Advance Review: NINETY-EIGHT SABERS

by | Nov 2, 2024 | Book Reviews, Reviews, The Horror Review News | 0 comments

Ninety-Eight Sabers
Elizabeth Broadbent
Undertaker Books (November 29, 2024)
Reviewed by Nora B. Peevy

Ninety-Eight Sabers by Elizabeth Broadbent is a grand follow up to the novella Ink Vine. Broadbent didn’t disappoint. Her skill with language to evoke emotion is a thing of beauty. And this story is more than just a Southern Gothic novel. All the key elements are there—a dilapidated mansion, creepy ghosts, and unhinged characters—but this backdrop lends itself for a painful discussion America has yet to really have—the shame of slavery and racism is still imminent in our culture today.

Ash and his relatives inherit their family’s plantation. He’s turned the mansion into the site for a ghost hunting series. Olivia and the rest of the family have fled from their ancestral home because of the strange trio of ghosts, the ghosts of the slaves, and the abusive father/uncle they all knew. But when their father/uncle dies, they are summoned home to collect their inheritance.

Unlike most Southern Gothic novels, however, Broadbent chooses to use this backdrop to discuss the legacy of racism in America today. It’s interesting to note she discusses her own childhood raised in a racist household in the South and how this novel affected her. This story is cathartic. Broadbent’s words are honest and true.

The snarky and witty sarcasm of the characters is one of the few facets I could call “charming,” because who would call a book about slavery “charming”? The visceral pain of her characters leaves a saber in my own heart. If Broadbent hadn’t added that bit of snark to the book, I would be crying because the authenticity of her characters and her own experience jumps out at me from the pages demanding witness. That is the mark of a grand writer, when they can evoke such passionate emotions in me. Thank you, Elizabeth Broadbent, for such a beautiful and heartfelt journey.

About Nora B. Peevy

Nora B. Peevy is a cat trapped in a human’s body. Please send help or tuna. She toils away for JournalStone and Trepidatio Publishing as a submissions reader, is a co-editor for Alien Sun Press, the newest reviewer for Hellnotes, and has been published by Eighth Tower Press, Weird Fiction Quarterly, and other places. Usually, you can find her on Facebook asking for help escaping from her human body or to get tuna. Tuna is nice. Cats like tuna.

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