Title: The Art of Waiting
Author: Melissa Marr
In: Faery Tales & Nightmares (Melissa Marr)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2012

This is an incredibly short story – under ten pages. But, like all of Marr’s work, it is quite dark and that darkness isn’t sugar coated. Which, of course, is why I love her writing. The whole story is a little bit haunting and you feel like this quiet little village is hiding something. It’s not until the end that you start to realise how dark this little village actually is.

I love that the father makes all of his decisions with his daughter’s best interests at heart. From settling in a small village, to waiting and waiting. But, eventually, he gets tired of waiting and shows a little impatience. Impatience that has… not the best consequences for one of the characters. But made me smile anyway.

This short story definitely didn’t finish the way I anticipated. And it was surprising the way it ended. A story that I look forward to rereading in the future.

Image source: HarperCollins Publishers