I'm excited I have been able to find so many stories in this genre that has been well worth the read

The premise of the story started off very strong however this book personally was not for me.
The writing was quite different to anything I have ever read before and as someone who only knows English as their second language, it was quite hard to understand some of the regional and period specific language. The characters were really quite intriguing and I personally liked the switching POVs and Timeline jumps. But the story was just very slow. And with that, it was just really hard to keep reading.
So this book sadly isn't for me.

Bennie has made it her goal to shut down White Rock Mining. People have been going missing inside Kire Mountain, the most recent person being her best friend, the one she was investigating everything with. When Bennie finds an injured woman on the mountain, she brings her home, only to discover that she is a witch from a different time. Maybe with Motheater's help Bennie can finally take down White Rock for good

This is a beautifully written witchy, atmospheric novel that I recommend! Both of the characters were engaging and had great narrative voice. The dual timelines were handled well and really easy to seperate, I also enjoyed both of them equally, which usually isn't the case! I really liked the romance too.

I think this book was slightly too long and the pacing was a bit too slow at times, and I wasn't a massive fan of the ending, but I did like that it left you with a sense of hope. Overall I did enjoy this!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback

DNF @75%, and annoyed at myself for not calling it quits sooner.

The story started off strong with compelling protagonists, Bennie and Motheater, along with a healthy heap of intrigue and potential for folkloric horror. The addition of commentary against uncontrolled industrial progress in resource-rich rural areas was the cherry on top. I settled in for a good time.

A couple of hundred pages later and very few questions were answered, the story meandered for so long that any motivation to see the intriguing plot lines through has completely fizzled, and the characters started to feel so stagnant I wished for the enigmatic mountain central to the story to blow up already or to please do something incredibly scary because let's move on. Onwards.

Alas I do not have the determination to move onwards.

Thank you NetGalley, the author, and Erewhon Books for the eARC. I leave this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and found myself drawn into the story quickly. The writing was engaging, the characters were well-developed, and the plot kept me interested throughout. There were a few moments where the pacing slowed a bit, but overall it didn’t take away from my enjoyment.

This was a strong read, and I would definitely recommend it to others who enjoy this genre.

Bennie Mattox has made her life goal to take down White Rock Mining. People have been going missing, one, two at a time in Kire Mountain, and most recently, her best friend, the woman she was investigating the whole thing with. This has torn Bennie's life apart; she's left White Rock, left her boyfriend, and devoted herself to making White Rock pay. When she finds an injured, half-drowned woman on the mountain, she takes her home, only to find that this is a powerful witch outside of her time. Motheater might be holding the secrets to taking down White Rock if she can regain her memories and powers, or she might be holding knowledge much more destructive than just White Rock.
I liked this. Bennie is a really well-written character. I liked the historical parts of the book. I thought the magic and the mountain were really interesting. I wish we had gotten more of Motheater's perspective; that might have sold the romance more. Also, the pace is quite slow. I think the beautiful writing makes it worth it, but do know that this story doesn't get anywhere fast.

I tried to read this book and it just wasnt for me. I felt like the narratation was weird and honestly, I just feel like I'm not the target audience for this book in the long run.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me have a e arc of this book!
This book is about Benny who finds a witch (moth eater) in a river. It has strong environmental themes and now that I think about it was the first time I could get behind a man vs nature story. Honestly I loved this! I don’t think I ever read a book set in Appalachia before! But the whole story was fascinating to me! Moth eater and Benny were really fun to follow.

DNFed at 20%. I was so disappointed that this book did not grab me the way that I wanted it to! This is a queer, witchy mystery, all of which are words I really love! But the story didn't resonate with me and the names (Motheater, the Dandelion Witch, etc.) felt a little silly.

Miners are dying in the mountain. And as Bennie tries to investigate, a mysterious woman is pulled from the heart of the mountain. A witch, who knows that the mountain is waking up, and that it is angry.

Wow wow wow. This whole book left me breathless! Putting industry versus nature, and the rural communities that are caught between the two. This book had literally everything that I could have wanted! Fascinating characters, complicated queer representation, a wonderfully creepy magic system, and an absolutely fantastic grasp of the scenery of Appalachia.

The romance was really the only thing that didn’t fit as well into the story as everything else, but I found myself so invested with all the characters and their interactions, that I didn’t mind the romance as much as I might do:

You can count on it that I will be checking out all that Codega has to offer. An author to watch, for damn sure. And a book to add to my shelves!

Thank you to both Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for this arc!

If you love witches and Appalachian legends this book is for you. A fantasy story with a very different type of story line drawing from stories of old Appalachia. Great plot and characters that merge history with the present.

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.