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A review by recreationalhobbyist
Cackle by Rachel Harrison
2.0
THIS IS NOT HORROR.
I was tricked. Duped.
I am a horror junkie. In movies and books, horror is my #1 genre. Vampires, slashers, serial killers, ghosts, and demons tend to dominate the genre. Witches have always been my favorite supernatural/horror beings and they never get a truly evil story. It is always in a Hocus Pocus (kitschy) or Discovery of Witches (boring, hereditary, don’t understand the magic & don't want to be bad) style. I want a darker version of The Craft. I want witches that are petty and evil. I thought I might get that given the book blurb. Instead, I got a PG-13 version of Teen Witch. I was waiting for a chorus of “Top That” somewhere in the middle of this book.
Cackle is a swing and a miss of witch stories. It had the potential, but the actual interesting part of the main character becoming a witch fell to the wayside. Instead, we got endless chapters of a vulnerable woman pining over her boyfriend. Before the main character, Annie packs up her bags and leaves her shitty boyfriend, she visits a psychic who freaks out and tells her that she has a “dark energy.” I have hope at this point. Shit is going to get real. She has evil energy that is going to come out and she will smite all her enemies. Nope. This “dark” energy is briefly mentioned once more in casual conversation and then never again.
Instead, I get an insecure, vulnerable woman constantly pining over her ex that befriends a centuries-old witch, Sophie, in a town that seems to be under Sophie’s spell. Do we get an interesting Sophie backstory? Nope. Just hints here and there as to how she came to “own” the town. Do we get an inkling into Sophie’s magic? Nope. Does she teach Annie anything? We don’t ever find out. Do we even learn how Annie really becomes a witch? NOPE.
There are maybe 4 or 5 somewhat scary/unnerving moments in the entire book. It’s PG-13 at best. This is what I’d call a cozy horror. On a rainy fall day, grab a cup of tea or hot chocolate, snuggle up in a blanket and read a story about a kinda scary witch that gives you a pet spider named Ralph and you can totally escape from her by moving away.
This is a story about friendship and self-discovery with the whole witch part as a side story. I went in with mediocre expectations, got excited when I thought things might go the horror route, and was disappointed throughout.
Sophie, the actual witch, is who I want a story about. She did all the bad things.
I would recommend this to light horror fans and those that aren’t easily annoyed by a character constantly pining over an ex. Or those that don’t care that major plot points are just ignored or glossed over. Or the truly interesting character has no story really at all.
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I was tricked. Duped.
I am a horror junkie. In movies and books, horror is my #1 genre. Vampires, slashers, serial killers, ghosts, and demons tend to dominate the genre. Witches have always been my favorite supernatural/horror beings and they never get a truly evil story. It is always in a Hocus Pocus (kitschy) or Discovery of Witches (boring, hereditary, don’t understand the magic & don't want to be bad) style. I want a darker version of The Craft. I want witches that are petty and evil. I thought I might get that given the book blurb. Instead, I got a PG-13 version of Teen Witch. I was waiting for a chorus of “Top That” somewhere in the middle of this book.
Cackle is a swing and a miss of witch stories. It had the potential, but the actual interesting part of the main character becoming a witch fell to the wayside. Instead, we got endless chapters of a vulnerable woman pining over her boyfriend. Before the main character, Annie packs up her bags and leaves her shitty boyfriend, she visits a psychic who freaks out and tells her that she has a “dark energy.” I have hope at this point. Shit is going to get real. She has evil energy that is going to come out and she will smite all her enemies. Nope. This “dark” energy is briefly mentioned once more in casual conversation and then never again.
Instead, I get an insecure, vulnerable woman constantly pining over her ex that befriends a centuries-old witch, Sophie, in a town that seems to be under Sophie’s spell. Do we get an interesting Sophie backstory? Nope. Just hints here and there as to how she came to “own” the town. Do we get an inkling into Sophie’s magic? Nope. Does she teach Annie anything? We don’t ever find out. Do we even learn how Annie really becomes a witch? NOPE.
There are maybe 4 or 5 somewhat scary/unnerving moments in the entire book. It’s PG-13 at best. This is what I’d call a cozy horror. On a rainy fall day, grab a cup of tea or hot chocolate, snuggle up in a blanket and read a story about a kinda scary witch that gives you a pet spider named Ralph and you can totally escape from her by moving away.
This is a story about friendship and self-discovery with the whole witch part as a side story. I went in with mediocre expectations, got excited when I thought things might go the horror route, and was disappointed throughout.
Sophie, the actual witch, is who I want a story about. She did all the bad things.
Spoiler
She has a house full of the ghosts she may or may not have killed over the past few decades. She can seemingly create closets full of exquisite garments on a whim. She can curse people, but how? So can Annie out of the blue, we never learn how or why.I would recommend this to light horror fans and those that aren’t easily annoyed by a character constantly pining over an ex. Or those that don’t care that major plot points are just ignored or glossed over. Or the truly interesting character has no story really at all.
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