Title: The Crow Box (The Shadow and Ink series)
Author: Nikki Rae
Publisher: Self-published
Published: January 14th 2016
Length: 234 pages
My Rating: 4.5/5
I recall when I was younger, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, when Twilight was the biggest craze and dark, romantic novels were the forefront of my mind. Since then, my choice of genre has changed drastically, so I was slightly concerned I wasn't going to enjoy this book. However, The Crow Box was truly beautiful. From the very first line I was intrigued about the mysterious voice whispering in the protagonist's mind, and Rae's language was complex yet somehow fragile.
Corbin Greene, a Fine Arts college student, is teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown. What with her mother suffering from Schizophrenia, Borderline Personality Disorder, and OCD, Corbin's only solace is in her art. From the beginning of the novel, Corbin is able to hear a voice which speaks to her - mostly during the night - and appears to be in love with her. However, when Corbin's mother buys Corbin a box to hold her painting supplies in, the voice and hallucinations begin to grow worse for Corbin. For the majority of the novel, Corbin is convinced that like her mother she has developed a mental illness and is hallucinating the voice, who claims to be called 'Six', and even goes so far as to check herself into a mental hospital.
What I loved so much about this book was Rae's take on mental illness. The description of Corbin's mother's illness is extremely realistic, and the way she depicts Corbin's mother going through periods of blankness due to her mental state I found was extremely realistic. I have personally known people with mental illnesses, and Rae has done an excellent job on portraying this.
Onto the character of 'Six'. I have so many thoughts regarding the mysterious voice in Corbin's mind, who may or may not be real. Six really interested me, the entire time I was sat reading The Crow Box I was questioning his motives. Six is deeply attached to Corbin, even going so far as to attack a man who attempts to sexually assault her, and his adoration of Corbin is clear from the beginning of the novel until the very end. Six is fascinating because the reader can't quite figure him out. Corbin's wariness of him makes us, the reader, wary of him and it made me question whether he truly loved Corbin, or was simply using her for her energy. Corbin's energy makes Six stronger, it makes him more than a voice and can allow him to form a body from time to time, but due to his lack of strength he cannot maintain a body for long and doesn't like Corbin seeing him when he doesn't have a proper body. Though I am certain that Six is very affection towards Corbin, due to his constant terms of endearment towards her like 'little crow' and 'my love', I question the capacity of his love and if it is true. Furthermore, I really did enjoy Six's characterisation, especially when the reader was allowed into his mind through a short P.O.V chapter towards the end of the novel.
Corbin was a character I truly loved. She stood so far apart from some protagonist's that I've read, who immediately fall into the trap of believing the supernatural force which is seducing them. She was far from a 'Bella Swan' character, she was incredibly strong willed, even going so far as to check herself into a mental hospital and endure it for a few weeks before she was deemed healthy enough to leave. There aren't many characters that I've read who have the mental strength which Corbin appears to have, and it gives me confidence that if Six is manipulating her she won't back down from a fight. I also adored Rae's language that she used when describing Corbin's urge to paint and draw, it reminded me so much of myself when I was younger and when I was invested in drawing.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and I would definitely recommend it to others who are interested in the New Adult and Romance genre. Rae also includes her own illustrations in the novel, which are absolutely beautiful and really add character to the rest of the story. The only issue I had with the book was the lack of explanation from Six at times, there are so many unanswered questions about him that I'm very curious to know, and I hope that certain situations can be explained from Six in the next novel in the series, The Snake Den.
If you would like to read The Crow Box, which I highly suggest you do, I have left a link so that you can purchase the novel on Amazon for Kindle or in paper back edition: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crow-Box-Shadow-Ink/dp/1530298385/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488297060&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Crow+Box
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