Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig Narrator: Xe Sands, Brittany Pressley, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Cindy Kay, Kalani Queypo, Gabra Zackman, Victor Colomé
Published by Random House Audio on September 26, 2023
Genres: Horror
Length: 22 hours and 18 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
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A small town is transformed by dark magic when a strange tree begins bearing magical apples in this new masterpiece of horror from the bestselling author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents.
It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something else is changing in the town besides the season.
Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: Strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black.
Take a bite of one of these apples and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing—and become darker.
This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples… and what’s the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful?
And even if buried in the orchard is something else besides the seeds of this extraordinary tree: a bloody history whose roots reach back the very origins of the town.
But now the leaves are falling. The days grow darker. And a stranger has come to town, a stranger who knows Harrow’s secrets. Because it’s harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.
This is the second book that I’ve read from Chuck Wendig. I really enjoyed the first book, The Book of Accidents. And I saw a lot of talk about this book when it first came out. So, I decided I needed to give it a try. I’m really glad I did, because I had a great time with Black River Orchard. I didn’t really know what I was getting into with this story. I had read reviews when it first came out, but didn’t really remember what they said.
So this story follows a few different people, Dan Paxson, who owns the orchard, and his seventeen year old daughter Calla. There’s her boyfriend, Marco. Then there’s Emily and Meg, a married couple who are new to the area. Meg has a job as a lawyer, but Emily is still trying to find where she fits. There’s Joanie, Dan’s friend from school who has moved back to town with her husband. They have a very interesting relationship. Then there’s John, a guy who is familiar with the town, but mostly looking for his friend, Walt, who’s been missing for five years. Emily accidentally finds Walt’s body in the river.
There’s also a secret society, which has some really interesting traditions and an even more interesting history. Dan’s father always wanted to be part of the Golden Rods, which later became the Crossed Keys. All the elite of the little town are members, but Dan has never been elite. That is until he finds this special apple tree he starts to grow. And it is the best apple anyone has ever eaten. Almost everyone in the town is eating these apples.
I learned a lot about apple history and how to grow apples. You don’t grow apples from seed, but by grafting. And how apple trees were destroyed during prohibition to prevent people from using them to make hard cider. There are also a lot more types of apples than what you find at the grocery store. It was actually the author buying different varieties at a farmer’s market that led to this story (as he tells it in the acknowledgements or How I ate the Apple at the end of the story).
I found this to be a very interesting and unique story. I’ve not read anything like it, ever. It does get kinda creepy towards the end when people start to “change”, but that is to be expected from a horror story. It is right up there with some of the weird stuff that Stephen King or Joe Hill thinks up. It really makes me want to read even more of Chuck Wendig’s stories.
I also loved his characters. I got a very vested interest in every single character, even the ones who were not good people. You really wanted to see the good ones go on to good things and survive all of this. And the bad ones, I had a very vested interest in seeing them go down. Some more than others, for sure. I think I felt worse for Calla. She had not only her father, but also her boyfriend who she was planning on spending the rest of their lives with. And what happened to them, and her by association was just horrible.
Overall, a very fun horror story with some truly wonderful characters and some interesting background on apples, of all things. If you like horror, or even thrillers, this is a great book for you.
Narration:
I’ve listened to some of these narrators before, Xe Sands, Brittany Pressley and Gabra Zackman. But everyone did a great job. There’s different narrators for different POVs, which really helps you when jumping from one POV to another. They all did a great job with the wide cast of characters. And having voices of the same character from different performers from different POVs was not an issue at all. I always knew whose POV I was in and who was talking. Just an amazing job of all of them together. The pace and tones were all great together. I really had a great time with the narration.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Gabra Zackman
Gabra Zackman is a New York based actress, writer, and audiobook narrator. She is the author of The Bod Squad series published by Simon and Schuster’s Pocket Books starting in April 2015.
As an actress, Gabra has been seen in classics, new plays, and everything in between. She has been on TV in “Law and Order”, “Law and Order: SVU” and “All My Children” and in the film “Law Abiding Citizen”.
The foundation of Gabra’s work is her ten plus years of employment in the audio book industry, having recorded over 300 audio books to date.
Gabra is known for her versatility as an artist, and is currently working equally in three artistic fields. She loves how the crafts of acting, writing and narration all inform and influence each other. She feels profoundly lucky to get to tell stories in so many different ways.
About Xe Sands
Award-winning narrator known for credible characterizations and an intimate delivery with more than a decade of experience bringing stories to life through narration, performance, and visual art. I believe an authentic performance demands authentic connection to the text and subtext.
About Chuck Wendig
Chuck Wendig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, Zer0es/Invasive, Wanderers, and the upcoming Book of Accidents (July 2021). He’s also worked in a variety of other formats, including comics, games, film, and television. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his books about writing. He lives in Pennsyltucky with his family. His agent is Stacia Decker, with Dunow, Carlson and Lerner.
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I started listening to audiobooks when a new book in a series was coming out and I wanted to get a refresher, but didn’t have time to read all the books (I think it was Anita Blake). I fell in love. I stayed with strictly re-reading books that I’d already read for a long time. I eventually tried an audiobook for something that I hadn’t read first and was hooked there too. Now, I listen to audio for both re-reads and first time. I have some series that I’ve given up reading and only listen. I try to get any many books/audiobooks from the library to help save on my budget. Books on CD and the newer digital downloads from the library really allow me to listen more. I then purchase my favorites (because who can wait in line for your favorite book??) and less mainstream books from Audible or some other online retailer.
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I loved this too! He always comes up with such interesting ideas for horror stories. Awesome review😁
Nice cast of narrators! I’ve listened to a couple of them and they are good!
Ooh…sounds very creepy.
Sounds like a good one. I’ve heard of Chuck Wendig but haven’t read anything by him yet.