Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett (review)

Ash is certain her missing mother has returned to Quivira, Kansas, the home of the spiritual cult she grew up in and eventually escaped. Ash and her twin brother Rhys ditch their New York apartment and road trip it to Quivira. Though their mother isn’t there, Ash and Rhys are welcomed by the residents of Quivira as family, and they allow themselves to be drawn into the group’s preparations for an upcoming ritual in order to find out more information about their mother. Meanwhile Ash’s visions of a hanging dead girl become increasingly intense, and her attraction to one of the Quivira boys—forbidden by Quivira customs—eventually leads to her discovery of the tragic tale of love and revenge that haunts Quivira. Plot twists and turns are revealed through Ash’s visions, allowing readers to piece together the bizarre and horrific history of the cult, which includes the explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, carnivorous corn, heartbreak and bloodshed, along with a whole lot of black magic. The character of narrator Ash is too often inconsistent, though, since her immediate and warm embrace of the cult clashes with her suspicions they may have hurt her mother, and her focus on her romance with Dane, the Quivira boy, often eclipses her worries about her and her brother’s safety; additionally, her sarcasm and humor are often forced. Nonetheless, the unspooling of Quivira’s fascinating backstory may spur readers forward, and complexities introduced at the end could keep them around for the hinted-at sequel.