Assessment:
Overall rating (8 votes)
Recommended by Chris Poirier and 5 other members.
Refuge of Delayed Souls
A serialized novel, updating weekly.
Life, love, death and in some cases what happens afterwards.
Refuge of Delayed Souls
— contains some graphic violence —
Tags: angels fae ghosts modern supernatural mystery online novels vampires
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Editorial Reviews
Engaging story; needs editing
[Update: My understanding is that the author has been actively editing the story since I wrote this review, so many of these points may no longer be accurate. I will update this review when I have a chance.]
Refuge of Delayed Souls is a complex, genre-bending story spanning four centuries. It is at times historical fiction, ghost story, paranormal detective story, and more.
At its core are Elizabeth, a young woman in a long line of seers; and the titular Refuge of Delayed Souls, an agency run by and dedicated to serving those "delayed souls" who choose not to move on after death. As the story opens, Elizabeth is seeking answers about her family’s past. Her research eventually leads her to the Refuge, where she finds more answers than she’d expected, and a job she may regret taking. The story is skillfully knit together from events "present", near-, and distant-past. To this end, the narrative steps back and forth through time in sequences designed to reveal just the right amount of context for the story’s primary events.
Overall, having just completed the first 67 parts (what is available, at present), I enjoyed the piece. It’s involving, and vivid, and well-constructed — and, of particular note, getting better, in the most recent episodes.
In terms of the writing, it’s pretty good, but the prose is a bit loose, and could use some editing. Often, the narrative uses long, round-about, or overwrought descriptions, where shorter, punchier, plainer sentences would be easier to read and more effective for the mood. As a result, the narrative sometimes feels unfocussed instead of brooding; awkward instead of old-fashioned; muddy instead of dark. There are also a number of spelling, punctuation, and/or grammatical errors evident in most chapters — nothing major, but they are needlessly distracting. But these problems really aren’t that severe — a good edit pass would probably clean them all up. I presume that this has not happened primarily because the author is busy writing new installments — and it’s something I’m certainly willing to forgive.
Of a bit more concern, early on in the story, are some rough spots in the narrative itself. The story works best when it is unfolding the events, twining together its disparate plotlines; but it works least when it is explaining its world — especially when the explanations take the form of unnatural-sounding dialogue. In the end, the explanations are a distraction — either we suspend disbelief and accept the story’s reality, or we stop reading. Parts 12 through 19 spend a good deal of time explaining things, and are easily the weakest part of the story.
That all said, the things about the writing that detracted from it were relatively minor compared to the overall effect. As I said earlier, I quite enjoyed the piece, and I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who enjoys paranormal fantasy. And should that edit pass ever get done, I suspect I’ll be increasing my rating to match my recommendation.
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Most Helpful Member Reviews
A chill in time
A difficult narrative is handled with surprising skill by the author of this story. A combination ghost story, mystery, and period piece, it also encompasses multiple timelines. The number of issues brought up by the different epochs, such as language differences, scene descriptions, and in this case legal issues, are more than enough to bring a lesser writer to his/her knees. This author, however, does her research and just gets to work on the story itself, handling all the named issues with ease and dexterity.
And it is the story itself that carries the day. From chapter one the author makes you care about the lead character, Elizabeth, and that caring grows into affection quickly. You share her sadness and her loneliness, her loves and her quiet successes. The story is littered with other characters, all of which the author finds a way to make different and interesting, even some that are gone within a chapter that you wish you could hear from again.
At its core, Refuge of Delayed Souls is a ghost story, and a chilling one at that. In the very first chapter the following line worked very well at sending a tingle down my spine: "Elizabeth patted the Springer Spaniel that had just run up and placed a ball at her feet. Henry watched on as his daughter patted thin air."
The overall writing, though by no means poor at the start, certainly improves as the author gains control of all the puzzle pieces. By the later chapters, she is able to place them down and fit them in any way she wants and make it work.
The website itself is neat and appealing. Some may have difficulty with the single color motif, but I believe the different hues and tones work well together. When you first arrive at the site you will have the option to start with the last post, but it is easy to reach earliest posts. I found the character and chapter links helpful and key words (Like Elizabeth or 1967) allow the reader to go back and reread specific chapters easily. Refuge of Delayed Souls has clearly visible RSS subscription and Feedburner links. A lot of work has gone into look of the site and it feels very professional. There are also links to the next and previous chapters at the bottom of each chapter.
Chapters, or “Parts” are very short, usually no more than 500 words, and are easy to read. As of the writing of this review 73 chapters have been posted.
Refuge of Delayed Souls is a good story, told well, written cleanly, researched impeccably and presented professionally. So why do I not grant it five stars? Because it is not finished . . . Strike that - because it is not completed. There is something the author is trying to tell us, something that has not yet become clear to the reader and perhaps the author, and until this something is put to paper, it seems to me, the why of the story remains as untethered as one of Elizabeth’s apparitions.
This reviewer believes the author will get there.
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When all the puzzle pieces are together…
Summary: The story is about a young woman named Elizabeth and her special ability that gets a rather unique job at a rather unique place.
Likes: This story starts from the 1940’s and spans until 2007. Each decade ties into the next one and one never feels like one decade could be thrown out. Each of the storylines is a puzzle piece and the beautiful picture will not be complete if you simply throw a piece out. You never know when you may need the information from 1967 to make sense of what is going on in 2007 or what happened in 1938. It takes a while for these pieces to come together, but the writing is intriguing enough that I didn’t want to skip or skim ahead to see what happens later on. As of yet, there are around 75 chapters posted. I’m slowly making my way through the archive while there are no updates being posted at this time. I’m writing this review because I have read enough to get an impression on this story. The author has the skills to set up the premise of the story and get it where it needs to be. You can tell she hits her stride once the groundwork is laid out. The beginning is pretty descent, but when the author gets everything she wants the reader to know, the picture becomes clearer and the story is a really joy to read.
Dislikes: The only thing I dislike is that the table of contents doesn’t have chapter numbers. It’s a bit confusing to have to try to remember where I was when I last left off.
Overall: It takes a little while for all the pieces to come together, but when they do, it’s a great story about life after death.
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(No title)
i love the way the way this is written, the description of events and where the characters are, take you there, you are eager to know what happens next and then the next part takes you to another time, for a brief spell i want to stay where i am, and then i do not want to leave where i am now at, i highly recommend this, and will be returning for each installment.
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