Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery

The story is really good, it’s giving dark fairy tale and a vibe similar to Midnight Mass (Tv show) (although not as philosophical).

Characters are good. Main characters are lovable. Even Forest who is a small antagonist is well written (good motivation even if his actions are questionable sometimes). Some of the villains can seem cliche but their actions seem appropriate for their time period (And some people are just assholes). This point was more than redeemed by the antagonists (the wildfolk). The shaman was probably my least favourite.

The story has a medium-pace. Some say it’s slow-paced in the middle and it’s true but it’s still entertaining (might be hard if you have a short attention span though). The beginning and ending have more of a dark fairy tale, horror genre. The middle of the story is more whimsical. The ending is very “happily ever after” and I never minded those.

Things I liked:

- Samson/slewfoot is probably the best character. I like how he is not really the cliche “devil” or “Satan” but more of a Grey character spirit of the forest. He also has a great character arc.
- the historical - witchy feel.
- dark but magical like a fairy tale
- Forest annoyed me sometimes but his motives were so good I ended up feeling bad for him and liking his character
-the overall addition of folklore and native folklore

Things I disliked

- the shaman was great for Samson’s character arc and that was obviously his only purpose but he is a bit of a cliche villain
-Abitha died at the end but came back to life. It cheapened her death and the effect it had on Samson. But except for that, the rest of the happily ever after was exactly how I hoped it would go.
-The world building could have been better. I wish there was more emphasis on the folklore (the Wildfolk and spirits). It was more of a backstory in the book, the main focus was on Abitha and her female empowerment/ girl boss story which is not necessarily bad. However, I wish we had more of that folklore/ fairy tale magic

TW:
racism and colonialism- It is appropriate for the time period. The racist characters were the villains. I would say the main characters were more respectful.
Blood, gore and violence- it was graphic but not extremely terrible (I’ve definitely seen worse)

Content Warnings