Spiteful, Sinister, Violent – Aiden E. Messer

3/5 stars

Spiteful, Sinister, Violent is definitely not for the faint of heart. If you can’t handle graphic violence, gore, or drawn out torture, this one won’t be for you, so please watch your triggers!

This was a very quick read, but it kept me interested in the story. I both didn’t want to read what atrocities were still going to happen and did want to read to know if any of the characters would make it to Nef. This was a train wreck in the best possible way, and I couldn’t look away.

However, I did feel like there were a lot of characters for how short this story was. Some of them weren’t really developed much, and I could tell they were just going to be essentially canon fodder. Rather than all these cardboard cutout characters, I’d have preferred a smaller set of developed characters so I would be more emotionally invested in them. There was one thing about a character that I thought was fairly obvious as well, so I didn’t get the surprise that I think the author was looking for.

I loved the illustrations in the book, though! They really brought the scenes to life and helped me visualize certain things that were happening. There was one that I felt wasn’t as clear as the others, and some of the formatting was a little wonky with the pictures, but it was definitely a fun addition to the story!

Thank you to Aiden for letting me get an early look at this!