The Year of the Witching

Female submission by sadistic, narcissistic males. Doesn't sound very original? Well think again. This story is that, yes, but it's also so much more. I'm not sure if it's considered YA but it seems much too dark for that qualification in my opinion. What I love is that the witches in this book are real! Finally, a story about truly creepy, powerful, shaking in your shoe's witches! Lately any title with the word “witch” ends up being ok. I did Finish the second book in the A Discovery of Witches series but, that's more time travel and magical. This is more a chill you to the bones kind of read.
The Year of the Witching is set in a fictional puritanical society similar to that of Salem, where women are persecuted for witchcraft and other crimes that the men of cloth get away with scot-free. Bethel is a society based in hypocrisy and its history is riddled with untruths. I appreciated how Alexis Anderson told a feminist story in which the main character, Immanuelle, is a strong female who is dedicated to changing Bethel for the better by protecting the vulnerable and punishing those who abuse their power behind the Church.

There were some positively spooky scenes set in the Darkwood and the witches were both frightening and captivating. Yet, towards the middle of the book, the story began to slow for me a bit. For one, I wanted more interactions with the witches and more magic. I felt the story stalled a bit until we reached the climax. I also felt the relationship between Ezra and Immanuelle was more of a friendship and I could never buy their romance. Their relationship needed to be more developed and I would have loved to delve more into the relationship between Vera and Immanuelle as well. Overall, this was a good debut, there were just certain elements I wanted more of that I hope to get more of in a second book maybe?

I love witch books and overall I thought this book was okay and I can see why people would love it, but this had three issues for me. Two I think are unique to me and the other is a general criticism.

My first issue is that I felt this skewed too YA for my particular tastes. The main character is an older teen girl and I just don't care about reading the drama that comes along with that. This book didn't center on that teen drama, but is endemic to a teen girl growing up in a religious society in a household that enforces those ideals who happens to be interested in a boy from a different segment of society.

My second issue is the same issue I had with The Handmaid's Tale. I don't want to read fiction about religious societies that oppress women. It is too close to real life and I would rather read non-fiction with actionable items than have it incorporated into a fantasy book.

My general criticism is that I felt the book was kind of slow for the first 90% and then sped up and got real crazy in the last 10% and then ended. I wanted more witchcraft throughout the book and more world-building in that direction rather than reading about the Romeo and Juliet nature of her relationship with the secondary character.

3.5/5, rounded down edit: 2/5.

edit: you know what, the more i ruminate about this book, the less i like it, but props for memorability seeing how it's been like 5 months since i've read it.

Loved the premise, loved the writing style, loved the world-building and the characters. The exploration of SOME aspects systemic misogyny and its intersections w race and class were compelling. It was an eerie, creeping horror that really focuses on Immanuelle's coming of age.

However.

IDK I really thought Immanuelle was going to pine for her best friend, and if there was going to be a love story, that's where I wanted it to bloom. Ezra was cool, and their relationship was sweet but idk a book that focused so heavily on violence against women and oppression I just? We really went with the Not All Men character? Felt kind of betrayed by the LGBTQ tags seeing how the only rep 2 witches that say NOTHING, are EVIL, and END UP DEAD plus 2 side characters that were present as a deus ex machina for about 20 pages out of the whole thing. ok. From a literary standpoint it's thematically inconsistent but but from a social justice standpoint? I'll take one Yikes for 100, Alex.There's an implication running throughout the first half of the text that covertly associates womanhood with menstruation which is fundamentally and insidiously transphobic. The author does a good job at discussing the nuances of racism and misogyny and misogynoir in the text that the cisnormativity felt like a slap to the face. Like what the fuck?Immanuelle's menarche "blood begets blood" as the catalyst for the plagues wrought on the Glades could have been so sexy BUT LIKE? The implication of menstruation as witch magic/women's magic, the worship of the Dark Mother as a witchy figure, Immanuelle hailing from the Darkwood where the witches reside being so deeply intertwined with womanhood is a dogshit lazy theme from a literary and inclusionary standpoint.Obviously for some femininity is deeply associated with their perception of womanhood and identity. And having a character hold that belief is ok. But weaving that rhetoric into the worldbuilding with no dissenting attitudes MUCH LESS TRANS REP is just cisnormative/transphobic writing.The setting and atmosphere really take a nosedive after the death of Leah (which also? Poor baby). Likewise, ending was corny and our characters make stupid decisions from the reader's standpoint, but it's like Ezra said. People make foolish decisions when they're backed into corners. It was a good bookend. But the witches leaving the woods to attack the glades? Only to be defeated by a teenager? Really ruins their ethereal brand of horror. ALSO THE ENDING???????? We're really. REALLY going to have Immanuelle's best friend disclose a traumatic history of sexual abuse and grooming, have her endure what's presumably an unwanted pregnancy, then die in childbirth as consequence, only to have Immanuelle look down at her girl's rapist and extend him mercy? and even deny Ezra's offer to kill him for her? Immanuelle, you're a complicated character and we have some fundamental disagreements on... things. And I can respect it. But dude, really, Immanuelle? Justice for the Glades but fuck Leah I guess. OH AND ANOTHER THING - Immanuelle's paternal grandmother as the deus ex machina for her to stop the plagues? Ughhhhhhhhhhh. Also what was the point of Immanuelle being interested in reading more than the other girls in her cohort if that interest was never going to be brought up again? Why did Vera have to gift her the Answer on a gifted platter idk why couldn't she have. IDK SHE KNOWS HOW TO READ BETTER THAN HER FRIENDS, WHY DIDN'T WE GIVE HER A LITTLE MORE AGENCY IN THAT SENSE. Wah.

Anyway, I did genuinely like this book a lot! I think I just wanted more from it. edit: I did not like this book. Clearly.

(also, most of the trigger warnings are laid out really well, but as a note, The Year of the Witching features a Black mother that was forced to watch her son die at the hands of the law/law enforcement. And it hurts. She describes him as quiet and kind, "though you wouldn't have realized it upon first meeting him.")

QUESTIONS I STILL HAVE (ft. spoilers)
1. why didn't Leah's baby have a name?2. what the fuck did Ezra see in his vision?3. how did the witches fucking survive in the woods4. why? was immanuelle so powerful? what purpose did that serve?

The Year of the Witching drew me in immediately, and I really enjoyed determined Immanuelle, her story, and that she developed as a character but still felt like the same person by the end???just one whose experiences had drawn a deeper part of herself to the surface. Although I did have some issues with the ending, it's no small feat that this book kept me turning the pages in the year 2020, and I look forward to reading more of Alexis Henderson's future work (including the sequel scheduled for next year!).

Full Review on My Website