Weis & Astor's Blackwell

Blackwell is a gothic horror novel that lovers of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Stephen King, and gothic literature will enjoy. The novel is written by two authors, Alexandrea Weis with Lucas Astor, but you never get a split feel throughout the novel (much like Christina Lauren has been able to achieve). The writing is well done, the language fitting the time period the authors locates us in, and author ploys are placed successfully without dragging the reader down and inundating them with too much side information.

The novel follows the intertwining lives of O’Connor & Blackwell from the day they meet at Harvard on. Blackwell comes from a privileged and aristocratic upbringing. He is morally flawed individual but an intriguing character that the reader wants to follow. Is he going to lead a life with love in it or follow a darker path? The writer seems to really want to show the readers that you can question the soul and try to create “workarounds” to stay pure or virginal as well as how we handle life experiences. There is power in love and ultimately the choices you make will lead you on the path of love and its magic of healing or if you let too much darkness seep into your life down the path of damnation.

There is a large focus on the religion of Voodoo. I really enjoyed these segments of the novel because Voodoo is not often used in literature. It especially helped create a spiritual and karmically bound story line for the second half of the novel. The book cover fits the novel brilliantly and I loved it.

Blackwell is a dark novel that will give some readers satisfaction and leave some saying, “Well written, but the story was horrifying and depressing.”