Witch and devil team-up
Who doesn't like a good revenge story? Especially when it is a bunch of religious fanatics getting their innards handed to them. Because they just could not let a woman be. It is fitting that the very thing they fear, is what they create by their beliefs, closed mindedness, misogyny and hatred.
So when the religious fundies get Wicked you can’t help but cheer on. The story ends with a satisfying team-up and almost everybody get what they deserve.
And seriously, everybody knows it a huge mistake to mess with pets.
Brom
Perhaps the story could have been ‘more’ if Abitha was less modern in her thinking from the beginning. Then radicalized by misogyny, religious oppression and patriarchy - and empowered by nature and magic.
But the story works well as is, and knows where it is going from the beginning. And as a reader you are a firm supporter of Abitha, the wildfolk & the ‘Devil’ when the final show-down arrives.
It has been a while since I was so invested in ‘the bad guys’ getting their due and ending does not disappoint. Though the magistrate and Wallace’s wife and daughter do get off lightly?
Spooky illustrations throughout the book and there are illustrations of wildfolk on author's website.
Top photo: Detail of the 'Fauno rosso' by Carole Raddato.
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