Hex: Darkland Tales

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Much of the short book is a feminist outcry about the treatment of women by men, which is of course, perfectly justified and true, but I would have liked to have learned more of the historical context around witch trials in Scotland and so on. I wasn't expecting this book to be so heartwrenching; there were several passages that were hard to read and others that made my blood boil. If you like Bukowski and the Beats, you’ll get somewhere close to the subject matter and style, both of which are pleasingly uncompromising. The Darkland Tales series providing snippets into the grim history of Scotland have been some of my favourite pieces of fiction recently, and I can't wait to read the next installment.

I liked the juxtaposition of both narrators, with Geillis’ sometimes old-fashioned turns of phrase, and the very current events given to authenticate Iris’ point of view: ‘If only she didn’t wear stilettos.

Given that time is somewhat fluid, this may be just a part of the swarm of thoughts, but it jars a little. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. On this, the last night of her life in a prison cell several floors below Edinburgh’s High Street, convicted witch Geillis Duncan receives a mysterious visitor – Iris, who says she comes from a future where women are still killed for who they are and what they believe. Iris is related to Geillis by being a woman herself who has also known misogyny and they share their stories.

Fagan refers to James in her novel and castigates him accordingly and she gives us a portrait of him at the end of his life as ‘ an incoherent slobberer, his tongue grown too big for his mouth. Hex is a visceral depiction of what happens when a society is consumed by fear and superstition, exploring how the terrible force of a king's violent crusade against ordinary women can still be felt, right up to the present day. It is only recently that I learned how extensive the witch trials in Scotland were, which is pretty shocking, so I was very interested to see how this story which is inspired by the North Berwick witch trials, would unfold.Intenta usar una historia de viajes en el tiempo y presuntas brujas para lanzar un mensaje feminista, pero le falta fuerza. And I’ve been to North Berwick multiple times, so reading about her account of the little town made me even more emotional and deeply connected both to her and the place.