Thank you to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing, and Alix E. Harrow for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wasn’t sure what to think going in, because I have tried some of Harrow’s longer works, but I absolutely loved this. There was so much packed into such a short story, that it made it feel like a full length novel. The world building was there, the emotion, the connection to the characters. After such a short amount of time with Shrike and the knight, I felt so much for them. I agonized with them as they made their decisions. It’s a heartbreaking, yet beautiful tale of love and loss.

I definitely need to check out Harrow’s other shorter works.

A very weird—but good—dystopian horror short story. This was my first time reading Alix Harrow, and while it’s only a small sample of her writing, I can see why she’s a genre favorite. The way she wove a complete story—with emotional depth, social commentary, romance, and grief—into just 36 pages is astounding.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this book

This was a fun quick read about love and what you are willing to do to protect the one you love but also see beyond the monster they have become to still see them, but the world is afaird of these mythical beings forming and a hunter sent to kill them but we find out more about him and why when he asks a certain question he asks it.

Love is something we all cannot fight and when u truly love someone your be willing to do anything.

Really enjoyed this

“You see the pattern, don’t you? That’s the true work of a Secretary, of course: not only to remember the stories but to make sense of them.”

I love stories like this. Stories that are hard and gritty and poetic and beautiful. Normally, novellas are not my jam because they often feel hollow and just shy of satisfying. However, Alix E. Harrow delivers a fully developed world and fully-fleshed characters in fewer pages than essays I wrote in college.
I’m a sucker for apocalyptic worlds, especially those that reference or deify the life that we’re currently living now i.e. the Hulk and Animorphs references. I like finding the little tidbits and deciphering them. The novella was so poetic that I struggled finding the one quote I wanted to include with this review. I think that’s a talent in an of itself, making hard topics beautiful but inaccessible.
If you like love stories that aren’t easy, people surviving in spite of the odds, and little 30ish page novellas, I would absolutely recommend The Knight and the Butcherbird to you.

A warming and clever short story from the ever imaginative and original Alix E Harrow.

This was a charmer, and notably well plotted for something that takes very little time to read. Harrow is so good at playing off of traditional Fantasy tropes and weaving them into something unique and nuanced.

If there’s a bit where this one doesn’t quite get where it needs to it is in the world building, which is of course incredibly difficult to fully realize in a short story. Fantasy in particular seems to not lend itself well to shorter format prose for exactly this reason, save for stories set in a world that readers are already familiar with from previous full length novels.

Still, Harrow gives us a good enough idea of where we are for this tale, and gets surprisingly good character depth and nuance for something that had to be contained in so few pages.

A hauntingly romantic futuristic tale exploring power, healthcare, authority, love, devotion, justice, and fairness. In 36 pages!

I am a big fan of Alix Harrow and so it was with joy and interest that I read this short story. Despite being short, it packs a full punch and even though I hope it could be expanded into a full novel, since I really want to know more about the apocalypse that made such drastic changes to the land, plus how and why the demons are happening and how it may be the next stage in evolution to keep the human race alive in such a poison filled radioactive place. That being said, it was a great little story that captured my interest immediately and kept it. I will happily read anything this author writes!

Thank you to Amazon via Netgalley for the eARC of this story! I love Alix E. Harrow's writing, and this story was no exception! It is a poignant look at love and loss and how we cope with change. I absolutely loved it, and I can see myself rereading it again and again.

I love an Alix Harrow story, and this fits nicely with the rest of her work. The characters were solidly developed, and the world/problem really resonated.

"She knew me then, at the beginning of ourselves, and she knew me now, here at the end, when she did not even know herself."

HOW did Alix E. Harrow write such a fantastic, complex story in 36 pages? I am stunned. I am not surprised, though, because she also wrote another one of, if not my actual top favorite, novella ever with The Six Deaths of the Saint. This work is short but something so soul-churning, it's been on my mind since I read it, and I know I will not easily forget it.

The Knight and the Butcherbird is a dark, dystopian fantasy novella that feels like a classic fairytale. This is set in a post-apocalyptic world where knights slay demons that were previously humans, descending into strange creatures that can be feathered or furred and have sharp teeth and claws. In a small town where a demon is lurking, a legendary Knight has been hired to eliminate it--and trailing behind in secret is the local storyteller with her own goals to keep that same demon safe.

What I really appreciate about this story is the exploration of grief in losing people you love so horrifically and how you can fight back for those people and honor them. It is a story of perseverance and loyalty and what lengths we will go to for the people we love. I also loved the slow unveiling of the secrets of the two main characters and their conclusions.

While this is definitely a horror, there are elements of romance and kinship that I really thought was lovely. The ending is just superb. Truly a masterpiece of short fiction. I highly recommend it and cannot wait to see what Harrow writes next. 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Books for this free copy of "The Knight and the Butcherbird."

This dystopian novella takes place 300 years after "the apocalypse." A demon has been sighted in Iron Hollow and a Knight of the Enclaves, Sir John of Cincinnati, arrives to hunt it.

Shrike, Iron Hollow's secretary, hates Sir John and would kill him and later we find out why.

Ultimately this novella deals with undying love and adapting to change

I'm a HUGE author Harrow fan but not typically a fan of dystopian works, so I might not have appreciated this as much as readers who enjoy the dystopian genre.

I'm fine I insist, while visibly weeping over a 30 page story of lost love. This packed so much into it's small amount of pages, and I loved this one almost as much as Six Deaths Of The Saint. I need both stories expanded into full novels!

I first heard of Alix Harrow when her short story “A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” was nominated for a Hugo Award. I read it, and I loved it. When her first novel came out, The Ten Thousand Door of January, I read it right away, and was a little disappointed. The book felt disjointed, and I didn’t care for the protagonist or her struggles very much. I felt like the author didn’t successfully make the leap from short story to novel. I read Ms. Harrow’s two fractured fairytale novellas when they were nominated for the Hugos and I enjoyed them, although they felt a bit glib.I think I’m part because I’m getting a little tired of the hard-drinking, Devil-May-care protagonist trope.

Starling House, however, was a massive leveling up - one of the absolute best books I read the year it came out. I loved it so much!!!

So of course I was excited when the publisher and NetGalley granted me an eARC of a new work by Ms. Harrow in exchange for an honest review. The Knight and the Butcherbird was a wonderful post apocalyptic short story about the lies we tell ourselves and the choices we make to survive. It was wonderfully engrossing and my only complaint was its brevity. I sure hope that the author revisits this world in another work soon.

Alix E Harrow never fails for me! Set in a mysterious post apocalyptic future, this short story was delightfully weird and inventive. I particularly enjoyed the author's beautiful prose, as well as some of the more fantastical elements of the story. One of the characters is named "Sir John of Cincinnati" which gave me a kick being from the city. My only wish is that it were longer, but I highly recommend this short story.

The Knight and the Butcherbird gave us a glimpse into a dystopian world where humans become demons out of nowhere. The story asserts that the themes of humanity stay the same, even after society is broken down and restructured. Greed, love, and fear of the unknown are abundant in this short story, creating a recognizable world, even when it is so different from our own. I'm sad we didn't get a full length book revolving around these characters. I give this short story 4/5 stars.


Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow. All opinions are my own

As a fan of Alix E. Harlow's work, I was excited to dive into *The Knight and the Butcherbird*, and it definitely did not disappoint! This short story is delightfully weird—in the best way possible. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it follows Sir John of Cincinnati, a wandering knight who enters the eerie Iron Hollow with the intent to fight demons. Alongside him is Shrike, the enclave’s young secretary, only seventeen but already carrying the weight of too much life and loss.

What I love about short stories is their ability to be anything and everything, and *The Knight and the Butcherbird* perfectly captures that flexibility. The story brings together a wandering knight on a quest, set against a backdrop that’s both strange and haunting. While it does have enough plot structure to guide the quest, the true essence of the story lies in its atmosphere and themes, particularly the contemplation of demons—both literal and metaphorical.

The prose is wonderfully odd, capturing the sense of a world that’s falling apart yet still clinging to some semblance of meaning. It’s a journey through a hauntingly beautiful setting, with characters that are far from conventional but still incredibly compelling.

If you're a fan of Alix E. Harlow’s unique storytelling, this short story will definitely hit the mark. It’s atmospheric, thoughtful, and wonderfully bizarre—a great read for those who enjoy stories that leave you thinking long after you've finished.

Ah - I loved this. SO much. My only gripe? That it was longer. Such a lush and vivid world - in such a small package. LOVE.

This was a an entertaining short read. Alix has a great way with storytelling. I would enjoy a more expanded version of this dystopian fairytale.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

What do I even say???😭😭😭😭

I love this short story to pieces. In just 32 pages, the author introduces us to a richly developed world with fully fleshed out protagonists. Not to mention that this story is so thrilling and immersive. I wish this was a full-length novel, or novella, because I can't get enough.

I love Harrow and still think about Starling House. However, I think this story just wasn’t for me. I had trouble connecting with the characters and felt like it was much longer than it was.