Review: World-building is too awesome for a short story.  Needs to be a novel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 4, 2013
I actually liked this short story a lot... a whole lot.  It had everything... awesome fantasy world-building, mystery, tension, danger, clever social commentary, and romance (hot romance).The world-building was super top-notch.  This would have been the fantasy novel I've been waiting for... except it's not a novel.  It's a short story.Now I've got nothing against short stories.  A good short story is a work of art.  It develops an idea and delivers a message.  Short stories make a point.But I felt like this concept - the heartstones - carried too much weight and the world building was too strong for a short.  I wanted more from this, not necessarily a longer plot line, but more details.  A lot more details.  And because it's me, a few more love scenes (but that's not vital - it's just what I like.  This story is about tolerance and doesn't stand or fall on its love scenes).But the world building was definitely the best part, and I really felt like it needed to be expanded.  If there had been more details... this would have been such an awesome novel.This is just a quibble, but the cover art doesn't do the story justice.  There's no relativity to the plot or characters.  In fact, I think the cover art kind of trivializes the really cool concept of the heartstones.  Just food for thought.