Beautiful Homage

I have loved Edgar Allan Poe since I was a little girl. My mom bought me some abridged versions of his stories, happy to feed whatever kind of reading interest I had. I watched different film versions of his stories with my dad on PBS. I even went to a Poe Mansion event at a Renaissance Festival during the off season and had a blast.; each room hosting a different story.

I am sorry to say, I’m not a fan of the movie with John Cusack, which is a shame because he’s one of my favorite actors. Anyway…

I must admit going through a scaredy cat phase. My stomach just couldn’t handle horror for a while. My nerves were too fried. Life may have been frightening enough during those years. Then I became a mom and a lot of my interests were off the table.

When I finally started getting the urge for really good horror again, I just kept being disappointed. Movies were either too disturbing, too gory, or too anxiety inducing. None of the books I found were even slightly scary. To top it all off, I have really struggled to explain what I’m looking for in horror.

In comes T. Kingfisher and The Twisted Ones. Oh, the seep into your bones and turn your own imagination against you kind of horror! Then The Hollow Places was another win for scaring me. So, of course I’m going to try another of her books. This one looked interesting.

It starts off gorgeously dark. I can see Poe’s version sitting behind this new one, expanding the scene. It feels like a return, yet there’s something new and unknown lurking in the dark corners.

Kingfisher expertly gives us Poe’s voice right off the bat. Then, slowly, her voice begins blending in until it’s almost taken over and you know you’re reading a Kingfisher tale. This was a beautiful homage to a classic story and an interesting man.

I’m thinking of rereading Poe’s original tale. Like the author, before being inspired to write this book, I haven’t read it since I was a kid. Maybe after a reread, I can finally watch the series. I had trouble with it, but my mom swears it gets good, and my mom is almost never wrong.