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shire_girl99's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I would describe this book as The VVitch meets The Handmaid's Tale. I found how the different antagonists interact with each other and with Immanuelle to be very interesting. The way that the witches were described was really interesting, I was not expecting them to also be an actual evil force alongside but still opposed to the Prophet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Pregnancy
skelleybean's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book was so dark and raw, and I loved it all… until it tripped at the finish line and kind of turned into an after school special.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic
michaelttay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The pacing in the book was sometimes odd and the battle moments needed more energy but I couldn’t stop reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Confinement, Gore, and Misogyny
Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, and Blood
manicpixiedreaming's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
didn't like the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Animal death, and Blood
Moderate: Misogyny and Racism
peachani's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Medical trauma, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Animal death
Minor: Racism, Chronic illness, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Classism, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment
jht5791's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Pregnancy
historic_wince's review against another edition
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault
book_voyager's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
3.5
It’s been a while since I was this into reading (and finishing) a book. This one clearly called me home.
In general, the plot itself is not super original but the story is quite well written. The setting is interesting, and the world-building has been successful.
Although I do wish witches and witchcraft weren’t always the evil side. Even if the church in this book was depicted as faulty (and somewhat evil), witches still got the worst rep.
In general, the plot itself is not super original but the story is quite well written. The setting is interesting, and the world-building has been successful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse
Moderate: War and Torture
theologize's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Death, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Gun violence
legs_n_chins's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
2.0
I really, really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it failed to engage me and the things I found lacking ended up far outweighing the things I really enjoyed. I came very close to DNF-ing multiple times. But I wanted to see it through to the end and the horror elements were solid enough that I wanted more of that.
Tl;dr: Main character suffers too much from Main Character Syndrome and too much of the story felt spoon-fed. Messaging was muddled. But horror elements held up through the end and atmosphere was appropriately dark.
The writing was technically solid. Henderson can set a scene well and creates a solid atmosphere. I felt the pacing was steady, quick to get from one part to the next without falling stagnant. However, the author also fell very heavily into the trap of telling, not showing. Many things that we were told occurred or things we were told the mc was thinking would’ve been more impactful if we had any basis of textual evidence for these statements. I also felt that information was spoon fed to the audience far too often, almost to the point that I felt condescended to. Some of the revelations, for example, that come toward the end that seem shocking to the mc shouldn’t have been shocking at all, as we seemed to have dwelled on this information for a long time prior.
I did really enjoy some parts of this book. The tension of the climax was excellent and the elements of nature and darkness were utilized well. I like the horror aspect, the constant haunting that seemed to dog our steps as the story progressed. The plagues were creative and helped continually raise the stakes through the narrative. And the way Henderson envisioned the witches, Lilith especially, was really incredible. I loved the image of the witches and the sinister otherworldliness of them.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book fell short of my expectations. Maybe I’m judging to harshly because of that, but I felt that the characters were shallow and relationships hollow. Some scenes between characters I felt were undeserved, the relationship not built enough for me to grasp the emotion the author was trying to convey. The mc never convinced me of her motivation or strength of character, and far too often it felt like she was in a bad quest epic where the most significant steps she took in her own narrative were to decide who to ask for help and when. And then in those cases she seemed to receive answers or aid without any significant obstacle. I could really overdo the word count on some examples, but this is already getting long and my main gripe is more significant.
I was confused by the commentary or message this book was attempting to impart. I’ll admit I can be dense about these things, and maybe I was told to expect something different that what this was intended to be, but this was billed to me as a dark fantasy wrapped around an intersectional feminist narrative. As a female-presenting poc myself, I was eager to see how Henderson would dig into this, but like everything else it felt rather shallow. The message I believe I could see here was that the patriarchal system seeks to make monsters of us all and turn women against each other to keep the structure in place. Which is all well and good, but I was hoping the narrative would allow for a breaking of that and give the women a chance to be allies with each other. Minor end spoilers:I suppose it did at the end, but like everything else it felt undeserved as up until that moment everyone had turned their back on the mc . More significant end spoiler: And, in the end, one of the final decisions made by the mc is in service to the saving of a man. A love interest I felt was unnecessary, eschewing the previously established motivation of saving the whole town.
There was also a part toward the middle of the book where the mc, a biracial woman, seeks to connect with her Black heritage and the time spent on that subplot was unfortunately brief. I’m biracial myself, I recognized some of what the author was saying here, but it still felt too surface-level because I didn’t feel the mc had a clear enough through-line of deep desire to make these connections. Though she expressed feelings of being an outsider in her own family, I wasn’t convinced of her consistent motivation to find the piece that was missing.
All in all, I was hoping for more depth and found it lacking. I may have been blinded by my own expectations and, unable to shake them, let my disappointment color my potential enjoyment of the book. But, I stand by my own critiques.
Tl;dr: Main character suffers too much from Main Character Syndrome and too much of the story felt spoon-fed. Messaging was muddled. But horror elements held up through the end and atmosphere was appropriately dark.
The writing was technically solid. Henderson can set a scene well and creates a solid atmosphere. I felt the pacing was steady, quick to get from one part to the next without falling stagnant. However, the author also fell very heavily into the trap of telling, not showing. Many things that we were told occurred or things we were told the mc was thinking would’ve been more impactful if we had any basis of textual evidence for these statements. I also felt that information was spoon fed to the audience far too often, almost to the point that I felt condescended to. Some of the revelations, for example, that come toward the end that seem shocking to the mc shouldn’t have been shocking at all, as we seemed to have dwelled on this information for a long time prior.
I did really enjoy some parts of this book. The tension of the climax was excellent and the elements of nature and darkness were utilized well. I like the horror aspect, the constant haunting that seemed to dog our steps as the story progressed. The plagues were creative and helped continually raise the stakes through the narrative. And the way Henderson envisioned the witches, Lilith especially, was really incredible. I loved the image of the witches and the sinister otherworldliness of them.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book fell short of my expectations. Maybe I’m judging to harshly because of that, but I felt that the characters were shallow and relationships hollow. Some scenes between characters I felt were undeserved, the relationship not built enough for me to grasp the emotion the author was trying to convey. The mc never convinced me of her motivation or strength of character, and far too often it felt like she was in a bad quest epic where the most significant steps she took in her own narrative were to decide who to ask for help and when. And then in those cases she seemed to receive answers or aid without any significant obstacle. I could really overdo the word count on some examples, but this is already getting long and my main gripe is more significant.
I was confused by the commentary or message this book was attempting to impart. I’ll admit I can be dense about these things, and maybe I was told to expect something different that what this was intended to be, but this was billed to me as a dark fantasy wrapped around an intersectional feminist narrative. As a female-presenting poc myself, I was eager to see how Henderson would dig into this, but like everything else it felt rather shallow. The message I believe I could see here was that the patriarchal system seeks to make monsters of us all and turn women against each other to keep the structure in place. Which is all well and good, but I was hoping the narrative would allow for a breaking of that and give the women a chance to be allies with each other. Minor end spoilers:
There was also a part toward the middle of the book where the mc, a biracial woman, seeks to connect with her Black heritage and the time spent on that subplot was unfortunately brief. I’m biracial myself, I recognized some of what the author was saying here, but it still felt too surface-level because I didn’t feel the mc had a clear enough through-line of deep desire to make these connections. Though she expressed feelings of being an outsider in her own family, I wasn’t convinced of her consistent motivation to find the piece that was missing.
All in all, I was hoping for more depth and found it lacking. I may have been blinded by my own expectations and, unable to shake them, let my disappointment color my potential enjoyment of the book. But, I stand by my own critiques.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Gore, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexual assault
Minor: Pedophilia and Incest