Age Group: Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Queer Characters, Magic Users, Ghosts, Witches, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal, Supernatural, Summoning Magic, Various Magic
My Rating:
Published on: 13th February 2024
Pages: 400
Disability Representation: Suicidal Ideation
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Forbidden Planet / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones / BookBeat Audio
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Set in the same universe as the acclaimed All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns (one of Oprah Daily's Top 25 Fantasy Novels of 2022), this beautifully told Gothic fairy tale of ghosts, witches, deadly secrets and past sins, will be perfect for fans of Hannah Whitten and Ava Reid.
Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations. The Briar family of witches run the town of Silverton, caring for its inhabitants with their skills and magic. In the usual scheme of things, they would be burnt for their sorcery, but the church has given them dispensation in return for their protection of the borders of the Darklands, where the much-feared Leech Lords hold sway.
Ellie is being trained as a steward, administering for the town, and warding off the insistent interest of the church. When her grandmother dies suddenly, Ellie's cousin Audra rises to the position of Briar Witch, propelling Ellie into her new role. As she navigates fresh challenges, an unexpected new ability to see and speak to the dead leads her to uncover sinister family secrets, stories of burnings, lost grimoires and evil spells. Reeling from one revelation to the next, she seeks answers from the long dead and is forced to decide who to trust, as a devastating plot threatens to destroy everything the Briar witches have sacrificed so much to build.
Told in the award-winning author's trademark gorgeous, addictive prose, this is an intricately woven tale of a family of witches struggling against the bonds of past sins and persecution.
This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!
Content Warnings:
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The Briar Book of the Dead Review
The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter is set in the same universe as The Path of Thorns, All the Murmuring Bones and some of her short story collections. Each one can be read independently and in any order. In The Briar Book of the Dead, Slatter tells the story of the town of Silverton and the Briar family of witches that have run the town for generations. Using their magic, they have kept their citizens safe and healthy and helped the town prosper.
Ellie Briar is an anomaly in her family. Unlike her cousins, she was born without magic, and it’s a difference she feels throughout her life. Despite her lack of magic, she’s raised to take over as steward, to maintain the admin duties, which include one of the most important tasks of all: ensuring that forged letters are sent to the church. She’s determined to prove she can do her job well, despite not having the magical abilities of her cousins, and when their grandmother dies suddenly, Ellie and her cousins are thrust into their roles earlier than expected.
It’s a challenging time for all of them, and things become even more chaotic for Ellie when a knock on the head at her grandmother’s funeral brings with it the ability to see the dead. It appears that the magicless Briar is not so magicless after all, and as the first speaker for the dead in over three hundred years, Ellie is in demand. This is all rather confusing for Ellie because everyone knows that Gilly Briar banished all the ghosts of Silverton… didn’t she?
As she tries to untangle the mysteries of the past, Ellie has the chaos of the present to contend with as well. There is unrest in town as secrets are revealed. Something else is going on in the outlier farms, and people are going missing. Trying to juggle everything along with her new responsibilities as steward and speaker of the dead, Ellie needs to work out who she can trust quickly before something terrible happens.
“Slatter writes witches like none other,” reads the quote on the front of the cover of The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter from author Cassandra Knaw, and I couldn’t agree more. This was another great book from Slatter, and I was glued to every moment. The slower pace works well with the story, drawing out the suspense as she sprinkles mystery and suspense through like a pro. Mixing gothic horror with fantasy and thriller, Slatter has found a winning combination.
What I like about Slatter’s books is that she gives the reader just enough details to work out some or most of what is happening, enough to get the imagination pumping. By the time the big reveal comes around, you’re even more desperate to know what’s happening to see if you guessed right! Or, as was the case for me, to fill in the missing piece of the puzzle I had slowly been piecing together as I read.
The Briar Book of the Dead is a wonderful addition to Slatter’s growing universe, filled with multi-layered characters and rich prose. This deliciously dark and gothic novel is a must-read.
About Angela Slatter / A.G. Slatter
Angela Slatter (also writing as A.G. Slatter) is the author of All The Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns, The Briar Book of the Dead and the forthcoming The Crimson Road (Titan Books, purchase links below). All are gothic fantasies set in the world of the Sourdough, Bitterwood and Tallow-Wife collections.
Angela has recently signed a seven-book deal with Titan, for three novels set in the world of All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns and The Briar Book of the Dead, and three contemporary folk horror novellas.
Her latest short story collection, The Wrong Girl and Other Tales, was published by Brain Jar Press in October 2023. The hardcover collected edition of her Hellboy Universe collaboration with Mike Mignola, Castle Full of Blackbirds, from Dark Horse Comics was published in July 2023.
Angela is also the author of the supernatural crime novels from Jo Fletcher Books/Hachette International: Vigil (2016), Corpselight (2017) and Restoration (2018), as well as ten other short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, A Feast of Sorrows: Stories, and The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners and Other Stories. Vigil was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award in 2018. All The Murmuring Bones was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards Book of the Year in 2021 and for the Shirley Jackson Awards in 2022. The Path of Thorns won the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel, as well as the Australian Shadows Award for Best Novel. The Bone Lantern won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novella and has been shortlisted for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novella.
Over to you
Thanks for reading my book review for The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter! If you’re interested in reading more books in the same universe, check out my book review for The Path of Thorns.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!
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