The Old Man

Information

Status

Hiatus

Year

2022

Author

Sean E Britten

• The Old Man
  Dec 1, 2022

Reviews

Community Reviews(2)

• HephaistosRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  It is a short story. There is no highly detailed plot that gets peeled back over chapters upon chapters. But it is one of the most, if not the most, impactfull story I have yet read here on Royal Road. Not often are there storys that make me feel raw emotions. But here, I felt primordial, eldritch, fear and sadness. Helplessnes?
  The style is wonderfull and works perfectly for the setting. The depiction of confinement, the questining, the frustation with the own helplessness. The style creates the atmosphere and does a very good job. Together with the concepts the style is the strongest force of the short.
  The grammar is good. Didn't see no errors.
  I can't talk about the story without spoiling. Let's just say that the twists and revelations were wonderfully timed and just the right amount of fucus was given to things that werent necessary but added much to the overall experience. I have nothing to criticise.
  As this is a short story we cant go into this and evaluate on the same premisse as we evaluate normal novels. The protagonist isn't some highly complex character. But he is the perfect character for this story. I have, again, nothing to criticise.
  I am aware that, because of my individual circumstances, this story is very impactfull to me. I cant, with good concioues, expect it to be as impactfull to you. But, if you have the time, I'd recomend you this short story. It made me think, it made me feel, maybe it will do the same for you.
  One last tipp for the author, you seem to write many short storys. I'd recomend you to set them to "completed" and not "hiatus". This will look better, otherwise one could think you always start novels without finishing them, which wont invite many readers. I hope y'all apreciated my TedTalk, have a good day.
• Jamie WattRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This is a great story. The author doesn't assume we're idiots. The author doesn't harvest a million tropes to meet the requirements of the algorithm. It packs more character development and more pathos into one click than any other story I've seen on RR. One of the best I've read here.
  If you want to go to bed tonight thinking about the last thing you read, this is the story to end your night on.