REVIEW: “Champion of the People” by Henry McFarland

Review of Henry McFarland, “Champion of the People,” Tree and Stone 2 (2022): 21-24 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I was of two minds about this story. On the one hand, it’s basically about a boy who is bullied but the experience is the catalyst for making him a hero. On the other hand, it’s basically about a boy who is bullied and the experience is the catalyst for making him a hero.

I don’t really like “abuse is okay because it makes you stronger” stories, but I do like “you don’t have to let other people define you stories.” So I’m very much on the fence with this one.

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REVIEW: “Madder and Woad” by Deborah L. Davitt

Review of Deborah L. Davitt, “Madder and Woad,” Tree and Stone 2 (2022): 14-18 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

God, the way in which some stories cut straight to the chase without any prevarication: This is one of those. The fight between survival and death, the ways in which this strips away all parts of our humanity.

Read this story and weep. What else can you do?

Recommended especially for weavers and dyers. So much power in the work of women, the work that is so often discarded as meaningless.

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REVIEW: “Hykena” by Naomi Eselojor

Review of Naomi Eselojor, “Hykena,” Tree and Stone 2 (2022): 4-6 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The village Isoko is destroyed by a monster, burned to the ground overnight. Only the trapper’s boy, who tried to warn the village of Hykena’s approach, and his family survived. But the reasons why the villagers wouldn’t listen to him are the same as the reasons why the monster was there in the first place, which made for a satisfying resolution to this story.

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REVIEW: “When the Forest Comes to You” by E. M. Linden

Review of E. M. Linden, “When the Forest Comes to You,” Flash Fiction Online (July 2023): 12-15 — Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This is more a series of vignettes than a story, snapshots of Keith’s life from when he was 5 to when his son was 5, all tied together by an underlying layer of sadness, culminating in an ending that feels like an ultimate betrayal.

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