Wytches, Volume 1

[cornerofmadness]

Wytches, Volume 1 by Scott Snyder

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I went into this with high hopes, especially with praise from Stephen King on it and...it was okay but forgettable, like I gave it back to the library three days ago and now I wish I hadn't because I can barely remember what happened.

The Rooks have moved to NH to start over. Sailor's mother (a nominal character in this really) was paralyzed in a car accident and lost her baby. Sailor, a young lady so anxious she's barely functional, is starting over in h.s. because her bully (that she never told her parents about) disappeared in the woods but in reality Sailor saw her pulled into a tree and killed by whatever was in the tree. Her father Charlie seems to be a recovering alcoholic author of kids books but...we don't get enough about any of them to care when things start going bad.

It's nonlinear veering back and forth between father and daughter and I did like that Charlie is determined to help/save his daughter whereas mom might as well not exist. In this town you get pledged to the witches as a sacrifice and you get things in return (healed, money, wealth etc) so it tries hard to be folk horror, really it does.

But it mostly ends up confusing. What happened to the uncle Sailor was with? Did he die? Did no one care? Charlie is visited by the weird old woman (thanks for telling me that because the way she was drawn I would never have guessed female) witch hunter who hands him the tools he needs and then does something that I'm sitting there thinking why? Did I miss something? Do I care enough to go back and find it (No I didn't). The twist was more of 'out of left field, wtf moment.'

It ends openly with the idea there'll be more. Is there more? I have no idea, I didn't click on the link to look. Would I read it? Maybe if it was at the library like this was but also maybe not. I've seen a lot better folk horror out there but I will say as someone who has lived in small towns most of their lives I actually sort of resent the whole weird people in small towns thing.



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