★★★★☆ Corruption and Witchcraft

A Hunger of Thorns

Lili Wilkinson

Don't you really want to hear more about evil and dark magic from the evil witches who choose it as a career? After all, Satan (AKA Lucifer) is the most compelling character in Paradise Lost, and Darth Vader is a pretty cool dude, when you think about it. Surely the Wicked Witch of the West has something to say for herself? So, yeah, Wicked Witch point of view has been done.

But not with this kind of conviction. Maude Jenkins, the main character of A Hunger of Thorns is a witch, as are her two grandmothers and as was her late mother. Are they wicked? Well, some people think they are. They don't see themselves as evil, but then the evilest people never do. These witches are no innocent nature-loving Wiccans. If you're addicted to the same pop culture trash as I am, think Elizaveta Arkadyevna, or Dark Willow. Maude and Mam and Nan are dark, powerful, and dangerous witches. They sometimes hurt people, although only rarely intentionally. Maude doesn't think of herself as doing black magic, nor, I suspect, does author Lili Wilkinson, but that is what it felt like to me.

And, you know what? I'm good with it. Don't Wicked Witches deserve some representation? I say "Yes!"

I was taken by surprise by how pervasive corruption was in A Hunger of Thorns. I mean that in two ways. In its modern usage, corruption refers to persons who sacrifice their principles for self-serving reasons, e.g. a cop who ignores minor crimes in exchange for a mordida. Almost everyone in A Hunger of Thorns is to some degree corrupt, some deeply, some only in small ways.

But in its original meaning "corruption" meant rot, decay, corrosion. Corruption in this sense runs through and through A Hunger of Thorns. For instance, there's a scene in which Maude falls into a compost heap. The feel and smell of the decaying vegetables and the little critters that live in the compost are vividly, almost lovingly described. And that is just one mild example. Throughout the story, and especially in the ruins of Sicklehurst we have things rotting, rusting, crumbling to slime and dust, growing mold. If you are a sensitive, cleanly person you might find this disturbing. I would even go so far as to classify A Hunger of Thorns as horror. Indeed, I myself found it a little disturbing. But then a good novel should be disturbing. This, as much as anything, makes the dark magic convincingly dark.

A Hunger of Thorns is a creative, convincing, and slightly horrifying view of dark witchcraft. I enjoyed it.

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