Review: Disturbing and riveting...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 23, 2013
This novella was mesmerizing.  Ms. Cushing created a very bizarre setting, and to her credit, she did so in a very coherent way.  Personally, I think it's relatively easy to write something weird, but it takes craft and chops to do so in a way that is internally consistent and actually hangs together in the reader's mind.  She pulled it off.  The characters were bizarre and creepy, and very well drawn.  She also walked a careful line in describing the brutality of what was going on with the children.  The reader knows it's brutal and horrible, but the explicit details are just enough to convey that without being nonstop gruesome.  I think this is a very effective way to portray what was happening, and she did it very well!