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“kRaveings: A Spirited Meeting”
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“And so began years of criminal schemes mixed in with drug fueled cyberpunk benders.”
Ah, memories… but now Kraven is a reformed supervillain, struggling with the idea of living out the rest of his days as an irrelevant has-been. Drugs, parties, and world domination have been replaced with fast food and mixing dubstep tracks for the internet junkies. What else is a man with veins coursing with nanobots and tendril-like telepathic Cyberlox to do with himself? Go for a walk in Haven Park of course! A strange encounter with a girl who was almost mugged in a nearby cemetery shows Kraven that there is more is in store for him than just another walk in the park.
Ah, memories… but now Kraven is a reformed supervillain, struggling with the idea of living out the rest of his days as an irrelevant has-been. Drugs, parties, and world domination have been replaced with fast food and mixing dubstep tracks for the internet junkies. What else is a man with veins coursing with nanobots and tendril-like telepathic Cyberlox to do with himself? Go for a walk in Haven Park of course! A strange encounter with a girl who was almost mugged in a nearby cemetery shows Kraven that there is more is in store for him than just another walk in the park.
Readability
“kRaveings: A Spirited Meeting” has a simple storyline. For a short story format Tsukino manages to develop a backstory for the main character, introduce a support character, and still provide some action (albeit brief). The pace felt a bit slow for a short story. The story moved more like the opening chapters of a novel rather than a standalone. There are more short stories featuring Kraven so I assume the stories are meant to read like standalones that contribute towards an ongoing saga.
Creativity
I like the way Kraven’s character garnered his special abilities, and how he utilized his dreadlocks or Cyberlox as his means of telepathically interacting with his surroundings. I’m giving a point for originality just on that alone. The symbolism tied into the Mirakoshi’s supernatural character works well as a complimentary sidekick to support Kraven and his apathetic tendencies. The Star was clearly just a superman cliché, but judging by the way Kraven and Mirakoshi are so quick to acquiesce to him in the end, and although it isn’t explained in this story, I’m thinking maybe there is more to The Star than simply being the spaceman apex hero of Coldwater. Coldwater is the rundown industrial city in which the story takes place, and Tsukino does a good job at incorporating bits and pieces of metaphor to describe aven's surroundings. The wording blends in with kRaven's character, and makes him appear as though he is just another byproduct of a once booming economy that is now “fading in glory”. I wasn’t impressed by the lack of effort put into introducing how kRaven used his abilities within the story.
Delivery
A little more than a quarter of the story’s content seems to revolve around kRaven’s mood swings of nostalgia and self-pity. It wasn’t horrible, but all the self-reflection made for a slow start leading up to about the halfway point of the story, where there was finally some action. This is a story with super heroes/villains in it, and only has two brief action scenes! There really wasn’t a lot of conflict either, and for what little action there was - the tension within was weak. I assume that this short story was probably meant as more of an introduction to the some characters and building a universe, but I would have liked a little more material. It read more like an incomplete novella. With that said, I was intrigued by the characters, and their creativity offers a lot in terms of creative potential. It’s too bad I didn’t get a little piece of that kRaven vs The Star flashback instead of pages of depressing rumination. “The Star showed up, and they had an epic drawn out battle, one of the few times they went head to head.” (This is what I, the reader, wanted from a super hero/villain story!)
“kRaveings: A Spirited Meeting” has a simple storyline. For a short story format Tsukino manages to develop a backstory for the main character, introduce a support character, and still provide some action (albeit brief). The pace felt a bit slow for a short story. The story moved more like the opening chapters of a novel rather than a standalone. There are more short stories featuring Kraven so I assume the stories are meant to read like standalones that contribute towards an ongoing saga.
Creativity
I like the way Kraven’s character garnered his special abilities, and how he utilized his dreadlocks or Cyberlox as his means of telepathically interacting with his surroundings. I’m giving a point for originality just on that alone. The symbolism tied into the Mirakoshi’s supernatural character works well as a complimentary sidekick to support Kraven and his apathetic tendencies. The Star was clearly just a superman cliché, but judging by the way Kraven and Mirakoshi are so quick to acquiesce to him in the end, and although it isn’t explained in this story, I’m thinking maybe there is more to The Star than simply being the spaceman apex hero of Coldwater. Coldwater is the rundown industrial city in which the story takes place, and Tsukino does a good job at incorporating bits and pieces of metaphor to describe aven's surroundings. The wording blends in with kRaven's character, and makes him appear as though he is just another byproduct of a once booming economy that is now “fading in glory”. I wasn’t impressed by the lack of effort put into introducing how kRaven used his abilities within the story.
Delivery
A little more than a quarter of the story’s content seems to revolve around kRaven’s mood swings of nostalgia and self-pity. It wasn’t horrible, but all the self-reflection made for a slow start leading up to about the halfway point of the story, where there was finally some action. This is a story with super heroes/villains in it, and only has two brief action scenes! There really wasn’t a lot of conflict either, and for what little action there was - the tension within was weak. I assume that this short story was probably meant as more of an introduction to the some characters and building a universe, but I would have liked a little more material. It read more like an incomplete novella. With that said, I was intrigued by the characters, and their creativity offers a lot in terms of creative potential. It’s too bad I didn’t get a little piece of that kRaven vs The Star flashback instead of pages of depressing rumination. “The Star showed up, and they had an epic drawn out battle, one of the few times they went head to head.” (This is what I, the reader, wanted from a super hero/villain story!)
#LFLR Indie Rating: 5/10
Tsukino has crafted some creative new super characters with a twist of urban related darkness that I think works surprisingly well. I say surprising, because I am not one to get into comic book style caricatures in literature. I think there was ample effort to bring the MC of “kRaveings: A Spirited Meeting” down to earth, and had me wanting to see what he was really capable of! The cover art does not do this story any justice in my opinion, because I think the story reflects something that a fan of gritty comics could appreciate. Tsukino has written four other stories in the kRaven universe, and two separate distinct works.
Tsukino has crafted some creative new super characters with a twist of urban related darkness that I think works surprisingly well. I say surprising, because I am not one to get into comic book style caricatures in literature. I think there was ample effort to bring the MC of “kRaveings: A Spirited Meeting” down to earth, and had me wanting to see what he was really capable of! The cover art does not do this story any justice in my opinion, because I think the story reflects something that a fan of gritty comics could appreciate. Tsukino has written four other stories in the kRaven universe, and two separate distinct works.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
