I really tried to get into this book. I had to try reading it once a week and every time I would DNF. This does not reflect on the author or their writing, it just was not the book for me. I feel bad as I try to finish every book I read, but I could not get into this to be able to finish it.

The writing style was very easy to read and the world building was great but I didn't find myself wanting to keep picking this book up. And although I felt Ollie's character was likeable, I grew tired of the constant self deprecation and remarks about his size/weight. Overall, this was a good book and it was written very well but it just didn't have me hooked and something about it just missed the mark for me.

Title: Herrick's End
Author: T. M. Blanchet
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5

You did nothing. You were nothing. And so, you shall remain here, until the end of your days. As nothing.

Ollie's only friend disappeared a few days ago, and now, he's frantic to find her. But he doesn't have much to go on until a mysterious note arrives which reads: "Still looking for your friend? I know where she is." Unfortunately for Ollie, the trail leads to the last place he'd ever expect.

Somewhere dark.

Somewhere deep.

The kind of place where magic spills like blood, vengeance is merciless, and escape seems all but impossible.

Worse still, it soon becomes clear that someone-or something-was expecting him.
Now, time is running out.

If Ollie has any hope of ever seeing home again, he's going to have to summon every last scrap of courage, smarts, and tenacity he can find. And none of it will matter if he can't get some help. Fast.

Because Ollie might not know much about the vast underworld that's ensnared him, but he does know this: He'll never make it out alone.

I enjoyed this read. I found it creative and unique, if a little dark. I liked Ollie a lot, and I was fully invested in everything he went through. I thought the setting was great, and I’d definitely be interested in reading more set in this world—especially with Ollie.

T. M. Blanchet is a former reporter, editor, and columnist. Herrick’s End is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Tiny Fox Press in exchange for an honest review.)

This book is a wonderful, fantastical examination of self-worth and domestic violence. Blanchet's writing is very clear and works with the fantastical elements to make sure the reader is able to follow along easily. This is a great feature for a book that has fantastical elements. I very much recommend this to people who want to go on a journey, are looking for some self-affirmation, or just anyone interested in the weird.

This book took me on a totally unexpected ride and I found myself wanting to see where it would go next. It was super unique and the twists of the story kept surprising me at every turn. The main character, Ollie, isn't like any other I had read before. His insecurities and struggles make him very relatable and also endearing. You can't help to root for him. And the whole concept of the Neath, a sort of underworld located beneath the city, is quite original. The story is intriguing until the end, takes directions that I didn't see coming and is full of action-packed moments that kept me at the edge of my seat, and I had a really good time reading it. I would totally recommend it to anyone looking for a unique story that intertwines fantastical elements with real problems.

Herrick's End caught my interest from the summary and the cover. It is story of Ollie, a young adult who lives in Boston, who finds himself crossing a portal to the Neath--a world below Boston that was put into place during the Salem witch trials--to find his friend.

Ollie is an orphan, having lost his mother quite recently and his father years before under somewhat mysterious circumstances. He works at a bakery shop, is planning to attend community college, and his main social activity is his weight loss support group. When his friend Nell goes missing, he endeavors to find her, concerned that he has missed some signs that her current relationship may be putting her at risk. His search for her leads him to the Neath--a strange world below Boston that was created by Salem witch hunter George Herrick and the real surviving witches of Salem.

It is refreshing to have a main character with plus sized rep in a young adult/new adult novel. The book is told in Ollie's POV and he is an endearing character, kind and thoughtful, lonely and reserved. He finds his inner resilience and courage in the course of this book.

The world building is interesting and fairly detailed. The Neath is a strange and unsettling place, centred around the massive Herrick's End, a prison for abusers and questionable characters of all kinds. It's overseen by the sinister Warden and the enigmatic and kind of creepy Reader, a ancient woman who mind reads the actions of those brought to Herrick's End and sets out their sentences.

Ollie follows the trail to find his friend Nell there and along the way he meets Tera, a resident of the Neath who helps him in his quest. Ollie finds himself imprisoned in Herrick's End as the result of his attempt to "rescue" Nell and that imprisonment gives him some insight into himself, his family, and the drive to make a difference. The story shifts from the idea of rescuing his friend to more of rescuing himself--not only from Herrick's End but also from his own self-doubt and limited expectations. He finds not only courage but friends along the way.

I liked Tera. I liked her interactions with Ollie. I did feel as if Nell was vastly under-utilised. She was a kind catalyst but not much more than that. There were interesting side characters that could have been developed a bit more. I think Ollie is an engaging MC. His reliance and trust in himself expanded as the story went on and that was good to see. His transition to a creative, courageous and ingenious strategist was a bit abrupt but the time frame the author gave for these events was compressed so he had to rise to the occasion fairly swiftly.

Overall the book kept my attention. The story and characters were interesting. The world building was unique. I think that George Herrick and the witches were under-utilised and there could have been some expansion of that part of the plot.

I believe this is part of a duology but this works as a stand alone. The writing is good and the descriptions vivid. I could visualise the Neath. I would read the second book,.

three and a half stars

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Herricks End is an interesting portal fantasy that starts out in Boston and ends up in the Neath. The Neath was an interesting world, hidden below the surface of the earth where abuse survivors can go to live in a sanctuary. There are a lot of aspects of the world building that I enjoyed, but it was also confusing and things just seemed "convenient" for story purposes and not rooted in the world.

I really enjoyed how Ollie got to the Neath, the market and the crow boats (Mrs Paget!)
The story was a little bit insta -love which isn't really my thing.

Ollie is an interesting main character who struggles with his weight in an all consuming way. It was an interesting struggle to follow, and something you don't see a lot of. However, it felt a little off that the story is one for abuse survivors, which as far as I could tell he was not (but his mother was which he witnessed..). Might have worked a bit better to have a survivor be the hero, imo.

While I enjoyed this book, some parts were hard to get through. Mainly the abuse (of all different varieties) that happens, is mentioned and is re-lived in certain scenes. If that is a trigger for you, you might want to steer clear.

Overall I was happy to read this book. thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

** I received an e-ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review **

I usually give books between 25-33% before I decide it’s not for me. It took me about 27-30% of the way through the book to care about what was happening. I almost DNF’d it. I really wasn’t enjoying it.

Let me tell you though, at that sweet spot, the story just took off. Suddenly, I was curious about Ollie and the Neath. I was interested in what was going to happen next. I was invested.

George Herrick pissed off some witches during the Salem Witch trials, but he cleaned up his act and started to be an ally to the witches. This lead to him having a long life and this safehaven called the Neath.

Ollie was a modern day person who didn’t fit in anywhere. One day, one of the only people he cared about went missing. He meets an acrobat that can tell his how to find his friend, and he bites off more than he can chew.

It’s a story about carving your own path, found family, and doing what’s right even when it’s hard. There’s action, love, and so much more. Solid read!

This book definitely needs to come with a couple of trigger warnings. It features the survivors of domestic abuse and the lead is dealing with a lot of internalized fat-phobia. There are very well developed characters. The issues tackled are interesting and relevant. The question this series is asking is "How much abuse is it okay to serve back to abusers." As in reality, that is an impossible question to answer, and it will defer from person to person. Blanchet tackles the nuance well and carefully.

This started off strong for me but I could not maintain interest. This genre may not be right for me.

While I thought this story had an interesting concept, it just didn't draw me in, and, unfortunately, I found it quite hard to stay focused when reading it.
The world was an intriguing one, and I did like some of the characters, but Ollie wasn't really one of them. His behaviour at times was questionable.
This was not an overall terrible story, it just wasn't for me.

YES! This book was so engrossing it completely drew me in, gifting me a few lovely late nights reading till I dropped. The characters are interesting and enticing, very human and relatable; the world we are shown is intriguing; the pressure for the main character to get back to the "real" world - or forever forsake it - is building, building, building. I am looking forward to the next volume!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I DNF’ed at 45%, I really tried to finish and enjoy this book but the pace was just too slow for me.

The world building is interesting and I liked the MC however, while it is nice to have some plus sized representation, Ollie’s obsession with food was distracting to the plot. I understand Ollie’s struggle with his weight and relationship with food but it was just a bit too frequent and took away from the main plot.

The book is certainly dark with a lot of references to domestic violence but this is handled really well and we get a variety of experiences and a look into how this affects people and their thought processes.

If the story moved along just a little quicker, I think this would be a really excellent book but it just wasn’t for me.

I read this book all of the way through but really did not connect with Ollie the main character. There were dark themes throughout the book but I think that it simply was not the story I had expected when reading the synopsis. The witches did not play as big a role as I had expected and I thought there would be much more background on the setting of Salem.

Herrick's End is the story of Ollie, who finds himself in a mysterious cave city called the Neath after one of his friends goes missing. Ollie finds himself in more than a few tricky situations. Eventually, he must decide if he will be a bystander forever, or if he will be a hero and *do* something.

The writing of this book was very fast-paced, which held my attention. I found myself almost mindlessly flipping pages as the story stormed ahead at full speed. All of the characters were realistic and clear to me, and the world-building was interesting. This is certainly a dark fantasy, and almost borders on blending the genre with dystopian tropes as well.

I didn't necessarily connect with Ollie. He was fine, but I just found him boring, to be honest. I didn't think there was anything that great about him. I was much more interested in Tera and her story. I was also disappointed that the connection to witches wasn't explored further in this book -- I hope the author explores this in future books in this trilogy.

I enjoyed this book, the world-building is well done- atmospheric, gothic but refreshingly vibrant.
A cast of likeable characters bought varying traits and idiosyncrasies, especially our main protagonist, Ollie. There are also some incredible creatures within the depths of The Neath.
Could there be a detailed map and some character references at some point in the future? Sure, but the novel is a captivating and absorbing start to an inventive fantasy series.

I lost interest very early on. Could be that's it's not my cup of tea, but may be suitable for someone else's tastes.

Wow this book was truly amazing I absolutely loved it and really was un-put-down-able. The pacing was fantastic with nail biting tension. The first half of the book was great but the second half was phenomenal 👏. Ollie was such a likeable character and I was rooting for him throughout. I loved the relationships that formed for him and the love interest was so well done. The world building was perfection which I really wasn't expecting to like as dark gloomy underground type stuff isn't usually my thing. I cannot wait to read the next book.

I was really intrigued by the concept on this one, but the actual book just did not resonate with me... I had a very hard time connecting with the characters, although Laszlo was fun, and the pacing and world-building just felt a little bit off to me. I wasn't able to finish. This one wasn't a good fit for me.

While I was reading this, my computer decided to restart and I lost my spot, but I found that it didn't matter much if I missed something. That pretty much sums up how I felt about this book.

This is the kind of book that makes me ask why? Why did the author choose this as the story they wanted to tell? I simply didn't find this story to be all that interesting.

Let's get into the details.


PLOT:

We start out with an opening that was arguably better than the actual story but was severely underutilized, unfortunately. Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, is quite the place to choose to start out your story. A promise of witches and revenge never happened though, as we immediately fast-forwarded to the present where our story actually takes place.

We follow Ollie who, due to a series of circumstances, ends up in Herrick's End, a magical sanctuary for people looking to escape the real world. When the story started, for a second I thought this was about food because that was all Ollie could think about (but I will get into more of that later)m which is just one of the directional issues I had with the plot.

The story just went in an odd direction in general, and I didn't enjoy it nor how it was handled. There was very little correlation or explanation about the connection between the story that was happening, and what occurred in the introduction. I have a feeling that the story is going to be dragged out, as I think this could have been made into a solid standalone if it was developed properly.


CHARACTERS:

None of the characters were particularly interesting or had any gravitas. I said earlier on that I thought this food was about food because of how much it was talked about, and it ends up being the backbone of Ollie's character. The author was intensely focused on making it known how conscious Ollie was of his weight, to the point where it felt very forced. His weight ended up becoming his character, so I am unsure whether or not this was good representation.

Ollie also was simply just not a good 'chosen one' character. He was understandably way over his head considering the situation he got himself into, but he constantly went out of his and got himself in trouble even after he was warned.

I don't have much to say about any of the others characters aside from Nell. Nell is the catalyst for the story and someone who was barely in the story. When the story started out being about trying to find Nell, it would have made sense for her to have some kind of presence within the story rather than being sidelined. I think it was just a poor use of a character and storyline.

Nell wasn't the only character who was not utilized well either, as Herrick, the namesake for the town, was barely in it which was odd considering his role in the story. Maybe his story will be explored more in the next book, but it would have been helpful for some context about the world. There was also the addition of Ollie's father which was not needed at all as it didn't add anything to the narrative.


CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

This wasn't the story I was expecting nor was it one that I wanted. I thought it was going to be about one thing, but the direction it went in instead just wasn't interesting.

Thank you, NetGalley and Tiny Fox Press for giving me the opportunity to review this in advance.