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A review by degroovy
The Third Parent by Elias Witherow, Thought Catalog
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The Third Parent is an adaptation of the famous Tommy Taffy story and a significant step up in quality from The Black Farm, another Elias Witherow book which I've read recently. The writing and characterization are all around better than The Black Farm all while retaining Witherow's trademark extreme horror roots.
He manages to take his original story and breathe new life into it by not only giving it a new setting all while keeping the original story's events in mind, but also weaving in new lore that reaches proportions of cosmic horror in a way that I deeply, deeply enjoyed. The character of Tommy Taffy is a frightful, horrific, original creation who does receive an explanation for his being in this story but not in such a way where the horror of him is spoiled; to me, it made him even more memorable of a character.
Additionally Tommy Taffy is a clear allegory for s*xual, domestic, and physical abuse as well as cycles of grief and generational trauma and while it was anything but subtle, it was spelled out in a way that I really somehow keyed in on and identified with. Being a survivor myself it made the story not only much more poignant but also very, very scary. Books don't really keep me up and night and neither did this one but there were definitely a few passages that made me very frightened of Tommy Taffy in the moment and that, I think, is a testament to the skill of Elias Witherow.
However, while characters are better written, it still fails a few of its chief players, most notably Liz. The way Liz exits the story was so sudden, abrupt, and honestly, unwelcome that it really took me out of the moment. It was the very definition of fridging a female character for the development of a male character and it felt like a bit of a slap in the face. Afterward, the main character hardly thinks about her and she's hardly mentioned except in one or two sentences and it kind of just left a sour taste in my mouth the entire rest of the story that had nothing to do with the extreme lit. It would've been much more impactful to develop her further and then have her exit or better yet, keep her around and have two people break the metaphoric cycle of trauma. Witherow is excellent at creating original worlds, enemies, and lore but really needs to make his female leads more than just props of the plot.
But, despite more lacking character work, this novel is really engrossing and I whipped right through it. I would heartily recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.
He manages to take his original story and breathe new life into it by not only giving it a new setting all while keeping the original story's events in mind, but also weaving in new lore that reaches proportions of cosmic horror in a way that I deeply, deeply enjoyed. The character of Tommy Taffy is a frightful, horrific, original creation who does receive an explanation for his being in this story but not in such a way where the horror of him is spoiled; to me, it made him even more memorable of a character.
Additionally Tommy Taffy is a clear allegory for s*xual, domestic, and physical abuse as well as cycles of grief and generational trauma and while it was anything but subtle, it was spelled out in a way that I really somehow keyed in on and identified with. Being a survivor myself it made the story not only much more poignant but also very, very scary. Books don't really keep me up and night and neither did this one but there were definitely a few passages that made me very frightened of Tommy Taffy in the moment and that, I think, is a testament to the skill of Elias Witherow.
However, while characters are better written, it still fails a few of its chief players, most notably Liz. The way Liz exits the story was so sudden, abrupt, and honestly, unwelcome that it really took me out of the moment. It was the very definition of fridging a female character for the development of a male character and it felt like a bit of a slap in the face. Afterward, the main character hardly thinks about her and she's hardly mentioned except in one or two sentences and it kind of just left a sour taste in my mouth the entire rest of the story that had nothing to do with the extreme lit. It would've been much more impactful to develop her further and then have her exit or better yet, keep her around and have two people break the metaphoric cycle of trauma. Witherow is excellent at creating original worlds, enemies, and lore but really needs to make his female leads more than just props of the plot.
But, despite more lacking character work, this novel is really engrossing and I whipped right through it. I would heartily recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture