Review: Hummingbird by Joshua John Taylor

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

A collection of seven short stories described as dealing with “the connection between all things.”

Author:

This is the first book from author Joshua John Taylor, who “hails from the Valley of the Sun.” (That’s probably the Phoenix area for the uninitiated.)

Appraisal:

None of the stories in this collection were quite like short stories I’ve read in the past. The main “character” in the first story of the collection, The Overture and the Epilogue, was a tree that didn’t take any action without an assist from the elements, yet it illustrated the cycle of life and I liked the evocative language the author used throughout this story. I didn’t even need the hint from the book’s description telling me these stories were about “the connection between all things” to understand this story or the point.

However, too many of the stories, starting with By the Wayside, the second story in the collection, left me scratching my head, saying “well that was interesting, but what was the point supposed to be?” Maybe I’m too dense. Maybe the point was too subtle. I don’t know.

I also found way too many proofing and copy editing problems. I stumbled across more issues of that type than I would find acceptable in a novel length work and this collection is roughly 25% the size of the smallest novels.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Way more typos and other proofing and copy editing issues than a book this size should have.

Rating: *** Three Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 9-10,000 words