fascinating and brilliant

pros:
- loved the inconclusive on the weird and strange magic as the focus with Letty and the Hempstokes
- and very creepy thoughts from boy's perspective, really convincingly done, about Ursula and his father and it following him from elsewhere in his foot
- very original and gripping and disturbing
- mostly convincingly told from a child's POV, with some great detail and storytelling
- enjoyed the ending too and the lyrical writing
- boy was also very likeable - he made mistakes but he was fundamentally good and loyal and had some backbone while still being emotional and a child

cons:
- some phrases felt unoriginal, like 'something was whimpering, I realised it was me' etc. 
- shame the only black character had a negative portrayal and unhappy ending, and seemed disrespectful in a manner to use a real life incident as inspiration for this, wasn't sure that sat right with me

overall, exactly the type of weird-bizarre magic I love and very good storytelling