Official Review: Yellow Beard & The Curse Of The Bloo...

Kendra M Parker · Post by **Kendra M Parker** » 21 Mar 2019, 12:19

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Yellow Beard & The Curse Of The Bloodline" by Lawrence V Webster.]

1 out of 4 stars

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Yellow Beard & the Curse of the Bloodline by Lawrence V. Webster functions as a collection of short stories involving an incredibly powerful ghost named Yellow Beard. During the time of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, a young Cherokee man called Yellow Beard and his true love died moments apart and in each other’s arms. Upon his death, Yellow Beard’s ancestors granted him immense superpowers with which he could pursue those responsible for the atrocities committed against the Cherokee people. Yellow Beard has bided his time and now begins to exact revenge upon those descendants of the bloodline that perpetrated the Trail of Tears.

Each Yellow Beard story attempts to explore human nature, particularly when confronted with both the supernatural and ancestral guilt. These stories act as a social commentary on some element of modern culture. Webster takes the time to give a snapshot of the characters in each story before they have the opportunity to meet Yellow Beard. When Yellow Beard finally confronts each character with their fate, characters respond in a variety of ways. Some respond with fear, others anger, and some even respond with calm acceptance.

I found Webster’s snapshots to be far more entertaining than the interactions with Yellow Beard. Some of the stories even involved some thinly veiled pop-culture icons such as the Kardashians and Stan Lee. These stories were some of the more entertaining stories for me. Once Yellow Beard appears on the scene, though, I found most of the stories quickly devolved into blood and gore with very little sense or believability. Many interactions between Yellow Beard and the characters felt forced or unrealistic. Yellow Beard also tends to have extensive monologues in each story, which felt overdone and somewhat heavy-handed.

Webster grouped his stories into parts, attempting to create a story arc and develop Yellow Beard throughout the course of the book. I felt that Webster’s efforts were only moderately successful. While Yellow Beard did change slightly, I did not think it was quite enough to feel like the book worked as anything more than a series of gruesome ghost stories.

When it comes down to the technical aspects of this book, I found it to be poorly edited with significant grammar issues. Not only were there issues with punctuation, but I found poor grammar that included incorrect verb conjugations and issues with subject-verb agreement. These errors actually made it difficult to read the book at times. It became necessary for me to go back through several times and re-read passages so that I could better understand what the author meant to say.

Lawrence V. Webster had an interesting idea with his Yellow Beard character, but the execution needs some work. The overall story arc needs more cohesion and a better sense of resolution. Characters need to become more believable. This book would also benefit from the author allowing his stories to be more varied in their construction. With these considerations in mind, I give this book 1 out of 4 stars. I would recommend this book only to readers that want a series of gruesome ghost stories to tell around a campfire.

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Yellow Beard & The Curse Of The Bloodline
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Post by **kandscreeley** » 27 Mar 2019, 07:55

It's too bad that the Yellow Beard stories weren't developed better. It kind of seems like the author just wanted a chance to get a whole bunch of violence in there without really creating a story. I think I'll pass on these. Hopefully the author can take some of your criticisms and make the stories better.

Kendra M Parker · Post by **Kendra M Parker** » 27 Mar 2019, 08:21

kandscreeley wrote: ↑27 Mar 2019, 07:55 It's too bad that the Yellow Beard stories weren't developed better. It kind of seems like the author just wanted a chance to get a whole bunch of violence in there without really creating a story. I think I'll pass on these. Hopefully the author can take some of your criticisms and make the stories better.

I agree. I was disappointed in these stories, too. So many times I felt like I was simply reading a collection of campfire stories. They work well in that regard, but I got the impression that the author was reaching for something a bit more.

Prisallen · Post by **Prisallen** » 27 Mar 2019, 09:01

It's a shame that the stories were so gruesome and unbelievable, as well as the editing was not up to the level it should be. I think I will skip this one. Thanks for the review!

chiefsimplex · Post by **chiefsimplex** » 27 Mar 2019, 10:08

The premise was so promising ,vengeance and justice seeking sound interesting.Sadly the author could not retain some moderation.Thanks for sharing.

Crazyreader01 · Post by **Crazyreader01** » 27 Mar 2019, 13:53

I got really excited when I read the first few paragraphs of your review, but then you started pointing out everything wrong with the book and I just deflated like a balloon. It sounded so promising! Thanks for the review though.

Bianka Walter · Post by **Bianka Walter** » 28 Mar 2019, 04:51

This is super disappointing!
Such a cool premise, such a letdown.
Great review though

kdstrack · Post by **kdstrack** » 28 Mar 2019, 10:40

The stories about the Cherokee people and the Trail of Tears really had me intrigued. So sad that the premise does not live up to its promise. Thanks for your insightful review.

Juliana_Isabella · Post by **Juliana_Isabella** » 28 Mar 2019, 14:44

Thanks for the review. It sounds like a good storyline that devolved into a gory ghost story.

Adedayo+23 · Post by **Adedayo+23** » 29 Mar 2019, 14:03

Was captivated by the premise. Sounds like the author had the right idea but ended up with a lukewarm execution, especially in the writing of the ways Yellow Beard exacted his revenge. Great job on the review.

gen_g · Post by **gen_g** » 31 Mar 2019, 01:06

It's such a shame that these stories fell short - development, especially in horror stories, are rather important. Thanks for the review!

writingShannon · Post by **writingShannon** » 04 Apr 2019, 15:39

That's too bad! It sounds like a lot of effort on the writer's part, that didn't quite come together.

Amy+++ · Post by **Amy+++** » 17 May 2020, 08:01

This is a book that I can get into. I can't to read more.

Tonika632 · Post by **Tonika632** » 17 May 2020, 08:09

I think that the author probably got lost and overwhelmed while writing this book so the stories weren't developed as we expected. I personally don't like ghost stories so I'll pass this one.

Elizabeth Pass · Post by **Elizabeth Pass** » 17 May 2020, 08:16

This book didn't sound particularly my style to begin with. It's a collection of ghost-revenge short stories. Yellow Beard has an interesting back story, but it's just not for me. But add in all the shortcomings and I wouldn't even recommend it to others. Sorry.