Review: Well Writen Novella With A Breathtaking Ending
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 4, 2012
I don't know what I was expecting with this story, but it wasn't what I found.  It's written carefully with a traditional story arc that leads you to expect a traditional ending.  The actual end to this story was, like another reviewer has said, "a mule kick" to the chest. I was so shocked at the unexpectedness of it that I had to read it over and over to believe what had happened.  At first I didn't even understand what had happened.  When it became clear to me, I was literally shaken by it.This author is a master of this type of story.  It's short, unfortunately.  But the story he crafted probably wouldn't have worked well as a full length novel, anyway.  The "short story" format is, in my opinion, one of the hardest to write within.  You only have a short time to explore your characters, lay out the theme, set up the action, and conclude it.  It's very hard to do this well in a small amount of space.  It's designed for a quick and brutal punch to the heart.  This author has managed it well.  It's actually a modern classic, written in an ancient style.