Review of Pacing in Blackwater by Jeanette Arroyo and Ren Graham

Although this is a graphic novel, pacing is still an important element regardless of medium, and this book is an example of when pacing is handled so poorly it’s almost spectacular.

This novel felt more like a one-shot than an actual published book and could’ve been improved by either making it longer or stretching the story out over multiple volumes. Reading it felt like I was starting on the third volume in a series without knowing anything about the other two, and information would be randomly revealed in a way that just felt like it was pushed in there for fun.

If the main story is about a werewolf, why does one of the protagonists randomly reveal he can see ghosts halfway through with no allusions beforehand?

On another point, the two ‘love interests’ seemed to hate each other’s guts for most of the book, with one of them even going as far as to put the other in a life-threatening situation by stealing his inhaler. And yet despite this, they both end up in love by the end of the book, with their feelings seemingly switching out of nowhere.

My belief may be controversial because I think longer stories with slow pacing are perfectly acceptable, but the opposite can be infuriating and unsatisfying to read. The book had an interesting premise, but the authors needed more time and space to develop the plot further, and I’m sad that it turned into such a disappointing read.