Monday, October 11, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

 



Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on October 19, 2021 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Within These Wicked Walls is a YA Fantasy novel from Jamaican-American author Lauren Blackwood.  It's what seems to be her debut novel, and one I have seen some praise for in advance on social media. It's a novel that takes a familiar gothic-esque* premise - main protagonist desperate for a job takes one at a haunted manor's, finds herself over her head all the while falling for the manor's main protagonist - and puts some different spin on it, one that takes it in a direction less gothic than its premise would seem.  

And the result is a solid novel, for the most part, with the protagonist being very likable, the dialogue banter between her and the love interest being often very amusing, and the setting feeling very well done and interesting to read - an unnamed desert country* where the evil eye can infect a person and/or a house, requiring debteras to make magical amulets to cast them out.  At the same time, the story grapples with themes and issues - such as power differences in a relationship, trust, and abusive parental relationships - enough to show it understands the issues are there...and then doesn't deal with the effects of those themes and issues, often seeming to assume they're just an issue for the main character she should get over, which is problematic.  It's an issue that I need more words to explain, but one that prevents this from being one I can super wholly recommend.  

*The story explicitly takes place in our world, with European Countries mentioned, but the setting's country is never named - although Debteras, per wikipedia, are part of Ethiopian churches, so the intended country is probably Ethiopia.   


-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------
Andromeda is desperate.  After her parents sold her to the misanthropic Jember, she thought she had a career waiting for her - under Jember's training as a legendary debtera, she would too become a debtera, an exorcist (and other things) known for cleansing households of the Evil Eye.  And she learned all she was taught and had natural talent for it.  

If only Jember hadn't thrown her out before she could earn her license, preventing her from finding any honest work, and putting her back on the streets....where she is more likely to die than survive.  

And so when young foreign heir Magnus Rorschach offers her a job - to cleanse his cursed mansion of the Evil Eye - she can't turn down the opportunity....even knowing that every other licensed debtera is staying away.  For Magnus himself is cursed by the Evil Eye in horrifying ways, and the manifestations of the curse are everywhere in the manor, far worse than she has ever encountered.  Andi should back out, take her changes on the street, since this is so clearly beyond her abilities....and any other debtera.  

But before she can make that choice, Andi finds herself falling for Magnus....leaving her with the impossible task of dealing with a curse that has killed so many, for which the only solution Magnus insists might be to take his own life.....
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Within These Wicked Walls features a really interesting world, taking place in an unnamed Desert Country in an alternate version of our world (probably 19th-early 20th century Ethiopia).  It's a country with tremendous poverty, where our protagonist's parents tried to sell her when she was just a child, caring more for money than her welfare.  Where some form of Christianity is the main religion, but it isn't quite the same as European Christianity - they believe in the use of Debteras and their amulets and workings to combat curses and evil spirits (the Evil Eye).  And White rich Europeans are present, but never took over this country, for what that's worth...even as their wealth still gives them power and a lack of understanding of the lives of the natives.  

Into that world comes Andromeda (also called "Andi" for short), a girl who is a swarm of contradictions.  Andromeda starts off desperate for a Patron who can provide for her, who will let her make money as a debtera and more importantly will make sure she gets off the street.  She feels betrayed by Jember, both her teacher and essentially her father figure, who put her out on the street rather than let her become a full licensed debtera.  And yet she also can't help but come to him again for help when she's out of her depth.  Similarly, she starts falling for Magnus fairly quickly, entranced by his quirkiness...and yet she also fears any such connections, having been raised by a man whose heart seemed like it might as well have been made out of stone.  A lot of this has to do with the way she was raised, where her father figure Jember was basically abusive in his raising of her....but she still has fond feelings for him, especially given what her parents wanted to do to her was worse (and of course, Andi is religious, in her own version of Christianity, which aids to that).  

And she makes this a plot that largely keeps you entertained and interested, as it takes a few twists here and there on the way to an ending that thankfully doesn't take too long to arrive, as this is not a long book.  Oddly, despite the book seeming like a classic gothic horror setup - haunted manor, love interest male with secrets, etc. - the book doesn't really go in that direction, mainly in that it doesn't really have any antagonist whatsoever, and there's never really any question about who is haunted and how.  This works fairly well, as Andi struggles with romantic feelings, familial feelings, and a number of other characters who she comes to know who are also caught up in the danger of it all.  

The problem though is that the book touches on a few themes that are real and relevant....and then backs away from dealing with them, or shifts them into issues considered imagined by Andi rather than real issues.  So with Jesper, Andi had what is clearly an abusive relationship, something she seems to realize and something Magnus pushes her to realize....and yet Jesper is treated as sympathetic as the book goes on, as if he was her savior (which he was to some extent, but still doesn't excuse his behavior).  And how that abuse affected Andi's inability to love is just treated a problem for Andi to overcome on her own, not something inflicted upon her (there's a plot to be made of the difficulty of still loving an abuser, especially an abuser who means well, but that's not here).  Similarly, with Magnus, Andi realizes and tells him early how inappropriate his actions are towards her - he's her boss, he has the wealth and power in the relationship, not to mention is engaged to another woman (even if he doesn't care about that other).  But the book treats this objection as ANDI being the one in the wrong, as if it's just her being in denial of her feelings, instead of something that's a real issue!  There's a real power imbalance here, and nothing Magnus does puts him down on her level.  

The result was a book I wanted to like more than I did, with some interesting aspects (and even these days, having a black heroine is still something rare enough to cheer) and a plot that didn't drag and went in some interesting directions all the way till its end.  But it never quite stood out in its principal parts (the dialogue is the best part, but even with it the romance isn't great) and its issues are a bit too glaring for me to ignore.  Alas.  

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