The Briar Book of the Dead by AG Slatter
I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published – Out Now
Price – £9.99 paperback £5.99 kindle eBook
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.
Creating depth in a story is a skill I think under-appreciated. We talk of world-building in fantasy more as an immense land and various creatures and magics flowing together. But we often forget the power that exploring relationships, generational stories, myths and how they shape people, and their more local world will be shaped by it. An excellent example of this is AG Slatter’s excellent fantasy novel The Briar Book of the Dead where a town that prizes its witches finds itself under threat magical, ghostly and most of all human.
Many years ago, the town of Silverton was falling part and dying but the Briars arrived and changed its fortunes. The Briars were powerful witches that used their powers to protect Silverton; act as a defence against the neighbouring Leech Lords and soon the role of the briar Witch was created and handed down to each generation. With a mild leash on them from the Church. Now many years later the briars are entrenched buts it’s a time of change. Gisela the current briar Witch has lost her sister and Steward Maud who passed away and the next generation are starting to prepare for when they will be charge. Audra is well on to be the next Briar Witch being the most powerful, Nia is the one who marshals the local police and protects the town, Eira is the healer and then we have Anni the next Steward – the administrator who is the only Briar to have no magical power at all. But events start to go awry – there are small settlements now being deserted, a grieving mother has disappeared and a mysterious priest has arrived to investigate. Many secrets of Silverston and its relationship with the witches are to be uncovered and Ellie is the one required to navigate it to save the town.
I loved this story so much. Slatter head on delivers something different as we are moving away from the traditional town who fear witches to one where witches are powerful, known about and even wanted. The Briars are a powerful family, but this tale explores how power has both a price and responsibilities. On top of this for this secondary world (part of Slatters’ acclaimed Sourdough series of separate tales all based on the same magical world) our main character Ellie is non-magical despite the best efforts of her family. That meant while the others grew up with spells and developing their talents, we have instead someone who is good using their mind, deals with facts, understands her town, its customs sand its people. This story is fully set in one place and over the course of the story Slatter explains it to us – we come to know the big players, the customs, the language, and the wider people. Weaved into this are little folk tales characters tell each other that help explore the history and myths of one place which chimes with what we know of the world and informs us a bit more too. All of this makes Silverton come alive as a small world in itself, and key to the story we find what everyone knows about a place can be wrong.
This isn’t a story of twists and turns but very elegant reveals as Ellie finds what she thinks she knows about the world isn’t quite right. She is pragmatic, smart, and determined to get to the bottom of things and do her best for the Briar family and her town. A key plotline is the appearance of ghosts that Ellie is one of the few to eventually see. I’ll skirt all the details because it is an interesting idea but we see Ellie find our many of the town’s secrets and in doing so this links to recent disappearances and tragedies. This is not a story of world ending magic but something much more personal and yet the stakes as we have gotten to know Ellie and her town are extremely high for her and so we are importantly equally invested in them.
This is helped by Ellie narrating the tale to us. We get to feel her various thoughts from the minor rivalries with her sisters; her unrequited love for one of the town’s bachelors and her fears about being useless and yet also wanting to do her best. Slatter makes us feel Ellie as human being whose way of explaining things builds up the world and makes us care about what happens to her. We also possibly start to see what may be going on which Ellie’s initial blinkers and loyalty to the town doesn’t allow. Its an immensely satisfying read where all the plotlines come together but it is not cosy – this is a world that can deliver bad things happening to good people; but Ellie is not going to give up without a fight.
The Briar Book of the Dead is fascinating piece of fantasy storytelling that makes us care about a place and its people that never existed and yet by the end we know the place intimately and feel like we too have been on the journey Ellie is on. A tale of light and dark, secrets and history with more than touch of magic its strongly recommended!
