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A review by michellereadatrix
The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
In a nutshell: I liked it. I loved the setting, which was very effective for the story. I enjoyed Barbara and Tucker, who I would call the main characters. I found the reveals a bit underwhelming and one of the biggest reveals felt really anti-climactic due to the character not being utilized well. I like the cliff-hanger, and would read the sequel, which promises a Minnesota setting. People who use the word woke as an insult will not be pleased. Not sleep with the lights on scary, but steadily creepy.
Let's break it down a little.
Genre: The Gathering straddles the line between horror and suspense/thriller. I found it creepy, and a little gross now and again, but I never worried about sleeping with the lights off. I don't need that, though, as I'm happy to worry about these people and have no skin in the game.
The setting/atmosphere: A remote Alaskan town in winter. A storm is promising to snow everyone in as tensions ratchet. I love this because winter in a snowy location works well for me in horror and thrillers and living in a small town with intense winters allows me to relate. The weather was its own character.
The plot: Barbara Atkins is sent to Deadhart, Alaska to investigate a murder that looks vampire related. Because vampires exist and live in colonies and by law the colonies can be hunted/culled if authorized.
Representation: Sapphic and Achillean. A character is revealed to the reader to be trans late in an interaction . There's a Black character. I don't recall if there's Indigenous rep, other than there a nod to white people settling everything. (I'm sure this isn't exhaustive.)
Conflict: Barbara, with her advanced degree in vampyr studies and tragic history involving vampyrs, wants to investigate this fairly. She is clearly someone who doesn't want to call for a cull, but will if the evidence is there. She's an outsider, though. A stranger. And the town wants that cull. The church leader wants the cull. Most of the town wants the cull. She's outnumbered and the storm is coming.
The characters: Love Barbara, love Tucker, various other characters are nicely done. For a small town, though, we have too many characters, in general, and at least one needless one and down POV chapters. These characters are interesting, but so much of it goes nowhere.
There's a recurring POV character that I feel was introduced very well in order to have this moment of revelation on there being more than meets the eye, leading to a case of "what evil lurks in the heard of men."
We have POVs from a mystery character that I think the reader might be able to figure out their identity. Very interesting, but ultimately ... meh. The character is set up to be a big deal, and just isn't, and it feels like wasted potential. If the series continues, I can see them showing up again, but I find their arc disappointing.
The leader of the colony is an interesting character with an intense backstory, but I think she -- like the character in the previous chapter -- ultimately was under-served. Perhaps she'll show up again.
I will say that if I thought we were returning to Deadhart, my objections about the time we spent on non-important/dead end characters would lessen, but the end hints at a new location should Barbara return.
Themes and metaphors: Vampires and the desire to hunt and cull them is overtly connected to real-world bigotries and prejudices. First and foremost is how the colony is dehumanized, treated like literal animals, and how that in our reality is a precursor to atrocities. Vampyre "artifacts" are collected, their heads mounted on walls, and we're told that's how it is "around here." Barbara knows it's not just around there. There's a symbol that is in terms of metaphor that is connected to a swastika.
Along with bigotry comes objectification. Well, we do have the artifacts to make that literal, but it's also present elsewhere.
We also have themes of and pseudo-pedophilia and acts of extreme torture and cruelty.
While I think this will be tiresome to some readers, and while I think this could cross the line into offensive -- although it's clear the author is writing a story with its heart in the right place -- I'd have actually liked more of a deeper dive, which I expect will be in the next book.
Lingering questions: Who in their right mind strolls into a walk-in freezer while under dressed? Just a stupid decision, an inorganic moment, from a character who is way too smart to do that.
Final Thoughts: This is my first C.J. Tudor, and I look forward to reading The Chalk Man, which I have a niggling feeling I own as an audiobook? Or Kindle? I would definitely read the next book in THIS series. Ideally, I'm hoping for a more disciplined book in terms of the number of characters we give pages/POVs to and if that's needed.
Let's break it down a little.
Genre: The Gathering straddles the line between horror and suspense/thriller. I found it creepy, and a little gross now and again, but I never worried about sleeping with the lights off. I don't need that, though, as I'm happy to worry about these people and have no skin in the game.
The setting/atmosphere: A remote Alaskan town in winter. A storm is promising to snow everyone in as tensions ratchet. I love this because winter in a snowy location works well for me in horror and thrillers and living in a small town with intense winters allows me to relate. The weather was its own character.
The plot: Barbara Atkins is sent to Deadhart, Alaska to investigate a murder that looks vampire related. Because vampires exist and live in colonies and by law the colonies can be hunted/culled if authorized.
Representation: Sapphic and Achillean. A character is revealed to the reader to be trans late in an interaction . There's a Black character. I don't recall if there's Indigenous rep, other than there a nod to white people settling everything. (I'm sure this isn't exhaustive.)
Conflict: Barbara, with her advanced degree in vampyr studies and tragic history involving vampyrs, wants to investigate this fairly. She is clearly someone who doesn't want to call for a cull, but will if the evidence is there. She's an outsider, though. A stranger. And the town wants that cull. The church leader wants the cull. Most of the town wants the cull. She's outnumbered and the storm is coming.
The characters: Love Barbara, love Tucker, various other characters are nicely done. For a small town, though, we have too many characters, in general, and at least one needless one and down POV chapters. These characters are interesting, but so much of it goes nowhere.
There's a recurring POV character that I feel was introduced very well in order to have this moment of revelation on there being more than meets the eye, leading to a case of "what evil lurks in the heard of men."
We have POVs from a mystery character that I think the reader might be able to figure out their identity. Very interesting, but ultimately ... meh. The character is set up to be a big deal, and just isn't, and it feels like wasted potential. If the series continues, I can see them showing up again, but I find their arc disappointing.
The leader of the colony is an interesting character with an intense backstory, but I think she -- like the character in the previous chapter -- ultimately was under-served. Perhaps she'll show up again.
I will say that if I thought we were returning to Deadhart, my objections about the time we spent on non-important/dead end characters would lessen, but the end hints at a new location should Barbara return.
Themes and metaphors: Vampires and the desire to hunt and cull them is overtly connected to real-world bigotries and prejudices. First and foremost is how the colony is dehumanized, treated like literal animals, and how that in our reality is a precursor to atrocities. Vampyre "artifacts" are collected, their heads mounted on walls, and we're told that's how it is "around here." Barbara knows it's not just around there. There's a symbol that is in terms of metaphor that is connected to a swastika.
Along with bigotry comes objectification. Well, we do have the artifacts to make that literal, but it's also present elsewhere.
We also have themes of and pseudo-pedophilia and acts of extreme torture and cruelty.
While I think this will be tiresome to some readers, and while I think this could cross the line into offensive -- although it's clear the author is writing a story with its heart in the right place -- I'd have actually liked more of a deeper dive, which I expect will be in the next book.
Lingering questions: Who in their right mind strolls into a walk-in freezer while under dressed? Just a stupid decision, an inorganic moment, from a character who is way too smart to do that.
Final Thoughts: This is my first C.J. Tudor, and I look forward to reading The Chalk Man, which I have a niggling feeling I own as an audiobook? Or Kindle? I would definitely read the next book in THIS series. Ideally, I'm hoping for a more disciplined book in terms of the number of characters we give pages/POVs to and if that's needed.