The Witch's Boy/Michael Gruber

The Witch's Boy, by Michael Gruber; young adult, fantasy; 400 pages (about 7 hours, listening)

Horrible people doing horrible things to other horrible people: that's pretty much the content of this book. The main character is cruel and terrible, and manages to harm anyone who has ever cared about him. There's some attempt at redemption at the end, but it's too little too late. If I had to pick I high point of this book, it would be the retellings of classic fairy tales, often with the witch or wolf as the hero instead of the villain. Still, even that wasn't enough to make this book bearable. Not something I'm going to be revisiting. Also, avoid the audiobook: the narration is good, but somehow, having someone read the terrible things aloud just makes them worse.