The Last Resurrectionist: Black as Night by Jack Hartford: A Book Review
Genre: YA, Horror (?)
[Disclaimer: I received a complementary version of this book through Voracious Readers Only.]
Hartford starts an intriguing story in his novella, The Last Resurrectionist: Black as Night. Within the 47 pages, he is able to grow the questioning background of the story as well as move it forward at such a pace that the story flows without much pressure. Unfortunately, his character development needs work (and perhaps his world building too).
As we go into the story it is almost as if Hartford already expects us to know all the characters, their hardships, their lives, and the town they reside in. While he does describe some aspects, it comes off as spotty as if he is expecting you to already know at least half of the answer he is giving you. While this can add to the mysteriousness of the story – as you wonder what is going on and such – it also gets extremely aggravating.
My main aggravation, though, is the fact that the story ends right when the story actually seems to begin. Using a cliffhanging ending, Hartford tries to make you want to read the next installment of his series. In my opinion, it didn’t really work. Instead, I feel torn: I do not think that I am going to read the next installment, but at the same time I want to see if the story and writing gets better. Perhaps if the series was one big piece with the next installment being a different part (e.g. Part 1: Black as Night…) I would be more inclined to continue – looking at it as finishing the whole book.
| Plot: | 10 / 10 |
| Characters: | 5 / 10 |
| Writing: | 8 / 10 |
| Editor: | 8 / 10 |
| Total | 31 / 40 |
Title: The Last Resurrectionist: Black as Night
Author: Jack Hartford
Edition: Digital
Published: May 7, 2021
Publisher: Story / Tell
ISBN: n/a
If you want to get it: Amazon
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