Healthy Coping Mechanisms

Information

Status

Completed

Year

2023

Author

Mad Sadie

• Revenge
  Feb 21, 2023

Reviews

Community Reviews(5)

• MK bk-201Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  A very short and simple heartwarming story about a boy going through the five stages of grief at an accelerated pace due the death of his parents and later becoming a slave to the man who did it planning on how to give the same anguish and pain he suffered to his captor.
• Mena MacDRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I can’t decide how I feel about this one. Normally, I rate stories by how much joy they bring my existence; not necessarily fair to the author, but good writing brings me joy so… it usually works out.
  This story is excellently written. When I was immersed in the story, I felt joy at the boy’s current and upcoming vengeance. Once the story ended… I feel sadness that he is in that situation. I feel concerned about any uninvolved parties who may be being caught up in the situation. I wonder about extended family he could be with.
  I do not feel joy. But I cannot justify a lower rating to myself, either. So, well done.
• TheCalmSeasRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Fairly interesting short story. I find the premise interesting that someone would find pleasure in the burning of their captors village, but still return to it, still return to rebuild it and once more continue to being a slave, instead of taking the opportunity and making a run for it.
• dennybennisRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  There's a lot to like about this story in the little time you get to enjoy it. Although the overall format of the story is largely based on a misreading of the stages of depression, it does fit for a character who was never taught about the concept. More importantly, however, the format of each stage is a novel and interesting way to give the reader exposition into what happened and the mental state of the protagonist. Being pretty short, the story doesn't waste the reader's time and I find what the author chooses to include is fairly surgical. I do wish, however, that there was some additional element of the story to get the reader to connect more closely with the protagonist. Although I sympathized with his plight, I didn't find any opportunity to empathize or identify with him, which would have made the tragic events have more emotional weight and the results of the story feel all that more cathartic. Given the tight constraints of the word-count, however, this is understandable.
• RznRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  The title of this piece is Healthy Coping Mechanisms and well that is clearly not what this is about. Ha. The story itself is pretty simple and yet I can't say I am the biggest fan of it, hence why I am going to explain the 3.5 in more detail.
  The piece hinges heavily on the five stages of grief, and then goes to subvert that right off the bat. Instead of his predicament (enslavement) not being a reality, we skip it and go with the initial incident. Then we get to anger, understandable. Bargaining, again another dismissal of the theory outright. Depression, same thing. Acceptance, well fair enough? A big chunk of the story goes to this and not character development.
  Next, we get to his actions and planned future actions. Blinded by rage, lashing out hurting those uninvolved. This piece did not carry a strong emotional connection, and its theme of burning anger was muted. The whole piece did not make its purpose clear and the cruel, calculating actions show disregard for others uninvolved in this. That gives wiggle room to turn the reader against the MC.
  It is written fairly well, but it couldn't keep me focused with the two separate halves in conflict with one another. If it led to a singular strong emotional connection, then I think this would have been stronger.