Synopsis:
Inspired by The Witcher, Blade Runner and Bloodborne – Witchazel begins the episodic story of Kaleb Slow, a pilgrim for The Temple of the Moon, as he traverses a life of violence, demons and corruption.
“You’re evil. It’s in your blood. It’s festering in your brain. It lingers wherever you go and rots wherever you stay. I’ve got to put you down, Silas. You know that. I just wish you made it easier for yourself.”
“Easier?” the necromancer screamed. “Nothing about this is easy.”
Kaleb Slow is on a religious pilgrimage. Lacking clear direction beyond the destruction of foul things that stalk the night, he has settled into an uncomfortable rhythm of hunting and slaying, living a life somewhere between private investigator and highway ranger.
Author T.C Roberts-Finn lays out an introduction to a world beset by corruption and rot. An evocation of life on the frontier and the justice of vigilantes. It is at once the tale of destruction, passions and vengeance. But is his purpose truly divine? Or will his pilgrimage lead him down an endless road of nightmares and bloodlust?
Review:
A compelling story with excellent pacing and world building that is digested via literary scenery, not forced down the gullet.
Seemingly set in a blended world with elements of modern Scandinavia, old west with historical elements of classic fantasy and horror, theres plenty to make you feel at home while at the same time keep the reader interested as these elements are not typically thrown together.
New elements are constantly introduced as this book, like the protagonist’s revolver chamber, it rotates its themes and episodes, never quite allowing you to settle into a mediocre groove. Slipping from witcher-esque monster hunting to dreamlike horror, twirling through its pages and adding to the depth and colours of the story without forcing its way into your head.
A gruff but in many ways fragile protagonist, Slow tells a tale peppered with heart ache and historic loss while toting his pistols with taciturn confidence. The pilgrim’s mind often snags on memory or the hooked influence of the many locations he experiences, unravelling his wounded state of mind and disorientating his story. This gives a dream-like quality and a sense of unreality that lurks within every shadow and keeps the reader’s heart floating in the chest, ready to drop at the slightest disturbance.
Further into the chapters and more world building heaves out the aperture of Witchazel, its dystopian scars leaving a scent of a time before the world was ravaged by the blight and its varied and desperate survivors.
In just 130 pages this compellingly dark and genre blended fantasy had gone from western tinted detective noir to pagan cult horror with Witcher chops to a feral dystopian survivor-carved society intent on fanatic religion-based rule systems to stave off plague-like devastation. Try saying that with a grizzled monster hunter’s roll up in your mouth!
If, like me, you enjoy a story that dips back into the box to fetch out new themes and vibes at every whim and pieces together the greater story in episodic slabs of dark and resentful adventure, youre not going to be able to put this book down. The scent of horror lurks on every page but its delivery alters with every episode. The gnarled veteran pilgrim remains damaged and duty-weary throughout.
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