The Black Chest: 4.5 stars. This needs to be much, much longer. Tho the story is sufficient the way it is, I want to know more about the circumstances that put both men in their current predicament. Hopefully MT will write a full size novel. Much potential here :)

The Ode to Gam Dossa: 3 stars. I am not sure how I feel about this story. We have a trickster on our hands. He poses as a bard, travels around and “awakes” young men of certain sexuality. The way he does it is not very appealing, more like he takes advantage of those men. The bard is not evil, but I didn’t like him at all. Once again, hard to judge here, since the story is so short.

Herb: 4 stars. That was a perfect length. Reads like a fairytale. Young Andreej stops on his way to the market, leaving his horse, his cart and his vegetables on the side of road to follow a stag into the woods. Andreej always wanted an adventure, a way out to leave his farm and explore the world. He got an adventure and proved himself a brave young man. However, this is a cautionary tale. I am not giving away spoilers except for in the end Andreej was more than happy to return to his farming. It was a happy ending for him, but I was a little disappointed, because this encounter with Herb most likely killed his adventurous spirit for good.

4 stars overall. ( )