A review by itwasmagicc
The Last Witch by C.J. Cooke, C.J. Cooke

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The Last Witch is a brilliant interpretation of the events surrounding Heinrich Kramer and the trial that likely influenced his publishing of the Malleus Maleficarum. Although a bit brighter or more hopeful than Cooke's usually gothic tales, she still doesn't pull any punches in regards to the gore and horror aspects. There were definitely a few times I had to set the book down for a minute and take a deep breath. But I always picked it back up again, because Cooke masterfully creates characters you want to keep coming back to. From Helena Scheuberin and her cast of fellow accused witches to Bishop Georg Golser and his tormented past, most of the people in the book feel alive. So close you could touch them. It's what makes Cooke's horror so good: horrible things happening to people that feel real.

The book also asks readers to imagine what a world looks like where women's rights and voices can be stripped away by a mere accusation of ill intent. And, well, it's not that hard to imagine. It's also not particularly new or exciting to re-imagine the witch trials as commentary on misogyny and patriarchy, and though I usually love Cooke's themes of motherhood and cycles of grief and trauma, they fell a little flat for me in The Last Witch. Perhaps she felt restrained by the real-life events of the trial or by the real-life horrors faced by women today. I don't know. All I can say is that the morals and conclusions of the book felt a little shallow, like a band-aid over a deep wound. Father Kramer also felt like a caricature, more so than any of Cooke's previous antagonists. Again, maybe he was drawn from real life evil villains whose only goal in life seems to be wielding sadistic power over others, but in a book where you have the space to explore and understand even the most heinous of people, Kramer's history and motivations were only briefly and unsatisfyingly mentioned.
 
It was still a majorly enjoyable read, but it felt a little underwhelming in comparison with Cooke's other works like A Haunting in the Arctic (my fav) or The Lighthouse Witches. But personally, I will continue haunting Cooke's social media pages for her next book.
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