Reviews: Isaiah's Story

Author:  SethAMott

Book: Isaiah's Story 

**Warning Spoiler Ahead**

SUMMARY

The book is based on the view of a young fellow (Gender and name wasn’t specified in the first chapter. But the blurb regarded him as Isaiah Bradford) struggling to come to terms with leaving his old neighborhood. His father was left a house by a dead relative and for some intricate reasons, decided to move.

But the blessing of a bigger house was not without a mystery. Not knowing what might lurk in the storm and the darkness of the old house. The family plunges right into a set of heart wrecking paranormal inexplicable events.

REVIEW

I must admit I was intrigued by the prospect of reading a paranormal. Isaiah’s Story kept me on my bed for hours with captivating plot twists, gripping cliff hangers, and free-flowing conversations. I think the book has a chance of becoming bigger and better.

Firstly, I noticed the writer had issues with knowing when to break the paragraphs—I am not talking just the length right now. My personal opinion is that every remark, point or description should have its own paragraph. To build the suspense and to keep up with the flow. You don’t describe a house and probably, the features of an old man living in the house in one paragraph. That was widely seen in the first few chapters of the book.

Another was the writer's extent of vocabulary use. Don’t get me wrong, I think the author's choice of words was good. But why settle for good when you can be better.

“I wasn’t, and I would never be.” Could easily be, “I wasn’t ready to leave. Wasn’t sure I will ever be.”

The latter was more of an open question that keeps the readers asking, arguing about the possibilities. The former to me was a closed statement.

I think the writer should also work on that part of the book.

Thirdly, Setting. I can’t stress enough how important the setting is in every book. It is the backbone of every novel. It helps the reader to live the book, not just reading plain texts. However, after reading the first few chapters, I was left with so many questions. How is the old neighborhood like? How is the old house like? Any fun time memories? What are the people like in the old neighborhood? How is the old house like from the outside? Is it a medieval castle? A countryside? In a big city like Doctor Strange temple? Or a frozen wasteland like Superman solitude fortress?

Also, Character development is also important. Chapters away from the first chapter and I still didn’t know how the narrator (first p.o.v) looks like. How his parent looks like? Are they blondes? Do they have emerald eyes? Do they have the pale white skin color of elves? What kind of clothes do they wear? What is the name of the movers? How does the frightening guy look like?

The only character development I saw was a scary pizza guy

I also came across a plot hole in the book, where someone was looking and talking about the narrator. How did the narrator know what was said at his back? Was he told? Did he see it in a vision like Percy Jackson?

Other things I didn’t agree with was the mood swing. Personally, I think the only thing that can make me less distraught about leaving something dear to me is the prospect of getting twice another thing dear to me.

I was once angry at a bad test that I could not even my favorite food—chips and a lot of chicken. Somewhere in the book, the narrator was promised something that didn’t seem of present value to him and his mood changed. From that, I can only draw that the narrator didn’t really care about the neighborhood and was just acting like a spoilt brat. That’s the only way the chapter could make sense.

*Major spoiler alert* Why will his parents want to make him feel uncomfortable in a dark old house with the don’t do what you like doing rule? It seemed illogical. I think the dinner approach would have been trying to calm him down; making false promises.
 There was a scream didn’t they hear that? His behavior would have been a talk for a warmer day.

Maybe, that’s how the writer wanted them painted. Cold and insensitive. *

However, I loved the creepy shadow, the thing with the bird, the mystery of the old manuscript and the box, and the description of the world with the vile incorporeal being—though his conversation was a little bit cliché. But, I still loved the I am going destroying everything feel.