This is another very strong entry in Slatter’s sourdough universe. She’s in the select group of authors I will buy immediately, no questions asked.
Compare to All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns this started out a little slow for me. A little slow, but I was thoroughly hooked at the same time. Overall, I have no complaints about the pacing; the tension built so slowly and gradually that I almost didn’t notice it until everything exploded. It felt like the proverbial (and apocryphal) frog in the pot not noticing the water getting hot.
Plot summary: set in a village where the god hounds leave witches alone, because the witches are able to effectively guard the border with the leech-lords (oft mentioned in other books, but not yet seen AFAIK). The village is ruled by a single family of witches, the Briars. There’s something of a leadership crisis coming up: the current ruling generation is getting old, and their children all died of a plague or madness. The grandchildren are capable but only barely adults, and haven’t had the time to get all the training that would normally take place.
Our protagonist is Ellie, one of these grandchildren, and the only Briar for generations to not be a witch. Ellie is part of the family, but her lack of power means she struggles to be taken seriously. She’s internalized this as well, and struggles to value herself as highly as she should. The family in general recognizes her capabilities as an administrator, and her advice and ideas about how to govern the village shouldn’t logically be given less weight than those of her cousins. And yet.
Slatter does an excellent job writing characters that are very believably flawed. They make bad decisions, but because no one likes to actually admit they've made a bad decision, they have the very human tendency to justify and double down. There are consequences and problems caused by them. Slatter's talent as a writer comes through in that I want to slap them for being idiots even as I cheer for them.
Highly recommended. As with other Slatter books, these are part of the same wider universe, with vague references to other books, and yet entirely standalone.
Comes out on February 13th.