Review: The Raven's Tale by Cat Winters

I must admit that I know just about nothing about Edgar Poe. But I do know and love Cat. Which is why I had to read this one. And I'm glad that I did so. It's a three star for me, but I liked it a whole lot. I learned so much about Poe, and I will look for more. I loved being able to read a new book by Cat. And loved her writing lots.

There is so much to share about this book. And so much I know I will not be able to write down. To me the writing was pretty much amazing. There were parts that were a bit too much for me, a bit too old, perhaps. But the writing was easy to read so I loved that. The book was also a pretty fast read, and I loved that very much.

I will try my best not to include spoilers in this review. I shall talk about the plot and some of the things that happen. This book is a three star for me, because I did not fully love it. There were parts that bothered me a little. I will share all about that. Will also share why I liked this book a lot even though I disliked parts of it. I wish that I had loved it more, but I'm also so very happy that I did not hate it. Was a little bit unsure, since poems and such have never been my thing, but I liked this book a lot. And I'm so glad I did. That cover is also beyond gorgeous. Can't wait to own print copies of this book. Sigh. It will be the prettiest. The Raven's Tale is told from two point of views. Seventeen year old Edgar Allan Poe. And his dark muse born from the shadows of him, Lenore.

This book tells the story of Edgar. How he lived with his foster parents, how his Ma loved him, but his Pa pretty much hated him. How he could not wait to finally leave this small town to go to school, and to write more poetry. While also writing letters to his sweetheart back at home. Things so do not go the way they should, though, for Edgar. I did feel pretty sorry for him. Yet I also wanted to shake him because he was being pretty stupid at times, haha. Yet I grew to like this strange boy a whole bunch, I think. Maybe. Haha.

This story is about how a muse of darkness is born from his writing. She steps out from his house, full of shadows and soot and darkness. It was pretty awesome to read about. But Edgar does not treat her very well, this somewhat girl, mostly a creature of his mind. Lenore is a big part of this story. I will not mention her more. Only that I liked reading about her a lot, and how she effected Edgar. I liked her point of view too, though it was a bit too childish and dramatic at most times. But still. I enjoyed getting to know Lenore.

One of the reasons for why I did not like this book all that much was because of how dramatic Edgar was. Always crying and thinking about wanting to die when things were not going well. He was not the best at dealing with things at all. Ugh. Also wish there had been romance. His somewhat early romance with the girl in the beginning of the book does not count, because it made me feel nothing. And how that ended made me a little disappointed. There were a few answers that I never got, and that I needed a lot. Hmph.

I also wish there had been more answers about some other things too. I wanted his Pa to suffer more. I wanted to know about his friends. Well, those that did not abandon him. Hmph. Edgar didn't have it easy. But he did not truly have it that bad either. And I sort of wish this book had been way darker. Haha. It was a great book, and I liked it lots, but yeah, I wouldn't have minded if it had been darker. And more bloody. It was mostly just about Edgar and his whining and almost writing. Still, liked it a whole lot. Most of the time.

Because it was such a quick read for me. I was always interested in knowing what would happen next. I liked the writing a whole bunch. I wanted to know more about Lenore and other muses. But oh, Lenore. She was so much like a child most of the time, yet she was not supposed to be. I wish she had been way darker and a bit more interesting. Still, she was my favorite from the book, I think. I also enjoyed reading about the poems they wrote together, when Edgar finally made himself do something. Hmph. Too slow.

Even though there were parts of this book that I did not enjoy very much, I never hated it. And I found the story to be pretty exciting. And I needed to know what would happen next with Edgar. I do wish that it had been darker, but it was also pretty exciting most of the time. Slow, yes, but good. I'm happy with how Cat wrote this book. She is awesome. I have read all her books so far, and cannot wait to read even more by her in the future. You really must check out all of her books. You will love them. Promise. All are so good.

This book is not out until April, but you should definitely order it right away. I think that everyone will enjoy this book. And I think that those who know more about Poe will end up loving this story. I did not love this, most likely because of not already loving Poe. But I did enjoy the story a whole lot. And I can't wait to own all the copies of this book, to add to my very large Cat Winters collection. I'm glad I was able to read this. Huge thank you to Amulet Books for approving my request to read it early via Edelweiss. Happy I read it.

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