The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson @alexhwrites @BerkleyPub

The Year of the Witching by by Alexis Henderson is now available and it left me saying you guessed it Hot Diggity Dang that was good after reading it!!

Year of the Witching is a dark feminist fantasy and not one I would have picked up on my own. I decided to download this one after it was mentioned in the sister group, and I read it with my reading sister Debra. I am so glad I read this one and had Debra to discuss this one with.

I often get lost when reading stories with fantasy or supernatural elements to the story, so it took a while to get into this one, and I had to go back and reread some parts. Once I got into the flow of it, I couldn’t put down my kindle until I was done reading it. After reading and thinking about this one, I began to realize the depth to the story.

Alexis Henderson brilliantly blends horror, a paranormal dark, twisty witchy tale set the dystopian world of Bethel where the Prophet makes the rules everyone must follow. She weaves in real-world themes like racism, oppression, power and religion. The Prophet uses fear, cruelty and religion to gain power and control over the people.

Our main character Immanuelle is a strong realistic character here with her traits and development. She starts off vulnerable and flawed by her Mother’s choices and lives in the shadows. She grows into a multi-layered strong character with conflicts of her own and ones she must overcome to save her family, community and home. Not only is Immanuelle a complex, fascinating character, the dynamics between her and the other characters are also.

The setting is haunting beautiful and creepy that adds a deliciously bleak and eerie feel to the story with the danger that lurks in the Darkwoods.

With every page, the tension rises to that exciting climate of a showdown between the characters, and I was gripping my kindle hoping no one would bother me till I was done. This is an impressive story, and like no other, I have read. I highly recommend it.

I received a copy from the publisher on NetGalley