Post apocalyptic horror is a mashup of my two favorite genres. So when the opportunity arose to review such a book, I jumped at it. WE CALL THEM WITCHES by author India-Rose Bower combines the best of both genres and weaves them into a tapestry that flows between action, terror, humor and heart while demanding your interest throughout the entire ride.
WE CALL THEM WITCHES follows Sarah and her surprisingly large–by apocalypse standards–family as they try to survive being hunted and violently killed and consumed by hordes of ancient, eldritch creatures that have suddenly risen from the bowels of the Earth, decimating most of the world’s human inhabitants. While tucked away in their fortified safe-house, surrounded by magical wards that act as a mystical deterrent for the creatures, an unconscious young woman named Parsley is found at the edge of their property. The family brings the young woman in, but mistrust of the new arrival drives a wedge between Sarah and her older sibling, Danny, who is unsure if this person is who or what she claims to be. Can the family come together to defend their home, or will the creatures use the tension of the new family dynamic to their depraved benefit?
So… Parsley… Seriously?… Listen, consider this as an aside from my overall review, but can I say that I’ve never been more distracted by a character’s name? Why, India-Rose? Why?! Maybe Parsley is a common British name and I’m just being a dumb American right now, but wow, did it ever take a long time for that name to stop grating against me. I mean… Parsley… PARSLEY?! OK… I’ve gotten that out of my system and completely expended my allotment of ellipses in the process. So, let’s continue.
I’m not a huge fan of books written from a first person perspective. Sometimes I feel that first person tries to force me to identify with the main character of a story rather than allowing me the space to choose which character or characters appeal to and stand out to me the most. In the case of WE CALL THEM WITCHES, Sarah is presented with such an innate humanity that it’s not hard to go along as the mental passenger on her journey. The writing makes you want to experience the beautiful bond she has with the younger siblings. You understand her insecurities. You want to see if the spark between her and Parsley can be a respite from the misery of life in a hellish reality. It’s not a chore spending so much time in Sarah’s head.
The character of Ma, (Sarah, Danny and their sibling’s mother) is especially intriguing to me. She represents vigilance, wisdom and security but her emotional distance and coldness gives her an enigmatic quality that also makes it hard to forget the constant danger that lay just beyond the boundary of mystical wards she’s outlined the perimeter of the property with. Ma is flawed. She shows a different side of how facing the end of the world, with family in tow, can wear away one’s nurturing ability.
The prose in the book is not overly flowery but there is a nice flow to it and is as elegant as it needs to be without crossing into “purple prose” territory. Vivid descriptions effortlessly paint an image in the mind’s eyes of not just the carnage at hand but also gives glimpses of the beauty that somehow still remains in the world. There is a subtlety in the writing that lulls you into false comfort right before bashing you with a slab of horror. This works to great effect most of the time however, there were a couple of moments where I was zipping through the story and the changeover was so subtle that I had missed it and had to backtrack to find that specific moment when the bad thing had just gone down. Those couple of moments could have used slightly more build up to make them hit harder.
One thing that nagged at me while reading was trying to figure out exactly why “we call them witches.” The creatures don’t fit any conventional definitions of what we’ve considered witches to be from any folklore that I’m aware of. There is a section toward the end of the book where Sarah actually ponders why her family even chose to call these monsters witches in the first place. It almost feels like this was a conversation the writer was having with herself about why that label was chosen. I think something other than witches would have been a more fitting designation for the creatures.
There was also a lack of uniformity to the depictions of the various creatures. Each one was vastly different from the other and many of them were partially composed of non-organic elements. For example, one had garden rakes as arms and one’s skin was made of an old tapestry and one had some type of lamp lights growing from its head. I think, maybe, if more explanation was provided for how it was that these seemingly organic, living creatures were also somehow partially combined with inorganic, man-made items, I may have had an easier time accepting this. It took a tiny bit of the bite away from the scariness of the monsters but overall, they were still pretty effective.
One thing I was pleasantly surprised by was the tone of the ending. Without giving anything away, it was very consistent with the mood and previous events of the story and didn’t take the emotionally easy way out that it could have in favor of a more positive ending. Great choice by India-Rose Bower, for following through with what couldn’t have possibly been an easy and safe choice to make. I can see this being a divisive ending, but I think it makes perfect sense and forces us to look inward and examine what we would do if we were in Sarah’s shoes.
WE CALL THEM WITCHES serviceably scratched my post apocalyptic horror itch in spite of it being intended for the young adult market. Not to mention this is India-Rose Bower’s debut full length novel. Kudos on such a well crafted first outing. And I promise, it won’t be easy and I may lose some sleep over it, but I will do my best to get over the name… Parsley.
