All Lips Turn Blue (Chapter 2 - 6) by Nyhterides    

Reviewed by AmyMarieZ

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Overview: All Lips Turn Blue is a thrilling and poetic gothic horror story. Featuring a cast of paranormals such as vampires and werewolves, the eerie atmosphere and sinister characters create a chilling setting. With a dark plot, even darker characters, and adult themes such as abuse, this story certainly isn't a light hearted read, but for someone looking for something that will chill them both with beautiful prose and horror, its gothic charms may be just the thing.

Structure: The structure of this story stood out to me, both in the way the text itself is presented, and the style of the narration. The story uses both first person and third person past tense narration, which is done in a very controlled and effective way. The third person is used to show scenes in which the main protagonist Eden is not in, which adds much more depth and darkness to the story as a whole. I felt like the distinct voices of each of the different POV characters came across strongly. The were well defined and set apart from each other, yet at the same time, the overall tone of the piece remained consistent, giving the story a cohesive feel across all chapters.

Grammar: In general, the grammar in All Lips Turn Blue was consistent and well done. There were no recurring grammatical errors that were distracting enough to deter from the story in any way. I noticed a few small typos, but other than that the story feels very polished.

Pace: The pace of this story is fairly slow overall, but it works well with the style. Since the story follows many different characters, the first couple of chapters are primarily spent introducing each of the characters, their situations, and possible conflicts for the story moving forward. So far, it seems like the main plot development is occurring during the chapters in Eden's POV. The chapters in the other characters POV are interesting and pull me in, but they don't seem to be pushing the main plot of the story forward as much as Eden's chapters do. To me, it seems like this is necessary for the type of story this is. First, the reader needs to get an idea of what things are like before everything changes. I feel like as the story progresses, Eden coming to town will be the event that will influence the other character's storylines to take off as well.

Character Development: The characters in All Lips Turn Blue are one of my favorite things about the story so far. Each of the characters are unique and stand out as dramatic and larger than life. Even though many characters are introduced in the first set of chapters of the story, I found all of them extremely memorable. Often times, when so many characters are introduced so quickly I lose track of them, but that was not at all the case here.

Some of the characters are disgustingly evil, while some are more dark and mysterious. Even the protagonists of this story seem to have a lot of darkness to them, and with some of the characters I'm really not quite sure if they are good or bad yet. The morally ambiguous nature of the characters adds to their interest and depth! I'll use this section to provide my thoughts on a few of the main characters I've been introduced to so far.

EDEN: Eden shines in this story as the obvious protagonist, although even she seems to have some darkness to her. Her struggle to find out about her father feels very real, and the pain she experiences while reading the letter hits hard and makes me feel for the character. I felt like the scene where she found her mother dead was also a very emotionally striking scene, although I thought a bit more time could have been spent at the beginning of the scene to develop it even more.

The fact that she is experiencing hallucinations and perhaps sleepwalking makes her a curious character, although at times it does make the scenes from her POV a bit confusing. However, at one level, this puts the reader into the mindset of the character even more, so it makes the narration even more immersive. There is definitely something going on with her that makes me want to know more of her story.

COOPER: Cooper is a character I really sympathize for. Although I was a bit unsure what his place in the bar was and whether he worked there or not, I could see he at least had a connection to the others there. He seems like a character that is very down on himself and confused. As we learn later, his struggles probably have to do with the fact that he is a new vampire and still coming to terms with what he is. Additionally, it seems like he is a victim of abuse from some of the other vampires in the story. They seem to treat him as a punching bag for when they are bored.

His character comes across strongly to me, and he is possibly the most sympathetic character in my opinion, although I do feel strongly for Eden and her struggle as well.

JEB: Jeb makes a good balance with the rest of the characters, and not just because he is a werewolf when the others are vampires. It seems like he has had an entire separate life, but has been dragged into this story as a victim of Sebastian. Now, he is full of rage. I don't sympathize with him as much as some of the other characters because I feel like I don't know him as well yet. His mind seems somewhat lost, but through his anger and the way he acts, he becomes an intense character, and my guess is as the story develops I'll learn even more about him.

COVA: Cova is one of those characters that is just 100% evil. From her backstory, it seems like she was born evil, and then after she turned into a vampire, that fed the fire and amplified that evil even more. Her relationship with Sebastian is interesting. I really liked getting to see the flashback of when they first met in the jail. It was interesting to see how different Sebastian was then, but how Cova really wasn't that different. The way she scares him about what is going to happen when they are killed, knowing that the same thing is going to happen to her, showed how deranged and probably insane she is.

SEBASTIAN: I felt like Sebastian was the character I got the least amount of development on in these chapters. I liked the scene he was in with Cova, and as I mentioned previously it was interesting to see how much he has changed since when he was a human. His obsession with Jeb is odd, but I'm not sure if I've read enough chapters with Sebastian in them to gauge him as a character as well as the other characters yet.

Description/Style: My other favorite thing about this story so far is the description and writing style. The narration is dark, beautiful, and poetic. The words jump off the page and develop a deep, eerie atmosphere that carries through the entire story. The style is distinct and feels very intentional, and it works beautifully.

Plot: To me, it seems like the main plot of the story is a bit distant in the first few chapters, but it is not at all a bad thing. The main plot is introduced through Eden coming to Baton Rogue to find her father. However, with such a broad and diverse cast of characters, it seems like a large amount of the content in the first set of chapters serves the purpose of introducing characters and their situations. I think it is very effective in this story to set it up this way. The reason why I think it works well is because, although there isn't an overt and direct link between all of the characters and the main plot, as a reader I can see how everything will start to weave together, and these introductions get me excited for the story to come. Not to mention the events in each of the chapters are exciting, dark and really atmospheric which makes them hooking!

For the purpose of this review, I'll go through each of the chapters individually and give my thoughts.

2-(Im)mortals: I'm not sure I'll be able to stress enough how much I love this chapter as an opening to the story. The chapter begins with a dark but beautiful poem, which actually becomes a visual part of the scene when the reader is informed that the main character Eden is reading a piece of graffiti. The amount of atmosphere this opening developed was just astounding, and it immediately had me hooked. From there, we get a bit more scene setting, and then we are shown a brief and mysterious conversation between Eden and a woman in a black van. Although it is very brief and not too much happens, this chapter does exactly what is supposed to. It makes me curious about what is going on, how Eden has gotten into this situation, and what she is going to do next.

As far as constructive criticism for this chapter, I don't have much. I think it is pretty much perfect. If anything, since it is so brief, I think an idea could be included one more specific detail to give just a bit more of a visual right at the beginning of the scene, perhaps after the graffiti but before the van pulls up.

I also wanted to say that this chapter had one of my favorite lines, although I'm not sure why I liked it so much. "3 AM crawled before me." It just seems so iconic and atmospheric and it gives me chills each time I read it!

3-Delirium: The next chapter of the story is also in Eden's POV. The narration in this chapter is just as poetic and beautiful as the previous.

The chapter begins by showing how Eden is struggling mentally with her past, specifically the memories of her mother's death, and how it affects her now. She seems very tormented in this chapter.

One thought I had about the introduction of the flashback of her mother's death was that right at the beginning, Eden mentioned that her mother died. I thought it might have increased the suspense a bit to draw out the beginning of the memory more with a few more details and not inform the reader of what is about to happen so it will come as a shock, having the reader's emotions match Eden's.

During the flashback, Eden encounters the vampire who killed her mother and must fight her off. This works really well for plot development because it gives the reader a good idea about what Eden's motivations are. My thoughts on this part were that I thought the action sequences could have been expanded slightly. It seems like some of the fight with the vampire is summarized, while some of it is written out action by action. All of the action sequences are fantastic and kept me on the edge of my seat, and I would have loved to see the entire scene presented to that intensity and level of detail. I don't think it would make the pace of the story too slow to expand slightly.

Next, Eden wakes up in a hotel room and eventually makes her way to a church where she speaks with a priest there. This part of the chapter is slightly confusing because Eden is beginning to hallucinate here and her location seems to jump from place to place. First, she gets out of bed in the hotel and goes onto the streets, but then somehow she is back in the hotel and gets up again only to wake up after passing out. I couldn't quite visualize the scene because I wasn't sure what was going on. I think the mood could be maintained and a lot of the confusion would be omitted if the last paragraph of the first scene break ("As I sat on the bed of the dingy motel, on God-knows-where street...") was simply removed. I think the action might flow smoothly if Eden didn't end up back in the hotel room again right before she ends up out of the hotel room.

The main plot development that occurs in this chapter is finding out the backstory of the main character Eden. We get to see what her drives are in the story through the presentation of her backstory. Additionally, by showing the interaction with the priest, we also get to see how dark and sinister things for her are.

4-Purge: The main purpose of this chapter seems to be introducing the characters Jeb and Cooper. I thought it was very effective and memorable to include a few striking paragraphs in Jeb's POV before switching to Cooper's for the rest of the chapter.

5-Paramour: As with the previous chapter, the main purpose of this chapter seems to be introducing the characters Cova and Sebastian, as well as providing more background about Jeb who was only briefly introduced in the previous chapter.

However, I felt like this chapter did build up a lot of tension and suspense, although at this point it does not seem to be directly related to the main character Eden and her struggle. This chapter ties together the characters Cova and Sebastian with Jeb and Cooper, showing how the dynamics of their "relationships" work. I felt like seeing how the different characters are connected in the story helped to pull things together and make the story feel more cohesive. At this point, the story feels like I am getting a glimpse into the lives of the characters right before things will start to go crazy when the main plot really takes off.

6-Sinners: This chapter picks up with the plot where chapter three left off, and we get to find out more about Eden's situation. The chapter opens with haunting and breathtaking descriptions of Eden sitting in the cemetery outside the church she went to in chapter 3. In this chapter, more context about her past and why she is coming to Baton Rogue is provided when she reads a letter from the father she never knew. She knows he lives in Baton Rogue and is looking for him.

On the surface, this chapter has some solid plot development because it strengthens the reader's connection with Eden and her objectives and goals. However, I feel like some of the more powerful parts of this chapter are just the raw emotions it presents. Eden's misery and sadness is shown profoundly, realistically, and relatably. Even though she is an adult now, not ever having a father growing up is something that still affects and hurts her. The chapter really pulled at my emotions and made me feel for the character.

Another interesting thing about this chapter was how Eden's thought process is shown at the end while she is hallucinating. It seems what Eden is going through is causing her to struggle mentally, inducing hallucinations. The visions are presented in a detached and almost chaotic way. It is a bit overwhelming and confusing to read, but in a way it works really well because it puts the reader into a similar mindset to the character. However, at the same time, it also makes it slightly difficult to picture where the character is in the scene.

Summary: What impressed me the most about this story was the narrative voice. Although the POV switches from chapter to chapter, the descriptions and atmosphere stay constant and strong throughout, developing a fully immersive and dark atmosphere. The plot is certainly building up to be a thrilling and hooking story!