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Black River Orchard

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Black River Orchard

By: Chuck Wendig
Narrated by: Kalani Queypo, Gabra Zackman, Brittany Pressley, Xe Sands, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Cindy Kay
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A small town is transformed by dark magic when strange apple trees begin bearing fruit in this new masterpiece of horror from the bestselling author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents.

It's autumn in Harrow, but something is changing in the town besides the season.

Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard grows a new sort of apple: strange and beautiful, with skin so red it's nearly black.

Take a bite of one of these apples and you will you will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But soon 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?

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.

©2023 Chuck Wendig (P)2023 Penguin Audio Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Magic Paranormal

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All stars
Most relevant  
Loved this book. It has depth of place and characters plus intriguing details about apples and native and colonial history. John Compass in particular is a great creation. Some gruesome scenes and ideas haunt the plot and memory, satisfying in a horror-story appropriate way. I’ve followed Wendig for years but will be tuning back in now to all the titles I’ve missed.

Superb, intriguing shocker with depth

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I enjoyed the amount of detail that went into this much better than a basic horror story.

Well developed story.

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I’ve been sitting mulling over what to write for this review. I really don’t know how to aptly communicate its complexities but also it’s fun. It has so many great horror story elements, I think there is something for everyone. It addresses many current issues but not in a dry or boringly in-depth way. It is done through wonderful characters. Each so diverse. The plot builds tantalisingly and then all Hell is let loose, a version of Hell on Earth that horrified me. There was interesting information on geography, history and botany. All fascinating. This was very well written and the narration on this audiobook was perfect. I’m off to see if I can find myself a non-supermarket apple and enjoy it, if I dare!

What a read!! Loved it

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Who knew that 613 pages about apples could be so intoxicating!? Chuck Wendig’s Black River Orchard is a ride. Small town horror, folklore, body-horror, and cultism are pressed to produce a remarkably tactile read that both frightens and enthrals.

Black River Orchard takes its sweet (and sour) time to bring the town and its people to life, before tearing those lives apart in spectacular fashion. To quote Neil McRobert of the fantastic Talking Scared podcast “think the fabricated faux-history of John Langan’s The Fisherman, mixed with the paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers,all finished off with a hint of The Tommyknockers’ mad self-improvement fixation.” He’s spot on. As is this novel. Delicious!

“Friends are a light in dark times, Emily. We try to be brighter together so that the darkness doesn't take us alone.”

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Best and most immersive audiobook I’ve listened to in a long time. I’m gutted that it’s over and I’ll never look at an apple in the same way again. Brilliantly performed, impressively plotted-sheer storytelling gold from start to finish.

Bravo!

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I’ve wasted 8 hours of my life trying to give this a fair shot but I finally gave up last night. I’d read a few positive reviews but for the life of me I couldn’t find anything about this book that was either good storytelling or indeed horror. Bland writing with completely unrealistic dialogue between characters… and those characters are just instantly forgettable. I’ve genuinely not found myself to be invested in any lead character after 8 hours! If you took the swearing out I’d suggest that it was written for ten year old kids.

Waste of my time

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