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A Single Thread
It’s been two weeks since Morgan Fletcher’s little sister, Erin, disappeared before his eyes in a flurry of spidersilk and blood. Probability says she’s dead; but when Erin comes to him in a dream, Morgan’s eyes are opened to a level of reality where probability doesn’t mean jack. His sister sees the web of time, and she’s got news for him: trouble is coming.
A cryptic riddle and flashing images of the future are all Morgan has to go on in order to save a mystery boy from a gruesome death. That’s if he even believes what’s happened to Erin. Is her spider-whisperer persona for real, or has his grief at losing her caused him to totally crack?
With a life at stake, Morgan isn’t taking any chances. Madness or no madness, he has to solve Erin’s riddle before it’s too late.
A cryptic riddle and flashing images of the future are all Morgan has to go on in order to save a mystery boy from a gruesome death. That’s if he even believes what’s happened to Erin. Is her spider-whisperer persona for real, or has his grief at losing her caused him to totally crack?
With a life at stake, Morgan isn’t taking any chances. Madness or no madness, he has to solve Erin’s riddle before it’s too late.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2014
24 people want to read
About the author
C.M. Spivey
9 books102 followersC.M. Spivey is a speculative fiction writer, author of high fantasy FROM UNDER THE MOUNTAIN and the gothic mystery THE LONGING AND THE LACK. His enduring love of fantasy started young. Now, he explores the rules and ramifications of magic in his own works—and as a trans, panromantic asexual, he's committed to queering his favorite genres. In his spare time, he plans his next tattoo (there will always be a next tattoo) and watches too much Netflix. Anything left over is devoted to his tireless quest to make America read more. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his darling husband Matt and adorable dog Jay.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 18, 2015
What a great sequel! The writing is fabulous. I loved getting into Morgan's head. His sister is gone, but not really. She stays connected to him, giving him a mission. The intriguing and unique premise of the first book I SEE THE WEB continues to tangle me in its threads. And vampires... dude.
I had a feeling I would love this series, but I had no idea how much. Fate...and spiders? WOW!
I had a feeling I would love this series, but I had no idea how much. Fate...and spiders? WOW!
June 19, 2018
Morgan's brother is on a mission to find his sister Erin. He stood there unable to do a thing after it happened stood there amongst all the blood left behind, but no, body in sight. Dawn vanished with her, and her family is blaming Erin. He can't wrap his head around it pondering what is to be done when suddenly his sister visits him in a dream. Can he complete the tasks he's given? (This is Book#2 of a 3 part series. The stories are short, but worth it!)
August 28, 2017
Really enjoyed this. Compelling writing that flows naturally and effortlessly paints a picture. Interesting characters. Definitely going to continue
January 30, 2017
This review first appeared on my blog: What Happened to the Wallflower?
Narrative-The second installment of THE WEB series is told from the POV of Morgan Fletcher, whose little sister (Erin) was the narrator of the previous installment. What I found myself most curious about in this second installment was how the voice would change: a teenage girl vs. her older brother. It felt to me like a challenging shift, for the main reason that these are two very different people living in the same world.
Morgan's voice was definitely distinctive, which is what I appreciated the most, even if it felt a bit forced and unnatural at times. Something about it made me read slower, since I kept getting hung up on some phrasing or another, and that's the biggest reason that I'm taking two stars off: I'm already typically a bit harsh when rating the narrative voice, and the clunky-ness of Morgan's didn't sit well with me as a reader.
★★★☆☆
Plot-A SINGLE THREAD takes off two weeks after the previous novella left off: Erin Fletcher and her girlfriend, Dawn, have simply disappeared. Erin's mother is catatonic and her brother feels like it's his fault for not looking after them. He's determined to find his sister, even calling up one of his cop buddies on occasion to see if there's news.
Then he gets bit by a spider and has a conversation with his missing sister, who's actually become the Ma Meri of time. She gives him a riddle that makes absolutely no sense, and tells him to save a random boy's life. So when Morgan wakes up, he has two options: listen to the specter of his sister and try to save a life, or shrug it off.
Then: vampires (and, really, I'm going to leave it at that. Because I'm cruel. And I think you should just read it).
I admit: I love riddles. I especially love when those riddles are in books, and they're done so well that the reader is just as lost as the character is. The plot of this novella was so excellently crafted around this strangeness and the fact that there are some very dangerous and supernatural things coming to town, and it was reflected well in both the tone, and the fact that the entire community was coming together to protect themselves against something. All they knew was that it was a threat, and they were trusting their instincts. It was a very human reaction to fear, and it was great to see.
What I do wish, however, was that more questions were answered. The questions surrounding the vampire woman are fine (by the end of the novella, you really only find out her name); the questions surrounding why she was choosing a particular victim were really never addressed (unless I missed them). Then there were questions about why Erin wanted the victim saved: what made him so important, or was it simply that she was trying to hold on to a part of herself that was still human? There was a bit of vagueness that I was eager to have cleared up by the time I reached the last page.
Beyond that, though, the mystery in this installment was fabulous.
★★★★☆
Characters-Something I've come to learn and appreciate very quickly is how intense Spivey's characters are. Morgan, alone, carries with him a spectrum of emotion and motivation that centers around his sister, Erin: finding her, protecting her, thinking about her, inspired to do and believe anything that'll get him closer to figuring out what happened to her. This is why when the moment finally comes for him to see and talk to his sister, finally (in a dream brought on by getting bit by a spider, no less), he's willing to accept the riddle that she gives him. Either he's simply desperate for a connection to her, or the dream was real and he doesn't want to let her down.
Whatever the answer, Morgan does things like believe in vampires. He even finds/makes two wooden stakes in order to slay the vampire should he come across it. He approaches a girl he'd barely even talks to, and risks his own neck to save her brother. And, really, it's all because his sister told him to. After he figured out the riddle (with the help of a friend).
He's the big, bad brother I kind of wish I had.
★★★★★
Final Answer: 4 / 5
Narrative-The second installment of THE WEB series is told from the POV of Morgan Fletcher, whose little sister (Erin) was the narrator of the previous installment. What I found myself most curious about in this second installment was how the voice would change: a teenage girl vs. her older brother. It felt to me like a challenging shift, for the main reason that these are two very different people living in the same world.
Morgan's voice was definitely distinctive, which is what I appreciated the most, even if it felt a bit forced and unnatural at times. Something about it made me read slower, since I kept getting hung up on some phrasing or another, and that's the biggest reason that I'm taking two stars off: I'm already typically a bit harsh when rating the narrative voice, and the clunky-ness of Morgan's didn't sit well with me as a reader.
★★★☆☆
Plot-A SINGLE THREAD takes off two weeks after the previous novella left off: Erin Fletcher and her girlfriend, Dawn, have simply disappeared. Erin's mother is catatonic and her brother feels like it's his fault for not looking after them. He's determined to find his sister, even calling up one of his cop buddies on occasion to see if there's news.
Then he gets bit by a spider and has a conversation with his missing sister, who's actually become the Ma Meri of time. She gives him a riddle that makes absolutely no sense, and tells him to save a random boy's life. So when Morgan wakes up, he has two options: listen to the specter of his sister and try to save a life, or shrug it off.
Then: vampires (and, really, I'm going to leave it at that. Because I'm cruel. And I think you should just read it).
I admit: I love riddles. I especially love when those riddles are in books, and they're done so well that the reader is just as lost as the character is. The plot of this novella was so excellently crafted around this strangeness and the fact that there are some very dangerous and supernatural things coming to town, and it was reflected well in both the tone, and the fact that the entire community was coming together to protect themselves against something. All they knew was that it was a threat, and they were trusting their instincts. It was a very human reaction to fear, and it was great to see.
What I do wish, however, was that more questions were answered. The questions surrounding the vampire woman are fine (by the end of the novella, you really only find out her name); the questions surrounding why she was choosing a particular victim were really never addressed (unless I missed them). Then there were questions about why Erin wanted the victim saved: what made him so important, or was it simply that she was trying to hold on to a part of herself that was still human? There was a bit of vagueness that I was eager to have cleared up by the time I reached the last page.
Beyond that, though, the mystery in this installment was fabulous.
★★★★☆
Characters-Something I've come to learn and appreciate very quickly is how intense Spivey's characters are. Morgan, alone, carries with him a spectrum of emotion and motivation that centers around his sister, Erin: finding her, protecting her, thinking about her, inspired to do and believe anything that'll get him closer to figuring out what happened to her. This is why when the moment finally comes for him to see and talk to his sister, finally (in a dream brought on by getting bit by a spider, no less), he's willing to accept the riddle that she gives him. Either he's simply desperate for a connection to her, or the dream was real and he doesn't want to let her down.
Whatever the answer, Morgan does things like believe in vampires. He even finds/makes two wooden stakes in order to slay the vampire should he come across it. He approaches a girl he'd barely even talks to, and risks his own neck to save her brother. And, really, it's all because his sister told him to. After he figured out the riddle (with the help of a friend).
He's the big, bad brother I kind of wish I had.
★★★★★
Final Answer: 4 / 5
February 4, 2017
A Single Thread picks up right after I See the Web, answering some of the questions I was left with at the end of first installment within the first few chapters. Some, but not all. Still, I was excited by the resolution of things like why no one noticed the climatic moment at the end of the first book (they did, and the aftermath of that is explained in lots of satisfactory detail), what’s up with the neck-tingling danger thing (it’s not completely explained, but enough that I felt I had a better understanding of what it means and how it works), and even what’s next for Erin and Dawn.
But this book doesn’t center on the protagonist from the first one; instead, she’s more of a catalyst for Morgan’s story, sending her brother on a mission with an ominous riddle and final warning that speaks loads to the mystery about to unfold:
“Dance for the boy’s life. Dance for yours.”
That was perhaps my favorite line from the book, though the entire thing is riddled with Spivey’s usual brilliance. There were only two aspects that left me feeling a bit torn about the story, warranting the loss of the fifth star I desperately wanted to give it. On the one hand, I loved many of the elements more than the first — the plot arc, Morgan’s character, the way it further fleshed out the world. But on the other, there were a few things I struggled with.
While I liked Morgan as a character and felt Spivey showcased his emotional turmoil well, I did feel like she struggled with maintaining his voice more than I’ve seen her do in other works. There are still glittering gems of wit that leap off the page, but there are also moments where the character voice seemed to vacillate. Not a lot, but some.
The other thing I struggled with were the intuitive connections the characters made. In some ways, I wish this story had been longer and given more space to breathe, as there were several times where the characters made leaps in logic that didn’t feel believable, like they had inside knowledge they shouldn’t have had. I wanted a little more resistance to their suddenly being thrust into a supernatural world no one was aware of and for the unraveling of the riddle to be a little harder for the characters to figure out.
That said, there were a lot of things I loved more than the first installment in the series. My favorite element is the way Spivey’s work builds on its fellow stories, interconnecting and weaving together in ways that definitely enrich not only the world-building, but the reading experience as well. Similar to the first, there’s a distinct feeling that this is an origin story, and it can definitely be read alone, but I recommend reading the series in order. The Easter eggs Spivey has hidden can only be truly appreciated against the backdrop of the entire series.
**Content Note: Contains a lot of swearing and mild violence.**
But this book doesn’t center on the protagonist from the first one; instead, she’s more of a catalyst for Morgan’s story, sending her brother on a mission with an ominous riddle and final warning that speaks loads to the mystery about to unfold:
“Dance for the boy’s life. Dance for yours.”
That was perhaps my favorite line from the book, though the entire thing is riddled with Spivey’s usual brilliance. There were only two aspects that left me feeling a bit torn about the story, warranting the loss of the fifth star I desperately wanted to give it. On the one hand, I loved many of the elements more than the first — the plot arc, Morgan’s character, the way it further fleshed out the world. But on the other, there were a few things I struggled with.
While I liked Morgan as a character and felt Spivey showcased his emotional turmoil well, I did feel like she struggled with maintaining his voice more than I’ve seen her do in other works. There are still glittering gems of wit that leap off the page, but there are also moments where the character voice seemed to vacillate. Not a lot, but some.
The other thing I struggled with were the intuitive connections the characters made. In some ways, I wish this story had been longer and given more space to breathe, as there were several times where the characters made leaps in logic that didn’t feel believable, like they had inside knowledge they shouldn’t have had. I wanted a little more resistance to their suddenly being thrust into a supernatural world no one was aware of and for the unraveling of the riddle to be a little harder for the characters to figure out.
That said, there were a lot of things I loved more than the first installment in the series. My favorite element is the way Spivey’s work builds on its fellow stories, interconnecting and weaving together in ways that definitely enrich not only the world-building, but the reading experience as well. Similar to the first, there’s a distinct feeling that this is an origin story, and it can definitely be read alone, but I recommend reading the series in order. The Easter eggs Spivey has hidden can only be truly appreciated against the backdrop of the entire series.
**Content Note: Contains a lot of swearing and mild violence.**
February 7, 2017
Full disclosure: I received a free e-copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review.
A SINGLE THREAD is a really imaginative and eerie NA Paranormal novella with some very interesting ideas. I found the mythology behind the many paranormal aspects to be pretty unique (at least, within my reading of Paranormal novels) and the spidery theme was equal parts fascinating and creepy.
That being said, because of the quickened pacing necessary in order to fit a novella length, I had a little trouble really understanding and accepting the cryptic (and strange) world of the book. This may be partially at fault to the fact that I have not, in fact, read the previous book I SEE THE WEB, but I also found the characters’ quick acceptance of the paranormal elements that were not a part of their everyday world as they knew it a little beyond my suspension of disbelief. While the protagonist Morgan has some thoughts throughout about the absurdity of the many situations he ends up in, it didn’t feel like enough resistance, to me, to really be believable.
That said, this is a novella, and I understand things have to get pushed along a little more quickly to fit expected word count ranges. I suspect, largely because of the rather quick pace and the necessity to have characters accept things quickly in order to keep the plot on point, I found it a little difficult to keep up. Despite that, A SINGLE THREAD was an enjoyable read with just the right amount of creepy, and it was fun seeing a paranormal perspective in the New Adult category.
A SINGLE THREAD is a really imaginative and eerie NA Paranormal novella with some very interesting ideas. I found the mythology behind the many paranormal aspects to be pretty unique (at least, within my reading of Paranormal novels) and the spidery theme was equal parts fascinating and creepy.
That being said, because of the quickened pacing necessary in order to fit a novella length, I had a little trouble really understanding and accepting the cryptic (and strange) world of the book. This may be partially at fault to the fact that I have not, in fact, read the previous book I SEE THE WEB, but I also found the characters’ quick acceptance of the paranormal elements that were not a part of their everyday world as they knew it a little beyond my suspension of disbelief. While the protagonist Morgan has some thoughts throughout about the absurdity of the many situations he ends up in, it didn’t feel like enough resistance, to me, to really be believable.
That said, this is a novella, and I understand things have to get pushed along a little more quickly to fit expected word count ranges. I suspect, largely because of the rather quick pace and the necessity to have characters accept things quickly in order to keep the plot on point, I found it a little difficult to keep up. Despite that, A SINGLE THREAD was an enjoyable read with just the right amount of creepy, and it was fun seeing a paranormal perspective in the New Adult category.
February 28, 2015
I absolutely loved the first book in this series, I SEE THE WEB, so I couldn't wait to read the next installment. A SINGLE THREAD picks up shortly after the tragic (but mysteriously hopeful)ending of its prequel, in a heartbreaking scene where Morgan is mourning is missing sister. Early on we're whisked back into the unique, paranormal element of this world, and each description is beautifully woven (get it, woven) with gorgeous imagery and delicate prose. A SINGLE THREAD incorporates a new and fantastic take on fate and introduces a fresh version of a well-loved creature of lore. I loved the quick pace and simplicity of the plot, and noticed the careful, but quiet introduction of characters appearing in future segments. I can't wait to see where Ms. Spivey takes us in the next book in this series (THE ETERNAL TIES)!
Content: Some strong language (mostly in the first chapter)
Content: Some strong language (mostly in the first chapter)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews