I read two short stories recently thanks to Prime Reads – which is a free ebook Amazon Prime members receive every 1st of the month. The last two months readers received a bonus ‘short story’. Previously I was on the fence if I liked short stories, but these last two reads changed my mind.
I really enjoyed this story and feel I am in the minority of my fellow reviewers.
My contradicting opinion is the way it started was great as the reader was immediately pulled into a situation they had no background on. This approach engaged me right away and pulled me in. It’s a short story, the author doesn’t have give us the a background.
The ending felt like a mini-bang. It was exciting and didn’t leave me with any wandering questions.
This book wasn’t necessarily for ‘me’ as war-time books don’t capture my attention, which maybe why putting a war themed book as a short story was a good thing.
Formatting it as a letter that a soldier is reflecting on was a good intro to pull the reader in. It did feel a bit bogged down in the middle and I almost gave up. (Then I didn’t because it’s a short story… can’t DNF! ha)
Overall, interesting WWIII themed short story. I liked that he brought in some real world places/descriptions so the reader was able to easily envision the scene.
I will admit, while writing this review and reflecting, I felt it necessary to drop a star.
Are my ratings possibly too high as this is my first glimpse into short story reading? … Possibly.
Hopefully if you are a short story hater, like I was, you might be intrigued to want to dive in as well. Prime reads makes it easy as it’s ‘free’, therefore, no pressure.
These were great books to pick up after finishing a long book. It was like chewing on a plain cracker in between wine tastings. It cleared my brain, didn’t feel intimidating or nervous about picking up a big commitment.
How do you feel about short stories? Let me know in the comments below!
cmacs paperbacks 
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