On the shore of Lake Drummond, which straddles the borders of North Carolina and Virginia, there is a hotel that caters to ne’er-do-wells, wayward travelers, and the just plain odd folks. The lake and hotel are located near The Great Dismal Swamp, a large track of land which serves as a refuge for good hunting and fishing for the locals. It also has a rich supernatural history.
The swamp is home to two trees, both unique but in opposite ways. One of the trees is in the shape of a magnificent deer. The deer appears to have been captured in motion, fleeing from something with it’s head turned back to look at it pursuer. The other tree is of an old woman. The woman-tree gives off bad vibes, and the locals tend to give the tree a wide berth. The guardian of the trees, and of the swamp itself, is an old woman named Nettie, a witch who grants magic favors to the locals for the price of a jar of cheap whiskey. The swamp, the surrounding villages, and the hotel co-exist peacefully, until two strangers arrive at the hotel.
The first is a woman named Lenore, an artist who felt compelled to come to the hotel. Though she is not a witch, her art does possess magic; it has the ability to release souls who are trapped in trees and can not move on. Lenore sketches the tree’s and then slowly erases the drawings, allowing the souls to ascend (or descend if that is the case) to their next destination. The second stranger is a writer of stories who also felt compelled to visit the hotel. He arrives with his companion, a raven named Grimm, who seems to be both the writer’s muse and protector. If it was not apparent by this time, the writer’s name is Edgar Allen Poe.
Lenore begins saving souls almost from the start of her stay in the hotel. Through a series of odd circumstances one evening, she and Poe meet and become friendly. Lenore winds up drawing Poe’s raven companion, and in doing so, she releases the soul of a young girl hidden inside Grimm. But the young girl is swiftly abducted by Nettie, which leads Lenore and Poe deep into the swamp with two local guides. Lenore’s goal is to free the souls in the deer-tree and the woman-tree, and Poe’s is to find Nettie and the young girl. Poe does meet with Netti, and after an evening filled with magic and insight, he realizes that Lenore must be stopped from freeing the old woman from her tree. What follows is a scene of horror equal to any story Poe has ever written.
The first thing that came to my mind when diving into Nevermore is that David Wilson is one hell of a writer. His prose is easy to read and fluid, so much so that you can’t help but be engrossed by the narrative. Wilson also has an extraordinary ability to get into his characters heads. As a result, readers will have no trouble believing in the supernatural talents the various characters have, or bonding with Poe and Lenore as they face their personal and combined trials. The author’s pacing in Nevermore, again, is top notch. Perfect in fact for a fantasy where plot points should be digested and lingered over for full effect, and Nevermore gives us plenty of fantasy scenes to ponder.
While Nevermore is primarily a fantasy novel, its horror roots can be found just below its surface for most of the book. By the end of the novel however, those horror roots run decidedly deep. The climax of the story, where Poe, Lenore, Nettie and the old tree-woman do battle, is action packed, thrilling, and employs a horror staple that is as old as the genre itself, to great effect. And without spoiling the ending, I will say that Nevermore ends on a note that is similar in tone to most of Poe’s best horror tales.
Good fiction, whether it is horror, fantasy, or mainstream, must be able to capture the reader’s imagination to the point where it becomes theatre of the mind. Nevermore is a perfect example such fiction. I recommend Nevermore to all readers who enjoy a well written story, love to get lost in the fantastic, and to those who just long for a damn good tale.
(For those who are familiar with David Wilson’s output: Nevermore has a cameo appearance from Donovan DeChance from Wilson’s DeChance Chronicles series, and the swamp-witch, Nettie, appears in several others of his work including Volume 4 of the DeChance Chronicles. The novel is also available at amazon.com)
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