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A review by kingrosereads
Extasia by Claire Legrand
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
CHECK YOUR TRIGGER WARNINGS
The big ones: misogyny and religious trauma
This is a YA horror sci-fi fantasy that’s witchy and sapphic, and extremely traumatizing and it’s got ghosts!
TLDR: Bunch of white guys are murdered in this very Salem circa 1600s village where women are treated like trash and a young girl finds out she’s a witch. She thinks she can fight the Devil but eventually she wants to join him, because men have taken the sins of the world out on women for far too long. Give it a read. It’s got some Handmaid’s Tale and The Giver vibes to it.
Extasia follows 16-year-old Amity (we don’t know her given name from birth) who lives in a walled community, Haven, in a time period after a Great War caused by devious women has destroyed the world centuries before. Haven is God’s chosen people. Amity has completed a serious of traumatizing and torturous trials to become a saint of Haven. There are 4 saints and they’re all teenaged girls who haven’t started their menstrual cycles yet (because now women have them much later due to poison in the air from the war). Her father is an Elder and her mother was killed for adultery when she was 11.
When she is anointed, she is given the name Amity. Alongside saints Mercy, Silence, and Temperance, the girls take on the sins of the women of the past and the sins of their fellow citizens in the form of beatings (people literally line up and beat the crap out of these girls to get “out their sins”) so that they will not hit each other or their spouses (though plenty of men beat their wives and children in this town). Amity’s adornment is supposed to stop the disturbing and mysterious murders of the town’s men (I think it’s 10 have been murdered at this point).
Everything is going as expected until a boy is killed on the day she’s anointed. Hours before, Amity catches Temperance and Mercy in the woods, kissing and speaking of dark things and a woman named Malice. As the killings continue, Amity decides she must collect relics to summon the Devil and either sell her soul to save Haven or defeat the Devil to do it. Later, Amity demands Temperance and Mercy take her to meet Malice. They take her to a magical forest called Avazel where Amity learns of witches and a power called extasia. Temperance and Mercy introduce Amity to their coven leader, Malice, who says that extasia has been calling for Amity and she promises to help her learn to wield the power. Amity also learns that Haven is not the only human settlement. The other witches are from other towns and cities.
Spoilers ahead at this point on. I’d say read it if you love a good feminine rage book.
It isn’t long before Amity discovers that the coven is responsible for the murders as they’re ritualistic killings to summon the Devil. They kill men who have harmed them. Amity bargains with the coven, asking to give her time to look for the relics so she can summon the Devil without anymore men dying. She’s given a week to complete her mission or they will continue the killings. At this point, Temperance has been burned by the people of Haven, and she’s enlisted her sister, Blessing, and Silence into the coven. The four change their names, Amity becomes Rage, Mercy becomes Vengeance, Blessing becomes Hunger, and Silence becomes Sorrow.
Rage has also enlisted the help of her best friend and betrothed, Samuel, to help in her quest to defeat the Devil. He also has to come to terms with how wrong things are in Haven. Women are subservient and taught to be meek, and they’re not taught to read or wield a weapon. They’re meant to only be wives and mothers. Rage’s father imprisons her after another Elder is killed and the townspeople blame her yet again for the evil in their town. Vengeance and Sorrow eventually rescue her, and just in time, as her father has Hunger tied to an altar, naked, and ready to sacrifice her in front of the other Elders (some are looking too happy). The girls save Hunger with Samuel’s help and they escape to Avazel.
When Rage’s time is up and the coven’s ritual is complete, the Devil still hasn’t come. Malice asks Rage to use her relics which leads them to the dark mountain where Haven believes is the home of the Devil. Only Rage, Vengeance , Sorrow, and Hunger are given passage into the mountain. The rest of the coven and Samuel hang back to fight the Haven men coming to kill the women. The girls learn there’s no Devil under the mountain, there’s a whole city of people. A girl Rage’s age, Jaime, tells her that 150 years ago, when the war destroyed much of the earth, their ancestors built this place. But Rage’s ancestors didn’t want to live under the mountain, so they broke off to “live out their lily-white, neo-Puritan, misogynistic fantasies” (p. 406), and her father was the only one left who knew the truth. The people under the mountain, other than those in charge, are unaware there are people living on the surface. Jaime’s mother, a governor, attempts to kill the girls to keep this secret but they escape.
Rage confronts her father, and kills him when he attempts to kill her and Hunger. She tells the Elders and the townspeople the truth and that things will be different. They work to heal and rebuild. Rage learns that extasia comes from the pain and deaths of the women before her, especially the women killed in Haven. Jaime and her friends are also able to seize control of their city.
The magic system/origins was a little weak, but I appreciated the symbolism. The irony of calling Haven “haven” and Azavel being created to actually be a safe haven for women through the deaths of women. It is a super white book, which is explained in one sentence towards the end (the ancestors of Haven were racist as well as misogynistic). Every other chapter was just trauma. Child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault of a minor, and just watching the women cast their gazes downwards, take their beatings, and Rage struggling to read was all really painful. Not to mention, it’s pretty gruesome and gory.
The fact that Hunger was 14 and Adam was 18 was driving me up the wall. And I know everything in this is supposed to be upsetting and 14 year olds are naïve and sexually curious, but I could’ve just gone without the pedophilia considering everything else going on the book. But I get the need for a righteous kill without feeling bad the guy was a child so we barely made him into an adult. Trust, there’s plenty of evil hearted 15 year olds in the world, I’d have been fine if they killed a minor aged Adam.
In my opinion, Rage seems to switch to the witches’ side a little quickly, not in their vendetta and mission to kill 16 men from Haven, but accepting she’s a witch and she will be this dark being forever. Also, her relationship with Sorrow kind of came out of nowhere. I mean there were subtle moments when she wanted to touch Sorrow’s cheek or her hair, but other than that they didn’t really talk or have more obvious signs of attraction towards her. It felt forced, no chemistry, and like there was no build up considering Rage hadn’t felt desire before or given into desire like Hunger had before. And what was wrong with her being bisexual and just not loving Samuel anymore after all that had happened?
I did very much like this book. It’s really dark for a YA but so is The Hunger Games, The Giver, and Night. In a lot of ways it’s a cautionary tale for where we’re heading if we keep up our crap, which is like “great, don’t remind me” and no one who needs to actually learn this will pick up with book. I’ll say it was very much giving The Village vibes right from the start for me, and I was expecting a reveal of other people with technology, and despite this expectation, it’s very difficult to reveal this in a way that doesn’t have you rolling your eyes. I think the reveal was fine but it still felt cringe. I like the righteous rage and the line between vengeance and becoming a monster yourself. When people are oppressed and backed up in such a tight corner, they lash out in whatever way they can and that can be difficult to reel it in.
Just overall a good book that was entertaining and interesting. I liked that the monster wasn’t like in The Village where it was to further suppress and control the townspeople but rather killing men that had harmed women.
The big ones: misogyny and religious trauma
This is a YA horror sci-fi fantasy that’s witchy and sapphic, and extremely traumatizing and it’s got ghosts!
TLDR: Bunch of white guys are murdered in this very Salem circa 1600s village where women are treated like trash and a young girl finds out she’s a witch. She thinks she can fight the Devil but eventually she wants to join him, because men have taken the sins of the world out on women for far too long. Give it a read. It’s got some Handmaid’s Tale and The Giver vibes to it.
Extasia follows 16-year-old Amity (we don’t know her given name from birth) who lives in a walled community, Haven, in a time period after a Great War caused by devious women has destroyed the world centuries before. Haven is God’s chosen people. Amity has completed a serious of traumatizing and torturous trials to become a saint of Haven. There are 4 saints and they’re all teenaged girls who haven’t started their menstrual cycles yet (because now women have them much later due to poison in the air from the war). Her father is an Elder and her mother was killed for adultery when she was 11.
When she is anointed, she is given the name Amity. Alongside saints Mercy, Silence, and Temperance, the girls take on the sins of the women of the past and the sins of their fellow citizens in the form of beatings (people literally line up and beat the crap out of these girls to get “out their sins”) so that they will not hit each other or their spouses (though plenty of men beat their wives and children in this town). Amity’s adornment is supposed to stop the disturbing and mysterious murders of the town’s men (I think it’s 10 have been murdered at this point).
Everything is going as expected until a boy is killed on the day she’s anointed. Hours before, Amity catches Temperance and Mercy in the woods, kissing and speaking of dark things and a woman named Malice. As the killings continue, Amity decides she must collect relics to summon the Devil and either sell her soul to save Haven or defeat the Devil to do it. Later, Amity demands Temperance and Mercy take her to meet Malice. They take her to a magical forest called Avazel where Amity learns of witches and a power called extasia. Temperance and Mercy introduce Amity to their coven leader, Malice, who says that extasia has been calling for Amity and she promises to help her learn to wield the power. Amity also learns that Haven is not the only human settlement. The other witches are from other towns and cities.
Spoilers ahead at this point on. I’d say read it if you love a good feminine rage book.
It isn’t long before Amity discovers that the coven is responsible for the murders as they’re ritualistic killings to summon the Devil. They kill men who have harmed them. Amity bargains with the coven, asking to give her time to look for the relics so she can summon the Devil without anymore men dying. She’s given a week to complete her mission or they will continue the killings. At this point, Temperance has been burned by the people of Haven, and she’s enlisted her sister, Blessing, and Silence into the coven. The four change their names, Amity becomes Rage, Mercy becomes Vengeance, Blessing becomes Hunger, and Silence becomes Sorrow.
Rage has also enlisted the help of her best friend and betrothed, Samuel, to help in her quest to defeat the Devil. He also has to come to terms with how wrong things are in Haven. Women are subservient and taught to be meek, and they’re not taught to read or wield a weapon. They’re meant to only be wives and mothers. Rage’s father imprisons her after another Elder is killed and the townspeople blame her yet again for the evil in their town. Vengeance and Sorrow eventually rescue her, and just in time, as her father has Hunger tied to an altar, naked, and ready to sacrifice her in front of the other Elders (some are looking too happy). The girls save Hunger with Samuel’s help and they escape to Avazel.
When Rage’s time is up and the coven’s ritual is complete, the Devil still hasn’t come. Malice asks Rage to use her relics which leads them to the dark mountain where Haven believes is the home of the Devil. Only Rage, Vengeance , Sorrow, and Hunger are given passage into the mountain. The rest of the coven and Samuel hang back to fight the Haven men coming to kill the women. The girls learn there’s no Devil under the mountain, there’s a whole city of people. A girl Rage’s age, Jaime, tells her that 150 years ago, when the war destroyed much of the earth, their ancestors built this place. But Rage’s ancestors didn’t want to live under the mountain, so they broke off to “live out their lily-white, neo-Puritan, misogynistic fantasies” (p. 406), and her father was the only one left who knew the truth. The people under the mountain, other than those in charge, are unaware there are people living on the surface. Jaime’s mother, a governor, attempts to kill the girls to keep this secret but they escape.
Rage confronts her father, and kills him when he attempts to kill her and Hunger. She tells the Elders and the townspeople the truth and that things will be different. They work to heal and rebuild. Rage learns that extasia comes from the pain and deaths of the women before her, especially the women killed in Haven. Jaime and her friends are also able to seize control of their city.
The magic system/origins was a little weak, but I appreciated the symbolism. The irony of calling Haven “haven” and Azavel being created to actually be a safe haven for women through the deaths of women. It is a super white book, which is explained in one sentence towards the end (the ancestors of Haven were racist as well as misogynistic). Every other chapter was just trauma. Child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault of a minor, and just watching the women cast their gazes downwards, take their beatings, and Rage struggling to read was all really painful. Not to mention, it’s pretty gruesome and gory.
The fact that Hunger was 14 and Adam was 18 was driving me up the wall. And I know everything in this is supposed to be upsetting and 14 year olds are naïve and sexually curious, but I could’ve just gone without the pedophilia considering everything else going on the book. But I get the need for a righteous kill without feeling bad the guy was a child so we barely made him into an adult. Trust, there’s plenty of evil hearted 15 year olds in the world, I’d have been fine if they killed a minor aged Adam.
In my opinion, Rage seems to switch to the witches’ side a little quickly, not in their vendetta and mission to kill 16 men from Haven, but accepting she’s a witch and she will be this dark being forever. Also, her relationship with Sorrow kind of came out of nowhere. I mean there were subtle moments when she wanted to touch Sorrow’s cheek or her hair, but other than that they didn’t really talk or have more obvious signs of attraction towards her. It felt forced, no chemistry, and like there was no build up considering Rage hadn’t felt desire before or given into desire like Hunger had before. And what was wrong with her being bisexual and just not loving Samuel anymore after all that had happened?
I did very much like this book. It’s really dark for a YA but so is The Hunger Games, The Giver, and Night. In a lot of ways it’s a cautionary tale for where we’re heading if we keep up our crap, which is like “great, don’t remind me” and no one who needs to actually learn this will pick up with book. I’ll say it was very much giving The Village vibes right from the start for me, and I was expecting a reveal of other people with technology, and despite this expectation, it’s very difficult to reveal this in a way that doesn’t have you rolling your eyes. I think the reveal was fine but it still felt cringe. I like the righteous rage and the line between vengeance and becoming a monster yourself. When people are oppressed and backed up in such a tight corner, they lash out in whatever way they can and that can be difficult to reel it in.
Just overall a good book that was entertaining and interesting. I liked that the monster wasn’t like in The Village where it was to further suppress and control the townspeople but rather killing men that had harmed women.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Mental illness, Racism, and Suicide