The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Season of the Witch by Sarah Rees Brennan
We can’t talk about a novelized prequel to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina without first talking about the show. If you haven’t watched it yet, go ahead and turn on Netflix to binge every available episode. I’ll happily wait while you introduce yourself to the dark, beautiful, and creepy series that bears pretty much no resemblance to its 90’s-00’s cousin.
Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is everything a fan of all things witchy would want in a YA TV series. It presents Sabrina’s abilities as being based in witch lore—a bloodline starting with Satan himself—and not just a cutesy inherited way to get oneself into and out of hi-jinks. The show doesn’t stray entirely too far from things you can see in every teen-focused show—there’s love found and lost, there’s trouble with friendships and family, and there’s the eternal search for identity in all of it (themes not absent from “adult” skewed media, but I digress).
But, while Chilling Adventures keeps some soapy elements, they are always tinged with a darkness and seriousness that makes the show enjoyable to all those looking for another creepy thing to watch, regardless of their age. Imagine the quippy-ness, relationship dynamics, and monster of the week with underlying big bad formula of Buffy, mixed with the ritual elements of The Craft, and some added stylistic touches of 1950’s monster movies. The show blends horror, mystery, and romance with dashes of humor and a dose of woke-ness when it comes to issues like feminism, gender norms, and even modern family dynamics. All of that supported by beautiful styling (hello, the most gorgeous sets ever), nods to classic horror films and books (drop me off at Cerberus Books for some horror/occult paraphernalia and a malt, and I’ll just live there), and a suitably spooky soundtrack (listen to a compiled playlist here) makes the show a real treat to watch.
Sarah Rees Brennan’s tie-in prequel to the show titled Season of the Witch does well as a companion piece to the show. The book takes place during the summer before Sabrina’s sixteenth birthday (when she’s supposed to sign her soul over to Satan, in case you missed it during your quick binge of the series I recommended). I read the book after watching season one but before watching season two, and the book gives readers insight to certain characters and even items that you see in the show. Those things were fun to notice once I picked up with season two. I also liked that it gave lots of time to side characters like Roz, Susie, and Ambrose—each of these characters get a significant amount of screen-time and their own story-lines in the show. The dynamics of Sabrina rely heavily on her relationships with her friends and family, so I was happy to see that carried over into the book.
Set details from Sabrina’s bedroom—girlfriend has horror credentials.
While it had all the familiar characters and relationships, it seemed to skew everything a little younger than the show seems to. Everything seemed just a little bit…simpler. And maybe that was to try to play up the lighter nature of how things were before the dark events of the series unfolded. But, I think the series’ strong suit is how dark it’s willing to go even though its characters are so young. It doesn’t seem to pander to its intended demographic, and it doesn’t give its teen characters very many breaks. Whether its fighting against a very real evil like bullying or fighting an element of the paranormal, the streaming series respects its teen characters enough to show them dealing with and surviving among evil in a believable way. Dealing with the book’s almost cutely sinister plans of a malicious wood spirit kind of seems quaint in comparison to fighting for control of your soul against Satan while trying not to lose those you love.
Brennan has written many supernatural YA books, and I would say this is a decent entry into that category. The book leans too heavily into the “typical” teen traps of YA and too far from the scares for my current taste, and I wouldn’t consider it a must-read for horror fans. Sabrina seemed way too caught up in wondering whether Harvey loves her, so much so it seemed like she missed obvious signs of trouble—I kept wanting to tell her “Quit stressing over Harvey and dig some more into that clearly evil thing!”. A Sabrina dangerously blinded by needing love confirmed is unlike the almost too-serious Sabrina of the series.
In the series, love must take a backseat to Sabrina’s attempts to manage her two worlds (especially her dealings with the evil aspects) for her to keep any kind of love in whatever way she can manage. I think Brennan tried to give us complex relationships that are deeper than the stereotype, however, she just didn’t quite capture the same emotional depth as the series.
Season of the Witch is a nice surface-level backstory for fans of the show to pick up if they’d like to learn a little more about the world of Sabrina Spellman. I love the show so much I’ll support it in all its media forms (seriously, someone open an actual Cerberus Books location). But, I’m hoping that if they continue to make tie-in novels the stories stretch more towards the darkness and complexity of the show and away from the trappings of cliché YA.
