Following the life of Edgar Allan Poe, this is clearly based on meticulous research but with a wonderfully macabre style that pays homage to Poe’s writing.
Poe at seventeen is about to head to university. He wants to write, but is discouraged by his foster father. Poe tries to ignore his dark muse, Lenore, but we see him struggle with his passions and interests as he adjusts to life as a student. Spiralling debts burden him and Poe cannot bear to abandon the one thing that gives him pleasure though it leaves him open to criticism.
For those familiar with his writing/life I imagine this will add another rich layer, but it’s a fascinating story regardless.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me access prior to publication and to Cat Winters for her quirky imaginative style being let loose on such a rich topic.

I honestly really enjoyed this book! It's about a young Edgar Allan Poe! Which was so cool a nd so well done! I loved the characters and the writing and the world! It was so dark and just so delicious I was living for it! I loved Edgar I loved Lenore! Highly highly recommend this novel if you’re an Edgar Allan Poe fan! You’ll be in love and addicted with this novel for sure! I liked reading about his muse and his love for Elmira! Was addicting! I didn’t want to stop reading it! This novel also makes me interested to see ,Cat Winter’s work as I don’t think I’ve read anything by her before! But again read this book! It’s so fun and dark and just gah! Loved it!

This book is fine for Poe fans, but I was a bit let down? I still can't decide if it was the writing that I wasn't liking or the pacing or both, but it did bog the story down. I did like how she wrote the time period and you can tell that Winter's put a lot of research into this story. Yet, though things started to pick up after the 75% mark, the wait was a bit too late.

Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe counts down the days until he can escape his foster family—the wealthy Allans of Richmond, Virginia. He hungers for his upcoming life as a student at the prestigious new university, almost as much as he longs to marry his beloved Elmira Royster. However, on the brink of his departure, all his plans go awry when a macabre Muse named Lenore appears to him. Muses are frightful creatures that lead Artists down a path of ruin and disgrace, and no respectable person could possibly understand or accept them. But Lenore steps out of the shadows with one request: “Let them see me!”

When young Edgar Poes muse becomes reality, everything changes for the young writer. His dark, and macabre writings flowing like a rivers mouth!! However it is his pride that may also destroy her. She must convince Edgar that his ways are meant to be, his words are meant to be dark and tradgic so she may transform into what she should truly look like. Just when she thinks she is getting through to him, another of young Edgars muses comes to play. Attempting to destroy his dark inspirings, but Lenore is his forevermore. Featuring works from Edgar Poes early years throughout the story made it that much more invigorating!!! I really enjoyed the final poem from Poe at the end and how they tied into the story itself. Definately recommend to fans of Poes dark writings, as well as fantasy readers!!

I love everything Cat Winters writes and I have read lots about Poe so I was so excited about this book. I was not disappointed. Devoured it in just a few hours.

DNF - 50%

I'm sorry. I tried. I really tried. I love Winters' writing but I just cannot care about this. I guess I just don't find the life of Edgar Allan Poe anywhere near as interesting as I thought I would.

I recieved this eArc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cat Winters definitely did her research in order to create this historical fiction work of a young Edgar Allan Poe. In the afterword, she lists a bibliography that helped her as well as a list of places she visited, such as the Poe Museum in Richmond.

All Poe fans know of the sweet Lenore, who is brought up a few times by the poet in different works. The most famous Lenore is the deceased wife in "The Raven." This book takes a bit of a turn as to who Lenore actually is.

In this world, a muse is not merely a figment of inspiration, but a creature who springs to life from the artist. Muses ache to obtain their final form--usually some sort of bird--when the artist decides to dedicate their life to their art. As historians know, Poe had a bit of a difficult time accepting his art. He was born from professional actors, both of whom died before he was three years old. John and Frances Allan raised him as a foster child.

Lenore comes to life in the midst of one of Poe's flourishings before he travels to the university. Poe is frightened by her and begs her to leave as John Allan would never allow him to attend college if he continued on with these artsy shenanigans. The book follows Poe's adventures of his first (and only) year at the University of Virginia where his relationship with his foster father and his art wanes.

Winters does a great job of capturing the essence of Poe's works; she not only quotes the poet's earlier works, but she adds a Poe-esque vibe to the exposition.

If you're a fan of macabe and magical realism and, of course, Poe, this is a book for you.

I have a morbid fascination with the macabre, so of course I've always enjoyed Edgar Allan Poe's writing. You can tell that Cat Winters does too, and you can also tell that she did a ton of research for this novel. I did learn quite a bit about teenage Poe, and I was surprised to learn that he wasn't exactly the emo boy I had always pictured in my mind; he was fairly normal and made friends easily, but he also had an unfortunate lot in life that led to a fascination with morbid things. And he also maybe had a...dark muse?

This fantastical part of the book was the part I was less enthused about. I don't hate the concept of turning muses into real-life beings, but the execution of it in the story confused me. The muses seemed to have rules to their existence but didn't seem to follow them. And Lenore's personality was never quite consistent - it could be because she was "mad" - but still, I could never get a good read on her.

Poe himself though - I enjoyed his chapters and think Winters did a nice job capturing the voice of a boy who desperately wants to fit in, yet also desperately wants to pursue his artistic dreams. I loved reading his earlier poems and thought how she connected the dots to his real life was quite clever. Poor Eddy's life really was a series of unfortunate events, some due to his own devices and some due to outside forces, but it makes for a fascinating biography all the same. One I'm sure I'll keep coming back to forevermore.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I was so wrapped up in this book, I couldn’t put it down. I’m a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe and when I saw this book on Netgalley, I knew I needed to read it. It did not disappoint. Cat Winters did thorough research and it shows. The Raven’s Tale is a fictional story based on Poe’s actual life. His work is incorporated throughout the novel, and the authors note in the back is packed with even more information. The story is beautifully written, and I think Poe himself would be proud of this novel.

I really loved the concept of Muses the author created. A world where muses are physical being, brought out of your consciousness, and they literally feed off of your creativity. If I had a muse that needed me to be creative in order for it to survive as a living, breathing thing, I’d never stop creating. It’s such an interesting concept.

I’ll definitely be picking this book up for my shelf when it comes out in April. If you’re a fan of the Edgar Allan Poe, or the Macabre in general, you’ll love The Raven’s Tale!

Naturally, as an Edgar Allan Poe fan, I was pretty stoked to see YA Edgar Allan Poe historical fiction. The first chapter appeared to be the start of something great. However, I quickly realized the story was not going to be quite what I was expecting when the beings known as "muses" entered the plot.

In this, muses are supernatural beings who can appear in a human form, but are meant to evolve into a spirit animal of sorts. The purpose of these muses is to inspire an artist/poet/etc. Because this follows both Edgar's and his muse's perspectives, Edgar's muse was introduced early on in the story, but it took the first half of the book to fully understand what she was as the concept of these muses wasn't explained very well. This was something which I struggled with in the first 50%, and I found any scene with the muse character, Lenore, to be a bit confusing.

I also thought the middle of the story dragged a bit—the first 20% put the book on a good start, and the last 20% picks up and finishes strong, which is what really redeemed this for me.

All that said, I really loved the concept behind this story. I especially loved the way Edgar Allan Poe's poetry is woven into the story, and the made up bits of poetry we get from Lenore's perspective following the rhyme scheme of The Raven. I also did enjoy the author's writing style very much, and I'll definitely have this story in mind the next time I read The Raven.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amulet Books for this copy!

Let me begin by saying that I was so excited for this book. I’ve been a fan of Mr. Poe since I was just a wee little girl, and the idea of a book that centered on Poe and his muse sounded so macabre and wonderfully dark. The premise sounded amazing, and the cover art is nothing short of spectacular, so when I was approved for an eARC I was over the moon…and then, after reading the book, I came crashing down in spectacular fashion. The premise may be amazing in theory, and I applaud Winters efforts, but in practice the book falls well short of every mark. The story failed to evoke any strong emotion from me, and I didn’t find it to be scary, macabre, dark, or otherworldly. In all honesty, I ended up skimming the last quarter of the book because I was terribly bored.

Let’s break this down a little more into some specifics. The plot came across as rather vague and dubious, and I am still not totally sure what it is that I was supposed to take from the story. Around 30% through the book and I was still uncertain of what I was actually reading and where the story was supposed to be going. I think this book would have benefited from a more rigid structure and much more background information. As a fan of Poe (and the supernatural), I could piece together a plotline, but it still felt rather flimsy. Also, the supernatural elements—which are arguably the most interesting aspect—are so vague as to be rendered confusing. I understand wanting to create a mood or evoke a feeling in how the story is being presented, but by being so ambiguous with background and details the reader is left feeling underwhelmed. For instance, how do the muses work exactly? Does everyone have a muse? Is this common knowledge (because no one seems particularly phased by them)? Can someone have more than one muse? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, and I think the story would have been aided from some solid answers.

As for characters, everyone felt extremely typical and unoriginal, which probably shouldn’t happen in a story that portrays actual people who were fascinating in real life. John Allen (the villain?), Poe’s adopted father, was one trope after another, and Poe himself was incredibly monotonous. I get it, Edgar Allen Poe was a dark and tragic man, and his descent into that would be difficult to portray, but Winters falls too heavily on the side of melodramatics and instead of tragic he just ends up being whiny. The character of Leonore started off fairly strong, but Winters was never able to fully flesh her out and make her into anything more than a vague specter in the story.

Overall, The Raven’s Tale feels more like a Middle Grade read rather than YA. There is no depth or complexity to be found in either the plot or the characters, and the pacing in intolerably slow. Rather than a macabre jaunt through Poe’s psyche, we are treated to a tedious slog through a dubious plot. A stronger plot, more specifics and background, and upping the spook factor would benefit this book immensely.

I really wanted to like this book. It sounded like it could be incredible. And I really tried to like it. But no. I just did not think it was good.
The premise was great--A teenaged Edgar Poe unintentionally conjuring up his Muse, Lenore, in the flesh, and then becoming the author and poet we know him as today. And while that does happen in this book, it is just not well-executed. It is very apparent that the author has done extensive research and worked hard to make her story grounded in historical facts. But in the end I felt like the events of Edgar's teenage years were not delved into deeply enough. The reader is told things instead of being shown things. Edgar comes across as a pouty, melodramatic, spoiled, whiner instead of a tortured, dark, creative yet macabre, genius.
The elements of magic in the story were also a bit confusing to me. Creative people have tangible muses that they can speak and interact with, but everyone seems scared of them, if not downright condemning. It didn't make any sense and was not well-explained.
I wish I could have liked this book. It is obvious the author tried very hard. But it just fell very flat for me.

The Ravens Tale. Edgar. Poe. Firstly, I must admit I became borderline obssessed with Edgar upon the release of Altered Carbon - where the Artificial Interface Hotel models itself after him! So, when I saw the magnificence that is Edgar Allan Poe was being further immortalised into a book, I was intrigued to say the least.

Cat Winters did not dissapoint. Weaving a rich tale of intriuge, and wonder, Edgar is encapsulate as a boy of sensitivity and struggles. Drawing on all-too realistic aspects and creating an deliberate atmospheric portrayal of such a polarising entity.

Winters, without a doubt, has invested time and effort into reasearch for this. Allowing the construction of a literary masterpiece, swithcing between the views of Edgar, and his muse. In this intance, we're allows to see the true nature of the plot-line, and the twists it encapsulates, while portraying the utter high's and lows of the novel.

It had moments of dullness, which were uncharactertisc and unexpected, however upon finishing the novel you're presented with a poem, crafted by winters in the style fo Edgar.

I end here, spoiler-less, and high-hopes for more form Cat Winters.

An inspiring, atmospheric book that captures the spirit of Poe's poetry. Writing about real, historical people is never easy, but it works here in a powerful, poignant way.

I was incredibly intrigued by the premise of this book. I’d read some of Edgar Allen Poe’s work in school so I was excited going into this.

It must have been difficult to develop a character that already exists in history. Obviously, he isn’t around for us to know what his personality is like, what he likes and dislikes etc. We can only go with what we can presume from his work. Also, even though no one alive will have known him at the time. I feel like people will already have pictures in their heads of how they perceive him to be, and then when they read a book based on him, it can run the risk of the character not feeling real. So I applaud the author for taking on task.

This book had an interesting concept with muses being a real person. I thought this was fascinating because it really is like they are an inspirational, creative guide who acts in your best interest but is also rather out of control.

The writing was so beautifully orchestrated and it had this magical feeling of sucking you right into the heart of the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I'm interested to see what the author writes next!

I was definitely intrigued by this title when I saw it on Netgalley. It seemed like a different kind of Poe story, and it was. There are few books about Poe's early years, so I thought it would be interesting to read a different perspective.

I'm not a poetry fan, but reading Poe's dark poems while he was trying to navigate his life at university was really insightful into him as a person. He didn't have the best upbringing with his adopted father, who never accepted him as his adopted mother did. I felt for him while he was trying to survive at school because his father never sent him any money, so he was forced to burn his furniture in order to avoid freezing to death.

The most interesting part of the book was about his muse, Lenore. She became a "living" being born from the ashes while he drumming up morbid thoughts and poems in his head. She demands that she be seen, which would require Edgar to fully accept his dark writing, which he struggles to do.

Without giving more away, I think this would be a good read for fans of Poe, especially if they want to get to know his earlier days.

I will say, the main complaint I have about the book is the constant whining that Edgar does. Yes, he is in a crappy situation but it is throughout the book. It made reading a bit tedious.

But overall, this was a good book. Cat Winters sure knows how to write some creepy stories.

What a lovely tale...



Once upon a dark December, in a year we
must
remember,
Morbid mounds of ash and ember told a
gruesome tale of gore--





Wow, I think Cat Winters did a great job on this book!

I was reading through her author's notes, etc and she was telling how she went about finding out as much history as she could before writing this book. I think she made a remarkable book on fiction and fact to create a young Poe.

I loved reading about Lenore! The book is written in two POV's; Edgar and Lenore. I must say it's bloody brilliant. I loved the creepiness to the book and the way the author incorporated a muse for different people. It was so freaking gothic and awesome and like I said a bit creepy. If you accept what you have created then the creepiness goes away and you find that you have a friend for life.

That's all I'm going to say before I sit right here and type a spoiler before the book is even out yet. This is February and this fine book will be out in April; I'm putting it on my birthday book buying list for myself.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a complimentary copy of this book for review.*

Happy Reading!

Mel ♥

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2704377352?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1


I received an ARC of The Raven's Tale.

I was first intrigued by the cover of the book. The girl with raven feathers drew me in and made a muse for Edgar Allen Poe.

I thought the book really created a great take on Poe's teenage years and showed how he might have struggled as a young adult. Reading Poe's work throughout the book really was enchanting to me as I haven't read much of Poe's work other than The Raven. This encouraged me to read more of his work and look more into his history. This book really has captured who Poe was and gives all of us a much needed look into the artist.

It's interesting to think of everyone having a muse and if you lose it, you lose a part of yourself as an artist. I think this could be taken in that we need to live for what we love or we will be lost.

The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters is set to be released on April 16th, 2019. I was blessed with getting an ARC to review, and I could not finish my current read fast enough. I wanted to get into this book.

First off, before we get into the details of this story can we take a moment to appreciate this gorgeous cover art by Shane Rebenschied. This, like 98% of all the books I read, was what convinced me to read the blurb for this book. The moment I heard the word Poe I was in. I am an unashamed Poe fan. Really, I am a Poe history fan. He has some great works. Masque of Red Death will forever by my favorite short story of all time.

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The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters is a new E. A. Poe retelling. (Someone out there please point me in the direction of or write a retelling of Virginia Poe’s life.) However, rather than following a brooding writer in the trials of his adult life, Winters chose to take us on a tour of Poe’s teen years, and they were just as angsty as the adult Poe was brooding.

I have to comment about how in the first chapter a bishop is talking about the pursuit of art and how it leads to promiscuous debauchery in people. I thought that was funny. I had to have an inner talk with myself as a writer at that moment, but it was hilarious. Then chapter one ended with Poe thinking of all the words he could find that rhyme with “gore” and it was so in the character of Edgar Allan Poe that I smiled.

Getting into the story, this book opens with seventeen year old Poe sitting in church musing on his existence and how others see him as, “that poor orphaned boy.” The real sense of Poe’s childhood is captured in the way he calls Mrs. Allan Ma or how he talks about his adopted father’s hate towards him. The interactions between him and Pa invoke the sense of dislike the real characters of history had for one another. My favorite quote about this relationship: “Mr. John Allan, my Scot-blooded bastard of a foster father.” People who are Poe fans and are familiar with his life will be able to relate.

This story is told in first-person POV, and Winters was wise to choose this because it allows her to write young Poe in a way that really personifies the brooding, outcast romantic that Edgar was in his time. Also, rather than being a talked about influence upon his creativity, Edgar’s muse is given a real form. As in, she is a real character in the story. She is a haunting ghost that hungers for Edgar’s words. She thrives on them. The only dilemma is young Eddy is wondering if writing is really a thing he should pursue, or if he is going to put it aside forever. Then….well, things get very odd very fast.

So, this muse is begging for a name and Edgar gives in and dubs it (get ready for this): Lenore. The moment she has a name the ghostly muse becomes a real being. In fact, she goes walking the streets of Richmond. At first, I was okay with that. Then it got…weirder.

People respond and think, “Who drug that thing here?” As Edgar goes after it, hiding the evidence that it is his muse on the loose, he runs into his sister and they start talking about how muses sometimes get loose and they talk as if this is normal. As if muses coming to life and wandering the streets is a totally acceptable practice in this world. The book was going well until this point and I am had to sit and debate if I wanted to keep going. Did I want to suspend my belief in order to make it to the end of this book?

After I decided that this wasn’t that bad, that I could keep going on with this story, it got weirder. Poe and his sister chase the muse to a graveyard. Poe cannot bear to enter because inside is the grave of his first love, crush, how do you explain it? The author is throwing in a lot of Poe facts and tid-bits with this story which is something that you would expect in a book like this, but when stood next to the fantastical elements she is trying to invoke with a muse that comes to life and terrorizes a town, it all seems far fetched and too heavily pushed upon a reader.

Then… I had to stop for a moment and breath. Mr. Allan appears in the graveyard and starts talking to the muse like he knows her. Apparently, he had a muse too that jumped to life one day. In order to become a successful business man he pushed the muse woman into the fire. Now he thinks Poe’s muse is his own and the muse just goes along with it! She begs for poetry because that is what she feeds on and then in the end says, “Invite me to dinner at your house so that I can dine with you and know you are a changed man.” That is the short version. It was weirder than that in the actual book.

At this point, I am just turning pages for no other reason than to see what is going to happen. How much cliche can be thrown into each chapter? It is like Winters took a handful of Poe facts, a handful of smart ass comedy from Scary Movie scripts, and a touch of horror and threw them in a bowl to see what happened.

Aside from the many odd occurrences that made me repeatedly want to put this book down, the one thing that Winters did in this story was make Poe human. At least, he was human in the moments where the story was worth reading. Often, he is remembered as that guy with the weird mustache or the brooding author that found only sorrow in his lifetime. Winters focused on the many other aspects of Poe that we don’t hear about often such as his education and the normal things that happened in his life that made him a normal person in his time.

In the end, I give this book a 2 star review on Goodreads. It ended up on my “Not Worth a Second Read” shelf which is good considering it almost made it to the trenches of the DNF shelf. It was good, but I don’t ever see myself really reading it a second time around. Actually, this is one of those stories that I feel would be an awesome 2 or 3 part Netflix original movie. In fact, the way this story was written made me think it could have more done for it if it were a movie as opposed to a book.

I found this book to be intriguing and whimsical. A true gothic work of art. Cat Winter's take on muses was refreshing and I loved the back and forth between Edgar and Lenore.