Reviews

Speaks the Nightbird by Robert R. McCammon

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escragg92's review against another edition

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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

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5.0

Impressed.

Setting, colloquialisms, characters, mystery, near poetic prose... This book was the whole package.

sparks_fitz's review

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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

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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

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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....

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

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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.