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bingsoojung 's review for:
Motheater
by Linda H. Codega
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. In all matters of fair discloser, Lin Codgea and I have mutual friends, though I myself have never met them.
Motheater is a delightful book exploring what it means to belong to a land and what happens when that which capitalism eats, decides to eat back. I recommend this book for people who love queer witches, the Appalachia’s, and really fucking hate capitalism.
To get my criticisms out of this way, this book is a slow dry start, that will make you wonder why you’re reading it. The first 75 or so pages of this book honestly failed to capture me. So much so that I put it down for 2 months planning to DNF, and only just came back yesterday and pushed through to the second 1/3 of the book. Furthermore, (spoilers for the conclusion)while the story initially goes in on the anticapitalist themes of unfettered industrialism, in the final 1/3 Codega pulls back to center it around the follies and hate of one of Motheater, the titular character. Which I feel like diluted whatever message Codega was going for, for a half-way hybrid between both. Finally, while the romance was sweet, I personally did not find it convincing. It somewhat appeared out of nowhere. While it worked because of the strength of both characters, together I found them less appealing than individually.
For the things I enjoyed however? Those were far more innumerous. Lin Codega has clearly done their work both in researching for this book, and in how to write a book, because for a debut novel, it is spectacular. Many of the pitfalls, such as flat characters, poor pacing, and uneven prose, Codega has managed to masterfully avoid. Nothing about this book felt tired, or rote, or like I had read it a thousand and one times before. Furthermore, while the initial 1/3 of the book was quite dry, after that the book became a much easier read, so much so I finished it in a matter of hours. Both Motheater and Bernie are fantastic characters to following, and I found them both delightful and well-defined.
TLDR; This book is a fantastic debut, and delve into a genre of fantasy I honestly don’t think we get enough of. Hell yeah! Weird Appalachian magic!
Motheater is a delightful book exploring what it means to belong to a land and what happens when that which capitalism eats, decides to eat back. I recommend this book for people who love queer witches, the Appalachia’s, and really fucking hate capitalism.
To get my criticisms out of this way, this book is a slow dry start, that will make you wonder why you’re reading it. The first 75 or so pages of this book honestly failed to capture me. So much so that I put it down for 2 months planning to DNF, and only just came back yesterday and pushed through to the second 1/3 of the book. Furthermore, (spoilers for the conclusion)
For the things I enjoyed however? Those were far more innumerous. Lin Codega has clearly done their work both in researching for this book, and in how to write a book, because for a debut novel, it is spectacular. Many of the pitfalls, such as flat characters, poor pacing, and uneven prose, Codega has managed to masterfully avoid. Nothing about this book felt tired, or rote, or like I had read it a thousand and one times before. Furthermore, while the initial 1/3 of the book was quite dry, after that the book became a much easier read, so much so I finished it in a matter of hours. Both Motheater and Bernie are fantastic characters to following, and I found them both delightful and well-defined.
TLDR; This book is a fantastic debut, and delve into a genre of fantasy I honestly don’t think we get enough of. Hell yeah! Weird Appalachian magic!