Happy Halloween! If you know me, you know that Halloween is my favourite time of the year. So, I’ve had a busy month doing all my Halloween shenanigans. But somehow, I still found time to read (although very little time). I’m now at 37 books for the year, so I’m running a little behind on my goal of 48 books. Luckily, I should have some more time to read in the next couple months. For my spooky read of the month, I chose Black River Orchard by Chuck Wending. And to accompany this review, I made a Black River cocktail.
Black River Recipe
1oz White Rum
1oz Havana Club
0.5oz Campari
1.5oz Apple Juice*
1 peel Apple
*This is an optional ingredient.
In a cocktail shaker with ice, add all ingredients and shake. Strain into a Nick & Nora glass, garnish, and enjoy!
A couple notes on this cocktail. First, I slightly changed the ratios of the ingredients from the original cocktail. Second, I used Campari instead of Amaro Montenegro. This is mainly because of the BC liquor stores being closed due to strikes, so I wasn’t able to find Amaro anywhere else in an affordable price range. So, I swapped it for the similarly bitter liqueur Campari.
This drink was not really for me, unfortunately. I knew I wouldn’t really like it because I don’t like Campari, which is why I lessened the amount of that addition. But I was hopeful that my addition of apple juice (I think for obvious reasons) would help me along. And while it absolutely did, it wasn’t enough for me to want to drink this cocktail again. However, if you prefer a rum-heavy, bitter cocktail this one might be interesting for you!
Black River Orchard Synopsis
“It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something besides the season is changing there.
Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black.
Take a bite of one of these apples, and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing—and become darker.
This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples . . . and what’s the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful?
Even if something else is buried in the orchard besides the seeds of these extraordinary trees: a bloody history whose roots reach back to the very origins of the town.
But now the leaves are falling. The days grow darker. It’s harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.”
Review
“Maybe the lies you told yourself became true enough, eventually. Like a magic spell. An incantation of deception; an illusion made real.”
Black River Orchard was a perfectly spooky autumn read! It matched the season nicely and was fun in a creepy sort of way. But unfortunately, it fell short for me in a few ways. I loved the premise of the novel as soon as I heard about it, but the execution didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.
Let’s start with the positives. I loved the premise, formatting, and writing style of the novel. The multiple prologues immediately drew me into the story. And throughout the novel I loved the interludes between sections. These additions all provided interesting POVs that enhanced the setting, atmosphere, and creepy vibes of the novel. In the same sense, I enjoyed the italicized text that pops up throughout the chapters. I’m not sure exactly what it represented (the apple? the demon? the darkness inside?), but regardless I thought it was interesting and helped the spooky atmosphere of the story.
Beyond that, I don’t have a lot of overwhelming positives to mention. The characters were fine and generally well developed, but I don’t think any of them really stood out or will stick with me. There was a solid amount of diversity, but it almost felt like he was just ticking off a diversity checklist. However, it’s not really my place to say how accurately or genuinely Wendig portrayed the diverse characters. Regardless, it was nice to see an author actually trying to diversify their characters in a small town in the USA.
Moving on to my negatives… my biggest issue with Black River Orchard is with how big it is. I think this novel could’ve really benefitted from cutting 100-200 pages out. The middle of the story felt repetitive and slow, which made it a bit of a slog to get through that chunk. If it was a bit shorter I think the horror elements would’ve worked a lot better also. While I still found it pretty creepy the narrative dragged out and diminished a lot of the terror for me. Especially when we have a scary thing happen and then 50 pages of people talking about the same thing over and over again before the next unnerving thing occurs.
I also found some of the character relationship dynamics a bit unbelievable. And I know it’s a horror novel about an apple eating cult, so I’m suspending my disbelief pretty heavily already. But becoming instant genuine friends with a random old man you met once is weird. Not to mention how weird it is to show up at the house of a woman your dad went on a date with once who you barely met. Just strange choices made by the characters in regard to who they trust quickly, in my opinion.
On a similar note, there were some continuity issues I found. Specifically, when someone is told that their friend is dead in one chapter and then in the next chapter talking about that person as if they know they’re actually still alive despite only being told they’re dead. And not in a “I’m going to hope it’s all a lie and my friend is out there” way, but in a “I forgot that someone told me they’re dead and that’s the only information I know” way.
My final issue with Black River Orchard is that I found it very obvious an adult man was trying to write from the point of view of a teenage girl. Teenagers do not say “like” as often and as unnecessarily as adults think they do. Yes, they say it, but not in the context that Wendig was using for Calla’s chapters. And while obviously overusing the word “like” was a quirk of Calla’s, it was still not used in the contextual way people use it. And the consistent use of it improperly and some other not accurate things kept pulling me out of the story. However, the adult women were handled a bit better although it was still obviously a man. And of course, people can write from the POV of different genders, but in this novel specifically it didn’t work well for me.
Overall, I thought Black River Orchard was a fun and spooky read that matched the autumn season nicely. The formatting and writing style were really interesting and the way they worked to add to the setting and vibes of the novel was a big positive for me. But this one had its drawbacks that took me out of the very long story way too much. If you’re in the mood for a spooky read about creepy cults and don’t mind a slower pace and a long story then I’d recommend this one for you. And again, I’d recommend giving the cocktail a try if you don’t mind a bit of a boozier drink.
My Rating:
Thanks for reading! And, if you read the book or try the cocktail let me know in a comment or on Instagram. Also, if you haven’t yet read my previous reviews, I recommend reading The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and How to Sell a Haunted House if you liked this one!
Teghann
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