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Eden Moore #1
Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Although she was orphaned at birth, Eden Moore is never alone. Three dead women watch from the shadows, bound to protect her from harm. But in the woods a gunman waits, convinced that Eden is destined to follow her wicked great-grandfather--an African magician with the power to curse the living and raise the dead.
Now Eden must decipher the secret of the ghostly trio before a new enemy more dangerous than the fanatical assassin destroys what is left of her family. She will sift through lies in a Georgian ante-bellum mansion and climb through the haunted ruins of a 19th century hospital, desperately seeking the truth that will save her beloved aunt from the curse that threatens her life.
Now Eden must decipher the secret of the ghostly trio before a new enemy more dangerous than the fanatical assassin destroys what is left of her family. She will sift through lies in a Georgian ante-bellum mansion and climb through the haunted ruins of a 19th century hospital, desperately seeking the truth that will save her beloved aunt from the curse that threatens her life.
285 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2005
72 people are currently reading
2939 people want to read
About the author
Cherie Priest
72 books4,374 followersCherie Priest is the author of about thirty books and novellas, most recently the modern gothics It Was Her House First, The Drowning House, and Cinderwich. She's also the author of the Booking Agents mysteries, horror projects The Toll and The Family Plot – and the hit YA graphic novel mash-ups I Am Princess X and its follow up, The Agony House. But she is perhaps best known for the steampunk pulp adventures of the Clockwork Century, beginning with Boneshaker. She has been nominated for the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, and the Locus award – which she won with Boneshaker.
Cherie has also written a number of urban fantasy titles, and composed pieces (large and small) for George R. R. Martin’s shared world universe, the Wild Cards. Her short stories and nonfiction articles have appeared in such fine publications as Weird Tales, Publishers Weekly, and numerous anthologies – and her books have been translated into nine languages in eleven countries.
Although she was born in Florida on the day Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, for the last twenty years Cherie has largely divided her time between Chattanooga, TN, and Seattle, WA – where she presently lives with her husband and a menagerie of exceedingly photogenic pets.
Cherie has also written a number of urban fantasy titles, and composed pieces (large and small) for George R. R. Martin’s shared world universe, the Wild Cards. Her short stories and nonfiction articles have appeared in such fine publications as Weird Tales, Publishers Weekly, and numerous anthologies – and her books have been translated into nine languages in eleven countries.
Although she was born in Florida on the day Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, for the last twenty years Cherie has largely divided her time between Chattanooga, TN, and Seattle, WA – where she presently lives with her husband and a menagerie of exceedingly photogenic pets.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 317 reviews
February 23, 2010
I read a review that recommended this book to the "aging Buffy crowd". Not that I'm taking offense or anything . . . Despite that backhanded insult and being a big Buffy fan, that throw-away comment does a huge disservice to this book. There is nothing snarky or Buffy-like about it. I hope the reviewer isn't assuming all Buffy fans and teens are too simple to enjoy a mature ghost story because I've been enjoying this sort of thing since I was ten . . . End of rant.
This was a good old-fashioned, very moody and atmospheric ghost story. Eden grows up with the ability to see three female ghosts and knows there is something odd about her past. She's been raised by her aunt Lulu, whom she loves, but Lulu is hiding secrets. As Eden grows up and odd things continue to cast a shadow over her, she decides to discover the truth for herself.
This book has some great atmosphere and held my attention throughout but it didn't scare or spook me as I was hoping. Still, a great creepy read that I can easily recommend.
This was a good old-fashioned, very moody and atmospheric ghost story. Eden grows up with the ability to see three female ghosts and knows there is something odd about her past. She's been raised by her aunt Lulu, whom she loves, but Lulu is hiding secrets. As Eden grows up and odd things continue to cast a shadow over her, she decides to discover the truth for herself.
This book has some great atmosphere and held my attention throughout but it didn't scare or spook me as I was hoping. Still, a great creepy read that I can easily recommend.
November 6, 2011
Cherie Priest has written herself a pretty good novel (which I'll call "Southern Something"). There is much to like. In tapping into the rich literary gothic tradition of the South, she has come up with her own creation. The characters, Eden Moore, her aunt Lulu, stepfather Dave, all seem to come from the New South, a South that hangs out at coffee bars for poetry readings and listens to the B-52s or R.E.M. (or someone newer). But Tradition is still there - and characters like Eden's great aunt "Tatie," is like a character out of Faulkner-land. It's a character co-existence that is pulled off nicely by Priest.
The story itself is an occult one, with dark family secrets coming slowly to the surface. Eden, who has a gift for seeing ghosts - especially three friendly but tragic ones, is the driving force of the story, but she herself is ensnared in a fateful web, one where she only senses the outlines (it's a series after all). But the story is also a mystery in, say, the classic British sense, as Eden crosses the South looking for clues regarding her family history, and the particulars of a brutal crime. Priest is also quite good at describing the geography (a southern writer "must") of Eden's searches. In particular, I enjoyed the description of the abandoned (and haunted) Tennessee hospital, which is a dead ringer for the creepy place I saw once as the subject of Sci-Fi channel documentary. (It also had me thinking of the super creepy movie Session 9.) I also enjoyed the things quite a bit when Eden made it to the swamps of Florida. Again, great descriptive writing - and one excellent fight scene.
Still, this is a first novel. There are times when I thought it read like the sum of those writers and styles that had influenced the writer. I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with that, because it shows the writer as a serious student. And Priest is certainly that. But the style she has embraced, Southern Gothic, is one that depends on atmosphere. The prose styles of say William Faulkner, Flannery O'Conner, or even Harry Crews, are often as knotty and gnarled as the stories they tell. In contrast, Priest is as polished as it gets. A bad thing? I don't know, but there seems an oil and water mix when I detect Agatha Christie or Nancy Drew when I've been traveling down a road that says House of Usher up ahead. There are times in Four and Twenty Blackbirds when atmosphere takes a back seat to mystery novel mechanics. I think, as Priest becomes more seasoned, that the fault-lines in style will fade, and that she will develop a voice that is completely her own. Four and Twenty Blackbirds does give hopeful evidence that she is well on her way.
The story itself is an occult one, with dark family secrets coming slowly to the surface. Eden, who has a gift for seeing ghosts - especially three friendly but tragic ones, is the driving force of the story, but she herself is ensnared in a fateful web, one where she only senses the outlines (it's a series after all). But the story is also a mystery in, say, the classic British sense, as Eden crosses the South looking for clues regarding her family history, and the particulars of a brutal crime. Priest is also quite good at describing the geography (a southern writer "must") of Eden's searches. In particular, I enjoyed the description of the abandoned (and haunted) Tennessee hospital, which is a dead ringer for the creepy place I saw once as the subject of Sci-Fi channel documentary. (It also had me thinking of the super creepy movie Session 9.) I also enjoyed the things quite a bit when Eden made it to the swamps of Florida. Again, great descriptive writing - and one excellent fight scene.
Still, this is a first novel. There are times when I thought it read like the sum of those writers and styles that had influenced the writer. I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with that, because it shows the writer as a serious student. And Priest is certainly that. But the style she has embraced, Southern Gothic, is one that depends on atmosphere. The prose styles of say William Faulkner, Flannery O'Conner, or even Harry Crews, are often as knotty and gnarled as the stories they tell. In contrast, Priest is as polished as it gets. A bad thing? I don't know, but there seems an oil and water mix when I detect Agatha Christie or Nancy Drew when I've been traveling down a road that says House of Usher up ahead. There are times in Four and Twenty Blackbirds when atmosphere takes a back seat to mystery novel mechanics. I think, as Priest becomes more seasoned, that the fault-lines in style will fade, and that she will develop a voice that is completely her own. Four and Twenty Blackbirds does give hopeful evidence that she is well on her way.
January 3, 2011
The creepist, strangest section of this book takes place in a bathroom at a summer camp. It does.
Of course, it could have been because I was reading it late at night, in bed, with the crazy homeless group across the street talking very, very, very loudly. (Yes, I know I should be more Christian and they're not harming anyone, but it is freaking midnight!).
Nah, it was creepy.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds introduces the reader to Eden Moore and her surprising large and very confusing family. Like a certain famous child character in a certain director's first (and only really good) movie, she sees dead people. No, she isn't some clone, and in fact, her reactions are extreme in the opposite way.
In this book, we meet Eden as a child and watch her travel into adulthood as she eventually gets around to untangling the mystery of her family's best. This book isn't as funny as Priest's Bloodshot, and the atmosphere is, as the book advertises, southern gothic.
What makes the book work is the character building. You believe in the existence of every single character (and this seems to Priest's very strong talent). I also enjoyed the fact that Eden and her family are of mixed race. It should be noted that while North v. South, racism, and classism, make appearances in this novel, they are not closely examined. This is a gothic story about hauntings, in particular the haunting of the past.
Of course, it could have been because I was reading it late at night, in bed, with the crazy homeless group across the street talking very, very, very loudly. (Yes, I know I should be more Christian and they're not harming anyone, but it is freaking midnight!).
Nah, it was creepy.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds introduces the reader to Eden Moore and her surprising large and very confusing family. Like a certain famous child character in a certain director's first (and only really good) movie, she sees dead people. No, she isn't some clone, and in fact, her reactions are extreme in the opposite way.
In this book, we meet Eden as a child and watch her travel into adulthood as she eventually gets around to untangling the mystery of her family's best. This book isn't as funny as Priest's Bloodshot, and the atmosphere is, as the book advertises, southern gothic.
What makes the book work is the character building. You believe in the existence of every single character (and this seems to Priest's very strong talent). I also enjoyed the fact that Eden and her family are of mixed race. It should be noted that while North v. South, racism, and classism, make appearances in this novel, they are not closely examined. This is a gothic story about hauntings, in particular the haunting of the past.
April 23, 2008
I have come to the realization that although I would never live in the South again if you paid me, this does not mean that the South has left me. I apparently seriously dig me some Southern Gothic-flavored stories--well, I kind of knew this already, what with having read Charlaine Harris so much, as well as Ivy Cole and the Moon last year. It was however with great pleasure that I tackled Cherie Priest's Four and Twenty Blackbirds, especially after I discovered that she used to live in Chattanooga.
'Cause y'know what? So did I, for about six months. Seattle is the land that I've Recognized, to swipe a concept from Elfquest--but Kentucky and Tennessee? That's still the land of my birth. And there's so much fucked-up family history all over the South that it's a gold mine of story fodder, especially if you write dark fantasy or horror.
So yeah, I dived quite happily into Four and Twenty Blackbirds and enjoyed it quite a bit. The plot's not complex--pretty much Girl Sees Ghosts, Girl Delves into Her Mysterious Background, Girl Must Deal With Seriously Creepy Shit That Goes Down as a Result. But what drives this story for me is the atmosphere and the characters. As one who hails from that land, I'm here to tell you--this book gets it right. Which makes the aforementioned Creepy Shit that much more effective.
This is also exactly the kind of horror novel I like. There's no gratuitous gore; blood is made that much more unsettling by how sparingly it appears. The tension comes from the uncertainty of Eden's explorations into her past--as well as her own nature--and the murkiness of the motives of those she comes across. Threads of history both recent and far past weave together into what for me was an excellent payoff at the end as the appropriate secrets are revealed.
And just for a kicker, I was so entertained by this book that I only realized today, a couple days after finishing it up, that there wasn't a breath of romantic entanglement anywhere in the plot. This doesn't happen very often at all in my usual reading fare; when it does, it always leaves me vaguely disappointed, romantic sucker that I am. But for this story? This wasn't a flaw. There just was no need for such things here; it was great the way it was. Four stars.
'Cause y'know what? So did I, for about six months. Seattle is the land that I've Recognized, to swipe a concept from Elfquest--but Kentucky and Tennessee? That's still the land of my birth. And there's so much fucked-up family history all over the South that it's a gold mine of story fodder, especially if you write dark fantasy or horror.
So yeah, I dived quite happily into Four and Twenty Blackbirds and enjoyed it quite a bit. The plot's not complex--pretty much Girl Sees Ghosts, Girl Delves into Her Mysterious Background, Girl Must Deal With Seriously Creepy Shit That Goes Down as a Result. But what drives this story for me is the atmosphere and the characters. As one who hails from that land, I'm here to tell you--this book gets it right. Which makes the aforementioned Creepy Shit that much more effective.
This is also exactly the kind of horror novel I like. There's no gratuitous gore; blood is made that much more unsettling by how sparingly it appears. The tension comes from the uncertainty of Eden's explorations into her past--as well as her own nature--and the murkiness of the motives of those she comes across. Threads of history both recent and far past weave together into what for me was an excellent payoff at the end as the appropriate secrets are revealed.
And just for a kicker, I was so entertained by this book that I only realized today, a couple days after finishing it up, that there wasn't a breath of romantic entanglement anywhere in the plot. This doesn't happen very often at all in my usual reading fare; when it does, it always leaves me vaguely disappointed, romantic sucker that I am. But for this story? This wasn't a flaw. There just was no need for such things here; it was great the way it was. Four stars.
November 18, 2011
Rating: 2.75* of five
The Book Report: In a fun twist on Haley Joel Osment's famous line, "I see dead people," young Eden discovers she can see and hear three dead women when they save her life, preventing her from being shot by an insane cousin who believes Eden to be the reincarnation of an evil figure from their shared family past. The dead women appear to Eden only at times of great danger and stress, which come increasingly often as she grows into a strange young womanhood. Her life's trajectory appears to be set by the existence of an evil ancestor, whose final disappearance into death is fast approaching. He uses all his sorcerous powers to fashion Eden into his tool to return to the living. This plan fails because Eden isn't having it, and if you know anything at all about Southern women, that's enough said right there.
My Review: Yet again we have a giant missed opportunity of a book. This idea, and the expository 50pp, are terrific. I loved them, and I was so excited to read the book I couldn't wait to get back to it!
Hit the middle, and found myself wandering around uninterested in the middle of a nothing-much kind of a life.
Came the ending, I was ticked off at the presumption evident in the author that we her readers would buy pretty much anything. Threads got dropped, threads got yanked into places they weren't heading before, and all through it, the reason I got interested in the first place...the three ghostly sisters...are used only as deus ex machina, which was a cheat AND a bore.
I am so disappointed! This chickie can write good sentences, and she can dream up great ideas, but the execution of this novel, at least, is poor. Very Neil Gaiman...great idea, give it to someone else to write so it will be used to best advantage instead of mangled and squished and generally crapped up.
Do I even need to add "not recommended" at the end of the review?
The Book Report: In a fun twist on Haley Joel Osment's famous line, "I see dead people," young Eden discovers she can see and hear three dead women when they save her life, preventing her from being shot by an insane cousin who believes Eden to be the reincarnation of an evil figure from their shared family past. The dead women appear to Eden only at times of great danger and stress, which come increasingly often as she grows into a strange young womanhood. Her life's trajectory appears to be set by the existence of an evil ancestor, whose final disappearance into death is fast approaching. He uses all his sorcerous powers to fashion Eden into his tool to return to the living. This plan fails because Eden isn't having it, and if you know anything at all about Southern women, that's enough said right there.
My Review: Yet again we have a giant missed opportunity of a book. This idea, and the expository 50pp, are terrific. I loved them, and I was so excited to read the book I couldn't wait to get back to it!
Hit the middle, and found myself wandering around uninterested in the middle of a nothing-much kind of a life.
Came the ending, I was ticked off at the presumption evident in the author that we her readers would buy pretty much anything. Threads got dropped, threads got yanked into places they weren't heading before, and all through it, the reason I got interested in the first place...the three ghostly sisters...are used only as deus ex machina, which was a cheat AND a bore.
I am so disappointed! This chickie can write good sentences, and she can dream up great ideas, but the execution of this novel, at least, is poor. Very Neil Gaiman...great idea, give it to someone else to write so it will be used to best advantage instead of mangled and squished and generally crapped up.
Do I even need to add "not recommended" at the end of the review?
June 2, 2008
Another one I found underwhelming. Priest tries to capture a Southern Gothic atmosphere, and while she makes use of a lot of excellent, classic set pieces—swamps and cemeteries; abandoned hospitals and dark cellars—the first person narrative mostly failed to capture a sense of immediate terror or danger. Maybe this is because Eden, the protagonist, is so detached and hipstery—I guess it’s supposed to make her seem tough, but when she hardly seems to care what happens to her, it’s hard for me to. I also found the plot a bit confusing and convoluted—it’s all about Eden’s twisted family tree, and some voodoo-type magic stuff I didn’t really get, and reincarnation, maybe? I really don’t know. In horror, I tend to think simple really is better, which makes a horror/mystery like this hard to pull off.
What sucks is, I accidentally bought the sequel to this thinking it was the first volume, because apparently the publishers want to make the books’ order as confusing as possible. Now I’m trying to figure out if I want to bother reading it or not. At the moment I’m actually leaning toward not.
What sucks is, I accidentally bought the sequel to this thinking it was the first volume, because apparently the publishers want to make the books’ order as confusing as possible. Now I’m trying to figure out if I want to bother reading it or not. At the moment I’m actually leaning toward not.
August 19, 2013
I didn't like this as much as I'd hoped to. I was ambivalent toward Boneshaker, but I really love Bloodshot and Hellbent (my girlfriend is in the doghouse a little bit for finding them boring), so I had high hopes about this one. I know it was her debut novel, but still. There's something compelling about this -- the mix of races involved, the use of the location, history, etc... But the narrative voice isn't that different from the later Raylene of the Chesire Red books (except she has less of an issue with OCD, and she rambles a bit less!).
Some bits of it were a bit creepy, but mostly the ghosts felt fairly benign. I want to know more of the whys and wherefores of this world, though, so I'm definitely sticking around: it may well grow on me. Lulu, for one thing, is an amazing character -- I hope she has more to do in future.
Some bits of it were a bit creepy, but mostly the ghosts felt fairly benign. I want to know more of the whys and wherefores of this world, though, so I'm definitely sticking around: it may well grow on me. Lulu, for one thing, is an amazing character -- I hope she has more to do in future.
September 19, 2008
I read this book because it was a free download from amazon (Kindle) and I was back in the States and thought what the hell. The book was free, but that doesn't include the time I wasted reading it. The plot was "twisty", but in that bad way where it's just confusing and not really clear if the author herself knew exactly what was going on, or what she was trying to convey. It was not downright painful the entire time, just when the author tried to be clever.
I confess I downloaded the book because the review provided said it addressed the "aging Buffy crowd" and that piqued my interest. I'm aging, I'm a Buffy fan... but no. Ghosts, voodoo, but no hot vampires!
I confess I downloaded the book because the review provided said it addressed the "aging Buffy crowd" and that piqued my interest. I'm aging, I'm a Buffy fan... but no. Ghosts, voodoo, but no hot vampires!
March 29, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. It’s one of those books that tends to give you a lot of questions and reveals the answers slowly as the story proceeds. I had trouble putting the book down both because the story was interesting and because I wanted to know all the answers.
This is a paranormal-type story told entirely from the first-person perspective of a young girl named Eden. From the time she was a child, Eden has been aware of three female ghosts. On rare occasions, these ghosts show themselves and/or talk to her, and warn her of danger. We meet her when she’s about 5 years old, and we’re given little bits of relevant snippets from her life as she grows up. Once she’s an adult, I think in her early twenties, the meat of the story begins.
Eden has a mysterious past. Or, more accurately, it’s her ancestors who have a mysterious past. Naturally Eden wants to know more about this past, but she has trouble getting any straight answers from the people close to her. And of course this just makes her more determined to get answers, so she tries to find them on her own. I think, if I read the paranormal genre more often, I might have been annoyed by the cliché of the “mysterious past” with people refusing to give the main character any answers, and the main character who’s bound and determined to find answers despite all the dire warnings. However, I haven’t read many paranormal type books since I was a teenager, so I wasn’t as bothered by it as I might have been back when I saw this device used more often.
The story was interesting. There was a very slight creepiness factor perhaps, but it wasn't strong at all. The main character isn’t intimidated by much, and she could take care of herself, which I liked better than the type of main character who’s always terrified by what’s happening and is desperately looking to other people to help them deal with things. Eden didn’t always make the best decisions, but she made her own decisions and dealt with the consequences.
I liked Eden quite a bit, but one thing that bothered me was that she seemed to have almost no thoughts for her future. She’s still living with her adoptive parents, she has no job, and at no point do we see her give any long-term thought to how she’ll make a living and support herself. Her current source of funding for her adventures is explained, but she never seems to think beyond the current moment. It would have made Eden feel more realistic if the author had let us hear a few stray thoughts from her as she mulled over possibilities for her future.
Although this book is part of a series, it told a complete story and didn’t end in a cliff hanger. There were a few characters I wanted to know more about, but the major plot thread was pretty well tied up. I enjoyed the book enough that I plan to read the next book in the series.
This is a paranormal-type story told entirely from the first-person perspective of a young girl named Eden. From the time she was a child, Eden has been aware of three female ghosts. On rare occasions, these ghosts show themselves and/or talk to her, and warn her of danger. We meet her when she’s about 5 years old, and we’re given little bits of relevant snippets from her life as she grows up. Once she’s an adult, I think in her early twenties, the meat of the story begins.
Eden has a mysterious past. Or, more accurately, it’s her ancestors who have a mysterious past. Naturally Eden wants to know more about this past, but she has trouble getting any straight answers from the people close to her. And of course this just makes her more determined to get answers, so she tries to find them on her own. I think, if I read the paranormal genre more often, I might have been annoyed by the cliché of the “mysterious past” with people refusing to give the main character any answers, and the main character who’s bound and determined to find answers despite all the dire warnings. However, I haven’t read many paranormal type books since I was a teenager, so I wasn’t as bothered by it as I might have been back when I saw this device used more often.
The story was interesting. There was a very slight creepiness factor perhaps, but it wasn't strong at all. The main character isn’t intimidated by much, and she could take care of herself, which I liked better than the type of main character who’s always terrified by what’s happening and is desperately looking to other people to help them deal with things. Eden didn’t always make the best decisions, but she made her own decisions and dealt with the consequences.
I liked Eden quite a bit, but one thing that bothered me was that she seemed to have almost no thoughts for her future. She’s still living with her adoptive parents, she has no job, and at no point do we see her give any long-term thought to how she’ll make a living and support herself. Her current source of funding for her adventures is explained, but she never seems to think beyond the current moment. It would have made Eden feel more realistic if the author had let us hear a few stray thoughts from her as she mulled over possibilities for her future.
Although this book is part of a series, it told a complete story and didn’t end in a cliff hanger. There were a few characters I wanted to know more about, but the major plot thread was pretty well tied up. I enjoyed the book enough that I plan to read the next book in the series.
February 2, 2011
Cherie Priest’s book was a huge disappointment to me. And it’s a book that makes me wonder about the ringing endorsements you find on book covers - because this book had them in spades. Even Ramsey Campbell, a writer I admire, had glowing praise for it, calling the book “breathlessly readable, palpably atmospheric and compellingly suspenseful.” I just don’t get it.
Orphaned at birth, Eden Moore lives with her aunt Louise and Uncle Dave. She’s a strange little girl, but it’s hardly her fault: she sees dead people. Okay, maybe I’m being a little glib, but she does have a trio of dead women who appear to warn her of danger. And Eden is often in danger; her wacky nut-job of a cousin Malachi is often trying to kill her; she fearlessly (stupidly) wants to know the secrets of her past (why doesn’t someone just tell her already) and none of the chills added up to very much of anything for me.
I know a book isn’t working for me when I start to notice punctuation issues…and when dialogue just seems stupid- there’s a whole section in the book when Eden’s Aunt Eliza tries to convince her to go home with her and Eden keeps on saying ‘no’ just because it’s fun. Um - not so much fun for the reader. And I also found the book had a lot of exposition- Eliza conveniently has a butler who has the answers to all the questions Eden has and is able to fill in all the missing blanks just like that.
So, not for me, I’m afraid. But reviews are generally good so I suspect I am in the minority.
Orphaned at birth, Eden Moore lives with her aunt Louise and Uncle Dave. She’s a strange little girl, but it’s hardly her fault: she sees dead people. Okay, maybe I’m being a little glib, but she does have a trio of dead women who appear to warn her of danger. And Eden is often in danger; her wacky nut-job of a cousin Malachi is often trying to kill her; she fearlessly (stupidly) wants to know the secrets of her past (why doesn’t someone just tell her already) and none of the chills added up to very much of anything for me.
I know a book isn’t working for me when I start to notice punctuation issues…and when dialogue just seems stupid- there’s a whole section in the book when Eden’s Aunt Eliza tries to convince her to go home with her and Eden keeps on saying ‘no’ just because it’s fun. Um - not so much fun for the reader. And I also found the book had a lot of exposition- Eliza conveniently has a butler who has the answers to all the questions Eden has and is able to fill in all the missing blanks just like that.
So, not for me, I’m afraid. But reviews are generally good so I suspect I am in the minority.
October 28, 2016
One of my "Halloween" reads of 2016... I saw it on a twitter list of creepy must-reads. I was intrigued enough to buy a used copy and dove into it as soon as I could. All that said, the hype didn't live up to the actual reading experience, for me anyway.
There's a ghost-seeing psychic girl, Eden, who tells us her story starting from when she's a child. It follows back generations of women (and men) who have special powers. There is evil in the midst then, and even now. She finds out all the info she can get and tries to deal with the family demons as best she can. It has southern flair, asylums, and controversy thrown in with no romance to speak of. In many ways, it actually reminded me somewhat of The Witch House of Persimmon Point that I read earlier this month.
For the right reader, this may be a great read. For me, it was just good. There are two more books that have Eden as the main character. I'm unsure whether I will search for these or not.
There's a ghost-seeing psychic girl, Eden, who tells us her story starting from when she's a child. It follows back generations of women (and men) who have special powers. There is evil in the midst then, and even now. She finds out all the info she can get and tries to deal with the family demons as best she can. It has southern flair, asylums, and controversy thrown in with no romance to speak of. In many ways, it actually reminded me somewhat of The Witch House of Persimmon Point that I read earlier this month.
For the right reader, this may be a great read. For me, it was just good. There are two more books that have Eden as the main character. I'm unsure whether I will search for these or not.
April 16, 2008
I got this book from the library on a whim - I was looking to see if they had any Christopher Priest books and walked away with a book by Cherie Priest instead.
It's rather Anne-Rice's-Witching-Hourish in that it's a "southern gothic" story about a girl who can see ghosts, and her mysterious ancestors. It's the first in a trilogy, and hopefully it won't all go downhill into a fiery disaster the way Anne Rice's trilogy did, because Four and Twenty Blackbirds is really awesome. It's mysterious and eerie and really keeps you guessing until the last page. What's really promising is that it's Cherie Priest's debut, and surely she can only get better from here.
It's rather Anne-Rice's-Witching-Hourish in that it's a "southern gothic" story about a girl who can see ghosts, and her mysterious ancestors. It's the first in a trilogy, and hopefully it won't all go downhill into a fiery disaster the way Anne Rice's trilogy did, because Four and Twenty Blackbirds is really awesome. It's mysterious and eerie and really keeps you guessing until the last page. What's really promising is that it's Cherie Priest's debut, and surely she can only get better from here.
August 11, 2008
Started out weird, and got progressively weirder -- and ickier. Incest, lots of gore, and some truly weird supernatural stuff. A LOT of truly weird supernatural stuff.
Barely got two stars, but the writing was very well-done. Built suspense well, good characterization (at least of the primary character; less so the others), good pacing.
Just really creepy and icky.
Let's call this one a miss on the Tor ebook giveaway, although at least I finished this one.
Barely got two stars, but the writing was very well-done. Built suspense well, good characterization (at least of the primary character; less so the others), good pacing.
Just really creepy and icky.
Let's call this one a miss on the Tor ebook giveaway, although at least I finished this one.
August 13, 2015
This was a great book until about 75% in, then it went weird. I just wished it would have stayed on track. I will continue the trilogy hoping it gets better.
October 24, 2018
(review was originally posted on my livejournal account: http://intoyourlungs.livejournal.com)
As you can see with the little banner above (click if you want more details), I read this book for The Women of Fantasy bookclub. :) I've been wanting to read work by Cherie Priest for awhile; her steampunk novels (The Clockwork Century series) seems to be really popular on the internet. This is a little different, being more on the Horror and Paranormal side, but I was more than happy to sample Priest with her debut. And I have to say, for a debut, this novel is *awesome*. After reading this, I can't wait to read more Priest.
First off, Priest's writing: it's amazing. The first half of the novel, where the reader follows Eden through her childhood and young adolescence was really engaging. It was also really creepy. I'm not scared easily when it comes to watching horror movies, or reading scary stories; they usually bore me actually. But this book gave me chills. Especially the scene where Eden and her friend go to the bathroom at the summer camp.
The second half of the novel was considerably less chill-inducing, but I think that was because Eden was a lot more accustomed to the paranormal things happening around her, and that comes through her first-person narration. Eden still gets freaked out every once in awhile though, and those scenes still got to me. The scene at the abandoned mental hospital where Eden's mother died comes to mind. That was another scene that had me gripping my e-reader quite tightly. It is too bad that this second half loses that... creepy feeling that permeates the first half though. It's still good of course, just not as good. The tension remains pretty high throughout the course of the entire novel, and even when you think all the secrets have been revealed, there's another layer to be revealed, which keeps the pages turning.
I have to say that I really appreciated how Eden is a character who is actually afraid at times. For the most part, she's pretty fearless, but some things still get to her, and I liked that. I'm really picky when I'm reading kick-ass heroines, because I find a lot of them come off as bitchy, or their toughness and arrogance just irritates me. Eden was a strong and capable young woman without coming off as the annoying kind of tough girl (she did have her moments though; at times she would say kind of corny lines in the face of danger which made me cringe a little -- nothing *horrible* though.) She's also not perfect; she likes to be difficult sometimes just for the sake of it, but come on -- she's in her early twenties and has got some serious shit to cope with. Of course she's going to be a little rebellious. So, overall, I really liked Eden.
Kudos to Priest as well for the setting. I've never read any southern gothic before, but after reading this, I would read more in a heartbeat. The deep south felt so right for this novel, especially the swamp. I didn't think swamps could be so creepy.
Final Verdict: This review is shorter than what I normally write, but I really don't have much more to say. This is a great debut that has great, atmospheric writing, a likable heroine, tons of family secrets and intrigues (Eden's family history will make your head spin, but it's very engrossing), a great setting and will gave me chills because of the overall creepiness permeating the novel (which is hard to do -- I don't scare easily, especially with paranormal stuff.) The second half isn't quite as good as the first, but that isn't to say the second half is bad. Reading about Eden's childhood was just more engaging for me than her adult years. I wholeheartedly recommend this, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next two installs, Wings to the Kingdom and Not Flesh, Nor Feathers. Also, my brother owns Boneshaker, so I'm going to have to get reading that as soon as possible. ;)
As you can see with the little banner above (click if you want more details), I read this book for The Women of Fantasy bookclub. :) I've been wanting to read work by Cherie Priest for awhile; her steampunk novels (The Clockwork Century series) seems to be really popular on the internet. This is a little different, being more on the Horror and Paranormal side, but I was more than happy to sample Priest with her debut. And I have to say, for a debut, this novel is *awesome*. After reading this, I can't wait to read more Priest.
First off, Priest's writing: it's amazing. The first half of the novel, where the reader follows Eden through her childhood and young adolescence was really engaging. It was also really creepy. I'm not scared easily when it comes to watching horror movies, or reading scary stories; they usually bore me actually. But this book gave me chills. Especially the scene where Eden and her friend go to the bathroom at the summer camp.
The second half of the novel was considerably less chill-inducing, but I think that was because Eden was a lot more accustomed to the paranormal things happening around her, and that comes through her first-person narration. Eden still gets freaked out every once in awhile though, and those scenes still got to me. The scene at the abandoned mental hospital where Eden's mother died comes to mind. That was another scene that had me gripping my e-reader quite tightly. It is too bad that this second half loses that... creepy feeling that permeates the first half though. It's still good of course, just not as good. The tension remains pretty high throughout the course of the entire novel, and even when you think all the secrets have been revealed, there's another layer to be revealed, which keeps the pages turning.
I have to say that I really appreciated how Eden is a character who is actually afraid at times. For the most part, she's pretty fearless, but some things still get to her, and I liked that. I'm really picky when I'm reading kick-ass heroines, because I find a lot of them come off as bitchy, or their toughness and arrogance just irritates me. Eden was a strong and capable young woman without coming off as the annoying kind of tough girl (she did have her moments though; at times she would say kind of corny lines in the face of danger which made me cringe a little -- nothing *horrible* though.) She's also not perfect; she likes to be difficult sometimes just for the sake of it, but come on -- she's in her early twenties and has got some serious shit to cope with. Of course she's going to be a little rebellious. So, overall, I really liked Eden.
Kudos to Priest as well for the setting. I've never read any southern gothic before, but after reading this, I would read more in a heartbeat. The deep south felt so right for this novel, especially the swamp. I didn't think swamps could be so creepy.
Final Verdict: This review is shorter than what I normally write, but I really don't have much more to say. This is a great debut that has great, atmospheric writing, a likable heroine, tons of family secrets and intrigues (Eden's family history will make your head spin, but it's very engrossing), a great setting and will gave me chills because of the overall creepiness permeating the novel (which is hard to do -- I don't scare easily, especially with paranormal stuff.) The second half isn't quite as good as the first, but that isn't to say the second half is bad. Reading about Eden's childhood was just more engaging for me than her adult years. I wholeheartedly recommend this, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next two installs, Wings to the Kingdom and Not Flesh, Nor Feathers. Also, my brother owns Boneshaker, so I'm going to have to get reading that as soon as possible. ;)
December 4, 2017
After reading Boneshaker and going "OMG, who is this Cherie Priest chick and how did I not read her stuff sooner??" I picked up her first book about Eden Moore and was completely blindsided that it was set in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (That's about an hour from my hometown.)
Eden was raised by her sister and brother in law on Signal Mountain (which I still count as a been-there, even if it was only a disastrous date with that guy who brought me pop-tarts in lieu of flowers). As she grows up, she is haunted by a trio of dead sisters, who give her parts of their story through dreams and visions - and they turn out to be her ancestors. Eden's family is about as open as a bridal shop in downtown Detroit, so she has to dig up what she can about the trio from an estranged, archaic great-aunt, who just happens to be harboring a homicidal nephew bent on wiping out Eden to end a family curse. (Say that sentence two times fast.)
Two foremost thoughts while reading:
"Hey, I've been there!"
"Hey, I think I just wet myself."
Seriously, these had some of the creepiest scenes I've ever read. Bet you $5 you won't read that campground bathroom scene without getting seriously paranoid about semi-reflective surfaces.
Compared to what, you say? Uh, everything I've read in the last decade. Yeah, it got me that good.
Here's the whole trilogy:
Book 1 - Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Book 2 - Wings to The Kingdom
Book 3 - Not Flesh Nor Feathers
I do plan to review the other books separately, but for the love of big words and small, difficult words, please don't wait on me!
Eden was raised by her sister and brother in law on Signal Mountain (which I still count as a been-there, even if it was only a disastrous date with that guy who brought me pop-tarts in lieu of flowers). As she grows up, she is haunted by a trio of dead sisters, who give her parts of their story through dreams and visions - and they turn out to be her ancestors. Eden's family is about as open as a bridal shop in downtown Detroit, so she has to dig up what she can about the trio from an estranged, archaic great-aunt, who just happens to be harboring a homicidal nephew bent on wiping out Eden to end a family curse. (Say that sentence two times fast.)
Two foremost thoughts while reading:
"Hey, I've been there!"
"Hey, I think I just wet myself."
Seriously, these had some of the creepiest scenes I've ever read. Bet you $5 you won't read that campground bathroom scene without getting seriously paranoid about semi-reflective surfaces.
Compared to what, you say? Uh, everything I've read in the last decade. Yeah, it got me that good.
Here's the whole trilogy:
Book 1 - Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Book 2 - Wings to The Kingdom
Book 3 - Not Flesh Nor Feathers
I do plan to review the other books separately, but for the love of big words and small, difficult words, please don't wait on me!
July 31, 2008
It's a Southern Gothic horror ghost tale that misfires more often than not.
Plus, this book has a very specific audience, in my opinion: high school junior girls who don't yet read much (i.e. just graduated from Young Adult fiction and need an intermediate step before trying adult literature)... and who relish the occasional, daring swear word sprinkled here and there for color.
That said, Priest does fabricate a few passages that fully come together to achieve that spine-tingling foreboding for which great Southern Gothic horror is known.
Plus, this book has a very specific audience, in my opinion: high school junior girls who don't yet read much (i.e. just graduated from Young Adult fiction and need an intermediate step before trying adult literature)... and who relish the occasional, daring swear word sprinkled here and there for color.
That said, Priest does fabricate a few passages that fully come together to achieve that spine-tingling foreboding for which great Southern Gothic horror is known.
September 22, 2010
Having loved Priest's steam punk novel Boneshaker, I had high expectations for this southern horror novel. Well, it did not let me down. The protagonist Eden is a breath of fresh air. The story is only about her, and that was fine by me. I found that her character development added to the great goth feel of this horror novel and left me wanting more. This is a novel that you will consume very quickly, one day for me, and you will be left wanting more. I look forward to reading the other novels in this series. I recommend this to all horror lovers.
September 27, 2017
Eden Moore is a tough young woman who can see ghosts. For most of her life, she has had three dead women who appear when she is in danger and when she starts to investigate who they were she starts uncovering secrets about her past.
This is a moody and atmospheric ghost story from one of my favourite authors. I love the voice of the main character and there are lots of creepy moments, including the investigation of an abandoned and haunted mental hospital.
This is a moody and atmospheric ghost story from one of my favourite authors. I love the voice of the main character and there are lots of creepy moments, including the investigation of an abandoned and haunted mental hospital.
August 6, 2008
This hasn't happened in a while. I've brought Cherie's book to work and I'm sneaking pages when I'm supposed to be getting ready for meetings.
This book is delicious, wickedly dark and forceful. The mysteries of the deep south are sometimes forgotten, but Cherie drags them out by their musty rags and bones, and stands back while they scare the bejesus out of you.
Highly recommended.
This book is delicious, wickedly dark and forceful. The mysteries of the deep south are sometimes forgotten, but Cherie drags them out by their musty rags and bones, and stands back while they scare the bejesus out of you.
Highly recommended.
Read
June 29, 2008I'm not a practiced reader of the form, so it took me about two and a half chapters to realize this was, in fact, totally a Gothic. At which point I was like, "I'm out."
I'm sure it was a perfectly good Gothic! It's just that said genre is entirely too rich for my blood, and I was expecting a rather different sub-breed of ghost story.
I'm sure it was a perfectly good Gothic! It's just that said genre is entirely too rich for my blood, and I was expecting a rather different sub-breed of ghost story.
May 13, 2010
This time-bending tale of a convoluted family's dangerous involvement with the supernatural emphasizes story and feeling over characters. The magic and ghosts where fascinating, but I would have liked to care more about the protagonist. Of course I wanted her to not be killed by the bad guys, but I didn't really feel much about her and her family.
March 14, 2021
Read as part of the r/fantasy Book Bingo Challenge 2020 for the "Book with a number in the title" category. Hard Mode for this square is a book title also containing a colour.
Well, if there is one thing to be said about bingo (and it's a thing that bingo itself encourages), it's to push you to read more widely than you otherwise would. Cherie Priest is one of those authors on the periphery of my awareness, someone I've heard about, who's written books I might actually be interested in reading, but not someone I would have sought out without bingo. It also meant I finally gave Kindle Unlimited a try, though I'm only doing this for two novels this year, so I don't really know if I'll keep it going after. We'll see.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds is the story of Eden Moore, an orphan who's raised by her aunt Lu and her uncle Dave. Eden can see (and speak to) ghosts, not normally something she mentions to many people. For all her life, she's been followed (perhaps even protected) by the ghosts of three sisters: Mae, Luanna and Willa, who seem to be looking out for her. But Eden wants answers about her parents, about her ancestry and about why her cousin keeps trying to murder her. And when she isn't satisfied with the answers, Eden will venture further from home than she thought, in what might be a final confrontation with someone who intends to murder not just her, but all her relatives. Eden might be the only one who can stop it from happening.
At its core, this is a horror novel in the southern gothic style - it's atmospheric, it's moody and Priest is very good at scene-setting; whether it's Eden wandering around an abandoned asylum or confronting terrifying specters in bathrooms (in perhaps one of the scariest scenes in the book), everything about the descriptions felt real. You can almost taste the papery air in Tatie Eliza's house, the oppressive atmosphere in Florida and the almost dream-like quality that comes with Eden's ability to see and talk to ghosts. It's a great blend of modernity (coffee shops and modern music, cellphones and so on) and the traditional trappings of the south, including the importance of manners, respecting your elders and yes, racism (which Eden faces regularly from her own family, as she's mixed race). It's this blend of past and presence that almost makes the novel appear "timeless" - again, cell phones exist but not the internet and Eden is forced to read maps and search in the phone book for clues.
Eden herself is an intriguing character: she's mouthy, she's stubborn, but she's also resilient. She's part of a family where women were headstrong and got things done their way and I found it interesting that with a couple of exceptions, they are the driving force of the plot. There are family secrets here galore, but the most interesting ones revolve around Eden and her mother specifically, rather than her whole parentage. Her cousin Malachi, in contrast, comes across as much weaker, a man who believes that he's on a holy mission from God to stop the evil embodied in Eden. Their struggle throughout the novel really keeps the tension high, as you constantly wait for the other shoe to drop. The climax of the novel is a whirlwind of revelations and struggles that made me keep turning the pages with bated breath.
But this isn't a perfect novel and was, in fact, her debut. At times, it shows. The pacing can veer from breakneck speed to slow and methodical and some of the scenes in the book seem to be there so that Eden has something to do - for example doesn't tell the reader anything they don't already know and it seems like Eden is spinning her wheels. Her decisions after that scene aren't impacted by it in any way, they would and should have happened anyway. Also, the atmosphere she's building is sometimes completely cut out by the mystery parts of the novel and those are the parts where it really suffers. I didn't mind them too much, but when there are such great scene setting parts (the asylum, Tatie's house, the Florida scenes), the rest of them just seem a lot more mundane and perhaps even slightly out of place in a novel that wants to be seen as being very Gothic.
Her strongest parts, by far, are in the character building. I believed in Eden as a real person and by keeping the cast of named characters relatively small, Priest is able to deliver some strong characterisation. Again, her female characters are the ones that leap off the page, in ways both big and small - from the conflicts between Eden and her aunt Lu to the conversations she has with Eliza, you see how the women are the backbones of their families and why so much of the power resides in them. But I will say that I found disappointing as a villain. He's built up in the latter half of the novel for sure, but I didn't truly think he was as big of a threat as had been - and perhaps that's part of the novel's message? That the threats in the real world are much bigger than those in the supernatural world?
Four and Twenty Blackbirds is apparently also the start of a trilogy, but to me it can easily be read as a standalone. It's intriguing and atmospheric and I'm really glad that bingo pushed me to finally try out Priest's work. Let's see whether the 2021 card will help me expand my reading once more.
Well, if there is one thing to be said about bingo (and it's a thing that bingo itself encourages), it's to push you to read more widely than you otherwise would. Cherie Priest is one of those authors on the periphery of my awareness, someone I've heard about, who's written books I might actually be interested in reading, but not someone I would have sought out without bingo. It also meant I finally gave Kindle Unlimited a try, though I'm only doing this for two novels this year, so I don't really know if I'll keep it going after. We'll see.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds is the story of Eden Moore, an orphan who's raised by her aunt Lu and her uncle Dave. Eden can see (and speak to) ghosts, not normally something she mentions to many people. For all her life, she's been followed (perhaps even protected) by the ghosts of three sisters: Mae, Luanna and Willa, who seem to be looking out for her. But Eden wants answers about her parents, about her ancestry and about why her cousin keeps trying to murder her. And when she isn't satisfied with the answers, Eden will venture further from home than she thought, in what might be a final confrontation with someone who intends to murder not just her, but all her relatives. Eden might be the only one who can stop it from happening.
At its core, this is a horror novel in the southern gothic style - it's atmospheric, it's moody and Priest is very good at scene-setting; whether it's Eden wandering around an abandoned asylum or confronting terrifying specters in bathrooms (in perhaps one of the scariest scenes in the book), everything about the descriptions felt real. You can almost taste the papery air in Tatie Eliza's house, the oppressive atmosphere in Florida and the almost dream-like quality that comes with Eden's ability to see and talk to ghosts. It's a great blend of modernity (coffee shops and modern music, cellphones and so on) and the traditional trappings of the south, including the importance of manners, respecting your elders and yes, racism (which Eden faces regularly from her own family, as she's mixed race). It's this blend of past and presence that almost makes the novel appear "timeless" - again, cell phones exist but not the internet and Eden is forced to read maps and search in the phone book for clues.
Eden herself is an intriguing character: she's mouthy, she's stubborn, but she's also resilient. She's part of a family where women were headstrong and got things done their way and I found it interesting that with a couple of exceptions, they are the driving force of the plot. There are family secrets here galore, but the most interesting ones revolve around Eden and her mother specifically, rather than her whole parentage. Her cousin Malachi, in contrast, comes across as much weaker, a man who believes that he's on a holy mission from God to stop the evil embodied in Eden. Their struggle throughout the novel really keeps the tension high, as you constantly wait for the other shoe to drop. The climax of the novel is a whirlwind of revelations and struggles that made me keep turning the pages with bated breath.
But this isn't a perfect novel and was, in fact, her debut. At times, it shows. The pacing can veer from breakneck speed to slow and methodical and some of the scenes in the book seem to be there so that Eden has something to do - for example doesn't tell the reader anything they don't already know and it seems like Eden is spinning her wheels. Her decisions after that scene aren't impacted by it in any way, they would and should have happened anyway. Also, the atmosphere she's building is sometimes completely cut out by the mystery parts of the novel and those are the parts where it really suffers. I didn't mind them too much, but when there are such great scene setting parts (the asylum, Tatie's house, the Florida scenes), the rest of them just seem a lot more mundane and perhaps even slightly out of place in a novel that wants to be seen as being very Gothic.
Her strongest parts, by far, are in the character building. I believed in Eden as a real person and by keeping the cast of named characters relatively small, Priest is able to deliver some strong characterisation. Again, her female characters are the ones that leap off the page, in ways both big and small - from the conflicts between Eden and her aunt Lu to the conversations she has with Eliza, you see how the women are the backbones of their families and why so much of the power resides in them. But I will say that I found disappointing as a villain. He's built up in the latter half of the novel for sure, but I didn't truly think he was as big of a threat as had been - and perhaps that's part of the novel's message? That the threats in the real world are much bigger than those in the supernatural world?
Four and Twenty Blackbirds is apparently also the start of a trilogy, but to me it can easily be read as a standalone. It's intriguing and atmospheric and I'm really glad that bingo pushed me to finally try out Priest's work. Let's see whether the 2021 card will help me expand my reading once more.
January 9, 2020
Eden's upbringing is far from normal,born as she was to a teen mother who died giving birth to her in a now abandoned asylum, then being raised by her glamorous Aunt Louise(known as Lulu) and Uncle Dave.
Characterised by odd and occasionally violent behaviour from a young age, Eden is followed by 3 sisters who lurk in the background, trying to communicate with her. Her aunt offers no explanation and is unwilling to talk about her childhood or family tree, until after two attempts at her life, Eden decides to take matters into her own hands.
The deeper she digs, the more sinister and twisted snippets of her life are revealed until a deadly showdown in a swamp brings more clarity than Eden could have bargained for...
In this series opener, not only does Cherie Priest have to create enough interest in the protagonist to sustain the reader, she has to set the scene for the next in the series and I absolutely think that she nails this with aplomb.
The reader gets enough information about Eden, Lulu and their shared ancestry but not all questions are answered by the final page, leaving you desperate to leap straight into the second novel, 'Wings To The Kingdom', but I am going to leave it a little,as there are currently 3 books in the series and I don't know if there will be any more.
Not keen to dig around on the web about this because, as you know, I hate spoilers, but I want to prolong the anticipation a while longer!
Sinister, spooky and with some wonderful set pieces - I am thinking of Eden's art projects at school, and her summer camp experience in particular -this is a novel drenched in supernatural goings on with a new twist. I found it unpredictable, engaging, and it presents a whole new mythology that I could totally get behind.
Characterised by odd and occasionally violent behaviour from a young age, Eden is followed by 3 sisters who lurk in the background, trying to communicate with her. Her aunt offers no explanation and is unwilling to talk about her childhood or family tree, until after two attempts at her life, Eden decides to take matters into her own hands.
The deeper she digs, the more sinister and twisted snippets of her life are revealed until a deadly showdown in a swamp brings more clarity than Eden could have bargained for...
In this series opener, not only does Cherie Priest have to create enough interest in the protagonist to sustain the reader, she has to set the scene for the next in the series and I absolutely think that she nails this with aplomb.
The reader gets enough information about Eden, Lulu and their shared ancestry but not all questions are answered by the final page, leaving you desperate to leap straight into the second novel, 'Wings To The Kingdom', but I am going to leave it a little,as there are currently 3 books in the series and I don't know if there will be any more.
Not keen to dig around on the web about this because, as you know, I hate spoilers, but I want to prolong the anticipation a while longer!
Sinister, spooky and with some wonderful set pieces - I am thinking of Eden's art projects at school, and her summer camp experience in particular -this is a novel drenched in supernatural goings on with a new twist. I found it unpredictable, engaging, and it presents a whole new mythology that I could totally get behind.
February 7, 2021
this book was really moody and atmospheric and had that delicious southern gothic flavor - i loved the swamps and cemeteries and abandoned hospitals and dark cellars. the ghostly mystery unfurls in a cool and cinematic way - i'd love for this to be a miniseries. i think the only thing that i really felt counted against it was that it was in first person - the main character eden is cool and likable but she's so tough and detached that it's sometimes hard to be scared because she's not very scared and we're being told the story from her voice. still tho, this book was truly a ~vibe~!
January 10, 2022
This was a terrible choice to read right when I'm starting a three-week intensive grad school class and really don't have time to stay up late reading and sit on the couch reading instead of doing homework. But I did it anyway, and I'm not sorry! This was so good. It kept giving me more questions to try to figure out so I had to keep reading to see if my suspicions were right. And sometimes they were, but sometimes they weren't, and that made it even better, because it was not predictable. This was definitely worth losing sleep over.
February 17, 2010
Great modern Gothic Fiction.
I read the creepy playground scene at night. My daughter got out of bed to go to the bathroom, and I didn't know whether to scream, cry or quietly wet my pants. So it took me a while to screw up the courage to get back into it (Yeah, I know. Stupid Robin loves her zombies and swordfights, but confronted with a rainsoaked, abandoned playground, she loses her mind).
So why am I so freaked out? I guess it's that I grew up in Missouri, where large groups of trees are called woods, and they are full of oak, elm and hickory. You might come upon a thorned bush or poison ivy patch, but you can walk around it. Operative phrase being "walk around". Even things you don't like, for instance spiders, or snakes, hide and try to avoid you.
This book is set in the South. Forests are primeval (which implies people aren't allowed...ever), and are full of cypress, and hanging moss, and vines that are aggressive. That smell of decay is the forest actively killing stuff and feeding on it- all the time. And all the creatures- from birds. to alligators, to bugs come out to watch you, and if you slow down long enough, eat you. Even the rain seems creepy, and in on the plan.
Eden Moore isn't the typical ingenue of gothic fiction. Instead of corsets and petticoats, she sports army surplus boots and a knife hooked through her belt. Instead of arriving in a carriage, she arrives in her old black car she calls the Death Nugget. I love that. But most everything else is classic Gothic. She does all the Nancy Drew stuff I love AND hate about Gothic Fiction - go down the dark staircase, go wander through the cemetery at night, run into the forest after the scary noise. The birds are black. The family history is completely twisted. The clues are in scary places. The mysteries are multiple. And things are never quite as they seem.
Don't be a chicken (like me). Read the book - at night.
I read the creepy playground scene at night. My daughter got out of bed to go to the bathroom, and I didn't know whether to scream, cry or quietly wet my pants. So it took me a while to screw up the courage to get back into it (Yeah, I know. Stupid Robin loves her zombies and swordfights, but confronted with a rainsoaked, abandoned playground, she loses her mind).
So why am I so freaked out? I guess it's that I grew up in Missouri, where large groups of trees are called woods, and they are full of oak, elm and hickory. You might come upon a thorned bush or poison ivy patch, but you can walk around it. Operative phrase being "walk around". Even things you don't like, for instance spiders, or snakes, hide and try to avoid you.
This book is set in the South. Forests are primeval (which implies people aren't allowed...ever), and are full of cypress, and hanging moss, and vines that are aggressive. That smell of decay is the forest actively killing stuff and feeding on it- all the time. And all the creatures- from birds. to alligators, to bugs come out to watch you, and if you slow down long enough, eat you. Even the rain seems creepy, and in on the plan.
Eden Moore isn't the typical ingenue of gothic fiction. Instead of corsets and petticoats, she sports army surplus boots and a knife hooked through her belt. Instead of arriving in a carriage, she arrives in her old black car she calls the Death Nugget. I love that. But most everything else is classic Gothic. She does all the Nancy Drew stuff I love AND hate about Gothic Fiction - go down the dark staircase, go wander through the cemetery at night, run into the forest after the scary noise. The birds are black. The family history is completely twisted. The clues are in scary places. The mysteries are multiple. And things are never quite as they seem.
Don't be a chicken (like me). Read the book - at night.
January 8, 2013
Stories set in America's South always have a way of gripping me viscerally. I don't know whether it's a combination of the history or the mystery, or it's a bit of both. This is the first novel by Cherie Priest that I've read, and I've definitely fallen in love with her voice, and will go on to read more of her works.
Eden's always seen ghosts, and we follow her progress as she's raised by her aunt, and her family life is far from simple. There's a larger mystery in the picture, but Eden's got a fair amount of delving to do before she uncovers all the secrets, even if it means traipsing through abandoned buildings or visiting forbidding relatives, with a murderous sibling on her trail.
I don't want to give too much away. Essentially, this is a haunted tale of dark magic and a frightening inheritance. Priest hints at secrets that are never fully explained, which I absolutely love, because she allows readers to wonder. Her descriptions are lush, and I could feel the oppressive heat and smell the oozing rot of the swamp. Characters are deliciously ambiguous, neither wholly good or bad, though I have to admit that the primary antagonist sent delicious shivers down my spine.
To a degree it can be said that the story is slow-moving, but that didn't bother me because I have a great love of tales that take their time to make me feel as though I've been wholly immersed in a particular world. Priest does very well in establishing a sense of place, which my inner travel writer totally appreciates.
Also, what stood out for me was Priest's action sequences. She makes the combat scenes jump into vivid life with a ring of authenticity. Characters stumble and fumble, and there are consequences to their actions. If you're looking for a story with a more than healthy dollop of voodoo, and well-realised non-Caucasian characters then give this one a shot.
Eden's always seen ghosts, and we follow her progress as she's raised by her aunt, and her family life is far from simple. There's a larger mystery in the picture, but Eden's got a fair amount of delving to do before she uncovers all the secrets, even if it means traipsing through abandoned buildings or visiting forbidding relatives, with a murderous sibling on her trail.
I don't want to give too much away. Essentially, this is a haunted tale of dark magic and a frightening inheritance. Priest hints at secrets that are never fully explained, which I absolutely love, because she allows readers to wonder. Her descriptions are lush, and I could feel the oppressive heat and smell the oozing rot of the swamp. Characters are deliciously ambiguous, neither wholly good or bad, though I have to admit that the primary antagonist sent delicious shivers down my spine.
To a degree it can be said that the story is slow-moving, but that didn't bother me because I have a great love of tales that take their time to make me feel as though I've been wholly immersed in a particular world. Priest does very well in establishing a sense of place, which my inner travel writer totally appreciates.
Also, what stood out for me was Priest's action sequences. She makes the combat scenes jump into vivid life with a ring of authenticity. Characters stumble and fumble, and there are consequences to their actions. If you're looking for a story with a more than healthy dollop of voodoo, and well-realised non-Caucasian characters then give this one a shot.
June 13, 2023
I will not be reading the other two books in this series.
March 22, 2010
I seem to be tracking Priest’s career in reverse, having first read her highly-enjoyable steampunk novel, Boneshaker, and then her dark fantasy, Fathom. But Four and Twenty Blackbirds, the first in her Southern Gothic horror trilogy, is my favorite so far. Eden Moore can see ghosts. The orphan child of a teenage mother, Eden has been raised by her aunt Lulu and Lulu’s husband Dave, but she’s always had questions about her family and the circumstances of her birth, some of which Lulu is unwilling to answer and others of which she cannot. Eden’s search to unravel the past leads her to some strange secrets, a homicidal cousin, a plot to resurrect a megalomaniac sorcerer, and the truth about the family ghosts. The first-person narration is quick-paced, and I found Eden to be an engaging protagonist. I’m looking forward to reading the two sequels.
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