Short Story Review: Shaman
Good Evening Bookworms,
I’m dropping by at this late hour to share another review with you. After finishing Animorphs #12, I couldn’t decide what to read. Seriously! I went back and forth between the books on my shelf and couldn’t make up my mind (because I have nothing better to do on a Saturday night), so instead I pulled up my Amazon Kindle account and looked for another short story.
This time I settled on Shaman by Jodin Abacus.
If I remember correctly (and don’t quote me on this because my memory is shot!), I heard about this short story from the author on a Facebook group where you’re allowed to self-promote.
At the time the short story was free, so I decided to give it a shot and download it. Unlike the ones I’ve forgotten on my kindle for an era, this one is relatively new to my kindle collection, so I don’t feel quite as guilty.
Blurb
Chris is haunted by an entity he’s too afraid to face. When his friend, Myrna, brings on the idea that he let the entity use his body, he is tempted to try, but playing with evil comes with a price.
The Review
I gave this horror short story three out of five stars.
Due to this being a short story, I can’t tell you too much about the general synopsis, and the short blurb pretty much covers it.
There’s this guy Chris who lives in a haunted house. Night by night he is tortured by this spirit in his house, and when he’s had enough he decides to talk to a friend (maybe more of an acquaintance) named Myrna. Chaos ensues.
Alright, so overall I wanted to love this story, but ultimately I felt that this work could have been better.
The concept was great. We’ve got this average Joe who lives in a haunted house. His circumstances suck, and I totally understood where he was coming from. That and I love haunted houses. So kudos there.
However, I felt that the execution was a bit off for me. I’m not going to go into a show vs. tell rant, but I think that I didn’t get fully engaged with this story. We do get enough backstory to understand who Chris is and what Myrna is to him, but the main plot doesn’t seem to fully develop before the story ends.
We do get some really creepy moments, moments that were great (I love ghost scenes!), but in the overall scheme of things, things were left open ended, maybe a little too much so. Who knows, maybe there is supposed to be a sequel of sorts, but the ending felt a little too sudden. I would’ve loved to know what happened from there because I was just starting to get into it at that point.
Myrna I felt could have been a little bit more developed in the short time we got to know her. She has a family tie to the spiritual world, but when that develops (trying not to spoil anything) it’s rather quickly and the execution left me wanting more, or rather for her character to be a tad more in the know about things from the get go. I didn’t fully buy the explanation I was given.
I also do feel that I have to note that I feel another round of editing might benefit this work. Throughout the story there’s a lack of punctuation in spots and some typos, just enough to make a point of mentioning. While it’s not a huge deal, it does distract from the story.
Overall this short story was definitely entertaining and had some nice creepy scenes, I just think that the execution could be better. But who knows, this story could be the perfect scare for you!
You never know until you try it out! Happy reading everyone!
That’s A Wrap!
Well that’s it for this short story review. I hope you enjoyed it!
Have you read this story? Are there other short stories you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!
Have a great day!
***Can’t get enough of Jaunts & Haunts? Subscribe to my Chills and Thrills Newsletter on my home page so you don’t miss a thing! Newsletter emails go out every Sunday! Also, feel free to check me out at the social media links below!***