The Faustian Pact in Gothic Fantasy | Reap and Sow by Charlotte B. Plumb
The penniless in Blackbridge only have two choices: sell your body, or sell your soul. And thanks to Eda Shaw, business is booming.
Indentured to a capricious demon, Mr Night, Eda and her brothers arrange illicit Pacts on his behalf, luring the city's most desperate into trading years of their lives for their deepest desires.
When a Pact goes awry, her brothers are arrested, and Eda quickly realises she'll need an infernal ally of her own: Kit'rath, a demon with a curious penchant for humanity, and the only being in Blackbridge Mr Night seems to fear.
But Kit's help doesn't come cheap. Eda's already given him her soul; she can't afford to give him her heart.
Reap and Sow is the first in a brand new gothic fantasy duology by debut author Charlotte B. Plumb.
The story of determined and stubborn Eda Shaw, the youngest orphaned child of a family placed in an awkward and dangerous situation by their grief-ridden father…a bargain with a demon that had his children paying for his mistakes!
The setting for the novel, the almost Dickensian Blackbridge where magic and demons are banned, and the discovery of either could lead to death, is atmospheric, dark, almost sinister and definitely somewhere you wouldn’t go out after dark if you had any choice.
Eda, being the girl she is, decides that she knows better than to heed the advice of her two other brothers and takes it upon herself to finally rid the family of their father’s curse. Unfortunately, she misjudges the situation and ends up making things so much worse. With both her brothers arrested by the guards and awaiting trial at the hands of a power-hungry cleric (a possible death sentence in their future), and the mirror that their demon, Mr Night (a demon they still owe years to), in the hands of said cleric, Eda is in an untenable situation.
Feeling trapped by circumstance, she seeks out another demon, risking life and limb, and then bargaining away years that she perhaps can ill afford in an effort to affirm her brothers’ freedom.
However, this is not where Reap and Sow ends! This is just the beginning. There are corrupt clerics, powerful witches, an imp who reminds me of Hoggle from Labyrinth, and the demon we all probably wouldn’t mind finding in our mirror - Kit’rath.
I don’t want to give anything away, a lot happens in this book, and I couldn’t put it down. If you love gothic fantasy, enjoy atmospheric tales and stubborn, strong female characters as well as enigmatic male protagonists, then Reap and Sow, the first in a duology, is definitely a book you’ll want to pick up.
