The Factory Witches of Lowell

Edited February 2024
Nope, still not done with this because another book I was reading capitalized ‘Black' which reminded me of the hue and cry this book received for capitalizing ‘White' and seeing an odd choice a second time so closely together made me do a quick google search which netted this quote direct from the American Psychological Association in an article on Racial and Ethnic Identity.

When you are writing, you need to follow general principles to ensure that your language is free of bias. Here we provide guidelines for talking about racial and ethnic identity with inclusivity and respect.

Further down the article, the pertinent quote is thus:

Racial and ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and are capitalized. Therefore, use “Black” and “White” instead of “black” and “white” (do not use colors to refer to other human groups; doing so is considered pejorative).

So... ... Yeah. I thought the choice was a little odd because I had never seen it before. Turns out, the author made the right choice. That is, being respectful and free of bias in this instance.

(If you want to read the whole article, you can find it here. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/racial-ethnic-minorities)



edited to add:
After reading some of the low reviews, I have to ask: am I oblivious? I mean, I don't pick up on a lot of racist and sometimes sexist issues that other people do - and the things that do bother me often doesn't bother anyone else. I don't know what to think about this situation that I now find myself in because, yes, there were some uncomfortable moments in this book - but as someone that has read a lot of books about literal demons, I didn't view this quite the same way as ‘slaves are now soulless' as other people had that as the takeaway.

I'm not saying my impression is right and theirs is wrong - I'm just trying to wrap my head around my feelings towards this book - and the things that, yes, did make me uncomfortable (like everyone's propensity for violence) but that were not mentioned in favor of things that I didn't even see. I don't know. I feel like I need to sit on this rating and review as well as reread this book to see if I can see what other people have. None of which I will do, to be fair.

I don't know, but this book and others reviews has given me food for thought - even if that wasn't the purpose.

Original, first impression review below.


Edited once more to add:
Upon more thought, and thinking about my impressions as I was reading, I viewed the scene with the demon feeding on the slave at auction as the demon being a manifestation of the slave's hopelessness. I didn't really view it as an actual demon - though there are questions I have about the word choice here and other places. Also, if they really are demons, why would a succubi be feeding on cattle? I mean, really. I don't know if this was how it was meant to be taken, but that was how I saw it.

The other scenes that were brought up by other reviewers... When it was said that that's why the slaves don't hex the whites (yes, whites was capitalized, which I admit I did not notice and is an odd choice, but at the same time I'm not sure I would have more than a raised eyebrow as someone that finds a lot of books capitalize other races, but not humans) I took that to be more because they do not own the cotton, not that they do not own themselves.

Finally, the whole ‘subjugated' and including slaves and livestock... I mean, yes, that's a poor choice of wording and everything. I don't disagree. But...I don't really know how to take it, because that is the kind of thoughts that a white girl from that era could totally possibly have. I'm not trying to say that makes it okay. Because it obviously doesn't. And yet, at the same time, I disagree with whitewashing parts of history because we know better now.

I do not know if it was the author's intent - and I do not know if author intent actually counts for anything once the book is released to the wild - but I have been given much food for thought from this short little tale.

I am not going to change my rating or my original review - and in truth, I'll probably have no idea why this review has so many edits when I do my year end surveys and wrap-up for my blog - because it was my first impression thoughts.

Original review to follow.


Edited one final time (hopefully) to add:
After sleeping on it, I have decided to do something I have never done before: drop the rating of this book. So, I still don't see the same problems others do - but that anyone saw it like that is a problem. One that I maybe don't understand as well as those that saw it, but that I do agree that is a problem.

So...

Also, though, some of this is on me. Completely. Because I have not had a good year so far with books. I've only read two and one was a two star and I've already had two DNF's this year. I was trying so hard to make this a good book for me that I ignored things that did bother me somewhat - and there's no reason to think that I didn't ignore - or explain away - the problems that other people did see.

My issues with this book was 1: the level of violence and/or violent thoughts. There were at least two instances that the POV character wanted to severely hurt another, and once instance where our de facto hero slaps another girl that part of her ‘union' and, ostensibly one of her friends. The other girl apologizes for what she said that ‘caused' the slap. Our hero does not apologize for slapping her.

And, 2: the magic. Look, this wasn't a group of witches banding together to stick it to the man. This was one magic girl creating a spell that a non-magic girl could cast on all of them to make them loyal. It wasn't ‘look what us women can do' so much as it was ‘us women can't be trusted without magic forcing us'. And the penalty of wanting to break the magic binding is getting your hair magically picked out of your scalp.

Look, both these things made me uncomfortable when I read them, but I refused to see them as problematic because I wanted a good book (also, likely, because I read this all in one day without, really, giving myself time to think about it) - but they are problematic, at least for me.

Now, after more attention than this short book probably ever thought it would get, and a close examination of myself, I am ready to put this book fully behind me.

Original, now defunct, review below.



I love high fantasy books, but for me there's just always something unexpectedly fun about magic where you least expect it - like in a cotton mill where girls decided to use magic to unionize for 1: no increase of boardinghouse cost without relevant increase in pay; 2: limited working hours to only 10 per 24 hours; 3: safe and proper ventilation; and 4: women getting equal wages to men.

Over all, I thought this book was fun and sweet and the weakest link was actually the romance. I wouldn't mind if it had been longer and I can definitely see a sequel as being worthwhile. (I think I'm a little in love with Lydia, honestly.)