From deep within a dark dimension beyond all that is known by the world of men, the soul of a great raven broke free, tearing through the Veil between worlds. The brutal rent in the Veil gave out a scream of warning resonating through the minds of human and Sidhe alike. The eerie sound tainted all souls, though only a few could hear it, and even fewer understood its meaning. The raven’s cold, jet eyes took in the world of the living beneath the steady beat of its great wings. Its time was near. Death’s Dark Wings is a bold and visceral revisiting of the story of 1066, in a world where magic and technology clash.
Dark bleatings, my dark tribe! Today’s review is of a book that feels very out of my usual wheelhouse. I picked this up at a convention a few months ago, courtesy of the lovely author herself, looking forward to giving something a bit different a try.
We’re in 1066, and new technology is clashing with the supernatural, creating a story that feels like a mix between historical fiction, kind-of-sort-of-not-quite-but-a-little-bit steampunk vibes, and the good old beloved supernatural, which I very much love. There’s also some relationship stuff in there, and it’s not horror, but tonally, I also was delighted to pick up a little horror.
I’m not someone that tends towards books set so far in the past, nor do I often stray out of the horror genre, so this was not only fresh but quite an eye-opener of a read for me. I don’t know if this is just the author’s style, or something often found in the fantasy genre, but the way that characters and places were introduced was so different to what I’m used to. This was so much fun for me because I don’t know that I’ve ever really thought about the “how” of these things before. In horror, I think, we’re often introduced to people and things from the angle of whatever feeling it immediately stirs in the protagonist, or the impression we’re supposed to have from the character in question. In that genre, it’s generally pretty important to sew in some dread and tension early on so that our spidey senses are yelling at us by the second half of the book.
Here, the approach was more objective, but really painted a picture of everyone and everything. People riding in on horseback (I can still picture the boots one character was wearing), locations expanding before my eyes with no emotional attachment just yet, but very effectively communicated. I didn’t think I was the type of reader that could so easily picture everything, but here I was, looking around this world and totally seeing it.
I’m very happy to have received this book because I don’t think I would normally have picked it up, and I would have missed out. As a reader, it was really enjoyable to step aside what I’m used to, and as a writer, it felt like many lessons because Raven does things so differently (and wonderfully) to what I’m accustomed to. It made me reconsider how rigidly I stick to horror.
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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