okay, tor shorts, i officially love you again. i am seriously smitten with this leigh bardugo, and as soon as my reading time becomes my own again, i am ON her series like crazy. these free stories were both great, but they are just little teases, little whooshes of "yeah, i'm doing what plenty of other people have done, i just happen to be doing it better, and without breaking a sweat." 
 i liked this one slightly less than The Too-Clever Fox, but it's still phenomenal. she is very very good at writing a story within a story, adding an unexpected twist and throwing a fairy tale cloak over real-world horrors. this is impressive because the story within a story thing is so difficult to pull off without seeing the author's hand. but when it's done correctly, seamlessly, it draws the reader in in that particularly immersive, inclusive way where the reader is placed on the same level as the character-audience, and it becomes almost personal. but simultaneously, the fairy tale elements are distancing the reader because they are taking place in this fantasy atmosphere right until that very moment when she goes "yeah, no, we are really talking about this, sorry", and brings it back to a recognizable horror and this dance is just breathtaking. 
 in a way, this one reminded me of Tender Morsels, which is a book that impressed me in its concept and ambition, but left me a little flat in its execution. this one didn't disappoint me in its execution at all. it is scrupulously detailed, and while there a couple of bits that stand out on the second reading as maybe too deliberately misleading, it's just such a perfectly encapsulated story, you don't really fret about that. 
 it's a tremendous story about perspective, protection, and sacrifice, with excellent food descriptions, and a genuinely haunting tone. 
 and it's FUCKING FREE! 
 good lord. 
 read it for yourself here: 
 http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/06/th...