Fear of Flying by Kate Allen: A Book Review
Genre: Coming-of-age; Contemporary Lit
[Disclaimer: I received an advanced review copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.]
Kate Allen crafts a story of fear and longing in her first book Fear of Flying. A quick read, I enjoyed the storyline with only few complaints; two actually. My first complaint would be that she tells more often then shows. I wasn’t necessarily able to name it right away from the beginning the language did not keep me as engaged as it could have. Instead, Allen constantly tells us what is going on such as “she ran a hand over her red, swollen eyes” or “picks at the skin of her fingernails” rather than “painful as her own heart, showcased in red by the blood rising to the surface” or “the light scratching noose of nail against nail as she dug deeper into her skin only to pull it away”. Allen’s lack of descriptive language, however, is outdone by her characters which leads me to my second complaint: Allen rushes through the story. Rather than allow the slow progression of time, there are constant time jumps that tend to become annoying rather than add volume or depth to the story. Rather than simply being a novella of only 300 pages, Allen had the opportunity to write a longer masterpiece that would allow for better character development and deeper story.
Overall I was sadly disappointed in Fear of Flying because of the lack of further investment done. While having the potential to be a must read, the product I read sorely lacked in much needed development.
Kate Allen has the potential to write a great book, however, she will need to improve her style in order to create a must read.
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Writing: 6/10
Editor: 5/10
Total: 31/40
Title: Fear of Flying
Author: Kate Allen
Edition: Free PDF Copy
Published: March 30, 2021
Publisher: Ambiguous Ink Press
ISBN: 978-1736419700
If you want to get it: Amazon; Barnes&Noble
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