Blackwater: The Complete Saga

2.5 ⭐️

This book was so frustrating. The prose is very good and he just sweeps you off your feet into this early 20th century eccentric Alabama family. The horror elements of this book were so subtle you would miss most of it if you weren't paying attention. The books consists of 6 parts and each one includes a single graphic death scene, the rest is all storytelling setting an ominous tone. I really didn't enjoy any of the parts that meant but I wanted to figure out what the hell was going on so bad. I eventually just started skimming the last few hundred pages to get it over with. I can see why people may like this but definitely not worth reading almost 800 pages over. I was expecting a super horrific ending with all my questions answered it went out with a puny whimper.
There's also random supernatural elements to this which I don't understand. Is this a river monster book or a ghost book? Does the river monster have abilities to conjure ghosts? I DONT KNOW

First foray into (mild) gothic horror, which is not my typical genre. Though you could say this is foremost a multi-generational southern family story, with sprinkles of swamp monster shape shifters. And the monster is not necessarily the villain, which was great. The first few books were atmospheric and intriguing, very enjoyable as a yarn. Later on, everything slowed down and focused a little too much on old people getting cranky and withering away. Also did the family have to end on clan in-breeding and a money-obsession that just kept building without leading to any moral twist? Yet still, it was entertaining. 4 stars for the first three books, 3 stars for the last three books. For a more wholesome women-succeeding-in-building-empires story I'd recommend [b:A Town Like Alice 107301 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327957610l/107301.SY75.jpg 276591].