Review of Murder of Crows

by Edward Medina

Available for the Kindle at Amazon.com

Once upon a time has been reborn and re-engineered to perfection with the latest offering of Edward Medina. Murder of Crows is a classic waiting for the rest of the world to realize it.  There is a lyrical quality to Medina’s work that carries the reader on an unbelievable journey from a hundred and fifty year old circus to a pirate captain haunted and bent on revenge. It is one of those tales that grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let you go until the end.

Since spoilers are just plain rotten here are a couple of carefully chosen excerpts from the book.

After that Belladonna became her own creation. She became whoever she needed to be, to get whatever she wanted. And when she wanted, she wanted with her whole being. Nothing could stop her blood lust once she fixed and focused on a desire.

She was her father’s daughter after all, and so the want began to wear at her mind, and she she want oh, so much. She wanted not to be poor, not to be hungry and not to be alone.

Belladonna is so deliciously wicked that she will worm her way into your mind. You don’t want to enjoy her escapades or smile at her cleverness, but you will.  Trust me, you will.

Old Otter Bizarre would be dead six months later. He would pass in his sleep on the night of Raul and Julia’s debut flight. It was a kind gift from death to a creature, who with his last official act, unknowingly become responsible for the death of so many.

Raul and Julia are the parents of Benjamin Nightthorn and acrobats in the circus. The King and Queen of the Aerial Arts gave birth to their prince.  A prince that would witness not only tragedy but rise from its ashes to fulfill part of his father’s great dream.

Just like any good circus this book is fun for all ages and genres.  Stream punk fans will love how subtly the steam elements are organically incorporated.  Pirate lovers will enjoy this first book in the birth of a grand sea tale.

It is a story that I fell in love with, but since I know the author I feared I might be bias so I passed the book on. First to my sister, a woman who is an avid reader, she loved it.  Then two of my students, they echoed her opinion. They were desperate for more of the story and sincerely wish Mr. Medina had a blog they could follow.  The best review came from one of my fellow teachers who couldn’t put the book down even during class.

Like one of the other reviews of this novel I would give it more than five stars if I could.. in this case, I think it would be a twenty-five star review.  Murder of Crows is the prologue for series of books called the Adventures of the X Pirates.   It promises to be dark progression of tales where Benjamin Nightthorn, the tortured hero of Crows, becomes the villain.

You can read more about Edward Medina at his website, Twitter and Facebook.

P.S. Don’t forget to buy the book… It is a bargain at only .99 cents.