The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I finally had the chance to read Cat Winters’ new book The Raven’s Tale. I found it to be extraordinarily dark, making my skin crawl with every page.
I don’t know much about Edgar Allen Poe. I had to analyze one of his shorter stories, Ligeia for my Gothic Literature course last fall, I read a manga version of The Tell Tale Heart and obviously saw The Simpsons version of The Raven many years ago, but Poe has always been a creator of dark tales that I could only stomach in very small dosages. And this comes from a great admirer of all things Gothic.
I was impressed by the vividness of the characters, both major and minor, some of them proved almost too real for me to continue, as they portrayed traits that were rather unflattering or tragic.
Giving Edgar Allen Poe a voice that went beyond that of his stories, albeit fictional, afforded me an opportunity to consider him human rather than just the creator of the dark and unusual.
The unraveling of the story was a slow, but intense burn, so to speak. It took some time to establish itself, but nonetheless proved haunting and captivating.
The author’s writing was, as usual, wonderful to get lost in the story. This time around, she took the opportunity to show a more literary side of her skill in writing during the sections titled “Lenore”. They were smooth, almost velvet, as they brought Lenore to life.
Overall, I had a bit of trouble with this story, but that was all on me. It is a perfect story to read during a gloomy autumn day, but probably not at the end of spring when the reader is up to her armpits in research for her graduate thesis. This story, dark and moody, needs to be savoured. I would certainly recommend it to anyone, who appreciates Poe’s writing and atmospheric stories.
