The Furies by Katie Lowe

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I've always loved books and movies about witchy girl gangs. I love these groups of powerful women who stick together, fight for one another, and use their powers to try to right the wrongs in the world (or use their powers for evil, which can be even more fun!). That's why when I heard about The Furies by Katie Lowe I knew I had to read it. I will put a trigger warning on this one for rape and child abuse, as well as an animal sacrifice.

When Violet starts at a new school. she is immediately drawn to a group of girls: Alex, Grace, and Robin. When her art teacher Annabel invites her to be a part of a "special advanced course" she is offering, she accepts and discovers that these girls are the only other students. They learn about the occult, the history of the school, mythology, and how all these things are connected to strong females throughout history. But what happens when girls take these "history" lessons to mean more than their teacher implies? What results when the girls begin to perform rites and rituals of their own in the name of those about whom they have learned?

I enjoyed this book just fine, but was really hoping for more. With so many stories about witchy girl gangs out there to consume, I feel like any new stories need to be super inventive and really engaging, and this one sadly wasn't as strong as I'd hoped. I thought all the parts about Violet's past life and her current relationship with her mother were just extremely sad, and not at all that necessary to the plot. I mean I guess it explains why she got unhinged so quickly, but it just made me depressed. Parts of this story were a little too slow for my liking, and pieces of the plot felt a little disjointed in places.

I did love how all the girls were learning about things central to the idea of strong women, and the weird history of their school was really interesting. I also liked how the special course that the girls were taking was passed down through generations. There was some f/f rep in this story as well which I thought was a great little addition. And I really loved Robin's character, even though she was super manipulative.

Basically, this book reminded me a lot of The Craft (which I ADORE!), but wasn't quite as good. Even though this is about teenagers, I think it is technically an adult coming of age book (at least, it reads like one) but I could be wrong.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Thanks so much to St. Martin's Press for a finished copy of this read! The Furies by Katie Lowe is out now!