This was an intriguing and beautifully written story about the young Edgar Allan Poe and his ghostly muse Lenore who tries to inspire and encourage him to write his poetry even though it is against the wishes of his strict foster father. Edgar and Lenore were amazing characters, I loved the development of the bond between them and some of their scenes together were heart breaking especially in the final chapters.

The writing is lush and lyrical and very addictive and I raced through this anxiously to find out what happened in the end. I will definitely read more books by Cat Winters in the future and I also want to read more about Edgar Allan Poe and his early life. This is a beautiful and unusual book which I would highly recommend.

First off, I cannot get over how intriguing the concept of the muses appearing both in personified form, but also their whole history in general is. There were so many fascinating elements to The Raven's Tale such as the prejudice the characters have against the theater and the horror/mystery genre as a whole. The Raven's Tale is a story about Poe struggling to come to terms with the gothic elements in his work, but also of him struggling to come to terms with who he is. Throughout the book there are all these characters who expect him to be other than he is. And he has to continuously struggle with their expectations, and who he wants to be.
Writing & Poe Himself

If you are an Edgar Allen Poe lover, I think this book is absolutely worth your time because Winters has done research into Poe and his earlier work. Additionally, there are all these delightful Easter Eggs of references to his poems and phrases from his work. This entire book has that sort of gothic quality, to be sure, but when it is scattered with ideas and phrases from Poe himself, it takes on a richer quality.

The story is unique and the character building was intriguing as were the relationships between characters. It just wasn't the book for me.

I love Cat Winters. I love Edgar Allen Poe. And this strange and lovely little book was still quite enjoyable with beautiful writing and real history entwined. Lenore is a deliciously chilling apparition, but I came to adore the allegorical nature of her role both in the novel and in the larger world of publishing.

Edgar, Edgar, Edgar—what a magnificent writer he was. So when I heard there was going to be this book on a young Edgar Allan Poe, I was so incredibly interested! Lenore, Lenore, Lenore! I want to read about you anywhere forevermore!

Let me tell you something, my dear friends, I loved Edgar and his struggles and his sensitivities in this book. This boy definitely needed a muse to help him escape his terrible adopted father and all the things that occurred because of him! And Lenore? She was such a lovely and horrific creature who was the perfect muse to draw out the tales that one day become famous.

Now, what I wanted and what I thought this book was going to be about DID NOT HAPPEN! I repeat: DID NOT HAPPEN! I wanted a romance between Edgar and his muse that was so dark and twisted that it would haunt me for days with its beauty, sadness, and passion. I wanted that and needed that ... still do! However, this strange and lovely little book was still quite enjoyable with beautiful writing and real history entwined!

Summary

This book tells the story of a teenage Edgar Allen Poe and how his love for poetry manifests into something much more than just words on a page. We find our dear Edgar as an adopted child, living in a town where having a muse is not only frowned upon, but reviled in a religious city. Edgar struggles because of his gift and soon realizes that his muse is much more than just a wishful thought; she's real. Told in three distinct parts, Edgar has to choose between following his passion and giving up on something that he's only ever wanted forever.

Likes

I really enjoy historical fiction and interpretations of real-life events in fiction. I think it's cool to see a different take on something that really happened or filling in the blanks where there's nothing elaborated on already. This book perfectly fits that bill. I never knew that I actually wanted to know what Poe could have been like as a teenager. I have to admit that I'm not a big poetry fan and only know of "The Raven": so I don't have much background on Poe as a person already. I know the story of the girl he eventually married but that's about all. I thought this take was interesting and I liked learning more about the author's interpretation of his life. The most interesting part, though, was in fact the muse and how she came to be. This in itself was unique and I enjoyed how Lenore was personified and how she became much more than just a muse. I also enjoyed the snippets of poetry thrown into the narrative and how the development of this poetry fed the rest of the entire story. I found myself liking Poe as a main character and the fact that he did have flaws and wasn't this perfect human worked well for making the story feel real and genuine.

Dislikes

Having said everything above, I wasn't absolutely in love with this book. I thought that the subject matter was intriguing as it has never been done before with Poe--to my knowledge. I felt like it was a little dry in parts and the first half of the book is really what drew me in and kept me reading. I liked learning about how muses developed, how taboo they were, and how protective Poe was of Lenore. Which brings me to something that confused me a little: he states he loves Lenore, but I didn't get the vibe he was in love with her. I appreciated his protective nature and how he stood up to his adoptive dad when discussing his muse. I wanted to know more about Lenore! I loved the dual POV in this story and think that it really worked to its advantage.

Recommendation

I would recommend this book to fans of historical fantasy and alternate history, as well as anyone who wants to know a little more about the mysterious poet that was Poe.

Thanks to NetGalley and ABRAMS, I received a an ARC to read and review.

I was so excited, and felt the need to start right away because Cat Winters is one of my favorite authors. Her ability to spin the supernatural into reality is incredible. While I want to read more of her books about the Spanish Flu, I was excited that this was about Poe. Poe, my favorite from childhood. I visited his home in Philly so many times, I work across the street from Grip, the raven that inspired him.

This book though was not for me. Winters took such a careful approach to crafting a world where Poe could be in with his odd muse. One that somebody would not expect Poe to be in, and she did a great job of bringing life to a young version of him. While I loved his conflict, there was something that did not quite connect for me in the overall narrative. I felt as if it dragged on in a lot of places, in ways that I'm not quite able to explain. I never felt truly immersed in this 19th C world. Either way, I'm glad I read it and look forward to more by Cat Winters.

Her unusual connections to history are always a fantastic way to engage a broad audience and bring them to another time or place to start a growing interest in a particular subject.

Book: The Raven’s Tale
Author: Cat Winters
Rating: 5 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Amulet Books, for sending me this ARC.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m really not a fan of Poe’s work. There, now that we have that out in the open, you are probably wondering why I ended up with an ARC of this book. It’s simply really: the summary sounded cool and the cover was amazing.

So, this is the back story to some of Edgar Allen Poe’s early poems. With this book being about Poe, you can expect it to have the same dark and gothic feeling that his writing has. Now, I really don’t know anything about Cat’s writing style, since this is my first book by her, but I thought the dark atmosphere just leapt off the page. It truly felt like I was reading a piece of gothic literature. I was just stunned with how well written the visuals were and just how Cat managed to pull me into this world. I also liked how this is based on history, but, yet, we have that element of the supernatural thrown in. It just makes for much a delightful read.

I can tell that Cat has done her homework on Poe’s life. I mean, even though Poe is a well-known author, we really don’t know that much about him. After reading this, do we really know that much more about Poe’s life? No and that’s okay. Cat does a great job of bringing the man to the page and, yet, keeping the unknown there. If you read anything by Poe, then you know what I am talking about. I think that the way that this story is presented would had made Poe very happy.

Not only do we have all of that going on, but we also have something happening that most young adults can related to. Poe’s family wants him to go one way, but his heart wants him to go another. This is a major part of the book and we get to see that struggle. Poe does actually want to please his family, but has always been told that he’s not good enough and needs to go the route that they want him to. That struggle is the central focus of the book. We even get to see this battle in muses. Of course, we know who wins, but this is something that may not always be at the forefront of our mind whenever we think of Poe.

So, that brings me to the muses. I loved them and I loved just how different they are. Lenore was probably my favourite character in the book. I loved the darkness she brought to the story and how she was bound and determined to win. I like how she didn’t give up, no matter what Edgar did to her. if really does make you wonder what would had happened if Poe had given into the other muse.
So, overall, this is a very well written dark tale. I found myself just flying through the book and wondering what was going to happen next. This one comes on April 16, 2019.

Review is already on Goodreads.

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!”-Goodreads

Let's take a moment to admire this beautiful cover.  It is so far one of the best covers for 2019 ( and we are only in January).

This book is considered a retelling. And I believe the retelling is of Edgar Allan Poe and how/why he dipped into poetry when he did and of course his most famous poem The Raven. 

This book although not written in verse is poetry. The words are drawn out and written in a way as if they were poems. This proved to be an issue for me because it stretched the book out way longer than it needed to be.

Creativity was no lacking in this book. Poe's muse Lenore proved to be just as creepy as some of Poe's stories. And at one point I felt bad for her but then just like Poe, she did not listen to anyone and proceeded to insert herself into a world that did not want her.

The thing about Lenore is her presence was unwelcome because of how she looked and every time she opened her mouth. She cared for nothing but the poetry, which fed her and it took way too long for her to actually care about Poe. I loved reading Lenore's point of view. She was the essence of the book because Poe was an annoying 17 year old boy who wanted the perks of an adult but didn't want to be an adult.

I wanted to like this book. Edgar Allan Poe helped define my initial love of reading but this made me look at Poe as more of a brat than a talented author that preferred the dark side.

The book would have been better if it was written in verse. The way it was written, you can tell the author put a lot of thought and care into each sentence. It was beautiful but for a chapter book, not enough was actually going on and it didn't leave a lot of anything for me to feel invested in the overall story.

However, I did complete it and it was an alright story. I strongly believe it would have been better if it was written as verse.

2 Pickles

I was intrigued by the premise of this book, having enjoyed several of Cat Winters' previous novels, especially her recent "Odd and True." She has clearly done her research and includes many snippets of Poe's work, weaving them into the story. I really wanted to like this one but it just did not hold my interest and the characters were hard to warm up to. I was also confused by everyone's acceptance of the muses and by how many people apparently had them. Maybe if there had been more of an explanation about them from the beginning it would have helped? I also found the story at times to be incredibly slow moving and kept waiting for some action to pick up. Not a terrible book, but not for me. Thank you to Netgalley and ABRAMS kids for providing this ARC for review.

I went into this wondering if Winters would actually capture the sheer weirdness of Poe’s mindset and still tie it to a YA gothic novel as a digestible story. I needn’t have worried. This is an extremely accomplished depiction of both a young Poe and a coming of age story where the MC must wrest himself away from the path his family dictates for him in order to follow his own destiny. As a deliciously creepy incentive for the Gothic minded reader Lenore comes to life here almost like Leanan Sidhe from Irish legend, feeding on Poe’s creative genius. I haven’t enjoyed a book focused on Poe so much since Kelly Criegh’s Nevermore. Excellent stuff.

I ended up DNFing it at around 15 percent. It sounds really interesting but I found myself zoning out a bit. When it comes out, I'll try it again.

The Raven's Tale is a wonderful blend of historical and fantasy fiction. Winters does a great job of bringing in Poe's youth with historical facts and the dark Gothic feel of his books. I would recommend highly to anyone who loves Poe, fantasy, or Cat Winters.

Thank you to Netgalley, Cat Winters and Abrams Kids for my arc of The Raven's Tale.
This book really intrigued me, a retelling of the life of Edgar Allen Poe, how could I resist? The Raven is my favourite ever poem!

Edgar Allen Poe is desperate for the moment he can escape to university and out from under the thumb of his overbearing foster father John Allen. Once at university he can finally make his way in the world of writing and get enough money together to marry his sweetheart Elmira.
But when his dark, gothic muse appears things start to go badly for Edgar.

I really liked this novel. I'm ashamed as a literature student to say that I knew next to nothing about Poe's life so it was really interesting to learn about it in the context of such a wonderfully dark and enthralling story.

This was a very interesting retelling. I liked it and thought Ms. Winters did a great job. I think the character of Lenora untested me the most.

I wanted to love this one so badly as I absolutely adore Poe. However, this just didn't seem developed enough for me. The world building didn't immerse me and I spent most of the novel confused on how his muse could just come to life and everyone was okay with it. I am an absolute lover of magical realism, but this didn't feel right as either magical realism or fantasy.

I didn't get enough personality from the characters, either. Poe seemed to spend all of his time hiding his muse/his poems or pining after his lover. I wasn't moved by the attempt to humanize the adopted father either. The mother was absolutely helpless and her only devotion seemed to be her adopted son. I know that all of these characters were modeled after real people, yet I felt like they were very dull and two-dimensional.

I love the recent resurgence in love for Poe and all of the new books an anthologies we are seeing about him. This one, unfortunately, was a pass for me.

The Raven's Tale is a historical fiction story about everyone's favorite Master of the Macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar (or, as everyone in the book calls him, Eddy) can't wait to escape his oppresive adoptive father and go the newly established University of Virginia. Edgar wants to become a full-time writer, even if the entire city of Richmond is against that idea. However, Edgar and his muse Lenore are going to escape and find freedom together - that is if Edgar can commit his life to his muse without being distracted by other things.

This book is a bit of an odd ducky. On one hand, I enjoyed it and read it in a single sitting. On the other hand, a day after finishing the book, I'm still not 100% sure what happened.

I will say that the book is meticulously researched. I really enjoyed the opportunity to read about Poe's early life and from what I could tell from a quick Google search, Winters got a lot of the facts/details right. Winters even went so far as to include a list of additional sources should a reader be curious about Poe's life. Additionally, Winters works in some beautiful poetry in the work; harkening back wonderfully to Poe's work.

The downside for the book for me was the whole "muse" aspect of it. Evidently, muses are things that can be seen? They change form? Unfortunately, this whole (huge, giant) aspect of the plot was never fully explained to the point where I comfortably understood what was going on. I just kind of eventually gave up understanding and went on with the book.

If you've read previous works of Winters', then you'll probably enjoy this one as well. Just be ready to be a wee bit confused over everything that's going on.

Thank you for the early copy.

I recommend this unique novel to fans of Gothic fiction. I don't read historical fiction but this was one that was mixed with fantasy/paranormal elements and it worked so well. I've been a fan of Cat Winters for a while now and this is by far her best novel!

There was an authors note in the beginning which I liked as it mentions that the author wanted to offer readers a historically accurate portrayal of Poes teenage years with woven in scenes of gothic fantasy to pay tribute to his poems and stories. I have to say that it worked really well, I was hooked from the beginning.
I'll start off by saying that i don't know much about Poe but I have read and love some of his stories and poems. I really liked that the Sections for Part 1, 2 and 3 all had a different Poe quote and that the quote reflected the overall chapters. The writing is dark and lyrical which was wonderful and I really felt that the author channeled Poe really well. The book follows Poe during the year of 1926. It alternates between his POV and his Muses POV which meant we saw certain events twice but I really liked how it worked. The writing uses both poems written by Poe and the authors own poems in the style of Poe.
I liked that the author added in fantastic gothic elements in the book, it made it feel more like the world of Poe.
I really like Poe, he is melancholic and is exactly what you'd expect but I found that I wanted him to succeed. I loved Lenore and I did feel sorry for her in parts. She was wonderful and was my favourite character. I'd say John Allan was the main antagonist and I did end up wanting Edgar to succeed more because of him.
Overall it's fair to say that I loved this book! I would read it again! It was darkly lyrical and it was such an easy read for me. If you like Poe's stories then you have to at least try this book.

The Raven’s Tale was everything the Poe nerd in me wanted. I cannot wait for this book to come out - hopefully it will inspire more people, especially young people, to study Poe.

Hopefully today's young people won’t have to threaten to complain to the department head to get their American Lit professor to include Poe in the curriculum the way I did. It worked and I have no regrets.

Thank you, and bravo, Ms. Winters, fellow Oregonian and Poe Nerd (Poevian? Poe-head? The Poe museum never responded to my tweet). This book made the lit geek in me very, very happy.