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

Brom understands feminine rage. Through this novel, he supports women’s rights AND women’s wrongs. (I wouldn’t even necessarily label those wrongs as, well, wrong, but more as justice served while it’s still hot.)

It may surprise you that, despite this being a book about witches and devils, I was holding back tears several times. This author knows how to make you root for certain characters in this story and absolutely despise its villains.

This may be dark historical fantasy, but the misogyny that shaped society was, ultimately, very real (and still is, to this day, something that threatens the existence of many women in the world). Which means the scariest part turned out to be the non-fictional part.

Also, the illustrations are amazing. I envy Brom’s ability to both be an excellent storyteller and extremely talented artist.

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challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I just absolutely adored this book. I went into reading with no information - picked this up because I was intrigued by the title and beautiful cover art. Typically I don't like anything set earlier than the 1950s or so but this was truly phenomenal and might have changed my mind there.

I do think it would have been more satisfying for Samson to die than Abitha could have used blood magic to bring back pawpaw and take up Samson's mantle as protector. That's the ending I wished for. And while the epilogue is fun it feels more like the author being self indulgent than anything substantive. All in all wonderful book that I will definitely be coming back to.

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