Blind Devotion – A Tale of the Van Meter Visitor
Blind Devotion – A Tale of the Van Meter Visitor by Ty Drago
Synopsis:
In the hidden corners of our world lurk cryptids—obscure creatures long dismissed as myth, yet occasionally glimpsed and even photographed, their existence defying scientific proof. Part of the acclaimed Systema Paradoxa series championing such enigmatic beings, Ty Drago’s novella introduces Hank, a reclusive man harboring a profound secret in his secluded hideaway. When young Alex unexpectedly seeks his aid one fateful night, accompanied by her extraordinary “pet”—a surviving remnant tied to the infamous 1903 Van Meter Visitor sightings—she upends his solitary life.
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Review
I enjoyed a previous installment from the Systema Paradoxa series. A different author takes a different cryptid and puts their own spin with their own standalone story. This review will stand on its own and not be a commentary on the entire series. I hadn’t heard of the Van Meter Visitor before so halfway through the story, I felt I was at a good place to dig into the real story and see what the author was drawing from.
Within Ty Drago’s story, he borrows heavily from the actual events and inserts several POV characters. A previous story took the concepts of Goatman and put a murder mystery spin on it. So, this was a neat story to undertake. However, where the story rises and falls is on the characters. Hank, son of the town’s drunk, is friend’s with blind girl, Alexandra. Alexandra is teaching him how to be an author and write stories and Hank gives her time away from her overbearing aunt. As characters of the story that interact within the cryptid story they are fine. Some revelation about certain characters pretty much work within the story explanation. What tends to not work are their believability. Hank being an author seems almost like a self-insert of the author here, but Hank never shows any preclivities to being intelligent, writing anything, or being someone who stands out for Alexandra to choose to focus on him. Half of the story is finished by the time you get to the cryptid portion and it meanders for too long without doing much with the characters. Not to get into spoilers, the storyline does have a few interesting explanations within the real story, but the naming of the cryptid and some of the relationship forming is eye-rolling. It was nice to see that some of the townsfolk aren’t written like backwater hillbillies who just hate everyone for no reason, but some of them do without reason. Overall, it’s not a terrible story with some good work on including elements of the real cryptid story but not an overly exciting one.
Final Grade
C+
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