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j_maccas14's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
First in the Matthew Corbett historical suspense series revolving around Matthew, a judge's clerk. This story takes place in Fount Royal, Carolina in 1699.
My Take
Wow, talk about a trip to the past. And an amazing example of psychological terror affecting the ignorant.
McCammon does an excellent job of conveying the atmosphere of the time from the food to the traveling conditions. The bathing and clothing options. And most especially the ignorance. It certainly made me happy to have the fridge, microwave, and bathroom handy! Not to mention our current standard of healthcare!! EEEEEKKK!
It was an appalling trial with even worse detection. Definitely an excellent example of how much policework and law has improved since 1699. What they considered acceptable evidence in those days...oh, lord. It was just maddening how the powers-that-be treated her. All they wanted was an official stamp making what they wanted to do acceptable. Nor can I understand Woodward's accepting this! Then there are the crimes that they think are acceptable! Beating one's wife so badly that bone shows and an arm breaks. The abuse of one's children! Ahh, such fine Christian people. Gag.
I really don't understand why Woodward refuses to listen to his clerk when he claims to have such esteem for him. It's Matthew's ache for the truth that has him following strangers in the night, diving into the depths, breaking into people's privacy, and finally, breaking the law.
These people are such hypocrites. First they claim that all Rachel has to do is say the Lord's Prayer or swear upon the Bible and as soon as she touches the Bible and proclaims her innocence, they turn it around to claim that her Master has done something to enable it.
We do finally learn why the waistcoat means so much to Woodward. I just wanted to cry.
Well, I expect that Eben Ausley will be one of the interests in Queen of Bedlam.
The Story
Magistrate Kingsbury disappeared on his trek to Fount Royal, hence Woodward's journey into the primitive conditions prevailing between Charles Town and the new town of Fount Royal.
Its leader is anxious to retain the stamp of legality to ensure that his town will rise above this taint of witchcraft. But Bidwell's desire for a good reputation wars greedily with his desperate need to rid the town of the disasters that have befallen it. Disasters he attributes to the witch, Rachel Howarth.
I'd like to think that if Woodward hadn't fallen so desperately ill that he'd have listened to his clerk and not been so easily swayed to Bidwell's version.
Almost every single person in town is demanding that Woodward hang the woman. That there's no need to actually speak to her. She's obviously guilty.
And they wonder why Rachel refuses to speak to them…
The Characters
Matthew Corbett is Woodward's clerk. Rescued by him some five years ago from the asylum he'd landed in when his parents died. Matthew has always been curious. Curious enough to want to learn all he can and enough to not cease questioning those around him. Magistrate Isaac Woodward is a judge sent to Fount Royal to learn what happened to Kingsbury and to preside over the witch's trial. He looks upon Matthew as a son.
Rachel Howarth is the accused witch. She's beautiful and dark-skinned due to her Portuguese-English ancestry, which is enough to set many against her. To embrace the charges of which she's accused. It doesn't help that her husband Daniel was brutally murdered.
Robert Bidwell is a very wealthy, arrogant, obnoxious, bullying shipbuilder who worked his way up from nothing. Now, he has a dream about building a major port city in Fount Royal, Carolina. A dream that is crashing about his ears. Emma Nettles is his scared, yet angry, housekeeper. Edward Winston is Bidwell's accountant and the primary reason his business is doing so well. John Goode is a slave, a very observant one. His wife May prefers to keep to herself. Or run.
Bidwell's particular cronies include:
Nicholas Paine, with his hidden past, is the leader of Fount Royal's militia. Alan Johnstone is the Oxford-educated schoolteacher. Dr. Benjamin Shields tends the sick as well as the rum bottle.
Hannibal Green is the gaoler. He's an interesting mix of some compassion and greater brutality. Lucretia Vaughan is a piece of work! I'm surprised they didn't make her out to be the witch. I for one would have cheered! Ooh, that didn't come out very nicely...I'm being as nasty as the others... She earns money for the family by baking goods while her husband Steven is a carpenter. Seth Hazelton is the very perverse blacksmith. Gwinett Linch is the town's very whiffy ratcatcher.
The witnesses against Rachel include
Elias Garrick, a slow-witted farmer; Jeremiah Buckner is an old geezer; and, Violet Adams, the young daughter of one of the townspeople.
Running the only inn between Charles Town and Fount Royal, Shawcombe is a petty tyrant with a very shortsighted view of the future. Girl, Uncle Abner, and Maude are the family that he uses to run the place.
Exodus Jerusalem is an itinerant preacher who can save any woman as long as she's willing to lie with him. Any one who disagrees with him, is obviously corrupted by Satan. Phillip Brightman is the founder and principal actor of the Red Bull Players. David Smythe is another of the actors and tells Matthew about a Mr. Jonathan Lancaster and his peculiar talents.
The Indians
Nawpawpay leads this tribe of Indians. Their place of worship will provide the final clue.
The Cover
The cover is vague with its blur of white face and animal-like yellow-orange-black eyes. A ribbon of fire cuts diagonally from left to right through the lower-middle and the whole is grounded in black.
Woodward believes that Matthew is affected by the nightbird. The parable about the merchant who becomes so enthralled by how Speaks the Nightbird that he neglects his business, his health, his life.
My Take
Wow, talk about a trip to the past. And an amazing example of psychological terror affecting the ignorant.
McCammon does an excellent job of conveying the atmosphere of the time from the food to the traveling conditions. The bathing and clothing options. And most especially the ignorance. It certainly made me happy to have the fridge, microwave, and bathroom handy! Not to mention our current standard of healthcare!! EEEEEKKK!
It was an appalling trial with even worse detection. Definitely an excellent example of how much policework and law has improved since 1699. What they considered acceptable evidence in those days...oh, lord. It was just maddening how the powers-that-be treated her. All they wanted was an official stamp making what they wanted to do acceptable. Nor can I understand Woodward's accepting this! Then there are the crimes that they think are acceptable! Beating one's wife so badly that bone shows and an arm breaks. The abuse of one's children! Ahh, such fine Christian people. Gag.
I really don't understand why Woodward refuses to listen to his clerk when he claims to have such esteem for him. It's Matthew's ache for the truth that has him following strangers in the night, diving into the depths, breaking into people's privacy, and finally, breaking the law.
These people are such hypocrites. First they claim that all Rachel has to do is say the Lord's Prayer or swear upon the Bible and as soon as she touches the Bible and proclaims her innocence, they turn it around to claim that her Master has done something to enable it.
We do finally learn why the waistcoat means so much to Woodward. I just wanted to cry.
Well, I expect that Eben Ausley will be one of the interests in Queen of Bedlam.
The Story
Magistrate Kingsbury disappeared on his trek to Fount Royal, hence Woodward's journey into the primitive conditions prevailing between Charles Town and the new town of Fount Royal.
Its leader is anxious to retain the stamp of legality to ensure that his town will rise above this taint of witchcraft. But Bidwell's desire for a good reputation wars greedily with his desperate need to rid the town of the disasters that have befallen it. Disasters he attributes to the witch, Rachel Howarth.
I'd like to think that if Woodward hadn't fallen so desperately ill that he'd have listened to his clerk and not been so easily swayed to Bidwell's version.
Almost every single person in town is demanding that Woodward hang the woman. That there's no need to actually speak to her. She's obviously guilty.
And they wonder why Rachel refuses to speak to them…
The Characters
Matthew Corbett is Woodward's clerk. Rescued by him some five years ago from the asylum he'd landed in when his parents died. Matthew has always been curious. Curious enough to want to learn all he can and enough to not cease questioning those around him. Magistrate Isaac Woodward is a judge sent to Fount Royal to learn what happened to Kingsbury and to preside over the witch's trial. He looks upon Matthew as a son.
Rachel Howarth is the accused witch. She's beautiful and dark-skinned due to her Portuguese-English ancestry, which is enough to set many against her. To embrace the charges of which she's accused. It doesn't help that her husband Daniel was brutally murdered.
Robert Bidwell is a very wealthy, arrogant, obnoxious, bullying shipbuilder who worked his way up from nothing. Now, he has a dream about building a major port city in Fount Royal, Carolina. A dream that is crashing about his ears. Emma Nettles is his scared, yet angry, housekeeper. Edward Winston is Bidwell's accountant and the primary reason his business is doing so well. John Goode is a slave, a very observant one. His wife May prefers to keep to herself. Or run.
Bidwell's particular cronies include:
Nicholas Paine, with his hidden past, is the leader of Fount Royal's militia. Alan Johnstone is the Oxford-educated schoolteacher. Dr. Benjamin Shields tends the sick as well as the rum bottle.
Hannibal Green is the gaoler. He's an interesting mix of some compassion and greater brutality. Lucretia Vaughan is a piece of work! I'm surprised they didn't make her out to be the witch. I for one would have cheered! Ooh, that didn't come out very nicely...I'm being as nasty as the others... She earns money for the family by baking goods while her husband Steven is a carpenter. Seth Hazelton is the very perverse blacksmith. Gwinett Linch is the town's very whiffy ratcatcher.
The witnesses against Rachel include
Elias Garrick, a slow-witted farmer; Jeremiah Buckner is an old geezer; and, Violet Adams, the young daughter of one of the townspeople.
Running the only inn between Charles Town and Fount Royal, Shawcombe is a petty tyrant with a very shortsighted view of the future. Girl, Uncle Abner, and Maude are the family that he uses to run the place.
Exodus Jerusalem is an itinerant preacher who can save any woman as long as she's willing to lie with him. Any one who disagrees with him, is obviously corrupted by Satan. Phillip Brightman is the founder and principal actor of the Red Bull Players. David Smythe is another of the actors and tells Matthew about a Mr. Jonathan Lancaster and his peculiar talents.
The Indians
Nawpawpay leads this tribe of Indians. Their place of worship will provide the final clue.
The Cover
The cover is vague with its blur of white face and animal-like yellow-orange-black eyes. A ribbon of fire cuts diagonally from left to right through the lower-middle and the whole is grounded in black.
Woodward believes that Matthew is affected by the nightbird. The parable about the merchant who becomes so enthralled by how Speaks the Nightbird that he neglects his business, his health, his life.
wyzaker's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
escragg92's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
joshhall13's review against another edition
5.0
Impressed.
Setting, colloquialisms, characters, mystery, near poetic prose... This book was the whole package.
Setting, colloquialisms, characters, mystery, near poetic prose... This book was the whole package.
sparks_fitz's review
I didn't read the last few pages cause I got really bored and the plot wrapped up but this was a huge disappointment, it wasn't even that bad, it just started REALLY good and then got really boring as it started to explain all the interesting things that happened with kind of meh explanations. The horror is really stripped from it and (Spoilers) I wish it had gone a supernatural route instead of ignoring all that. Okay, but still it could have been a favorite if it had kept the atmosphere is started with. Reminds me a bit of Wildwood in that regard.
wynwicket's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Completely absorbing, dark, violent, and, my goodness, emotional. I didn't expect a mystery set in 1699 to do this to me, but here we are. The book was unputdownable.
billymac1962's review
4.0
I had been looking forward to reading this for some time. Speaks the Nightbird heralded Robert McCammon's return to writing after a 10-year absence, and there was much rejoycing amongst readers.
I must say I was very entertained, for pretty much the full 2-volumes of this story. With the exception of some modern figures of speech, I felt quite immersed in the 1699 Carolinas. It's interesting and disturbing to be reminded of the attitudes towards witchcraft. A highly educated man such as our magistrate, exercises a cautious and thorough approach to the trial of a witch, but underlying this is his belief that witchcraft does indeed exist.
What a terrifying and hopeless time this must have been for women convicted and burned at the stake, guilty of nothing more than being dark skinned, beautiful, and different.
Matthew Corbett, a young magistrate's clerk seems to be the lone man who disbelieves witchcraft, and therefore is convinced of Rachel's innocence. Good luck with that.
The story maintains suspense throughout most of the novel. There are very interesting developments, well-drawn characters, and for a 800+ page novel, it moved along very quickly. However, I did have one problem with it.
Spoiler below, in case the spoiler tags fail....
If I had one annoyance, it would be Matthew's performance towards the end. I didn't quite buy into the still-wet-behind-the-ears clerk we were introduced with at the beginning of the story, pulling off a Hercule Poirot, where he commands the room, calling out the murderer and unraveling all the mysteries to his totally believing audience.
If McCammon hadn't glossed over the Matthew's return (he would surely have been lynched at first sight), where he convinced Biddel of the truth, this would have been more credible. It just smacked of taking the easy way out, and after getting through so many pages, I felt gypped.
Oh well, it's no big deal breaker. I enjoyed a very large portion of the book, but I have the feeling Matthew Colbert will annoy me further on down the road, so I doubt I'll continue with Queen of Bedlam.
I must say I was very entertained, for pretty much the full 2-volumes of this story. With the exception of some modern figures of speech, I felt quite immersed in the 1699 Carolinas. It's interesting and disturbing to be reminded of the attitudes towards witchcraft. A highly educated man such as our magistrate, exercises a cautious and thorough approach to the trial of a witch, but underlying this is his belief that witchcraft does indeed exist.
What a terrifying and hopeless time this must have been for women convicted and burned at the stake, guilty of nothing more than being dark skinned, beautiful, and different.
Matthew Corbett, a young magistrate's clerk seems to be the lone man who disbelieves witchcraft, and therefore is convinced of Rachel's innocence. Good luck with that.
The story maintains suspense throughout most of the novel. There are very interesting developments, well-drawn characters, and for a 800+ page novel, it moved along very quickly. However, I did have one problem with it.
Spoiler below, in case the spoiler tags fail....
Spoiler
If I had one annoyance, it would be Matthew's performance towards the end. I didn't quite buy into the still-wet-behind-the-ears clerk we were introduced with at the beginning of the story, pulling off a Hercule Poirot, where he commands the room, calling out the murderer and unraveling all the mysteries to his totally believing audience.
If McCammon hadn't glossed over the Matthew's return (he would surely have been lynched at first sight), where he convinced Biddel of the truth, this would have been more credible. It just smacked of taking the easy way out, and after getting through so many pages, I felt gypped.
Oh well, it's no big deal breaker. I enjoyed a very large portion of the book, but I have the feeling Matthew Colbert will annoy me further on down the road, so I doubt I'll continue with Queen of Bedlam.
gatun's review against another edition
5.0
Two of Robert McCammon's books are among my favorites. One is post-apocalypse. One is fantasy. I am adding Speaks the Nightbird to that list. It is historical fiction. It is set along the coast of the colony of South Carolina in 1799. The border between the English colony and the Spanish held Florida is a fuzz line through swamps and Native American controlled territories. Matthew Corbett enters as a young clerk to a magistrate, set to a town a the side of a swamp to try a witch. What follows is a fantastic story, part horror (man against man), part detective, part history, and part "I don't know what to call it but I loved it". Edoardo Ballerini is a terrific narrator. He helps bring the story to life through his wonderful accents and distinct voices.