Lingering

Information

Status

Completed

Year

2021

Author

MrB

• Chapter 3
  Jun 30, 2021
• Chapter 2
  Jun 28, 2021
• Chapter 1
  Jun 26, 2021

Reviews

Community Reviews(7)

• PloopieRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  'Lingering' is a fantasy mystery type fiction which revolves around a spiritual investigator in retirement. It begins typically, with an introduction to the detective, but from there on out, it gets interesting. 'Lingering' is one of the first books that I've been desperate for more and couldn't wait for the next chapter to be out.
  Style:
  The style is easy to read and has particularly good flow, with great word choices and sentence structures. It's in third person perspective and manages to highlight all the important characters. To top this all off, the author incorporates brilliant foreshadowing.
  Story:
  The story is flawless and amazing. With a heavy LGBTQIA+ themes that the author uses very well in the plot, they manage to make the plot twists, well, effectively, plot twists. You'd be surprised at how many books there are that don't do plot twists well. I'm happy to say this does it incredibly well. 'Lingering' has captured the 'mystery' essence very well and the sequence of events are all flawlessly structured. The ending of the story was sweet, and managed to pull at my heartstrings which, of course, all good stories will do to you.
  Grammar:
  Incredibly well done, for a non-native English speaker. Apart from some tense changes here and there, it was perfect.
  Character:
  The author has created the characters to be very believable. They all have their own personalities and thoughts, and I think this is one of the very best elements of this story.
  Overall:
  It's relatively short, heartwarming, has enough suspense to keep you going, and has a really fufilling end. I really enjoyed it- it's going straight in my favourites! and would definitely recommend it to any mystery lovers. Five stars from me!
• TwelveGreatApesRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  So at the time of this review, the story is still getting going, but I'm definitely impressed with what I've seen so far. The style is straightforward and easy to read, and I found myself drawn into the fiction very quickly. Some concepts are presented incredibly well, be it a particular expression on a character's face, the history-steeped streets of Strona, or one of the absolutely chilling dream segments.
  The world is well drawn, with a focus on the supernatural that lies at the heart of this story. I can already tell a lot of thought has gone into the mechanics of spectral possession and paranormal interactions, and I'm excited to learn more. I always appreciate a work that is internally consistent, and this has that in spades.
  The story hooked me in fairly immediately, particularly after the dream sequences. Though there has been a slight dip in the action over the last couple of chapters, I'm fairly confident it will pick up again.
  Probably the stand out feature of the story so far is the dialogue and characterisation. The various characters feel just incredibly real, in a way I honestly have yet to see on this site. The interactions flow realistically and the conversation is just natural. I'm honestly running out of ways to describe how the characters just seem to jump up off of the page.
  Just to mention it for the sake of , the grammar seems fine with nary a commar out of place.
  I've already favourited and followed, and look forward to seeing more!
• scostRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Lingering gets off to a great start, introducing juicy intrigue with a wonderful paranormal twist. The story is well paced, the character writing is strong and the presentation of the paranormal elements is interesting.
  The story is told in a mostly traditional manner, effective and clearly communicated. The very beginning has a few awkward paragraphs that lean a bit too hard on the 'telling' when introducing the story's protagonist. This problem hasn't cropped up in later chapters though, Isaihah's voice comes through stronger in the narration.
  The story is the strongest element. Lingering wastes no time in introducing the first clue and keeps it fresh with the paranormal element. Dream sequeneces and character details are used to really spice up the mystery and the reader is left wanting answers. Isaiah's familiarity with the occult is perhaps poorly introduced as there was a bit of whiplash when he casually interacts with paranormal phenonemon - this may just be me being an inatentive reader though.
  At this early stage, the characters are already pretty strong. Each has a distinctive voice and Isaiah is definitely a stand out. There is even already some intrigue into his past which I'm looking forward to how it develops.
  There hasn't been any noticeable grammatical mistakes which is lovely.
  Overall, the story is off to a strong start. The most I can say is that as long as it keeps to this trajectory, it'll be a interesting and absorbing mystery.
• JMWebbRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Advanced review time!
  Let's start with the easy stuff.
  Grammar: It's fine! No mistakes that I really noticed. Nothing is going to really jump out and drag you out of the story.
  Characters: I think the MC and his husband are solidly written. I think Isiah's backstory is an interesting position and insight to the world that we are exploring. He is consistent, and his husband is very cute. At times, however, I think the characterization of both is really hampered by the style.
  Style: The style is really not for me. It's clinical, almost like the narrator is supposed to be character who makes assumptions about people. The narrator will oftentimes say things like "of course..." or just straight up tell us that Isiah is not a normal person/better than most people. Sometimes they will even feel a little quippy, and I don't think that's what I want in a very serious mystery story, especially when there's actually a A+ plot happening around the narrator. I don't think the style is going to ruin this for most people, but I'm very particular and critical about style whenever I read, and there just feels like a tonal clash there for me.
  tl;dr: too much showing not telling, and the telling tonally clashes with a dark narrative.
  Story: the story really saves the score here. There's a lot of VERY INTERESTING THINGS happening. There's cool dream sequences (the first one particularly shocking), and the main character is dealing with an illness of sorts. I'll probably come back in a month or two to see what's going on here, but I don't expect myself to check back every week.
  Overall: Solid, but I think the narrator's style hinders the story. Still, there's a lot of stuff on this site that is not even as close to as solid as this story, so it's gonna get a good 4.5 out of me. If you like mysteries, you'll like this, methinks.
• Dale the DabblerRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Overall, the story so far is, like my review's title says, promising. It makes a lot of interesting promises, sets up intriguing future plot points and character conflicts, and generally sets plates to spin for future chapters to cash out on. That's always a good sign with a story, especially mystery, and now all that's left is seeing whether the author has what it takes to stick the landing. Personally, from what I've seen so far, I think so.
  As far as prose. While there are some common issues (the prose sometimes struggles to "flow", there can be too much "telling" when it would be easy to "show", and there are some avoidable "filter words"), it's clearly the mild awkwardness of someone getting their sea legs, and doesn't diminish the quality of the writing's strengths: its imagery and scene-building, and its dialogue. When MrB describes a scene, he really builds a vivid image of it, with details and charm, and takes you there.
  As far as dialogs, I'll treat them with characters since they're very closely tied. Long story short: they're good. Conversations involve interesting people, and MrB doesn't need to tell you about their character, because their words and interactions amply do the job. Sometimes he tells you anyway, which is a bit of a shame, but if he can lean into this strength in the future, I'll have no reproach on that front. As far as character development, there's obviously not been much room for it yet, but plenty of threads are in place that suggest them in the future.
  As for the story, it's a bit early to tell, but I like the direction it seems to want to head. Some of the early set-up was, for my taste, a little clumsy, but it's not a sin to want to get started with the story you're wanting to tell, and it's not like it's a very big deal. As far as what I've seen of the story so far, like I said, promising. It doesn't feel like things have been haphazardly tossed in. I can feel the various setups going into place and preparing their future payoffs
• Ayer12Royal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Overall, it's pretty good. The author starts with a lot of telling instead of showing, but that goes away pretty quickly after the first chapter. We're immediately introduced to a variety of characters in a fitting, more seamless way. If you enjoy relatively realistic mystery novels, this is for you.
  Style and Grammar: Both are pretty alright. The story reads pretty well, with the descriptions being vivid enough to paint a picture of the place in the reader's mind's eye. That said, it's nothing crazy remarkable (not saying mine is, either), but it's pretty decent. Didn't really find any grammar mistakes, certainly none that would have drawn away from my enjoyment ou broken the flow.
  Story: as expected, the story builds itself on the intrigue created by the investigation, as well as how the different characters are related to it. Overall it's pretty good at creating the right amount of mystery while also advancing the plot and showing more of the characters at the same time. Some of the world-building, like the fact that spirits are considered common, is integrated into the story very well, by (ironically) the lack of reactions from others at their mention. Definitely recommended for those who like murder mystery books.
  Characters: This is where the story takes a bit of a blow for me. The main character, Isaiah, is introduced in the first chapter very fast, and most of his characteristics already laid out for the reader. Although, later on he does get some more scenes showing how he's indeed a kind individual who wants to serve the greater good. As for the other characters, there's not much to say other than they feel a bit flat. Some more time spent building them up, maybe through the usage of different PoV's would be interesting. Of course, it's not necessary, The story is good enough as is.
  Long story short, it's a good work and one I'll be expecting more of. Followed it already. Recommended for those interested in the genre, though it's not really my cup of tea
• MalevolenceMauRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  A somewhat realistic approach to the paranormal in a world with individuals that can notice the presence of spirits, so much so they are hired as investigators to help in murder cases.
  Style: The story follows a third person style with Isaiah and his husband Nigel, though the view mostly shifts on Isaiah during his investigation. Making ample use of dreams and flashbacks, Lingering uses themes of the mind and memory as it progresses its investigative story. A lot of the story is dialogue, sometimes an entire chapter is a discussion between characters which isn't a bad thing though many may dislike the amount of talking.
  Grammar: I could only find 2 issues with the grammar, so there is very little to take you out of the story.
  Story: The story is all centred on Isaiah's investigations in the spirit of a photograph he found in his new home, with flashbacks to explain his past or dreams of things he may or may not have done. Since the chapters are rather short, seemingly under 2k words each, it does take a while to get past parts of the story. Since we start at his retirement, we have to catch up with Isaiah and Nigel's life in passing words or the dream sequences.
  Character: Due to following an investigative story the characters should take the main spotlight alongside the clues. Sadly, both Isaiah and Nigel have little in the way of aesthetic description aside from one being portly and the other conventionally handsome. Readers need to fill in the gaps until reading much further into the story, I personally gave Nigel the look of Raymond Holt though Isaiah was almost always a grey blurb with some facial fuzz. The side characters get more descriptive text for them, from clothing to wrinkles.
  Thankfully, all the characters have defined personalities so it is generally easy to understand who is talking at a time.