Within These Wicked Walls

by Lauren Blackwood

[nannah]

(4.5)

I have been looking forward to reading this all year, and it didn’t disappoint! This is a very impressive debut with some of the most witty dialogue I’ve ever encountered.

Content Warnings:
- child abuse
- slavery mention
- toxic relationship (between guardian/child)
- gore

Representation:
- all characters but one are Ethiopian
- the love interest has depression
- one of the characters has chronic pain & a wooden leg

Within These Wicked Walls is a loose Jane Eyre retelling that takes place in an Ethiopian-inspired world. The MC, Andromeda, is a debtera (exorcist) who takes on the very dangerous job of cleansing a castle of the Evil Eye. Only four other people have successfully done this, and of those one is still alive to tell the tale. Even more dangerous, Andi falls in love with Magnus, the Evil Eye’s host.

This book has one of the most fascinating magic systems I’ve ever seen before: church-sponsored debtera cleanse places of their evil hauntings and their manifestations through use of silver amulets (the worst evil haunting is, of course, the Evil Eye). These amulets are created by sensing welded strokes and looping different colors of thread. It’s this magic system that immediately drew me in.

What kept me intrigued was the dialogue and Andromeda herself. Andi is an incredibly nuanced character, with her no-nonsense attitude, her own messiness when it comes to Magnus, and the fact she knows she’s being ridiculous. And even though I have some gripes with the relationship she has with her old guardian, Jember (I’ll get to that in a moment), most of the time Andi’s response to her past trauma and the way she decides to deal with it is incredibly realistic and evocative.

Jember was, and is, an abusive guardian. It’s a fact. There are a lot of scenes describing this abuse -- sometimes in great detail -- and even more in hints and mentions. Sometimes it’s incredibly overwhelming (I’m a survivor of child abuse and very sensitive to things like this, but I think this would be intense for anyone). Though Jember does apologize for his actions, it feels like Andi’s way too casual about the past and current abuse, and I didn’t appreciate the jokes made about it (“shouldn’t tell him about Jember choking me,” etc.). And the line, “Every girl wants to marry someone like their father” is like a slap, especially. No abuse victim wants to hear that said.

I also think Magnus gets off way too easy when it comes to what he keeps from Andromeda (this story’s version of Bertha). I just want him to acknowledge that he actually does something wrong! Andi is the one who is made to apologize and feel ashamed -- and only when there’s a threat of losing her does he feel any sort of repentance.

But overall I think these are the only two issues that come to mind (other than wishing there was more lore about the amulets!). Each character is vibrant and full of their own quirks and flaws and manner of behaving, and though this is a dialogue-heavy book, the dialogue sure makes it worth it. There are also scenes and lines written with such care they’ll stick with me for a long while (as I eagerly await Lauren Blackwood’s next novel).