First start-to-finish novel of the new year. A not-too-heavy gothic fantasy continuing Alix Harrow’s penchant for portal fantasies, this time with a 26-year-old protagonist who sometimes sounds younger than her years. (We all know someone like this, don’t we?)
Alternating POVs in 1st and a not-too-close 3rd.
Theme: the legacy of exploitation of women and African Americans by Kentucky mining capitalists, while speaking to ghostly inclinations for revenge and larger themes of personal and community healing.
Favorite part: the protagonist Opal’s propensity to weigh what she needs versus what she wants and to jettison the distinction. Rather meta of Harrow, since novelists are taught to know the difference between wants and needs for their characters.
See “A Whisper in the Weld” for a blast furnace ghost story by Harrow. https://www.shimmerzine.com/a-whisper-in-the-weld-by-alix-e-harrow/
and her 2019 Hugo Award-winning short story:
https://apex-magazine.com/short-fiction/a-witchs-guide-to-escape-a-practical-compendium-of-portal-fantasies/
In 2020, I came across Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches from which point on, I decided to follow all things Harrow. https://alixeharrow.wixsite.com/author