I greatly enjoyed Motheater, the debut novel of Linda H. Codega. It’s a modern-day (mostly) fantasy, about Benethea, a woman trying to find out what happened to her best friend and other mineworkers who have disappeared inside Kire Mountain in the Appalachians, and the mysterious half-drowned woman she fishes out of a creek downstream from a borehole. It’s also about complicated friendships and longings and obsessions, and the relationships between nature, communities, and industry; people have to make choices among moral ambiguities, and sometimes they have to try to fix mistakes.
Motheater initially has amnesia, but it’s almost immediately apparent that she has magic, including some kind of command over nature. She doesn’t actually eat moths, but moths carrying souls/ghosts cluster around her so they can whisper their secrets to her before crumbling into dust and rest. Bennie quickly realizes that Motheater can probably help fight the mining company that she believes is responsible for the deaths and disappearances; Motheater is sympathetic but focuses first on recovering her memories so she can restore her full powers.
The book is told (in third-person past tense) from the viewpoints of Bennie, Motheater, and flashbacks from Esther, a Neighbor/witch of the past who quotes Scripture as she casts spells and makes self-sacrificing bargains with the Mountain to try to protect her community. Bennie gets grudging help from her ex-lover, Zach, with mine information and access, even as she starts to have feelings for Motheater. Historical research and mountain wanderings start to revive Motheater’s memories of conflict and anger in the past; meanwhile, something else is reviving — a power that has been sleeping for a long time — and those occasional disappearances of miners may just be warning flags for a looming catastrophe.
This book did not go where I was expecting with the main plot, but I loved the twists and turns that it took. People with the best of intentions can be blind to the harm they’re storing up for the future, and anyone can make promises that end up being derailed by events beyond their control, but especially, people who take everything upon themselves can be unconsciously arrogant. I also appreciated how opposing viewpoints were reflected, such while Esther was struggling against a mining company’s efforts to supersede local operations, those residents believed that company’s resources and technology would make them safer and richer. Sometimes what seems like gullibility can just be people trying to make the best of a poor set of options.
I loved how preacher’s kid Esther kept quoting Scripture as a sort of focus for her bargaining magic for the community that didn’t love her back, and how Bennie kept rolling with the punches as she realized magic was real and maybe the company wasn’t the only threat around, and how Motheater was honest enough to realize her mistakes and try to mitigate some consequences that were surfacing from her past actions.
I loved the rich characterizations in this book. I loved how earthy and grounded this book felt, despite the fantasy elements. I loved the depictions of moral complexities and stark choices. I definitely look forward to reading whatever Codega comes up with next!
Content warnings: Deaths, disasters, body horror, environmental damage, betrayals, racism and sexism (negatively portrayed), religious extremism.
Comps: Old Gods of Appalachia podcast, Smothermoss by Alisa Alering.
Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher for review.
