Four and Twenty Blackbirds

By Cherie Priest

Eden Moore was orphaned at birth and brought up by her mother's beautiful sister Lulu. Even as a child Eden was never alone, three ghostly sisters watched from the shadows, longing to tell her their story. Always kept in the dark about her past, as an adult Eden goes looking for answers, to what really happened to her mother, and to the terrifying secret that lurks at the heart of her family history. Soon she is in a desperate race to uncover the truth before a new and deadly enemy destroys what is left of her family..

• Language: English
• Publisher: Titan Books
• Release date: Feb 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9780857687876

Cherie Priest

Cherie Priest debuted to great acclaim with Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Wings to the Kingdom, and Not Flesh Nor Feathers, a trilogy of Southern Gothic ghost stories featuring heroine Eden Moore. She is also the author of Fathom, Dreadnought, and Boneshaker, which was nominated for a Nebula and Hugo Award and won the PNBA Award and the Locus Award for best science-fiction novel. She is an associate editor at Subterranean Press. Born in Tampa, Florida, Priest went to college at Southern Adventist University and earned her master’s in rhetoric at the University of Tennessee. After spending most of her life in the southern United States, she recently moved to Seattle, Washington, with her husband, Aric, and a fat black cat named Spain.

Reviews for Four and Twenty Blackbirds

[hopeevey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a wonderful Southern ghost story. The paranormal elements creep in so slowly, they seem perfectly normal; until you realize just how weird things have gotten.

The writing, the plot, and the characters drew me in, holding me to the last page. I was up late last night reading the end :) I'm definitely looking for more from this author.

[carol420 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Four and Twenty Blackbirds introduces Eden Moore. Eden sees ghosts, and has done since she was a small child. There are more than one kind of ghosts, however, and it is people from real life who send Eden hunting in the past. Her life and the life of her sister depend on her success.

This first novel by Cherie Priest is one part horror, one part detective story, one part literary fiction. Something for everyone no matter what your favorite genre.
The prose is quite good, and I read it fairly compulsively. Eden is a very vibrant character and the author develops her nicely. It was too bad that some of the other promising characters couldn't have been extended, like the little girl that shared her ability and went to camp with her when she was a child.

In any case, I really enjoyed the book. It kept me reading and I will diffidently continue with this author.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Southern gothic mystery, with swamps, ghosts, abandoned hospitals, family secrets, etc. Entertaining enough, but extremely lightweight--not YA really, but I felt like this would have appealed more to a younger reader. The family secrets plot is very convoluted and doesn't quite hang together. There is an excellent scene near the beginning that takes place in a bathroom at a summer camp, but it never connects to anything, unfortunately.

[krumbs_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

To really understand this first book, I think I need to read the second one in the series. There was too much set-up here; I'm hoping the next book will distill the character down and allow the mystery/ghost story to happen a bit more naturally.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like this as much as I'd hoped to. I was ambivalent toward Boneshaker, but I really love Bloodshot and Hellbent (my girlfriend is in the doghouse a little bit for finding them boring), so I had high hopes about this one. I know it was her debut novel, but still. There's something compelling about this -- the mix of races involved, the use of the location, history, etc... But the narrative voice isn't that different from the later Raylene of the Chesire Red books (except she has less of an issue with OCD, and she rambles a bit less!).Some bits of it were a bit creepy, but mostly the ghosts felt fairly benign. I want to know more of the whys and wherefores of this world, though, so I'm definitely sticking around: it may well grow on me. Lulu, for one thing, is an amazing character -- I hope she has more to do in future.

[sogamonk · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Lost interest in storyMaybe a YA bookJust too much dialogue

[zzshupinga · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not normally a fan of horror books, mostly because I don't like a lot of blood and gore, but since this series was written by Cherie Priest--one of my favorite authors--I decided to give it a try. And I wasn't disappointed. Instead I was quite taken in by the story that she weaves and the characters that she's created.Eden grows up with the ability to see ghosts. In particular she sees three ghosts that watch over her and at times protect her. And they know the secrets of her family, the secrets her Aunt Lulu refuses to reveal. When a crazed half-cousin comes gunning for her, Eden is drawn into the family secrets that she's been looking for...secrets that might kill her and everyone that she knows.Priest creates and builds an appropriately moody and spooky environment, that will give you chills down your spine at just the right moments. She captures the environment to a T and builds places that become vividly real in the mind, lending to a sense of fear. The characters that creates are memorable, eerily familiar and yet strange and distant all at the same time. I found myself continually pulling and rooting for Eden to find out what her past was and wondering what dark secrets her family tree was hiding. And as I mentioned above I'm not really a fan of horror because of the blood and gore factor that creeps into so many of them, but Priest creates a sense of horror without drenching pages with blood and guts. Blood shows up on occasion, but it makes sense for the plot and story.I can't wait to read the two other books in the series and I'd highly recommend this one, even to people who aren't normally fans of horror.

[cinnamonowl_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book had all the classic elements of a spooky, mysterious book - swamps, crumbling hospital/asylum, ghosts, murderous relatives, and an unknown past. Like an adult version of Scooby-Doo almost, and I was (am) a huge Scooby Doo fan. And it had a few creepy moments- like a certain scene at a summer camp, and the vision of how the three women died. But the book itself fell flat. Eden was boring. She also seemed to be removed from her own life, and not really care about what is happening to her. She has a relative who is trying to kill her, but even says in the book that she is not really afraid of him. If she is not, we sure are not going to be. And if we aren't, then what is the point? That completely removes any tension from the book, and without some suspense, it is boring. And Eden is kind of tough to like. A co-worker, albeit an annoying one, is killed in front of her, and Eden doesn't care since she never liked the woman anyway. That just seems soulless. The book does pick up some excitement at the very end, where Eden is fighting for her life. And she finally seems to care. But that was it - the rest of the book could have been mysteriously scary, but since Eden didn't care, neither did I.This is a case of never judge a book by its cover: This book looked like it was going to be a great read, but turned out it just wasn't.

[tymfos · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If I hadn't read it in one of the blurbs, I would never guess that this is Cherie Priest's first novel. It's atmospheric, intense, creepy, and imaginative. The characters are flawed but likeable -- except for the ones the reader isn't supposed to like, who are mainly nasty, dense, wacko, or pure evil.Eden Moore has been seeing ghosts since childhood. Not every ghost in the neighborhood, but three ghosts -- three sisters -- who have some mysterious bearing on Eden's past life (lives?) and future. She sees someone else, too -- a crazy fellow with murderous intent who is very much alive. As she matures, she becomes curious -- about her long-dead mother, about the ghosts who follow her, about the crazy man who wants to kill her, about the mystery of her life. Her search for answers will take her to some very spooky places, pit her against powers of darkness, and place her in grave peril -- but it just may save her life and her kin's lives, too. If she can survive . . .

[jlparent · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is Cherie Priest's first novel and as such, has a few rough patches. However, I still really liked it. One thing Priest always does well, especially in her steampunk offerings, is write a pretty sentence and builds atmosphere - that's evident here. When very young, Eden gets a bit of a shock when 3 female ghosts appear to her the 1st time. As she grows up, they appear a few more times (stress/danger), throw in some weird dreams, attempts on her life by a religious zealot, and very complex family tree/history and that is the basis for this tale (book 1 in series). As I said, it's not perfect; certain story threads get a bit...kinked at convenience and some explanations are either overdone or overly convenient. Still, if you like a bit of Southern Gothic in your speculative fiction, give it a whirl - I found it enjoyable and fun.

[richardderus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Book Report: In a fun twist on Haley Joel Osment's famous line, "I see dead people," young Eden discovers she can see and hear three dead women when they save her life, preventing her from being shot by an insane cousin who believes Eden to be the reincarnation of an evil figure from their shared family past. The dead women appear to Eden only at times of great danger and stress, which come increasingly often as she grows into a strange young womanhood. Her life's trajectory appears to be set by the existence of an evil ancestor, whose final disappearance into death is fast approaching. He uses all his sorcerous powers to fashion Eden into his tool to return to the living. This plan fails because Eden isn't having it, and if you know anything at all about Southern women, that's enough said right there.My Review: Yet again we have a giant missed opportunity of a book. This idea, and the expository 50pp, are terrific. I loved them, and I was so excited to read the book I couldn't wait to get back to it!Hit the middle, and found myself wandering around uninterested in the middle of a nothing-much kind of a life.Came the ending, I was ticked off at the presumption evident in the author that we her readers would buy pretty much anything. Threads got dropped, threads got yanked into places they weren't heading before, and all through it, the reason I got interested in the first place...the three ghostly sisters...are used only as deus ex machina, which was a cheat AND a bore.I am so disappointed! This chickie can write good sentences, and she can dream up great ideas, but the execution of this novel, at least, is poor. Very Neil Gaiman...great idea, give it to someone else to write so it will be used to best advantage instead of mangled and squished and generally crapped up.Do I even need to add "not recommended" at the end of the review?

[piratejenny_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good Gothicky Southern horror. Eden sees dead people. More specifically she sees three sisters killed by one man. She first knew about them when she drew a picture of them in school. She is a strange child. Eventually she's called to the guidance counselor's office for a chat (a few years later) during which she has a vision and ends up doing a little physical harm to the counselor during the vision.Eden also knows things most people don't. She knows she's lived before. She knows her mother was taken to a place she calls Pine Trees and there died, leaving Eden to be raised by her aunt Lulu and eventually her Uncle Dave. After an attempt on her life by a boy who refers to her as Avery, Eden learns there's quite a bit more to her family than Lulu will tell her (Lulu keeps insisting she'll tell Eden when Eden is older). After a trip through an abandoned asylum, a brief stay at a Southern mansion, a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, and eventually an encounter in the swamps of Florida, Eden discovers exactly who John Gray was and what he means to her family, and to her.My sister found this creepier than I did. I'm not sure if I'm just jaded, or if it's because she lives in the South and I have no experience of it. I must say that horror set in the northeast gets to me more, so it may be a place thing. Though I am also affected by horror set in the UK...

[agis_19 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Four and Twenty Blackbirds" is more creepy than horrifying, but it's a constant creeping dread, even when you figure out much of what's going on before the protagonist does. An odd decision by one of the characters later on in the book saps some of the tension out as it doesn't seem to be justified by anything other than narrative necessity, but the climax is still gripping.Cherie Priest's horror novel follows the seemingly haunted Eden, as she grows up in an adopted family, in atmosphere suffused with family secrets. Secrets tied to why a man attempted to kill her when she was still a child, and who exactly the ghosts haunting her - or protecting her - are. Priest keeps up the tension surrounding the central mystery, but the physical threat to Eden is never entirely convincing until it gets ratcheted up at the end; and the incompetence of the police is odd. It's still a good horror novel, with blood and family center stage.

[dberryfan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Spooky and excellently written. Best read at 3 in the morning for full effect.

[bcquinnsmom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this in one sitting because I didn't want to put it down. Would I recommend it? Yes -- to those who like a good ghost story (such as myself). This is not quite as deep or as chilling as many of the ghost stories in my collection (for example, The House That Jack Built by Graham Masterson is one of the creepiest ghost stories ever which scared the crap out of me when I read it) but it's pretty good.A brief synopsis: Eden Moore has known ghosts all of her life. They talk to her and they protect her from harm when her life is threatened. But underneath it all, she doesn't really know who these ghosts are and why they are attached to her specifically. Eden is being raised by Lulu, her aunt, who does know the answers but won't tell. When Eden is old enough, she goes in search of information about her mother, who ended her life in a terrible place called Pine Breeze, and what she finds leads her to a destiny that only she can fulfill.I thought it was fun and the supernatural elements were done well. At places in the story I thought things turned out a little too coincidental & too pat and I had to keep notes as to exactly who was related to whom as it got sort of complicated. But considering it is her first novel, I think she did a great job.

[ocgreg34 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Eden Moore grew up knowing that the three ghostly women who always hovered somewhere near were tasked with protecting here. For a long time, she believed they were protecting her from her Tatie Eliza and her cousin Malachi who attempted to kill her when she was younger, both believing her to be as wicked as her great-grandfather. She should have felt at peace with the protection of the women, but dreams of a mysterious book with a severed hand at the back and the mystery surrounding her Mother's death and those of the three women pique her curiosity. She sets out on a dangerous course through an abandoned hospital and her Tatie Eliza's antebellum mansion to discover the truth about herself and her family before the past comes to take control of her.Cherie Priest's debut novel is pure Southern gothic horror, complete with a crumbling mansion filled with family secrets as well as hidden rooms, a hospital haunted not just by the history of what happened there but by an angry spirit sent to harm the heroine, a creepy swamp, ghosts both good and bad, and dark magic. Her heroine, Eden Moore, is smart, strong-willed, no-nonsense and incredibly likable. Tatie Eliza and cousin Malachi are the perfect obstacles for her, blinded by family birthright, tradition and the belief that what they are doing is just. When Tatie smiles at Eden, you can feel the hatred dripping from her lips.I also liked the pacing. Nothing seemed to drag and the action/suspense had me reading every word to make sure I didn't miss anything (instead of glossing over them like I sometimes do when I feel the book needs to be moving a bit faster)."Four and Twenty Blackbirds" is a fun story, filled with action and supernatural thrills that I think fans of ghost stories and horror novels should take a chance to read.

[ladybug74 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book seemed really good in the beginning. I read almost half of it in one night and could not wait to finish it. Unfortunately, it went downhill quickly from that point. As I got closer to the end, I couldn't even stand to finish it, so I just skimmed through and read parts to see how it ended.

[bluesalamanders · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really like Cherie's blog (cmpriest on livejournal), so I decided to check out one of her books. This will make her the third author whose books I read after I was already a fan of their blog. I am not a big fan of horror, though, so I made my sister read it first, so she could tell me if I'd be able to read it or not.Eden is an orphan who occasionally sees the ghosts of her dead relatives, has a cousin who keeps trying to kill her, and that's just the beginning of her family dysfunctions. She finds out just how crazy it all is when she starts probing into her family's past - but if she hadn't, things could have turned out a whole lot worse...I did like it, although not quite as much as I expected. Eden never seemed to take much of anything seriously, and the book was in first person, so the whole book had a rather sarcastic tone and a pretty even level of emotion. Which on the one hand, meant it wasn't especially scary, even for a horror-phobe like me, but on the other hand...it felt like it should have been scarier.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5***

Eden Moore has always been special. Her mother died giving birth to her and she has been raised by her Aunt Lulu. From an early age she has been able to see and hear ghosts. In kindergarten she drew a picture of a swamp scene totally different from the wooded mountain area she lives in. At ten a deranged man tries to kill her, and the resulting media attention brings up references she doesn’t understand. As she begins asking questions, she learns a little of her complicated family tree.

This is a dark fantasy and a Southern gothic mystery. Totally not my usual reading fare, but I have to say I was captivated by the story and it held my attention. Some of the plot twists seemed too far-fetched (I am not a fan of paranormal mysteries, so I’m sure that’s part of it). Some of the supporting characters could have used more definition. Eliza was too mysterious and her fate is hinted at but never explicitly explained. Malachi’s quasi-transformation was not believable. I did like that for the most part Eden gets herself out of any jam she gets into. She’s strong, intelligent, resourceful, courageous and determined. She is also compassionate and loving.

For a genre of which I am not a fan, this was a pretty good read.

[francescadefreitas · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Creepy, twisty, and full of atmosphere, this story was good, scary fun. I really liked Eden. While she does have suspiciously useful poetry, knife, and car identification skills, she was a believable characters, and pulled me along on her search for answers in deeply held family secrets.The beginning scenes from her childhood didn't rig quite true for me, but once it settled into present time, I started to care for Eden and her adopted parents. I look forward to the next instalment.The landscape is particularly well used to add to the growing tension in the story - forest, swamp, old family graveyard, gothic mansion, and abandoned institution, all these clichéd settings were given fresh life, and described so clearly I could smell them

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a wonderful first book by Cherie Priest. It has an interesting family history, a few terrifyingly scary moments, and a great leading lady who is interesting. It does suffer from first book syndrome - a simple tale with some threads not finished, others too involved. For example, the scariest part (for me) was not the main story, but a small side story about a girl named Cora. I also tended to get lost in the relatedness of Eden's extended family.But, Eden is so awesome - she is a mixed race child, but that isn't really much of an issue for the majority of the book. Cherie Priest also didn't go with the stereotype of a poor black southern family. Eden's Aunt and Uncle are not red-neck, in fact, I would probably call them Seattle Style Hipster (to use another stereotype). It would have been all to easy to follow stereotypes. Its what makes this book interesting, rather than cliché. That is to say, there isn't stereotypical characters. Eden Great Aunt, Eliza is a very typical Old Southern Single Lady from old money. She has all the prejudices that come with it. As mentioned before, this story lacks a few important backstory. For example, why Eden's mother choose to spend time in a home for unstable teenagers or how she even met Eden's Father. There also is no explanation for how the Eden's Family and Eliza's Family know each other enough to have formed an opinion. These are holes that if filled, would have made this a great book.