Walking the Black Feathered Path
By Joseph D’Lacey
Angry Robot, $7.99, 493 pages
Joseph D’Lacey’s Black Feathers is the story of two characters separated by hundreds of years whose stories are intimately entwined. Gordon Black is born during the Black Dawn at the end of the world, as we know it. The world he grows up in is full of disease, death, destruction, and societal collapse while the Ward – the self-serving agency that has replaced government – chases him relentlessly. Gordon’s only clue to survival is to find The Crowman.
Megan Maurice, born hundreds of years later in a time when humans have learned to respect the earth, is plagued by dreams of a boy she’s never met. She has been chosen to relearn the story of The Crowman, but the Black Feathered Path is not an easy one. Both Gordon and Megan struggle with the idea of The Crowman. Her people clearly need him, but is he good or evil?
“What you saw today was the Crowman. Black Jack, the Scarecrow – they’re his guises too, little thing, but he showed you his black feathers. He’s come to give you a message.”
A fantastic start to a series, Black Feathers combines dystopian themes with elements of mysticism, power and redemption. Recommended for people who are interested in dystopian narratives with a dash of the surreal, this book sets the stage for what promises to be a very dark self-discovery, adventure tale.
Reviewed by Whitney Smyth
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