"Hundreds of years I have lain here and heard you chatter; you humans like so much to talk, from the moment you are born until you die you are engaged in babble. All that is around us will someday fall. Some of it sooner than you think." [74]
"No one wants to eat me, but here I am for consuming. I was made a delicacy of shadows. Give to me not what you give me: eyes, attention, thoughts. I will have meat, human blood, a field of skin. The warmth that belongs to the firstborn under the willing arm, insufferable softness." [126]
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The Wax Child (2023) by Olga Raven. Translated (2025) by Martin Aitken. This is the novel equivalent of the cinematic black metal of Agalloch. The conceit is that it's narrated by a wax doll created by one of the main characters, Christenze, who will soon be accused of witchcraft in 1620s Denmark. Strangely enough, all of the above works perfectly. I was enthralled from the beginning, and, had I not been sick, would have finished this in one sitting. It's a fever dream of a novel that is evocative, haunting, and an unfortunate story. (But the wax child makes it sing!) There is a lyricism in the prose, and the author weaves in texts from historical documents in a like manner. I highly recommend it.
Borrowed from the Pierce County Library System.
The Wax Child (2023) by Olga Raven. Translated (2025) by Martin Aitken. This is the novel equivalent of the cinematic black metal of Agalloch. The conceit is that it's narrated by a wax doll created by one of the main characters, Christenze, who will soon be accused of witchcraft in 1620s Denmark. Strangely enough, all of the above works perfectly. I was enthralled from the beginning, and, had I not been sick, would have finished this in one sitting. It's a fever dream of a novel that is evocative, haunting, and an unfortunate story. (But the wax child makes it sing!) There is a lyricism in the prose, and the author weaves in texts from historical documents in a like manner. I highly recommend it.
Borrowed from the Pierce County Library System.
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