“‘Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches’: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.”
The Bewitching, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
First, this is a very spooky, gothically witchy book that would be ideally read on a dark October evening, with a cat and a hot cup of tea. Second, I wish I had liked the three interwoven stories more. The ambience of each storyline was decadently dark, and I liked that the three women had similar but unique experiences, which kept me intrigued but also maintained the creepy presence from timeline to timeline.
Alba’s storyline, on a family farm in early 1900s Mexico, was definitely the one drawing me in. Her narration and the heightened tension was exactly what I want from historical horror. Minerva’s storyline started out equally interesting to me, but there wasn’t the same electrifying current for me. And Beatrice’s plot truly did not hold my attention.
Overall, I think this book could definitely be a better fit for some other readers. I like my horror endings to be less thoroughly explained, and I prefer when the spookiness creeps in slowly. Alba’s chapters had all of those characteristics, I just wish the other two storylines had matched in the visual storytelling and atmospheric unease.
Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
Read with Fern 
Leave a comment