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rainjrop 's review for:
Revenge of the Witch
by Joseph Delaney
I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book. I could definitely tell its target audience is a bit younger than I'm used to reading, but that doesn't automatically make it a bad book. The main character, Tom, does pretty well for a YA/children's protagonist. I appreciated that while he made mistakes, he was able to realize it, come up with a plan, and handle the consequences as best he could with the resources and knowledge available. Many male YA protagonists are unbearably stupid and frustrating, but Tom did alright.
The book often ran darker than I was expecting, with the amount of murder, maiming, and dark imagery that Tom runs into. Those parts, while unexpected, gave the book drive and suspense at key moments.
Something that struck me in the novel, and by struck, I mean I literally stopped reading and went, "What the hell?" was the author's bits of wisdom he offers about women and the treatment of female characters. I will give him credit for Alice, who has a questionable or gray morality and isn't easy to fit into a box. She's conflicted, coerced, and wily, which makes her an interesting counterpart to Tom's more straightforward, do-good personality.
No, what I'm talking about are quotes like this: "She worked in a bakery, but sadly for both of them, she was a very pretty woman, and some pretty women can't be trusted" (pg. 58), "Never trust a woman" (pg. 100), "Well, in that case you could fall easy victim to [village girls'] tricks. So watch out for village girls" (pg. 100), "My dad once told me that women know things that men don't. That sometimes they have a certain look in their eyes, but when you see it, you should never ask them what they're thinking. If you do, they might tell you something you don't want to hear" (pg. 255), "She's just a girl now, but one day she'll be a woman, and some clever women are dangerous" (pg. 322).
Okay, one time is a one-off, but continually running into this weird sentiment throughout the book, which is clearly aimed at boys, is just bizarre and kind of shitty. I was struggling to decide whether the author was simply creating characters who thought this, but as these ideas come from various characters, it appears to me that this is the author's personal problem. The way he writes about women and girls are as if they're completely "other," unfathomable and untrustworthy, and always planning something behind your back. He writes about women as if they're the enemy or a completely different species that men can never hope to understand, and so should just let them work their womanly magic while keeping an eye on them just in case.
Yes, some women are dangerous and some are liars, just like men, just like the rest of humanity, but the way DeLaney writes about women just gives me an icky feeling that I find difficult to describe. Yes, the book takes place in a world where people ride horses and work on the family farm with a clear demarcation between men and women's tasks, but that's no excuse to impart the wise wisdom of "Never trust a woman" to young boys and girls reading these novels. I feel like it's irresponsible and short-sighted. It may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people, but letting that kind of crap slide in one book for kids means that it's going to slide in a lot of books. We need to set a better example and demand that authors pay attention.
On a final note, the book makes a big deal out of Tom and the Spook being left handed and specifically that the Spook carries his staff in his left hand. On the cover, he's carrying the staff in his right hand. C'mon people.
The book often ran darker than I was expecting, with the amount of murder, maiming, and dark imagery that Tom runs into. Those parts, while unexpected, gave the book drive and suspense at key moments.
Something that struck me in the novel, and by struck, I mean I literally stopped reading and went, "What the hell?" was the author's bits of wisdom he offers about women and the treatment of female characters. I will give him credit for Alice, who has a questionable or gray morality and isn't easy to fit into a box. She's conflicted, coerced, and wily, which makes her an interesting counterpart to Tom's more straightforward, do-good personality.
No, what I'm talking about are quotes like this: "She worked in a bakery, but sadly for both of them, she was a very pretty woman, and some pretty women can't be trusted" (pg. 58), "Never trust a woman" (pg. 100), "Well, in that case you could fall easy victim to [village girls'] tricks. So watch out for village girls" (pg. 100), "My dad once told me that women know things that men don't. That sometimes they have a certain look in their eyes, but when you see it, you should never ask them what they're thinking. If you do, they might tell you something you don't want to hear" (pg. 255), "She's just a girl now, but one day she'll be a woman, and some clever women are dangerous" (pg. 322).
Okay, one time is a one-off, but continually running into this weird sentiment throughout the book, which is clearly aimed at boys, is just bizarre and kind of shitty. I was struggling to decide whether the author was simply creating characters who thought this, but as these ideas come from various characters, it appears to me that this is the author's personal problem. The way he writes about women and girls are as if they're completely "other," unfathomable and untrustworthy, and always planning something behind your back. He writes about women as if they're the enemy or a completely different species that men can never hope to understand, and so should just let them work their womanly magic while keeping an eye on them just in case.
Yes, some women are dangerous and some are liars, just like men, just like the rest of humanity, but the way DeLaney writes about women just gives me an icky feeling that I find difficult to describe. Yes, the book takes place in a world where people ride horses and work on the family farm with a clear demarcation between men and women's tasks, but that's no excuse to impart the wise wisdom of "Never trust a woman" to young boys and girls reading these novels. I feel like it's irresponsible and short-sighted. It may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people, but letting that kind of crap slide in one book for kids means that it's going to slide in a lot of books. We need to set a better example and demand that authors pay attention.
On a final note, the book makes a big deal out of Tom and the Spook being left handed and specifically that the Spook carries his staff in his left hand. On the cover, he's carrying the staff in his right hand. C'mon people.