White Crow

Feb 24, 2013 Giselle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, ebook, mystery-thriller

With its creepy cover and synopsis, I was sure White Crow would be the perfect read for my creepy loving taste. When creepy turned to odd, and by odd I mean barf-on-some-pages-and-call-it-a-book odd, I knew I was wrong. *sigh*

A very spooky setting, White Crow lands us inside an eerie little town that is being slowly decimated by the ocean. This town inhabits only a small population and a lot of run down or abandoned dwellings. I thought right then it was going to be a fantastically creepy novel,...more With its creepy cover and synopsis, I was sure White Crow would be the perfect read for my creepy loving taste. When creepy turned to odd, and by odd I mean barf-on-some-pages-and-call-it-a-book odd, I knew I was wrong. *sigh*

A very spooky setting, White Crow lands us inside an eerie little town that is being slowly decimated by the ocean. This town inhabits only a small population and a lot of run down or abandoned dwellings. I thought right then it was going to be a fantastically creepy novel, and for the most part it was. Talk of the devil, mysterious room with a bolted down chair and mysterious visitors who never leave? Yeah I'd say that's pretty freaky. But the execution, holy mother of weird! Told in alternative point of views, we get a sinister history of one of these buildings from a past perspective. This perspective, however, immediately put my guard up when the voice of the character showed little appeal. Albeit part of it was due to it being set in such a long-ago time, and by long ago I mean the 1700s, making the language very hard to get into, but it was also due to the odd way those parts were told. They were mostly glimpses, full chapters that consisted of one paragraph, or even one single sentence, and these glimpses were truly weird, especially at first when you have no idea what's supposed to be happening. They were random passages from the past involving thoughts of the devil and God. Thoughts that derived of a mad man making little to no sense, not even interesting in a cryptic way--some parts I had to reread and still couldn't decipher what was happening. It was literally like gibberish. Even though at times it did give me the creeps, I didn't fully get the hang of this part of the story until past halfway.

The other two perspectives were much more compelling and easier to read. We have Rebecca who is the main protagonist and the first character we're introduced to. She's an average girl who just moved to this unfortunate town where she meets out other perspective, Ferelith who is an especially strange person--in looks and in personality. While I did find their story actually fairly intriguing, especially Ferelith's bizarre ways, there was something off from the whole writing style. The perspectives did not flow well together at all. Made worst by how Ferelith's was in first person, and Rebecca's in third. Although it can work sometimes, the alternating persons threw me off in his case, creating an unfortunate disassociation with them both. It was also so short that every perspective seemed to pass and shift in a blur, making it difficult to make sense of anything that was happening. On one side we have the past where we get ominous vague events thrown at us, on the other we get what basically feels like a story with no plot at all, just all this weird… weirdness. I quite honestly don't know what the point behind the plot was. There were these random elements thrown into it as well, like her father being accused of a murder, or Ferelith's foster home situation, these were spewed out and not explored in the slightest. It was all super odd!

In short, this book was just a big bucket of weird. I can't even think of who I would recommend it to. I think it does have its niche of readers would enjoy it, it would definitely need to be readers who like very ambiguous stories, but then again, I'm a big fan of cryptic reads. *shrugs* At least it was short.

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An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.

For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

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Oct 09, 2011 Wendy Darling rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, male-ya-author, uk, favorite-ya, read-2011, deliciously-creepy, mystery-traditional, scared-the-crap-out-of-me, unreliable-narrator, gothic, 2011-favorites, psychological-thriller, 2011-publication

Utterly fantastic.

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Apr 27, 2011 Lucy Smith rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens-fiction, horror, gothic, carnegie2011, carnegie-2011-shortlist

I am really disappointed to be giving this book 2 stars! As it has been longlisted (and shortlisted shock horror) for the Carnegie award this time around I was sure that I was going to be swept away as I have been by other books by Marcus Sedgwick (Blood Red Snow White is awesome).

However. This story feels like it's been hastily written and there are three different narratives running parallel throughout the story and they never quite gel with one another. Without giving too much of the story a...more I am really disappointed to be giving this book 2 stars! As it has been longlisted (and shortlisted shock horror) for the Carnegie award this time around I was sure that I was going to be swept away as I have been by other books by Marcus Sedgwick (Blood Red Snow White is awesome).

However. This story feels like it's been hastily written and there are three different narratives running parallel throughout the story and they never quite gel with one another. Without giving too much of the story away, the book basically starts with Rebecca who has been dragged away from London and her friends to a quiet town called Winterfold where nothing much happens and she is forced to cohabit with her father (who has a sad and unfortunate story of his own). You don't find out why she's been dragged here until quite a way into the book (see the sad and unfortunate father story) and this was frustrating. While this is happening we are whisked back to the 18th Century and the journal of the then priest of Winterfold. Strange things are happening at Winterfold Hall where the mysterious and apparently tormented Dr. Barrieux lives alone lamenting the death of his wife and child. The priest is slowly being drawn into Dr Barrieux's world, causing him to question his beliefs especially the existence of Heaven, Hell and life after death. Meanwhile in the present, Rebecca has made friends with Ferelith who has an interesting past of her own that you don't find out about until the book is nearly done and who is altogether very creepy and too clever for her own good in a psychotic kind of way.

It's only really at the end of the book that things start to get good - and don't get me wrong they do get scary and enough to creep any child out! The story comes together and all is revealed. I'm not sure if this makes up for the slow start though; I'd be inclined to say that if I was a teen I might get fed up with the book before it starts to get interesting. Rebecca is a typical teenage girl character but so little is known about her to begin with that I didn't feel that much empathy for her.

There are lots of rave reviews about this book, but as a fan of Marcus Sedgwick's novels it didn't do much for me I'm afraid and as some reviewers have already said some fans might well be disappointed.

But hey, give it a go and see what YOU think!(less)

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May 17, 2013 Pinkie Pie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read this review and more like it at Pretty Deadly Reviews.

You would say that all of the crows in the world are black, right? You wouldn't have to see all the crows in the world to know this -- you just know that all the crows you've ever seen have always been black. But what if I showed you a white crow?

This was one of the most unexpected books I've ever read. Everything from the characters, the setting, and the story line threw me for a loop. It was beautifully rendered, haunting, and at times...more Read this review and more like it at Pretty Deadly Reviews.

You would say that all of the crows in the world are black, right? You wouldn't have to see all the crows in the world to know this -- you just know that all the crows you've ever seen have always been black. But what if I showed you a white crow?

This was one of the most unexpected books I've ever read. Everything from the characters, the setting, and the story line threw me for a loop. It was beautifully rendered, haunting, and at times, frightening. I highly recommend this to readers of horror as well as contemporary who are looking for something a bit more.

The town of Winterfold, the setting, is a character itself. With its old churches, close-knit citizens, and the roiling waves on the coast, it is beautiful and mysterious. But that beauty is slowly being eaten alive by the ocean. Every time there is a storm another piece of the town is taken into the sea, leaving graves upturned and open to the sun, churches dismantled, toe-paths suddenly ending on a cliff side. The idea of a town being torn apart by the ocean, yet its inhabitants still living there, was fascinating to me. I longed to actually see it with my own eyes.

In Winterfold is an old hall, almost like a castle. It's long been swallowed up by the nature around it, but our two main characters, Ferelith and Rebecca find their way there, into it's old musty turrets and creepy Candle Room. Together, after a long, tortuous prank played by Ferelith, the two girls unlock Winterfold Hall's dark secrets.

There were times I had to actually put the book down, it was so scary. Between the girls exploring Winterfold's underbelly, and dark experiments held by Dr Beaurieux and the 18th century Rector, I could feel the anticipation building, bitter in the back of my throat. Something terrible was coming, I just didn't know what or when. And when it hit (and I found out that this doctor actually existed) I was fascinated and intrigued and I could NOT put the book down.

The three characters caught in the middle of this story were wonderfully fleshed out. I felt so bad for Rebecca and her father. His past mistakes, and her broken romance, really spoke to me, and I really did want them to heal their relationship. The old Rector from the 1700s was amazing. Watching a man of the cloth battle his demons is always an interesting story, and the unique perspective of his diary entries gave us an insight I'm not sure I've experienced before. But if the rector and Rebecca were interesting, Ferelith takes the cake. Her past was shrouded in so much mystery that even though her passages were told in first person I couldn't tell if she was being truthful or not. And the way she was described by the other characters had me wondering if she was human, or something more.

The ending of WHITE CROW was utterly perfect. I couldn't have asked for more. There was a delicious twist, but I won't tell! Just know that WHITE CROW explores the idea of an after-life, and the story is actually resolved by the end of the book.

As I said earlier, I would definitely recommend this book. WHITE CROW was unexpectedly scary, and surprisingly moving. Just make sure to read with the lights on! (less)

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May 11, 2013 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kelly Garwood

Sedgwick, M. (2011). White crow. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.

Genre: Mystery

Award(s): School Library Journal starred, Publishers Weekly starred

Format: book

Selection process: Nilsen, A. P. (Ed.). (2013). Literature for today’s young adults (p. 256). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Review:

Three different narratives guide this novel. The main story follows teenage Rebecca, newly arrived to Winterfold, a small and desolate town that is slowly being eaten away by the sea. Her father has broug...more Kelly Garwood

Sedgwick, M. (2011). White crow. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.

Genre: Mystery

Award(s): School Library Journal starred, Publishers Weekly starred

Format: book

Selection process: Nilsen, A. P. (Ed.). (2013). Literature for today’s young adults (p. 256). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Review:

Three different narratives guide this novel. The main story follows teenage Rebecca, newly arrived to Winterfold, a small and desolate town that is slowly being eaten away by the sea. Her father has brought her here after a scandal involving his job as a detective. Here in Winterfold Rebecca meets Ferelith, a peculiar and eccentric Goth girl who has no friends and takes on Rebecca as her new best friend. The troubling past follows Rebecca and her father so few in town are willing to befriend them; therefore Rebecca begins to hang out with Ferelith, even though she finds her tendencies unusual. One of the places Ferelith introduces Rebecca to is Winterfold Hall and here is where the third narrator steps in.

A local rector from 1798 began working with a Dr. Barrieux who lives at Winterfold Hall. Dr. Barrieux is obsessed with finding the answer to what awaits us after death: God or the Devil? The rector becomes intrigued by Barrieux’s determination to use science to find the answer. The two form a contradicting duo. One was raised following the beliefs of religion, desperate to truly know the existence of Heaven and the other of science, grieved by the loss of his wife and daughter. Small details are giving throughout the book as to what exactly their “experiment” consists of, until the very end.

Their obsession with finding out what happens after death is also what intrigues Ferelith so deeply. After her mother committed suicide, she has wanted to know if one could come back from death: “If there’s one white crow in the world, it means that not all crows are black. It means that someone, sometime, somewhere crossed to the other side, but they came back” (p. 210). Rebecca whose mother also passed away is somewhat interested. She unlike Ferelith, however, lives in the present. Her relationship with her father is falling apart and the only boyfriend she has ever had dumps her after she moves away. The drama currently happening in her life contradicts Ferelith’s consumption with the past and things beyond her control.

Sedgwick takes the reader on a journey of that ultimate question. What does lie beyond death? The three narratives, two from first point-of-view (Rebecca’s being the only third person point-of-view narrative), are easily distinguished due to the different font types for each person. Descriptive English scenery and a wide array of characters make this a book worth reading.

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Feb 06, 2013 K. Bird rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The title of this book, White Crow, refers to the quote about proof: "In order to disprove the assertion that all crows are black, one white crow is sufficient.”

In this book, the black crow is the finality of death. But both in the past and present in the seaside town of Winterfold, now crumbling piece by piece into the ocean, people will go to utterly horrific lengths to find the white crow.

This story is told in an a trio of interwining narratives. In Winterfold's past is the Rector, a man of...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Marissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-horror, ya-mystery

“What’s on the other side of death? Some secrets are better left buried; some secrets are so frightening they might make angels weep and the devil crow.”

After Rebecca’s father, a well-known detective in London, makes a bad decision, culminating in a kidnapped girl’s death, Rebecca and her father end up in the run-down, seaside town of Winterfold, where they plan to wait out the six weeks until Rebecca’s father’s appeal in court. Befriended by a pixi-like orphan named Ferelith, Rebecca learns the...more

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May 27, 2012 Maitha rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

Again, this book has been a gift and unfortunately super-natural or these kind of thrillers don't match my nature. The reason i didn't give it stars is not because it was not beautifully written, on the contrary it was written in a very good way it made me gloomy, depressed and wary for the couple of days I started reading it. If that was the effect that author was striving towards getting his readers to feel, then he succeeded.

I wanted to finish it quick and then throw it away. It's the same t...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Marike added it · review of another edition

Shelves: youth-fiction

White crow by Marcus Sedgwick

The title comes from a quote by William James about our assumption that all crows are black, because all the crows we’ve have seen have been black. But it needs only one white crow to bring this into question. What is brought into question in this book – is there life after death? if one person can come back and tell it...

There are three narrative strands to the book, each indicated with a different font. One is a first-person account, entries from a journal by an e...more White crow by Marcus Sedgwick

The title comes from a quote by William James about our assumption that all crows are black, because all the crows we’ve have seen have been black. But it needs only one white crow to bring this into question. What is brought into question in this book – is there life after death? if one person can come back and tell it...

There are three narrative strands to the book, each indicated with a different font. One is a first-person account, entries from a journal by an eighteenth century preacher in the town of Winterfold. A foreign scientist from Paris arrives, it is soon after the French revolution and he is interested in life after death, the body keeping signs of life. The two of them set up a series of experiments, coaching volunteers with getting a glimpse of whether they are going to heaven or hell, whether they will see an angel or a devil greeting them...

The style of these entries is done in a religious and old-fashioned mode and these are fortunately kept short. One knows something horrible is happening, bit is shielded by dislike for the narrator and the cumbersome language, I think.

The other two narrative strands concern two teenage girls in the modern era in the small town. It is mostly told in third person narration, but with a close focus on either of the girls.

The geographic area is the uniting aspect. Winterfold is a small seaside town that used to be a large medieval town, but has shrunk to a small triangle being washed away by the sea. Literally. Storms wash away at the coast, caving into the land, with buildings, graveyards and indeed the town being claimed by the sea bit by bit. The local pub has an alternating sign The Angel / The Devil.

Rebecca comes to town for the summer – it is a sweltering one – with her father. There is tension between them, and it is clear that her father is in some kind of trouble. She herself seems more concerned with her boyfriend’s inattention at the start – the boyfriend being back home and not responding to her texting. She comes across Ferelith, a strange and lonely local girl, who asks strange questions, appears and wanders off, enter into dares and seems to be involved in mind games. Ferelith knows the local stories and has a macabre interest in graveyards, skulls and what frightens people.

Of course it is a story of what happens in the awkward friendship, pulling closer and tearing away between these two. In the end I felt a bit that I would have liked to know more of them internally – Ferelith’s life in the Rectory among the strange hangers-on. I think the story is most alive when there are two characters feeling close or awkward and close to one another, rather than the part of characters by themselves thinking of something or sulking. Nothing much needs to happen – and it is actually the moments of tenderness that remains with me. Rebecca’s father opening his arms and her walking past him, her own sorrow at it, Ferelith telling about her mother’s poems – they were not nice poems; Rebecca walking up to Ferelith’s room.

At some point I thought more could have been made of the strand of the father’s back story, in the girl-in-the-dark theme it touches also on Rebecca’s and Ferelith’s stories, but this seeps away again and I’m not quite convinced by Ferelith’s coming round to happily smile at Rebecca’s reconciliation with her father. (I don’t want to say more, as it would spoil the end).

A youth novel with a gothic horror undertone, but it is a youth novel. We have young characters still trying out what they can do and still being tentative. And though there is a macabre interest in death and graves, the story itself works with fears of death and the unknown – it is not in itself a story of the ‘supernatural’ – closer to a novel using history and geography as backdrop to supernatural themes or questions.
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Dec 18, 2011 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ncbla

Seeking a respite from the negative attention caused by a misjudgment on her policeman father's part, Rebecca and her father move to Winterfold for the summer. The town is slowly being devoured by teh sea, and many of its buildings are on the verge of crashing into the water. Bored and missing her London friends, Rebecca ends up spending time with Ferelith, a local teen drawn to walking on the wilder side of life. Whether she is someone Rebecca should trust remains to be seen. Since the narrativ...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Namita rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: interesting

This book....

Is about two girls; Ferelith and Rebecca.They are both So different from eachother, and they embark on such an adventure that it -at a point, or two- scared me half to death*hint*. Some things shocking are found and, as I have just finished reading this book, I am still in Shock. As I write this I am in shock. And If I had to tell you a couple of things, these would be It:

1)The way in which the book is written will encourage you to drop your guard(if you don't drop the book); Don't....more

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Nov 21, 2011 Manda Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the end, I think this was an exceptional book. It has 4 stars instead of 5, because for a long time, I couldn't figure out quite why I was reading it,and there were long passages I skipped but that's because I'm a wimp and it seemed to be growing *very* dark...
But let's start at the beginning:
Rebecca and her father go on 'holiday' to a forgotten seaside town that feels like stepping back in time. In another timeline, several hundred years before (1789), a vicar meets the new French 'doctor'...more In the end, I think this was an exceptional book. It has 4 stars instead of 5, because for a long time, I couldn't figure out quite why I was reading it,and there were long passages I skipped but that's because I'm a wimp and it seemed to be growing *very* dark...
But let's start at the beginning:
Rebecca and her father go on 'holiday' to a forgotten seaside town that feels like stepping back in time. In another timeline, several hundred years before (1789), a vicar meets the new French 'doctor' who has moved into the manor and together they devise a method for discovering whether heaven or hell exists.
Rebeccah meets Ferelith, a strange fay girl who left school at 14 because 'when you find yourself explaining Game Theory to the maths teacher, what reason is there to stay?' Ferelith is astonishingly bright, but her mother went mad and was carted off into 'care' where, in a moment of lucidity she hanged herself, and her father left her. So she lives in a commune with a bunch of dreadlocked dropouts whom she despises and spends her life exploring her seaside town, watching it vanish as the waves eat at the coast. The bright spark in Ferelith's existence is Rebecca, whom she knows from the first moment, she will love.... tho' super-bright 16 year olds have a rather strange way of expressing their love and both girls are locked in their own grief. Rebecca's father, we discover, is a Detective Inspector on 'Gardening Leave' while a case comes to court - he is widely suspected of having killed a child by culpable negligence and when the news catches up, someone starts spraying paint on his car. The worst from R's pov is that she doesn't know if he's guilty.
Humming along in the background is the other time line that I stopped reading when it became too gory. The method the vicar and the doctor devise to establish whether heaven or hell exist is uniquely grim and is apparently based on a genuine story, of sorts, but it was so easy to tell when the eighteenth century turned up, (pages printed on shaded paper, as of parchment or vellum) that they were easy to skip and it was plain enough where the girls were headed when they started to explore the now-boarded manor.
The end was entirely unexpected, and made sense, in a depressing kind of a way so that I didn't feel as cheated as I'd expected, and, looking back, the whole thing was clever and thoughtful and oddly lyrical in its goth-dark view of the world. (Goths will love it, I expect). Part of the problem, I think, is that it's written by a man and men just don't get 16 year old girls that well, even super-math Goths, but that shouldn't stop you from reading it.

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Oct 30, 2011 Kendra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Marcus Sedgwick is becoming one of my go-to authors for creepy, intense, well-written stories for young adults. One other thing I love about his books: they aren't 400 pages long and thus scary to teens who aren't big readers. I have had great success recommending his other books to my more reluctant teen readers, esp. guys, and this will be another I can recommend without hesitation, though with the MC being female, it might appeal a bit more to girls too.

I had a hard time anticipating where t...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Ellen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

This book topped the chart for creepiness, for sure. The main character is a small English village which is slowly falling into the ocean due to erosion or perhaps the literal weight of its history. In alternate chapters, the reader visits the village in 1798 through the diary of its rector whose spiritual strugges are becoming serious and again in modern times when two teens girls go exploring its darker corners. And this village has plenty of corners where its dark history isn't hidden very de...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Eva Mitnick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, ya

London teen dragged to a tiny town against her will, doomed to spend summer away from her friends - it's an old story. And Rebecca's reluctant friendship with the village oddball, Ferelith, who is lonely, very smart, and troubled as heck, has a familiar ring to it as well. Add to that a grand old building with a ghastly past, and you've got all the ingredients for a delicious Summer Gothic.

Lest you roll your eyes, keep in mind that Sedgwick is a master in the fine art of creating tension and bri...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Courtney Johnston rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, fiction

I keep sticking with Marcus Sedgwick because I so loved his fictionalised biography of Arthur Ransome and I'm interested in his contemporary take on gothic fiction and psychological thrillers for young readers and teens. 'White Crow' however was pretty disappointing.

Rebecca comes to Winterfold - an English village slowly crumbling from the cliffs into the sea - with her father, a policeman sent out from London under some kind of awful disgrace, which has severely strained their relationship. Wan...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Verity rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. After hearing about this book on a radio programme, I was convinced to purchase it and settled down to read it while on holiday.

My first impressions of it was a typical vampire novel - based on how it was describe on the radio and just the general look of it - "Don't judge a book by its cover" is a phrase used to describe a book such of this. White Crow is not about vampires - far from it, in fact, and revolves around a "Murder mystery" in a sense, with a strong religious factor.

Our main protag...more After hearing about this book on a radio programme, I was convinced to purchase it and settled down to read it while on holiday.

My first impressions of it was a typical vampire novel - based on how it was describe on the radio and just the general look of it - "Don't judge a book by its cover" is a phrase used to describe a book such of this. White Crow is not about vampires - far from it, in fact, and revolves around a "Murder mystery" in a sense, with a strong religious factor.

Our main protagonist is Rebecca, a typically moody teenager who seems to enjoy nothing more than to make life a living hell for her father who has been forced to move to the small village of Winterford, due to an incident at his work at a police force. Rebecca, ever grouchy, meets Ferelith - the odd girl of the story. Though, odd doesn't seem like a strong enough word. The two become an odd pair very quickly and their friendship somehow manages to escalate into them breaking the law as Ferelith grows obsessed with Rebecca in a form that could only be described as creepy.

Breaking up the book is an diary of a Priest from Winterford some hundred years or so back as he and a Doctor conduct experiments on people to see if there is something beyond the grave. This very much involves the inhumane act of severing their victims heads just enough from their body, so that they are still alive for a few seconds. This is when they question them on if there is anything on the other side. It seems that they never find their answer.

These two stories merge as Ferelith and Rebecca travel to the mansion where these gruesome acts took place and Ferelith - for some bizarre reason of a forfeit - traps Rebecca in the same room where the experiments took place. Why Rebecca never told her father of the incredibly weird things that Ferelith does is beyond me. This eventually leads to them finding the cave where the bodies were stored and Ferelith - for a bizarre reason - kills herself (though we are first given the impression that she was going to kill Rebecca).

It seemed that Ferelith had some form of duel personality - which would explain alot about the story, but this fact was never remained clear. Her character is by far the most interesting as she is rather left to the readers imagination of why she is the way she is. Rebecca is dull and feels strained and pretty obnoxious. I don't find any sympathy with her - particularly when she yells at her father "And don't you understand how lonely I am!"

Overall, White Crow is an incredibly unique styled book, but is, unfortunately, quite weak in areas. I would of loved some more depth to the characters, because even Ferelith can be annoying. It is worth the read, but it doesn't feel like anything special. However, perhaps it may appeal more to young adults rather than teenagers. (less)

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Aug 01, 2011 Tracey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, teen

Teen fiction; dark horror/mystery. Winterfold is a small, bleak English town that is slowly falling off the edge of a cliff as the sea continues to wear away the ever changing coastline. The town's history is centuries old, and its dark, deadly secrets unravel slowly, as told through three alternating and intertwining narratives. Rebecca, a London teenager hoping to escape public scrutiny, takes refuge with her father here. Ferelith, a troubled local girl who is obsessed with death and the after...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Dodie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wonderfully atmospheric, spooky and weird, Sedgwick's newest title throws the reader into a very contemporary and complicated teen relationship, gothic horror and some parental angst on top of that. And it all works. I read the galley edition on a plane and the Kindle reader to the right of me and the Kobo reader to the left of me were nosily eyeing the gorgeous cover (which I like better than what might be depicted here as the final cover) and change of font styles as the story flips from prese...more

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Jul 01, 2011 Jan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teenbooks, horror-fiction

This is a darkly compelling story about a young teen named Rebecca who moves to a seaside village named Winterfold with her father, a police officer who is in disgrace for causing a wrongful death. Rebecca is less than enchanted with the village, but meets a strange girl named Ferelith who is rather insistent upon becoming friends. Ferelith lures Rebecca into some "dares" that provide a much needed sense of excitement for Rebecca, who is bored by her current environs. The book features two conte...more

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Jun 01, 2011 Tig rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Surprised it's up for the Carnegie, to be honest - it's told in writing that's terrified to make any demands for fear of losing its readers. So: very, very simple and bald - no imagery, no metaphor, no scene setting, seven word sentences, three sentence paragraphs, BIG Margins, short chapters, present tense narrative. I would just love to have seen it have the courage to take a bit more time and develop and deepen the narrative a bit more. It felt like literature lite. It's billed as a modern Go...more

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Jan 01, 2011 Yolanda Sfetsos rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-paranormal

I was totally hooked by this book from the moment I picked it up. Seriously, I grabbed it this morning and kept reading, and reading... until I finished it. Took me less than a day because I got totally carried away by Rebecca and Ferelith's stories.

Rebecca has just moved with her father into a cottage in the coastal town of Winterfold. She hates that she's forced to live here, in a place that takes her twenty-five minutes to explore. She hates that she's left her friends and boyfriend behind in...more I was totally hooked by this book from the moment I picked it up. Seriously, I grabbed it this morning and kept reading, and reading... until I finished it. Took me less than a day because I got totally carried away by Rebecca and Ferelith's stories.

Rebecca has just moved with her father into a cottage in the coastal town of Winterfold. She hates that she's forced to live here, in a place that takes her twenty-five minutes to explore. She hates that she's left her friends and boyfriend behind in London and none of them want anything to do with her. But most of all, she hates that they had to move because of something that happened to her father, the policeman. Something serious enough to force them to run, and alienate them from each other.

Ferelith is a very strange and odd girl. She's got a troubled past and believes herself to be so clever that she dropped out of school at the age of fourteen. She's odd and mysterious, very secretive, but totally taken by the new girl in town. So much that she befriends her, shows her the sights and tells her ghost stories about Winterfold, while quietly manipulating Rebecca into a very dangerous situation.

This book was one whirlwind combination of stories. Rebecca and Ferelith's tales are also joined by that of a man of the cloth. The pages of the Rector's journal--dated 1798--tell the very personal and horrifying story of how the priest slowly loses his faith and is seduced into the world of science and mysticism that the French Dr. Barrieux introduces him to. These horrid experiements are their way of finding out what happens after death--do angels or devils await? And all relate to what eventually happens to the girls during the summer they spend together, because Ferelith wants to find the answer to that question too.

White Crow is a brilliant, haunting gothic story about an unstable friendship between a troubled girl, and one who's lost. It's also about life, death, and sin--a dark, atmospheric tale about what makes people tick, how experiences shape them, and how every decision we make can affect our lives and change them forever.

It's also a great thriller, with thick tension on every page. The deeper I got into the book, the more tense I became, waiting to see what awaited on the next page. Yet, I couldn't stop. I was engrossed from beginning to end, which is always an awesome thing! Yep, loved it.

This is the first Marcus Sedgwick book I've read, but I doubt it'll be my last.(less)

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Dec 24, 2010 Darren Hartwell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When you pick up a new Marcus Sedgwick book you never know what to expect from the author as he has become a master of surprises and loves to keep his readers guessing as to what twist or turn his story will take next. And yet again he took this reader completely by surprise - this book was totally different from what I had expected, and all the better for it.

The story is told from three different points of view. There is Rebecca, daughter of a policeman who has taken the pair of them off to a s...more When you pick up a new Marcus Sedgwick book you never know what to expect from the author as he has become a master of surprises and loves to keep his readers guessing as to what twist or turn his story will take next. And yet again he took this reader completely by surprise - this book was totally different from what I had expected, and all the better for it.

The story is told from three different points of view. There is Rebecca, daughter of a policeman who has taken the pair of them off to a small seaside town for the summer; we are not initially informed what he is trying to escape from, but this is revealed as the story progresses. Next there is Ferelith, a seemingly friendless, and certainly eccentric local girl who appears to be very keen to befriend Rebecca, a notion that the new girl in town initially resists. The third voice is one from the past, written as the journal of the local rector back in the 17th Century. For me the story as told by the two girls flowed well, with tantalising snippets of information being revealed as the story progressed. However, even though it sometimes interrupted the flow of the modern day story, the Rector's journal is the device that really got my mind whirring, and made me start trying to fill in pieces of the main story, often with an intense feeling of creeping dread.

This is one hell of a creepy story, but not the kind that will necessarily appeal to fans of the more gory aspects of horror. Although there are some bloody moments, the real scares in this book are purely psychological, so if you like your horror to really play on the primal fears that lay buried deep in your mind then this book is most definitely for you. And the character of Ferelith is one of the principle causes for this. Right from the first time we meet her we know there is something not quite right about her; her mind obviously does not work in quite the same way as your average teenage girl's, but these differences, that initially seem like eccentricities, soon had me knowing that she is not the kind of person I would like to turn my back on. This strangeness in her personality adds a wonderful amount of suspense to the story, as we constantly wonder whether Rebecca is actually safe in her company. In addition to this her character also ensures that element of unpredictability that I so love in Marcus Sedgwick's storytelling.

To say much more would be to give too much away about this story. It is a dark gothic mystery, with an intelligence that will really make you think. It requires reading in as few sittings as possible, but maybe not when you are alone on a dark cold night; if you do then you may not get much sleep that night - elements of this story played on my mind and entered my dreams for some days after I finished it, and even now, some time later, writing this review has brought back some slightly uncomfortable memories of the truly chilling ending to the story: Ferelith is a character that could haunt me for some time to come.(less)

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Apr 28, 2011 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a dark and gothic tale this is? Actually, so over the top, that I almost laughed at the final antics of the Cleric and the Doctor (reminded me of Sweeney Todd!) Having been brought up in Suffolk, I enjoyed and understood the coastal background, although I wasn't always convinced by Sedgwick's descriptions, especially at the climax. I loved all the many layers - of relationships and theories of life/death, heaven/hell/disbelief, past/present. The existence of the white crow, showing up the i...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Georgia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: school

This book was confusing.
The diferent pionts of view didn't work.
The only character that was slightly interesting went slightly crazy.
And the story was wierd.

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Jul 14, 2010 Empire of Books rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There is no doubt about it, this is perhaps the most scary book, the creepiest book, I have read aimed at younger readers ever. You will need, not want, to read this with the lights on, in broad daylight, if possible!

Set in the middle of summer, the heat stifling, Rebecca and her father move to Winterfold for the holidays to get away from their past, back in London. Here, Rebecca meets the mysterious, even odd, Ferelith. There are three main characters. Rebecca's story is told in third person, a...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Angie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First warning, do not start this book if you do not have the time to finish it in one sitting. I began White Crow and got about half way through before I had found a place where I could safely stop. That spot I found seemed to be the only place to stop. Unbeknownst, I went to work and began to read it on my lunch break and the book got INTENSE. I don't think I've ever had this much anxiety over a novel before.

Second warning, the book has a very slow suspenseful build-up, which I didn't mind. I l...more

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May 25, 2013 Fanficfan44 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my second Marcus Sedgwick book and I will say that I thought that MidwinterBlood was the better of the two. This book was advertised as horror and is undeniably creepy and suspenseful. Sedgwick’s prose once again has the same sparse quality that I admired in MidwinterBlood and while it works, especially for the setting and atmosphere, I feel character development was lacking in this book. I am left unsure if this was purposeful, to leave it up to the reader to come up with some of their...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Annabelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was incredibly lucky to win a bundle of signed books by Marcus Sedgwick. I’d read extracts of his work but I’d never read the books. I was very excited when they arrived. I started White Crow first as that was the one I was most looking forward too. The extract I read was incredible scary. For the first time I was nervous about reading a book. I don’t read too many horror novels and from reviews I knew this was scary. It is full of suspense that makes your heart beat faster. It plays tricks on...more I was incredibly lucky to win a bundle of signed books by Marcus Sedgwick. I’d read extracts of his work but I’d never read the books. I was very excited when they arrived. I started White Crow first as that was the one I was most looking forward too. The extract I read was incredible scary. For the first time I was nervous about reading a book. I don’t read too many horror novels and from reviews I knew this was scary. It is full of suspense that makes your heart beat faster. It plays tricks on your mind and it is brilliant.

White Crow takes place in a small village called Winterfold. Rebecca and her father move to the village to get away from their past back in London. They only have each other and even Rebecca doesn't agree with this decision. For months they've been falling apart and now they barely speak. In the small boring town of Winterfold a legend is hidden in the ruins of The Hall. Rebecca meets the the weird Ferelith, a girl who has lived in Winterfold all her life. They become friends and together they uncover the terrifying secrets of the past.

White Crow is told from three different perspectives. We have Rebecca, the new girl in Winterfold. Ferelith, the creepy girl who has lived there all her life. Then we get journal extracts from a seventeenth century priest. The priest strays from the path of god and begins participating in some horrible experiments with a strange french doctor.

Rebecca was an interesting character. She had problems with her father and she was so alone. All of her old friends forgot about her and now she was in a new town all alone. We see her begin to question herself and even her father. So many things have gone wrong for them and she's not happy. She meets Ferelith a sharp intelligent girl, who questions life in very interesting ways. Together they have a weird friendship but they both seem to get something out of it. The priest and the Doctor have a weird relationship as well. I think it reflects the relationships of Ferelith and Rebecca but in a different time period.

This book was full of suspense but it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Although younger teens would find it slightly terrifying. White Crow was a great read that was very enjoyable. The writing was simple making it easy to read and enjoy. I've already started another Sedgwick book and I'm really enjoying it. This is a very interesting book that does make you question life and whats beyond. I really recommend it!
(less)

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Jan 07, 2012 Amy M rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book creeped me out. No. Really. There were no truly, truly graphic scenes (although blood is mentioned frequently on a few pages toward the end and a couple of descriptions of certain nastiness may gross out a few people), but it still creeped me out.

There is not much I can say to explain the book, though. Girl named Rebecca moves with her father to a very small coastal town in England that, over the years, has been literally falling apart and into the sea. The circumstances for their move...more

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