Blackwater: The Complete Saga

2.5 ⭐️

This book was so frustrating. The prose is very good and he just sweeps you off your feet into this early 20th century eccentric Alabama family. The horror elements of this book were so subtle you would miss most of it if you weren't paying attention. The books consists of 6 parts and each one includes a single graphic death scene, the rest is all storytelling setting an ominous tone. I really didn't enjoy any of the parts that meant but I wanted to figure out what the hell was going on so bad. I eventually just started skimming the last few hundred pages to get it over with. I can see why people may like this but definitely not worth reading almost 800 pages over. I was expecting a super horrific ending with all my questions answered it went out with a puny whimper.
There's also random supernatural elements to this which I don't understand. Is this a river monster book or a ghost book? Does the river monster have abilities to conjure ghosts? I DONT KNOW

First foray into (mild) gothic horror, which is not my typical genre. Though you could say this is foremost a multi-generational southern family story, with sprinkles of swamp monster shape shifters. And the monster is not necessarily the villain, which was great. The first few books were atmospheric and intriguing, very enjoyable as a yarn. Later on, everything slowed down and focused a little too much on old people getting cranky and withering away. Also did the family have to end on clan in-breeding and a money-obsession that just kept building without leading to any moral twist? Yet still, it was entertaining. 4 stars for the first three books, 3 stars for the last three books. For a more wholesome women-succeeding-in-building-empires story I'd recommend [b:A Town Like Alice 107301 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327957610l/107301.SY75.jpg 276591].

The main elements which made me curious about the Blackwater saga were mainly two: the incredible art style of the Italian publication, whose cover is so good that his creator is featured among the main comic convention here around; the suggestion made by Stephen Kings which says he loves this world and all the horror elements which composes it. When I was approaching the first book of this franchise I immediately felt thrilled, the same sensation you can try when you are going to a big event in your city, and the fact that the reduced dimensions of the new edition granted me to read it during my daily trips was that plus which increased the atmosphere of the moment. As soon as the story starts, we feel the flood happening because of the overflow of the Perdido River, and we make acquaintance with the mysterious Elinor Dammert...all the events evolve in Mary Shelley's like stuff. Because what I didn't know about Blackwater is that the gothic horror it purports to be is nothing else than a mix of lovecraftian weird events and family vicissitudes. In particular, the development of the Caskey's Family is built around the fight between two generations. The young one, polite and open-minded to news and people from outside the protagonist city and the old ones, ready to control others or accept facts only for their individual objectives. We enter an intricate web made of marriages, love affairs, threats and heritage problems, on the background of a racist town of the end of 19th Century. The entire representation of all the peculiar characteristics of that age are wonderful, granting the reader the curiosity around the intriguing destiny of every single figure, even the most secondary ones. As you can imagine reading these worlds, it seems really difficult to find, inside Blackwater, horror traits. Lots of the creepiest moments are linked with the true nature, shown at the very beginning of the book, of one of the center of the narrative, a powerful lady who doesn't display herself completely, while weaving her plans and killing around in the most brutal way. A villain which is incredible in premises, but then the scenes in which we really understand the potential of this danger are only a few.
We can't say that Blackwater is not engaging, mainly because of good stylistic choices and an organic system made by fantastic art features and atmospheric moments of great tension. Yet, all the qualities are engraved inside this “noblemen and houses” fiction, whose predominance sacrifices the space which would be granted to purest horror.

STYLE: 3,5
STORY: 3
WORLDBUILDING: 4
RHYTHM: 3,5
MAIN CHARACTERS: 3
VILLAINS: 4
ARTISTIC FEATURE: 5
ATMOSPHERE: 4
EMOTIONAL IMPACT: 3

FINAL VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐⭐