This book is witchy. It’s whimsical. It’s maddening. I wanted to like it so much more than I did.

I picked up THE NECROLOGY because it’s a Creature Publishing title, and I’ve long admired from afar Creature’s mission as a feminist horror imprint. That said, it’s the first Creature title I’ve read, and it was disappointing.

The story, set in a parallel universe in which the Salem Witch trials ended in a treaty between witches and “Freemen”—a treaty stipulating that magickal women (known as The Dirty) will immediately and forever give up magick—features an eight-year-old girl protagonist. She’s spunky and sympathetic, but unbelievably rendered. At times she talks like a 30-year-old, and at other times she doesn’t understand the most basic concepts. It takes her the whole book to figure out what the reader has surmised from almost the beginning.

There were moments I did get “lost” in the story… meaning, it was so whimsical it carried me away… and moments I plain did not understand what the author was trying to describe. The storytelling was great. The writing was bad. I wish the author had told the story to a ghostwriter with a better command of language who could have done the whole book more justice.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

You’ve gotta love a book that is about women empowerment and women authentically being themselves. There’s loads of deep themes and they’re addressed brilliantly.

I love love love the cover.
The story is pretty good. I enjoyed it but I wouldn't feel the need to buy it instantly to put it on my shelf. But id deff suggest it to others,

Intriguing but perhaps not significant - I like the most horror-y horror elements to be sure, and this is a writer I’ll watch with much interest.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Necrology follows an alternate history of the aftermath of the Salem witch trials where magical woman known as the Dirty sign a contract to stop them from using their magic in exchange for freedom from the violent, non-magic Freemen. The story is set two hundred years later in an orphanage, run by a Dirty woman, Whitetail, who has recently sprouted antlers. When her benefactor arrives to coerce her into marriage, eight-year-old Rabbit defends her mistress and curses the man dead. Whitetail is arrested and the children are dispersed, with Rabbit chosen as the star witness to destroy Dirty women once and for all.

This was such a fantastic book!! I don’t think I’ve ever read an alternate history of post-Salem witch trials and this was soooo interesting. From the first page, this book hooks you in with the fascinating premise. I loved the atmosphere and how tense everything was with the politics lingering in the background. There were so many eerie moments with vivid settings. I also really enjoyed the magic system and the concept that only women have magic and that they’re called Dirty. It was super interesting and the author crafted a really unique alternate history.

I really enjoyed the cast of characters. I liked that we saw from more than one perspective and quite liked Rabbit, even though she was so young, she was really interesting to read about. She’s very clever and protective of Whitetail and the other orphans—it was sweet. I also really liked Mouse, Rook, and Snake—the other orphans we see the most of—they were all really interesting and had such distinct personalities. Whitetail was fascinating to read about and had such a good arc. I was particularly disturbed by the whole Hyena thing and found it made for a horrific and fantastical element that was unexpected.

Overall, this is such a dark, bewitching tale of feminism and strong female characters in the face of men who are scared of a woman’s power and strength.

Necrology by Meg Ripley is a cracker of a novel. Although it has been characterized as a horror novel, I found it more to be a diabolical fantasy.

In the solemn world crafted by Ripley, women have signed off the use of their innate magical ability. Magic is something they are born with, but to wield it, they must follow the will of the wilds and not some whim.

“But remember, you can ask a man to accompany you to the Grimm’s doorstep, but he’ll invite you both in for tea. Are you ready for death to offer you tea?”

And men. Well, men can only “assist” women in accessing their magic. However, they themselves don’t possess any.

A perfect reason for men to label the women as satanical and snatch away their power. This triggers centuries of oppression against the women, resulting in a divided society where the majority of the women obey the rules set by the “Freemen.” A few who don’t, stay away from the civilization amidst the Nature and are known as the Dirty.

Amidst this somber backdrop, Whitetail, the headmistress of an orphanage and an ardent believer in Dirt, raises ten orphans with love and discipline, trying to shield them from an oncoming war. But is she really capable of doing so?

Although Whitetail is arrested on flimsy grounds, her trial doesn’t take place until the end of the novel. A sense of foreboding, thus, permeates the entire novel. Whitetail’s arrest means trouble for the orphans, especially for Rabbit, the protagonist.

“Take away a dandelion’s head, all the seeds come loose, untethered on the wind.”

Necrology has a gripping start. Ripley fuses elements of magic with horror to create a plausible world. An oppressive world. It was so infuriating to read certain parts, such as when Rabbit is groomed by the Freemen at the Andrews house to be the star witness at the trial against Whitetail, or when the condition of the women in that house is described. It was a stark contrast to how Whitetail treated her children and other women in general.

While the orphanage was in shambles and the children lacked luxury, they had each other and the fierce love of Whitetail. The Andrew’s house, on the other hand, was a luxurious establishment, but it lacked warmth. The servants were submissive women who considered Dirt evil while the men guarding the house always treated the women with suspicion, forever watching their every move granting them no freedom. I was in tears sometimes while other times burning in rage while reading this book.

Further, Ripley’s visually descriptive writing transported me into her world effortlessly. The characters are so well-crafted that they jump off the pages.

I was reading Necrology while traveling in the metro, and Ripley’s compelling narrative had me so immersed that I almost missed disembarking on my destination station.

What would happen to Whitetail? What will happen to Rabbit and the other orphans? Will the Freemen succeed in their plans once more? Ripley maintains the tension throughout the novel building to a crescendo, resulting in an explosive climax, literally. I am now eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Necrology by Meg Ripley is an excellent debut and a must-read for fantasy and horror fans alike.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a complimentary digital copy. This does not affect my opinion on the book.

sigh

I had super high hopes for this, I really truly did. The cover is gorgeous, the premise is intriguing, and very early on we get nods to the Crucible, which I adore. But... this book was so boring... But let's start with the positives.

Our beginning cast of characters are all named after animals, and you really get a feel for their personality early on based off of this. I genuinely appreciate this as early book characterization takes a while for me to grasp sometimes.

The concept of magic via board game is super unique and explained really well. I'm always a big fan of unique magic systems and this book has it.

Unfortunately that's the end of the positives.

I was quite bored reading this book, which is easily shown through the month long process of me slogging through it. I genuinely had no desire to continue reading as everything in this book was pretty much doom and gloom the entire time. I understand that this is a story of female oppression, but I do not think there are many people who can truly read a book where the women suffer the entire time and still enjoy it.

Many of the interesting things that happened in this book happened without explanation or cause. The ending of this book did leave room for a sequel, so maybe we'll get some explanation there (you'll have to let me know, I won't be picking it up). A lot of very interesting scenes and ideas pop up and then are immediately swept away, leaving you pondering what the hell that was about while you read the very dull characters discuss very dull things.

And finally, please stop using animal abuse to show a character is a bad person. It's lazy shock value.

This book is only getting two stars for the magic system and the imagery of the ending.

Ugh - I feel like the premise of this had SO much promise and fell completely flat. This was like reading a semi coherent fever dream. The first few chapters were so difficult to understand, I feel like I had no idea what was happening which left me feeling super disengaged. Things started clearing up more throughout the book, but I still felt like so many things were left unexplained. Truly like a "word vomit", with so many random details thrown in and zero context for it. Overall, a super bizarre story.

Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was very original and thought provoking. It did an interesting job of using historical events as it's inspiration but inventing from there. At times I found it confusing to read but the overall story was strong and compelling

I liked to read this book. I liked the storyline, the characters were lovely. The story was amazing. I gave it 4 stars. Super recommend.

Okay first things first, the cover gives away the "twist" but as I say I my draft review " Sathue is not trying to obscure the “twist,” rather she is laying bare the chilling truth, as readers sit with that knowledge, and watch the visceral Horrors unfold, without remorse."

Note while reading: try applying any lotion or skin care after reading this book without feeling icky…..you can’t. Even a boring moisturizer. But you will. Of course you will.

Fans of intensely unsettling stories about unlikable but captivating women such as in Gone Girl by Flynn and Maeve Fly by Leede will flock to this debut.

If you like your alternate history lyrically dark and searingly eerie, with one of the most unforgettable interpretations of witchcraft (or Dirtiness) I've ever read, then you'll want to add this. I'm foaming at the mouth for a sequel!!

Look, I despise not reading through every word when I receive an ARC, but it took a single chapter before my reaction to this work was a despairing "oh no". I messaged a friend who was likewise reading this with: "did I have a stroke? Is this work completely incomprehensible?" and upon her agreement tried valiantly to get farther in the narrative. Look, I'm not going to lie, there are some lovely turns of phrase here, but it's all under a thick veneer of prose so purple that it obscures what in the heck is actually going on. I reread the first three chapters twice before deciding that this books was not going to be for me. I enjoy a story that makes you think, and like dense prose, but this was trying so very hard to make you think it smart that it actually went the other way wholesale and started misusing words.

Beautiful. Amazing. Stunning. Full of women in power, being themselves whether that is right or wrong. It's full of love, sincerity, passion and authenticity that grabbed me in from the beginning and held me right until the end.

I don't think it's a bad thing that the beginning of the novel confused me and made me wonder what was going on - in fact I think it's excellent that I had so many questions at the beginning and then none by the end. It's powerful, incredible, and over all utterly perfect.

Men are trash, women are right even when they are wrong.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was SO impressed to find out this is a debut novel. Firstly, the prose is GORGEOUS and so self-assured. You will get lost in this one.

As for the story: this is an absolutely fascinating take on the Salem Witch Trials that bridges the gap between fantasy and history. You will root for these women to fight back against the men in their lives. Men who only wish to control and extract them of their power and self-worth. A tale sadly just as relevant today.

One of the best horror yarns of 2024 hands-down.

This sounded really interesting but i just could not get into the writing style! It was too abstract for me and i felt as if i was reading poetry at times. What i did read had interesting themes and the overall premise sounded great but this sadly just wasn't for me. It was purely personal taste concerning the writing style and not because the book was bad. I would be interested in trying out more by this author in future to see if future books worked better for me,

The strongest aspects of this novel are its retelling of the Salem Witch Trials through fantasy, horror and realistic feminist themes. The plot, characterisation and the delivery of the themes were effective.
This is a great debut. I was a bit tired of the use of nicknames/symbolic names for several of the characters partly due to the frequent use of some of those names in other popular books these days, but this is simply a coincidence. If the names were more distinctive, I believe secondary characters would have been a bit memorable for me. We need more books that deal with feminist themes through the devices of horror and its power of catharsis.

Terrifying and thought-provoking in equal measure. I totally devoured this book. Cannot wait for the second in the series!

Meg Ripley's debut, Necrology, is a fascinating exploration of the Salem Witch Trials that traps the reader in a sense of thought-provoking gloom only a well-crafted fantastical horror can evoke.

Full disclosure: as someone from outside the US (Germany/Egypt), I knew nothing about the Salem Witch Trials except the name. This brings me to my first point of praise for Ripley's Necrology. It strikes a delicate balance between educating the reader with necessary information while keeping the plot moving forward. This is not an easy task and often fails because the narrative leans too heavily on one side, leaving the reader feeling they are either reading a textbook or unable to follow the events. I'm glad to say this wasn't the case with Necrology. The introduction to the world and the history behind it was used expertly to enhance the plot and the characters' journeys, making the story feel like one coherent and highly engaging unit rather than two books mashed into one.

The second thing that left me in awe was its incredibly sharp prose. I'd call it magical, but I think "bewitching" is more fitting (and appropriate given the topic). It's very rare for me to read a book that has lines that drain the air out of my lungs, but the precision of Ripley's prose feels almost surgical at times. It is something to be experienced for sure since words can't really describe the effects of Ripley's prose, but you'll understand what I mean once you read this book (something I wholeheartedly recommend if it's not clear yet).

But at the heart of this story, at the eye of this storm of magic, history, and darkness, are the characters. The women who are fighting for survival in a world that wishes to take away the power they have. This story has many fantastical elements, but any great fantasy, at its core, is trying to talk about something serious and relevant to our real world. For me, Necrology was a tale about the deep-rooted fear weak, insecure men have toward women who display any amount of power or agency, and the lengths they would go to in order to try and control these women and strip them of their power.

Necrology is an incredible debut by Meg Ripley that tells a relevant and important story in a unique and fascinating way by utilizing some of the most exquisite prose I've read in a long time. It is a story I will definitely revisit multiple times in the future and share with as many people as I possibly can, and for that, it deserves 5 stars from me.

4 stars

That s is a wonderful exploration of the Salem witch trials. I loved the prose and the characters and the way the author chose to write about this subject. I was glued to this book.

Also side note, that cover art is so gorgeous.