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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In C. L. Schneider’s Rise, Esilda lives in seventeenth-century Encastle, where suspicion of witchcraft turns deadly after her secret relationship with Marion, a woman born with magical power, is exposed. When Esilda is executed, Marion devotes her life to finding a way to bring her back, eventually using necromancy that changes far more than one life. Centuries later, Marion’s descendant Charlotte accidentally releases the force created by that resurrection after her younger sister is murdered, giving Esilda a new path into the modern world. As women begin summoning Esilda to punish those who have wronged them, Charlotte realizes her family’s past has become a danger she may be responsible for ending, while the consequences of Marion’s original spell continue reaching into another generation far beyond her control.
C. L. Schneider’s Rise takes its title from Esilda’s supernatural return, yet the idea reaches further through the women who inherit what follows, so every supernatural act has a signature. Rose proves the point through intelligence rooted in years of studying family journals, which gives her decision to summon ancestor Astrid for answers a foundation. Schneider extends that approach to Marion, whose ingenuity appears when she splits a lantern flame into false trails before borrowing a hawk’s sight to watch distant roads. With Esilda, Schneider turns to menace, shown when she appears behind Jimmy Powell before turning pavement molten beneath him. That imagination includes physical descriptions, like a cathedral where stained glass rises above underground passages leading toward relics, and forest wardings that redirect intruders before enchanted rope tightens under instruction. Readers drawn to multigenerational paranormal fiction centered on witchcraft should seek out Rise. Very highly recommended.
