Last year one of my friends, Neal Litherland had an important announcement. He had finally published a novel! As all his other work I’ve read to date was short stories, this was notable news indeed. And, being a good friend, I resolved to pick up the book…at some point. Of course this was put off until Capricon, wherein I was able to snag a physical copy in person, but such is life. At least I didn’t wait a year or more to read it once I got the thing.

Crier’s Knife is, so I’m told, the first book about the Crier family. Neal plans to make it a series, though each book will follow a different member of the clan. They all live on Ben Morgh, a mountain that is shunned by the lowlanders around them. Each adult finds and stakes their own claim, finds a spouse to bring home, and raises a family. Blaise Crier is the matriarch, known to all as the White Woman. The flat landers think her more than a little uncanny, and all of the Crier family is known to be a bit strange.

The opening chapter features a nameless Crier running for his life and using an omen, a gift of his grandmother, to call for help. His grandmother is, of course, Blaise, who then sends for Dirk. The missing man is Teller, a cousin of Dirk’s, and their grandmother sends Dirk to rescue him. Or take vengeance upon those who killed him, if that turns out to be the case.

Dirk’s a quiet man, more apt to listen than to speak, as he tracks down his cousin. But he doesn’t waste the words he says, and only death itself could stop him from finding Teller…or what happened to him.

I often forget how truly skilled Neal is with description, and how much time he invests in ensuring his words come out well. I can feel the influence of Appalachia in every descriptive phrase and sentence. Some of his choices floored me with respect. For example, instead of the problematic “indian summer” Neal used the phrase “borrowed summer”, which is poetic, apt, and doesn’t involve racism. Or “sun flecks” instead of “freckles”, which just makes me want to go diving into the etymology of “freckles” to see where on earth it actually came from.

Crier’s Knife is not a particularly long book, but it’s dense enough that I feel it should’ve been a hundred pages longer for the amount of time it took me to read it. Sure, a couple things were predictable and yes, I could figure out one of the ongoing mysteries relatively early on…but I was meant to. Neal left the clues there for anyone to see, if they’d the wit. And now I also understand the illustration on the front cover.

This book was thoroughly enjoyable, and not just because my friend wrote it. I think it serves as a good introduction to the world and the Crier family, and I know I’ll be keeping an eye out for a Facebook status announcing the next volume. I may not even wait until a convention to get my copy.