Review of "Hour of Darkness," a short story by Rocky Rochford



Summary:
With the Shanzi King's return to Mares looming on the horizon, ready to unleash an eternity of chaos, three of his most trusted and dangerous generals take to the World of Oceania to begin preparations for the return of Darkari, the Dark King of Death. Shaymon, bringer of diseases. Stavros, the always hungry wolf. Mongra, the maker of war. Each one desires nothing more than the total eradication of all humanity. But to do that, each must find a place in the world they seek to destroy.

Review:
While I could appreciate the concept behind this first installment along with the author’s budding writing style, this particular tale was unfortunately lacking in story arc. Short story authors have the freedom to explore a larger variety of story telling devices than novelists. If planned out, entire worlds can be explored snippets at a time and through the eyes of a multitude of characters.

However, in order for this to be pulled off well, there still needs to be a larger scope for the reader to grab hold of and this was where Hour of Darkness falls short. It is structured in a few, short chapters that all read disconnected from one another. With no obvious sense of direction by the end and no character to sympathize with, it is difficult to find a reason to continue to the second installment.

The author’s concepts and general writing style were promising enough to offer some redeeming qualities to the reading experience. I would be interested in revisiting his work in a few years time.

2/5 stars
Reviewed by Alain Gomez

By this story on Amazon.

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