Book Review: Thirteen Hands by H. Dawn Hunter

Reviewed by Chelsey Tucker

A dark, dystopian tale of prejudice and genocide threaded with beautifully unexpected love stories

Frank Clemens is a marked man, meaning he is looked down upon by the normals of society. At seven years old, he was sent to the Institution where he was branded and tortured for something beyond his control: being a witchborn. They stripped him of any hope of using his blood-given gifts as well as his masculinity.

Even though those many years still haunt him and have shaped him into the nothing of a person he sees himself as, it is not the worst thing that has happened to him. He lost his sister and his niece to the wretched law of killing all female witchborns. After, he’s a wanted man for hiding his family and killing in their defense.

The tragedies that plagued Frank’s first few decades of life have shaped him into a man who cares little about what happens to him, including whether he lives or dies. That is, until he accepts a job offer from an assumed bounty hunter as extra security for one of the man’s targets.

As the weeks pass by, Frank grows close to this girl, something he never thought he would be able to do again. He is terrified by the thought of caring so deeply for someone else. However, this isn’t just some girl; she is a witchborn with a name known to almost everyone in the country: the unclaimed child of their one-handed treacherous, traitor of a president.

Twenty-five years ago, a group of seven young witchborn set off on a traditional yet unsanctioned pilgrimage “It’s the birthright of all witchborn to go on the pilgrimage of the Grand Ritual, and yet, for one reason or another, they were all denied the opportunity.” The rebellious actions to take what they saw as theirs turned into fatal foolishness very quickly. As a direct consequence to following their leader, Carran, in the Grand Ritual, five of them die.

However, Carran makes the choice to sacrifice his hand and resurrect his dead lover and his unborn child. After surviving that horrific day, Carran was so traumatized by his own mistakes that he influenced the insanity of a witchborn genocide.

Thirteen Hands is a powerful character-driven novel that holds many life lessons about love, grief, loss, fear, and hope. The exploration of emotions through each character helps assert that a balance of good and bad feelings shapes life’s experiences. “Sometimes, choosing goodness is the harder path. Sometimes having empathy forces you to confront the bad you may have done. … Choose goodness, and the guilt thins out. Be kind, and the shame gets lighter. Because everyone feels guilt and shame about something.” By exploring the humanity of our protagonists and the inhumanity of our antagonist, the author deftly shows the outcomes of sticking with integrity and avoiding hate.

The prologue is a bit drawn-out, which leads to some early concerns about whether or not the story will be long-winded. But the build-up and action provided propels the reader into a current story that’s as filled with emotional ties as we can ask for. A not so clear despair becomes clearer after better understanding the truth of what happened twenty-five years before.

There is a wonderful visual aspect to this book. Scattered throughout, sketches in an artful comic book style enhance the experience and provide a multifaceted view of these three-dimensional characters.

Thirteen Hands comes with some dark themes and necessary content warnings outlined at the beginning of the book. It fits best for mature audiences, ranging from late high school and up. Even though being witchborn is a main focus of the book, it is less about witchy, magical things and more about the emotional impacts of love versus hate, good versus evil, and right versus wrong. “Feeling deeply, empathizing, hurting — these aren’t bad things. Tears aren’t something to be ashamed of.”

This deeply impactful story is about seeing the value in exploring darkness and finding a way to appreciate hope in humanity.

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