Talk:Penpal/@comment-25158462-20140709151616

I enjoyed this more or less. The author is a really good writer. I just don't think that this is the right genre for him. Because the stories have quite similar structure which is a cliche:

It was dark.

We went to a scary place (woods, abandoned house, abandoned mall).

The man was there.

Some spooky detail (walky talky and the cat, pictures, the floatable toy).

As in: My mother told me we cannot go to the school which was in fact in the middle of a cemetery, most likely abandoned cemetery. When she left for work we knew it was our chance. We saw a squirrel when we left. Cemetery was spooky, there were noises. I heard steps behind me so I started to run. I slipped on a pebble (whoops, what a suprise) and hit my head. Then I got up and slipped again and hit my head to a rock. Screw it. I was breakdancing on those rocks with my head. Luckily the noises disappeared so we took our bicycles. When we were going home the noises came again. Just for that occasion my bicycle, which had survived years without even a dent, broke apart like a lousily built raft just like that. Then I saw the same squirrel!

Don't get me wrong. Or do. I don't care. But the atmosphere just dissappeared during the Screens because of the cliches and the obvious structure. After that the stories didn't have any thrill in them.

Also the story as a whole didn't leave any explanation which of course is usual for creepy stories. But I always see it as laziness. Unless the man being just some random creep is an acceptable explanation. For me it isn't. It's just lazy.

Still! I wouldn't have read the whole series if it wasn't good. So I hope the author takes his skill for a good use also in the future.