Short Story Review: The Scout: Dark Crossings
Hello once again!
Man, this is a productive reading day!
Usually, once it’s time to read another short story I blaze through one with no regard for anything else, but this time I made sure I worked on my edits and other things before doing so. Yay for responsibility, haha.
This time around I read the short story The Scout: Dark Crossings by D.L. Cross.
Fun fact, this story was recommended to me by my good friend Teri Polen. I can’t ever get enough scifi, so I figured why the heck not?
Blurb
J’s mission is clear — find an alien outpost, observe, report back. Simple enough. It’s what he’s trained to do. But he’s always worked with his team, never as a party of one. Now he’s been sent out alone to blindly navigate a dense, dark forest until he finds his target. The dynamics are foreign to him, the stakes never higher. Resources are scarce. Comms are down.
And he’s found the enemy.
J is shocked when everyone’s true allegiances are revealed. And the consequences of betrayal will be deadly.
The Review
I gave this short story four scifi stars!
This is my first reading of something by this author, and I really had a great time!
You can read the blurb, so I’m not going to waste too much time rehashing things. There’s this guy J. He’s on a mission to observe an alien outpost and communicate back with his people. Simple right?
Try that all alone. In the wilderness. With no easy way to infiltrate the alien base. Yeah, not easy. Through observation, J discovers just what these aliens are and where they stand.
I liked J’s character. He was conscientious, intelligent, and had a good head on his shoulders. These are the types of characters I can get behind.
The plot was intriguing. I had no idea what was going to happen next, so that made the read really easy.
Also, the writing style was super easy to blaze through, so I really appreciate that as well.
If I had to pick at anything, there were a few tiny moments where the lack of information made me the tiniest bit confused, but it was easy to understand once I got through to the end.
Also, I do understand why certain descriptions were held back (no spoilers, I promise!), but that may frustrate other readers on the reading journey.
All in all, this was a great little story and I look forward to seeing more from this author.
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!
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Hey, I have this story on my TBR! Thanks for the review. Makes me want to go read it.
Yes, go for it! This was a very impulsive read for me. I had a few to choose from and just thought “What was that one Teri told me about? Yeah, I’m gonna read that one today.”
I love doing things on a whim sometimes.
Sounds good. Congrats on your productive day.
Thank you! I think things will definitely slow down today. Sooooo much to do.
It’s harder when you have to work. 🙁
Truth, work just won’t get off of me today. Frickin’ relentless. OVER IT
Hello valor 87. Thank you very much for your post. Short stories? I’d hardly know where to start. On my bookcase I have collections by William Trevor, Dylan Thomas, D H Lawrence, Guy de Maupassant, Daphne de Maurier and more . . . One of my absolute favourites is “The Woman Who Rode Away” by Lawrence – actually I think I’ll write a review of it tomorrow. Another favourite is “Peaches” by Dylan Thomas.
Of course, always happy to share the bookish love. Oh wow, I’ve got some homework for me! Definitely going to look into these authors and see what I find.
I tend to read outside the box more with short stories and always welcome recommendations.