Sanity Test is a short but very disturbing look at two very troubled, conflicted, and potentially delusional men
This is a series of emails between Hubert Kawka and Wlodzimierz Pawski. Their emails reveal a great deal about their characters and perspectives through the emails.
It appears that Kawka is a mentally ill patient in a psychiatric hospital and Pawski is his primary carer, but as the emails continue they become more frantic and questionable. The reader starts to wonder who is sane and who isn’t and who exactly these characters are in relation to each other.
Kawka straddles between childlike impulsivity and frightening sociopathic behavior. Through his emails, he describes a series of dramatic means to get Pawski's attention. He harbors an unhealthy fixation to an unhealthy obsessive degree and is gaslighting the other man.
However, Pawski’s emails also raise concern. He is more emotional and threatening from the initial emails. This is definitely a potential sign that things are not what they seem and adds to the overall uncertainty that we can’t trust either of these men.
As Pawski becomes more unstable, Kawka becomes more reasonable which leaves the reader with questions about who is real, who is fictional, who is sane, who is insane, and who we can trust. The book gives us no real answers and leaves the reader to make their own conclusions to understand this strange and disturbing duo,
Fate's Last Melody by Vanessa Smith
This review is a summary. The main review is on LitPick.
Fate's Last Melody has a strong sense of setting and tone by depicting Hell with all of its overall darkness, graphic violence, scares, and ominous energy coming out from every corner. There is a sense of abandonment, hopelessness, and desolation that exists primarily throughout the book.
Melody is a woman who is abducted during a night on the town with some friends and a potential boyfriend. Her abductor is not a human psychopath. He is a demon named Nyx who takes her to Hell, where she learns that she is the daughter of one of the Fates from Greek Mythology. Melody has to find her way through Hell and learn how to use her inherited powers of seeing and changing other's Destinies before she meets The King of Hell who has his own agenda involving Melody.
Melody’s first view of Hell is a dark desolate place shrouded in shadows. The descriptions aggravate the senses and the landscape shapes itself to torture those suffering. Needless to say, it's not a pleasant experience.
Smith makes her version of Hell a composite of different mythologies most notably Abrahamic religions and Hellenic Mythology. Hell is led by The King of Hell who is so vaguely described that he could be either Lucifer or Hades, so it could go either way. The Judeo-Christian influence is shown primarily through the 7 Deadly Sins while the Greco-Roman aspects are revealed mostly through the presence of the Fates and the Titans.
There is an overall feeling of helplessness and abandonment until the end when Melody and other characters are inspired to fight against The King of Hell. But there are some potential questions about the actions that were taken to do this which suggests that Hell might end up with another dictator, one who will also torture others for eternity, inflict pain, and control others.
