Extasia

The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Craft in this feminist standalone from Legrand (the Empirium trilogy), a fusion of horror and queer romantic fantasy that advocates unity, self-empowerment, and societal change. The village of Haven believes that generations ago, wicked women destroyed the world with their ambition, deceit, insolence, and lust. Only the most pious humans survived, banding together to form an all-white patriarchal settlement. Residents routinely gather to exhaust their rage and depravity by visiting it upon four teenage female “saints”—Mercy, Silence, Temperance, and newly anointed Amity. Amity hopes that her service will absolve her family of her adulterous exiled mother’s sins, and persuade God to halt the gruesome supernatural murders claiming the town’s men. When the killings continue, however, Amity realizes that more drastic measures are needed to save her neighbors. Upon discovering the existence of witches able to manipulate magical energy called extasia, Amity vows to learn their ways so she may summon the Devil—and banish him. Though the overstuffed plot retreads familiar tropes, readers will be riveted by Legrand’s fierce female characters and their harrowing emotional journey. Ages 14–up. Agent: Victoria Marini, Irene Goodman Agency. (Feb.)