Book Review: Bad Witch Burning

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis

It’s become harder for me to enjoy urban fantasy since I started writing it, so I was delighted by this well-crafted YA book about a girl who can speak to the dead. The way her magic works–she writes a letter and the spirit appears–felt fresh and creative.

Trell has a rough childhood, and has been parentified early because of her useless mother and her mother’s worse-than-useless boyfriend. The only ones she can count on are her best friend Will and her dog Conrad.

I thought “hoo boy, the animal lovers are gonna hate this” when Conrad dies within the first fifty pages. But it’s okay, because Trell finds out she can bring Conrad back from the dead. Because lack of money is an ever-present issue in Trell’s life, she immediately starts selling this necromantic service to her grieving clients. Bringing people back from the dead … what could possibly go wrong?

The plot ramped up at a lively pace, with ample foreshadowing. For example, she raises the daughter of the local bad-guy drug dealer, and he gives her a gun as a gift. Then, some of the revenants stop being welcome in their families. I thought “yeah, I know where this is going” but not in a cynical way, more like a fellow magician who knows where the missing card went but still admires the sleight-of-hand skill.

Trell felt like a real teen to me. Her relationships with her friends and family are complicated. She desperately needs help, but it also felt logical that she would have absorbed the idea that she cannot rely on anyone but herself. So it’s not just a story about zombies and bad guys; it’s also a story about the complicated emotional landscape of a teenage girl whose adults have largely failed her, and about how she’s been forced to cope.

This is a solidly written book with a likeable main character and I heartily recommend it for fans of the genre.




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