Book Previews

Written by Karlissa J

Did you know I posted previews of my first four books to my blog? It was a long time ago, so I thought I’d repost the links here!

Click on each of the books to read the first few pages!

Book Review Black Mists

Black Mists is the black sheep of my books. My second published work, it’s a ‘real world’ story, instead of a fantasy. It’s also my darkest book, better suited for adults than youth.

I previously called Black Mists a mystery, but upon revisiting it, I’d say it’s more of a thriller. It’s actually three or four stories combined into one. It features fast-paced action and a thrilling writing style, with many surprises along the way. Characters are unique, and can be quite colourful.

However, I do have several problems with this book. I feel like I’m a different person now than when I wrote Black Mists, with different life experiences affecting my perspective of it.

Black Mists is something… Bizarre. Complex. And fast-paced. And if that’s your type of book, it could be worth giving a read.

As a warning, the rest of this book review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. I know many prefer not to read spoilers before they’ve read a book: this is your warning!

Like I said, I do have some problems with Black Mists, and new life experiences that change how I see the book today.

Since I wrote the story – about six years ago – I’ve actually been in a situation where a hospital had to find me a place to spend the night. With that experience, I would write the first scene with “Julia” at the hospital a bit differently!

I’ve also been to mental health appointments, and learned a bit more about psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia and how they are diagnosed. Revisiting how I approached the topic of mental illness in Black Mists, it seems shallow and half-hazard, lacking much focus or education. There is sympathy towards Nika and her situation, but I believe I could do better at writing those scenes today than I did back then.

And since publishing Black Mists, I’ve been to London again, refreshing my memory of this beautiful city. My descriptions of it would be more in-depth now.

Regardless of my problems with the book, it was a big part of my writing journey. I had a surprising amount of memories floating through my mind while reading it… which seems appropriate for a story about remembering.