I’ve never read Brom and even when I requested this ARC on NetGalley and Tor Nightfire gifted me with a copy, IWell, this was a hell of a lot of fun.
I’ve never read Brom and even when I requested this ARC on NetGalley and Tor Nightfire gifted me with a copy, I know nothing whatsoever about him - I went in base solely on the synopsis and the cover. I didn’t even realize until about a third of the way through the book that the non-ARC will have illustrations! Sounds like this is going to necessitate a buy or at least borrow from the library.
Because I enjoyed this so much. I hadn’t a clue that Brom is an artist and, as a writer, they were barely a blip on my radar as existing before I was attracted to and requested this one. Having googled Brom, now, I like the art as much as the writing; my kind of themes and darkness.
Other reviewer’s criticisms about the one-note villain(s)? True, absolutely. I can see where the author sort of attempted to give the primary antagonist some justification - if reasonably only in his own mind - for his actions, but it felt like a bit of a lame attempt at rounding out the guy. This is a harsh thing to say, but let me hasten to add that, ultimately� I didn’t care. I didn’t care that the bad guy was just� a bad guy. Instead of being disappointed that the author didn’t give him too much of a backstory or depth beyond his role in the story� I just enjoyed thoroughly hating him for what he was, and rooting for the protagonist(s). Alternately, I did enjoy the fact that, despite Abitha, the primary protagonist, being pitted against an entire village of Puritans, they were not all just automatically evil and antagonistic through and through. In so many stories like this, there’s no gray area, no bending, nothing other than black and white of men hating women and assuming that if they don’t conform, then they must be witches. Many of the characters here are more nuanced and multi-faceted than that, and for at least a couple of them, they have half a brain and a touch of compassion and justice. They try, anyway.
This is such a lovely blend of elements I love - paganism coming up against Christianity, people attempting to survive in extreme communities, supernatural versus religion, etc. I’ve never read “this story� - as in, the basic story of witchcraft/the witch trials in Puritanical New England, told in this way, regardless of other stories I’ve read in the same setting/time period that also include supernatural/paranormal elements. It just really delivered on the type of story I’m always looking for when I’m attracted to books like this, without giving any spoilers.
(view spoiler)[ But let’s make it clear that, if The Witch is a favourite movie of yours, as it is mine, you’ll likely enjoy this, too. (hide spoiler)]
Based on friends� reviews of Brom’s backlist, I’m somewhat hesitant about what to try next from the backlist, but I will definitely be on the lookout for and absolutely consider his future novels. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and it was the perfect month and season for reading it.
Merged review:
Well, this was a hell of a lot of fun.
I’ve never read Brom and even when I requested this ARC on NetGalley and Tor Nightfire gifted me with a copy, I know nothing whatsoever about him - I went in base solely on the synopsis and the cover. I didn’t even realize until about a third of the way through the book that the non-ARC will have illustrations! Sounds like this is going to necessitate a buy or at least borrow from the library.
Because I enjoyed this so much. I hadn’t a clue that Brom is an artist and, as a writer, they were barely a blip on my radar as existing before I was attracted to and requested this one. Having googled Brom, now, I like the art as much as the writing; my kind of themes and darkness.
Other reviewer’s criticisms about the one-note villain(s)? True, absolutely. I can see where the author sort of attempted to give the primary antagonist some justification - if reasonably only in his own mind - for his actions, but it felt like a bit of a lame attempt at rounding out the guy. This is a harsh thing to say, but let me hasten to add that, ultimately� I didn’t care. I didn’t care that the bad guy was just� a bad guy. Instead of being disappointed that the author didn’t give him too much of a backstory or depth beyond his role in the story� I just enjoyed thoroughly hating him for what he was, and rooting for the protagonist(s). Alternately, I did enjoy the fact that, despite Abitha, the primary protagonist, being pitted against an entire village of Puritans, they were not all just automatically evil and antagonistic through and through. In so many stories like this, there’s no gray area, no bending, nothing other than black and white of men hating women and assuming that if they don’t conform, then they must be witches. Many of the characters here are more nuanced and multi-faceted than that, and for at least a couple of them, they have half a brain and a touch of compassion and justice. They try, anyway.
This is such a lovely blend of elements I love - paganism coming up against Christianity, people attempting to survive in extreme communities, supernatural versus religion, etc. I’ve never read “this story� - as in, the basic story of witchcraft/the witch trials in Puritanical New England, told in this way, regardless of other stories I’ve read in the same setting/time period that also include supernatural/paranormal elements. It just really delivered on the type of story I’m always looking for when I’m attracted to books like this, without giving any spoilers.
(view spoiler)[ But let’s make it clear that, if The Witch is a favourite movie of yours, as it is mine, you’ll likely enjoy this, too. (hide spoiler)]
Based on friends� reviews of Brom’s backlist, I’m somewhat hesitant about what to try next from the backlist, but I will definitely be on the lookout for and absolutely consider his future novels. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and it was the perfect month and season for reading it....more
Tor Nightfire allowed me to read this one early, and it's only further cemented my interest in Kingfisher.
It (surprisingly) takes a certain kind of cTor Nightfire allowed me to read this one early, and it's only further cemented my interest in Kingfisher.
It (surprisingly) takes a certain kind of creepiness to really get under my skin, and this novella does it well. Just the descriptions of the rabbits alone (not really a spoiler - they appear early, and look at that gorgeous cover) were enough to create vivid scenes in my mind.
Kingfisher is skilled with blending horror and humor:
"They both had large, liquid eyes, the sort that are called doe-like by poets, although those poets have mostly never hunted deer, because neither of the Ushers had giant elliptical pupils and they both had perfectly serviceable whites."
"Sometimes it's hard to know if someone is insulting or just an American."
There were a couple of clunky plot transitions here... for a significant one, something happens and the narrator/protagonist just instantly questions whether the event actually happened in the way it was presented to them. They are a military person and have already seen a couple of creepy things happen around the Usher estate but I certainly didn't feel that those elements were enough to justify the instantaneous suspicions. I imagine this has something to do with this story being a novella and the need to keep things moving.
I'm not sure that it makes any sense to wish this had been longer - for a retelling of The House of Usher and already (I believe) being longer than the original, and also for nicely containing the plot - but I wonder if a longer story might have better smoothed out those transitions and also allowed for deeper character development. There was also an alternate social-gender-neutral-situation going on, which I appreciated, but it was also confusing and distracting; something else that might have been better sorted with more depth/time for it.
And yet here we are, still with four stars! It's easy to detail things that didn't work for me, while for the rest simply saying "this was fun". But it is, and a joy to read. Dark and claustrophobic, yet also witty and novel. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and will absolutely continue building my devotion to Kingfisher.
Merged review:
Tor Nightfire allowed me to read this one early, and it's only further cemented my interest in Kingfisher.
It (surprisingly) takes a certain kind of creepiness to really get under my skin, and this novella does it well. Just the descriptions of the rabbits alone (not really a spoiler - they appear early, and look at that gorgeous cover) were enough to create vivid scenes in my mind.
Kingfisher is skilled with blending horror and humor:
"They both had large, liquid eyes, the sort that are called doe-like by poets, although those poets have mostly never hunted deer, because neither of the Ushers had giant elliptical pupils and they both had perfectly serviceable whites."
"Sometimes it's hard to know if someone is insulting or just an American."
There were a couple of clunky plot transitions here... for a significant one, something happens and the narrator/protagonist just instantly questions whether the event actually happened in the way it was presented to them. They are a military person and have already seen a couple of creepy things happen around the Usher estate but I certainly didn't feel that those elements were enough to justify the instantaneous suspicions. I imagine this has something to do with this story being a novella and the need to keep things moving.
I'm not sure that it makes any sense to wish this had been longer - for a retelling of The House of Usher and already (I believe) being longer than the original, and also for nicely containing the plot - but I wonder if a longer story might have better smoothed out those transitions and also allowed for deeper character development. There was also an alternate social-gender-neutral-situation going on, which I appreciated, but it was also confusing and distracting; something else that might have been better sorted with more depth/time for it.
And yet here we are, still with four stars! It's easy to detail things that didn't work for me, while for the rest simply saying "this was fun". But it is, and a joy to read. Dark and claustrophobic, yet also witty and novel. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and will absolutely continue building my devotion to Kingfisher....more
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