The Near Witch
by Victoria Schwab (Hyperion Books, 2011) [republished as by V.E. Schwab]; audiobook read by Heather Wilds (Blackstone, 2019)
![Book cover: “The Near Witch” by Victoria Schwab (Hyperion Books, 2011) [republished as by V.E. Schwab]; audiobook read by Heather Wilds (Blackstone, 2019)](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Schwab_Near-Witch.jpg)
A claustrophobic fantasy that paints the evils of superstitious fear (and a pig-headed patriarchy) but which makes a protracted novel out of what should have been a novelette—and then omits the more interesting of the final confrontations. Narrated with bizarre emphases.