Witherward by Hannah Mathewson
(Titan Books, 2021)
Reviewed by David Lascelles
Witherward opens with Ilsa, an orphan girl in Victorian London who has been a street urchin, a pickpocket and is now working as the assistant to an aged, drunkard of a magician. Using her innate talents to shapeshift, she has been bolstering the magician’s act and making a reasonable living for them both. However, she is forever searching for others like her—those with inexplicable powers—and is always on the lookout for anything unusual. After chasing one such lead, Ilsa is kidnapped and dragged into another, alternate, London which she discovers is her home. There she is introduced to her family, finds out why she had been abandoned in London seventeen years ago and that this London is in the grip of a civil war.
Mathewson’s debut novel straddles the line between YA and adult fantasy. It trends to more of the former with many of the tropes familiar to those who follow YA fantasy. For example, we have an orphaned main character who has a special destiny, and the inevitable love triangle is present, albeit in a different and intriguing form. However, the well written prose has more maturity than some YA and this tends to place it at the upper end of the range—edging into more adult fantasy.
The things I enjoyed in this novel include the worldbuilding of the alternative London—and the hints that there is a whole alternative Europe and even an alternative Earth beyond it—as well as the very well done takes on the different factions and their unique magics. While there is a little too much of a tabletop RPG feel to this—the idea that all with the same magic live and work in the same areas of London and are all part of the same faction and have similar abilities—this is not a major block to enjoying this story and there is enough that is entertaining about the factions to maintain interest. For example, the idea of the Oracles, people born with the ability to see the future, who are not trained properly having to use opium to prevent their visions from controlling them is one I found intriguing and ties in with the concepts of Victorian era London. I especially liked Ilsa’s own skill set as both a changeling and a former magician’s assistant. She combines her sleight of hand skills with her magical abilities to assume any form very well and that makes sense for someone who has largely been using her powers to assist a magician. I also appreciate how Mathewson manages to avoid straying into tropes and stereotypes about ‘fey’ and ‘changelings’. Isla is a changeling because she can change shape and also because she was left by her people in ‘the real world’ but there the similarities with traditional fey end—no land of summer’s twilight or twinkling wings for these creatures. These are more like humans with specific magical powers that they are born with.
The central mysteries of the main plot are well presented and provide some challenge to the reader. There are a number of unexpected twists as Ilsa investigates what is going on within the different factions, including her own, and the rebels who are trying to upset the whole city. Alot of the tension in her interactions with others revolve around who she can trust and there is no one who is really a hundred percent worthy of it. A final reveal seems somewhat forced but looks set to create plot in the sequel and, in fact, by the end it is clear the story is not over and there is more to come.
Overall, well worth checking this out if you are a fan of Victoriana, magic, mysteries and intrigue.
Review from BSFA Review 14 - Download your copy here.