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A review by crufts
Final Night by Kell Shaw
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from the author.
Following a turbulent night of trying to keep her highschool band together for a party, teenager Lukie's memories suddenly go dark. She finds herself waking up twenty years later as a zombie.
Before long she realizes that she was murdered. But who was the murderer? And can she stop them striking again?
With a quick 134 pages, Final Night is extremely fast-paced. The opening chapters hooked me immediately, diving straight into the inciting incident without delay. Tension is also maintained throughout the narrative as Lukie must solve the mystery before the sun rises. I also thought the cover was a good depiction of the novel's genre.
The character arc of Lukie was satisfying, being a realistically flawed teenager who grows as a person. The climactic scenes where Lukie faces her fears and confronts her mistakes were riveting and exciting.
Not only that, but it was a refreshing anti-cliché that Lukieremained a zombie at the end of the story rather than returning to the status quo. This was also a great setup for the sequel.
The worldbuilding where the world used to be magical, but no longer is, worked well as a premise for the urban fantasy setting. This also helped explain why the protagonists were on their own and couldn't seek help from an institution.
I appreciated that the trans man character (Tamlyn) is depicted as a clever detective and a hero during the novel.
Some other reviewers have mentioned that Lukie deadnames/misgenders Tamlyn in a brief memory flashback, but to me this didn't come off as malicious. Remember, Lukie's from 1983 - she wouldn't know about the convention of referring to trans people with their present-day names and pronouns when describing past events. Overall, this misgendering seemed more like well-intentioned ignorance, or simply Lukie's immediate reaction when she hadn't yet mentally registered him being the same person.
On the downside, the fast pacing that I enjoyed so much in the opening chapters became a problem after the 50% mark. There was too much happening too quickly, e.g. rapid changes of location and scene. I was very confused about what was happening and I don't think I really understood the ending. For example, consider this section:
> Rather than defending itself, the shade slashed the air open behind it. The vision of the sky and sea tore away like a play’s backdrop, revealing the Tenebran void.
> Lukie leaped into the hole. “Follow me!” she screamed at the shade.
> But all she could see was the Baron staring at her with his luminous blue eyes, wiping the shade’s essence from his lips. [End of chapter]
This is an extremely fast-paced sequence. The final sentence delivers a whole lot of information all at once - the shade is not visible, the Baron is looking at her, and the shade's essence is on his lips. Ergo, the Baron ate the shade.
But we're not given a moment to draw this conclusion, understand what has just happened, and allow Lukie a moment to react. Instead, the narrative moves swiftly onwards, resulting in confusion.
Many other sections in the second half of the novel have this problem.
I also found a few phrases confusing to read, e.g.“Red Jack’s Help’s House” being such a long phrase with multiple 's made it hard to parse .
Relatedly, because the pacing was so fast, there was no time to get to know the characters. This meant that some characters came off as rather one-dimensional, such as Cage. All I can really say about Cage is that he seems powerful, dedicated to his cause, and has a cool sword. I feel like the author has a more detailed vision of Cage's character in his notes, but that this wasn't shown in the actual text of the story.
Similarly, Lukie's girlfriend Karra is mainly characterized through one event (her disagreement with Lukie at the opening party ). I think it would have been good to be able to spend some more time with these characters in conversation or flashbacks, as empathizing with them more would heighten the stakes of the narrative. Another option would be to reduce the number of locations and characters (e.g. by combining the roles of some characters) so that we could spend more time with what's left.
Altogether, Final Night is an exciting, fast-paced adventure that reminds us that we can't change the past - but we can do better for the future.
Following a turbulent night of trying to keep her highschool band together for a party, teenager Lukie's memories suddenly go dark. She finds herself waking up twenty years later as a zombie.
Before long she realizes that she was murdered. But who was the murderer? And can she stop them striking again?
With a quick 134 pages, Final Night is extremely fast-paced. The opening chapters hooked me immediately, diving straight into the inciting incident without delay. Tension is also maintained throughout the narrative as Lukie must solve the mystery before the sun rises. I also thought the cover was a good depiction of the novel's genre.
The character arc of Lukie was satisfying, being a realistically flawed teenager who grows as a person. The climactic scenes where Lukie faces her fears and confronts her mistakes were riveting and exciting.
Not only that, but it was a refreshing anti-cliché that Lukie
The worldbuilding where the world used to be magical, but no longer is, worked well as a premise for the urban fantasy setting. This also helped explain why the protagonists were on their own and couldn't seek help from an institution.
I appreciated that the trans man character (Tamlyn) is depicted as a clever detective and a hero during the novel.
Some other reviewers have mentioned that Lukie deadnames/misgenders Tamlyn in a brief memory flashback, but to me this didn't come off as malicious. Remember, Lukie's from 1983 - she wouldn't know about the convention of referring to trans people with their present-day names and pronouns when describing past events. Overall, this misgendering seemed more like well-intentioned ignorance, or simply Lukie's immediate reaction when she hadn't yet mentally registered him being the same person.
On the downside, the fast pacing that I enjoyed so much in the opening chapters became a problem after the 50% mark. There was too much happening too quickly, e.g. rapid changes of location and scene. I was very confused about what was happening and I don't think I really understood the ending. For example, consider this section:
> Lukie leaped into the hole. “Follow me!” she screamed at the shade.
> But all she could see was the Baron staring at her with his luminous blue eyes, wiping the shade’s essence from his lips. [End of chapter]
This is an extremely fast-paced sequence. The final sentence delivers a whole lot of information all at once - the shade is not visible, the Baron is looking at her, and the shade's essence is on his lips. Ergo, the Baron ate the shade.
But we're not given a moment to draw this conclusion, understand what has just happened, and allow Lukie a moment to react. Instead, the narrative moves swiftly onwards, resulting in confusion.
I also found a few phrases confusing to read, e.g.
Relatedly, because the pacing was so fast, there was no time to get to know the characters. This meant that some characters came off as rather one-dimensional, such as Cage. All I can really say about Cage is that he seems powerful, dedicated to his cause, and has a cool sword. I feel like the author has a more detailed vision of Cage's character in his notes, but that this wasn't shown in the actual text of the story.
Similarly, Lukie's girlfriend Karra is mainly characterized through one event (
Altogether, Final Night is an exciting, fast-paced adventure that reminds us that we can't change the past - but we can do better for the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Deadnaming, Racial slurs, and Racism
Racism, Racial slurs: Fantasy racism appears directed at people who have traces of elven, dwarrow, or ogre heritage. There is no real-world ethnic racism.
Violence: There are some fight scenes. They are not especially gory.
Violence: There are some fight scenes. They are not especially gory.