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A review by liv_easton
Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
This book was one I've been meaning to read for a couple of years now, and I can confidently say I'm glad I did. The payoff was incredibly satisfying, and just what I would want from a book of folklore. That being said, I genuinely did not know how I was going to finish this book for about the first half. For me, there was just too much time spent on the set-up of the book, and it felt like Nethercrott was trying to build up a suspense around the magic system of the book that wasn't quite necessary, since the magic system either went mostly unexplained to make time for the other story elements (at worst) or was meant to be shrouded in mystery as part of the folklore/storytelling core (at best, and what I believe was the actual intention.
In either case, halfway through the story was a bit long to finally drop the curtain on what we needed to know about magic in the novel. Couple that with a POV that is often unappealing to read and also refuses to give the reader any information for a couple hundred pages (I'm looking mostly at you, Isaac, but occasionally at Bellatine), and I didn't think that this book would ever become a novel I was actually invested in. However, I'm happy to say that I was wrong on that count—once Bellatine's magic was revealed, the story and characters seemed to open up and get me invested in the story enough that I would have given the story a 3.5 stars (the last .25 coming from my affection for the type of ending the story ends up having).
The major highlight that kept me reading was every chapter the house told, as the house was by far and away the most compelling character and also the best storyteller of the lot by far. On the whole, I think this is a super worthwhile book to read, and if you need to skim some of the first 20 or so chapters to get through it, I get it.
In either case, halfway through the story was a bit long to finally drop the curtain on what we needed to know about magic in the novel. Couple that with a POV that is often unappealing to read and also refuses to give the reader any information for a couple hundred pages (I'm looking mostly at you, Isaac, but occasionally at Bellatine), and I didn't think that this book would ever become a novel I was actually invested in. However, I'm happy to say that I was wrong on that count—once Bellatine's magic was revealed, the story and characters seemed to open up and get me invested in the story enough that I would have given the story a 3.5 stars (the last .25 coming from my affection for the type of ending the story ends up having).
The major highlight that kept me reading was every chapter the house told, as the house was by far and away the most compelling character and also the best storyteller of the lot by far. On the whole, I think this is a super worthwhile book to read, and if you need to skim some of the first 20 or so chapters to get through it, I get it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Moderate: Blood