Book Review: A Penance for Crows By Shannon Morgan

 What happens when a "weird girl" grows up? 

A Penance of Crows by Shannon Morgan explores that, giving readers an engrossing gothic-esque thriller set in an insular community - creating almost a locked room mystery- where the room is not a physical space, but the insular community where our story takes place. 

The unique cover was designed by Layla Anderson - I'm not so sure I love it, but I love that 

it isn't AI. 

Set on an island at the tip of the Beara Peninsula, in a highly suspicious and religious community, we meet Grizela, an "outsider" who's lived on the island for almost 40 years. 

Grizela is odd, unmarried and working as an artist. She's not one to socialize and she doesn't suffer fools.  She's got a soft spot for a group of teen-aged girls who have few options within the community. She is a working artist, and provides lessons for the girls on the Island. 

Oh.  The island is populated with crows.  And while much of the community is firmly attached to the church, they also remain firmly attached to the crows, and the fae. 

It that set up doesn't give you some chills, I'm not sure what will!

Our story opens with Grizela noting some odd Crow behavior and coming upon a dead body on the shore. She's quite shocked.  Grizela does her duty, calling it in and getting people involved, even moving the body so the tide doesn't take it away. It's lovely that Grizela is the main character, she's well past 30, but the author doesn't constantly discuss how much the character's body has changed. She's a perfectly imperfect human, living a life that is so interesting, we all are wanting to know about it!

All sorts of creepy shenanigans start to occur. Are these occurrences pranks, or is something else happening?   Island secrets are brought to life, and suspicions run high.  Grizela finds that in order to protect those that she cares deeply for, she must confront some uncomfortable truths about her past. 

A Penance of Crows is well plotted, and kept drawing me in for more and more. It is an excellent blend of Supernatural terror, thriller, and mystery.  (And Crows!, we have Crows!) 

Super Thanks to Tantor Audio  for the ALC.  I loved this one more than I expected to! 

STATS

First Published  07/28/2026

Pages: 336

Available as an Audio Book : ~ 10 hrs 

Trigger Warnings:  violence, murder, death, hyper-religiousity, mention of abortion, alcohol use/ abuse. 

(this is not a full list, read responsibly)  

Book Review - Gogmagog by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard 2.5/5 stars

   I read Gogmagog (The chronicles of Ludwich #1) by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard as part of my Water theme for 2025.

  I was so excited when the audio came off hold at the library. I had seen this book on social media and it seemed like it was going to be amazing.  I mean:  a river journey with a 1600 yr old woman, a thrall (mechanical AI type being, a girl made of seeds, and more. A river that is sort of a dragon? The journey promises to encompass old folk tales and present them in strange and alien ways. 

SIGN ME UP. 

(in my imagination, this is the River....)

Hall, Sidney, Etcher. Draco and Ursa Minor / Sidy. Hall, sculpt. Ursa Minor, 1825. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2002695394/.

Sadly, I'm going to have to say.... take me off this sign up list.  Especially in the audio book form.  

Things I really liked: 

 -Cady's character is refreshing and super enjoyable. 

-The river itself is like it's own character

- the mystery of it all.

-the writing is solid and makes reading it to be fairly easy. 

Now... for me there was a lot I just didn't love. The narrative is kind of jumpy which didn't prove to be an issue with me, but i didn't really love that particular choice.  I felt like I understood what was going on , but I also felt like all the characters were trying to be the main character, and thus in the end, no one was really the main character and the overall story was lost... was it about the dragon, the child?, the Gogmagog?, Cady's body changes? Lek finding robotic love?  I would have DNF this book, but I had this sort of tingle that said it would eventually sort itself out.  For me, it did not- I felt it was "Almost there" .  Noon did a nice job of showing and not telling, but I did want a bit of telling so I could connect the dots a little bit more. Perhaps that happens in the second book, but, friends, I'm not going to give this series another 12 hours of my listening time. The narration was not to my liking, as whomever was "doing the voices" just managed to make me feel that tinge of aggravation that one feels sometimes.

The best way for me to describe this is that the reader is the audience for a Dungeon's and Dragons type role playing game in someone's parent's refinished basement and each player is taking a turn at advancing their character's story.  They are paying attention to the other's stories but they aren't incorporating them in any meaningful way so it ends up being a very surface type experience overall.  

Did I miss the point?  Maybe - I have also had some trouble with James Joyce's works... and even some lesser esteemed novels. 

Is this a book for someone?  SURE.  The writing itself is very good, and the premise is great.  Let me know if you've read this one and what you thought?  Enlighten me to what I missed!  I may try to read more from these authors just to get further into the weird, because I mean, perhaps it's a me problem. 

 STATS

First Published : February 13, 2024

Pages: 368

Available as an Audio Book : YES 

Trigger Warnings:  pandemic, death, profanity, alcohol, parental death

As always - this is not a complete list, read responsibly!