Nearly everyone died the first night they came…
Two years ago, monstrous beings tore through Britain, leaving few survivors. Now Sara and her family live on the run, relying on scraps of folklore and fading pagan rituals to stay safe from the eldritch creatures they call "witches". While her mother grows increasingly paranoid, Sara longs for something more than fear.
Then a strange girl appears in the garden of their current camp. Her name is Parsley, and she cannot remember where she came from or why she's there. Despite her family's suspicions, Sara feels drawn to her. But when Sara's younger brother is taken by the Witches, she and Parsley must cross desolate moors full of merciless terrors to get him back. As their bond deepens, so do the dangers they face—and Sara begins to question whether anything is truly as it seems.
"Why would anyone ever go toward a hole like that? They wouldn't; it's just not in human nature to run toward danger that dark. And yet. Here I am. Maybe not running toward it, but definitely edging my way forward."
Get ready to journey across a post-apocalyptic Britain, evade eldritch terrors and solve a mystery like no other to try and survive the night.
This enchanting, striking horror draws on stories from the old religions of the United Kingdom, the monsters from it's pagan and Celtic roots that are almost forgotten; not only offering something unique but meaning our survivors barely know enough to comprehend the terrors they're facing, let alone know how to fight them off.
It's deeply atmospheric, overbearingly claustrophobic like it's pulled straight from a nightmare with everything painted so viscerally, so vividly. Each scene feels like a little bubble waiting to burst, before melting into the next one with quick chapters that leave the whole thing feeling like a bad dream.
Sara is a sharp narrator; young but careful, frightened but brave, tapped into the feelings of her small family and aware of the precarious nature of their survival in an almost empty world. They recall in moments, sharing the tipping point when the world changed, the devastation left in its wake, hanging wards and searching desperately for safety.
I loved her relationships with her family, each one so different - from the unique experiences of young twins who've only ever known the end of the world, the different responses to the chaos from isolation to love, even the mysterious girl they find in the dark who sparks the start of a beautifully tender potential queer romance in the face of the unknown.
The story moves quickly despite the first half of the book feeling plotless. I barely even noticed I was halfway through because I was so enthralled in the world, the lore and the characters. There was a delicate, pervasive sense of dread and fear about that which lurks outside that lingered before it's time to run into the darkness head-on in a nervous, haunting escalation and an ending that is made for the final dramatic scenes of a blockbuster movie.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- We Call Them Witches will be available from 7th April with Poisoned Pen Press. I received a reviewers copy of this title.
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