Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
“They’ll call us witches, accuse us of bad things, for they’ll not abide a woman with knowledge and ability” - ‘Sycorax’, Nydia Hetherington
——————
I cannot recommend this book highly enough - it is a truly beautiful & heartbreaking story, full of pain, love, loneliness and feminine rage. Particularly if you are a fan of magical realism & feminist retellings of mythological figures, this is absolutely the book for you! This is also a very character-driven & prose-heavy tale, and I fell in love with it very quickly. I am so grateful to NetGalley, Quercus Books and Nydia Hetherington for letting me read this ARC, I feel very privileged to have gotten to experience this story.
Nydia Hetherington writes in such an enchanting yet grounded way. Her choice to centre this latest book on Sycorax - a witch who is briefly mentioned in a few lines of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ - was inspired, and the seeds she grew from those brief Shakespearean mentions, creating such an awe-inspiring & sympathetic main character, is wonderful to experience. Sycorax is flawed but extremely relatable & endearing, and I felt for her throughout the story (some joy, some full-blown rage); she’s a very well-written character.
This story gives an incredibly insightful look at the realities of living with a chronic pain condition, and living as a woman in a misogynist world, and the strength it takes to bear those burdens. I particularly loved getting to hear about the lives of Atlas, Sycorax and Yemma - showing us many different facets of the experiences of women and anyone perceived as an ‘outsider’ - throughout the narrative. A lot of the physical pain that Sycorax experiences was described so vividly & effectively; I would go so far as to say this book is an important read for anyone who has no experience of chronic pain themselves but wants to better understand it.
As there are some heavy themes touched on in this story, I will list Content Warnings for those who find them helpful. So please look away now to avoid MINOR SPOILERS BELOW:
——————
Content Warnings:
- angry/judgmental parent, potentially triggering for child emotional abuse
- animal cruelty & death
- bereavement & death, including death of a parent
- chronic pain condition (throughout, described in detail) and ableism
- depression
- misogyny (throughout), including rape culture & predatory behaviour by a man in a position of power against teenage girls
- pregnancy & childbirth (mentioned multiple times throughout, one instance of childbirth described in detail)
- sexual content (not described in detail)
- sexual harassment & assault/rape (some described in detail)
- slavery, including brief description of slave ships
- violence - including mob violence, war/invasion, and semi-graphic injury (description of burning flesh)
- xenophobia
——————
I cannot recommend this book highly enough - it is a truly beautiful & heartbreaking story, full of pain, love, loneliness and feminine rage. Particularly if you are a fan of magical realism & feminist retellings of mythological figures, this is absolutely the book for you! This is also a very character-driven & prose-heavy tale, and I fell in love with it very quickly. I am so grateful to NetGalley, Quercus Books and Nydia Hetherington for letting me read this ARC, I feel very privileged to have gotten to experience this story.
Nydia Hetherington writes in such an enchanting yet grounded way. Her choice to centre this latest book on Sycorax - a witch who is briefly mentioned in a few lines of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ - was inspired, and the seeds she grew from those brief Shakespearean mentions, creating such an awe-inspiring & sympathetic main character, is wonderful to experience. Sycorax is flawed but extremely relatable & endearing, and I felt for her throughout the story (some joy, some full-blown rage); she’s a very well-written character.
This story gives an incredibly insightful look at the realities of living with a chronic pain condition, and living as a woman in a misogynist world, and the strength it takes to bear those burdens. I particularly loved getting to hear about the lives of Atlas, Sycorax and Yemma - showing us many different facets of the experiences of women and anyone perceived as an ‘outsider’ - throughout the narrative. A lot of the physical pain that Sycorax experiences was described so vividly & effectively; I would go so far as to say this book is an important read for anyone who has no experience of chronic pain themselves but wants to better understand it.
As there are some heavy themes touched on in this story, I will list Content Warnings for those who find them helpful. So please look away now to avoid MINOR SPOILERS BELOW:
——————
Content Warnings:
Spoiler
- angry/judgmental parent, potentially triggering for child emotional abuse
- animal cruelty & death
- bereavement & death, including death of a parent
- chronic pain condition (throughout, described in detail) and ableism
- depression
- misogyny (throughout), including rape culture & predatory behaviour by a man in a position of power against teenage girls
- pregnancy & childbirth (mentioned multiple times throughout, one instance of childbirth described in detail)
- sexual content (not described in detail)
- sexual harassment & assault/rape (some described in detail)
- slavery, including brief description of slave ships
- violence - including mob violence, war/invasion, and semi-graphic injury (description of burning flesh)
- xenophobia
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I loved that this was dedicated to chronically ill and disabled spoonies! A Feminist Retelling of The Tempest, where we get to hear from Sycorax who in the play isn’t present except in reference, and is long dead at the time of the play.
I love retellings and wanted to love this but unfortunately I couldn’t finish the book. While the writing is beautiful, it’s very slow paced and I never felt engaged by the story or characters. The feminism aspects are very “feminism 101” which is fine but not groundbreaking or something that stuck out. And a nit picky moment was the author talking about a mountain lion, calling it a mountain lion, but then goes on to describe a lion 🙃
There are many others who’ve loved the book so I’d recommend trying it and maybe it’ll be a better read for you!
Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for the eARC
I love retellings and wanted to love this but unfortunately I couldn’t finish the book. While the writing is beautiful, it’s very slow paced and I never felt engaged by the story or characters. The feminism aspects are very “feminism 101” which is fine but not groundbreaking or something that stuck out. And a nit picky moment was the author talking about a mountain lion, calling it a mountain lion, but then goes on to describe a lion 🙃
There are many others who’ve loved the book so I’d recommend trying it and maybe it’ll be a better read for you!
Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for the eARC
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
~~Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the ARC!~~
I'm really sorely lacking in my Shakespeare knowledge, but I was still drawn to read this because the premise sounded really good. My expectations tend to work against me, because I just thought this was okay.
The writing is definitely Hetherington's biggest strength. The prose was very lyrical and flowed like the sea whenever the plot called for somber moments or the most tumultuous ones. It almost felt lifted straight from Shakespeare's pen himself.
Sycorax is a pretty strong character, too. In the face of sexism and fear of her knowledge and powers, she takes it all in stride, all while battling an auto-immune disease. The author spoke of the personal stake she had in writing this, as she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and had to deal with a lot of misogyny while she was seeking treatment. That experience definitely reflects much of Sycorax's struggle through a lot of the book, but it doesn't define her, whatsoever. The parts I enjoyed most with her are those she shared with her old widow friend Yemma, who is delightfully chaotic and an amazing friend to the main character.
The reason why I didn't rate this higher was because I found the story to be too long. Despite the pretty writing, it got repetitive and lengthy a lot of the time, especially whenever Sycorax was alone and was having internal reflections. Those bits bored me and took my enjoyment away from the story.
All in all, for someone who hasn't read The Tempest yet, I still think this is a good reimagining of an unseen, but vital, character. People who love the play may get a lot more joy from this novel than me, but all for the best, really.
I'm really sorely lacking in my Shakespeare knowledge, but I was still drawn to read this because the premise sounded really good. My expectations tend to work against me, because I just thought this was okay.
The writing is definitely Hetherington's biggest strength. The prose was very lyrical and flowed like the sea whenever the plot called for somber moments or the most tumultuous ones. It almost felt lifted straight from Shakespeare's pen himself.
Sycorax is a pretty strong character, too. In the face of sexism and fear of her knowledge and powers, she takes it all in stride, all while battling an auto-immune disease. The author spoke of the personal stake she had in writing this, as she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and had to deal with a lot of misogyny while she was seeking treatment. That experience definitely reflects much of Sycorax's struggle through a lot of the book, but it doesn't define her, whatsoever. The parts I enjoyed most with her are those she shared with her old widow friend Yemma, who is delightfully chaotic and an amazing friend to the main character.
The reason why I didn't rate this higher was because I found the story to be too long. Despite the pretty writing, it got repetitive and lengthy a lot of the time, especially whenever Sycorax was alone and was having internal reflections. Those bits bored me and took my enjoyment away from the story.
All in all, for someone who hasn't read The Tempest yet, I still think this is a good reimagining of an unseen, but vital, character. People who love the play may get a lot more joy from this novel than me, but all for the best, really.
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes