In the Shadow of Blackbirds

by Cat Winters

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. At her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?Featuring haunting archival early-20th-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

• ISBN13: 9781419710230
• Publish Date: 7 October 2014 (first published 2 April 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Abrams
• Imprint: Amulet Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

House of Ash is the story of two teens: Mila, a Victorian girl stuck in her stepfather’s creepy, sentient mansion and Curtis, a modern-day teen trying to hold his family together through his bipolar father’s outbursts. Ostensibly, the book is about how these two characters bond over feelings of being trapped and then seek for ways to help each other, but I found the connection forced, and without a clear connection their stories seem too divergent to quite belong in the same book. Basically, Mila’s story is trying to a Gothic tale about an evil house and Curtis’s is an issues story about family and mental illness, and the author doesn’t succeed in making them come together.

I admit I didn’t much care for their stories separately either. I like actual Gothic literature, and though some of it can also tend towards the silly and overdramatic rather than actually scary (I’m looking at you, Ann Radcliffe), Mila’s story is not a compelling modern take. There’s a lot of telling rather than showing, particularly in the beginning when Mila and her family first enter the mansion; the author basically insists that the place is wrong, creepy, mocking, etc. without taking the time to fully convince me that this is so.

Curtis’s storyline interested me a bit more, though a lot of it features him having angry outbursts and driving dramatically throughout town in his car or on his motorbike, cursing the world. The sentiment is certainly understandable based on his life circumstances; I just personally wasn’t completely invested in reading about it.

My favorite part was the end of the book, but that was because I was suddenly semi on the side of the “bad guys.” Though their ends might not have justified their means, I think they had a good point about needing to stop the continued influence of the cursed mansion on their town, and the author missed a prime opportunity here to add some nuance to the story of good vs. evil because she was more fixated on building a flimsy, unconvincing romance between Mila and Curtis.

I was hoping to get a good Gothic tale out of House of Ash and enjoy some strong YA fantasy, but the book fell completely flat for me. I don’t give a lot of very low ratings, but I was tempted to DNF this book the whole time I was reading, so it’s going to have to get one star from me.

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

~*Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!*~

Feels:

“America is the land of liberty, Danny dearest,” Corinne said. “She won’t stand for Prohibition, mark my words.”

This book feels like a gangster movie with a few twists. Also not everyone dies, like in most gangster movies I’ve seen. I felt like I was sucker-punched in the gut a few times. Also I love how the author has chosen a relatively unexplored (in YA, at least) period of time (the weeks right before Prohibition took effect in 1919) for her setting. It was an awesome experience!

Characters:

"No one likes a know-it-all, Ada."
"Yes, I've been trying to tell you that for years."

Ada and Corinne are amazing. Their chemistry just leaps off the page and it's beautiful. It made me miss my best friend so much. The back-and-forth banter had me laughing out loud, but their fierce loyalty to each other was what really made this story. The romantic interests - sure, they're there, but they are a background to the girls' friendship.

Plot:

Destiny Soria has taken the year 1919 and turned it on its head with one change of facts: there is a small percentage of the population that are born as hemopaths, who have the ability to manipulate other people and sometimes time itself through some form of art. When I first started reading I thought that the hemopath ability was inspired by sickle cell anemia due to the influence put on the hemopaths' aversion to iron (an iron deficiency being one of the side effects or symptoms of sickle cell anemia), but after I finished I wasn't sure. It's an interesting thought, though. If it WAS so inspired, the author definitely gave it a new look by making it a strength and also making it just as widespread in people of every race.

At this time in history, hemopaths are feared and even hunted in Boston. Once considered artists, they are now looked at as freaks that are sub-human. Ada and Corinne find the noose of the law closing on them as they struggle to survive in their underground nightclub home, seemingly able to trust almost no one. Hemopaths start disappearing - people they know. Unsure where to turn, they spend a lot of time wandering from place to place. At times this was kind of a drag...it created atmosphere but left me wondering what was the point of a particular scene or chapter. However, the characters and a lot of the places they visited were interesting enough to keep me reading. I really wanted to find out WHO was behind all the horrible things that kept happening!

Worldbuilding/Description:

Reading this was like walking down a dark, foggy street. Or sitting in the darkened, smoky club surrounded by toughs and exquisitely dressed women. OR being kidnapped and dragged to a sterotypical "insane" asylum! There is a definite 1920s vibe to it that I loved. It's so different and feels so glamorous compared to most places and even books (maybe I haven't read the right ones?) today.

Final Rating:

4/5 stars. As I mentioned, the plot did drag a bit sometimes. Also I wish that Charlie and even Gabriel had been a little more fleshed out, but maybe that would have taken away from the strong thread of female friendship that holds the story together. I also really enjoyed the diversity aspect, as Ada's family was not white but neither were her parents from the same country, and there is a LGBT couple as well. I loved that Destiny Soria didn't gloss over how any of these characters would have been treated at this point in history but manages to (to me, at least) portray them without the slightest hint of bias. I'm not marginalized myself, so I can't authoritatively speak to how accurate the characters are, but they felt very real and relate-able.

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[Jo]

Review posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

After mostly enjoying As I Descended by Robin Talley, I was in the mood for another Shakespeare retelling, and so picked up The Steep & Thorny Way by Cat Winters. A gender-bent retelling of Hamlet set in 1920s prohibition-era Oregon, where Hanalee's African American father was murdered for his skin colour, I knew this was going to be an interesting though scary story - I just didn't expect it to be as brilliant as it was.

When Joe, the drink-driving teenager who knocked down Hanalee's father, Hank, and killed him, is released from prison early on good behaviour, Hanalee is intent on revenge. What she doesn't expect is for Joe to forcefully plead his innocence, and lay the blame at someone else's feet; Dr Koning, her new stepfather. According to Joe, apart from a broken leg and a sore arm, her father was fine after he hit him, talking and even joking. Joe helped him to his house and got the doctor. Hank was fine when the doctor closed the door, but when he opened it again, he was dead - as if he'd been poisoned. Joe was sent down for it, and wasn't allowed to say anything in his defence. He believes Dr Koning is part of the Ku Klux Klan, and murdered Hank because of his skin colour. Hanalee no longer knows what to think, but she's never felt ok about her stepfather being in her father's home, in his bed with his wife, so soon after his death, and something is not quite right. She knows the only way to get answers is to ask the one person who knows - her father, whose ghost has been seen haunting the cross roads where he was hit.

This story is incredible! There are so many elements interwoven to make the whole; bootleggers and their moonshine, the KKK and racial intolerance, and then also the Hamlet retelling. The 1920s is a hard time to live in; The Great War took many wives husbands, and farms are no longer bringing in the money they had been during the war. Families are struggling, and they are having to resort to illegal means to make money; moonshine and bootlegging. Though anti-Catholic, the KKK seem an almost harmless force who are just raising money to to fill the potholes in the highway. And yet it's a time when interracial marriage is not acknowledged under Oregon law, where racial intolerance simmers under the surface, and Hanalee is treated differently for being the daughter of a white woman and an African American man. She's always been treated differently because of the colour of her skin, disliked and judged, and knows there are rights she is not given because of this, but she's not felt like she was in danger. But after she starts digging into the truth behind her father's death, things change rapidly when she realises she could be living in the same house as her father's murderer, a possible member of the KKK, who killed him because of his skin colour - a skin colour she shares.

Then you have the Hamlet elements. It's been quite a while since I studied Hamlet, but I remembered the basics, and that's pretty much all you need to know for this story, because it twists and turns, and you're never really sure what the outcome is going to be. You're constantly left guessing, sitting on the edge of your seat as Hanalee tries to work out exactly what happened to her father - a dangerous task anyway, when you're trying to find a possible murderer, but made even more dangerous as her digging draws attention to herself in a town of bigots. You're never really sure where the story is going to go, even if you know the story of Hamlet; as new evidence and new clues come to light, you come up with theory after theory, never quite sure which will be the one that's right.

Hanalee was a fantastic character; despite how she's treated by some, she's strong and determined to find the truth. She's wary of Joe, but something about what she's been told just doesn't ring true, and so she cautiously trusts him as they work together to uncover the truth. She puts herself in potential danger more times than I can count, but she keeps going, needing to know what truly happened to her dad, wanting to help his ghost rest. Joe is also a pretty great character, and a bit of a surprise. Joe is gay, and has been hiding out in a shed on Hanalee's friend's property because his Reverend father won't have him back, as he's a sexual deviant. When the truth of his sexuality comes out, people warn Hanalee to stay away from him if they ever see him, though never really explaining to her why. Through Joe, we see it's not just racial prejudice that's rife in Oregon, but also homophobia. Joe tells Hanalee of the things he learnt in prison, about Eugenics; how some prisoners people like him, people like Hanalee, were being castrated and sterilised, to keep them from "breeding" more people like them. Seriously, the beliefs and opinions of these people are absolutely disgusting and so terrifying.

But the terror continues as the story reaches it's climax. I read in horror, shocked and appalled as the truth was discovered, and what discovering the truth meant. This is not an easy book, and it's not one that will shy away from the actions of the past. This book will make you angry, sick to your stomach, and, given our current political climate, scared. And if you're a white, straight, cis person with any human decency, it will make you feel ashamed.

The Steep & Thorny Way is a wonderful book! It's captivating and gripping, it's eye-opening and shocking, and a fantastic retelling. A truly amazing story.

Thank you to Amulet Books for the proof.

[bookishzelda]

Iron Cast was an amazing tale with twist and turns, I think Destiny Soria is a wordsmith herself. I couldn't put the book down, there was always something happening. I also loved that the book focused on two main characters, Ada and Corinne, who have an amazing friendship. Plus add the hemopath blood, the era, prejudices and gun fights it’s quite a tale.


What I loved the most about this book was Ada and Corrine. They are like Thelma and Louise, thick as thieves. Nothing can come between them and they would never leave the other behind. It’s amazing how they look out for each other and even though they are part of the Iron Cast family the two of them are true family. They don’t need to share blood to be sisters. I also like when Ada tells the story of why she decided to become friends with Corrine. I think it gives a little insight to Corrine.


There is a splash of romance but it is not a main part of the story and I wouldn’t have disappointed if it was gone. I love romance don’t get me wrong, I just felt the story of Corinne in Ada is just so strong in that respect. Ada has someone from the beginning of the book and Corrine meets someone along the way. It was a nice balance.


There are so many great side characters. Saint, Gabriel, Maddy and James make up the core group. Where you also have Johnny, Jackson, Eva, Carson, Silas and many more. I loved all of these characters because you know a lot about them without it getting to out of hand where you get confused.


I can’t say much about the plot without it being spoilery and a lot happens. There is mystery, backwards and forwards betrayal and some scary Asylum stuff. I love the historical aspect that is mixed in. The prejudices against hemopaths is twisted in with prohibition and race. Even though we don’t go many places, the descriptions for the clubs/asylum is amazing.


Such a great story, I would highly recommend reading it. Everything felt so well planned out and fit together. I didn’t always guess what was happening next, I don’t think I even tried because I was just so absorbed. Definitely one of my favorites this year. I do wish that Corrine was also on the cover because I feel like their friendship is such an important part but that’s okay.

[layawaydragon]

The Good:
+Loved the characters
+Loved the friendships
+Loved the magic & worldbuilding .
+Loved the writing
+Diverse cast and intersectional issues
+Did not see any of the twists coming

The Bad & The Other:
=Slower, start and stop pacing until the last 70% or so
=Kept mixing up Iron Cast and Cast Iron
=Open ending. Hope there’s a sequel…

This wasn’t quite the fun heist novel like several of the comparisons being made. It’s darker and more complex with different intersectional issues going on. There’s a lot of layers, players, and trust issues. When it seems to wind down, it ramps right back up.

It starts with Corinne posing as someone else while rescuing Ada, which threw me for a loop. Afterwards is when the introductions and worldbuilding starts and that inevitably slows the pace down. Since I found the set up fascinating and love getting lost in fantasy worlds, this worked for me.

Corinne, and Ada are inseparable best sister-friends. From different worlds and perspectives, they have natural volley conversations. But far from instant clicking and effortlessness, they work at being friends and overcome a lot to become friends in the first place. It’s really sweet, sarcastic, and wonderful to see. The foreword from Soria makes it clear how important this was to get right, and she smashed it out of the park for me.

The Cast Iron is the name of the club and oh my gods, I kept reading either the title wrong as Cast Iron or the club name as Iron Cast. There must be some significance and reason for this, but I’ll be honest, I’m at a loss. Not a big deal, but it did take me out of the story occasionally when I realized what I was doing. And Cast Iron makes me think of the pans…

Anywho, The Cast Iron crew is the definition of a motley crew and I loved it. They all have their own talents, pasts, and personalities. There are several couples running around but the romance doesn’t dominate. It’s intertwined and they keep their focus and priorities.

Also, these kids aren’t all on their own. Most have issues and disconnects with their families, but they’re still present and play a part. I’d say more but spoilers.

Once the plot gets past the blurb, I honestly had no idea what was going to happen or who would pop up. There are artists, cons, gangsters, politicians, and the elite running around, which is enough for any normal book but add in the hemopath powers and it’s explosive.

If you’re willing to commit or savor a well-written novel that reads like the set-up for a series (*crosses fingers*), I highly recommend Iron Cast.

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Iron Cast sounded absolutely amazing! Best friends in 1919 with magic and gangsters! Sadly, there was a disconnect for me and I just couldn’t care about what was happening. Corrine and Ada both work at the Cast Iron, a club where hemopaths work their magic. The girls also run cons to bring in extra money, since they can make you see (or not see) anything that they want. But then they’re caught, Ada is taken to an asylum, their boss is presumed dead, and the cops are closing in on them. Corrine and Ada won’t go down without a fight though.

Iron Cast and I got off to a rough start. For some reason I just could not keep Corrine and Ada straight. We’re thrust into this escape plan with two girls and their illusions, and I kept having to go back and reread to make sure I knew who was being talked about. Even once we got to know the girls better, and their differences were cemented in my mind, I found myself mixing them up. Both girls read the same to me, even though they are quite different. There’s no distinct voice between them, probably because this is told in 3rd person POV.

I also just didn’t care about the plot, because I didn’t care about Johnny. He runs the club where the girls live and work, and then he disappears and turns up in the morgue. Corrine and Ada refuse to leave the Cast Iron now that he’s gone, and instead try to figure out what happened to him. I was never given a reason to care about that. We don’t know Johnny, and we barely know anything about his relationship to the girls other than he’s their boss. I did like the reason behind his disappearance and everything going on revolving that. It’s a very fitting use of the time period.

What I did love about Iron Cast was the whole idea of hemopaths. They’re basically people with a kind of magic. Their blood also repels iron, which makes living in cities difficult, but it also makes it easy to pick them out of a crowd. Of course with anything that is different and misunderstood, performing hemopathy is illegal and hemopaths are constantly carted off to a special asylum. This was all fascinating to me! Sadly, it was lost in a plot that I didn’t enjoy.

In the end, Iron Cast was okay. The world-building is pretty amazing, and there’s a lot of other great ideas. But I never connected with the characters or the plot, so I found myself reading just to get through it.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I really enjoyed this one. And I can actually get the only problem I had with it out of the way right up front: It started off slowly. The first 50 pages or so, I struggled with getting to know the characters and developing any connection to them. But, as the book wore on, I definitely got into it! Let's discuss why, shall we?

• The friendship was awesome! A duo of headstrong females in the early twentieth century? Yes PLEASE! Ada and Corinne were such fabulous friends. They had squabbles, no doubt. But that made it so realistic. They were truly and fully there for each other, and their loyalty and love was so heartwarming! Especially since their lives were tough, it was incredibly sweet that they had each other's backs.


• The historical setting was on point. Granted, it was an alternate history, since as far as I can tell we didn't have hemopaths roaming the streets of Boston, well, ever. But since prohibition was definitely a topic of the times, it fit perfectly in the night club setting, in an era where women and minorities had very few rights,  it worked completely. It also made for the perfect atmosphere, which the author totally delivers!


• The diversity (and the commentary) is fabulous! The characters are all quite diverse, which is a win in itself. But the author also uses hemopathy brilliantly. It is a huge part of who they are, but they are treated horribly because of something they have no control over. They're persecuted for just their general existence- even if they didn't work in the bar, just the state of being a hemopath was enough to have them locked in an asylum. The mistreatment of hemopaths serves as an incredible allegory for the mistreatment of all minority groups, which is certainly a powerful and important topic.


• I enjoyed that their families played roles in their lives even though they lived away from home. Their familial relationships were often strained, but they also seemed to be incredibly realistic, as well as an important factor in both girls' lives. The role of their other friends was also great. I enjoyed reading about all the side relationships.


• The hemopathy thing was really intriguing! I was so pleasantly surprised at how fascinated I was with it. The ability to change people's emotions (through art, no less!), and all the ramifications that come with it? Definitely needed to know all about that! Obviously, I will let you read about it all yourselves, but just the whole concept was quite unique and thought provoking!

Bottom Line: Definitely glad to have read this one! The historical atmosphere was phenomenal, the diversity was great, and the friendships were so heartwarming! A must-read if you like any of the genres this book falls under!

[katie]

Full Review at https://wp.me/p7NkWD-jo (goes live 13 September at 12pm est)
5 STARS
I absolutely loved this book! You should definitely read it as soon as you can.
3

[pagingserenity]

I received this book for free from NetGalley, courtesy of ABRAMS Kids, in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. For more reviews like this and other content, visit Paging Serenity.

Iron Cast tells the story of two girls, Corinne and Ada, in Boston 1919, when the city is cracking down hemopaths, those with special abilities. The story Destiny Soria is just as special as the abilities that Corinne and Ada possess. Iron Cast is by far, one of the best books I’ve read all year.

I really loved reading Iron Cast. It did take a few chapters to draw me in completely, but once it did, I could not set it down. The writing, plot, and characters were all intricately woven together to create one satisfying story. In a historical fiction world, with a dash of fantasy, I really appreciated the fact that there were very, very few information dumps. Instead, there are clues scattered here and there that allowed me to get the whole idea. This kept the story from dragging on, especially since the beginning was a bit slow already.

The first half of the story really focused more on the world and the characters and their relationships with one another. Then the plot picks up and the story moves forwards at full speed. The story managed to feel more unique and original than many others in the same genre. I especially loved the blend of fantasy, mystery, history, and action that the plot contains. This is a book that I think could be turned into a very good movie.

As much as I love the plot and the writing, they are not my favorite aspects of Iron Cast . Nope, I love the characters and their relationships way more. I loved the deep sisterly friendship Corinne and Ada share. It was one of the most well-developed relationships that I’ve read in a novel for a long time. I also really enjoyed the fact that every character, not just Corinne and Ada, had their own distinctive personalities, history, and motives, which helped not only to drive the story but help the plot make sense.

In conclusion, Iron Cast is a really special book with well developed characters, relationships, and plot, all created by intricate writing. A unique blend of fantasy, history, mystery, and action makes it a book I would read again without hesitation, even if it does start off a bit slow at first.

[Stephanie]

I was very excited for this book. It has everything in it that I love. It's a historical, set during World War 1 with the Spanish influenza running rampant, and ghosts with a mystery of how Mary Shelley's best friend died! Sounds awesome, right?

Well, it was good, but it didn't wow me like I wanted it to. I don't know if it was the mindset I was in at the time (I remember reading this while I wasn't feeling very well, and reading about flu symptoms while I didn't feel good wasn't pleasant) or if I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I wanted to no matter what.

My problem was that I was a little bored with it all. I didn't connect with the book at all. I eventually got to the point where I was only reading it because I wanted to finish so I could move on to some other book I would like more.

I also continued reading because I was bewildered by the fact that I wasn't enjoying it. There was a good mystery, with some creepy vibes, and the threat of the Spanish influenza always being around the corner. But I always seemed to feel distant from it, never really connecting with the characters enough to really care for them.

I am happy that I continued till the end though, because the ending was crazy, and it was something I feel like you don't see to often in young adult. The ending made me like the book a little more than I would have.

Overall, I really wish I liked this book more than I did. It's definitely a good book, I just couldn't get into it when I wanted to.