Post by sturgeon on Jun 12, 2020 9:52:25 GMT
Unsurprisingly, there seems to be a lot of pandemic-inspired capital floating around at the moment, so it would take something special to stand out. Does A Sleeping Sickness make the cut?
This piece is about a mysterious epidemic, less Covid-19 and more Covid-19th Century. The olde-timey style feels for the most part authentic and well researched without being too stilted. The slow burn of building tension was very effective - I felt the protag's helplessness, his desperation. And the creepy necro/zombie overtones got my arm hairs standing on end. I enjoyed the journey, and everything was riding on the ending.
The ending.
The ending?
The ending came abruptly, and left me with a bunch of questions. Was his wife really alive, or was it an opium delusion? Why were the townspeople breaking down the door - because he'd robbed a grave, or because it really was a zombie apocalypse? Why would they want to take Emma when they'd shown no malice towards either of them till now? Hadn't other people been coming back from the dead by this point, and if so why hadn't we seen the townspeople react to those?
I'm not against an ending that leaves a lot to the reader's imagination, but the questions I was left with felt frustrating rather than meaningful. The rest of the story made sense and followed a compelling narrative arc, but the ending - rather than being tied up in a knot, was sadly frayed.
As an investment, this is like a fidget spinner. Ever so promising, then breaks just as you're having the most fun. It's a no from me.
But I'm just a lowly fish. Let's see what the Bull makes of it.
This piece is about a mysterious epidemic, less Covid-19 and more Covid-19th Century. The olde-timey style feels for the most part authentic and well researched without being too stilted. The slow burn of building tension was very effective - I felt the protag's helplessness, his desperation. And the creepy necro/zombie overtones got my arm hairs standing on end. I enjoyed the journey, and everything was riding on the ending.
The ending.
The ending?
The ending came abruptly, and left me with a bunch of questions. Was his wife really alive, or was it an opium delusion? Why were the townspeople breaking down the door - because he'd robbed a grave, or because it really was a zombie apocalypse? Why would they want to take Emma when they'd shown no malice towards either of them till now? Hadn't other people been coming back from the dead by this point, and if so why hadn't we seen the townspeople react to those?
I'm not against an ending that leaves a lot to the reader's imagination, but the questions I was left with felt frustrating rather than meaningful. The rest of the story made sense and followed a compelling narrative arc, but the ending - rather than being tied up in a knot, was sadly frayed.
As an investment, this is like a fidget spinner. Ever so promising, then breaks just as you're having the most fun. It's a no from me.
But I'm just a lowly fish. Let's see what the Bull makes of it.
