I absolutely love queer horror (I don't know why, I just do) and this book perfectly mixes horror with folklore elements and issues relevant in today's world. Thanks to NetGalley and Erewhon for the advanced copy!

Lovely writing and good atmospherics. This merges folklore and horror with contemporary and topical issues. It might be a bit too long but once you're reading it's an immersive tale. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

3.5 Stars

“I’m not eating them . . . I’m going to absorb its soul and manifest its ancestral memories.”

Motheater is southern folk horror story straight from Virginia’s Appalachian mountains. Fantastical, dark, and beautifully written, this was a solid debut from author Linda H. Codega.

In the modern day of industry and machines, magic is all but gone. mountains are leveled as large mining companies ravage the land. Dangerous practices result in high profits but deadly consequences. Bennie’s best friend is dead and she knows it’s more than just an unavoidable accident. Her investigation doesn’t get very far until the day the miners find a body in the stone and toss into the river. When Bennie finds the woman half drowned and brings her home, she finds that maybe magic isn’t completely gone from the land after all.

Motheater doesn’t remember who she is - only that she is a neighbor of Kire, a witch of the mountains. Together the two women start on a journey to discover Motheater’s past and to discover what is killing miners on the mountain.

There was a lot I liked about this book. The local folklore was really interesting. As a Virginia native, I enjoyed the blending of fact with fiction. I liked the idea of a witch bound by nature fighting against the inevitable progression of industry. The book had very solid bones.

I had two issues with this book, however. First, this is not a short read, but there are a lot of moments that are very slow going that I personally felt didn’t help progress the story. I love a well fleshed out character, but I don’t need to know their every inner thought. As soon as the story started picking up, it would slow again. Second, I thought the romance didn’t work. Marketed as a queer romance, I felt the entire relationship was unnecessary. Bennie was infatuated by the mysterious Motheater, which made sense, but I didn’t believe Motheater would reciprocate those feelings after expressing so much disdain towards people. The story was strong on its own. It did not need a romance angle.

Overall, I did enjoy the story. I loved the idea of nature vs machine, though doomed. I loved the Appalachian folklore. I think it’s a book that is going to appeal to a lot of different people. There were some pacing issues, but, as a debut, it’s quite well written.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing in Motheater is beautiful. The author really captured the atmosphere of old Appalachia so well, in my opinion. But the book definitely felt too long. I found myself occasionally skim reading, as some passages felt repetitive or unnecessary.

Highlights
~calm down mr bluejay
~magic vs mining
~don’t mess with a Neighbor

This book made me feel extremely autistic.

Not at first. The first half, maybe even the first two-thirds, are incredibly strong – and the prose is absolutely lovely throughout. I have never visited Appalachia, but Codega’s writing is rich and atmospheric, and the setting is – pretty literally! – a character in its own right. And the fact that none of our main characters are uncomplicatedly Nice/Good People? *chef’s kiss* Magnificent, and much approved!

>“Faith’s only part of it. There’s more fire in me than blood. You pull on my red-string it’s liable to lead you to Old Scratch himself. You want to be a witch?” Motheater hissed, eyes wide. “For magic, you have to tie yourself to something greater, to a baptism. You bind yourself to power, an old creature, an ancient thing; the Witch-Father, the Devil’s Wife, the Moon Raker, the Drunken Child, the Last Bride. The old witches, the nightly powers. Then you give, and they give back.”<

…But.

Look: it is possible that I was just being Extremely Autistic, and missing the obvious. But it sure felt like, the closer we got to the final pages, the more characters were suddenly changing long-held views without any warning – or, worse, any explanation. I could not figure out, even after combing back over what I’d read, when, or why, Esther decided the mining company coming into town might not be a bad thing. There seemed no groundwork laid for Motheater deciding she was the cause of the problem; she just abruptly comes to the conclusion that everything is her fault, actually, and I couldn’t figure out her reasoning. The (magical?) bond between Bennie and Motheater comes out of nowhere; it just seems to appear, suddenly, not grow over time. Bennie’s Intense Aversion to the whole scene with the tree was utterly baffling: I didn’t understand at all what was going on, when she’d been so into and excited by magic just the day before. Everything Esther did was for Kiron, until suddenly the book was all ‘she hasn’t been looking after Kiron at all actually, major fail!’ Despite previously deciding that Zach is more than culpable in nearly killing Motheater (actually killing her, as far as he knew) she goes back to thinking he’s a paragon later, apparently forgetting all her anger and disgust with him.

I just. What?

>The moths were a Milky Way above them, soft silverine stars dotting the ceiling.<

The characters aren’t the only thing that stopped making sense. I have no problem with soft magic systems – I love them! – but this one was contradictory. Literally: on one page Esther cannot cast a spell, isn’t able to, but then does it anyway a page later in the same scene. You become a Neighbor (a badass, extremely hardcore Appalachian witch) by making a bargain…but at one point Character A is made into a witch by Character B, which, how??? What??? Character C tells Motheater off for not tending to the souls, but then it’s revealed that Character C has been gathering them this whole time? What’s the problem then?

Hopefully some of that got fixed in copyedits – I did read an arc, after all, not a finished copy – but it was majorly frustrating.

The use of biblical quotes for Esther’s magic – for Appalachian magic in general – is something I’ve come across before, and I think was done really well here! And to be clear, the magic very much felt like magic, which I appreciated. I liked how wild and strange it felt, how earthy it was. But when so much of the plot rested on it…it did get frustrating, having no concept of where the limits were, what was and wasn’t possible. Nothing about it was really explained – Kire, the local mountain, is alive and sentient (in its way), and so are at least some trees, and some animals at least some of the time? I would have really liked to learn more about the framework of Esther’s magic; not the mechanics, but who or what the spirits are that she references sometimes, why she can do this but not that, how can this fucker over here use magic too? What’s the belief system, here?

There were quite a lot of writerly decisions that I didn’t like. Bennie, a Black woman, playing pretty useless sidekick to the white, powerful Motheater, for one. The way the ending fell out, for another. But there were also a lot of word choices that made me want to tear my hair out: for instance, at one point, Codega writes ‘warp and woof’ – which, hi, virtually none of your readers are going to know that woof is a technical, historical term for ‘weft’! Which means you using it there is just going to make us think of dogs! Or the insistence of using the word ‘cleavage’ to describe rocky surfaces, which PAINFULLY undermines the dramatic showdown with the sentient mountain in the climax! Come on.

The very worst, though, is the choice of the Big Bad, which I remain utterly confused about. It’s not much of a spoiler: although Bennie starts the book looking to shut down the mining company, which she believes is responsible for the deaths in the mines, by the halfway point everyone is very clear on Kire, the mountain, being the monster who needs to be stopped.

>Whatever White Rock was doing couldn’t compare to what Kire threatened. White Rock’s miners disappeared in ones and twos. If Kire woke up, it could destroy the entire operation. Hundreds of White Rock’s miners, killed all at once, lost to an Appalachian appetite.<

Some lip-service is paid to the idea that Kire’s anger at being mined is justified, but fundemantally, this is a book about Appalachian mining that decides the environment is the problem.

Play that back: we’re talking about mining. Mining coal, specifically. In rural, poor, Appalachia. And instead of the aggressive, indifferent-to-life, greedy, destructive mining companies being the issue…it’s the environment itself.

…That sure is a Choice That Was Made. One that seems extra wtf with the climate crisis going on outside.

To be clear, Motheater isn’t pro-mining companies or anything. I don’t think Codega intends for the book to be read that way. I’m just not sure how else I’m supposed to take it, when the monster that needs slaying is the mountain instead of the corporates. Did nobody in the editing process think that was a weird narrative decision??? Nobody???

<Motheater’s short lashes, her cheekbones like chopped crystal, stunning like a mountain ridge.>

I don’t know. The first half of this book was beautiful. I didn’t enjoy the last third at all. The ending wasn’t what I wanted; the Big Bad was definitely not what I wanted. I’d be happy to try another book from Codega in the future. But this one, I am, reluctantly, not a fan of.

Trigger warning: fairly graphic animal sacrifice

I must preface my review by saying that this is absolutely not for everyone. The writing is great but the pacing is slow. Things took a looonnggg time to get going, and if you're looking for a fast paced read, you'll have to find something else. But I was listening to the story while driving along the North-South Expressway, flanked by beautiful mountains, and it felt really good.

The story switched between the present and the past, starting off in the modern day with Bennie pulling Motheater from the river. We soon find out that Motheater is a witch, but she couldn't remember her past or how she ended up in the mountain and emerged half-dead. Also, in a relatively funny moment, Bennie asked if she really eats moths (you'll have to find the answer yourself; my lips are sealed). This central mystery - learning who Motheater is, what her powers consist of, and what happened to her - occupies a significant portion of the book.

At some point the story switched to the past. There we follow the travails of Esther, the witch (or as the book calls it, a 'neighbour') in charge of Kire Mountain. Unhappy with the encroachment of the mining companies there to strip the mountains of their riches, she must use every trick she knew to stop them. However, she faced objection from the mining community, who welcomed the promised economic boon and job opportunities.

I find this to be an engrossing read. I've never been to the Appalachian Mountains or live in a mining community, but Codega's evocative writing paints a vivid picture. Motheater's magic is not well-defined, for it seems to allow her to do a wide array of things, but that does not bother me; it seems to make sense somehow given the context of the story. The characters are sufficiently complicated; Bennie and Motheater underwent paradigm shifts, and they had to let go of some stubbornly-held beliefs.

One thing didn't quite work for me: the sapphic elements. I felt that the relationship between Bennie and Motheater didn't quite have the build up to be convincing. Until the end I still felt like they were more friends or partners than lovers.

Would I recommend this book? I don't know; I suspect that personal preferences can play a massive role in whether you'll end up liking this or not. I looked at some Netgalley reviews to get an idea of how people feel about this book overall, and the ratings are all over the place. So I suppose you'll love it or hate it? I'd say this, though: Codega has certainly done a lot of research in the writing of this story, and it worked for me.

The characters are strong and the past and present stories lines are woven together beautifully, creating a cohesive and enjoyable read.

I did enjoy this book but I kept picking it up and putting it down again I never really got that feeling of needing to chapter after chapter.

I really liked the folk tale aspect of the book it gave the book a unique charm. Ontop of that there are whimsical bits in the books that really do just pull you in and then the next chapter there's a typo and you're drawn out which I understand it is an arc after all.

My favourite part was probably Motheaters POV I just loved the setting of her POV. My only real complaint is that Bennie trusted Motheater way to easily and early (idk it might just be me but I hate when a character automatically just trusts another character) and I think that decision had a knock-on effect for the rest of the book because it kind of takes away some suspense by automatically having her trust her.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC!

This was an incredible letdown. The premise and concept sounded great, but this book felt so slow. At least 60% was a complete slog for me. I also absolutely hated all of the Christian scripture connected with the supposed witchcraft. Personal preference for sure, but it honestly ruined it for me.
I think this could've been a little better than it was.

Overall, I felt this book was good; however, I first wanted to point out that the ebook contained many typos. I'm not sure that I've read anything from this publisher previously so I thought it was worth a mention.

I really enjoyed the depth of characters in this book as well as the combination of magic, horror, religious things, and a unique setting. One of the first things that made me want to read this book was the setting: Appalachia. I loved the descriptions of Appalachia, both past and present, that ran through the book, and the connection of a BIPOC and queer main character to the land. I thought the characters were unique and intriguing; I was rooting for them throughout the book. The only downside for me was that the ending felt a bit slow and semi-resolved, but I still think this book is going to make a big splash in 2025.

I'll preface this by saying this was my first time receiving an ARC from a publisher, rather than an indie author, and I'm appalled at the difference in quality.
The book is full of typos, including in the characters' names, with different spellings on one same page, missing full stops, missing words which make some sentences confusing/impossible to understand.
I think I'll give this publisher a pass in the future if this is their standard.

Now onto the story.
This was an okay read. Mostly, I felt it was trying too hard, and ended up being disappointing.

My first thought was that I expected, this being about a witch in the Appalachian, that the witch would be a native. Instead she's a white woman, daughter of a Pentacostal preacher. It rubbed me the wrong way that a white woman was the one centered in a book about magic connecting her so deeply to the land.

I didn't like Bennie. I found nothing compelling about her and just couldn't find it in me to care about her feelings or what happened to her. The romance felt forced and rushed. I think Bennie and Motheater spend two weeks together at most and they end up making big love confessions.

The whole thing with an alive mountain was the most interesting part to me, as well as the flashback chapters. I'd have been happy for this book to be a historical fantasy with chapters from Esther and Jasper's point of view, and more background on the magic, and how Esther became a witch. We only get a few lines about the pact she made with the mountain, when it's the centre of the plot.

The writing felt uneven. It was better in the flashback chapters, but had both many repetitions, basic sentence structure, and whole paragraphs accumulating metaphors when one would have done.

Overall, this read like a first draft, and not a book about to be published. I hope it got a good editing pass before then, but if it's just copy editing missing, I'm afraid that won't do the trick.

I read onto the 2/3 point because I was still intrigued about what would happen, but the plot was really slow for 70% of the book, and unravelled in the last few chapters really quickly.

Yeah, uneven would be a good word to summarize this.

I got an ARC from Netgalley and this is my honest opinion.

This was such a beautifully written book. It felt very lyrical and so enchanting. I truly enjoyed reading it so much. The atmosphere was so important and landed so well, I really felt in the presence of witches.

It was truly original and creepy, I really enjoyed!

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

Thrown into the river and left for dead by the mining company on Mount Kire, Motheater was pulled from the waters by Bennie. A former employee and current investigator, Bennie hopes that this unidentified woman will be the lynchpin for exposing White Hills for their deadly mining practices that have killed dozens of people since the early 1990s. However, while Motheater struggles to remember her full name, her bones remember Kire and the power she pulls from the land.

Lyrical and atmospheric, MOTHEATER tackles the idea of what people are willing to sacrifice in the name of progress and who has to pay the fee. Part literary fiction, part fantasy, part eco-horror-- this book brings together the old practices and lore of Appalachia Neighbors and the continued struggle with environmentalism v. progress.

This book moves slow, but deliberate; the best parts for me were the flashbacks to Ester's life, while the modern-day plot line with Bennie began to feel monotonous by the end. The characters were well-developed and motivated, and I think Codega did a wonderful job explaining actions through character-building and dialogue. But the best part by far was the world building-- the magic system was intriguing and rooted in old practices, the Appalachian setting was an excellently executed character in and of itself, and the eldritch horror component of this world kept me on my toes.

thank you to netgalley and to kensington publishing for the eARC!

The first 30 - 40% of this book was interesting to me, with the setup of our main character's wants to uncover a conspiracy going on within the mountains of Appalachia that is killing the people. Motheater was also, as her name suggests, interesting, though as more is revealed of her backstory she sort of stagnated for me.
Unfortunately I failed to really connect with any of these characters, and so the story suffered when I wasn't too bothered about what was going to happen to them. The plot was also a little meandering, and very slow paced. I found myself tiring of both of these aspects of the book, and so I also found myself skimming through the pages after the 50% mark.
The relationship fell a bit flat for me, but I think that was due to my indifference towards the characters. Any plot twists I was able to see coming, but it was nice to get Motheaters backstory uncovered at least. The magic was fairly interesting, the connection she had with nature and with the mountains was nice to read about.

t shouldn’t be. The effects of mining are devastating. The rage of subjugation and forced submission by capitalistic greed is bitter. The loneliness of being a powerful woman full of conviction is sharp. This book has teeth and the characters bite.

From the first pages, I was swept up in Benny’s perspective as she struggles to solve mysterious circumstances surrounding local miners’s deaths, including her best friend, in the Kiron mine. Benny’s unabashed doggedness in pursuing this truth was inspiring. The way she immediately entertains Motheather’s powerful magic as a tool to be harnessed instead of rejecting it because it is arcane and cruel won me over. I like a heroine who’s not afraid to embrace the dark and get a little dirty to achieve their goals.

Motheater is not a witch to be trifled with and oh, how I love her. She is jagged and raw. She represented Appalachia itself, as I, an outsider consider it. A unique, often mischaracterized, place many have tried to subdue filled with mystery and danger.

Coda brings to life the unique culture of Appalachia through distinct dialogue and speech patterns. Benny’s narration is so comfortable and cohesive with other aspects of the novel and is one of my favorite features of this book. The use of flashbacks fills readers in about a small portion of the oppression Appalachia has experienced without becoming a lecture. The magic is earthy without appropriating Indigenous spiritual practices and is just as brought as the wielder. I honestly could not ask for more from this book.

the k you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

motheater has a fascinating premise and one that i was so excited for, i deeply appreciated the homage to appalachia, as a wv girl myself. sadly this book fell a bit flat for me in some areas, while the writing was lovely at times, but the pacing dragged. and though motheater and bennie were both interesting characters, (and i’m always going to stand behind any sapphic story,) their romance just didn’t fulfill what i was here for.

This one is a mixed bag for me.

Bennie is a bit of a sore thumb in her Appalachian town. Not only is she one of the few Black women, but she's also aiming to take down a coal mining company after the mysterious deaths of several miners, including her best friend.

While out trolling for clues of wrong doing she spots a woman in a creek and pulls her out thinking, this is yet another victim of the industry. But who she's pulled out is a witch who's spent about 150 years in the heart of the mountain.

I appreciate that out main perspective (Bennie) is unique to the area and industry, it makes it fresh. I can also understand the delicate balance of coal in Appalachia as both a bringer of survival (jobs) but also destruction (nature).

The romance comes across as a bit one side until suddenly (for no reason) it isn't. I wish that had been built up a little more. There was a secondary romance (at least I'm pretty sure) that sparked without ever being explored.

However the pacing is super slow and frankly chunks of this book are boring. The ending isn't quite as satisfying as I'd have liked and there are several loose ends I'd have liked to seen tied up.

WOW I loved this book! Few people delve far enough into the horror elements of the Bible and Christianity, and that paired with a brutal environment-based magic system resulted in a phenomenally unique and captivating setting. I loved Motheater's chaos and devotion/stubbornness from the beginning and seeing her relationship develop with Bennie throughout the story was very satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Motheater follows main character Bennie, a woman living in a fictional mining town in rural Appalachia, grieving the death of her closest friend after a supposed mining accident. I was instantly hooked by her Bennie’s personality and characterization, as well as by the setting (a first for me), and the themes of magic and the roll capitalism has on the destruction of the environment.

Esther’s narrative in the past was incredibly well written and such a unique take on magic. I loved her relationship with her friend Jasper, as well as the interweaving and coexistence of queer relationships and religion. Esther’s relationship with her father and the men of her town was tense and well done as well.

Bennie and Motheather’s relationship did feel a little rushed to me – but not to point that it disrupted by experience as a reader. I wish we had gotten a bit more of resolution with Bennie and her ex, Zach’s, relationship – as well as what happens with Jasper in the end.

While the ending fell a little flat for me, I loved the fantasy/horror/folktale atmosphere throughout the entire novel. I truly felt transported to Appalachia during different points in the region’s history, which is a huge testament to Codega’s writing. Looking forward to reading whatever they write next!

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Actual rating: 4.5

Linda H Codega (they/them) presents Motheater, a queer fantasy rooted in Appalachian folk magic and conjure. Readers follow Benethea "Bennie" Mattox as she seeks to discover what is causing miners to die on Kire Mountain. When Bennie finds an unconscious woman in the river, she quickly learns that the woman, Motheater, has lost her memory but not the power that ties her to the mountain. A dual timeline perspective follows Esther a century and a half earlier, fighting the same fight against industrial mining that Bennie fights in the present day. After so long enduring insult, the mountain is prepared to fight back.

I am a resident of Maryland who works in Virginia, but my inherited family homestead is in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Appalachian Virginia. My grandparents married on the Natural Bridge. The mountains that make up Appalachia are one of the settings I run to for peace and rest. I acknowledge that this book probably spoke to me in ways that wouldn't happen for people without those ties, but that makes it all the more special for me.

It is inherently obvious that Codega
has done solid research into the land and the culture of Virginian Appalachia. I have never before read a fiction book that so seamlessly weaves together the influences of the church and the land. The pacing of the book is slow and the writing is rich with description. It's a Southern drawl of a book. It can't be rushed and it has plenty to say, even if the message is only truly picked up on later reflection.

Bennie and Motheater are easy leads to follow through the disorientation of the woods and the wild. I appreciate that Codega let the book be naturally queer rather than forcing a front and center romance that would have been unnecessary and potentially detracted from the core plot.

My only real complaint was a bit of a fast wrapup at the end compared to the relatively steady build to that point. This ultimately was the reason for the half star deduction, but I have reason to think this story will take root and grow to be one I only love more over time. I have already pre-ordered a physical copy.

I am thrilled to have had the joy of reading this book and am even more excited to escape into the mountains. Looking forward to whatever Codega writes next.