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.

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.

Quick, queer, and awesome.

Story set in a Fallout-esque world where a knight comes to town to slay a "demon" (really a mutated human) and a local woman is determined to stop him.

Too quick for me to say anything more with spoilers, but like everything Alix E. Harrow writes, it's worth the read.

Read if you like:
Gorgeous prose
Dystopian setting
Elements of horror
Short stories

My thoughts:
The Knight and the Butcherbird is a short story that packs one hell of a punch. It’s safe to say that Alix E. Harrow doesn’t need a ton of words in order to rip your heart out.

Reminiscent of many other dystopian settings, Harrow’s world is one where things have gone to shit with the planet, courtesy of us lovely humans. Our MC, Shrike, lives in a small outlands community that have called upon a knight from the enclave to rid them of a demon. Little do they know, Shrike is protecting the demon and the knight has his own reasons for being there.

Harrow’s prose lends itself wonderfully to this story of love, loss, and hope. With elements of dystopia and horror, you might not immediately see this as a love story but it won’t take long for you to realize that’s exactly what it is.

Overall, The Knight and the Butcherbird is a quick but powerful read. Alix E. Harrow did in 39 pages what many authors struggle to do with a full-length novel. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.

TL;DR
A truly beautiful short story. Alix E. Harrow has a way with words. These 39 pages contained a fully fleshed out story that will stick with readers long after they’ve finished.

I love when a novella feels like a full length novel. I kind of wished that this one was longer.

Set in a post apocalyptic world, where "demons" roam making trouble for the people in the outer lands. What the demons turned out to be was interesting.

This was the second book that I've read by this author and I'm looking forward to reading more by them.

36 pages. 36 pages for a fantasy story that will remain with readers for years to come. This is a post-apocalyptic story where nature has once again taken over. The author Alex E Harrow has done a masterful job, blending fantasy, and science fiction into a modern tale of love and disaster. To say more gives too much of the story away but one of my favorite parts to leave you wanting more is to tell you that the sacred texts in the story are Katherine Applegate’s series called the Annamorphs.

I saw the ending com8ng, but I still enjoyed it. I really like Alix E. Harrow’s writing style and plots. I’ve not read a bad one yet.

This was beautiful. I love this authors writing. I will read whatever they right. This is a very short story that packs a major punch. I highly recommend picking this up. You’ll fly through it and it will sit with you for days. I don’t know how they do it. So good.

Good solid plot and storyline. I liked her other published short story more, but the prose was well-written.

Such a wonderful, ominous tale in such a short passage. Alix E Harrow has a way of writing that makes you wonder if anyone had been written before - simply remarkable prose and storytelling from start to finish. One of my favourite short stories to date.

Harrow only gives us glimpses of these characters, May, John, the butcherbird, and all of these characters feel familiar. This town feels familiar. This love is made to feel familiar. Throughout the story I found myself confused at some points but excited for a second re-read to engage myself with the story once again. I absolutely adored it!

In a Nutshell: A dystopian-fantasy short story about love, trust, fate, hope and courage. Imaginative plot, well-sketched characters, lyrical prose, unexpected twists, apt ending that left me wanting more. After a long while, I read a story without any distractions or pauses. Much recommended!

Plot Preview:
In a post-apocalyptic world, a small outland town named Iron Hollow, set along the Red River in the Appalachian mountains, finds itself facing many challenges, but none like the demons rising from its own people. When the leader summon a legendary knight for help in hunting the latest monster, seventeen-year-old Shrike is not happy. The knight is just as determined to do his job and kill the demon as Shrike is to get rid of the knight. Why? Read and find out.
The story comes to us in Shrike’s first-person perspective.

PSA: The Goodreads blurb reveals way too much. (I am glad I didn’t go through it before I read this story. I grabbed this book as soon as I saw the author’s name without checking anything else.)

I read plenty of short stories, and I have rarely found a writer who can carve worlds and characters as intricately and successfully within a constrained word count as Harrow can. If you have yet not experienced the magic of Alix E. Harrow’s writing, this story would make a good starting point to sample her beautiful prose. Of course, it would help if you like dystopian fantasy-horror.

Woohoos:
🌲 The imaginative concept.
🌲 The setting and the atmosphere. The author puts the wildness and remoteness of the location to great use.
🌲 The descriptive prose – vivid and lyrical! A treat for the soul.
🌲 The names of the Iron Hollow residents – every first name pays an ode to nature.
🌲 The mind-boggling vocabulary! Harrow is the only author for whom I necessarily need to use my dictionary multiple times. I love it!
🌲 Shrike Secretary, our young narrator. A good complex lead for the story, she acts her age, which obviously means that she takes some silly decisions at times. But this behaviour adds to the unpredictability of the narrative.
🌲 The Knight and his avian companion. Loved the personality of the character and also his backstory.
🌲 The strange mix of historical and futuristic, real and fantastical, apocalyptic and present-day. Not many authors would be able to pull off this strange world convincingly, all the more impressive when you remember that this story is just 36 pages long.
🌲 The comment on the difference between the haves and the have-nots, the attitudes of the privileged towards those who don’t think/look like them, and the resistance to change. Some references reminded me of a certain currently-ruling government who seems to be adopting a similar attitude towards outsiders.
🌲 Didn’t expect to find twisty surprises in a short tale, but I did.
🌲 The teeny bookish Easter eggs in one scene – I got a pleasant thrill when I recognised all the references.

Hmmms:
🍁 The pacing is slightly on the slower side, even for such a short tale. I was captivated enough by the rest so the slowburn didn’t bother me. Might not make all readers happy, though.
🍁 Shrike often muses about the past in her narration. These stream-of-consciousness style interludes do depth to her POV, but they also feel a bit too intricate for short fiction.
🍁 The theme of how far you would go for love. Certainly some grey areas in this, especially considering the identities of the people in the relationship.
🍁 The ending – amazing but also a tad too hurried.

All in all, I am mighty impressed with this work. Despite certain minor things that could have turned this into a 5-star read, I still loved the eccentricity of the storyline, the characters, and the world. It’s the brainchild of a truly creative and talented writer, and I’d have gladly read a novella or even a novel set in this world.
Definitely recommended to those readers of dystopian fantasy who like short fiction.
4.25 stars.
My thanks to Amazon Original Stories for providing the DRC of “The Knight and the Butcherbird” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
The digital version of this book is currently available on Amazon Prime.