Possessing both the skills to tell a story through the written word and through potent imagery is a rare feat. (Gerald) BROM is one of those rare storytellers, his illustrated novels have received a great deal of acclaim over the past decade and a half, his Krampus: The Yule Lord novel is a personal favorite. When Tor Nightfire made his latest novel, Slewfoot: A Tale of Witchery one of their launch titles, I was very excited to be provided a review copy.
Connecticut, 1666.
An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector.
The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil.
To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast – alone and vulnerable in her pious village – he is the only one she can turn to for help.
Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan, one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake.
“If it is a devil you seek, then it is a devil you shall have!”
This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than two dozen haunting paintings, fully immersing readers in this wild and unforgiving world.
Abitha is an outsider to the Puritanical Connecticut village, her father sends her to be a bride to a meek farm owner named Edward. She comes to care for him, but his older brother Wallace proves to be a problem early on in the novel. Wallace tries to force Edward into giving over the farm to pay Wallace’s debts, but Abitha pushes back. This is not something a woman in 1666 does, speaking back to a man. In private, she tries to council Edward that he needs to stick up for himself, but he dies suddenly leaving Abitha alone. Wallace wants to make her an indentured servant and take over the land he feels is his by right, but she again pushes back and tries to tend to the farm herself. She struggles mightily until Samson arrives. Despite Samson looking like the devil, he has the head of a goat, but stands upright like a man, Abitha is not put off. He offers to help her, if she helps him. As Abitha’s crops grow, she helps Samson to understand more about himself.
Brom does a fantastic job of building up sympathy and empathy for the two-point characters of the novel – Abitha and the creature that comes to be called Samson. Abitha is a woman who will take crap from nobody; she fights back and pushes onward. She also casts no prejudices at Samson, she questions his nature for sure, but does not immediately cast him as a Devil. Samson questions himself constantly, he wakens at the start of the novel from a long slumber and called “Father” by the wild folk who surround him: Air, Creek, and Forest. Samson’s companions try to push him towards his violent nature, but Abitha helps him to see he can be more than that. Their relationship and trust in each other is a powerful thing and a driving force in the back half of the story.
Much of the story feels like a historical fantasy / fairy tale, but then Brom shifts the tone into something darker and a story firmly entrenched in horror. That build of tension and build of Abitha’s character is like a powder keg that explodes in what at one time could be considered dark magic. Here also is what Brom does so well…he upturns the historical perspective and turns the “good” on its head into something not quite so pleasant. He does this via the simmering of tension I mentioned earlier as well as the path Abitha’s nemesis Wallace takes. Brom gives readers a character to root for in Abitha and an antagonist that is unlikeable in Wallace. Brom doesn’t just make Wallace a cardboard cut-out of a villain, he balances the character by showing some insight into the Wallace’s motivation. We see why he feels the way he does, even if his reaction to those feelings are villainous.
Brom’s art, a half-dozen color plates in the center of the book and chapter icons that take up half the page, enhance the immersive experience of Slewfoot. His words are just as potent at telling the story as is his art. The obvious comparison in recent years is to the film The VVitch because the timeframe, horrific elements, witchcraft, but except maybe a bit more hopeful.
Brom has created a story that feels familiar and fresh and is the kind of powerful story that could last through the generations as a book/novel/story to revisit every Hallowe’en.
Highly recommended
© 2021 Rob H. Bedford
Published by Tor Nightfire | September 2021
Excerpt: https://www.tor.com/2021/07/21/excerpts-slewfoot-by-brom/
https://tornightfire.com/catalog/slewfoot-a-tale-of-bewitchery-brom/
https://www.bromart.com/novels
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
