We Ride Upon Sticks' is this wild, nostalgic trip about a 1980s girls' field hockey team in Danvers, Massachusetts, who make a pact with dark forces (via a cursed notebook) to win their season. It’s like 'The Craft' meets '
Friday Night Lights,' but with way more hairspray and neon scrunchies. The team’s
Desperation for victory leads them to dabble in pseudo-witchcraft, and the book balances hilarity with surprisingly deep moments about teamwork,
identity, and the chaos of adolescence. The narrator is this collective 'we,' which gives it this quirky, communal vibe—like you’re eavesdropping on team gossip.
What really hooked me was how it blends supernatural silliness with heartfelt nostalgia. The author, Quan Barry, nails the over-the-top '80s aesthetic without reducing it to a parody. There’s a scene where they literally summon Emilio Estevez as a spiritual guide, and it’s both absurd and weirdly poetic. Underneath all the witchcraft shenanigans, though, it’s a story about outcasts finding power in each other. I finished it with this weird urge to dig out my old mixtapes and maybe, just maybe,
sign up for a rec league.