The Night Birds

 The premise hooked me before I started reading. A decrepit, ancient freighter stuck off the coast of Houston in the Gulf of Mexico during a tropical storm. Witches. And night birds. Scientists. And Christopher Golden?! What follows may be a little spoilery. 

The protagonist, Charlie Book? Hmmm. I liked his character but wonder about him. Is he that gullible and accepting of WHATEVER life throws at him? Or that in love that nothing matters. The love of his life ditched him without explanation, then returns, with her sister’s lover and a baby and needs a safe place to hide—again with very little explanation? He either needed to be the indifferent or skeptical scientist or not. I liked the secondary characters and would have liked a little more from all of them. Perhaps that is a good thing. The storm itself had me thinking Golden had never been through a tropical storm. Being from Florida, the storm scenes seemed far too tamed, especially if this one was also had supernatural enhancement. The night birds came and went much too easily as the storm raged on. While they, too, were not entirely of this world, I would imagine that they would have been splattering against the ship as they desperately tried to keep an eye on things. Then, there are the mangroves. Again, I don’t believe the author has ever really looked closely at one of those trees, let alone climbed through a tangled mangrove forest. They are beautiful but muddy, claustrophobic messes. Their organized chaos is actually a great metaphor for the story. 

Who else has read it? What did you think?

 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Night Birds

by Christopher Golden

Published by St. Martin's Press/McMillan Publishers

May 6, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250285911

304 pages

#TheNightBirds #NetGalley

As always. I encourage you to buy from independent bookstores. 

Well, I'll Be Damned!

This is just the beginning of Jonathan Maberry’s foray into epic dark fantasy. It started in the middle of an all-out invasion where things were happening fast. The Silver Empire was being overrun in the most unbelievable of ways. There is viciousness and brutality against pretty much anything that lives. The invasion itself was over in a flash of banefire, then the story slowed to a trickle or a few dozen mugs of wine and ale. Things can slow in epic fantasy because of world-building and character development. The story follows multiple storylines, along with more than a few flashbacks. But then? Then all the snares and webs and traps had been set, and the tale took off.

Kagen is our unlikely hero. Of course, he is the main character and should be the hero, but as the aftermath of the invasion sets in, it looks less and less likely that he has any hero left in him. He is haunted and, because of the circumstances at the beginning of this book, damned with no hope of salvation. I could have done with a little less of Kagen the Drunkard, but it reveals to what depths our hero has sunk. If that bothers you, don’t let it put you off. Stick with the story, it grows and twists and is full of rich characters, male and female alike. The Witch-King of Hakkia and his cronies make for some great villains. And there are the side stories with nuns, the undead, and the minions of Cthulhu. Those threads will keep you guessing right up to the end. This story has it all. Interesting, complicated, and mysterious characters? Epic battles and sharp cutty things? Check. Sorcery, enchantment, and creatures? Check. Thieving? Yup. Blood? Gore? Magic? Political intrigue? Check, check, check, and oh, yes! 

From the outset, we were told that Kagen the Damned is "the first installment of an exciting new series of dark epic fantasy," so don’t be disappointed when this tale ends on a maddening cliffhanger. It will leave you wanting more. I cannot wait for book two, Son of the Poison Rose! 

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.