Diabolical Plots #131, January 2026

“Who Can Hold a Princess” by Vivian M. Liu

“The Book of Fading Gods” by E. M. Linden

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

The narrator of “Who Can Hold a Princess” by Vivian M. Liu is a sword used by a female warrior. The title princess is born inside a glass cage that will only open when her true love thrusts a blade into it.

From this brief synopsis, the reader can predict what the warrior will do but may not foresee the outcome. Besides its mild feminist content, this fairy tale differs from others of its kind only in its unusual narrator and the surreal premise of the glass cage that grows with the princess.

In “The Book of Fading Gods” by E. M. Linden two dead women work in the afterlife by interviewing minor deities and deciding if they should continue to exist. The narrator reveals her encounter with such a tiny god while she was alive.

The author explicitly makes the point that small things are just as sacred as large ones. The story is mostly a character study of the two women. The gently whimsical premise is less important than their personalities.

Victoria Silverwolf broke a plastic container today.