Book Review: Kickshaw Candies, by R. K. Finnell

            After last week’s cover contest, I absolutely had to pick up Kickshaw Candies, by R. K. Finnell. Half faerie tale, half horror story, I couldn’t put the book down as I explored the small Irish town of Baile and watched what the mysterious candies of the title would do to its residents. Even as my roommate pulled out a box of chocolates and offered me one, I found myself staring suspiciously at her before coming to my senses. When twisted, supernatural punishments befall bad parents and little children find joy in every bite, this story glows. Unfortunately, when this story deviates from its strong point, it suffers.

According to the author, this animal is actually a stoat. 

           

            After a rather confusing prologue, we meet Teagan O’Brien, a charming, mysterious man who moves to Baile and opens a candy shop. Right away, it’s clear that there’s something different about the candies. The children in school learn faster. The village pub begins selling Kickshaw’s sugared peanuts. The local grocery throws away its candy stock. Fondant palm trees and edible teacups add a bright splash of color to the tale—as does Teagan himself. With the help of his pet stoat, he manages to bring a smile to the face of every child in town . . . save for poor five-year-old Liam Kavanaugh, whose health-obsessed mother, Molly, doesn’t let eat candy.  Liam is so distraught about his strict mother that he goes home and dreams about having sex with faeries—

            Wait. What did I just write?

            This story has a gift for turning from charming to creepy on a dime. We meet Osán Murphy, who owns the local pub, Martin O’Grady, the town drunk, Kelly Flannery, the local librarian, and a madwoman who coos over her daughter’s corpse in quick succession. As the story progresses, we watch individuals meet strange, gruesome fates. A woman is transformed into a monster. Young Liam discovers he has the ability to grant wishes. And in one amazing chapter, one of those wishes goes horribly wrong as a man makes a wish for eternal love. 

            The first half of the book is comprised of twisted faerie tales with a real human heart, and the mysterious Kickshaw candies are at the center of each tale. Teagan’s mysterious motive keeps the reader reading on. Part of you wants to know what’s going on, and part wants to enjoy the mystery just a little longer. The author does a great job of weaving different stories together. Characters move smoothly in and out of a narrative that really tells the story of a town.

           

            Unfortunately, the second half doesn’t seem to have the same magic. As the children of Baile grow up, the candy disappears from the scene and the story becomes one about fighting an evil faerie who wants to conquer the world. The down-to-earth characters gain fantastic powers and abilities, which is fine, but they seem to loose a lot of their personalities with it. The mood becomes decidedly fatalistic, and the lure dies down a little. The same element of twisted magic remains, and all the scattered plotlines are resolved, but the charm was gone. When the final battle began, I found myself not really caring whether the main characters lived or dies . . . especially because, well, the main characters themselves seemed pretty apathetic about them.

            High Points: The mystery. I really did want to find out who Teagan was and why he was in town. The pacing. The interlocking stories made the narrative hold together very well, and characters moved on and off stage with excellent timing. The creepiness. This story does creepy very, very well. Bean Sidhe, the stoat. This cute animal knows way more than she lets on.

           

            Low Points: The prologue. I didn’t think it was necessary, and the information in it could have easily been established in different ways. The character of Fáelán. Lots of potential here for an interesting character, but had no personality. The deviation of the second half. The story was much stronger in the beginning. The formatting. The paragraphs weren't indented correctly and the chapters weren't correctly page-broken.

            It’s not a day and night separation. The first half dragged at times, and there were one or two confusing moments. The second half had several powerful scenes, including a bloody sacrifice over a cauldron. Part of the issue was the way the main conflict wasn’t foreshadowed enough in the beginning, with a villain popping out of nowhere to resolve the story in a conventional way—which it really didn’t need, in my opinion.

Did I like this book? Yes. Would I read it again? Probably. Would I recommend it to people who like horror stories? Yes. It delivers all the thrills, scares, and disgust you’d want in a scary story, but it could have used more of a narrative push at the end. My rating? In the paranormal horror genre, I’ll give it four stars out of five. As a novel? Three.

--Liz Ellor, O43

You can download Kickshaw Candies here