Book Review: The Scapegracers

I received a copy of this novel from Erewhon books in exchange for an honest review. 2/5 -DNF The cover and synopsis drew me in. Witchcraft, LGBTQA+ representation, female friendships...sign me up! Unfortunately, the story fell flat. From the beginning, the writing was dense and confusing with far too many descriptors. In the first fifty pages alone, I'd imagine a good ten or so could've been cut. I liked the idea of Sideways (that's her nickname) channeling this magic and coming into a level of power that she didn't previously know she could, it was all a bit thrown together though. The incident that leads them to seek revenge in so vague that it makes you wonder what the point is. The characters are all static, I can't honestly say I cared much about any of them. This is a big part of why I didn't finish this book. The rambling conversations that don't further the story were frustrating and slowed the pacing along with the overly dense prose. About halfway through, with the entire process being a struggle to connect, I didn't feel like it would ever happen and I decided to put it down. Honestly, I really wanted to like it. Perhaps with another round of editing, some of these issues could've been addressed. Regardless, the idea was great but the execution left something to be desired.