I really enjoyed this dark, diverse take on witches and witchcraft. The history was fascinating and almost believable. Especially the parts about men having the same powers, but not thinking they are the same as they are above women and these men then passing judgement on women and killing them for the same magic. The patriarchy is a problem in this book, just as it is in the real world. The women are strong, powerful, but also fallible. They must work together to find their coven, but also to take on this old evil (a powerful man from the group of hunters that murder witches, the Benandanti). It was terrifying following this man, Jay Christos, through the world manipulating and bending people to his will. To have people give themselves to him, him using them terribly, and then stripping them of both their free will and memory. I felt the ick down in my soul. His casualness when killing, how easily he justifies everything he does. Also, his slow hunt of these women was hair raising and kept me on the edge of my seat. How could they possibly win against him? My favourite parts though involved the Mother, the Maiden, and the Crone. Your typical witch mythology, but spun on its head. They are not Goddesses, or witches, instead they are a group of women who assist witches and covens in their work. There are three kinds of helpers Bookers (keep track of and interpret texts), Tenders (collect news and strategize), and Watchers (protectors). I could have read a book solely focused on this group of women, or women with these characteristics helping witches. Honestly, the bookers and tenders in this one were so interesting and I was fascinated with their stories and interactions with the main character. I also loved that this book mixed tons of different traditional forms of witchcraft, from Indigenous, to pagan, to mountain magic. This is a book about women reclaiming magic from those who stripped them of it, it is about a diverse group of marginalized people being able to find their own power. I did have a hard time keeping track of the coven of women, a few of them bled together and did not stand out enough as their own entity. But, I did love the communal aspect of their home, the openness, honesty, the ease with which they accepted others. And these were all diverse women from communities that face racism, homophobia, transphobia, and more. So, their desire to change the world for the better is front and centre, close to all of their hearts. Their determination is powerful. At the heart of this book is a relationship between a woman (Lucky) and her grandmother, her elder. Her grandmother (Stella) is losing her memory and Lucky has no idea what she is going to do. She feels helpless, having lost her own mother years before. There is a lot of loss in this novel, and Lucky is pushing her grandmother away because she fears what is happening, does not know what to do, how to help, and her frustration grows as her grandmother's behaviour becomes more erratic. But, in the end, Lucky must embrace her elder instead of pushing her away. Their relationship is the message of this book as it frames the narrative around embracing your past, a history that is hard, in order to heal and move forward into a better future. In order to do that, it is best to have a community to support you, to hold you up when you feel like you are falling. This is dark, but in a way that shows the danger women face everyday when they go against the way this world has been built, around rich, white, men. But it is also filled with hope.
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