A review by bookgirlie_unbound
Motheater by Linda H. Codega

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

Motheather isn't a soft book. It shouldn’t be. The effects of mining are devastating. The rage of subjugation and forced submission by capitalistic greed is bitter. The loneliness of being a powerful woman full of conviction is sharp. This book has teeth and the characters bite.

From the first pages, I was swept up in Benny’s perspective as she struggles to solve mysterious circumstances surrounding local miners’s deaths, including her best friend, in the Kiron mine. Benny’s unabashed doggedness in pursuing this truth was inspiring. The way she immediately entertains Motheather’s powerful magic as a tool to be harnessed instead of rejecting it because it is arcane and cruel won me over. I like a heroine who’s not afraid to embrace the dark and get a little dirty to achieve their goals. 

Motheater is not a witch to be trifled with and oh, how I love her. She is jagged and raw. She represented Appalachia itself, as I, an outsider consider it. A unique, often mischaracterized, place many have tried to subdue filled with mystery and danger.

Coda brings to life the unique culture of Appalachia through distinct dialogue and speech patterns. Benny’s narration is so comfortable and cohesive with other aspects of the novel and is one of my favorite features of this book. The use of flashbacks fills readers in about a small portion of the oppression Appalachia has experienced without becoming a lecture. The magic is earthy without appropriating Indigenous spiritual practices and is just as brought as the wielder. I honestly could not ask for more from this book.
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