THE CONQUEROR BY GENTILE CONSTANCE KAMPIRE.

GENRE: FLASH FICTION TITLE: THE CONQUEROR WRITER: GENTILE CONSTANCE KAMPIRE, RWANDA REVIEWER: AKINRINADE FUNMINIYI ISAAC, NIGERIA

“The scars all over her body and the pain she couldn't endure like a thundering sword in her chest…”

As it is evident in the opening line, one can see the main character’s pain boldly written on each word and like the mene mene tekel upharsin; her pains are numbered, he weighs nothing in the league of gentlemen and hence, his husbandship is shattered. Who's she? & Who's he?

The Conqueror is the story of zillions of women out there who suffer from domestic violence/abuse/pain instilled on them by animals in men clothing. No one deserves this excruciating pain and trauma and this must have triggered the writer to write about this dilemma in order to save those in the main character’s shoe before they die in/of silence.

The writer uses the third person POV to tell her revolutionary story. Though a good move, but then the supposed flash fiction appears preachy from the middle to the end. This quite water down the flashy and brief nature of flash fiction. The story’s preachiness also gives away the twist. From the middle, one clearly knows where the story is heading to or how it will end. I will suggest that the writer should dig deeper into the art of flash fiction writing in order to fully unravel/grasp the mysteries surrounding it.

It takes only the brave hearted to write and I must really commend the writer’s effort and creative mind to address the theme of revolution from this stance. It indeed stands out from all the published entries. A few polishing here and there would have fully brought out the juiciness in the flash fiction. Nonetheless, it is a good write which I believe can get better.