General: the end of this novella left me with a sense of deflation – not at the writing, which is superbly done, but the pyrrhic victory captured in the words “after all, dark is better than dead”(67). Zoë overcomes her dark-witch tormentor, Graham, but in killing him she gains darkness and loses the love of Connor and his werewolf/pet-dog companion, Shadow – the very person and friend she risks her self and life for. This acceptance is somewhat unfortunate, as it separates her in the end from the happiness (with Connor and Shadow) I feel she deserves considering all she has been through. Somehow it equates a kind of transgender reality. But then again, if life were what we imagine, there wouldn’t be the need to live. So, the unexpected ending, though more expressionistic, isn’t beyond reality.
Structurally, I found the divisions (of the chapters) a…