Dusty wants blood.
She is reeling with this realisation. Until a few days ago, all she wanted to do was find a quiet spot in her home and get lost in a book. Home is surrounded by the beauty of nature, forest, birds and wildlife, but she still prefers to be inside and away from most people.
Ever since her mum left when she was 12, she has been trying to fill the gap inside herself, and still wonders why.
Her younger sister Opie loves the woods, and is becoming an expert on food for medicine, using herbs and plants. She talks Dusty into a mushroom finding walk before school one morning, but even with years of survival training by her grandparents and father, they get lost.
Finding themselves far from home which shouldn’t be possible in the time they’ve been outside, Dusty can’t figure it out. Soon she comes down with a terrible illness, and is in bed for days. When she wakes, she is… different.
Food smells weird, and she can suddenly see people’s auras. Confused, she bunks school with a guy named Will from her class. He is just what she needs – calm and quiet. This is also clear in his aura of blues and pinks.
But calm is the last thing her life turns into. When she sees a fight break out at a party, and blood is spilt – her own blood roars along within her body, and she knows that she isn’t alone in her feelings. Someone else at the party wants that blood too.
Trying to figure out what has happened to them, and then learning there are others like them, Dusty tries to navigate home and school life with the new knowledge she has of herself. Her bloodlust has caused a burden of guilt and disgust, but also feelings of wonder and heightened emotions.
What has happened to her and the others living on White Mountain, in the small town of Black River?
The beautiful cover of Black River doesn’t scream vampires, so I didn’t expect it to head that way. I love any vampire story, and yes, the characters want blood, but this is not like any other blood-sucker story.
The character’s confusion about what’s caused the changes in them is intriguing, because there are no bats, slinking shadows ready to bite them or howling wolves like in a standard Vampire novel. Each character who is changed is affected in different ways, which makes them even more interesting, as I didn’t know what their special abilities would turn out to be.
A romance thread is simmering throughout the novel, with the added pressure of life over blood lust – an attraction that is so strong, but with the threat of giving in to it, and maybe killing the love interest in the process.
The ending of Black River sets up the next book – White Mountain, which I hope is soon on the horizon.
A fascinating read.
Author – Ruby Jean Cottle
Age – 14+
Publisher – Atria Aust / Simon & Schuster Aust
Set – Present / Small rural town / Upstate New York
Viewpoint – 3rd person
Violence – Yes
Sex – No
Real Life – Present
Fantasy – Fantasy / Paranormal
Blend – Family / Paranormal / Real Life
(2025, Animals, Courage, Crime, Family, Fantasy, Friendship, Romance, Horror, Mystery, Secret, Series, Vampires, Blood, Thirst, Strange Illness, High School, Murder, Longing, Colours, Auras, Mind Control)