Wings to the Kingdom: An Eden Moore Story [Paperback]

Cherie Priest (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 2006

The fields at Chickamauga, Georgia--America's oldest national military park--claimed 35,000 casualties during the Civil War. Any good guide will tell you that the grounds are haunted. The battlefield even has its own resident haunt, called Old Green Eyes for his tell-tale luminous gaze. It has long been said that Old Green Eyes intends no harm to those who respect the park. He is no menace, but a guardian of the dead. While he walks, the dead may sleep secure in the knowledge that their rest will be undisturbed. While Old Green Eyes patrols the battlefield, there is nothing to fear, for graves are not robbed and bones are not moved.

But suddenly a different phenomenon starts puzzling and frightening visitors, causing tours to be canceled and rangers to quit their jobs. These new ghosts are no illusions carved out of the low-rolling fog. One by one, the solemn-faced spirits in ragged uniforms show themselves, and one by one, they point a determined arm off into the distance. Why do the soldiers march again, and what has become of their unblinking custodian? The spirits need a go-between, someone who can speak to them, and for them.

Eden Moore is not interested.

But the ghosts aren't taking no for an answer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eden Moore sees dead people. To be more precise, she sees ghosts; and it just so happens that in her hometown of Chickamauga, Ga., ghosts seem to be a dime-a-dozen, especially at the memorial park that was once a battlefield where thousands of Confederate and Union soldiers died in the Civil War. Unexpectedly, regular folk in the county have started seeing ghosts of the fallen soldiers-all pointing off into the distance. Eden isn't keen to get involved in the matter until her demented cousin Malachi (who tried to murder her in 2003's Four and Twenty Black Birds, the first volume in this wonderfully eccentric Southern-gothic series) calls her from the local looney-bin, even more freaked out than usual after catching sight of Old Green Eyes, the local legendary supernatural creature. What is it that connects Old Green Eyes to the pointing ghosts on the battlefield? And why is someone shooting at battlefield visitors? Those questions finally entice Eden to play detective and ask the ghosts what it is they want. Priest has brought to life a spunky mixed-race young woman, who does double duty as an able detective and off-beat metaphysical magnet.
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From Booklist

The Civil War battlefield at Chickamauga, Georgia, where thousands of Confederate and Union soldiers died, is the country's oldest national military park. There have long been tales of sighting Old Green Eyes, said to be the guardian of the battle's dead, and now there's a new wrinkle. To wit, sightings of ghosts trying to communicate vocally but ultimately resorting to pointing frustratedly across the battlefield. What do they want? Enter Eden Moore, first introduced in Priest's Four and Twenty Blackbirds (2005), who enlists the aid of a couple of college classmates to try to photograph and record the ghosts. All hell breaks loose as a pair of celebrity ghost hunters shows up, and also a crazed killer shooting at anything that moves on the field. The plot, which begins slowly by setting the stage, builds a roiling crescendo and climaxes in an explosive scene at the top of the tower at the battlefield's edge. The flamboyant mix of ghosts, the preternatural Old Green Eyes, and murder keeps one on edge. Sally Estes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 399 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (October 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076531309X
• ISBN-13: 978-0765313096
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cherie Priest is the author of eleven novels, including the steampunk pulp adventures Dreadnought, Clementine, and Boneshaker. Boneshaker was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award; it was a PNBA Award winner, and winner of the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Cherie also wrote Fathom and the Eden Moore series from Tor (Macmillan), Bloodshot and Hellbent for Bantam, and three novellas published by Subterranean Press. In addition to all of the above, she is a newly minted member of the Wild Cards Consortium - and her first foray into George R. R. Martin's superhero universe, Fort Freak (for which she wrote the frame story), will debut in 2011. Cherie's short stories and nonfiction articles have appeared in such fine publications as Weird Tales, Subterranean Magazine, Publishers Weekly, The Living Dead 2, and the Thackeray T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities. Though she spent most of her life in the southeast, she presently lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and a fat black cat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More please!, October 31, 2006

By 

Gregory Wild-Smith (Oakland, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wings to the Kingdom: An Eden Moore Story (Paperback)

Priests second novel, a follow-up to her bestselling debut Four & Twenty Blackbirds, will be more accessible to many casual readers without alienating her fans, or horror buffs.

Where the first novel was about the lead character, Eden Moore, and her journey to find the spooky, Florida swamp voodoo, origins of her ancestors, this book is much more about a place - a civil war battlefield - and Eden's quest to find out just what will explain the spooky goings on there.

Characters lead the day, and they are as real as the people you know. No stupid decisions here, they bring up exactly the questions you would have in their situation. They aren't glib wisecracking Buffy clones either.. they are just honest. Characters, combined with Priests writing style, are the strength of this novel.

Priest writes with a clear, flowing, friendly style that leads the reader along like your best buddy taking you around their favorite place. Priest is having fun doing this, and you have fun on the ride she takes you on.

This isn't as complex a story as 4&20, and is a little slower, but it is a fun read, and stands up on its own without much help from the first novel. Some small characters from that first book have larger parts in this, and the large cast helps the novel move rather than slowing it down.

While it would have benefited from another subplot to add extra complexity to the book I would still recommend it as a top notch ghost story that doesn't need to resort to gore and horror to make its point. This is after all about a mystery, and its a great one - especially as it has ghosts, monsters, and realistic characters.

Priests third Eden Moore novel is due in late 2007, with a couple of other works planned in between. This reviewer can't wait for more.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my new favorite authors!, February 12, 2007

By 

Lupa (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wings to the Kingdom: An Eden Moore Story (Paperback)

My husband gave me this as a gift recently, which earned both him--and the author--bonus points!

This book continues the Eden Grey storyline that Priest introduced us to in Four and Twenty Blackbirds. Eden is a young woman in her twenties now in this new book, and her ability to see and talk with ghosts is once again a key factor in this well-written page-turner. The ghosts in question are the fallen soldiers at the Chickamauga battlefield who, in 2006, have suddenly supplanted local cryptozoological interest Old Green Eyes as the main paranormal attraction. Though reluctant to get involved at first, Eden is drawn into the mystery surrounding these apparations, and the result is yet another wonderful tale.

Again, this isn't one of your bloody, gory, slasher horror stories. Instead, Priest regales us with a detailed tale, punctuated by believable dialogue and a colorful array of characters. Rather than selling us short with cardboard cutouts and a tired, predictable story, she offers one of the toughest books to put down.

I can hardly wait for the next one in the series!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic work!, December 31, 2006

By 

S. Carrington (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wings to the Kingdom: An Eden Moore Story (Paperback)

After her debut novel, "Four & Twenty Blackbirds", Cherie Priest kicked her writing up another notch:
Her ability to describe changing environments with a smug and uncanny familiarity is almost on par with Charles De Lint. The book switches back and forth between horror, thriller, and mystery without loosing beat. The plot is unforgivably fun.
I highly recommend you read this wonderful story.