Review: CAPTIVATING
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2011
The author quickly and cleverly binds you to this short story as easily as the Young Master shackles the Waif to the stone wall.  You will be able to smell the tallow candles, taste the dust and feel the chill creep up your spine.  From the minute you meet the Waif you can feel her innocence just as easily as you can feel the calluses of her hands.  Butler and Cook serve the story so well that you can feel them lurking in the background - waiting for the moment they can serve the Young Master.  The author easily enchants you with the mysterious Young Master, whose anguish is so palpable you will be sucking in your breath and hoping the Waif is his answer. Waif desires to be his answer as much as the Young Master needs her to be.  The yearning is as thick as the fog that rises with the full moon.  This short story is riveting and thrilling.  One of the best short stories I have read.