Review by npmbimbo - Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

npmbimbo 's review for:

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

4.25

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Grady Hendrix has been a surprising author for me. This is my second of his books and both times, I went in expecting something camp and lighthearted and both times I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the story. Many complain that this book is too slow, particularly at the beginning. On the contrary, I think he took the perfect amount of time setting up the true sense of helplessness and lack of autonomy our main characters experienced every day, perfectly setting up the atmosphere for everything that would follow. There are some truly disgusting bits of body horror of both the mystical and real kind. I love that the main character is not a neat perfectly brave heroine but instead a girl facing very real impossible choices with all the confusion, anguish, and flip-flopping of a 15 year old girl out of her depth. It's not a perfect book -- I wonder about the choice of writing the witches the way he did and this is two books in a row where a Black woman veers dangerously close to Magical Negro territory, but both times it is saved by the pragmatic actions of the characters who do not perform selflessness that defies belief. I will give him the benefit of the doubt for now because I think I understand what he's trying to do, but refinement is necessary. Anyway, I cried like a baby and really really liked this one.

Content Warnings