"Most people have been devoured by the eldritch creatures, but Sara and her family have been fighting for survival, armed with their knowledge of folklore and pagan rituals - the only weapon that seems to work against these monsters. And then a young woman, Parsley, comes out of nowhere into Sara's life. Found in their garden, they have no idea where she is from. Sara and Parsley begin to fall in love, but disaster strikes when Sara’s brother Noah is taken by the creatures. They set out to find him, across a landscape of merciless terror, haunted by death. But can Parsley truly be trusted in a world where humanity is as scarse as humans themselves?"
What Worked for Me
I loved the folklore elements and how they were used on both sides of the story - with the monsters and the protection from monsters. I love folk horror and this really hit the spot. The theme of the old ways being the only way to protect yourself combined with the fact that not many people know this information any more was very compelling. I would have liked to see more trial and error or some examples of times where they learned new information or new tactics but it turned out to be completely not helpful.
The monster design was great and I actually liked that they were a little mysterious and vague as to where they come from or why they all look different. There was a part where one of the characters calls this out a little where they mention that if this was a movie, there would have been announcements on the news about the breakout but they didn't get anything like that. We do get a whole lot of different theories thrown out there - some more plausible than others - but we never get a sort of 'official explanation' and I liked that it is left up to the reader a bit.
What Didn't Work for Me
My main struggle was with the character relationships and trying to find my footing in regards to how these characters interacted before the Witches came in comparison to now. We get dropped into the story about 1 year after they came, but for the longest time the reader doesn't really get much information on how things were before. We do eventually get some flashbacks and some more explanation in the later parts of the book, but I wanted that information earlier. As it currently reads, I feel like I couldn't really settle into these characters or understand some of the interpersonal tension going on. For the first half of the book - it felt like I was just watching these characters like on a TV show instead of really feeling immersed in the story. Once we do get some flashbacks and more explanations, the characters felt much more grounded and realistic which made the events of the ending really hit home.
Despite knowing the main plot points from the description, the first half of the book felt very stagnant and I didn't feel like it had a bunch of forward momentum. I thought we were going to have much more tension with the Witches or with Parsley being an outsider to this family, but both of those points were handled quickly and without much friction. Our family comes across like a well oiled machine as far as setting up their protective barrier and falling into a routine that they obviously know well after doing it for so long. It is realistic, but sort of sucked any real tension out of the story. Once the main event happened and our characters had to leave their safety - I was much more invested and the tension really ramped up. I did like that we got to see their relative safety so we could understand what they were leaving behind, but I wanted to get to that main plot point faster.
Overall, this was a good folk horror read, I loved the second half once our characters leave their safety net and we get more background on what life had turned into since the Witches came to be.
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC. Publication date was April 7, 2026
