REVIEW: Light a Candle for the Beast by Echo Shea

If you’ve ever been caught in a riptide, pulled down into the water, then you know me. Or, more accurately, what
 
Delia was beautiful, smart, and kind. He wasn’t. He said he loved her, but he didn’t know what love was. He was manipulative and cruel—more than a thief. A beast.
 
All she wanted was a rose…
 
These are the words on my sister’s grave. Her sadness, her obsession, forever a reminder I didn’t--couldn’t save her.
 
I’m not vindictive or cruel. I’m simply as the river--my memory is winding and my reach is long. I watched him steal her beauty, her essence. Watched him become a beast. He thought he'd get away with it, thought he'd go free.
 
I lay a rose upon my sister's grave.
 
Light a candle for the beast.

I’m like when I’m angry.




 
Purchase Links: 
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Candle-Beast-Echo-Shea-ebook/dp/B00Q0FO550
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/light-a-candle-for-the-beast-echo-shea/1120812975?ean=2940150731523

REVIEW

 

Rating: 3.5 Stars

  

Eden’s sister, Delia was a victim of love for the wrong man.  Andrew was possessive, cruel, violent, and intolerant, and finally, in 1734, Delia died.  But Eden, unlike her sister, was a Naiad, goddess-touched so she could live on land, and using her own special strengths, she took revenge, condemning Andrew to a cage in the land of the dead, transformed to a beast, a never-ending punishment.

But now, over 200 years later, Delia wants his punishment to end.  She loved Andrew, after all, and she is in pain knowing of his agony, so she is doing everything she can to make Eden forgive him.  After all, vengeance doesn’t just punish the guilty; Delia can’t rest while he suffers, and Eden herself is damned, if only from the memories, from knowing that she hadn’t been able to save her sister.  But she does not believe in forgiveness.

And this is the theme of this tightly-written short story: revenge punishes everyone, and no one can be freed from that punishment until the guilty is forgiven.  ‘Light a Candle for the Beast’ is an interesting recreation of Greek mythology, only 23 pages long but still a complete story.  Yes, there were times I would have liked a few more details, perhaps more description or characterization, but I also respect Echo Shea’s ability to tell a complete story without stretching anything out, accepting that her readers have their own knowledge and imagination.

Although I did enjoy reading this story, I still had a few questions I would have liked answered, so I rate it 3.5 stars.  Still, I recommend it to anyone who enjoys delving into Greek myth. If you’ve studied any of these legends, you are quite likely to have a few interesting dreams after you finish the story.

I’m grateful for the reviewer’s copy I was given.

 

REVIEWED BY: Roberta