I gave The Famine Witch 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Net Galley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for the ARC of this book. These are my honest opinions.

Belfast 1847 during the Great Irish Famine was an extremely painful time in history. Stephen Black captures the suffering, but adds some fantasy, in the way of witches and a dark forces to create a story that was a good read.

The first dark force is a serial killer “Bloody Hands”, preying on the starving people at their greatest time of need. The other is the Black Lady who has been plotting her revenge on the town for 200 years. She also seeks Bloody Hands - because she isn’t happy with him either.

Throw in two orphans who are trying to be a family while not starving to death. It turns out that it’s up to them to save each other and their town.

I enjoyed this book and it’s a short, quick read. There were areas that fell a little flat and areas that could have been a little more detailed. The writing was okay.

Overall, I enjoyed this book.

The Famine Witch is an extremely slow book that could not hold my attention. I tried several times, but gave up in the end.

The Famine Witch is gripping and dark right from the very start. It didn't take long at all for me to become emotionally involved with the characters and the need for an outcome, I ended up binging it in just a matter of hours. The blending of horror and history is always a winner, made even better by the Irish touch.
That being said, my only gripe is the length. I felt like I needed more. Other than that, The Famine Witch delivered everything I could have wanted in a haunting, dark fantasy. There are a few minor content warnings, like this may not be for you if any kind of children suffering can be a tough read for you.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy, The Famine Witch is available now.

So many descriptive, yet unnecessary, pseudo-haunting adjectives that they made a good beginning an incredibly slow experience that didn't allow me to enjoy the reading. I could not finish (this is written in the style of the novel, just so you have an idea)

i did not finish, because it did not hold my attention and lose its appeal to me. thank you for the opportunity, though.

This is a well written historical fiction story that blends with fantasy and horror. The writing is melancholic and atmospheric, however, perhaps becomes quite dense at times. I was entertained by the conflict between two villains but found the motivations of the villains to be ambiguous and lacking depth. The internal monologues of the villains were quote repetitive at time, so the book may have benefited from being slightly shorter in that regard.

I also was unsatisfied with Maggie and Annabelle’s friendship – it left it moved too fast and was too brief for the weight given to the relationship by the characters.

For its flaws, I would recommend this book for a someone looking for a dark historical and fantasy fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for ARC.

Dark, intense and gripping.

Mingled the horrors of the real world and the famine with the horrors of the other world!

If you're looking for something dark, historical, folk loreish, this is for you.

If you like historical and witchy fantasy, this book is for you. The story follows the revenge of the Black Lady as well as the path of Maggie regarding witchcraft and how the town sees her. The story is set 1847, during the Patato Famine and I think it captures the way the people tried to survive it quite well.

It is a bit dark and filled with death, so be cautious.

My thoughts on…

THE STORY: 

The story is a mix of historical fiction with paranormal elements.

As the story opens, it is 1647 and readers meet The Black Lady. She is accused of being a witch. She is marched through town and then hanged for actions that she did not commit. She vows to make those in Belfast pay one day.

Two hundred years have passed, and it is time for Bloody Hands to make his return and claim his six. This is also a perfect time for The Black Lady to seek her vengeance on Belfast, and on Bloody Hands. After all, he is the reason she was hanged.

This was a clever way to have The Black Lady return - picking a historical moment and thrusting readers into that time. Readers experience the hunger, the filth, the hopelessness of those most affected during the famine in Belfast.

There are three major elements to the story - the murders at the hands of Bloody Hands, the vengeance of The Black Lady, and the famine. Because of the living conditions, illness also spreads quickly. 

There is a lot of death.

While all of this is weaved throughout the novel, the center of the novel is the feud between Bloody Hands and The Black Lady. Her ultimate goal beyond Belfast is to bring Bloody Hands to a stop once and for all. 

This is what readers are waiting for the entire book - the final showdown between these two characters.

THE CHARACTERS: 

This novel has four main players - Bloody Hands, The Black Lady, Maggie Malone, Jinx Malone.

Bloody Hands has one purpose: to bring chaos to the story. And does he ever. Readers will learn who and what he is, but the author reveals this slowly. Almost too slowly. So be patient.

The Black Lady we meet in the prologue. Readers will experience her walk to the gallows. She is the pettiest character in this book, and I was here for it. It was earned. Her motives are not what they seem, so readers should buckle up when she is on the page. She was my favorite character.

Maggie and Jinx Malone - the brother and sister duo. Maggie has magic she doesn’t quite understand, and The Black Lady watches over her because Maggie follows the old ways. Her motivation is to keep her brother Jinx safe. But Jinx does not always do what he is supposed to do, and Maggie seems to work hard to keep him out of trouble. He serves an important purpose to the overall story, as does Maggie. 

WHO WILL WANT TO READ THIS: 

This book is going to appeal to those who enjoy historical witchy tales, especially those that are a little darker.

FINAL THOUGHT:

I want to share something that did bug me during the reading of the book. The author kept referring to the death of The Black Lady as her being “hung.” This is a sticking point with me as a reader because the proper term is “hanged.” I have been reading witchy books for a really long time, and this is the first I have encountered where the writer chose “hung” over “hanged.” This may not bother most readers, but it really bothered me.

A really interesting read, I felt it a little slow in parts but overall I enjoyed the premise and the mystery!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review!

Was a good historical witch book. I felt it dragged a little more then I wanted but overall was a good book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Maggie and Jinks are siblings living in Belfast during the Potato Famine of 1847. Danger comes at them from all sides and Maggie prays fervently to the Black Lady, a powerful witch that lives on the mountain. The Lady listens, but her help comes with strings attached and she may not be the answer Maggie was hoping for.

This was an interesting book. There were moments where it was a bit repetitive and slow. And also there were zombies? I felt that at times the author was just going for shock value instead of things that would add to the story, but overall it was a good book. I'd say 3.5 stars.

This book seemed like it had a very interesting premise. But the writing and tone were extremely florid and overly dramatic, which made it difficult for me to connect with the characters—they felt like melodramatic stereotypes, which was disappointing considering the real suffering that the people in Belfast went through at this time. A more gritty and sparse tone could have really added to the story and driven home the situation the characters were living in. I really tried to plod through the extreme overuse of adjectives, but after the third anachronism at 9% in, I just didn’t have the patience any more.

It was an interesting read. I love the title and cover of the book. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. It would be a great book for other readers though.

I didn't know what to expect but what I got made my dark little soul and the witch in me incredibly happy. I loved it and couldn't put it down. It is dark and horrific but also beautiful in places. I loved it

Okay, this book was amazing!!! This is in line with Slewfoot by Brom. The Famine Witch is a fantastic horror/fantasy book set in Northern Ireland in 1847. I almost didn't finish it!!! Fifty pages in, I thought it was dry. I thought it might be a YA fantasy (not my cup of tea), although if you like YA fantasy, you may still like it despite it's very horrific elements.

HOWEVER, it got exponentially better, even all the way to the end. If you love Irish mythology with banshees, demons, and horror elements, this book is for you!!! This is wonderful mythology with some horrific scenes. There was a lot of beautiful language and some humorous bits in this novel. 4.5 starts rounded up, because that's how rounding works.

While at times it felt like the dialog was a bit heavy, the story telling was enriching and I was completely entranced.

This book had me hooked from the beginning. I mean it's witches right? How can you pass up the opportunity to indulge yourself with a little witchy Irish read. The characters were well thought out and had a lot of depth to them that made me really like them. I will definitely be purchasing this book to read again and again. It was sad, tragic, and just a good read all around.

Everyone who likes dark, historical fantasy seriously needs to go read this book! I loved it so much. This story takes place in Belfast in 1847 and everyone is either dead or dying because of famine and diseases running rampant. Now, in this lovely setting there are evil ghosts and witches running rampant. And of course lots of churchly influences that don’t make the situation better.

The main characters are absolutely amazing. There is a super powerful oldest sister witch and the most adorable naughty little brother. These two had such an amazing brother sister dynamic and Jinks is just sooooo cute.

We also get to see a lovely friendship form when two young women take on all the dark and powerful forces in the town.

Now, it is indeed really dark and there’s lots of gory moments (So check trigger warnings) but I’m not going into too much detail, bc I’m not about to spoil the plot -and fun- for anyone.

What I will say is that there’s some influences from Irish mythology, which is really cool, because you don’t see that often.

I really hope I’ve convinced you to go give this book a try. The amazing characters, unique setting and battling ghosts, what more can you want?

I really enjoyed it and it did not take me long to understand who's point of view I was reading it from. I particularly liked reading it from the point of view of Anabelle.