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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
4 ⭐ CW: descriptions of blood and gore, violence, death/murder, animal sacrifice, animal death, misogyny, scarification, self-harm, menstruation mention, sex, racism, domestic abuse, child abuse, child sexual abuse mention, torture, childbirth/medical trauma
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson is book 1 in the Bethel series. This is the first book about witches in a puritanical society I've read that features a black MC. This is the witch and Salem witch trial adjacent story I've been looking for! There is way more rep for black people in this book than I've seen for this time period other than slavery.
We follow Immanuel Moore, a mixed race black girl in land called Bethel, that is puritanical to its core. Women have no rights and they and the younger girls bear the burden of sin due to the belief in witchcraft. Except in Bethel, witches are real, and Immanuel's mother consorted with them. In Bethel, the only way to purge and purify a sinner such as a witch, means burning them on a pyre.
When Immanuel accidentally sets off plagues in Bethel, she realizes she's the only one that can stop the curse and save Bethel and all the innocent girls in it. Soon Immanuel realizes the threat isn't the witches, it's the system the Church and the Prophet created to harm and exploit women and girls, and the complicity bystanders who do nothing.
This was a very gruesome read, but fascinating nonetheless. Henderson examines themes around religious and patriarchal oppression as a means to gain power and control, the hypocrisy of the Church, and the endless cycle of violence. She examines how prolonged abuse and oppression can turn someone who used to be gentle into a violent, vengeful thing. She tells us that mercy is the only way to move forward and leave the violence behind. "Blood begets blood."
There were so many passages I tabbed, because the messages are just so good. It's nice to see a fresh take on puritanical witches and society. I will be reading the next book.
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson is book 1 in the Bethel series. This is the first book about witches in a puritanical society I've read that features a black MC. This is the witch and Salem witch trial adjacent story I've been looking for! There is way more rep for black people in this book than I've seen for this time period other than slavery.
We follow Immanuel Moore, a mixed race black girl in land called Bethel, that is puritanical to its core. Women have no rights and they and the younger girls bear the burden of sin due to the belief in witchcraft. Except in Bethel, witches are real, and Immanuel's mother consorted with them. In Bethel, the only way to purge and purify a sinner such as a witch, means burning them on a pyre.
When Immanuel accidentally sets off plagues in Bethel, she realizes she's the only one that can stop the curse and save Bethel and all the innocent girls in it. Soon Immanuel realizes the threat isn't the witches, it's the system the Church and the Prophet created to harm and exploit women and girls, and the complicity bystanders who do nothing.
This was a very gruesome read, but fascinating nonetheless. Henderson examines themes around religious and patriarchal oppression as a means to gain power and control, the hypocrisy of the Church, and the endless cycle of violence. She examines how prolonged abuse and oppression can turn someone who used to be gentle into a violent, vengeful thing. She tells us that mercy is the only way to move forward and leave the violence behind. "Blood begets blood."
There were so many passages I tabbed, because the messages are just so good. It's nice to see a fresh take on puritanical witches and society. I will be reading the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Sexual content
bnelson13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
5.0
This book is fantastic! I loved the plot and the characters. Immanuelle was a great protagonist and I loved her journey. This book was so hard to put down.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, Cursing, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Child death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Torture
emily_journals's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
3.5
Ok, first off, the premise of this book is so intriguing to me. I was so invested in the premise and first 2/3 of this book, but the last 1/3 of this book really missed the mark for me. Without going into too much detail, the second guessing of the town and church's true motives is built up throughout the whole first 2/3 of the book, and then kind of abandoned and not truly fulfilled at the end of the book. Overall, this book was just really disappointing to me. When I picked it up, I was so excited and eager to dig down to the bottom of the mystery and learning about all these secrets towards the beginning of the book was so exciting, but the resolution was such a let down on all of the points the book seemed to be attempting to make.
Ok, now for some spoiler specific review comments to explain the above points:
1.) So, the entire beginning of the book was all about how Immanuelle was sort of discovering these issues and prejudices within the church, and also her discovering the "true story" behind the origins of Bethel and the story of the three witches. The beginning of this book was really building up how the men who run this town were not good people, and would deliberately hurt women and people with less power who tried to stand up against them, and applying that to the witches, BUT THEN you discover that the witches really were just completely evil and wanted to kill everyone and are still trying to destroy the town and EVERYONE in it (not just the manipulative men), which almost entirely negates the point that this book seems to be trying to make.
2.) The mom issue was never resolved. Immanuelle's mom supposedly was consorting with these three witch spirits to curse the entire town (not just the people who caused all of her pain). Immanuelle goes through all of these steps and discoveries that her mom essentially used her as a conduit to bring the curse to the town (which is also why only Immanuelle can stop it), and that her mom left Immanuelle to just become only this thing to carry the curse. However, when Immanuelle goes and finds her grandma (dad's mom) who left Bethel, she says that Immanuelle's mom was so over protective of Immanuelle even before she was born, and how excited she was to have her baby and how she would never reduce Immanuelle to essentially an object to carry out the curse. But this thread is never resolved. It just is left dangling, and the only resolution we get is that Immanuelle's mom really did just use Immanuelle to deliver this curse? Which again, reduces the point this book is making by having this woman who is betrayed and hurt by all the men in power in Bethel reduce her own child to an object (which is what this book seems to be trying to protest, the objectification of women and how the men of Bethel think that they can do whatever they want with these women).
3.) There is kind of a "white savior" ending. Not fully, but there are little bits and pieces of it with the love interest (white boy) saving Immanuelle multiple times at the end, so that she can then save the town. I don't think it's a full white savior, but the fact that he needed to save Immanuelle at all was a little irksome, as it is proven throughout the whole book that Immanuelle is very capable on her own, so I thought it was a little frustrating that the author did this when we, the audience, know it's not needed.
Ok, now for some spoiler specific review comments to explain the above points:
2.) The mom issue was never resolved. Immanuelle's mom supposedly was consorting with these three witch spirits to curse the entire town (not just the people who caused all of her pain). Immanuelle goes through all of these steps and discoveries that her mom essentially used her as a conduit to bring the curse to the town (which is also why only Immanuelle can stop it), and that her mom left Immanuelle to just become only this thing to carry the curse. However, when Immanuelle goes and finds her grandma (dad's mom) who left Bethel, she says that Immanuelle's mom was so over protective of Immanuelle even before she was born, and how excited she was to have her baby and how she would never reduce Immanuelle to essentially an object to carry out the curse. But this thread is never resolved. It just is left dangling, and the only resolution we get is that Immanuelle's mom really did just use Immanuelle to deliver this curse? Which again, reduces the point this book is making by having this woman who is betrayed and hurt by all the men in power in Bethel reduce her own child to an object (which is what this book seems to be trying to protest, the objectification of women and how the men of Bethel think that they can do whatever they want with these women).
3.) There is kind of a "white savior" ending. Not fully, but there are little bits and pieces of it with the love interest (white boy) saving Immanuelle multiple times at the end, so that she can then save the town. I don't think it's a full white savior, but the fact that he needed to save Immanuelle at all was a little irksome, as it is proven throughout the whole book that Immanuelle is very capable on her own, so I thought it was a little frustrating that the author did this when we, the audience, know it's not needed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual violence, Death, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Animal death, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Death of parent
_forestofpages's review against another edition
I did not enjoy the atmosphere, the main character was boring and too weak in my opinion, thoug I understand why I was nearly halfway into the book and she still had yet to do anything remotely interesting. She was beyond passive. The, what I assume, love interest was boring as well and I had no idea what anyone's motivations were even 6 hrs into the book. Not the book for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Sexism
axelstudies's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Violence, and Gun violence
mmefish's review against another edition
Too much telling instead of showing, the narrative is repetitive. It’s a debut novel, and it reads like one. It has some interesting elements, but not enough to grab my attention.
The book definitely has a YA vibe, which is frustrating.
The book definitely has a YA vibe, which is frustrating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Sexual content
sarahsbooklife's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Xenophobia, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Rape
sara_phoenix's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry
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