A review by amberdeexterous
The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund

4.0

I’d not thought it possible for a novel to sustain both a gripping plot and deft prose for over 800 pages, but this thriller does just that. Packed with palpable dread, The Crow Girl embarks on a descent into the recesses of the human psyche and a darkness that rivals some of the most nightmare-enduring genre work I’ve read (as a Clive Barker fan, believe me when I say “darkness”). As with all most novels concerning wholly human monsters, there’s much brutality enacted her: sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, graphic violence, and mental illness are all a part of the story. That said, I found a measured respect for survivors written into the text and an awareness of where the novel does not wholly cleave to reality. All in all, I found the world this tale unravels in to be a place of marrow-chilling wonderment, not without tenderness, and entirely, viscerally, human.