1 ⭐️. I did not enjoy this book. Let me count the ways:

- they go up the mountain. they come down the mountain. they go up the mountain. they come down the mountain. they go up the mountain. they go down the mountain.
- this sentence: "Motheater smiled a little, and Bennie's heart flipped over faster than a NASCAR crash. Yikes. This was not good." *eye roll*
- the main character was supposed to be black, but the only thing black about the character was her hair. if you can't write characters of color, DON'T DO IT.
- the witch turns a character into a rabbit at one point.....and then rabbits haunt the familiar bloodline for generations ? ? ? ?
- the details given to the characters shopping lists was unnecessary and frivolous
- were we ever supposed to like Bennie bc she was whiney af, horny af, and annoying af

ty to Kensington Publishing | Erewhon Books and NetGalley for the advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, this was a very rough read for me, and is one of my few DNF.. I couldn’t get past the way Moth Eater talks, which I know is a huge part of her character, but it was too cringe for me.

While the beginning of MOTHEATER is clumsy, the seams of Codega’s craft clearly showing, the end of their debut novel manages to shine. Though for many readers that might well be too late.
MOTHEATER by Linda H. Codega

An ARC was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. MOTHEATER was published on 21 January 2025.

Bennie is looking for evidence to nail down the mining company responsible for her best friend’s death. Instead she finds Motheater, a barely conscious woman that she drags out of the river flowing from Kire Mountain. Motheater knows nothing, not even her name, but she knows she is a witch. Together with Bennie she realises the answers to both their questions lie at the heart of the mountain – and it is not willing to give them up easily.
Uneven, yet wild and magical

In 2021, Linda H. Codega wrote in a (now) Reactor article that there just is “not much” when it comes to Appalachian science-fiction and fantasy. At the time, Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Boys or the occasional T. Kingfisher novel, e.g., The Twisted Ones, were among the more notable examples. However, Codega already included Lee Mandelo’s Summer Sons in their article, a novel which seems to have breathed life into this specific subgenre. Now, Appalachian speculative fiction crops up and even trends almost regularly, particularly queer stories. The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister is among the more recent examples and so is Codega’s very own Motheater that was published in January by Erewhon Books.

One of the best parts of Motheater is its magic. Motheater as a character is almost instantly intriguing, her magic wild and fascinating. It also feels truly “of the land” in a way that makes Appalachia palpable and real. Unfortunately, the book, which is written from three different POVs, starts with three chapters from the perspective of Bennie and she is everything but compelling (for the first 280 pages or so). Her convictions feel empty, her personality flat and repetitive. She is almost exclusively defined by other people and things (her dead friend, her ex, the mining company) and appears downright soulless for a large part of the novel. To Codega’s credit, things eventually change. There is a scene almost 90% into the book where Bennie sits alone in her truck and her loss(es) become tangible for the first time. The scene is powerful, relatable and ties Bennie’s past, present and future wonderfully together, finally giving her the kind of depth a main character deserves. It is a real shame that it takes so long, though. Certainly long enough to discourage some readers to give her and the book the benefit of the doubt.

Rating

I was close to DNFing Motheater at the beginning of the book. Bennie’s first three chapters really didn’t convince me that I would like anything about this novel. I only reluctantly returned and then the POV switched. The first historical chapter didn’t floor me or anything but it showed me that there would be more to this story than I’d thought up until that point. I continued reading and was glad that I did. The ending was emotional, sweet and, somehow, Lovecraftian in just the right way. But I can’t blame anyone for not sticking around that long.

Love the appalachian folk horror vibes with witchy vibes too.
This was very well written with complex characters.

Aunque le doy mérito a este libro por su escenario único y algunas ideas interesantes, al final, la historia y los personajes no están a la altura de lo que el entorno promete.
La historia se desarrolla en un pueblo minero de los Apalaches y sigue a una joven llamada Bennie, quien, después de una ruptura amorosa y de perder su empleo, encuentra a una mujer inconsciente junto a un río y decide ser una buena samaritana y llevarla a recibir ayuda. La mujer se despierta y huye hacia el bosque, donde Bennie la sigue, y pronto descubre que ella es a) en realidad una bruja y b) de los años 1800. La mujer no recuerda su verdadero nombre, solo un apodo: "Motheater". A partir de ahí, el libro alterna entre el presente, con puntos de vista de Bennie o Motheater, y los puntos de vista de Motheater cuando vivía en el pasado, como Esther.
Me encontré disfrutando más de las secciones de flashbacks, ya que la idea de una bruja en la era de la Reconstrucción es interesante. El escenario en el presente está algo confuso, con la protagonista Bennie saltando entre su investigación sobre la empresa minera (que rápidamente se abandona) y conduciendo a Motheater a diferentes lugares. Hay muchas escenas de Motheater haciendo cosas mágicas impresionantes, pero las encontré algo exageradas y demasiado frecuentes. Hubiera querido algo más de sustancia detrás de la magia.
La historia es dispersa y hay un supuesto misterio (¿cómo terminó Motheater donde estaba?), pero es bastante obvio y la trama que lo conduce no tiene mucho sentido. También hay un romance entre Bennie y Motheater que tiene aún menos sentido. Motheater parece menos una persona y más una entidad. Ella y Bennie apenas hablan, y la mayor parte del tiempo Bennie solo la observa hacer algo mágico y eso es todo. Como lector, vemos el desarrollo de su personaje (más o menos) a través de los flashbacks, pero Bennie no lo ve.
En general, disfruté del escenario y del concepto de una bruja de las montañas Apalaches. Hubiera preferido que el autor hubiera situado toda la historia en los años 1800, ya que sentí que había mucho más sustancia en esas secciones.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

For all its flaws, I really did love this book. I found the characters to be very compelling and the writing to be beautiful. The use of biblical scripture as spells was a not necessarily a new concept to me, but it was done so well! I also really did love the bond between Bennie and Motheater. It was very tender and believable.

Now, I do agree with many other reviews that the pacing was funky and that the magic system didn't make a whole lot of sense. But perhaps the biggest disappointment to me was the ending. The ending took this review from 4 stars to 3 stars, honestly.

SPOILER BELOW
There are two big reasons the ending did this for me: 1) I'm at a point where I am not down with unhappy endings for queer couples. I am TIRED of the bury your gays trope, and it's even more disappointing coming from a queer author. I'm not saying that Motheater couldn't atone in some way for her role in wakening Kire, BUT that atoning did not need to mean her dying. I think the story would have been far more powerful and relevant had she stayed alive. And 2) where is the accountability and justice for the mining company? We are told that they are looking into safer practices, but that is it. And somehow, Bennie is okay with them sticking around and continuing to mine? It doesn't make sense. The whole novel felt like it was leading to a bigger conclusion with nature taking back power from the corporations and Motheater and Bennie becoming more powerful together, but instead, all that momentum was destroyed. Very frustrating.
END SPOILER

I adored most of the book, I just wish that darn ending was more satisfying.

Thanks to the publisher for giving me an eARC of this title through Netgalley. Unfortunately, it didn't work for this particular reader.

Bennie is investigating mysterious death of miners in Kiron in Appalachia. In search of evidence against the corporation operating in the area, she finds a barely alive woman in the sludge, who turns out to be a witch buried in the mountain for past 150 years, before which she was also fighting the onset of industrial modernity.

What I liked: stylized language and the vibe of something natural-magical.

What I liked less: the interactions between Bennie and Motheater didn't really work for me; Motheater's subjectivity in the present timeline was very lacking; Motheater's-in-the-past stance against modernity seemed somewhat contrived (not that she has this opinion, but specifically how she expressed it - reads more like something of a critique from inside modernity).

But, most importantly, I just didn't feel interested enough to see what would happen to them next or to find out how they had ended up here. I have tried to get back to this read several times, but now I finally looked at other reviews, checked that things that are bothering me aren't going away in the remainder of the book, so let's call it a DNF.

A nice and interesting idea, not so much in execution as it was really a slog to get through the end. I probably would have liked it more as a novella or similar, as there was a lot of repetitiveness both of events and internal monologue, more so in the present pov.
All in all the past pov was the most interesting, as we had the mystery of how did Motheater end up in the mountain. The prose was also very evocative (though some similes/descriptions could be trimmed).
Benny’s pov had little in the way of events, and most were similar (the x times she accompained Motheater and then magical stuff happened where the witch suffered and so on); also the constant doubting after trusting Motheater that easy in the beginning.
I liked how magic was tied to both nature and scripture, and all the bargain aspect that made it so anyone willing/knowing could tap into it.
The romance was nice, though the reciprocation felt a bit sudden on Motheater side — mostly because we never got her pov in the present until the very end, so we had little insight on how she felt about everything since she woke up. Bit of a shame, as her voice in the past was very gripping.
I liked the bittersweet feel the ending left, as well as a sense of a new beginning. Then again I think I warmed up to it after letting it rest a couple days, sadly from the last third onward I just wanted the book to /end/.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC copy.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

What I enjoyed about this was that we had romance, mystery, and some historical fiction. What I didn’t;t enjoy was the pacing. It felt slow and I kept finding myself wanting to get to the point.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this at 44% after many, many attempts. I wanted this to work so bad but I just ended up being so confused between the romance between the two FMC and what was going on. I honestly was so lost. I was expecting an Appalachian eco-horror with queer MCs, and was more getting a queer romance with light eco-horror. Don’t get me wrong; I am a big sucker for a queer romance, but that’s just not what I was expecting out of this book. It’s lush and beautifully written so I may revisit.

I feel so sorry doing this, but I just can push myself to read it anymore. At the very beginning, I was fuelled with enthusiasm and interest, but then I started to feel how tiring and difficult it was to read for me. It is truly beautiful, but it's not my cup of tea and after a month of trying my best to stay engaged, I finally give up. I Hope there will be fewer people like me and more people who liked and enjoyed the story

Thanks to NetGalley, author and publishing for giving me an arc (and sorry again, everyone)

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC!

I love a good fantasy-horror-witchy vibe book. Reading this did satisfy those loves but it was also a very slow paced read.

The book is very interesting but it felt a little dull? I love angry pissed off witches but it sort of fell off. Overall the book was enjoyable and I do think it gives the southern gothic horror vibe but I don’t know if it would ever be a reread for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and Erewhon Books for providing an eARC of Motheater by Linda H. Codega in exchange for this honest review!

🐦 Vibes
• Eco-Horror
• Anti-Industrialization
• Backwater Towns
• Big Witch Energy
• Nonlinear Narration

Big heads up! There are witch activities that may not be for everyone, such as animal sacrifices and self-harm.

Motheater takes place across parallel times in the Appalachian Kiron, a small town near the mountain of Kire. In the past, the Appalachian Neighbor Esther fights against the looming threat of industrialization and machinery coming to mine Kire while in the present Bennie and Motheater try to save Kiron from the vengeful titan that has been stealing away miners.

I really enjoyed the ecological horror aspects of this story, but the near-constant bible verbiage made it a struggle for me to stay immersed. I did find my mind reading Esther's chapters with the heaviest drawl ever, which I would definitely recommend doing 👌

The one thing Motheater does really well is create an atmospheric story. You can definitely feel the wilderness of the mountains, the desperation of the townspeople for their livelihood.

I don't have any particular strong feelings here; Motheater was a pretty middle of the road novel for me. The ending was inevitable, but not particularly satisfying. It also felt like there should have been much more urgency in the character's actions, but after almost every major revelation they go "well 🤷🏼‍♀️ time to eat and get a good night's sleep!". And the number of times Motheater says "I don't remember" regarding some part of herself or the past, I wanted to throttle her.

I just couldn't get completely into this book. There were times when it was fine, especially with the dark, witchy atmosphere of the book, but the overall pacing was a bit slower than I liked so I got bored quite a few times and it took me way too long to get through it. I was not a fan of Bennie, but Motheater was a bit more complex and I appreciated that, especially with the other POV that dives more into her character. The ending was also disappointing. The characters go through so much, only for there to be an ending that just falls flat, even after all of that buildup. The romance was also just weird. Bennie and Motheater's chemistry was basically non-existent and then somehow their non-existent interactions turned into them falling for each other? Its pretty unbelievable.

The atmosphere? 10/10. The magic system was earthy and interesting, and the setting felt so vivid that I could practically hear the rustling trees and smell the damp forest floor. Where it lost me a bit was the pacing. The beginning was strong, but the middle dragged, and I felt like some scenes got repetitive. I also wish the relationship between Bennie and Motheater had been explored more—it was compelling, but I needed more depth to really buy into their connection. And while I loved the themes (environmental destruction, religion vs. magic, systemic oppression), they sometimes overshadowed the characters’ development. That said, I did enjoy this! If you’re into atmospheric, folklore-heavy books with a slow-burn magical feel, it’s worth checking out. Just don’t expect everything to tie together perfectly.

I have always loved southern folk stories (such as the Raven Boys), and Motheater fit perfectly into this category. Although I did not connect very deeply with the romantic relationship, I appreciated the characters' depth and complexity. The theme of environmentalism felt very relevant, especially to our present day relationship (and lack of relationship) with the land we live on.

Currently catching up on reviewing my arcs so I will give a more detailed review in the future!

I really really wanted to like this book. The cover is gorgeous and the idea sounds right up my alley.
But it just felt too slow for me...the characters felt too flat and the mystery of the whole book was just...gone for me because of the flashbacks

I really enjoyed this slow story about Appalachian magic! The character work in this was really top tier.

This was a fantastic thriller. Twists, suspense, tension. The mystery was riveting. I . Right away, I was hooked with how odd this situation was, and things only increased, which had me on the edge of my seat.