Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 1-60504-190-4
Fantasy Romance, 2008
In a fantasy place that, judging from the cover art, resembles China only with folks with blue eyes, we have a witch hero, Kaede, who has a gift that he believed until now was a well-kept secret: he can perform a rite that can resurrect people from the dead. As an indentured servant to Lord Tarou who literally holds Kaede’s life in his hands, he realizes that his master knows what he can do at the start of the story when Lord Tarou orders him to resurrect the man’s wife Annaliese Gaute. Alas, Kaede manages to get the body moving again, but he somehow manages to get the soul of another person into that body. No, not Jesus (sorry, but I’m asked by someone to say that in this review, heh), but another woman. Vara remembers very little about her life prior to inhabiting Lady Annaliese’s body but both she and Kaede know that they are so dead should Lord Tarou realizes that his wife hasn’t returned to him.
Alas, will their attraction to each other jeopardize their deception? And what is it that Lord Tarou really wants from Annaliese since Vara quickly realizes that it isn’t love and affection?
Weaving Words is easily one of the most interesting short stories I’ve read in a while and I love it. I love the ghoulish way the magic works in that setting and I love the story. I love the way things turn out. What I am not too enamored of is how the heroine sometimes comes off like a modern-day sarcastic young lady, which feels oddly out of place in an otherwise otherworldly setting, but that’s just a minor complain.
This one may be a short story, but it’s a good kind of short story, as Ms Knox has a most interesting tale to tell.
