Grey Warden

Horrific.   Grotesque.   Beautiful.   

These, and other single words come to mind when I think of this short, so simple, so elegant, so crushing all within such a short span of time.   Clive Barker is at his best here, using few words, and razor sharp imagery, to draw a world full of love and corruption and honor and decency and love and monsters.   And they all get tangled up together until it's hard to unravel one theme from another. 

I could describe this.   I could just give you a synopsis.   But let's just you should go and buy the most recent humble bundle, now, just for this story.  Right here: buy it now.

Also, let's say that the shortness wasn't a flaw; while I would gladly read more about this world, this particular story was the perfect length.   Shorter and it would cut out some of the intricacies hidden within, and longer and it risked losing it's impact.  

The one half star off is because I would have preferred Barker's artwork as I find that his own art illuminates his writing most clearly.