Watching Stuff Day 25 - 7/31/2023 - Current Streak: 25
Instead of watching something today, I read something instead. I read a short story called X-Division by Kaleb I.A. which is currently free on Saturday A.M.
I haven't read any of the other stories featured alongside it yet. The whole thing and Saturday A.M. seem pretty interesting so I'll probably check out the rest of it later on my own time. I'm only reviewing X-Division though because it was my main reason for checking it out since I've been a fan of Kaleb I.A.'s youtube channel for a long time now and I heard about it when he plugged it in a recent video.
I think the strongest aspect of the story is its characterization. It does a great job of establishing the two main characters, Kenny and Mira, and their dynamic with each other. For shorter stories like these, I think it's important to get the audience intrigued by and invested in the characters since a much shorter length makes it harder to get people invested in the plot, so I really appreciated the work with that.
That being said, I do think the plot was good too in this case. I think the twist it had worked pretty well, and I found the lore and background for the spirits to be pretty interesting. It seems like a solid foundation to build upon if the author wanted to continue using this world and these characters.
My only real critique is that some parts of the writing feel like they don't convey what's happening as well as it could.
This section initially confused me, because it seemed to imply that Kenny came to those conclusions about the cashier based on the mannerisms he was observing. It wasn't until after I re-read and thought about it a bit that I realized it was actually about him getting info off of his phone about the cashier, which makes a lot more sense. Maybe this was just a me problem though, and others understood it on the first try.
Overall, it was a really enjoyable read, and I'm interested to see if the author has any more plans for these characters and their world.
