PodCastle 104: The Dog King

[prusik]

Holly Black's The Dog King reinforces a truism about fiction. The difference between a good story and a bad one is that a good story will make then take for itself opportunities that a bad story will pass up. This story could have gone run of the mill in so many ways. At each juncture, Holly Black makes a choice that's awesome and yet inevitable. On the whole, it's terrific work.

And to those who declared to me five years ago that a short story "can't" be told from multiple points of view: read or listen to this story. Of course a short story can be told from multiple points of view. The writer just has to make it work.

[Oh, and I love Erik Luke's voice. He could read the instructions to the IRS 1040 tax form and have me enthralled to the edge of my seat.]

This week, Holly Black. Next week, Ellen Kushner. Wow...