Like most poets, I greatly enjoy work by Edgar Allen Poe, so when I saw this ARC on NetGalley I knew I had to get it. 

While I was originally intrigued by the first chapter, I felt like everything went downhill from there. The world-building was seriously lacking, I never felt like the ideas of how Muses worked was explained well. It was just assumed we all knew what was happening. On top of that Lenore herself was the worst character, dramatic and whiny and had zero substance. She was ridiculous.   I hated that the story switched between Poe and Lenore. 

So it was about 30% into the book that I lost interest. Poe was going in circles and the plot was becoming repetitive and predictable. While I liked parts of Poe's character he felt stagnant and in the end I just didn't care for anything that was happening. 

I was very sad to be so harsh on this book, especially since I generally enjoy Cat Winter's books. In the end I gave The Raven's Tale 2 stars.

Author: Cat Winters | Published: April 16, 2019 by Amulet Books | Series: Standalone | Length: 368 pages | Genre: YA Fiction | Source: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe counts down the days until he can escape his foster family—the wealthy Allans of Richmond, Virginia. He hungers for his upcoming life as a student at the prestigious new university, almost as much as he longs to marry his beloved Elmira Royster. However, on the brink of his departure, all his plans go awry when a macabre Muse named Lenore appears to him. Muses are frightful creatures that lead Artists down a path of ruin and disgrace, and no respectable person could possibly understand or accept them. But Lenore steps out of the shadows with one request: “Let them see me!”
 

Back in high school we had to read a few of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories.  Ever since then I have loved reading his work and now own a book of his collected works.  Anyways, when I found out about this book I knew that I just had to pick it up and read it!  I was fortunate enough to be accepted for a copy on Netgalley and then lo and behold I was sent a physical ARC as well.

This book was everything I had hoped it would be!  I loved getting to read about Edgar in his younger years.  The idea of the muses was a really cool one.  It added such an awesome element to the story that kept you wondering what would happen to Edgar’s muse.  Although I do wish we couod’ve seen muses from other characters.  I think there was one, maybe two other characters with muses other than Edgar.

I also liked that the author added little snippets of his actual writing intermingled with her own take on his style.  It really gave the story the feeling of Edgar starting to toss around ideas and edit and improvise his poems.

One thing I wished there was a little more of was romance.  We see a hint of it with Sarah Elmira Royster, but other than that we don’t really see anymore.  That romance ended up just being more frustrating to me than anything.  I don’t really know too much of Edgar’s real life when he was a teenager and if he had any love interests at that point.  But I wish there was a bit more romance in this book than there was.

I highly recommend this book if you love Edgar Allan Poe’s works or if you like dark and haunting books.

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

I adore Edgar Allan Poe and was thrilled I received a copy of this from Netgalley. I hope my tardiness in actually finishing this book and writing my review does not take away from how much I honestly loved this dark yet inspiring dramatization of the life of young Edgar Allan Poe. 

Usually, with Poe media, we get late twenties Poe, a man who was eulogized in the press by people who didn't like him so they painted him in an incredibly unflattering light. Sadly a light that still shines on his brilliant creator over a hundred years after his mysterious death.

I loved all the allegory of expressing art or leaning in and understanding what you want to create. I also love that Winters didn't try to shove Poe into just the dark gothic box he gets placed in so often. The book is filled with wordplay of well known Poe works-- The Raven in particular. This book explores Poe's early life, his home with the Allans and how his adopted family shaped everything about how he became. 

I loved the dual narrative. Edgar and his muse talking about the fire to create. With Edgar, we get more day to day traditional narrative, but with the muse, we get this beautiful poetic song so much like Poe's writing and I adored every moment of the story.  

There is only so much we can know about historical people. We only have receipts and second-hand accounts of how people were at age 16, 17, 18. We'll never truly know what Poe was like as a college student, but we can make assumptions, and I think this book paints a close to true life portrait Poe's time at the Univerity of Virginia. I love the idea of dueling muses and trying to figure out your place. Poe was so complicated, and I loved how Winters played the different parts of Poe against each other.

As we approach spooky season, I'm going to highly recommend this novel to my friends out there looking for something that's not scary, but still dark. This book is worth picking up and checking out if you're interested in Poe.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review, which has not altered my opinion of this book.

This story follows Edgar as he gets ready to leave his father's abusive home and go to live on his own in college. However, after accidentally summoning his muse and giving her a physical body, he realizes what many of us realize when we go out on our own for the first time: we have no idea what we are doing and just want to fit in. Spoiler: Lenore doesn't fit into his ideal life (not really a spoiler). So, he pushes her away, the problem is that a Muse is a physical being that others can see and she doesn't want to be ignored and is very set on not allowing that to occur and butts into Edgar's life as often as she can.

I was really quite disappointed with this book. I had heard that it is a magical realism origin story of Edgar Allen Poe, with a humanoid version of a muse he names Lenore. Totally sounds up my alley! However, I found myself to be struggling through much of it and really just wanted to smack both Edgar and Lenore on their respective heads and tell them to get a grip.

Honestly, this book had the potential to be awesome and dark and creepy and amazing, but all it managed to do for me was to be dark and creepy and confusing. Overall, I'm giving this 3.5 out of 5.

I wish I could’ve gotten into The Raven’s Tale because it sounds dark and lovely. Unfortunately, it’s just not for me. It’s much too historical and old-timey for me.

Was okay, not my favorite being an avid Poe fan. Will try reading again later. Super glad though she decided to create the story for other Poe fans, not many fiction works that include him as as she did.

So I went into this as a little bit of a fangirl of Poe's works and with fairly high expectations. Alas, while the story was interesting in parts, I just couldn't particularly connect with it.

On opening this novel, I was expecting a kind of romance between Poe and his muse Lenore. Instead I got a kind of whingy Poe, a fairly bland girlfriend in Elmira and Lenore being so ridiculously cryptic and needy that I initially wanted to close and DNF the book. 

Around the 35-40% mark, this story stagnated hardcore and took a long while to pick up the pace again.

Although it was an adequate telling of a tale of Poe, it lacked the grit and polish that I had expected

I received this via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I loved it guys. This book was just what I wanted It to be. The world building was fun. The characters were very well flushed out. I loved the plot of this. I can not wait to read more by this author. I highly recommend this book.

Sad DNF at 42%. After a really interesting and excellent beginning, I think this has stagnated pretty hard – the stakes feel a bit low for the story being told. Edgar's romance with Sarah Elmira Royster and desire to stay at UVA are just not high enough stakes; knowing the history, I'm really struggling to get invested. I think this spends too much time introducing the characters, and the horror just isn’t terrifying enough to hold up the book. 

The Raven's Tale plays with the idea of art as a rebellion something others attempt to suppress; one of the narrators is Lenore, Edgar Allan Poe's muse. The characterization of this book holds that the father has pushed his muse, Cassandra, into a fire, which is fascinating. The first 15% was really fantastic; I just think the ideas haven’t gone any further. Maybe those who like flat-out horror will find this one more compelling.

My Review: I will not be saying too much about this book because its one of those titles that if I say too much it will give things away.  However, this is for those who love classics and Edgar Allen Poe!  If those two are up your alley then you totally need to read this one!! Its dual POV and had a wonderful set of characters and setting.  I loved it and could not put it down!! And that cover is just so GORGEOUS.

I loved the blurb of this book and was really excited to read it. Unfortunately, it archived before I could read it.

First of all, I loved the writing. It was beautiful and so close to Poe’s own.  I thought the characters were thoughtful and well developed. And while I can usually get by slow plot, this was a bit meandering, thus the lower rating. I like Cat Winters and will read her again.

I'm a huge fan of Cat Winters. The Raven's Tale is Cat Winters re-imagining of the life of Edgar Poe. It was poetic, dark, and hard to put down:)  Highly recommended.

This was a really cool book! Great for fans of Poe and everything weird. Highly recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of Poe.

This was an unusual tale of Edgar Allan Poe’s teenage years. He leaves his home and his horrible foster father, only to be haunted by his muse, Lenore.

The story alternated between Edgar’s and Lenore’s perspectives. Lenore is strange because she is Edgar’s muse from his imagination, yet everyone else can see her. Whatever Edgar does, affects Lenore. For example, when he gets drunk and passes out, she also faints wherever she stands.

This story was tragic because of the way Edgar was treated. His foster father abandoned him at the university, leaving him to get deep in debt. I wanted to root for Edgar, but he made so many bad decisions. I really felt sorry for him. Lenore was pushy and annoying, always barging into Edgar’s life. I also didn’t really understand how she was visible to everyone, yet a figment of his imagination.

This story didn’t really work for me. I couldn’t connect to the characters or the tragic plot.

Thank you ABRAMS Kids for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I gave it a go, but after a week of trying and only getting to 10% with zero interest built, I'm calling it quits. Pains me to do so. It sounds fabulous, but the writing isn't engaging for me.

Such an enjoyable read. I went through a Poe-obsessed stage when I was a teen, and I know there's still a subset of new fans with each generation. This will be a perfect companion for anyone deep in the dark abyss of Poe's work.

The Raven's Tale is a fictionalized account of Edgar Allen Poe's teen years.  Edgar “Eddy” Poe is desperate to escape the suffocating life of upper-crust Richmond, Virginia. He is looking forward to going to college and being free to follow his passion for poetry as well as getting away from his controlling foster father. The passionate and talented Edgar is close to achieving his goal when she appears. A girl in a dress of ashes and raven feathers, she is Eddy’s muse, whom he names Lenore. Lenore is fierce, powerful, and hungry for words, but she needs Eddy to commit to her so she can evolve from her new frail human form into a higher being. Poe has to decide whether or not he can continue his artistic expression or live his life without it. 

   The story is narrated by Poe and his personified muse in alternating chapters. Edgar and Lenore share the present-tense narration in distinctive first-person voices. Several of Poe’s most well-known works are given the nod in the narrative, however, I found the alternating chapters at first engaging, but I soon found it tedious and repetitive. There is not much character growth for Poe as he whines and complains about his financial woes. I also found the discussion surrounding the family slaves to be troubling and problematic. I normally really like Cat Winter's infusion of supernatural into her stories, but The Raven's Tale was unfortunately a complete miss for me.

Cat Winters weaves together a creative and melancholy story in this Edgar Allan Poe retelling.

The Raven’s Tale takes us on a journey following Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar struggles between writing his poetry and putting up with all the pressure that he receives from his father. Edgar’s writing soon turns into a muse named Lenore. A muse that is frowned upon by the inhabitants of Richmond.

If you’re a fan of Edgar Allan Poe’s work than you will definitely appreciate this retelling. Edgar has a lot to put up with in this story from following his dreams of becoming a poet, to sticking to his father's demands. A story where Edgar has to either hold onto his muse or to banish her completely along with his poetry. This story is filled with beautiful pieces of poetry as well as some pretty macabre stories of Edgar’s making.

"The kindest thing you can do for the dead," says the young man who requested the kiss, "is to weave their names into art."

The language and writing style that Cat Winters uses is amazing and very fitting for the setting of the book and events. Although there were some parts that felt a bit slow, the writing was easy to follow and was entertaining most of the time. The story is also told from both Edgar and Lenore's points of view, but this retelling is to honour Edgar Allan Poe as stated by the author. Cat Winters truly put in so much love when writing this story and I found myself loving every second of it.

The story is whimsical and gothic all at once, and you could see the difference between the world from Edgar and Lenore’s eyes. The prose is breathtaking and seeing Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry written and weaved through the story was perfect. Cat Winters included Poe’s deepest fears as well as a look into his love for writing deep and dark stories. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of dark fantasy and historical fiction.

I did not enjoy this book. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros
-  Creative concept and an interesting way to introduce Poe to YA readers.
-  Author’s note contained interesting information about her research about Poe and his life.

Cons
-  I absolutely did not buy into the idea of a muse as a supernatural, but living creature.
-  The Lenore chapters bored me to tears.
-  The pacing was slow. So little actually happened in the story – there was nothing to hold my interest. I noted above in the Pros that I thought this was a creative concept for a story, but overall I think the execution was lacking.
-  Honestly, I think I would have enjoyed the story more without the Lenore character at all. Just make it about Poe’s teenage years and his dysfunctional relationship with his foster father and his own internal struggle with his writing. While I get that the author was trying to write about Poe in a Poe style, bringing in a living and supernatural muse muddied the story for me.
-  Overall, the story felt a bit erratic and seriously stagnates quickly. The chapters alternate between Poe and Lenore so there is also a lot of repetitiveness.
-  I literally didn’t connect to this story in any way.

Summary
In all honesty I would not have finished this book if I hadn’t personally requested it from NetGalley to read and review. The synopsis sounded unique and interesting, but the execution of the story itself did not work for me personally. I really struggled to finish this book. I appreciate the research and work the author put into the story, but ultimately this book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Amulet Books for a free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.