Brilliant, sinister, and captivating ... The tale effortlessly merges witch folklore across time, giving readers a chilling horror novel, a multi-generational saga, a satisfying mystery, and a reminder of the interconnectedness of humanity, all in one bewitching package ... Moreno-Garcia’s latest is a triumph.
With three timelines to juggle, Moreno-Garcia is careful with plotting—maybe too much so—leaving The Bewitching feeling oddly slight and slack. The pace is slow until the end when the parallel stories begin to illuminate aspects of each other, but by then it’s almost too late ... What does happen—bad or otherwise—isn’t anything you wouldn’t expect or figure out, and despite the gory bits, The Bewitching isn’t scary. Add it all up and you have a serviceable enough story that doesn’t bear up under the weight of its structure. In other words, this tale of witches isn’t that—dare I say it? Oh, yes!—bewitching.
Moreno-Garcia immerses readers in multiple settings; the shifting perspectives keep the tension high as the book barrels to the final confrontation. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable book about power, privilege, dark magic, and the capacity for stories to transcend them all.
The point of view shifts among Minerva, Alba, and Beatrice in their various time periods, a technique which Moreno-Garcia uses effectively; it’s impressive how she keeps the narrative tension running parallel in each one. The writing is beautiful, which is par for the course for Moreno-Garcia, and in Minerva, she has created a deeply original character, steely but yearning. This is yet another triumph from one of North America’s most exciting authors ... Suspenseful and terrifying; Moreno-Garcia hits it out of the park yet again.
With this equally spooky and sophisticated horror novel, bestseller Moreno-Garcia (The Seventh Veil of Salome) proves she’s as adept playing in the tropes of dark academia as any of the other subgenres she’s tried on ... Moreno-Garcia toggles between the gothic, über-privileged world of Stoneridge and the harsh reality of life in Alba’s Mexican village, keeping readers in the dark about how they connect, and then pulls the threads together in a searing finale. It’s as unsettling as it is unputdownable.
