Over My Dead Body

It is a few days before Samhain, the biggest event of the year at the Younwity Hidden Institute of Witchcraft, when Noreen, a Fledgling student, goes missing in the woods surrounding the school. When Abigail, a Senior and Noreen’s mentor, discovers her disappearance, she vows to find Noreen despite the rumors of a demon in the woods and the knowledge that generations ago another student, Karla, disappeared into the woods and was never seen again. With the help of her familiar and her friends, Abigail sets out to find the truth about what happened to Noreen, and, along the way, she may just solve the mystery of what happened to Karla years ago.

Part fantasy and part horror, Over my Dead Body, makes for an enjoyable read. The characters tend to fit into typical tropes, but, by the end of the story, many of these tropes have been upended. The text and illustrations work well together; Sweeney Boo uses the illustrations to create a creepy, suspenseful atmosphere and effectively uses them to convey clues to the mystery to the reader. Many elements of this story are familiar, from students studying witchcraft to forbidden woods, but the engaging storytelling and the moody and evocative illustrations make the story feel fresh. While the story has elements of horror, it is not overly scary, and the horror elements should not deter readers otherwise interested in the themes of the novel.

The author manages to build a world of witches that feels much bigger than the elements touched on in the story, itself, leaving the reader with the sense that there is a lot more to know about Younwity Hidden Institute and the larger world in which it exists. While this makes the story feel grounded and real, it also leaves the impression that some elements of the story could do with more detail. The conclusion felt rushed, and, even once the mystery is solved, it’s not completely clear what motivated the initial act in the past that set up the mystery.

Over my Dead Body is a great spooky read that will please fans of horror and witches alike.