Seven Story Publishing

1. Title: The Dark Side Trials: Short Stories by Daniel Avril
2. Author: Daniel Avril
3. Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy
4. Summary: Step into the minds of six individuals in each of their own stories as they’re thrust into situations that force them to reveal their true colors. Arranged in order of date written and spanning multiple genres like sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and modern fiction, each story tackles a different facet of the human mind. A troubled assassin decides whether to fully commit to a life of murder no matter the person, a young butler takes his chance to kickstart a party while his clients are away from home, a girl fights her fear of the dark while home alone, and an ambitious scientist attempts to unlock the key to immortality, among others in this riveting short story collection.
5. Publisher: Independently Published
6. Publication Date: April 16, 2024
7. Page Count: 37

General Review

1. Description and Imagery: It’s difficult to vividly describe certain aspects of a story in such little time. This author, however, does it masterfully as each scene has enough description to set the environment and world the character lives in but also leaves enough to the imagination for the reader to participate in making the story come to life.
2. Relatability of MC: The characters are presented as real people as each story plays like memories from specific and impactful moments in each character’s life.
3. Pacing: Pacing is tricky with short stories as the author must traverse vast spans of time with a limited amount of pages. The author must also make the reader feel like they are traveling through time with every page rather than just popping up from one place to the next. The author paces their stories well enough to elicit the former feeling within the reader with their immersive writing.
4. Perspective: The author uses first and third person perspectives throughout the collection. The stories remain consistent when it comes to pacing, brevity, description, etc. Each perspective gives the reader a different viewpoint which influences how the stories are perceived. In this department, the author does a great job with each point of view.
5. Vibe Check: I found this collection to be more my speed in terms of reading. It’s long enough to satisfy but short enough for me to finish it and get on with my day feeling accomplished by reading. The first story of the collection is a cool story and one I wouldn’t mind reading an expanded version of.

Personal Review

The short story, Vessilant, centers around a girl who had to kill her mother to save herself when she was nine. Since that evening, she’s been an assassin trained by someone named Black Serpent and sent on missions to kill high value targets. However, when it came to a specific target, she is reluctant to pull the trigger and nearly compromises the mission. In the end, it is revealed she has a close relationship with the target and must now decide whether to walk away from the life of an assassin or to keep going.

This short story was a fun read! I enjoyed it all the way through and the reveal at the end was well written and surprising. The author foreshadowed that surprise very well and kept me reading the story and wanting to know more.

The story also felt just right in terms of length and depth. Not too much was written but just enough to make it a mean and lean story which is difficult to find these days. Some short stories tend to be needlessly long while others are too short or leave a lot to be desired.

I would recommend this collection to anyone that likes Sci-fi/ Fantasy reads of the shorter variety with differing perspectives and scary surprises.

Rating: 4/5 stars

About Daniel Avril

Daniel Avril writes sci-fi and fantasy short stories, flash fiction, and novels brimming with intrigue. His fast-paced narratives serve as love letters to the many pieces of media he grew up with while attempting to ask “what if?” Relying on his intuition, Daniel explores a myriad of worlds in the shoes of the characters he creates, hoping to better understand both himself and the people around him.

Daniel has a BFA in Creative Writing from Full Sail University, bolstering his skills and exposing him to a nurturing community of authors. During his endeavors at Full Sail, Daniel has also experimented with other genres and formats. He’s collaborated with his peers to write a gripping webisode script, Hitman’s Race, drafted a story bible for the sprawling world of The King’s Syndicate, and published a full text-based interactive game, The Berserker.

Seeking to expand his repertoire of knowledge, Daniel is constantly scanning the entertainment industry for the newest ideas and innovations in writing. Beyond writing stories, Daniel manages a YouTube channel dedicated to live streaming, discussing the creative aspects of gaming, reviewing media, and mini character studies in entertainment.

Grab Your Copy On Amazon!

The Dark Side Trials (Short Stories by Daniel Avril): https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Trials-Stories-Daniel-ebook/dp/B0D1YDTDV7?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZTZVMxwWF6zmxy34dGdrmDsfT5ydaPAkqjnHserjc-c.UwE2CWNY2a_MU59l-TvSmWCGuW1MgZtd9tFsFpFmusE&dib_tag=AUTHOR