Caren Gussoff Sumption Reviews Knife Witch by Susan diRende
Knife Witch, Susan diRende (Aqueduct Press 978-1-61976-238-1, $18.00, 252 pp, tp), May 2023.
When K– (I won’t spoil the satisfying reveal of her true name) is faced with a horde of marauding, seafaring invaders, the kitchen girl’s infallible luck takes over. Instead of cowering, she, quite accidentally, stabs one of the leaders through the heart with a filet knife. This earns her an abduction by the inavders as a valuable, powerful witch – a role treasured by the men on the ship and worth quite a bit of money in their homeland. Not that K– is particularly unhappy by the prospect: the spirited narrator of Susan diRende’s Knife Witch was unappreciated – reviled, even – by her family and village. So, the newly minted ‘‘Knife Witch’’ is fine with this unexpected journey, new nickname, and, apparently, her unrealized magic powers (that she’d previously dismissed as luck).
Quickly, the Knife Witch collects an impressive number of blades and a better sense of her magical talents (which involve compulsive itches as a divination tool, and, indeed, a preternatural control of cutlery). As she learns she is to be taken to ‘‘The Nine,’’ a group of powerful magicians who rule the pirate warriors’ homeland, she grows to like, even grow fond of the Zedezhik crew she’s thrown in with – as well as their charismatic captain, Volzh (who doesn’t lose any charm, even as his offers for ‘‘sexing’’ are comically peppered throughout). Along with plunder, the witch and the pirates also acquire a young girl, Marhai, freeing her from her abusive family and indifferent village (like the Knife Witch). Again, like the Knife Witch, Marhai seems to have some magical abilities inherited from her birth mother, who created the charmed pottery Marhai brings on board as her only possessions (besides her beloved dog, appropriately named Raider).
Soon, though, shenanigans ensue. Turns out, of course, that there is a complicated plot against the men and witches aboard Volzh’s ship, a volcano about to erupt and destroy their island home, and a telepathic Kraken who won’t quit proposing marriage to the Knife Witch. To save her adopted family and culture, the Knife Witch and her shipmates must swashbuckle, disguise themselves, and plot foil their way through The Nine, all the way to the emperor himself. Along the way, she cracks a lot of jokes, ruffles proverbial feathers, meets some gods, but also, willingly (potentially) sacrifices her future by agreeing to marry and mate with the amorous Kraken.
Knife Witch is great fun. It’s raucous and episodic and moves quickly. Pure entertainment. The characters are distinctive and absurd, but likable. Villains are perfectly off-putting and distasteful. There’s a touch of empowerment – this is a book from Aqueduct Press, after all. But it is, and stays, light; never straying into the overly didactic or even the particularly sentimental. The prose is simple. Style and panache come through internal and external dialogue. In fact, it’s never entirely clear whether the book could fall under the YA umbrella. The language feels that accessible, but the situations are decidedly adult.
Author diRende doesn’t hide her love of classic pirate and early 20th century adventure pulps, mixing it all with heavy doses of Viking cliche and the prophecy tropes of epic fantasy. She also adds in quite a bit of Roman, Greek, and Celtic mythology. It’s a beach read for all us geeks who grew up with a copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology in one hand and a Terry Pratchett novel in the other, with a History Channel documentary on Blackbeard or the PBS’s Power of Myth playing in the background, for company.
In fact, this reader would go as far as to assert that Knife Witch is the book for all the readers who felt unseen as they tore their way through Treasure Island, or any of those books, full of adventure and excitement, but which felt squarely tailored for the cis-boys. It’s too clever and too exciting for that (although I fear that having a girl as a narrator, and that it comes from the most venerable SF/F feminist press, will make it less likely to be read by men, an unfortunate miss for those who pass on it). However, the quirky Knife Witch’s fierce independence, her voice, and her responses to the world and the various complications she encounters, is, indeed, a decidedly feminine one. She notices and comments on the various dangers, as well as the unfairly gendered customs and expectations she faces as a person who is a woman. Small touches that would be ignored by men – such as climbing a ladder, in a skirt, before a male crewmember – are brought up with honesty and immediacy, and feels, very much, like representation.
Caren Gussoff Sumption is a writer, editor, Tarot reader, and reseller living outside Seattle, WA with her husband, the artist and data scientist, Chris Sumption, and their ridiculously spoiled cat-children.
Born in New York, she attended the University of Colorado, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Clarion West (as the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia Butler scholar) and the Launchpad Astronomy Workshop. Caren is also a Hedgebrook alum (2010, 2016). She started writing fiction and teaching professionally in 2000, with the publication of her first novel, Homecoming.
Caren is a big, fat feminist killjoy of Jewish and Romany heritages. She loves serial commas, quadruple espressos, knitting, the new golden age of television, and over-analyzing things. Her turn offs include ear infections, black mold, and raisins in oatmeal cookies.
This review and more like it in the October 2023 issue of Locus.
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