BOOK REVIEW: THE OCCULTISTS BY POLLY SCHATTEL

The secretive nature of the groups involved put a few roadblocks in Max’s story, and when certain aspects are explored in more detail, it really does become a grip-you-by-your-throat page turner.

Max has a plan, to get out of his home and away from his bully of a stepfather, hopefully taking his mother with him, too. Getting a job with the local Postmaster, Max puts his plan into motion, but his ideas are shattered when he discovers a strange world of occultism and seances. Max is drawn deeper into a strange, secretive world, where things aren’t quite what they seem.


Polly Schattel’s The Occultists gives us a rich, fully realized ‘other world’, alongside the more realistic Edwardian world the book is set in. Taking place in various settings – rural, urban, remote - each new setting shows how Schattel really has done her research. It’s easy to get lost in the various places, and there were points where the book did read as if it had been penned in the early twentieth century.


There’s a vast cast of characters who we meet through Max’s eyes. Unfortunately, there are almost too many characters, appearing and disappearing relatively quickly. At times it does get a little difficult to follow who is who and what their role might be, but the key players throughout do stand out.


It’s a long book, and there are lengthy periods when nothing significant really happens. In some instances, ideas are picked up but not explored, with threads left dangling throughout and never really coming into play. A few characters feel a touch too forced, and there are places where things are slow and feel a little bit muddled. The otherworldly aspect did feel like it could be explored a little more, as we’re introduced to some ‘creatures’ from the other side, but again, this is never gone into like it could have.


However, when things do pick up the pace, The Occultists really hits its stride, drawing us into Max’s journey. I really did like the worldbuilding, and getting lost in the story, wrapped up by the detail in the setting. The secretive nature of the groups involved put a few roadblocks in Max’s story, and when certain aspects are explored in more detail, it really does become a grip-you-by-your-throat page turner.


It’s a lengthy book, but worth dedicating your time to it. Schattel is a really talented writer and the book had great characters, wonderful historical settings, and a really intriguing plot, keeping the reader hooked even through the slow parts of the novel.

Sssshhhhhhhh...

For Edwardian-era spiritualists and illusionists, silence is more than a strategy; it's a way of life. And when Max Grahame, a bullied, small-town teen, discovers a secretive world of occultism and séances right under his nose, he can hardly contain his excitement.

But as Max begins his conjurer's lessons in earnest, his newfound knowledge exposes the group's dark and deeply sinister designs, leading a game of supernatural cat and mouse that takes him from the ancient hills of rural Georgia and the mystic plains of the Midwest to fin-de-siècle Manhattan...and beyond. 


Impeccably researched and wildly imaginative, The Occultists is a darkly riveting historical fantasy in which magic is terrifying, and annihilation is closer than anyone could ever imagine.

"An Edwardian tapestry of ceaseless occult war and world-wide political struggle ... Schattel surprises by skillfully reanimating old tropes as she explores dreadful personal loss, unexpected betrayal, and dogged persistence. With its memorable monstrosities--both human and other--its conflicted protagonist, and a plot full of twists, The Occultists is a fascinating tale of both the esoteric and the mundane." -- John Linwood Grant, author of The Assassin's Coin and A Persistence of Geraniums.

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​Elle Turpitt is a writer, reviewer and editor currently living in Cardiff, Wales. She has had various short stories published, and is currently Content & Features Editor for divinationhollow.com. She also blogs at elleturpitt.com and can be found on Twitter  @elleturpitt.

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