Review: Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire

 

Title: Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day

Author: Seanan McGuire

Published by: Tor

 Released:

Source: Library

 

Synopsis: When her sister Patty died, Jenna blamed herself. When Jenna died, she blamed herself for that, too. Unfortunately Jenna died too soon. Living or dead, every soul is promised a certain amount of time, and when Jenna passed she found a heavy debt of time in her record. Unwilling to simply steal that time from the living, Jenna earns every day she leeches with volunteer work at a suicide prevention hotline.

But something has come for the ghosts of New York, something beyond reason, beyond death, beyond hope; something that can bind ghosts to mirrors and make them do its bidding. Only Jenna stands in its way.

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day is a new standalone urban fantasy novella from New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire.  (Synopsis from Goodreads)

 

My Thoughts: This was okay. I'm not sure if I'm the biggest fan of the novella format when it comes to stories. It just feels like the story is over right when it's getting started, which is what I felt with Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day. There's this sense of not being all the way satisfied because it's just too short.
The world presented in this was interesting, but a little on the complicated side. More than half of this novella is spent explaining how time for the ghosts work, how the witches come into play and the rules about them, plus the relationship between witches and ghosts. It takes a little bit to wrap one's mind around.

Jenna is working at a suicide hotline to earn her time when she can move on, which was a noble cause. There could be triggers for suicide in this, but it's more of a feeling for the people left behind. That feeling of loss that comes with losing someone who chose to leave. 

The first chapter of this book, the backstory, was just a weird little thing. Jenna's death was kind of ridiculous in a way. It was just very odd.

The second half of the book is what I was excited for. I was ready to get into the meat of the story, the action, but it was over as soon as it began. It was so abrupt that I didn't really feel satisfied. The story did have a definite ending for Jenna though, so I'm not really left wondering what happens next.

I don't know, I liked this well enough, but I was hoping for something a little more too. This could have been a whole book and I probably would have been more satisfied. It's a fast read, a quick one, so if it sounds interesting to you, I'd say read it.

 

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.4/5

Over right when it was just starting.