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snowwhitehatesapples 's review for:
The Six Deaths of the Saint
by Alix E. Harrow
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Also on Snow White Hates Apples.
All the praises sung by others for this short story had raised my expectations a tad too high and well, the most succinct way to put it is that The Six Deaths of the Saint fell flat for me.
It’s not badly written per se — the usage of second-person POV and first-person POV is quite clever and there’s much potential to the story. After all, how can explorations on the yearning to be loved, desired and accepted, to be viewed as precious and the sacrifices, traps and gains that come with attempting to achieve that, be any less than subjects brimming with potential?
And yet, the plot of this short story is no more than run-of-the-mill and it will strongly come off as such if you’ve consumed a large number of isekai (“another world”) and tensei (“reincarnation”) books, shows and such. The execution is also too much like a summary, short story or not. The direct language takes away all life from the emotions that are supposed to be here, making it all the more boring of a read as there’s neither life nor freshness.
I think The Six Deaths of the Saint would’ve been better had it been fleshed out into a fuller story, allowed to grow and blossom into the ferocious, tragic thing it could be. In its current state, it is but a mere bud harvested too soon.
All the praises sung by others for this short story had raised my expectations a tad too high and well, the most succinct way to put it is that The Six Deaths of the Saint fell flat for me.
It’s not badly written per se — the usage of second-person POV and first-person POV is quite clever and there’s much potential to the story. After all, how can explorations on the yearning to be loved, desired and accepted, to be viewed as precious and the sacrifices, traps and gains that come with attempting to achieve that, be any less than subjects brimming with potential?
And yet, the plot of this short story is no more than run-of-the-mill and it will strongly come off as such if you’ve consumed a large number of isekai (“another world”) and tensei (“reincarnation”) books, shows and such. The execution is also too much like a summary, short story or not. The direct language takes away all life from the emotions that are supposed to be here, making it all the more boring of a read as there’s neither life nor freshness.
I think The Six Deaths of the Saint would’ve been better had it been fleshed out into a fuller story, allowed to grow and blossom into the ferocious, tragic thing it could be. In its current state, it is but a mere bud harvested too soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, War
Minor: Child abuse