Book Review
Title: Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis
Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Fantasy
Rating: 4.5 Stars
I want to start this review off by saying that I have many young adult books labelled as horror or thrillers that have completely missed the mark but Jessica Lewis hits a bullseye with Bad Witch Burning. I honestly wasn’t expecting much when I picked it up and it completely blew me away, it was dark, grim and extremely scary in certain parts and it definitely doesn’t lack violence as well as a lot of physical and emotional trauma so definitely read the trigger warnings before picking it up. We are introduced to Katrell who is coming from a really bad environment as she is abused and neglected by her mother and her numerous boyfriends as well as working over 30 hours a week to keep the household running as her mother puts a lot of pressure on her to do this. The only person who has any positive influence on Kat’s life is her best friend Will who is a former foster kid and has been through many of the same situations Katrell finds herself in but there is more to her than we expect.
We learn that Katrell has the ability to talk to ghosts and her mother exploits this to make money by making her write letters that let people communicate with their dead loved ones. From the very beginning I sympathised with Katrell who deserved much more than what she was given in life but after a fight with her mother’s current boyfriend, Gerald he murders her dog, Conrad, which leaves Kat feeling broken and I will warn you that this scene is very graphic. This is the point where things begin to get really interesting as Katrell uncovers something new about her gift that she had no idea about and as she begins testing it out we see her walk down a darker path. It doesn’t take long after this for things to get really bad and Katrell soon finds her life spiralling completely out of control with no way to stop it. Honestly at the beginning of this book where it focused on Katrell struggling to make ends meet and sometimes going days without being able to get I thought it was going to be another young adult novel where the main character overcomes their situation and the neglect and abuse they suffered is completely washed over. However, I really liked Katrell’s situation is one of the main reasons for her action throughout the novel and how Lewis explored Kat’s need to get out of her abusive situation while continuing to try and protect the mother who doesn’t really care about her. I also really enjoyed the fact that Lewis acknowledge that Katrell can see positive examples of adults like her guidance counsellor, Mike and Will’s adoptive mother and that all the adults are lumped together.
At its core Bad Witch Burning is a story about how desperate people try to get out of a bad situation only to find themselves in an even worse situation with no idea how they got there. However, Katrell remains completely true to who she is making her one of the most interesting protagonist I have followed in years especially in young adult literature. I can honestly say I related to Katrell’s feelings of feeling left out with nowhere to turn and how many people including myself find an unhealthy way of coping when left to their own devices. Overall, Bad Witch Burning was really well done and was an accurate portrayal of parental neglect and abusive without washing over or immediately correcting everything that was wrong with the situation. The way the book is written also leads me to believe that Lewis has had some personal experience with these topics which makes a huge difference to how it came across to me as a reader. This book was sad, depressing, exciting and much more and it is honestly such a unique read that I would highly recommend to people looking for something that completely breaks away from the typical tropes found in young adult horror books.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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