The birth of Gordon Black signifies the end of the world. Year after year following his birth, the world slides into more and more poverty and destruction. People call it the Black Dawn and the Crowman becomes its symbol. Whether the Crowman is a harbinger of the final end or the saviour of the world, no one is certain, but when the Ward goes after a teenaged Gordon, they are certain that the Crowman must be stopped by any means and that Gordon, tasked by his family to find the Crowman, must be captured. Meanwhile, in the post-apocalyptic future where life has reverted back to a time before technology with remnants of the old world buried, a young girl named Megan is summoned to take her place as the first ever female Keeper. Her task? To write the Crowman’s story.

This book is a cautionary tale (that occasionally gets a bit too preachy in its warnings against our reliance on technology and modern comforts and convenience, etc) and is told in a very unique way with very interesting characters. Gordon’s journey is intriguing, and I liked the way Megan’s role is worked in, with her seeing the events of the past in order to record the dark and painful tale of the Crowman.

The Crowman himself is a fascinating character. Is he a creature of good? Is he evil? Throughout the book, we get glimpses of his development and his influences on the world, but we’re never quite sure of his purpose and how he will decide the world’s fate. Is the world’s fate a decision for him to make? Or is the Crowman simply just doing his part in an incomprehensible cycle?

I was not overly fond of the Ward. The Ward represents the ruling party who wish to maintain control throughout the chaos and the Crowman is a threat to their hold on everything. They are Big Bad Corporations, The Man, Big Brother and every other example of oppressive regimes that we’ve seen in the past. Personally, I would have enjoyed their part more if they weren’t represented in such a heavy handed manner. In a time of chaos, it is understandable that there are those who try to control and take advantage. But those trying to maintain order and fairness, such as not allowing people to hoard food while others starve, is not necessarily evil. I would have liked it if the purpose of the Ward was as ambiguous as that of the Crowman.

Overall, I enjoyed Black Feathers. It was very good, but there’s a “but” floating around in my head somewhere that I’ve yet to put my finger on... Whatever that may be, for better or for worse, the book has stayed on my mind since finishing it, and I definitely approve of a book that keeps me thinking long after I’ve finished reading the last page.

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This is an advance reader copy that I snagged from Netgalley. I think the book will be released sometime in March/April 2013. From this point on, there will be spoilers.

Gordon Black's birth signals the beginning of the end for the world. As each year passes, the world falls further into economic and environmental upheaval. Tired of the abuses committed against her Mother Earth rebels and begins to purge her lands of the people who harm her, leaving only those who give back as much as they take. In 2014, a few months before his 14th birthday, Gordon begins a journey to find the Crowman who he hopes can set everything right.

Megan Maurice is a young girl who lives quite some time after the collapse of everything. People are living in simpler times, reminiscent of life before technology and materialism had a firm grip on humanity. Megan is on the cusp of womanhood when she's called to become a keeper, someone who keeps the story of the Crowman alive. She is the first and only female keeper, and her teacher, a man known only as Mr. Keeper, says that she will either bring them total salvation or total destruction. He can't be completely sure of her part yet, though he knows everything will change for better or worse because of her.

No adventure is without its foes, and the foes in this story are called The Ward. They’re a group of people who believe that the earth is only there to be exploited by man, despite all the environmental warnings taking place. Their goal is to unite all the nations under one rule. In the chaos and calamity, they introduce strict laws (such as making migrant workers return to their own countries) which are lauded by the people whose fear makes them blind to what The Ward is truly trying to achieve. However, The Ward knows about Gordon, and their main goal is to stop him from meeting the Crowman, an event that will prevent them from reaching their full power.

This book entwined two stories from different points in time, the past and the future, but neither story could be told without the other.

This story was almost like reading a legend, a story passed down from generation to generation by a griot charged to help save humanity. It's a story that gives its readers a cautionary tale replete with warnings of mythical proportions, an apologue to keep close to our hearts. It pulls you in like a familiar. You can easily forget that this isn't some oral tradition that's been written down but the fictional work of a talented writer as you learn about a certain part of the past from Gordon and Megan.

Despite this, I still wanted to know where all the knowledge has gone after the collapse. Megan is aware that the earth is round. However, she'd never seen a car or electrical lights before visiting the time of Gordon's birth. Perhaps, not having the knowledge of technology might slow humanity reliving the days of the Black Dawn, which is blamed on technology and greed, but what about ancient history? I guess knowing our history could lead to people making the same discoveries and following the same doomed path as before.

And maybe they do know a bit about these things, but that's not what is important for this story. Telling the Crowman's story is what's important. And his part in this thing is the only knowledge the readers and the book's characters need. The knowledge to understand how this happened, and the knowledge of how they can prevent this from happening again. I don't know. I guess it just feels as if it's a great disservice that they'll never know who made certain discoveries--such as who discovered the earth was round.

However, you can't miss what you've never had. And I do appreciate when an author's writing makes me think about minutiae such as that. It means I'm involved. It means I care about the story and the people in it. It's not a question that needs to be answered by any means. This is just the history lover in me mourning this loss for them when they're none the wiser.

This book seems to try to capture some of that magic that makes Stephen King's novels compelling. For some reason, while reading this, my mind would drift to the Dark Tower series. That is not meant to be an insult to this book or the author. King manages to take ordinary things and people and weave extraordinary stories from them, making even the most mundane things important. He always manages to write his characters in a way that makes them seem like people you encounter everyday while exploring the good and bad in them, and these are things that I felt D'Lacey was grasping for in his own writing.

However, instead of using gore-ridden visuals to capture the reader’s attention, more of the violence is implied, leaving the reader to use their imagination. Yes, there are some very graphic descriptions in this book, but most of them are not. In fact, this whole novel relies more on dark allusion and prophetic imagery than anything else. Left with your own imagination to fill in the blank, the story can take on new meanings, meanings that may be slightly different from reader to reader.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed this book. It wasn’t without its faults, but most of it was more in the grammatical/editing vein, which is not unusual of ARCs anyway. The ending made my heart drop and almost frantic for more. I’m ready for book two, and book one hasn’t even been released yet. This is a story I will be thinking about for a very long time.

I’m a bit conflicted about this books, because it’s not something you can read as a straight forward story. There is so much more going on, lots of mysteries and secrets that aren’t all solved at the end of the book, which makes you long for the next one so you can see if what you thought is actually true.
Black Feathers is a book you need to sleep a few nights on, thinking about the message behind the book and all the duality you encounter while reading (is the Crowman the good guy, or is he also the bad guy?). There is a strong message in this book. It deals with the apocalypse and throughout the book it’s mentioned many times that the earth is revolting, shrugging of parasites (humans) that have used her but have never given anything back. That’s actually what everyone is warning us about now with the climate change etc.

D’Lacey isn’t afraid of some gory details, so it’s kind of hard to put a single genre on this book. Though it’s called a Fantasy book, it’s something deeper than that, a horror element is definitely there, along with a little eco-warning. It’s partially apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, which is really interesting to read.
The story is more of an intimate journey with our 2 protagonists, one of them struggling with a declining earth and all the suffering that comes with it and the other coming to terms with her destiny and the retelling of a story that may take all her resolve and strength.
The gorey details only added to the book in my opinion, giving it an edge it needed, some violence to underline the rough situation Gordon, one of our main characters, has to live through.

There were times I though “Huh, the story’s slowing down a bit, I hope the pacing won’t stutter to a halt”, and then something major happens, mostly something I didn’t see coming at all, which draws me back in to the story all over again.
One thing that annoyed me though, was the constant crying. I was brought up with my parents telling me that crying doesn’t solve anything, although it can be a relieve sometimes. The main characters in this book cried every chapter, and yes, they had it rough, so they had a right to cry now and then, but it was a bit too much for me. It’s good to show the weaknesses in your characters, but you don’t want to make them seem too weak.
But that’s just my opinion, maybe something to do with the way I was brought up.

Joseph D’Lacey writes beautifully, it’s a joy to read, so easy and flowing, but with a certain intelligence. Writing on a higher level.
All in all, I really enjoyed Black Feathers, it was absolutely intriguing and fascinating and I’m still not sure I understand everything the author wanted to put in his story. I’d recommend Black Feathers to anyone who wants a more intelligent story, with lots of secrets and mystery, people who don’t mind a little thinking while reading (and after it).

DNF'd at 19%. Found it pretentious and didn't like how all the underage female characters were described in creepy, often weirdly sexual ways. Seems to be taking way too long to get to the point and wants to give us mountains of backstory first. Honestly, I only started reading it in the first place because an acquaintance sent me an excerpt where a character was in some kind of insanity-induced frenzy and thrusting into the wet mud with his dick, and I wanted to know how we got there. I thought the journey wasn't worth it tbh.

2.7 / 5 stars

I first read Black Feathers in 2014 and really enjoyed it. Just goes to show what difference five years can make. The second time I got through it, I was put off by its inconsistency, an unsatisfying conclusion and a “look but don’t touch” world. D’Lacey manages to tell an interesting, entertaining story populated by real, human characters, in a world that (initially) can draw many parallels to our own.

The characters themselves are D’Lacey’s greatest achievement. Gordon Black is our pre-apocalypse narrator. Crows herald his arrival into the world, following his story from then on. The tale follows him from birth, early on casting him as the herald of the coming doom. His is very much a coming of age tale, as Gordon is just a regular boy. Dark hair, dark eyes, and crows follow him everywhere—but normal just the same. D’Lacey really manages to portray him as a flesh and blood kid, someone very real and human. This is a triumph for any author: creating a relatable, mortal lead.

Megan, the post-apocalypse DJ, is… inconsistent. When I went to choose a paragraph to describe her, “inconsistent” was as far as I got. Hers’ is as well billed as a coming of age tale. She is as well chosen by the Crowman. But, rather than to live his tale like Gordon, she is tasked with telling it.

Megan isn’t a believable POV. What I mean is… okay: it’s a coming of age story for her. When the reader is first introduced to her, Megan is just a kid. No puberty, no experience with the world, no Crowman. And she acts like any other kid. Until her second chapter. She runs across the Crowman before the first, in the first we find her fleeing from him. In the second, she begins her tale about seeing him. And she completely departs from her background (as just any other kid) thus far. Only to fall back into it after the story ends. I understand that D’Lacey is probably trying to set the mood here. But she’s just a kid. The words she uses, the pauses, the explanations, her state—they all change. They’re too advanced, too professional, too… scripted. D’Lacey flip-flops on her enough, going between her being just a kid, maturing into a young woman; to a mature, well-worded and serene woman—sometimes even chapter to chapter.

The looming apocalypse seems very plausible at first. A world wracked by natural disasters, solar flares, a tanking economy, an outbreak of war and strife. One full of shades of grey. When the Crowman is entered into it, the plausibility is muddied somewhat. Later, when he/it takes center stage, I felt a real disconnect between the story I was reading, and the one carries on from there.

It was a very dark tale. But it tried to be something more, even should’ve been something more. D’Lacey makes a play for a realistic apocalypse. Something that could very well happen today. Black Feathers is almost… could’ve been this, maybe. But loses itself shortly after inception. Gordon Black’s story (the story of the Crowman) gets distracted, and becomes the story of the Ward.

The Ward is the organization running Britain. Through the beginning of the tale, they become more and more prevalent in the UK, gaining political strength and support. They represent control and stability—or try, at least. A quasi-communist, nationalism, isolationist state. Eventually, they go after Gordon, trying to prevent him from reaching his destiny. And in doing so, any realism the story might have cultivated goeth out yon window. I mean, the reasoning behind this—the prophecy, or whatever—isn’t well explained. There are bits and pieces but. It doesn’t feel realistic. Or like a good scifi story. By attempting to toe the line between these two, any chance at being either is gone.

It’s not that Black Feathers isn’t a good read. It presents an adequate premise which it carries out reasonably well. But slowed down by inconsistent characters and a story that can’t decide what it is, D’Lacey’s possible masterwork becomes just another book, though an interesting one. Any lack of conclusive ending left a bad taste in my mouth, even through beginning the second one (note: I never finished #2, for a number of reasons) Worth a read, though. Maybe get it from the library, or on sale.

In a time much like ours, the world is falling apart and Gordon Black is on the run for reasons he doesn't completely understand. In the far future, a girl named Megan Maurice finds herself chosen to learn the Crowman's story. Is the Crowman the world's savior or its destroyer? And what is the connection between Gordon and the Crowman?

Wow. If I knew how great this book was going to be when I bought it, I wouldn't have let it linger on my to-read pile for so long.

Black Feathers tells two stories, one featuring Gordon Black in a world that's quickly going to hell in a hand basket because economic and environmental collapse and another featuring Megan Maurice in a world that's almost medieval in tech level, centuries after the events in Gordon's tale. There's a lot going on so I don't want to give too much away.

Gordon is on the run from The Ward, a bunch of heavies that have risen up and taken over when things started going south. The Ward are slowly gaining power and fear Gordon for reasons he is initially unaware of. Megan has been selected to be a Keeper, someone who learns and tells the Crowman's tale and has special nature-priest abilities.

Gordon and Megan are both compelling characters. Gordon's loss drives him toward a destiny he isn't very sure of and Megan's role as the next Keeper helps fill in some of the gaps in Gordon's tale and hint at things to come.

The two settings are well developed. The Black Dawn, the near future of Gordon's time, is all too believable with food shortages and martial law. Megan's time, the Bright Day, is a simpler time of people living in harmony with nature in the ruins of the past. Megan's time reminds me of the world of [b:Gathering Blue|12936|Gathering Blue (The Giver, #2)|Lois Lowry|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347750315s/12936.jpg|2134456] while Gordon's, although nearly the present, definitely has a dystopian feel.

The book has a strong ecological message: If you don't treat the Earth well, she's going to settle your hash. With the two young adult protagonists, this could be classified as a YA book but it lacks the tedious love triangles and teen angst so I can see why it isn't marketed as such.

If I had to gripe about one thing it would be that I have to wait for the concluding volume in the series, [b:The Book of the Crowman|18142557|The Book of the Crowman|Joseph D' Lacey|/assets/nocover/60x80.png|25489288], to see how things shape up.

Nothing like a really good book to make you see how crappy a lot of the things you read are. Five stars!

This book started slow, and then descended into chaos and WTF-ery around the halfway point, with such delights as

Spoiler

rape and crucifixion against a tree, attempted rape and fucking a hole in the ground.

I know this is classed as a horror, but it wasn't scary, it was just gross.


Basically:

Is this book horror or scifi or fantasy? The answer is, Yes.

A very very clever blend of the three with a plot that starts as a slowburn and just keeps ramping up up UP ... all the way to the final page.

The worst thing is having to wait for the sequel!!

If you like post-apocalyptic, you'll love this. It's a cut above most everything I've read and on a par with The Stand (but completely different). The world and its demise make perfect sense as depicted. There are some bad guys with logical motivations for whom I found myself craving the worst punishments possible. And some genuinely likeable characters such as Gordon, Megan and Mr Keeper.

Loved it. Worth perservering with the slow burn opening 100 pages even if you don't like that, because by the end of the book, it's hard to put the blessed thing down.

This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/03/28/black-feathers-joseph-dlacey/

Black Feathers is the first book in The Black Dawn, a series by Joseph D’Lacey that is set in the aftermath of an environmental apocalypse in a world not unlike our own. When I saw this book at Barnes & Noble, I was immediately sucked in by the opening lines of the prologue, and knew that I just had to read it.

When the final days came, it was said that Satan walked the Earth in the guise of a crow. Those who feared him called him Scarecrow or Black Jack. I know him as the Crowman.

I speak for him.

Across the face of the Earth, in every nation, great suffering arose and billions perished. An age of solar flares began, rendering much of our technology useless. The cataclysms that befell us, the famine and sicknesses, the wars–it was all the work of the Crowman, so they said. Yet it was ignorance that fueled our terror of him and the rumors of his wickedness.

Ignorance and convenience; we needed someone to blame.

Black Feathers is divided between two protagonists, one in the present, and one in the distant past.

A girl named Megan sees the Crowman in the forest, and thus begins her training to become a Keeper, which is kind of like a Native American medicine man. The Keepers preserve mankind’s connection to the Earth. So far all the Keepers have been male, and there is a prophecy that the first female Keeper will either be the one to save the world or destroy it.

As she is trained, Megan has flashbacks to the distant past. A little boy named Gordon is born in a society like our own. Gordon is special. From the day he was born, crows have flocked to him, and they appear to protect him. As he grows up, mankind’s abuse of the environment causes the very earth to revolt. As corporations cling to power, food shortages and natural disasters become ubiquitous and mankind’s technology begins to fail. Gordon embarks on a journey to find the mysterious Crowman, who appears as a symbol of hope throughout urban legends.

Both characters have compelling life stories despite being from completely different worlds. Megan’s adventures take on a spiritual nature, and her greatest enemies are in her own mind. Gordon, on the other hand, is being chased by an entire organization of cold-blooded killers. Normally when I read books with two protagonists, I end up liking one more than the other, but in Black Feathers I quickly became attached to both of them.

D’Lacey presents a strong message of environmentalism, but it doesn’t get so preachy that it detracts from the story. He focuses on the need to give back to the earth and to take care of it. The story’s worst villains are those who believe in profits at the expense of life, and they are more terrifying because we can see in them a reflection of problems in our own society. And yet, Megan’s presence in a simpler village after the apocalypse shows that there is hope for humanity and that we aren’t all doomed if we make an effort to make better choices. For more about this, you might want to check out the guest post that the author wrote for me a couple weeks ago about the role of environmentalism in his stories.

All in all, Black Feathers was a good read, and I look forward to continuing the series.