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The Year of the Witching

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because yes, the prophet’s son, indoctrinated from birth by the most evil misogynist in the history of bethel’s religion is of course The Wokest Man in Town™ on a mission to save The Women. i mean, to support immanuelle to save the women. and he likes her because she can read and she wants to fight the witches’ curse. we love an independent woman! There are a few other points where she was characterized unsatisfyingly – at one point towards the end the narration said that Immanuelle’s family had “always been her weakness” and I was like…”Okay, since when?” I don’t feel that Henderson did the work necessary to make me believe in Immanuelle’s emotions towards her family at all and that statement more or less came out of nowhere to me (as did a certain family member’s death). I received The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review Imagine this: there’s a secret coven of female rebels in Bethel who find strength and sisterhood together and come to terms with their experiences of sexism and abuse while planning to change their society. They take refuge in each other’s friendship and love and reclaim the tales and magics of powerful witches past to overthrow the Prophet together.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from Edelweiss and Ace in exchange for an honest review. All opinions included herein are my own. Alexis Henderson brilliantly blends horror, a paranormal dark, twisty witchy tale set the dystopian world of Bethel where the Prophet makes the rules everyone must follow. She weaves in real-world themes like racism, oppression, power and religion. The Prophet uses fear, cruelty and religion to gain power and control over the people. I really enjoyed the use of the Darkwood and the witches imagery and lore that permeates throughout the entire story. Whilst these aspects can feel creepy and cause a lot of tension, I would say it’s very much fantasy over straight up horror which I found some people saying The Year of the Witching was. Pixieltd on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 4 hours agoI absolutely adored the darkness of the witches and the forbidden Darkwood in this. This had witchcraft, sigils and just quite weird and dark encounters going on. This book read like a horror movie (but a good one) which had me thinking of “The Village” and “The Witch”. The imagery of this book was amazing!!! I could literally picture everything, as dark and disturbing as they were, in my head. As much as I loved it, it felt like Henderson focused more on this aspect than giving us more in the plot. The story was amazing, but I just needed MORE. I can’t explain it exactly, just know that I needed MORE. Overall I enjoyed reading The Year of the Witching, but it’s probably not my favourite book and as I was writing this review I couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t a memorable book. Positives of The Year of the Witching Sometimes I wonder if my secrets are better swallowed than spoken. Perhaps my truths have done enough harm. Perhaps I should take my memories to the grave and let the dead judge my sins."

This is a beautiful, powerful, important book, and I hugely recommend it.”—Seanan McGuire, New York Timesbestselling author of The UnkindestTide Overall though, I did really enjoy this. It's a powerful story with some interesting themes explored. Immanuelle was a sympathetic main character; easy to get behind. the gothic horror descriptions are definitely my favorite thing about the reading experience. the darkwood where the witches live comes to life in a deeply unsettling, intangible way, and the stained glass and heavy wood cathedrals almost loom over our characters like the oppressive regime that they represent.

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If there is one way in which the novel falters, it comes in pacing toward the end. Immanuelle finds herself in several circular arguments with her grandmothers Martha and with Ezra, the handsome chosen heir of the Prophet with a rebellious streak.

Yet both of these things are true, and because of that, The Year of the Witching often feels like lightning in a bottle. It has an energy that draws the reader in and casts a spell over us and keeps us on the edge of our seat as each new plague falls upon Bethel.

Reviews

Though she knows little about the far north—where wealthy nobles live in luxury and drink the blood of those in their service—Marion applies to the position. In a matter of days, she finds herself the newest bloodmaid at the notorious House of Hunger. There, Marion is swept into a world of dark debauchery—and at the center of it all is her. i suppose henderson was going for a break-the-violent-cycle of the past kind of approach, but that is kind of difficult when you have such an absolute shitstain of an antagonist. and the witches that are supposedly just as ‘evil’ as the religious misogynists are women who were abused and raped and burned for YEARS and finally wanted to take their revenge regardless of any innocents who got in the way. Content Warnings: Sexual assault / rape of a minor, blood, gore, animal death, childbirth, death during childbirth, body horror, menstruation

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