Not Flesh Nor Feathers (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Read House, Ann Alice, New Orleans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spectacular scenes of chaos and horror in a flood-drenched Chattanooga invigorate Priest's third Eden Moore fantasy (after 2006's Wings to the Kingdom). A devastating storm swells the Tennessee River to dam-breaking levels on the eve of Eden's planned move into a new riverside apartment complex. With the gushing waters comes a tide of corpses sunk in the river for more than a century, now animated and organized by a malignant force with an inscrutable purpose. When psychic investigator Eden realizes that the zombie army is converging on historic Read House, she draws a connection to the ghost of Caroline Read, who haunts the building trying to resolve a hushed-up 19th-century atrocity. Although talky and too dependent on convenient last-minute information, Priest's tale crackles with action and occult thrills, especially in the scenes of the inundated city reeling under the double assault of Mother Nature and the supernatural. Fans will find this her most assured outing yet. (Oct.)
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Review

“A remarkably assured debut, a creepy modern-day Southern gothic that doesn’t rely on cliché but delivers an emotionally powerful tale of self-discovery and the supernatural.” --San Francisco Chronicle on Four and Twenty Blackbirds
 
“Wings to the Kingdom is not precisely a sequel, but a second chapter set in Eden’s overlapping worlds—Priest’s beautifully detailed culture of the South, and the world of the dead: immediately adjacent, and always visible to Eden. Wings is more firmly based in the physical world than Blackbirds was, but it’s every bit as fascinating. Once again, Priest succeeds in making her story both straightforward and exquisitely strange.” --Green Man Review
 
“Priest kills as a stylist. Debut novel? You could have fooled me. Four and Twenty Blackbirds feels like it was written by an author with the assurance and experience of already having many books under her belt . . . . the book has everything going for it and you should definitely pick up a copy to see for yourself.”  --Charles De Lint, Fantasy & Science Fiction on Four and Twenty Blackbirds
 
"There's mystical, sultry appeal in the thick Chattanooga atmosphere and strong characterizations (Eden's tongue is as sharp as the heels of her signature black boots), and a mixed-race heroine lends welcome diversity to a genre well populated with porcelain-complected heroines.... Girl-goths will devour this whole, but also suggest it as a larky follow-up to forced readings of Harper Lee, William Faulkner, and the like." –Booklist on Four and Twenty Blackbirds
 
"The classic Southern gothic gets an edgy modern makeover in Priest's debut novel about a young woman's investigation into the truth of her origins.... Eden is a heroine for the aging Buffy crowd." --Publishers Weekly on Four and Twenty Blackbirds
 
"Wonderful. Enchanting. Amazing and original fiction that will satisfy that buttery Southern taste, as well as that biting aftertaste of the dark side. I loved it." --Joe R. Lansdale, Bram Stoker and Edgar Award-winning author of The Bottoms, on Four and Twenty Blackbirds

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Product Details

• Paperback: 365 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765313103
• ISBN-13: 978-0765313102
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #304,681 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 3 in The Eden Moore Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful creepy tale!, October 13, 2007

By	A. Jones (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Cherie Priest has hit this one solidly over the fence. The pacing is impeccable and intense, keeping you sucked solidly into Eden Moore's world. While it isn't absolutely necessary to have read Four and Twenty Blackbirds and Wings to the Kingdom to get into Not Flesh Nor Feathers, it will certainly make some passing references easier to understand.

As with the other two Eden Moore books, NFNF opens with a ghost. Lest readers of the other two books think they know where things are going, however, the story rapidly builds and takes a hard left turn into rising waters and the problems (not all of them mundane) that come with the river's encroachment into town. The novel is so realistically done that the supernatural elements slot naturally and easily into place, making suspension of disbelief and complete immersion in the story easy.

Definitely Priest's best book yet, and I'm looking forward to future books as I suspect she's going nowhere but up from here.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Flesh Nor Feathers, December 4, 2007

By	dawn - See all my reviews

I was so sad to see the Eden Moore trilogy come to a close, but Not Flesh Nor Feathers was a wonderful way to end. The book had just the right amount of creepy and just the right amount of adventure. It was a delight to get lost in the pages and follow Eden on her adventure. I have thrust this series on all of my book loving friends. If you like tales of things that go bump in the night, pick up a Cherie Priest book. You will not be disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun, October 15, 2007

By	Janlynn (Sussex, WI United States) - See all my reviews

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The other reviewers tell the basic outline of the book. I love Cherie Priest's Eden Moore novels, each one gets better and better. Personally, I find them fascinating, and not at all creepy: Stephen King is the master at that.