thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

"why does anyone commit acts others deem unspeakable? for love." not a quote from this book but its a quote i remembered while i was reading this and i think it describes it so well. i already loved "the six deaths of the saint" so i started this with expectations and i did not disappoint like at all alix really did it again. loving short stories like this is so rare for me and she did it twice! i wont say much since its so short but this is exactly the type of story i like the most: about love and what we are willing to do for it and her writing is amazing as always and fits it so perfectly.

A short story that packs a punch. This book touched my heart. The author conveys so much in so little words. I was emotionally invested in the characters and adored the back. It was immaculate. My only complaint? I wish this was an entire novel instead of a short story. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Alix E. Harrow really knows how to write a short story! I actually never really enjoyed this kind of fictional work, but reading The Six Deaths of The Saint shifted my perspective so when I heard the same author had written another short story I immediately requested a copy.

It’s incredible how the complex story of multiple characters can fit in only a few pages in such a beautiful, raw and touching way. This story is set in the future which appears almost dystopian/catalytic but is a perfect metaphor in many ways for our own and what it could become. I’m gonna leave this quote here:
"The missions months after started the six first confirmed sighting. Priests, to call them demons, and knights, to slay them. The Bible and the gun-an old formula, well
proved.”

Thank you so much to netgalley and amazon prime for a an arc copy. All opinions are my own.

Alix E. Harrow's latest fantasy short story The Knight and the Butcherbird is set in a rural town centuries after an apocalypse, where a local oral historian meets a knight who has come to hunt the demon that has recently appeared in their area. For such a short story, Harrow fit in plenty of intriguing worldbuilding of post-apocalypse America and how it has divided and survived, as well as a compelling type of demon haunting this town and others. The only real drawback to me was that it took me a moment to get into the world and understand it, which is notable when you only have 36 pages total. Once I got into it, though, I found the world so interesting and would have enjoyed learning more about it.

This short story is a fantasy laden post-apocalyptic tale (300 years after, cancer and microplastics are the current scourges), but it’s also allegory about love, transformation, and the temptation to abandon a lover who has radically changed. Alix E. Harrow is best known for “Starling House” (a more contemporary haunted house thriller), her usual genre is dark fantasy horror/ magic realism. It’s a quick, yet very descriptive and emotional story about a knight hunting for demons and an outlander trying to protect her wife, who is “changing.” It’s a good example of Harrow’s work and her next novel (“The Everlasting”, due October 2025) appears to also be about knights and errant love.

By the way, bravo to Amazon Publishing for getting popular authors to do original short stories. I understand the marketing strategy, but I’m still thankful for getting more works from a lot of my favorite authors and sampling other authors that I’ve heard about. This short story will probably be available for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, and I’m glad I have one. 4 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO No green ones but many red ones.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Many plants have transformed as well and kudzu is still a predator vine.

Thank you to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

Listen, I'm trash for Alix Harrow's prose style. And this one is short but deeply evocative and full of timely, righteous rage. It's a post-apocalypse fairy tale about survival and transformation and love in the wasteland after the dystopia. The beats are pretty predictable, I suppose, but Shrike's POV and narrative voice makes this gorgeously cathartic in the current times.

This post-apocalyptic Southern gothic fairy tale (yes, it’s a lot) is eerie and sweet and short. Focusing on the power of storytelling, there was a lot here that resonated with me in this uncertain world of ours in which the existence of entire classes of people are threatened. It wasn’t my favorite Harrow, but it was intriguing, and easily digestible in one sitting.

This is an absolute masterclass in short story structure. Every repetition, every circling back on itself, every image was perfectly chosen and placed. I recommend this for every lover of horror, dark fantasy, and stories that are not quite tragedies; and I recommend it for every aspiring writer, because the craft in this piece is absolutely flawless.

Beautiful story by Alix E. Harrow about the monsters we become and the love that will not end as we change. Harrow's stories always break my heart with their emotion and beauty.

"The wheel turns. And so do we."

My mind is blown and I don't know what to do with myself now. This story is so short but every word counts. There's layers upon layers so every page is truly mind-blowing.
Because it is so short, I can't even say too much about the content, because everything might be a spoiler.
Let's say it starts as an episode of The Witcher, but unravels to be something else entirely.

I'll just leave some words here to try to convince you to read. But really - read the first sentence and you'll be in, no question.

- Dystopia with medieval touch
- Bird theme
- Story about stories
- Breaking the frame of the narrative
- Heartbreaking
- Queer rep
- What is love?
- What is humanity?

Now excuse me while I figure out what to do with myself....

5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and Amazon Original Stories for the eARC!

#TheKnightAndTheButcherbird #Netgalley #Bookstagram

Alix E. Harrow manages to put more depth in a short story than others can manage in a whole series. I will say, I wanted so desperately for this to be a novel. The small glimpses we got into the world were so interesting, and I would have liked more time to explore it.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a mix between dystopian and fairy tale. We follow a woman who lives in a rural town and a knight shows up to hunt down demons. However, this woman is trying to protect a demon that was once her wife.

I was not a big fan of this one. It was a very short story but I just couldn't get into it. I am not a big fairy tale fan so that is probably why. The writing was not bad and the story was unique.

I think others will really enjoy this one but it was not for me.

5 stars

The way Alix E. Harrow writes is so magnificent, so lyrical, It always blows me away.
This was no exception, of course. As soon as I started reading this, I was enamored with the prose. The story was beautiful yet sad. Love, grief, and resilience, I think, are the core of this novella. You fall in love with the characters easily and root and cry for them.
The ending was a little bit bittersweet, but so is life sometimes.
Overall, another beautiful book by AEH.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent dystopian sci-fi/horror short story! The Knight and the Butcherbird is set in a future where people can change into monsters or demons, and often the task of putting them down before it's too late falls to loved ones.

A renowned knight is summoned to a small town to dispose of a demon. Shrike is the town storyteller, but the demon was once her wife and she will do anything to protect the woman she loves...

This was the perfect bite-size story that hit hard and felt encaspsulated while hinting at a wider world that is as fascinating as it is horrifying. I received a copy for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Dystopia meets fairy tale? Sign me up! This was an exquisite short story and I can't help but think I'll me re-reading this one time and again. I went into this story blind and I am so glad I did as I was surprised and excited about every turn of events. I think the author does a wonderful job of blending the post apocalyptic/dystopian with the old world, medieval feel of this story.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am in love with this short story. To be honest, I was so invested I could have easily read a whole novel set in this world. Harrow never misses with the unique world building and hauntingly beautiful stories she creates. Set in a post apocalyptic world where cancer has caused people to die young and often, people are forced to adapt - to change because they need to survive. Demons plague the earth, and old world enclaves appoint Knights to kill demon kind. This is a story of the evolution of the human spirit, and how love changes people. Although this didn’t murder my heart like her previous work “The Six Deaths of the Saint”, I was still choked up with definite tears brimming. 😭

THANK YOU to NetGalley, Alix E. Harrow, and Amazon Originals for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Alix E Harrow is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors. Her word choices and turn of phrase are unmatched. I also love seeing the influence of different fairytales and folklore woven throughout her stories. This one had the slightest echoes of Tam Lin. As someone with faith. It was interesting to read something from the perspective of someone faithless and hopeless. For a short story it packs a punch.

I'm a simple reader, I see Alix E. Harrow wrote it and I read it.

This short story is expertly told and a riveting read to break readers out of the most stubborn of book slumps. Seriously, I feel like this was the key to the lock of my slump that I've been searching for

The setting is just so well told, with the recurring motif of time and history being a wheel. The way that this story set in the future is perceived and performed by some characters as the past is just so thought provoking and well written.

Shrike as a protagonist is also wonderful, with so much character infused into how this narrative is told.

It's too short to not read honestly. No notes.

An enchanting dystopian fantasy short story that will leave you pondering what you would do for love. Great world building in such a short time will give you a sense of the character's motivations and trials.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: I am separating this in my mind from all the other Alix E. Harrow books I have loved. I am usually pretty picky with novellas, and this just didn't interest me. I found it to be somewhat confusing and hard to grasp ahold of. This is a common "problem," I have with short stories but I love Harrow and really wanted to give it a go. I think this is probably a me problem. Just didn't find myself engaged in the story and honestly was pretty confused.