Reviewed by Kate

There are a lot of things going on in Akinowa and Meri. A past-life regression, a life story, a love story, a tragedy, and some beautiful descriptive passages.

Too many things for a short story. The narrative is rushed by the short format, ellipses and dashes are used to compress the story and mimic speech, but I think the whole thing would be better as a novel. The author delineates the life of Akinowa in his voice, which is also the voice of the narrator who is undergoing hypnotic regression. It seems to me that the life story would be better told as it started out, as a series of real-time vignettes, rather than something tied to chronology and requiring many "and then" constructions.

I see potential here. Lots of it. For a romance novel, with strong characters and great background detail. I'd read the whole thing in one sitting, I think. But for now, read the short story and enjoy the trip into another time...