Review: The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel by Alyssa Polombo
Katrina and Ichabod carry on with their secret love affair, sneaking off to their favorite spot in the woods to be together, always watching for the legendary Headless Horseman. Until the night of All Hallows Eve, when Ichabod suddenly disappears on his way home from the Van Tassel farm, leaving young Katrina to despair over his whereabouts.
After much time passes Katrina finds herself desperate to know the truth of what became of Ichabod Crane, and so she enlists the help of her dearest friend, Charlotte, who is also known to the village as a witch. Did Ichabod run off when faced with the unlikelihood of a marriage between himself and Katrina, or has the legendary Headless Horseman struck again? When Katrina finally learns the truth, through unconventional and magical means, she is shocked by it and wonders if some truths are better not known at all.
I am very fond of retellings and I especially loved this one. I loved the magical and gothic atmosphere and I also loved the feminists take on one of the most beloved old tales of all time. Katrina is a very strong character in this book who is not easily cowed by the men in her life, which is so often the case in this time period. She is determined to have what she wants, even if it means sacrificing her way of life, and possibly, her family. Ichabod is very noble and courageous, but he is portrayed with faults as well which warmed me to him even more. The friendship between Charlotte and Katrina plays a very large part in this retelling and I absolutely loved everything about it. These women hold each other up and would do just about anything for the other and yet they are not immune to the little annoyances and arguments you see in relationships between women, which I really appreciated.
My only criticism is that during the last third of the book the pace of the storytelling slowed considerably. That is not to say that I didn’t enjoy this portion of the book, because I did, I just wasn’t compelled to read it as obsessively as I did the first two thirds. During this time we are given many details about Katrina’s daily life and benign bits and pieces here and there as to the other characters. I believe in the end it was necessary to get a glimpse of this so that we could properly appreciate the changes that Katrina has to go through in order to finally know the truth and so we can kind of decide whether the truth was worth the enormous sacrifices made in order to learn it.
I sincerely loved this book and will definitely be getting a finished copy when it releases on 10/2/18. Alyssa Polombo is a very gifted storyteller and so if you love the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, retellings, or historical fiction I strongly encourage you to pick this up. You will NOT be disappointed!!
