by Keith R.A. DeCandido – “Nevermore” is the first-ever novel set in the world of the CW’s smash-hit (and one of my fav series), Supernatural. It’s set between episodes in the show’s second season, before the Croatoan episode that changed the show’s arc permanently. Set in the Bronx, it tells a MOW*-style narrative, along with that of an occult-obsessed human. The two plots are unrelated, aside from their common geography and timeframe, which makes them relatively easy for Dean and Sam Winchester to handle.
The author really seems to get the character’s personalities and quirks, and he’s extremely familiar with their histories, dropping references to their lives up to this point with a sure hand. And I must confess, it was nice to pop into the “boys'” heads at a point in their history that their lives were pretty straightforward and uncomplicated, before they were battleworn and disheartened. I say that from a summer-2014 vantage point, when their canonical story arc is between the ninth and tenth seasons, and the entirety of the SPN fandom (myself included) is all too familiar with the far more battered statuses of their psyches now. All of that makes the Poe-based killer and the haunting in this novel seem downright innocent.
Highly recommended to SPN fans who are jonesin’ for more of their favorite hunters. (finished 6/16/14)
*MOW = monster of the week
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