Cassandra L. Thompson

I was honestly, truly hoping I would enjoy this second volume in the trilogy more than the first.

I know the first book in a series carries a lot of weight. It has to not just introduce the reader to the world and characters, but it has to bring a dire change to that world and kick the story into gear, all while still telling a satisfactory story in its own right.

The second has slightly different demands. The world is established. Most of the characters are as well, as is the central conflict. Now the challenge becomes the act of deepening the characters and not just maintaining the conflict, but making it even worse, all while setting up the final (hopefully epic) events to come in the final installment.

I will say that in this one, Thompson does definitely deepen the characters and fill them in more, however (and yes, I am oversimplifying a bit here) the story feels very much like it's a collection of characters meeting, then essentially saying, "we have the time, let me tell you all that I remember up until we met," and then doing so.

I guess I was hoping for a little more forward movement and less looking back.

Once again, it felt a little too far into Anne Rice territory for me. The characters are truly complex, but I just wish they'd actually do more.

I will also say I'm quite saddened that the author has now blocked me from all social media accounts for both her and Quill and Crow, as I truly respect her for all that she's doing for horror, for publishing, and also because she seemed like an incredible person. I'm going to miss her posts.… (more)

This one's a tough one for me...why? Because I follow the author across all sorts of social media, and I really respect her viewpoint on so many things.

But this, while it started out reasonably strong, just fell awfully short for me, which is a surprise. This was one of those books that I really expected to love.

And while I can point out certain elements in the novel that didn't work for me, I'm not sure I can point to a main, singular reason this didn't grab me like I thought it would.

The elements that didn't work for me were not big things.

I wasn't crazy about having too many characters with names starting with D. There was Davius, who is also, at times, David, or Great David in this. Then there's Dragos. And there's Danulf. And that's not even counting Dracul, who is namechecked several times.

There's a lot of history here, as well. I don't mind some history in my horror, I really don't, but Thompson doubles down on it, then doubles down on it again.

Here's my bigger issues. First and foremost—and this is purely my own taste—this book read far too Anne Rice for me. I'm not a fan of Rice's overly detailed, minute-by-minute history of characters from the dawn of time until present day. I find it tedious when she does it, and it truly started to grate on me here as well, despite the reasonably short 280 pages.

Aligned with that last fact, was how Thompson chose to try and mesh so many of the various pantheons of gods, from Greek and Roman, through Egyptian, and Christian, and then bolt on new vampire and werewolf myths to them. While the author was surprisingly successful at times, it became less and less fun when I found out that this character was also that god...and also that god...oh, and that one two. And this other character was also this god...and that god...and that other one over there...oh, and they're also related to this first character.

Honestly, it got so complex, and convoluted, that it began to feel like the plot was being contorted in unnatural ways just to be able to squeeze in one more collection of gods. By the time the Egyptian ones came in—and seemed quite important to the plot—I found was simply all out of fucks to give by that point.

There was also, finally, a point where I questioned whether there was a singular through-line for the plot. I can't say what it is without spoiling some stuff, so I won't, but I will say there is, but it just takes a long time to manifest.

What I came away with in this book is that there isn't a single character who is just a single character. And there are an awful lot of characters who start good and break bad, or start bad and break good.

So, here's my thing, maybe it was the multiple time periods/multiple religions that got to me. Maybe it was that I couldn't get the taste of Anne Rice out of my eyeballs, but I didn't enough this very much at all.

I'm hoping that most of the convolution is over with now, and the balance of the trilogy will be a little more straightforward.… (more)

I received an e-Galley ARC of Ravens and Roses: A Gothic Women’s Anthology, edited by Cassandra L. Thompson, from the Quill and Crow Publishing House and BookSirens, for review consideration. Cover design by Liliana Marie Creative, cover art by Lauren Hellekson, interior formatting by Marie Casey. What follows below is my honest review, freely given.

I rated this anthology 4 stars. Each story is headed by a poem, written by one of the poetesses of the Dark Poet Society. I will have the poetess listed before each story, but some of the poems are only a few lines, so I will leave the details of those for the gentle reader to discover when reading this title themselves.

Poetess: Danielle Edwards
DAUGHTER OF SALT AND SEA by Kristin Cleaveland
Glorious opening for this anthology! Reminiscent of Ruthanna Emrys books, taking Lovecraftian creatures and making them just more than terrible things to fear and destroy. A favorite.

Poetess: Melanie Whitlock
THE DEVIL’S SERVANT by Judith Crow
Super fans have been around since forever, at least since gladiators for sure (bottled sweat anyone?), so I can fully understand if not respect his commitment to a complete collection. O’Connell is still a mystery to me, a separate entity from the other supernatural aspects of this story; I do not believe they are connected, even if they share proximity.

Poetess: JayLynn Watkins
THE WIG MAKER by Catherine McCarthy
This checked my historical fiction box and you get what you get and you don’t get upset box, the latter a family motto but I think it works here well. Obviously I mean Jonathan, because Alice can do whatever she wants, and she did. Proud of her.

Poetess: Ayshen Willow
IT WILL COME by Olivia Claire Louise Newman
I enjoyed this story, but in some ways I feel like it is two tales winding around each other; one is longer and the other shorter. When you focus on the shorter, which is imo the more tragic one, the longer one feels like fever dream, created to keep you from experiencing the loss so suddenly. Another favorite.

Poetess: Sheena Shah
THE FRUITS OF WARTIME by Rebecca Jones-Howe
This is a harsh read, one that curdles your guts. If Jacqueline had been quicker, she would have been long gone. Even though her intentions were similar, I still feel sorry for her.

Poetess: Ginger Lee
VERA by Helen Whistberry
I wonder what reality was around Martin, if it matched what the reader saw through his eyes, or if it was something hinted at by the painting changing when Martin would look away and then back to it? I feel that the neighbors’ attention has to mean that there was something off.

Poetess: K. R. Wieland
LUCIA AND TATIANA by Alexa Rose
With such a quick snapshot the author was able to give us glimpse of rich vampire lore, and I found it arresting and emotional.

Poetess: Erin Quill
DEATH CRY OF THE MAGPIE by Carla Eliot
The most unsettling in the anthology, dark corners are not my friend atm. The less said the better, just experience it yourself, no spoilers. Love this one. Obviously (I hope) another favorite!

Poetess: A. L. Garcia
LOLITA by A. L. Garcia
This read like a tragic origin story, one that you would tell over a fire. I couldn’t help but feel like she was failed by the people around her.

Poetess: Marie Casey
RED EYES by Liz M. Kamp
This one hits right in the feels. I am firmly in the camp that death is a friend, so this story ultimately gets all the hearts.

Poetess: Fizzy Twizler
THE VIGILANTE WITCH by Tara Jazdzewski
Really enjoyed this alternate history fantasy tale, it’s on a subject that will never fade from peoples interest.… (more)