Not Flesh Nor Feathers
I gave a rave review to Cherie Priest’s second novel, WINGS TO THE KINGDOM, an exciting and gripping tale of a reluctant ghost hunter who finds deep mystery among hundreds of Civil War dead apparitions and an oddly physical presence named Ol’ Green Eyes. The creep factor was high in that novel, and Priest escalates it in her new work, NOT FLESH NOR FEATHERS. I’m happy to say that this book is even better than the earlier one, and she should instantly find a place on your must-read list.
Priest has a modern Southern Gothic writing style, and her books are set in the South, of course. WINGS revolved around the Chickamauga battlefield, and FEATHERS is set in Charlotte. Her specialty is imparting a very spooky feel to almost any set piece. Priest makes you believe that ghosts walk the earth, and frankly, that’s quite an accomplishment in today’s ultra-jaded, ultra-bored horror genre.
Her other talent is in creating characters that you really like. Eden Moore is a complex, funny, charming, willful and stubborn piece of work who can speak to the dead, sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t work, and just lately, it’s begun to wear on her a lot more than it did in the past.
This is not so helpful when the city of Charlotte floods, and it seems that the dead are beginning to walk. Literally. They are coming up from the grounds with the rising floodwaters, and threatening still-living humans. A tad unusual, no? But Priest makes you believe it because she herself takes this premise seriously.
Eden must deal with this influx of undead, discover why they seem intent on destroying all of Charlotte’s living citizenry and, at the same time, keep her own shattered family and social connections as intact as they can be.
If you have a taste for the supernatural, but don’t want the drawn-out scare and gorefests that seem to populate the genre, this is the title for you. Priest draws her characters well, makes her settings believable, and writes tight little action thrillers that happen to involve dead people who can speak. This is good stuff. –Mark Rose
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• WINGS TO THE KINGDOM by Cherie Priest
Just want to say I’m a new reader of your blog and how much I’ve enjoying it. Nice variety of books. This particular series looks great, and I now plan to get the first. I remember seeing it in the store and being intrigued by the cover art (fantastic on all 3 books) but forgot to jot down the title to check out later. Thanks for the review.