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bookishvice's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I'm as torn about this review as this book is about what it shows on the cover, what it wanted to say with its story, and what it ended up being.
Thrash is our sixteen-year-old fat witch MC who lives with her mom, protectrix Osmara who wields the Gift of Glamour. As you can guess, the clash between them is that Osmara prefers to glamour imperfections away, and she tries to get Thrash to conform to that view by very directly commenting on her outfit choices, her hair, and her weight. If you thought the happy and brightly colored cover was any indication of tone for how this is handled, think again. Massive fatphobia trigger warning for the entire book. Not only weight continues to be a topic that keeps coming up, but it keeps being a trigger for Thrash in all interactions, and there's never a point of growth out of this mindset. Points for being realistic, but I didn't think I was signing up to be triggered by my own body image issues for the rest of the book. Even Thrash's new-found friends each have a body image or self-worth issue. And I get these are very real issues teen (or anyone really) deal with, but my disappointment comes from none of it having a solid resolution or a turning point in the story.
The book starts mainly with Thrash, but then we start getting POVs from the other character, imo, to the detriment of the story. Because splitting our attention between so many people, and not giving us enough info or depth on each, created a very shallow pool for us to empathize or connect with the characters. Personally, I didn't connect with anyone...except maybe the bear familiar for being grumpy, to the point, and 100% a protector. But why did we need Osmara's horse familiar POV? What did it add to the story?
The worldbuilding was unique. We're presented with an alternate history of the birth of the US, and how witches interwove themselves into every aspect of daily life. The Gifts were explained well, but the knacks were sort of left to our imagination. They seemed to have no limits, no way of clearly identifying them. While I got that knacks and natural magic were supposed to be parallels to our real life creative/unique skills, I still think we could've gotten a bit more detail into this. Especially considering the dangerous nature of some knacks like mind reading. The Brotherhood guy was freely reading the girls minds without their consent and no one thought that was wrong???And the whole Brotherhood was formed by a rich guy in the 70s, lived on "protected" land near a leyline (aka highway), and the magical police had never found them??? All the little bits of info missing or details that didn't quite make sense, added up to the point where I lost interest in the world.
A couple of sensitivity issues also pinged my radar:
+ Thrash is described as being fat, having double chin, curly hair ('a magenta cloud'), pimples, and not caring about glamour for a perfect appearance. Yet the cover shows Thrash with perfect hair, perfect liner and lips, almost like she's using glamour like Cresca who sits behind her.
+ The only Black character is the poorest character of the group.
+ The Brotherhood is almost described like a tribe with how they live and how they work together, yet derisive comments fall from Thrash's and her friend's mouths.
+ The word Brotherhood itself is non-inclusive toward members who are not male, yet the group is composed of people from many genders.
Overall; it was not a pleasant read with the fatphobia triggers; it was not an easy read with so many new details and barely any resolutions or even depth to them; it was not a fulfilling read with the ending so rushed and anticlimactic; it was not the book for me.
Great cover though!
Thrash is our sixteen-year-old fat witch MC who lives with her mom, protectrix Osmara who wields the Gift of Glamour. As you can guess, the clash between them is that Osmara prefers to glamour imperfections away, and she tries to get Thrash to conform to that view by very directly commenting on her outfit choices, her hair, and her weight. If you thought the happy and brightly colored cover was any indication of tone for how this is handled, think again. Massive fatphobia trigger warning for the entire book. Not only weight continues to be a topic that keeps coming up, but it keeps being a trigger for Thrash in all interactions, and there's never a point of growth out of this mindset. Points for being realistic, but I didn't think I was signing up to be triggered by my own body image issues for the rest of the book. Even Thrash's new-found friends each have a body image or self-worth issue. And I get these are very real issues teen (or anyone really) deal with, but my disappointment comes from none of it having a solid resolution or a turning point in the story.
The book starts mainly with Thrash, but then we start getting POVs from the other character, imo, to the detriment of the story. Because splitting our attention between so many people, and not giving us enough info or depth on each, created a very shallow pool for us to empathize or connect with the characters. Personally, I didn't connect with anyone...except maybe the bear familiar for being grumpy, to the point, and 100% a protector. But why did we need
The worldbuilding was unique. We're presented with an alternate history of the birth of the US, and how witches interwove themselves into every aspect of daily life. The Gifts were explained well, but
A couple of sensitivity issues also pinged my radar:
+ Thrash is described as being fat, having double chin, curly hair ('a magenta cloud'), pimples, and not caring about glamour for a perfect appearance. Yet the cover shows Thrash with perfect hair, perfect liner and lips, almost like she's using glamour like Cresca who sits behind her.
+ The only Black character is the poorest character of the group.
+ The Brotherhood is almost described like a tribe with how they live and how they work together, yet derisive comments fall from Thrash's and her friend's mouths.
+ The word Brotherhood itself is non-inclusive toward members who are not male, yet the group is composed of people from many genders.
Overall; it was not a pleasant read with the fatphobia triggers; it was not an easy read with so many new details and barely any resolutions or even depth to them; it was not a fulfilling read with the ending so rushed and anticlimactic; it was not the book for me.
Great cover though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Death of parent and Car accident
adancewithbooks's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thank you to Sword Rose Press and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a book called Fat Witch Summer. It could go over the top, trying to be too funny. It could take itself too seriously and be too lecturing. Or it could be just the right balance.
"You're a witch, b***h." Cresca called behind her. "Start acting like it."
In this case I think, for the most part, this book hits the right balance. That balance between humor and emotions that works so very well. And especially the start of this book is very strong in that. I thought after the first half this fizzled out a little. This idea that all the characters needed to be deepened out so we get scenes from the other girls all of a sudden, became clear. I'm not quite sure that worked. It would have been better from the start in full point of views or just to stick to Thrash. Now I had to switch a lot.
I also still have a lot of questions about various things like the history of the thirteen states. We did get that dumped on us here and there but it never came alive for me enough to grasp it as a part of the story. It would put some of the various groups they came across (the rebellion, bounty hunters, the outliers etc) as a part of the whole for me. Now it didn't seem to mean that awful lot to me.
Having said that there were also still a lot of strong aspects of this story. I think the relationships between the four girls was a good one. How Thrash was on the outside but starts getting to know them. The insecurities of each and what they were dealing with at home. That did make this book feel more real so that some of the things that happened did leave its mark on the reader as well.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a book called Fat Witch Summer. It could go over the top, trying to be too funny. It could take itself too seriously and be too lecturing. Or it could be just the right balance.
"You're a witch, b***h." Cresca called behind her. "Start acting like it."
In this case I think, for the most part, this book hits the right balance. That balance between humor and emotions that works so very well. And especially the start of this book is very strong in that. I thought after the first half this fizzled out a little. This idea that all the characters needed to be deepened out so we get scenes from the other girls all of a sudden, became clear. I'm not quite sure that worked. It would have been better from the start in full point of views or just to stick to Thrash. Now I had to switch a lot.
I also still have a lot of questions about various things like the history of the thirteen states. We did get that dumped on us here and there but it never came alive for me enough to grasp it as a part of the story. It would put some of the various groups they came across (the rebellion, bounty hunters, the outliers etc) as a part of the whole for me. Now it didn't seem to mean that awful lot to me.
Having said that there were also still a lot of strong aspects of this story. I think the relationships between the four girls was a good one. How Thrash was on the outside but starts getting to know them. The insecurities of each and what they were dealing with at home. That did make this book feel more real so that some of the things that happened did leave its mark on the reader as well.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia
vel629vet's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Thrash is a lonely, plus-sized (but not ashamed of it) teenager struggling to connect with her career ambitious mother after the death of her mum. In addition, she’s eagerly waiting for her ‘knack’ - a sign that she has the abilities of a witch like both of her moms.
When her power does arrive, her mother’s superficial desires for Thrash become clear, and she takes off cross-country with a new group of friends who each have something to prove. Along the way they learn to trust each other and discover that the gifts bestowed to witches aren’t what they seem.
I was pleasantly surprised by this fun, road trip-driven story once I got into it. However, I constantly felt like something was missing, and I realized by the end it was a deeper world-building experience. There’s so much going on in this United States/Salem witch inspired universe, but more time needed to be spent building out the country, the government, and the sentiment toward witches. For example, at one point it’s mentioned that 80% of people aren’t witches, but every single person we meet in the story has magic (save 1 or 2). There was a tight focus on what was happening with the girls (with a slightly confusing POV switch here and there), but then we’d get tiny glimpses of the rest of the country and how it functioned. It left me wanting to know more about the native/indigenous people, about each state’s individual laws, about how little things work with and without magic.
Overall, a really enjoyable book! I’m intrigued to see if there are sequels planned!
When her power does arrive, her mother’s superficial desires for Thrash become clear, and she takes off cross-country with a new group of friends who each have something to prove. Along the way they learn to trust each other and discover that the gifts bestowed to witches aren’t what they seem.
I was pleasantly surprised by this fun, road trip-driven story once I got into it. However, I constantly felt like something was missing, and I realized by the end it was a deeper world-building experience. There’s so much going on in this United States/Salem witch inspired universe, but more time needed to be spent building out the country, the government, and the sentiment toward witches. For example, at one point it’s mentioned that 80% of people aren’t witches, but every single person we meet in the story has magic (save 1 or 2). There was a tight focus on what was happening with the girls (with a slightly confusing POV switch here and there), but then we’d get tiny glimpses of the rest of the country and how it functioned. It left me wanting to know more about the native/indigenous people, about each state’s individual laws, about how little things work with and without magic.
Overall, a really enjoyable book! I’m intrigued to see if there are sequels planned!
Content Warnings
Minor: Fatphobia and Death of parent
tiernanhunter's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Cancer, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, and Mental illness
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