables them to have a rather hazy foresight into their cases.  But the serum lasts only a short time.What Thom finds is pretty horrifying (and cool!) and I wanted to find out more about it.  But the story only covers his investigation of Rebeka.The "author," Irrational Worlds, identifies itself on their Amazon.com page as, "...a small collective of 'writers' attempting to drive the world mad with their odd collection of in-world tales. Between them, you will find fantasy, steampunk, horror, and even a dash of erotica. Each novella slowly moves forward a morass of a twisted story, echoing each other."  So given that their stories are interlinked, it might be somewhat confusing or frustrating for readers to jump right in and pick up on the world if they're not sure in what order to read the stories.  Nevertheless, the environments and storytelling are very well done.  I would have liked to know a bit more about the world and the horrible place Thom stumbles upon.I don't generally read stories like this--although I'm a big fan of "The Lord of the Rings" and Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, however I was asked to review this novella by the author--someone whom I don't know and never met--in exchange for a free copy of the story.