Black Feathers Joseph D’ Lacey
Send to KindleBlack Feathers
Written by Joseph D’ Lacey
Published by Angry Robot (March 26, 2013)
ISBN 978-0857663450
Just who, or what, is The Crowman? This question is the thread that runs through Black Feathers, tying together seemingly disparate characters and times and bringing the entire narrative together.
Having a character named The Crowman could have been terribly lame, but in D’Lacey’s hands the character proves to be genuinely haunting. The Crowman’s presence haunts the book’s characters as they try to avert an Armageddon that for some represents a literal end of the world and for others a chance for the rebirth of humanity.
The main characters exist in two different time periods. Gordon Black is the herald of the apocalypse in his time, and every year he grows older is a step closer to the abyss for the world we know. Gordon goes on a quest to find the Crowman, whom he believes can save the world, despite the fact that no one seems to know exactly who or what the Crowman is or even if the Crowman is a benevolent force or if he is causing the apocalypse.
Megan however lives on the other side of apocalypse where humanity has been blasted back to a preindustrial way of living. The society she lives in is far more in harmony with nature than the previous civilization, but there is a definite feeling that all is not well in Megan’s world. When the reader first meets Megan she is given the prophecy that she will be the cause of a huge change, but whether it’s for good or for ill no one knows.
D’Lacey has sewn Black Feathers with a strong environmental message that could have come across as heavy handed, but works extremely well in the style of story he’s telling. Black Feathers is a strong contemporary fantasy novel and at the same time could be a fireside morality tale told on the coldest nights of the year.
By the time we come across The Ward, Black Feathers’ group of bad guys, the world is looking well and truly up the creek and The Ward is ready and willing to take advantage. I liked The Ward as an antagonist but they may be too moustache twirlingly evil for some. Far more disturbing is the way that the general public reacts to The Ward’s policies, reacting out of fear and ignorance. This was a far more disturbing villain as it’s all too easy to believe that humanity could and
would react that way when the world is circling the drain.
Black Feathers is the first part of a duology, and this is evident as Black Feathers is very much a deliberate set up for the second book. It was satisfying in and of itself but it also left me hanging out for the second book in the series.
Review by Andrew Jack
Black Feathers
by Joseph D’ Lacey
