I'm pretty sure this was the talk Alix E, Harrow had with her editor when pitching the story:
- So, what do you want it to be?
Fantasy? Dystopian? Horror? Romance? Post-punk?
- Yes.
And she managed to fit so much story, worldbuilding and intrigue into such a small amount of pages! Talent definitely shines through.

Alix E. Harrow's writing has never been more haunting.

I say this both with affection and currently in tears over The Knight and the Butcherbird, which admittedly came into my life at an unexpectedly emotionally difficult time for me to be reading it. To say too much about the short story would be to give it away—but it centers on a storyteller, and the knight who comes to her village to kill the demon that used to be her wife.

In such a short bit of prose, Harrow paints a world I would read a dozen stories about the creation of, and a community that is both unique and familiar. She uses small bits of language to masterfully build a fleshed out universe with all sorts of dichotomies—the Kingdom of Cincinatti, for one!— that immediately tell you the sort of story you're reading effortlessly. The depictions of the eldritch horrors in the story were vivid and planted themselves in my brain at stark contrast with the shockingly emotional plot.

Harrow does so much with so little time to make you invested in these characters and the lives they live, and the message the story comes with reads like a classic parable of perseverance and what we'll do for love.

Thank you Netgalley and Alix E. Harrow for providing me with this book!!

I really enjoyed this. The book is an incredibly fast-paced tale of a knight coming to a village to slay the demon lurking there, but with a couple major twists. It’s unexpected and features Harrow’s gorgeous prose and packs an emotional punch for a story only 30 pages long.

The plot follows a storyteller, Shrike, who kept a huge secret from a renowned knight coming to slay a demon that has been terrorizing the town recently.

The author has done such a great job in crafting this exceptional, emotional tale of fantasy, horror, love, grief and tragedy with lush world-building making me feel connected to the characters within just a few pages.

The lyrical writing style delivered this story incredibly well, and the story concludes in a satisfying way.
This may be the first short book that I've felt completely satisfied with, without wishing it were a full-length novel.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I absolutely love it. I will definitely check out the author’s other books in the future!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: grief, murder, body horror, death, terminal illness, violence, animal death

Thank you to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the ride of this one, its perfectly in the Alix E. Harrow vibe, but nothing mind blowing.

This is a really short, short story at just 36 pages. Yet the author manages to capture so much human emotion. At some nonspecific time in the future, when
pollution has gotten so bad that people living in the wilderness between cities have a short life expectancy and die transformed into “demons,” love still blossoms into the world. And sometimes that love is more powerful than all the terrible things that happen to people.

This was a quick read, but it was interesting and entertaining. And the setting was so easy to imagine. The author painted such richness in so few words. The characters were unforgettable and I will be thinking about that ending and what it means for a while.

Thank you to @Netgalley and @amazonpublishing for the chance to review this ARC.

I absolutely loved The Six Deaths of the Saint, so I was very excited to read another short story by Alix E. Harrow - and The Knight and the Butcherbird did not disappoint.

For a short story, this does an amazing job building both the world and the characters, establishing a sense of how the setting works as well as plenty of emotional engagement.

The apocalyptic setting isn't particularly novel, per se, but still fresh enough and executed excellently. I loved the idea of the conclaves, and the secretaries, who are basically storytellers and keepers or lore and knowledge in a world where no technology or reliable storage exists anymore. One of my favourite details was how, this was, popculture still lives on, and how historical or literary records are indistiguishable.

The twist of what the demons are, and what is going on with the knight, were not entirely unexpected, but super fun, and the pacing was excellent. The reveals are staggered together perfectly, and give you just enough emotional investment to really hit you as you read.

I also really loved the feelings of hope and determination this story fills you with, despite the simultaneous feeling of dread and futility of the setting.

I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but this one pushes all the right buttons, and I cannot wait to reread this every few years, knowing it'll hit the same very single time.

Dark, weird, wonderful, and strangely hopeful. This was a tightly paced, well-written story by Alix Harrow to whet the appetite before her lady night novel is out this fall!

Will I read anything by Alix E. Harrow? Yes. Was I sad when this ended even though I went into it knowing it's a short story? Also yes.

This was stunning. How did she fit so much world building into so few pages and somehow still make me care about the characters? Dare I say we need a novel set in this world?

Give us the war between demons and the kings now! Let us see May and our butcherbird leading the charge.

So so so well done.

It's strange how sometimes the shortest stories can leave the biggest impact on your heart. The Knight and the Butcherbird is a spellbinding dystopian short story that weaves a lush picture of love in all its forms, even at the seeming end of the world. Told in a true storyteller fashion, the way that love is described in its most beautiful form to its most painful is absolutely impossible to put down. Alix Harrow shines triumphant in this haunting tale, and I look forward to reading more of their work based on this. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read this ARC!

A lady knight (kinda) novelette about a girl trying to save her wife who slowly turns into a chimera demon thing, from the knight come to kill her. Set in a dystopianesque world with people turning into demons due to a cancer.

As always Harrow aced this with her usual punchy writing style!

I absolutely loved this. it was creepy and weird and fun. I especially loved the ending and thought it was a good wrap up. this author is a short story queen

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I love Alix E. Harrow's writing, and I wish this was a full novel. There is so much meaning and symbolism packed into these 36 pages, that it reads like a parable the Secretaries would share in this world. I love the discussion about love and how it is truly an undying feeling. This short story rings almost like a warning bell, as the situations the characters face in their day-to-day lives (demon hunting excluded) could be happening in our world, now. The power dynamics were interesting, as well as the differences between those living in the kingdoms vs the outer lands. I would recommend this to anyone who loves Harrow's writing, but also appreciates a story with multiple levels of understanding and interpretation.

Thoroughly enjoyed this story. I was so interested in the world building and really wanted to know more. I’d love to have a longer story with these characters or at the very least in this world. This story kept my attention and kept me wanting to know more. It was both devastating and hopeful. What more could you ask for?

Of course, a novella by Alix E. Harrow would be fleeting, wonderful and heartbreaking. The Knight and the Butcherbird is a courtly tale of knights, in a way, but it is also the story of love in the face of collapse and the beginnings that can be found in the rubble of endings. In short, a knight comes to a village to discover what happens when love makes monsters of us. Harrow packs a lot into 36 pages, and it almost feels like a discredit to her work and say much more than it's an incredible, moving piece that will certainly be among the short stories I'll recommend when people need a break from doorstopper fantasy novels.

**Thank you to the Author & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review; all opinions are my own.**

4.5⭐️

Stories like these are my favorite. Stories where time has moved past our own, but the magic persists. Stories that feel like old fairytales with a new voice. I'm not quite sure how to describe this one.
Maybe:
▪︎if you like tragedy
▪︎if you like the film Ladyhawke
▪︎if you like teens with old souls
▪︎if you like post-apocalyptic
▪︎if you like slight commentary on the past 5 years
You should give these 36 pages a shot

It was really great story about changing, evolving and losing loved ones. I wasn’t expecting what I finally got, especially story so deeply rooted in what is happening now with our world but it was beautiful. Alix can convey so much on so few pages that in awe. Even though it was a short story characters was fleshed out and I liked them.
And thank you Alix for sharing your work earlier with me.

I'd read Alix's grocery list. She puts words on a page and never tells a story by half. Like all good fantasy, THE KNIGHT AND THE BUTCHERBIRD takes what makes us most human and explores it in an Other World. By showing us fragments of the world we know, and slipping them into a place (almost) entirley new, readers are reminded of everything we have to lose (how fragile [but not] we are when left to our own wild devices—and how that might not be a bad thing). At it's core, this book is monsterously human. What would we do to protect those we love? Who do we become when grief clings to the darkest corners of our soul? What does it mean to love, in all it's various flawed forms.

Also, a moment for Alix E Harrow's prose, please, which always leaves me breathless in the best kind of way. This book is one contrast over the next, and her prose is no exception. Using nature to soften and everything else to slice through the wild comfort, to punctuate, to break open and bleed the truth home through braken and silverberry all in a particular hollar.

Keep your wife away from your ears, a reviewer said. I couldn't put it any better.

The combination of a post-apocalyptic world, with modern technology, and ancient concepts, such as knighthood, was so interesting. I loved how the author used the fantastical elements here, and the writing was superb.

Many thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This review and many others can be viewed on my Goodreads page at the following link: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/80102102-ana

This story was wild!

Fairytale storytelling vs dystopian world vs horror. Just incredible

The writing was poetic, the descriptions vivid, and the story beautiful and sad.

Loved this read and I feel it will appeal to lovers of many genres - from fantasy to horror.

Thank you Alix E Harlow & Amazon Original Stories for this unforgettable "experience"