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Title | The Lamb will Slaughter the Lion
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Author | Margaret Killjoy
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | Tor.com - 2017
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First Printing | Tor.com - 2017
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Title | The Barrow Will Send What it May
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Author | Margaret Killjoy
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | ---
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First Printing | ---
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Category | Urban Fantasy
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Danielle Cain
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Main Elements | Wizards, demons
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Website | ---
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 The Lamb will Slaughter the Lion
Danielle Cain is a queer punk rock traveller, jaded from a decade on the road. Searching for clues about her best friend’s mysterious and sudden suicide, she ventures to the squatter, utopian town of Freedom, Iowa. All is not well in Freedom, however: things went awry after the town’s residents summoned a protector spirit to serve as their judge and executioner.
Danielle shows up in time to witness the spirit—a blood-red, three-antlered deer—begin to turn on its summoners. Danielle and her new friends have to act fast if they’re going to save the town—or get out alive.
I got this novella for free from Tor.com as part of an LGBTQ 4-pack. Horror isn't really my thing but hey, it was free so thought thought I would give it a try anyway, fortunately it wasn't as scary as I thought it could be. I mean yes, it is a blood red stag with three antlers and a habit of ripping open the chests of animals (and a few humans) to snack on their hearts...but it only eats bad humans you see. That's why it was summoned in the first place, to protect this community of outcasts and anarchists from any one person taking over. But what if this guardian spirit turns vengeful demon?
I didn't love this novella, didn't hate it either. It was an interesting idea, these people living with this bloodthirsty beast because it was actually there to protect them. But still, waking up in the morning not to bird song, but the weird gasps that birds make when their chests are ripped open and their internal organs removed...not sure that's how I want to start my day.
However this does have the potential to be an interesting series, with our protagonist Danielle, already a wanderer, now travelling the country to find other spirits and becoming a demon hunter of sorts. I'd be willing to give other stories a try, though seems there might be only one more, been four years since that one so won't make for much of a series really.
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