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Where the Witches Dwell started off whimsically; two young girls witnessing a sad man in a dream. From that point on, it almost seemed as though the book had entered the confused world of dreams. We follow the sad man, Roulic, as he meanders his way through the world of Doth and meet the array of weird and wonderful characters he befriends along the way. He stops and chats at length with all sorts of people, often talking in strange riddles that the strangers, nonetheless, seem to understand. All we know at this point, is that he’s on his way to The Nine Oceans, by way of Mount Nocturne and will pass through many villages with whimsical names such as Belief. He has many encounters along the way, and we slowly learn that he’s an Ancient, centuries old and mourning the loss of his family eons ago. He moves on from wherever he stays every few years to avoid detection and persecution, but strangely tells people why he’s leaving and that he’s an Ancient.
The narrative of Where the Witches Dwell was so confusing to me, I had to read passages several times over to ensure I fully understood what was actually happening. The language was convoluted, often not making contextual sense – almost as though Jest forgets that the reader doesn’t know these characters as well as he does and expects the reader to instinctively understand the socio-political map of the world he’s created. Admittedly, I don’t like to be spoon fed a fantasy world’s laws, rules and lore, but I do actually like to be able to understand what is happening. In this particular novel, that’s impossible to do, because Jest weaves the information into the narrative in confused dribs and drabs; jumping from one thought to another and back again without any warning, paragraph breaks and sometimes mid-sentence. To add to the confusion, he slips from one characters inner thoughts to another’s in the same passage, leaving the reader in a head spinning whirl of confusion.
It’s a shame, as I love novels about Witches, magic, lore and intrigue. And I do believe that Where the Witches Dwell does have potential – it just needs a lot more refining.
S. A.
First published on Reedsy Discovery as part of their ARC program. You can read the original review here.
You can buy Where the Witches Dwell by clicking on the book’s name.