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A review by tomperignon
The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow
3.0
The first time I read Alix Harrow - I was left disappointed. Portal magic, a small subgenre in fantasy,
has the potential to open so many doors (get it?). But when I read The Ten Thousand Doors of January all I could think of was how I would have done everything differently.
So when I was recommended this short story, I was skeptical. But since it was 30 pages only it really couldn't hurt. And you know, I generally enjoyed this!
A girl lies dying in a barn. a Saintly angel appears to her and tells her how she will help the King conquer all the land. With the help of the Saint she learns the way of the sword - until one day she is mortally wounded. The King, having already known this would happen shows her a Pensive like fountain where the main character drowns herself. When she wakes up, she is again back in the barn dying but carrying all the knowledge she had from her previous life.
It's basically medieval Groundhog Day!
I think the application of portal magic was better in this story. As the story unfolds we begin to see the character transform from a morally gray character to a more sympathetic one.
for such a short page run there is quite a bit of meat and potatoes here.
I would be interested to revisit some of this author's newest novels.
has the potential to open so many doors (get it?). But when I read The Ten Thousand Doors of January all I could think of was how I would have done everything differently.
So when I was recommended this short story, I was skeptical. But since it was 30 pages only it really couldn't hurt. And you know, I generally enjoyed this!
A girl lies dying in a barn. a Saintly angel appears to her and tells her how she will help the King conquer all the land. With the help of the Saint she learns the way of the sword - until one day she is mortally wounded. The King, having already known this would happen shows her a Pensive like fountain where the main character drowns herself. When she wakes up, she is again back in the barn dying but carrying all the knowledge she had from her previous life.
It's basically medieval Groundhog Day!
I think the application of portal magic was better in this story. As the story unfolds we begin to see the character transform from a morally gray character to a more sympathetic one.
for such a short page run there is quite a bit of meat and potatoes here.
I would be interested to revisit some of this author's newest novels.