Book Review - Cari Thomas's Shadowstitch
Shadowstitch by Cari Thomas
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: June 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 658 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Anna Everdell's life has been turned upside down by the arrival of Effie Fawkes. Her sister. Her twin sister. Her twin sister whom she never knew about. They were separated after their parents' death in the hope of surviving the curse that killed them. Anna was raised by her unlamented Aunt while Effie was raised by their mother's best friend Selene. The curse is such that they are fated to love the same man with deadly consequences. That man in Attis Lockerby. He is Selene's true child, unlike Effie, born and raised to break the curse. But Anna and Effie could never live without Attis so they must find another way. All three of them living together under Selene's roof isn't ideal but after the death of her Aunt, Anna can't face that house of horrors she called home. She was tortured her entire life and for what? To learn to hide her true self? Which might be a valuable skill in the current atmosphere. Protective coloration is needed with what's coming. Her Aunt might not have been wrong about the Hunters. There is a new government agency, the WIPS, the Witchcraft Inquisitorial and Prevention Services. They are tasked with investigating the rising cases of hysteria. And Anna's school, St. Olave's, is the epicenter of the hysteria, thanks in no small part to their coven's manipulations of mean girl Darcey. The school year starts with investigations and inquisitions. Things that were whispered about are now spoken aloud, that Effie, Anna, Manda, and Rowan are witches. It just so happens that on this one occasion they are right. The terror gripping London intensifies when on the one year anniversary of the death of the faceless women in Big Ben the ravens at the Tower of London start to act up. Everyone knows the legend, if the ravens leave the Tower London will fall. The Coven of the Dark Moon must therefore keep their heads down. Which is exactly what Effie doesn't want to do. She will never kowtow to anyone no matter if it endangers herself or others. And the coven is having teething issues as the member try to discover their affinities. Their powers are starting to develop but Anna's are still unpredictable and that puts everyone in danger. Anna and Effie need to find out what their mother learned about their curse and trace it back to it's origins in the 1600s in an attempt to break it. But even those who talk to the dead, the Hel Witches, don't seem able to help. The only one actually helping Anna is her ex Peter Nowell. He wants to "save" Anna. But it looks like she and her coven might be beyond saving.
In the modern era a witch hunt is a term used politically. Think of McCarthyism. Now that was an actual political witch hunt. But in the current era there is a certain bombastic politician who likes to throw the phrase around. A lot. He might just be the most powerful person in the world to my dismay and the dismay of many others. I'm sure he probably doesn't even know what it means. He just says it as a way to get his followers to believe he is being wrongly persecuted. Because, sadly, most witch hunts were about punishing the innocent, usually clever women for being helpful to their communities, though there are also cases of mass delusions and well, plain old spite and revenge. This certain politician is all about the spite and revenge. He plays the victim for sympathy again and again. But just his intoning of the phrase "witch hunt" repeated ad infinitum has made it relevant again. Not because he is the victim of said witch hunts, but because he is carrying them out on innumerable people unjustly. It is the classic case of Republican projection, whatever they say the Democrats are doing to them they are doing themselves. It's reprehensible. But because of the omnipresence of witch hunts this lends a grounding in reality to Shadowstitch. Yes, they really are witches, yes, they might have done some questionable curses, but that doesn't make the witch hunt justified. It's just rounding up the "other" and punishing them for not falling into line. Just because a book is fantasy doesn't mean it's not reality. Some of the harshest truths and bleakest realities can be seen clearer when focused through the lens of fantasy. Just look to Andor. This is a show set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, and yet there isn't a more relevant show out there that speaks to this moment in history. The Ghorman Massacre, holy hell, it is so powerful and terrifying because I can see that happening at any moment to people I love and care for. Shadowstitch also speaks to this moment. But it speaks to it in the way Arthur's Miller's The Crucible did, which besides being about teenagers, please ignore the anachronistic use of that word for the Salem witch trials, was about McCarthyism. It all comes full circle. But with a dash of the Third Reich. Because where would a book about teenage witches be without some Nazis Youths.
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