Review of Uncanny Miscellany

[Saint Bruno]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Uncanny Miscellany" by Richard Foley.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Uncanny Miscellany by Richard Foley is an 80-page fiction book that contains four different short stories. The titles of the stories are 'Ripples of Lunacy,' 'Noir Odyssey,' 'Unprecedented Serendipity,' and 'Trite Hourglass Blight Devour Mass.'

In the first story, we meet Nathan, who catches his lover with another man having sex and kills the man and his lover. Somewhere else, two men, Douglas and Roger, have succeeded in stealing an antique amulet from a medieval museum. However, they are caught and thrown into jail. When they eventually escape, one of them wants the stolen amulet for himself and is willing to kill the other for it. What is in stock for the men outside the jail, and what is Nathan's stake on the amulet? You have to read this book to find out and also explore the other stories in the book.

What I like most about this book is the author's use of exciting wordplay and rhymes. One such example is "Nutritiously menstruating into the parasite’s muzzle, in order to dutifully guzzle, was esoterically putting this piece into an unusual puzzle." Readers who enjoy such would find the book rich in that aspect. I liked how this style gave the book a somewhat poetic feeling. Furthermore, I found some of the stories to be very intriguing. I especially liked the one about a man who used a supernatural pen to create four characters who came to life and started unleashing terror. The narration of events and description of the characters were so gripping and suspenseful.

Nevertheless, I need to advise prospective readers to have a dictionary nearby while reading this book because of its overwhelming vocabulary. While I learned many new words from the book, I didn't enjoy rereading most of the sentences to understand the narrations. The author needs to understand that while learning new words is always welcome, it is only secondary to enjoying a book's storyline and understanding the narrations therein. Here is a sentence from the book to help you appreciate my point. "Naughty tempestuous sirens gorgonized the gritty lecher when they sodomized him with their petite rondure!" Did you immediately understand that? More so, one of the titles, 'Trite Hourglass Blight Devour Mass,' didn't make any sense to me despite being my favorite story. Reading this book wasn't an easy task, as I had to spend most of my reading time searching for the meanings of words and then trying to understand the sentences. As a result, the storylines were hard to follow, and I couldn't relate to any of the characters.

In conclusion, I am rating Uncanny Miscellany two out of four stars. I enjoyed some of the stories and added many new words to my vocabulary. Hence, I can't rate the book any lower. However, I couldn't give the book more than two stars, considering that the reading experience was strenuous and understanding the storylines was an uphill task. The book is professionally edited but contains a few errors. I recommend it to readers interested in short fiction stories, especially those who find books with challenging vocabulary fascinating to read.

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Uncanny Miscellany
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[Jasy95]

Thanks for the great review! It sounds like an interesting and artistically written book, but the heavy prose and dense vocabulary seem like a turn off for me.

[Reader-247]

You are right in considering that overwhelming vocabulary is a possible put off. I think it is too intense for me. Thanks for your informative review though

[NetMassimo]

This seems like some sort of experimental fiction where style is as important as substance. English is not my native language, so I don't think I can enjoy this collection. Regardless, thank you for your great review!

[Tarie07]

Overwhelming vocabulary is a huge turn off for me. Otherwise I might have read the book. Thanks for the honest review.