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by Melinda Salisbury
A girl hated by her town for her father's crimes must decide whether to save it or burn it all down when a dying god in the woods warns her of an impending catastrophe in this "socially conscious and serpentine mystery topped with spine-tingling supernatural imagery" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
When a bone-white crow lands in Sylvie Singer's backyard, she knows trouble is coming. And after an FBI raid reveals her father's double life, Sylvie's entire world comes crashing around her. With nowhere to go but the abandoned railway station in the cursed West Woods, Sylvie spends her time avoiding the carnivorous white deer that live there, counting down the days until she can graduate from high school and finally leave the town that's openly out for her blood. Then Sylvie encounters a different sort of monster.
Illican is a horned god bound to the West Woods, even more wretched than she is. Sylvie is drawn to Illican, excited that he can introduce her to magic that could save her town—save her. But Illican is dying, and the last thing Pine Ridge Hollow wants is help from Sylvie Singer…
The town is a tinderbox, and Sylvie is the spark that will either save it or burn it all down.
"Salisbury injects unique twists into common folk horror tropes around small-town politics to deliver an evocative paranormal thriller ... Astute examinations of privilege, accountability, and the danger of conformity render Sylvie's attempts at redemption—and the townspeople's scapegoating of the teen in her father's place—with piercing complexity. It all coalesces into a socially conscious and serpentine mystery topped with spine-tingling supernatural imagery." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A highly suspenseful, darkly romantic exploration of redemption, hope, and belonging." —Kirkus Reviews
"I burned through this tale of old magic, lush and glorious revenge, and an underestimated girl who has to lose everything in order to figure out who—and what—she really is. A brilliant addition to the canon of tales set in the wild woods." —Melissa Albert, author of The Hazel Wood
"Haunting and unputdownable, Local Gods had me entranced. It will make you fear and revere the forest and want to kiss a woodland god as you're sucked into the mysteries of this twisted small town. Be prepared to fall in love, to rage, to be consumed." —CG Drews, author of Don't Let the Forest In
This information about Local Gods was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Melinda Salisbury is the author of The Sin Eater's Daughter and several other novels that have been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Edgar Award, and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, among others. Her work has been published in over fifteen countries. Melinda also works as a writing mentor and volunteers at her local independent cinema.
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