Hammer and Bone by Kirby Crow

4 STARS

I will be honest, I bought this book because I enjoyed Kirby Crow's Scarlet and the White Wolf fantasy series and because I adore this book cover. I am not normally fond of short stories that are not part of an established universe and dark stories aren't my favourites either. But you know... living dangerously because that's a damned gorgeous cover.

Do NOT read the stories in this book expecting romances. They are not the HEAs you're looking for. What they are though, is damned fine writing. And dark... oooh my goodness, even the ones that have somewhat happyish endings are still dark. I felt as if I was bathing in luxurious prose while reading and it was a lovely feeling.

The stories were good. Very good. My faves were Knights of the Risen God and Sundog.

So in the end, I was very pleasantly surprised and would not hesitate to recommend this book to folks in search of dark, speculative fiction starring a nicely diverse cast of characters.

And that cover!!!