Cayli Reviews: The Visitor by J.L. Pattison

10/10

This was a very thought-out piece. Very creative!

I absolutely loved how the story wasn’t focused on what happened exactly when Blair went back in time. It made me think that him coming back to the past wasn’t really the main idea, but an event that started the plot. All it gave to the readers was that Blair went back in time, got the date and place wrong, and handed off the letter. I thought that was an excellent way to go for a short story. Not taking too much time on something that isn’t really worth it. Instead, this story focused on the conversations when passing on the information.

Speaking of the conversations, I found it more believable that the reactions of Theodore Quade were actually realistic. To move a plot along faster, an author (I raise my hand because I’ve done this) would make the character jump ahead in their development, believing something that isn’t very easy to believe. What happened in this story, Theo nor Quade believed that there was an actual time-traveler that predicted the future until it was played out in front of them. That showed a lot of realistic decisions. It really made the whole story a lot better.

As a reader, I was genuinely entertained reading this. The plot was interesting along with the history that went along with it. I enjoyed the writing style as well. Some styles of writing can be a little off, like how often they use dialogue for instance; it will throw me off if I can’t get into the flow of the story. Although, this story had me hooked from the very beginning and I could visualize everything so clearly in my head.

Final thoughts? EPIC. AWESOME. LOVED IT. Keep on writing, Pattison!