Stolen Tongues

Okay, this is going to start very differently from my other reviews. I'm going to let you in on a little family history so it is easier to relate to my feelings on this book. About two years ago my wife and I moved our family from a very urban area of Mass to a small town in teh New Hampshire mountains. It was a little culture shock when we got here. The people are wonderful and we love out neighbors, we just weren't used to our property abutting hundreds of acres of protected forested land. We also moved from an area where the homes were tightly condensed to a rural area with no streetlights and a much greater distance from our neighbor's houses. It is beautiful. That being said, we have two dogs and had to take them out on leashes to do their business because our yard is not fenced in and the pups would easily get lost if they were left out on their own. One of our first nights in the new house I put the leashes on the pups and took them into the front yard. Once their feet hit the lawn both of them stopped and stood up straight at attention staring across our driveway into the bushes running along our property line. The little guy, a dachshund started growling and pulling on his lead. My big fella, an eighty five pound pit bull whined and pulled back behind me wanting to go back inside. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up at attention and an uneasy feeling ran through me. I felt like a rabbit being circled by a hawk in an open field. My pittie lifted his leg on a tree and started pulling me back to the house. I followed him in, dragged the dachshund back up the stairs, pulled them both in the doors and locked them behind me. My wife looked up at me and told me that I looked like I'd seen a ghost. After a couple of minutes my heart slowed down and I told her what happened. She breathed a sigh of relief and told me it was a good idea to come back in. The only light out there was what little leaked out our living-room window. Anything could have been hiding just in the tree line on the side of the driveway. That was the exact feeling I got reading Blackwell's Stolen Tongues. Like there was always something just out of sight, watching me and planning how best to take me down. I am a writer and have certain prejudices when I look at the construction of a story. One of my biggest is a stringent dislike for first person narratives. Blackwell uses first person throughout the book but it didn't bother me one bit. This is one case where that technique worked perfectly. It lent a realism to the story that drew me in from the beginning and held me throughout the book. I read mostly at night, in bed, on my Kindle in the dark. That situation had me looking nervously out my window at the trees surrounding our house every night. Blackwell is a rare author these days. The book is not loaded with gore or violence, but the voice conveys creepy overtones throughout the book. This story grabs readers by the throat at the start and drags them through the mud up to the incredible conclusion. In short, five stars. Highest recommendation. Buy this book and try to read it while the sun is high in the sky. It's amazing.

“Our beliefs are a very private thing… My people tell a lot of stories about the mountain… Unfortunately, Pale Peak has a terrible history, s most of our stories are sad. Or scary… But… [this] creature… doesn’t come from the world of the dead, but somewhere else, farther beyond it. I don’t exactly know how to translate his name for you. You could call these creatures the hollow ones. They’re jealous of living things, and the joy of this world. Jealous of its sunlight. They have none of it.” What is meant to be a romantic getaway in a remote cabin in the Colorado Rocky Mountains on Pale Peak turns into the beginning of what appears to be a non-ending nightmare of increasing proportions for Felix and his fiancé, Faye, both in their late twenties. The cabin belongs to Faye’s parents and she hasn’t visited it since she was a child. In practically no time at all, Faye, who already suffers from a sleep disorder, begins to hear things—voices—outside of the cabin. On a walk in the woods the couple come across what appears to be an oversized dreamcatcher “dangling [and] twirling” from a tree. “The thing was made of twigs and bones, expertly bent into strained and taunt shapes. Pieces of ragged twine swung from it, some of it tied with hawk feather. More string was woven through its center in the shape of a mangled spider web.” More alarming is “the dark form of a person” first Faye and later Felix sees in the woods—“an adult man, devoid of detail,” which appears to be ever growing in boldness. Far too large to be a human, whatever it is begins to approach their cabin more and more often, circling it, as if it wants in. And then there are the multitude of voices coming from the woods. STOLEN TONGUES (2017, 318pp.) by Felix Blackwell has a unique history. “Originally a contest-winning story on reddit dot com’s horror community NoSleep, STOLEN TONGUES” with little promotion and largely through word-of-mouth “has received widespread acclaim and is now being adapted into a feature film.” Starting in 2016, due to positive feedback, Blackwell continued adding “updates” to his original story until readers encouraged him to “crowdfund the story into a proper novel” according to the author’s introduction to the book. He assures readers STOLEN TONGUES “is a fully developed and expanded version” of his original tale. There is no denying the creepy effect of events in STOLEN TONGUES. As Faye’s behavior, especially when asleep, becomes more and more erratic and bizarre, when the narrator, Felix, moves from skeptic to believer and a resolute protector of his fiancé, the novel is an undeniable page turner. The author’s inclusion of Native American lore and superstition, although left vague, is reminiscent of THE WENDIGO (1910) by Algernon Blackwood and so many other successive works of folklore horror. Blackwell’s inclusion of Native American characters is successfully done without succumbing to stereotypes or romanticizing various tribes and cultures. Indeed, Blackwell includes a fascinating Afterword, “A Word on Natives in Fiction,” in which he details his initial reluctance as a non-Native American of including Indigenous people in his novel unless he could get it right. Blackwell’s prose is simple and attractive, detailed when it needs to be as well as filled with nebulousness to maintain the suspense of his story. The woods of Pale Peak are especially soundly portrayed as are veiled, malevolent references to the area. Even with a minimum of characters, some of whom clearly have secrets they are not willing to share in spite of the havoc their silence creates, Blackwood creates a dynamic atmosphere regarding their possible aenigmas and fates. When it clearly becomes necessary for the story’s plot, the author takes his two main characters and places them in a more welcoming setting, but the comfort does not last, surely much to the reader’s delight. As well done and addictive as STOLEN TONGUES is, doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns about the book— glitches which are not uncommon to many newer writers. There are a few occasions when events or characters’ actions and/or what they say are simply illogical. At times descriptions of these ostensible contradictions for a reader looking for more than just a creepy story are likely to be perplexing, possibly even distracting. There is a bit more repetition than perhaps necessary in the novel. This may be due to its origin as an on-going story, the lack of more characters, or simply to accentuate the uncanniness factor of the novel. The appearance of a well-known quotation from the late Charlton Heston from his NRA spokesman days can be perceived as either clever or jarringly out of place. For a self-published book, the text is exceptionally clear of typos and formatting errors until shortly after the book’s mid-way point. Although it serves a minor purpose which will linger in the reader’s mind throughout the book, the book’s Prologue seems too long and detailed for the purpose it does eventually serve. Better editing could and should have addressed or clarified these matters. As more and more terrifying sights and sounds manifest themselves in the woods, at the cabin, and elsewhere and characters begin to die gruesome deaths at the hand of the creature, At’an-A’anotogkua (more easily known as “the Imposter”), Blackwell makes most of the book’s inconsistencies fade from the reader’s mind and the story becomes the primary focus. One exception is the purpose of references to the cellar of the mountain cabin and its contents which are only briefly mentioned and then left unaddressed with no explanation as are some other minor details the author leaves lingering. Are these unexplained elements meant to be a part of the story’s mysteriousness and inexplicable nature of the unknown, simply overlooked by the author, or hints of a sequel to come? The motivation of the supernatural presence and pursuit of the couple is unraveled in the book’s finale and can be perceived in one of two ways: as either a most unusual incentive by a most unnatural being of unknown conception or simply somewhat silly. It is all left up to the reader’s imagination and their commitment and fascination with the story to decide. Regardless of some quirks, STOLEN TONGUES is clearly a work by a young writer who is well worth watching. The novel, creative and at times chilling as it is, is already more entertaining than some published work by more experienced writers. [NOTE: Felix Blackwell has also published a collection of short stories, THE COLD PEOPLE: AND OTHER FAIRY TALES FROM NOWHERE (2016) and a second novel, IN THE DEVIL’S DREAMS (2019).]

Goodness. I wanted to love this. First half of the book was absolutely fantastic. One of the best thrillers iv read in a long time. The last half of the book felt so rushed and didn’t make sense. The conclusion was absolutely awful and difficult to read due to being so boring and repetitive.

Atrapa desde el inicio, varios capítulos hicieron que se me erizara la piel

It is a spine-chilling journey into the depths of horror that left me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The book is a masterclass in the art of suspense, delivering an experience that lingers long after the final page. From the very first chapters, Blackwell sets an ominous tone that permeates the entire narrative. The pacing is relentless, with each chapter building upon the last, creating a relentless sense of dread. The author skillfully uses suspense and unexpected twists to keep the reader guessing, all while maintaining an underlying sense of unease. The horror elements in "Solen Tounger" are not simply about jump scares; they are psychological, atmospheric, and deeply unsettling. Blackwell taps into the darkest corners of the human psyche, creating an experience that goes beyond the conventional boundaries of the horror genre. I found myself captivated by the intricate web of terror that Blackwell weaves, and the book's ability to elicit genuine fear is a testament to the author's skill. "Solen Tounger" is not just a horror novel; it's a harrowing exploration of fear itself, making it a must-read for those who appreciate the genre.

After being recommended this book by a friend, who described it as the above quote says, I jumped in. And was not disappointed in the slightest. Definitely the creepiest, scariest prologue and first chapter I have read in years. I kept asking myself "how can he keep up the scare factor throughout?" but he did it. Definitely not something to be read alone or while out camping in the woods-you might regret it!

" I don't know how long I slept for." I don't know how long I slept for either after I started reading this novel, but I know it was not much because I wanted to find out how this was going to end. This is the second novel I read by the author and, once again, I enjoyed his writing so much. I like reading different authors because I want to learn from different styles so for that reason I avoid reading too much of the same author. Many writers repeat themselves, and not in a fun, entertaining way when they do. However, Felix Blackwell is an author whose work I will always check because the atmosphere he creates on the page is intriguing and engaging. He managed to wrap me in a horror like blanket, keeping me tightly in. And however scary he made me feel, I wanted to read more and more. I highly recommend this book! You'll never look at cabins, cottages, woods, remote places in the same way again. Or familiar places, for that matter. This romantic cabin getaway story gave me the creeps while reading in the late hours of the night until early in the morning, but I regret nothing. I can't wait to read his next book!🤗

Storyline isn’t too bad but it’s mediocre writing at best. There are some creepy elements to it and I can understand the hype behind this book. The characters aren’t very likeable. Go in with a low expectation and you’ll be ok.