Reviews with content warning for Death - Bad Witch Burning

I feel the need to clarify that my rating has nothing to do with the quality of the book. This book had a profound negative impact on me mentally. I don't believe the synopsis accurately gives an impression of this book, which may lead some to read it and have the same reaction.

This book is incredibly dark in a very real way. The magic is a side plot in a story about very depressing real world issues that have personally affected me. Please read the content warning and know just how dark this book is before going in. Specifically, if you cannot handle depictions of verbally, physically, and financially abusive parents then do not read this book.

I think using "black girl magic" as buzzwords for this book does both the story and black girls a great disservice. That movement was started to reframe the narrative around black girls and women. The marketing team fundamentally misunderstood that and stripped all meaning from it to instead describe a black girl literally doing magic.

I regret reading this book, I truly do. That being said, I can see the value others have found in this. It is well written. The plot is interesting and unique. The friendship between the two main characters is genuinely heartwarming and wonderful, I wish it were the center of the book. All that being said, only read this if you have the emotional strength to handle a very bleak and depressing depiction of something that may hit close to home.

Content Warnings

idreaminbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense slow-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

5.0

Content Warnings

porshea's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Growing up Black and a young woman is not for the faint of heart. Jessica Lewis, author of Bad Witch Burning, attests to this fact, pulling details from her own life to share Katrell, the protagonist of this novel, with the world.

Katrell is 16 going on 17 in modern day Alabama and her world is nowhere near as idyllic as the life led by Liesl von Trapp, although the love she has for those near her is just as complicated. As we begin the story, Katrell is still reeling from her mother’s decision to rely on the meager earnings she and her mother’s boyfriend, Gerald, bring in months after being laid off from a retail job. Though recent, nothing about this dynamic is new for Katrell, who has found herself consumed by concerns about making rent and enough money to cover utilities and other basic needs for most of her life. Because of her restaurant job and phantasmal connections she makes for clients, Katrell is unable to truly focus on school and plans to drop out as soon as she turns 17 in order to keep her mother from going to court. Circumstances take on a more dire dimension when Katrell stands up to Gerald and her powers amplify from simple communion with the dead to their resurrection. Seizing an entrepreneurial opportunity in bringing people back from the beyond, Katrell is soon raking in enough money to cover rent for the year in addition to the other expenses she’s been worried about. However, using her powers in such an extreme way puts a lot of wear and tear on her body—clouding much of her thinking and how well she manages school and work—something that does not go unnoticed by those who care for her.

Read more here: https://blackgirlscreate.org/2021/08/the-plot-thickens-bad-witch-burning/

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