I must say I was definitely not impressed by many aspects of this story. The fact that it has a morale and something to say which is a critique of our time would be the best part of it. But for me it was too over-drawn and too obvious to really have an impact. I didn't get to think for myself.

Of course I should perhaps mention that this is exactly the kind of writing that makes me dislike fantasy. Even though I write fantasy every now and then, never like this. Someone commented on how the description and the action were nicely merged--well, this is exactly why I didn't like it. I want to be able to skip the descriptions, because I just don't care. Especially not when there are details about some beast being slaughtered and a wedding feast, and in the end it has no connection to anything else, it doesn't give me more info about her, and doesn't help build up something for the story.

Much of this might be personal taste. As I said, I do like that it has something to say that has meaning (disaster, how to deal with fear, the power of rumours) but it's repeated and mentioned so often that it started to annoy me.

Anyway, thanks for sharing this story, and great to read the feedback of others.