Posts
Today this is my first official review for "Dark Brew Press," I am reviewing this book they sent me for free in exchange for an honest review. I am not paid to review, and I realize I cannot publish this on Amazon because Amazon doesn't like this sort of thing if I don't buy the book myself first.
Today, I'm reviewing the Urban Gothic version out of Dark Brew Press, written by Stephen M. Coghlan. This is a republished book, you may have read it on Kynite, but my review will be only for the newly published version.
To start, let me go into critiques because, frankly, that works best for me in reviews like this. This book has many jump cuts, and what I mean is that we go from action sequence to action sequence with only a page notation to indicate the change. Now there isn't exactly anything wrong with jump cuts in a book. So let me make that part clear, I like them when they get to the point. But, they can sometimes diminish the tender moments or some of the emphasis from its previous scene to go into something that may not have the same tone. That happened here a couple of times. There were intimate moments the main character was trying to understand who he was and his purpose. Then it was bashed into an action sequence immediately, or something very different.
This brings me to my following critique, and that has to do with tonal shifts. This book has one leading tone, which looms over everything. Now, I am self-aware to realize how obvious it is with a novel named "Urban Gothic" that the tone should be evident. You're right, that's true. But, now and again, another tone tries to bloom into the story like a flower growing out of a concrete pad, and now and again, you get to see it before the story comes in like a weed wacker and dashes it away. That's not terrible; I'm okay with this tone, but I also love substance and contrast, and I wanted a bit more with this. I am aware that the story's context and the theme lend to a solidified tone, but it was almost stifling.
The tension in this story is almost unending. It's tense to tense again, which has to do with pacing earlier and what's added to or not given to lessen the tension. Now there are loads of ways to break the tension. Yet what happens if you do not break the tension in a book? Well, what happens to me is I read frantically. I have a stress response, and I need to get past it to release the stress. Sometimes that would happen just because of those jump cuts, but I do not think a jump cut is a solution, more like how the book progressed to the next plot point. I don't mind some tension, I also do not mind dynamic tension or character tension in places, but tension release is excellent. It helps the reader who is so absorbed to unclench their jaws and fingers from the book if they are too absorbed.
Now for the things I enjoyed about "Urban Gothic." Firstly, this should be a master class on ending the story arc, with the act ending, with the natural bookending all at once. I mean, bravo. You rarely see an ending so abrupt that it is satisfying, fulfilling, and not some horrible cliffhanger. I love this skill as a writer that Stephen has. It's a literal skill. In my opinion, it's such a clean and perfect satisfactory ending, the chef's kiss of endings. Bravo!
Next, I love the character development in the story and the progression. We travel along with the main character, and the hero's journey that the main character is on is both adventurous and action-packed. There is a lot of darkness, but the character's progression makes it understandable and reasonable in the focused moments.
I am a massive fan of the adorable little side plot romance that goes on in this story. It's rather lovely. A big part of it would be a spoiler if I give it away, but I want to say one huge thing. Love happens regardless of where we are mentally or physically when it should. The characters who are in love or fall in love, in this case, are perfect for each other. My heart felt so warm and beautiful in those moments, and those parts I felt were where the flower was blooming in the tone cement. I mean, it's just glorious to see those bits.
There is another side plot that, wow, it knocked my socks off, and it has to do with a library section and what that library means to the fabric of the worldbuilding in the story. I mean, it was brilliant. Brilliant. I loved the characters in the story who was in this section and what the library means overall. I enjoyed these moments in the plot concerning the library and its stakes in the overall plot.
I want to go into my highest praise because the worldbuilding in this story lends so beautifully to the theme. It's not even funny. The theme is simple, but I have not spoiled this book because you have to read it yourself. Yet, despite the simple nature of the theme, the worldbuilding presented to illustrate the points of the theme was astounding. The callback to the theme came in the form of an object, which to me, solidified the point. The object was used to emphasize why the theme was so important. And then, that object showed its importance when it was correlated to the overall environment and characters that dwell in the story. I found this amazing. I've never seen a writer blend the point and the elements in such a short novel before this.
So my last overall point, this is a great story to learn how to make a novel mighty but not have it take too long to get to the point or end properly. I like novels like this, just bursts of things. My critiques about some things aside, while there could be things that could improve it, the overall structure and skill level in blending all of the elements of the story was beautiful, in my opinion.
Thus, I am giving "Urban Gothic" a score of 87/100, a 4-star review on Goodreads and My blog.
