Well Witched (review)

Ryan, Josh, and Chelle have no idea of the dire consequences that will result from taking a few moldering coins out of an old well in a seedy English village; they just need bus fare. Soon, though, they find that they're in thrall to the grotesque spirit of the well and cursed to fulfill the wishes linked to the coins they stole. They are each given different gifts to accomplish their task: Chelle channels the thoughts of the wishers, Josh can manipulate metals and harness electrical forces, and Ryan receives warts on his hand that open into eyes that enable him to see beyond present reality. At first, their position as wish-granters has a certain appeal, but soon Ryan and Chelle discover that beneath every spoken wish lies a deeper and usually darker unspoken one, and the consequences of their manipulations become increasingly disturbing. Josh figures this out too, but he is intoxicated with the wicked power he wields, so while Chelle and Ryan attempt to pull back from the witch's power, Josh seeks to accrue more. A serious creep factor attends this richly allusive tale; tendrils of ancient myths and stories recall the malevolent mythic creatures that dwell in the waters of the British Isles, the grisly horrors of chapbook baddies, The Tempest, Children of Green Knowe, and other wispy scraps of half-remembered legends that have haunted the dreams of readers throughout the centuries. The use of shopping carts as the well-witch's minions, spying on the children and herding them in directions she wants them to go, introduces an uncanny banality to the ancient evil that threatens to destroy them and brings a deliciously unsettling immediacy to the horror elements in the text. Hardinge's keen sense of metaphor and exquisite prose create an immersive tonal experience that perfectly complements her water-whelmed plot; this is definitely one to read with the lights on.