The Knight and the Butcherbird

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Thanks to Amazon Original Stories for the eARC!

I'm not usually one for short stories – I like longer books, usually, because you have time to sink into the setting, to get to know the characters, and all that. I mostly requested The Knight and the Butcherbird because I absolutely adore Alix E. Harrow's writing. This was fantastic. A nice little bite-sized piece of excellence, just like I suspected it would be.

The Knight and the Butcherbird takes place in what we assume to be an post-apocalyptic Appalachia. There's no real explanations at what caused said apocalypse, but there are hints enough to guess. Cancer and illness is everywhere – people aren't expected to live past 40. But despite that, this story has an overwhelming feeling of hope.

“Demons” are the primary cause of fear in this little rural town that we're set in. A knight – an older gentleman with fighting experience – has come to town to deal with the demon that's plaguing Iron Hollow. The story takes on twist after twist, and gah. For being quite short, this is was just so well done. I would have read a whole length novel set in this world. Five stars.