As much as I love Pratt's short fiction, and I really love Pratt's short fiction, this one was a miss for me. The use of litany sounded a bit...(I hesitate to say it) amateurish. The fantastic element was the only exceptional part of the story, and the actual description of grief, this hurts me the most to say, sounded false.
I know, I know...everyone's emotional experience is different, one can ever say that someone else's description of an emotion sounded 'wrong;' but I have more than a little personal experience with grief, and a bit of professional experience with it as well. Grief in my experience, both personal and witnessed, isn't like this. The emotions associated with actually being present and witnessing the death -particularly the violent death- of a loved one are even more complicated.
I hate to say it, but I found this story slightly insulting. Maybe Mr. Pratt has actually witnessed the violent death of a loved one, but from this description and treatment, I doubt it...it just sounds like he dipped into 'story contrivances' bag when trying to find a way to flesh out a concept-
Thinking about it actually makes me angry, I should stop.
Perhaps I shouldn't post this, and I will happily take it down if asked, but this is a small sample of the sort of emotional complication this sort of event creates.
I really like Mr Pratt's work and I think he can do better.