(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Lost in the Seven Worlds is the debut work of Petronela Ungureanu, an avante-garde Romanian writer.

When a young woman finds herself captive in another world, she makes the mistake of falling for one of the disgraced beings. In the name of love, she is confronted with a most disturbing demand and faces a crucial decision. Will she remain lost in the Seven Worlds, or will she accept the challenge of a love beyond mortality?

[Full disclosure: I was given a free ebook copy of this short story by the author in exchange for an honest review.]

Petronela Ungureanu has one of the more beautiful, unique writing styles that I’ve encountered of late.  It’s wonderfully descriptive in an old-fashioned sort of way and you really feel like you’re immersed in her fantasy world.  In a longer piece than Lost in the Seven Worlds it would drag down the plot, but in a short story it just enhances the world she’s created.

From what little I could gather the world-building in this story is much more complex than could be contained in a short story.  I would love to learn more about the Daevas and their customs but short stories are, well, just too short.  The details that were included were all relevant to the story and were interesting but there just weren’t enough to make a fully realized world.

This is a great short story, it truly is.  The only problem is the story itself is far too complex for the medium.  In all honesty, this would be a great novel.  However, I have to judge it based on its format.  And the truth is, Lost in the Seven Worlds was more than a little confusing, especially at the end.  There was a huge twist at the end and although I read the story through a couple of times I still don’t understand it.  It’s nice to end on a bit of a cliffhanger but readers have to also understand what’s going on.

Overall, I think this short story was decent.  It’s just that the ending was a little too rushed.

I give this short story 3.5/5 stars.

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