The Raven’s Tale
By: Cat Winters
Grade: A
Well my finishing an Arc (thanks Netgalley for providing) and getting a review up the day before it comes out is a nice change of pace. So I may have patted myself on the back a little bit.
Even better… I really enjoyed the book! Even if I thought Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic muse should have been called Penny.
The Raven’s Tale is about young Edgar Allen Poe’s struggle with his place and his art’s place in a world that isn’t exactly friendly to it. This is embodied in an actual physical form of his creepy ass muse that everyone can see. (And quiet enjoys letting people see her.) Also there’s like no reason for her to be called Penny. You can probably guess what she’s called even if you’ve never read Poe. I just thought of Penny and then couldn’t get it out of my head.
She hangs out in graveyards, enjoys scaring people and has no tolerance for the alcohol he so readily downs. Also she’s slowly turning into an actual raven the more she gets Eddy to accept and use his gift.
Overall she was the more interesting character. She’s not the only muse either and the touched upon world of them becoming real and then moving on into true forms and immortality the more there used was also something I enjoyed reading about.
Those moments when they are actually writing together instead of fighting each other are were the book truly excels. Those scenes are bold, fun and cinematic and full of life that does somewhat stilt the other half of this book- Edgar’s relationship with an heiress and his horrid stepfather who would basically like him to go starve. I have a soft spot for anything involving writing and the creative process so I was not surprised this book appealed to me.
I must admit though I haven’t read any of Poe since high school (though The Raven’s Tale makes me want to rectify that) but I thought the writing and those scenes particularly sounded good. There was a beat and rhythm to them that struck me as very Poe like- and a lot of the descriptions even otherwise of things like Eddy’s Helen hit the mark in my opinion.
I also loved Winters book Odd & True so it’s nice that carried over here despite it not being about monster hunting sisters.
Yay, glad you enjoyed it! I’m hoping to get to it this week. 🙂 I’m not the biggest fan of Poe but you can’t write a book about poetry and art and a physical manifestation of a muse and not have me running to read it. 😀
I love Edgar Allen Poe! His short stories are my favourite, they are so deliciously creepy and unexpected! I wish I could have read them when he was alive…
If he was writing today I bet he’d have an amazing Twitter or Instagram!
haha yes good point!
Well this looks pretty good, and Cat Winters huh? Haven’t read her yet.
I really enjoy her so far. Though writing/muse element aside I might put Odd & True a little higher on my love scale!
Great review, thank you, will read and revisit Poe.
Love the idea that you can’t fight your muse – I just wish I could understand mine, let alone fight it, it’s more than a bit mad in all that word’s senses 😉
Ha! Mines apparently been easily distracted lately! It’s not haunting people it’s watching Netflix 🙂
Great review. Glad to see you enjoyed this one.
This sounds AMAZING!! It’s definitely going on my list. I love Edgar Allen Poe… Although, I don’t know what I think of a Muse with no alcohol tolerance.. 😉 And, read and review a book in time for release?? … I still dream of that day… 😅
Yeah I think Netgalley might be shocked!
Ha ha! I’m pretty sure Netgalley has already blacklisted me for my tardiness lately. 😅😅
Penny seems interesting and she’s giving me Visenya vibes! Fascinating to read about, terrible to be near. I really need to read some Poe one day, but I have no idea where to start!
So great that this had a poe-like rhythm. Awesome review!