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zoe_e_w's review against another edition
3.0
Itsy Bitsy is a pretty compact short story, but the file I got looked longer because it has preview chapters for Handling the Undead and Harbour, both of which I've already read.
The premise is that a paparazzi is waiting for a couple to appear at a private swimming pool so he can take a photo of their romantic rendezvous and make big bucks. Only, the pictures he takes aren't what he expected.
In some ways, it left me wanting more of everything. Lindqvist's work is normally full of great visual details, but this is more sparse. There's not as much creepiness here as in his full novels either, just a hint of something supernatural before the ride is over. It's like a roller coaster that goes up and down one hill, and then pulls back into the station. It begs the question, "Where's the rest of the ride?"
I can't say I disliked it, but I really did wish for more. More detail, more information on the ending, and more of chance to be scared. So I give this 3 stars. It's not bad, but it's definitely not Lindqvist's best writing.
The premise is that a paparazzi is waiting for a couple to appear at a private swimming pool so he can take a photo of their romantic rendezvous and make big bucks. Only, the pictures he takes aren't what he expected.
In some ways, it left me wanting more of everything. Lindqvist's work is normally full of great visual details, but this is more sparse. There's not as much creepiness here as in his full novels either, just a hint of something supernatural before the ride is over. It's like a roller coaster that goes up and down one hill, and then pulls back into the station. It begs the question, "Where's the rest of the ride?"
I can't say I disliked it, but I really did wish for more. More detail, more information on the ending, and more of chance to be scared. So I give this 3 stars. It's not bad, but it's definitely not Lindqvist's best writing.
kandicez's review against another edition
3.0
Lindqvist's writing is spot on just like in [b:Let the Right One In|943402|Let the Right One In|John Ajvide Lindqvist|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327893384s/943402.jpg|928338]. I think my problem with this short story was simply that, my problem. This was a mind-blowing little tale, but it falls flat because Lindqvist answers no questions. I'm find with being left wondering, but this little tale leaves you not even wondering because you are given not information. None.
It's presented in a straight narrative, but is ultimately not.
It's presented in a straight narrative, but is ultimately not.
mtmdays's review against another edition
2.0
Free is not really free since I put in the time and work to read it…15 pages…I wanted to be SHOCKED!
nico_lechat's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
ahsansenan's review against another edition
1.0
Well this was a gigantic waste of time. Actually not that gigantic since this was only 20 pages long.
ectoplasmeg's review against another edition
3.0
An itsy bitsy short story. Most of the page are sampler chapters from other books. But, it was free. Surreal and concise, it was the perfect amount of horror to read during my lunch break.
legohelmet's review
3.0
Ok i knew this was a short story when i started reading, just didnt realize how short it was going to be. Nice little story however but maybe should be part of a collection.
urlphantomhive's review
2.0
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I really enjoyed the Swedish movie Let the right one in, based on a book by this author, so when I came across this free ebook on Amazon, I thought it would be a great way to get to know his writing.
The actual story is only about ten pages long (the rest is promotion of his other works) and the story wasn't that good. I admit I was curious to find out what was happening at first but the ending was really weird and I didn't feel like there was a single question answered. It almost felt like there were a few scenes drawn from a bag and pasted together.
I was underwhelmed by this reading experience.
I really enjoyed the Swedish movie Let the right one in, based on a book by this author, so when I came across this free ebook on Amazon, I thought it would be a great way to get to know his writing.
The actual story is only about ten pages long (the rest is promotion of his other works) and the story wasn't that good. I admit I was curious to find out what was happening at first but the ending was really weird and I didn't feel like there was a single question answered. It almost felt like there were a few scenes drawn from a bag and pasted together.
I was underwhelmed by this reading experience.
verkisto's review
2.0
First things first: "Itsy Bitsy" is a short story, distributed in e-format, comprised of 28 screen-swipes. Based on my limited experience with e-books, two page-swipes equals a page, so this is a 14-page short story masquerading as a book, because the industry hasn't come up with the idea of an e-short-story yet. I note this because I don't want to make it a habit of recording short-stories in my reading history (if nothing else, I see that a number of folks hit their "X-number of books read this year" goal by reading a shit-ton of these, which is like meeting your summer reading quota by reading chapter books), and besides, I've set a precedent by recording chapbooks and other e-short-stories in my statistics.
"Itsy Bitsy" was a free e-book (hnngh) distributed to promote Lindqvist's novels, and since Let the Right One In had been so good, I decided to give it a read. It's about a paparazzi photographer going through a bad patch in his life, and trying to turn it around by getting the one shot that will earn him a million dollars. What happens after that is the entire story, so I won't spoil the rest of it for you, other than to say if I did spoil it for you, I would save you the time it takes to read it yourself.
Anyone who's read Let the Right One In knows how Lindqvist approaches a horror story, but "Itsy Bitsy" isn't really horror so much as it is shock. There's no real conflict going on here, the threat isn't defined until the last handful of paragraphs, and what conclusion there is doesn't resolve anything. In fact, more than 50% of this e-book (tsss) is comprised of teasers of Lindqvist's other books, so when I finished the story, and saw I still had 70% of the e-bo-- er, file left to read, I thought I was going to see where the story was going to go. Nope. This story is all set-up, with no resolution.
It's becoming a trend to release these throw-away stories as a means to promote an author, but the problem is that the stories aren't very representative of their larger works. If I hadn't already been familiar with Lindqvist, and read this story, there's no way I would have gone on to read anything else of his. Maybe they're targeted toward readers who are already fans of said authors, but when they're poor stories, what's the point? Why punish your fans like this?
Take it from me: Remember that folks don't give stuff away for free if they think they could get money off of it, and don't read this story. Find a choice chapter from Let the Right One In and read that instead.
"Itsy Bitsy" was a free e-book (hnngh) distributed to promote Lindqvist's novels, and since Let the Right One In had been so good, I decided to give it a read. It's about a paparazzi photographer going through a bad patch in his life, and trying to turn it around by getting the one shot that will earn him a million dollars. What happens after that is the entire story, so I won't spoil the rest of it for you, other than to say if I did spoil it for you, I would save you the time it takes to read it yourself.
Anyone who's read Let the Right One In knows how Lindqvist approaches a horror story, but "Itsy Bitsy" isn't really horror so much as it is shock. There's no real conflict going on here, the threat isn't defined until the last handful of paragraphs, and what conclusion there is doesn't resolve anything. In fact, more than 50% of this e-book (tsss) is comprised of teasers of Lindqvist's other books, so when I finished the story, and saw I still had 70% of the e-bo-- er, file left to read, I thought I was going to see where the story was going to go. Nope. This story is all set-up, with no resolution.
It's becoming a trend to release these throw-away stories as a means to promote an author, but the problem is that the stories aren't very representative of their larger works. If I hadn't already been familiar with Lindqvist, and read this story, there's no way I would have gone on to read anything else of his. Maybe they're targeted toward readers who are already fans of said authors, but when they're poor stories, what's the point? Why punish your fans like this?
Take it from me: Remember that folks don't give stuff away for free if they think they could get money off of it, and don't read this story. Find a choice chapter from Let the Right One In and read that instead.
serenity_then's review
2.0
A super story that was advertised as 65 pages, but is actually only 14 pages. The other pages consist of samples from the author's other books. First story read on my new tablet!