The Crowfield Demon by Pat Walsh
In The Crowfield Curse (2012), young William and his friends and allies righted a long-ago wrong at Crowfield Abbey and faced down the terrifying Unseelie King. But now another evil is rising at the abbey — one that has even the Unseelie King running scared.
The Crowfield Demon is even better and spookier than The Crowfield Curse. I didn’t realize how familiar the abbey had begun to feel after one relatively short book; when the structure begins to fail, it’s like a shattering of the world, albeit a small, circumscribed world. Pat Walsh builds the suspense well. Creepy, inexplicable art in the church; mysterious artifacts found beneath the stones; foul odors; unsettling dreams; hidden documents from the past — all of these add up to a great mystery. William, Shadlok, Brother Snail, and Brother Walter must piece together what’s going on and how to stop it, before things get even worse at Crowfield.
William continues to shine as a protagonist. How much do I love this kid? He’s so brave, and so good at heart. He’s been through some terrible things, and most of the monks seem to value him more for his strong shoulders than for his innate worth. One of the best aspects of The Crowfield Demon is William’s dawning realization that, while he has lost his family, he is beginning to build a new one with his dear friends and is no longer alone in the world. It’s so gratifying to see his life get a little warmer.
I don’t know how many books are planned in the CROWFIELD ABBEY series, but I hope there will be more. Pat Walsh ties together history and folklore to create a terrific fantasy/horror setting, and brings it to life with well-drawn characters, both the admirable and the venal. I recommend these books to younger and older readers alike.
~Kelly Lasiter
Over five years ago I read Pat Walsh‘s The Crowfield Curse and absolutely loved it. The characters, the story, the atmosphere, the details — it was like it had been written just for me. So I was pretty excited at the thought of a sequel … so excited in fact, that I avoided reading it for years. Knowing there were only two books about William and Crowfield Abbey, I didn’t want my enjoyment of the series to end.
But I had to read it at some point, and now that it’s under my belt I’m a little sad it’s all over. The Crowfield Demon is a direct sequel to The Crowfield Curse, focusing on a young orphan boy who grapples with supernatural occurrences at Crowfield Abbey in 1348. In the last book William solved the mystery of a buried angel with the help of several fey creatures, but now things take a darker turn as clues accumulate pointing to a malevolent being within the abbey’s chapel. (It shouldn’t be too hard to guess considering the answer is in the title of the book).
Frightening things start happening at the Abbey: visions of a crow-headed creature, unaccountable vandalism of murals and statues, and finally the uncovering of a strangely carved bowl. With the help of a little hob and a hunchbacked monk known as Brother Snail, William tries to find a way to contain the demon beneath the abbey, knowing that he’s up against an evil so great he may not survive it.
The Crowfield Demon isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, more of a horror story than a fairy tale this time around, with several characters that fall by the wayside as the story goes on (after such a striking introduction, I thought we’d see a lot more from Robin).
But Walsh’s real gift is in melding folklore with Biblical lore, in which angel/demons and fey creatures co-exist uneasily together, each with their own set of laws and traditions. It reminded me of the fantastic The Secret of Kells film, which similarly explores the side-by-side relationship of Christianity and paganism, each with their own light and dark sides.
She’s also very good at bringing the 12th century to life in The Crowfield Demon, with detailed description on food, clothing, architecture, customs and ideologies. William makes for a likeable and sympathetic protagonist: fearful of the dark forces around him, but brave enough to act in defence of those he cares about.
There’s room left for a third instalment in the CROWFIELD ABBEY series, what with mention of dark times to come, a “light” inside William, the likes of the Unseelie King and Dame Alys still on the loose, and the relationship between William and Shadlok, but so far there’s no sign of any forthcoming book to continue the story. I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed.
~Rebecca Fisher
Crowfield — (2010-2011) Publisher: An angel is buried behind the abbey! It’s 1347, and Will, an orphan boy, lives and works as an apprentice of the Crowfield monks. Sent into the forest to gather firewood, he stumbles across a trapped, wounded creature no bigger than a cat.The little goblin shares a terrible secret: Buried deep in the snow behind the monastery is an angel. But, Will wonders, how can an angel die? And what does this angel have to do with the history of Crowfield? When two cloaked strangers show up and start asking questions, Will is drawn into a dangerous world of Old Magic.
I listened to the audio version of Crowfield Curse, which was really good and often creepy. Fortunately, my cat kept cool while I hypothesized aloud on various horrors and monsters which, I fear, could appear along the story ;)
I didn’t know there was to be a second book but I’ll surely get it.
Pat Walsh thank you for The Crowfield Curse. I just finished reading your book, what an easy quick read. I of course Googled you. I’m very pleased to hear that you have written two more books in the series. Oh did I mention that I absolutely loved the book. I’m sorry to have it end. I am not done looking you up. I hope you write more in this series. I also hope you have other books out there. I bought The Crowfield Curse at a thrift store near my house 🏡. It is worth buying at any price. I see it listed as a Young Readers book. I feel that this book is for the any age. I am very much an adult.