Slewfoot, Gerald Brom

SLEWFOOT

• Author : Gerald BROM

• Publisher : Tor Nightfire

• Released : September 14, 2021

• Page count : 305

• Format : Paperback

• Genre : Horror, Witchcraft, fantasy, historical fiction

• Content warnings :

• Source : local shop

• Representation : woman lead

• Part of a Series : No

★★★★★ — Oh, a new favorite!

 

Quote from the book:

“Abitha laughed. “You think me worried about my soul?” She laughed again, loud and fierce, locking blazing eyes on Samson. “I’ve no soul left,” she growled. “They’ve crucified my fucking soul!” Her voice cracked and hot angry tears began to flow.”

Pros: Page turner. Buttons pusher. Great art of Brom and a bad-ass male/female platonic duo easy to root for (no romance but hell of a friendship/mentorship)

Cons: I don’t have any, honestly. Except that it could be too graphically violent for some people usually triggered by violence.

Summary :

Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it.

A spirited young Englishwoman, Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger – only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. All alone in this pious and patriarchal society, Abitha fights for what little freedom she can grasp onto, while trying to stay true to herself and her past.

Enter Slewfoot, a powerful spirit of antiquity newly woken ... and trying to find his own role in the world. Healer or destroyer? Protector or predator? But as the shadows walk and villagers start dying, a new rumor is whispered:

Witch

Both Abitha and Slewfoot must swiftly decide who they are, and what they must do to survive in a world intent on hanging any who meddle in the dark arts.

My Thoughts on this Book :

This book was my first Brom's and definitely not the last. I always had something for writers who are also artist and are able to create their own cover and story illustrations. It's like having a second way to go deeper in the writer's mind and understand their creative process. But I'm a visual reader so it could be just my feeling. That's something I definitely found in Slewfoot. The woman lead is a big plus for me. And as much as I am picky with male authors writing woman lead, as they more often than not, butcher them and let so much lenient sexist stereotypes infuse in their character's depiction that I cannot focus on anything else and the plot is lost for me. Fortunately, Abitha is brilliantly developed and Brom managed to create a main woman character who is flawed, brave, witty, strong and badass in her witchy damned way without the classic Marie Sue and/or misogynistic stereotypes.

The plot is rather simple but works effectively, everything is carefully built on historical events or facts that gives you enough of a context to set the vibes and the atmosphere without having to do a complete and detailed wold building. I'm usually more the character driven + world building combo kind of reader but Brom managed to hooked me with half of that while pushing all my buttons. Damn, I almost threw my Kobo several time by frustration and sometimes rage against the bigot puritans of this story or the injustice against women and especially against Abitha. Halfway through it, you are rooting so much for this witch that you just wait impatiently for her to start behind a revenge wraith. And you'll not be deceived.

Links :

• Author Website

• My Storygraph Review

• Buy the book with Indie Bookshops