The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Marvellous atmospheric rural creepiness in this short tale of queer occultish anarchist squatters becoming demon hunters, which as you can imagine I'm 1000% here for. I loved the normalization of counterculture - the protagonist Danielle Cain takes traveler/squatter culture for granted, and for the most part resists info-dump except for the sort of political praxis speak that can seem preachy but I think is also true to life, especially in the rather heightened circumstances of a squatter town being menaced by a stag-shaped spirit of vengeance that eats wrongdoers' hearts right out of their chests. This novella achieves a lot in a short space - if it has a weakness I feel like there are too many potentially interesting characters to develop well in a paranormal thriller plot that also deals heavily in parable and symbolism. But since this is the beginning of a series, I know I'll have more time to get to know the survivors.



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