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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strong First Book, March 21, 2003
I am writing this review from 37,000 ft, a first for me, and find it oddly humorous that I will pass over Chattanooga, TN in a few moments on my celestial journey from St. Louis to Orlando, considering I just finished Cherie Priest's Four and Twenty Blackbirds, a supernatural tale of the haunting and hunting of a young girl from that very town. I wonder if I were able to drop the book from an open window, would I be able to hit someone who recognized it? Four and Twenty Blackbirds definitely feels like a first novel in those first few hours of reading as we get to know her as an author and watch her characters crawl into our world from her rich, and dangerous imagination. Ms. Priest seems to be pushing the edges of the medium, using analogy and simile like a large hammer to bludgeon us with her wit and creativity. She uses images and phrases that please the mind like expensive chocolates please the palate. I often found myself rereading a particular phrase just to let it melt on my tongue a little longer. While momentarily pleasing, it does have the effect of pulling us out of the story. Once she gets past the basic introduction of the characters and into the main course of the story she begins to grow comfortable in letting the story create the images without pushing so hard and that's when things get really interesting. Her descriptions of the forests and hills around Eden's home had me swatting at insects and smelling moldy, humid air. Her characters began to grow into living breathing people before my eyes and soon I realized that I cared about them. I soon found the book hard to put down and, once I did put it down, hard to stop thinking about. Priest has created a wonderful story that pulls you into a fully realized locations full of interesting believable characters. I imagine that she has spent lots of time in forests, poetry slams and coffee houses to so easily transport us there with her. I thank her for allowing us along for the ride and for the delicious chocolates she provided along the way. I look forward to her next story if only so I can bite into it and let it drip down my chin.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strong atmosphere and well paced, but nothing exists outside the plot and the narrator is irritating. Moderately recommended, September 11, 2007
Eden sees ghosts--specifically the three female spectres that have haunted her and protected her throughout her life. She is also haunted by her fanatical, unbalanced cousin who has tried twice to kill her. After the second failed attempt, Eden begins to unearth her own family history in order to determine why her cousin wants her dead: he fears that she will revive the spirit of her long dead great-grandfather, an heartless African magician who desires immortality. A richly Southern gothic book, replete with dark mansions, hauntings, and a gnarled and twisted family tree, this is an atmospheric and engrossing read. However, simply unraveling the plot takes up the entire book, leaving no room for character growth or side stories, and the protagonist borders on annoying throughout the text. This is a promising first novel, but faulted. Moderately recommended.
The highlight of this book is its pacing and its atmosphere, both of which make it a swift and engrossing read. From the abandoned, haunted locations to the immediate and physical threats, as well as the twisted and convoluted plot that Priest unravels without massive exposition, the book moves at a skillful pace: just fast enough to keep the reader consistently interested without being brief or full of annoying cliffhangers, just slow enough to really get into and enjoy the supernatural aspects. This book reads well and is hard to put down. The plot is detailed and well-crafted, especially for a debut novel.
In many ways, however, the plot is too detailed and too well crafted: it is the sole and driving force in the book. At less than 300 pages, with such a meticulous plot, there is barely room in the book for anything else. Beyond the first few chapters, character development is limited or lacking and there are no side plots or side stories to add realistic depth to the text. The only other time that Priest inserts non plot related detail is to describe what Eden eats or how she drives, details which are so pointless they are almost confusing. The attempts that are made, primarily through the narrative voice, to define Eden's character make her seem cocky, brash, and irritating. It feels as if the book and even the characters do not exist fully in their own right, but rather as a vehicle to serve the plot. As a result, the book ends abruptly. There is no lasting connection to the characters and no greater meaning to the story, so when the plot ends, the book is finished and done.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds is a promising debut novel, and I will probably go on to read more of Priest's work. She has a very strong grasp on the Southern gothic genre, and conceives a plot twisted enough to fit this gnarled setting. However, both in style and execution, there are a number of issues with the book, and it is not particularly memorable after the fact. As such, I only moderately recommend it: this is a swift, engrossing read and has a lot of offer, but it is not an outstanding or a must-read book.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Mae's warning was too late.", March 10, 2008
Cherie Priest is a noted blogger and a success story for writers who see blogging as a way to get on the radar. I had been a little bit reluctant to give her book a try. Largely, this is because the last blog-to-book thing that I read disappointed me quite a bit. I find that the diction of good diarists often does not work well in a novel. In that sense, this book was a pleasant surprise.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds introduces Eden Moore. Eden sees ghosts, and has done since she was a small child. There are more than one kind of ghosts, however, and it is people from real life who send Eden hunting in the past. Her life and the life of her sister depend on her success.
Four and Twenty Blackbirds is one part horror, one part detective story, one part literary fiction. It reminded me a little bit of Eva Moves the Furniture by Margaret Livesey. I liked that book quite a bit, so I did not mind the resemblance. It may, in truth, have only been the ghosts.
The prose is quite good, and I read it fairly compulsively. The plot is less even, and in moments where I was less enchanted by the writing I found myself getting a little bit annoyed by some of the plot holes. Eden is a very vibrant character. The backstory about the evil threat was oddly backgrounded. I understand that the length of the book has changed over several editions, and perhaps this accounts for some of the lacunae.
In any case, I really enjoyed the book. It kept me reading through a nasty hangover when all I really wanted to do was lay in bed and eat blueberries. I am particularly looking forward to reading the next book. I have a hope that as a second novel it will be more evenly plotted, given that Priest would have known where it was going to be placed.
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