{"id":19804,"date":"2025-04-29T07:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=19804"},"modified":"2025-04-28T15:13:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T19:13:46","slug":"review-night-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19805\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/night-birds\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?fit=987%2C1500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"987,1500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"night-birds\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?fit=674%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-19805\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?resize=230%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"cover of The Night Birds\" width=\"230\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?resize=230%2C350&amp;ssl=1 230w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?resize=674%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 674w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?resize=768%2C1167&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?w=987&amp;ssl=1 987w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 230px) 85vw, 230px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Night-Birds-Novel-Christopher-Golden\/dp\/1250285917\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em>The Night Birds<\/em> by Christopher Golden<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>St. Martin&#8217;s Press (May 6, 2025)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/BluGilliand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reviewed by Blu Gilliand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is, as they say, a tale as old as time.<\/p>\n<p>Someone seeking power and purpose joins a group centered around an ancient evil &#8212; in this case, something called an Ur-Witch, with followers known as weavers who practice its mysterious rituals. When the hideous truth of their involvement comes to light, a couple of women break away and seek shelter with an old acquaintance, unwittingly bringing danger and death to his door.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Christopher Golden takes this familiar premise and executes it with style. The standout here is actually the location, a unique research facility in Louisiana. It&#8217;s an old, abandoned shop just off shore, rooted in place by the grove of mangrove trees that have grown up through its hull. It&#8217;s become a home to all manner of birds and tree crabs and other wildlife, and researcher Charlie Book calls it home. His former lover, Ruby Cahill, arrives unexpectedly with a friend, Mae, and a baby in tow &#8212; and a fantastic, unbelievable story to tell. Book takes them in, even as the skies begin to fill with unexplainable storm clouds and unrepentent evil.<\/p>\n<p>Golden assembles a solid cast of characters here, including several loyal members of Book&#8217;s research team, and then proceeds to run them through the ringer. Storms, spells, a raging sea, a possessive creature determined to re-emerge and wreak havoc in our world, and unfathomable choices await them as they fight for survival.<\/p>\n<p>You can always count on Golden for a ripping good tale that straddles the line between horror and thriller, and\u00a0<em>The Night Birds<\/em> is no exception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Night Birds by Christopher Golden St. Martin&#8217;s Press (May 6, 2025) Reviewed by Blu Gilliand It is, as they say, a tale as old as time. Someone seeking power and purpose joins a group centered around an ancient evil &#8212; in this case, something called an Ur-Witch, with followers known as weavers who practice &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[301,477,79,3412],"class_list":["post-19804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-blu-gilliand","tag-christopher-golden","tag-reviews","tag-the-night-birds"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Blu Gilliand reviews Christopher Golden&#039;s novel The Night Birds, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cemetery Dance Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"headline\":\"Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-29T11:00:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":288,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/night-birds-230x350.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Blu Gilliand\",\"Christopher Golden\",\"Reviews\",\"The Night Birds\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden - Cemetery Dance Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/night-birds-230x350.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-29T11:00:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"description\":\"Blu Gilliand reviews Christopher Golden's novel The Night Birds, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/night-birds.jpg?fit=987%2C1500&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/night-birds.jpg?fit=987%2C1500&ssl=1\",\"width\":987,\"height\":1500,\"caption\":\"cover of The Night Birds\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-night-birds\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reviews\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/reviews\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"description\":\"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden - Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Blu Gilliand reviews Christopher Golden's novel The Night Birds, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cemetery Dance Online","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/"},"author":{"name":"Cemetery Dance Online","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"headline":"Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden","datePublished":"2025-04-29T11:00:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/"},"wordCount":288,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds-230x350.jpg","keywords":["Blu Gilliand","Christopher Golden","Reviews","The Night Birds"],"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/","name":"Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden - Cemetery Dance Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds-230x350.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-29T11:00:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"description":"Blu Gilliand reviews Christopher Golden's novel The Night Birds, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?fit=987%2C1500&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/night-birds.jpg?fit=987%2C1500&ssl=1","width":987,"height":1500,"caption":"cover of The Night Birds"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-night-birds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reviews","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/reviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Review: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Cemetery Dance Online"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p81cXa-59q","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19804"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19807,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19804\/revisions\/19807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}