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Fire Burn -Tales of Witchery
ISBN: 0872263215
207 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 11, 2024
Fire Burn by Ken Radford is a deliciously spooky, Autumnal read if you’ve been scouring for something for October 🎃
Salacious, superstitious gossip sent shivers through the wilds of England, Wales and Scotland during the seventeenth century. Images of meddling hags were burned into people’s skulls and countless men and women (predominantly poor women) needlessly died due to grave Witchcraft laws. Fire Burn was published in 1989, but resurrects old dwindling folk stories about women across a myriad of counties in England and the world. Incidents and characters plucked from the dusty archives. I’d never heard of half the stories Radford presents us, so this collection was really exciting.
I definitely found it chilling, and I think I even managed to scare myself one evening it’s that good!
Salacious, superstitious gossip sent shivers through the wilds of England, Wales and Scotland during the seventeenth century. Images of meddling hags were burned into people’s skulls and countless men and women (predominantly poor women) needlessly died due to grave Witchcraft laws. Fire Burn was published in 1989, but resurrects old dwindling folk stories about women across a myriad of counties in England and the world. Incidents and characters plucked from the dusty archives. I’d never heard of half the stories Radford presents us, so this collection was really exciting.
I definitely found it chilling, and I think I even managed to scare myself one evening it’s that good!
August 16, 2016
Might seem a little harsh, but overall I found this book lacking in substance, fairly repetitive and boring.
There's roughly 50 "tales of witchery" to be found here, each one averaging around a page and a half. Given the short format - alongside the age of most of the cases and the general disregard for silly things like "evidence" in cases of witchcraft - it's understandable that there isn't a lot of detail to be had; still, it could have used some improvements in that regard, and when I finished, I was left sitting with the book in my lap and eyebrow raised, asking "What, that's it?"
Add in that several of the stories seem to basically be the same story with the names shuffled around a bit, and it doesn't really feel like this was worth reading. And that's before you get to the ones that I'd read before in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark or in other (better) collections of paranormal blurbs.
It's not terribly written, and that's probably the best I can say for it; would give it a pass unless you're absolutely desperate for this sort of material.
There's roughly 50 "tales of witchery" to be found here, each one averaging around a page and a half. Given the short format - alongside the age of most of the cases and the general disregard for silly things like "evidence" in cases of witchcraft - it's understandable that there isn't a lot of detail to be had; still, it could have used some improvements in that regard, and when I finished, I was left sitting with the book in my lap and eyebrow raised, asking "What, that's it?"
Add in that several of the stories seem to basically be the same story with the names shuffled around a bit, and it doesn't really feel like this was worth reading. And that's before you get to the ones that I'd read before in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark or in other (better) collections of paranormal blurbs.
It's not terribly written, and that's probably the best I can say for it; would give it a pass unless you're absolutely desperate for this sort of material.
May 13, 2014
A decent collection of stories about witches mostly from Great Britain. Stories are based either on old stories and legends, or court records. I prefer his retellings from actual records than his versions of the legends; which seem to be geared for the young adult.
Many stories I liked involved familiars: demons in the form of animals that aid witches. This is a common feature of English witches. (Beware of Tibbs! the black cat)
Some wicked cool illustrations as well.
Many stories I liked involved familiars: demons in the form of animals that aid witches. This is a common feature of English witches. (Beware of Tibbs! the black cat)
Some wicked cool illustrations as well.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews