Scan barcode
bsmorris's review against another edition
5.0
I've really enjoyed the Tufa series - it's an interesting premise that is well developed. Some might be annoyed that each book focuses on a different main character, but I find it refreshing to see the story from so many perspectives. It's also interesting to see how each main character's story contributes to the overall Tufa story.
This book starts with a few shocks that are immediately intriguing and drew me in. I enjoyed the focus on Tufa who had left Cloud County, and the further development of Mandalay's character. The pacing was good, and all the various threads came together in a satisfying way. I sure hope Alex Bledsoe will continue to develop the Tufa world!
This book starts with a few shocks that are immediately intriguing and drew me in. I enjoyed the focus on Tufa who had left Cloud County, and the further development of Mandalay's character. The pacing was good, and all the various threads came together in a satisfying way. I sure hope Alex Bledsoe will continue to develop the Tufa world!
jkkb332's review against another edition
3.0
This one didn't hold my attention towards the end. I think I need to take a break from listening to this series.
seanpatricklittle's review against another edition
5.0
I was able to read this book in a single sitting, thanks to the Black Friday slowness at work. (No one buys paint on Black Friday.)
As usual, the text was tight and flowing. The characters were unforgettable. The setting was pristine in its backwoods poverty.
However, with this book, a tale of revenge and power, Bledsoe created in Bo-Kate Wisby one of the most memorable and interesting villains in recent literary memory. She is at once a despised character, but also someone you cannot stop watching. Absolutely riveting!
As usual, the text was tight and flowing. The characters were unforgettable. The setting was pristine in its backwoods poverty.
However, with this book, a tale of revenge and power, Bledsoe created in Bo-Kate Wisby one of the most memorable and interesting villains in recent literary memory. She is at once a despised character, but also someone you cannot stop watching. Absolutely riveting!
jaymeks's review
5.0
Such a magical journey. The Tufa books are truly becoming one of my favorites, for many different reasons. The world is fascinating, the writing is brilliant yet subtle, and the lyrics included are so well thought out, bringing a touch of the Tufa magic to the reader.
One of the things I really enjoy is the multiple characters and different viewpoints, not just in the book, but throughout the whole series. The thing I realized in this book was that the main characters aren't what the story is about; they only provide the backdrop. The true protagonist of the series is the Tufa themselves.
There's something special in an author who can take an idea, a culture, a very different group of people, and make it the center of the story. Most stories focus on characters and their stories. This book focuses on the Tufa as a whole, but allows the different cast of characters to tell its story. It's fascinating and wonderful all at once.
Like I said, this is by far one of my favorite series and I cannot wait for the next few books to be released.
One of the things I really enjoy is the multiple characters and different viewpoints, not just in the book, but throughout the whole series. The thing I realized in this book was that the main characters aren't what the story is about; they only provide the backdrop. The true protagonist of the series is the Tufa themselves.
There's something special in an author who can take an idea, a culture, a very different group of people, and make it the center of the story. Most stories focus on characters and their stories. This book focuses on the Tufa as a whole, but allows the different cast of characters to tell its story. It's fascinating and wonderful all at once.
Like I said, this is by far one of my favorite series and I cannot wait for the next few books to be released.
kblincoln's review
5.0
How do you get to Cloud County, Tennessee? I want hear the Tufa sing one time before I die :)
If you don't know who the Tufa are, and you're an urban fantasy lover (although this is rural fantasy, natch) or like bluegrass/folk music, or enjoy the cross-section of human love, suffering, and longing revealed by the juxtaposition of political agendas on intimate relationships, or just enjoy a good yarn about country folk in a small town, start out with the first in the series-- The Hum and the Shiver-- and then move on down the line to Wisp of a Thing and then this one: Long Black Curl.
You gotta read the other books first so you know what kind of strong, aggressive woman Bronwyn is and how much it pains her to be hugely pregnant and unable to shoot things in tricky situations. And also to understand the small town politics of Mandalay's Tufas versus Rockhouse's Tufas. And to set the stage for the night winds to blow in all the great bluegrass/folk/country music.
Or you could just turn to the last two pages of Long Black Curl and start a youtube playlist with the index of songs whose lyrics grace this book and inform the story: "the Galway Shawl", "fire on the mountain", "Wayfarin' stranger" and "Nine hundred miles from my home."
The Tufa literally navigate their world through music. Their voices, their instruments, and the power of the night winds in the small, isolated town of Needsville where they live. After the events of the last book, the uneasy truce between the two groups is a bit shaken, but Rockhouse, who formerly loomed large and evil over the whole town has been cut down to size by his own kin.
Suddenly one day, Bo-Kate Whisby, one of a pair of the only Tufa ever "sung out of the valley" impossibly comes back and takes down Rockhouse. She has a plan to take over and unite everyone...or is it just an excuse for violence? With Bronwyn pregnant, Mandalay busy dealing with the pangs of first love, and everybody afraid of Bo-Kate and her willingess to maim and kill, what will happen to the Tufa? Will their music be lost forever?
I'm a huge fan of this series. It has emotional and relationship heft, great music, and a rural grittiness that is satisfying and chewy. The soul's beauty and fragility and horribleness stays with you long after you've put down the Tufa books.
If you don't know who the Tufa are, and you're an urban fantasy lover (although this is rural fantasy, natch) or like bluegrass/folk music, or enjoy the cross-section of human love, suffering, and longing revealed by the juxtaposition of political agendas on intimate relationships, or just enjoy a good yarn about country folk in a small town, start out with the first in the series-- The Hum and the Shiver-- and then move on down the line to Wisp of a Thing and then this one: Long Black Curl.
You gotta read the other books first so you know what kind of strong, aggressive woman Bronwyn is and how much it pains her to be hugely pregnant and unable to shoot things in tricky situations. And also to understand the small town politics of Mandalay's Tufas versus Rockhouse's Tufas. And to set the stage for the night winds to blow in all the great bluegrass/folk/country music.
Or you could just turn to the last two pages of Long Black Curl and start a youtube playlist with the index of songs whose lyrics grace this book and inform the story: "the Galway Shawl", "fire on the mountain", "Wayfarin' stranger" and "Nine hundred miles from my home."
The Tufa literally navigate their world through music. Their voices, their instruments, and the power of the night winds in the small, isolated town of Needsville where they live. After the events of the last book, the uneasy truce between the two groups is a bit shaken, but Rockhouse, who formerly loomed large and evil over the whole town has been cut down to size by his own kin.
Suddenly one day, Bo-Kate Whisby, one of a pair of the only Tufa ever "sung out of the valley" impossibly comes back and takes down Rockhouse. She has a plan to take over and unite everyone...or is it just an excuse for violence? With Bronwyn pregnant, Mandalay busy dealing with the pangs of first love, and everybody afraid of Bo-Kate and her willingess to maim and kill, what will happen to the Tufa? Will their music be lost forever?
I'm a huge fan of this series. It has emotional and relationship heft, great music, and a rural grittiness that is satisfying and chewy. The soul's beauty and fragility and horribleness stays with you long after you've put down the Tufa books.
valjeanval's review
5.0
I was not in love with book 2 of this series, but book 3 won me back. Helps that I read it in a log house in the Smoky Mountains too, but also it has more interesting and less incestuous storylines. It's maybe the most violent, brutal, and fae episode yet. It features the return of Bronwyn in an important if not lead role, an exploration of what it's like to be Mandalay, and a really vicious female villain with a morally complex British manservant. Every character, really is incredibly complicated and fascinating. Don't read this without having read the other two, but do read this series if the words Appalachian fairies sound interesting.
ergative's review
3.75
Bledsoe is really superb at constructing a sense of place and community. The characters feel fully realised; the blend between small town Appalachian hick and otherworldly faerie Tufa is incredibly difficult to describe, and incredibly effective: I both believe that these people are the long-lived semi-immortal descendents of exiled fairies AND that they embody some of the oft-evoked stereotypes characteristics of deep rural Tennessee, which are portrayed unflinchingly, without disgust, sentimentality, or apology. I really respect this world that Bledsoe has created.
(I also respect the body count. One advantage of such a well-constructed world and community is that you've got a lot of characters to bump off whose deaths are meaningful and important, and who also don't overly shrink the cast because there are so many other people in play. I can't emphasize enough how the social world-building is really really well done!)
And yet, somehow, this particular book didn't really work for me, because overlaid on top of everything was a rather tedious reliance on sex as characterization. The bad woman comes to town, and she is sexually voracious--which is, to be sure, balanced by one of the people standing against her, who is also sexually voracious. So it's not shaming exactly--Bledsoe never shames anyone for anything in his books, even some of the pretty terrible things they do--but I did get rather annoyed at all the male gaze and all of the use of sex as power. And it's not even as simple as 'powerful women always employ sex as power', which would be a tedious stereotype, because one of the most powerful people is a twelve-year-old girl who has nothing to do with sex. Bledsoe scorns easy stereotypes. But still, the sex seemed unnecessary.
Also, gotta say that Nigel's storyline would have perhaps been less distressing if he were not the sole black guy in the book. I see what Bledsoe was doing, and in a way it's not any different from what he's doing with everyone else. He is not kind to his characters, and he's not cruel. He just is. And so Nigel's story is what Nigel's story was. But still. The only black guy. Not a great look.
(I also respect the body count. One advantage of such a well-constructed world and community is that you've got a lot of characters to bump off whose deaths are meaningful and important, and who also don't overly shrink the cast because there are so many other people in play. I can't emphasize enough how the social world-building is really really well done!)
And yet, somehow, this particular book didn't really work for me, because overlaid on top of everything was a rather tedious reliance on sex as characterization. The bad woman comes to town, and she is sexually voracious--which is, to be sure, balanced by one of the people standing against her, who is also sexually voracious. So it's not shaming exactly--Bledsoe never shames anyone for anything in his books, even some of the pretty terrible things they do--but I did get rather annoyed at all the male gaze and all of the use of sex as power. And it's not even as simple as 'powerful women always employ sex as power', which would be a tedious stereotype, because one of the most powerful people is a twelve-year-old girl who has nothing to do with sex. Bledsoe scorns easy stereotypes. But still, the sex seemed unnecessary.
Also, gotta say that Nigel's storyline would have perhaps been less distressing if he were not the sole black guy in the book. I see what Bledsoe was doing, and in a way it's not any different from what he's doing with everyone else. He is not kind to his characters, and he's not cruel. He just is. And so Nigel's story is what Nigel's story was. But still. The only black guy. Not a great look.
graff_fuller's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I really enjoyed this story, but it did NOT do what I expected (in a good way, and also in a frustrating way).
Loved the use of time. Still do not know how it works within the mechanics of the world, but it was a great plot device...and hope to see it used in the future, present or past (if you know what I mean).
The story took its time...weaving the plot twists and reveals with a masterly touch. There were times that I flat out had NO idea how it would end, but then had a glimmer of what "might be".
The introduction of the Night Winds was a great plot device. Wondering IF this will be used again in this county, or not.
Loved the new characters, EXCEPT the big baddie. Ugh. That was something you just had to endure. Though, there was just a slim degree of what she wanted that was appealing, but most was a whole LOT of bad.
The growth of the characters we've already met...was good enough to propel the story forward, and the desire to want to know more.
The structure of the next book...is what really intrigues us. Will it be ANOTHER protagonist, OR will we finally get a repeat (from a previous story)? We are good, either way.
At the moment, this is one of our favourite stories of the fae. There is enough intermingling of history, music, the fae world and our contemporary life...to want to know more.
On to the next story. Looks like a book a day. Out of my slump, finally.
Loved the use of time. Still do not know how it works within the mechanics of the world, but it was a great plot device...and hope to see it used in the future, present or past (if you know what I mean).
The story took its time...weaving the plot twists and reveals with a masterly touch. There were times that I flat out had NO idea how it would end, but then had a glimmer of what "might be".
The introduction of the Night Winds was a great plot device. Wondering IF this will be used again in this county, or not.
Loved the new characters, EXCEPT the big baddie. Ugh. That was something you just had to endure. Though, there was just a slim degree of what she wanted that was appealing, but most was a whole LOT of bad.
The growth of the characters we've already met...was good enough to propel the story forward, and the desire to want to know more.
The structure of the next book...is what really intrigues us. Will it be ANOTHER protagonist, OR will we finally get a repeat (from a previous story)? We are good, either way.
At the moment, this is one of our favourite stories of the fae. There is enough intermingling of history, music, the fae world and our contemporary life...to want to know more.
On to the next story. Looks like a book a day. Out of my slump, finally.
tfrohock's review against another edition
5.0
An absolute rocket-ride of a novel. Bo-Kate Wisby is one of the best female villains I have read in a long, long time. This is Romeo and Juliet, southern fried and vicious, with a batch of Tufa favorites all gathered together to sing their special magic. Don't miss it.
dancarey_404's review
3.0
Good enough that at some point I'll probably pick up the next in the series.