Weatherell girls aren't supposed to die.
Once every eighteen years, the isolated forest village of Weatherell is asked to send one girl to the god of the mountain to give a sacrifice before returning home. Twins Anya and Ilva Astraea are raised with this destiny in mind, and when their time comes, spirited Ilva volunteers to go. Her devoted sister Anya is left at home to pray for Ilva's safe return. But Anya's prayers are denied.
With her sister dead, Anya volunteers to make a journey of her own to visit the god of the mountain. But unlike her sister, sacrifice is the furthest thing from Anya's mind. Anya has no intention of giving anything more to the god, or of letting any other girl do so ever again. Anya Astraea has not set out to placate a god. She's set out to kill one.
I always get the feeling in Laura Weymouth books that there's a lot of backstory and history we don't know about. In one way that's fine - worlds have history that aren't always necessary - but it does make it harder sometimes to connect to the characters. Of course that's true of most fantasy, so I don't know why I feel it so strongly in these books.
This is set in a version of Britain where the Romans withdrew when some kind od demon woke in Scotland. A new religion based on appeasing the demon and formed with parts of Christianity arose, involving sacrificing young girls to the demon each year. Most of them don't die, but they lose something very important, because only important things can calm the demon. This year's sacrifice is determined that no more young girls should be sent to face him.
One of the things that drew me to this book (apart from the writer) is that the blurb made no mention of romance. I was expecting "Anya teams up with a renegade priest" or something of the sort and I was pleasantly surprised not to see it. Of course, there is a romance here, where a boy who everyone describes as standoffish and quick to run is inexplicably drawn to Anya. Don't get me wrong, I liked the character a lot, but I would love, just once, to see a 'fiercely feminist heroine' do it on her own, without leaning on a man for help. That's a me issue, though, and doesn't say anything about this book in particular.
I also would have liked it to be a bit longer! The pacing was great, I flew through it, but I thought the ending was very abrupt - I would love to know what happens next, considering that what happened in that ending will turn their world upside down. It's a sign of a good book that I don't want to leave it behind too quickly.
Overall I really enjoyed this, I highly recommend it and I hope it does really well.
A Consuming Fire publishes on the 22nd November, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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