cover image A Spell for Change

A Spell for Change

Nicole Jarvis. Titan, $18.99 trade paper (480p) ISBN 978-1-83541-094-3

Demons, star-crossed lovers, and weedy gardens fill this helter-skelter fantasy from Jarvis (A Portrait in Shadow). In the backwoods of 1920s Tennessee, 18-year-old Black girl Kate repeatedly has visions of a handsome white stranger. When she encounters her dream man, Oliver, in the flesh, the two bond over their unusual talents: Kate can see the future, while Oliver can see the dead, a gift he acquired after his best friend died in his arms in a WWI trench. A third narrator, Nora, is a schoolteacher recently dismissed from her post under suspicion of being a witch. Those accusations prove correct, and almost every other chapter is an account of her daily magic lessons with a traveling wizard. Kate and Oliver fall in love, but there’s little hope for this interracial bond—especially when Oliver is betrothed to a white girl who happens to be Nora’s flame. This heartbreak takes a dark turn after the trio’s powers call forth forces of evil. The chaotic climax pushes the underdeveloped real-life threats of racism and homophobia to the side in favor of 100-plus pages of nonstop demonic action, which feels distinctly out of whack with the leisurely Appalachian charm that oozes from the preceding pages. The result is a disjointed narrative that fails to stick the landing. (May)
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