Great concept but woefully under-cooked, judged plainly without any context, Graveyard Shift feels like a publisher's cash grab, rushing something out the door to take advantage of the resurgence of If We Were Villains on social media.

Which is a bit of a shame because I had fond memory of reading If We Were Villains, and was excited to finally receive new material from M.L. Rio. On the surface, Graveyard Shift offers exactly what I want: dark academia atmosphere, lyrical writing, and a cast of personalities, but the story greatly suffocates in the current novella format: too many characters, too much info-dump, and no time for proper plot development, emotional investment, or a satisfying conclusion — this feels like an outline for a full-length novel disguising as a finished, marketable product.

Unfortunately Graveyard Shift falls victim of today's cultural quick turnaround; if time were allowed, this could've been the next gothic novel everyone is looking forward to in a couple years, but alas we end up with a unfinished whimper that's a shadow of the author's true potential, just to meet a calendar deadline.