Review - Bread and Milk and Salt

Bread and Milk and Salt
by Sarah Gailey
Date: 2018
Publisher: Tor.com
Reading level: A
Book type: short story
Pages: 25
Format: e-book
Source: Tor.com

Not all things are built to obey…

Tor.com reprint of “Bread and Milk and Salt,” originally published in Robots vs. Fairies (edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe, published by Saga Press, 2018).

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I'm just not sure if I really like stories about fairies. This one was simply okay for me. It was really more about two horrible people getting what they deserve. From the beginning, we know our fairy narrator is hoping to steal the little boy named Peter. She (?) talks about all the horrible things she'd like to do to him, like a sadistic serial killer taking pleasure in their own gruesome creativity. But as Peter ages, he wises up to what this creature really is, and the tables get turned. Actually, this story is just a turntable, with the abuse flowing back and forth... because Peter isn't such a great guy, either. The ending wasn't really a surprise; it was mildly interesting, but that's really about all I can say.

The writing was just mediocre for me. Aside from a few technical errors, I didn't really like the way I couldn't place the time period. When the story began, I thought it must've been set long in the past. But when Peter grows up to engage in really high-tech pursuits (like implanting interfaces into cockroach brains so he can control them wirelessly), I had to reevaluate my initial assessment. I guess it's supposed to take place in the present day... but that just makes the emphasis on all the old folklore about fairies kind of odd. (How many children of the last few decades grew up with their parents basically giving them lessons on how to outwit the fairies?)

This wasn't my favourite short story, but it wasn't terrible. It was just average. I can't really feel much about it one way or the other.

Quotable moment:

He walked out the door without a backwards glance, and I screamed into his pillows. Every time I inhaled, I breathed in the smell of his hair, and I had to scream again to rid myself of it.

Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Pace: 3/5
Writing & Editing: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 ladybugs