The black witch

I'm still in writer/editor mode but I hate the first sentence and I heard my critique partner just tearing it apart if I had written it "The woods are beautiful."

The prologue gives the reader the engaging "why?" Why did her uncle make the forest hate her? And what is going to happen because of it?

As I read, I'm going to think about something I read on Twitter recently. Adults can still read and love YA, but at some point, we have to stop reading and reviewing it as if it is written for us.

There are many tropes in this story. I probably would have enjoyed it at the right age, and I don't think I'm the right age or target audience. The Wand of Myth somehow combines HP with LoTR, only so far with a 17-year old heroine rather than a hero. The writing itself reminds me of Ever the Brave and would appeal to those who like that story.

The Selkie introduced the religion of the world, or at least of this race, and it's clear that it is a bad thing. It's a bit heavy-handed. But, I wonder if I were a young girl in a religion that had similar beliefs if it would come across as more believable. Unfortunately, I think those girls would not be allowed to read something called The Black Witch with religious overtones as presented. Now the entwining of religion and politics is interesting. The allegory to our current governments is more subtle, possibly unintended. There are a lot of Messages in this story.

It seemed to me Forest was preparing readers for GRRM's long meal descriptions. There's a strange disparity to the way she's made her gender dynamic. I had a bit of spoilers as to what was going on, but it was still hard to get a handle on. Aunt Vyvian and the four teenage girls discuss boys and handfasting has though boys were objects to be obtained, yet clearly girls being handfasted and assigned to a single boy somewhere between the ages of 13 and 19 was exploiting the girls.

There are things I understand and things I do not understand within this book. First, she needed slightly better critique partners or editors because some things are in an order that leave me as a reader wondering why it was mentioned for this one short chapter and never before or after. Like pinching shoes. The shoes should've pinched from the start, right? Another thing I do not understand is how everybody knows everybody, except Ellenor doesn't know anybody. In some ways, it makes sense if this country is like North Dakota where the population is small enough and nosy enough that they had enough contact tracers for covid-19 outbreaks - because everybody already knows who was with who, when, and how long. (This is a joke from a former resident of ND.) But, Forest seemed to be writing a big world - with five distinct races. Though obviously her geography is not big. These are the things I don't understand. Her populations and their personal knowledge of each other combined with the geography stretch the limits of my disbelief.

When Lukas Grey is introduced, he seems too good to be true, but then he takes her off to a deserted hallway to kiss her without proper consent. Maybe I'm just tired of stories for young adult where consent is so poorly presented. The MC finds no harm with this, but that doesn't make it okay.

Knowing that there was some controversy about this book when I picked it up, but having avoided reading what exactly the nature of the controversy is, I see where the narrator is not to be relied upon and where her own presentation of facts may be inaccurate. It's interesting that what she and her government see to be history and "right" is definitely how history has been written and presented in a very specific and narrow way. But, if you read without a critical eye, thinking we are dealing with an MC who knows what is going on, then you might read all of this wrongly. Additionally, there are some missteps with race. Forest made several races very different than anything on earth and even tweaked from mythology. But then she has one that a human race that has stereotype descriptions. Really? That should not have gotten past editing. Additionally, there is a scene where a character comes out as gay and it's... not well done. I can see it being triggering for those who had poor acceptance from family members.

The University is so like high school that I find it off-putting. I've read a few too many stories where authors have chosen to call what is not much more than a secondary school university because it fits their narrative "better." Especially as schooling prior to University is never discussed in this world.

Keeping in mind that I am not the target audience for this book, I think I would have liked it back when I was the right age. This book has a very narrow target audience. Too many people who have had to deal with actual abuse and inequality may struggle with the many slights and microaggressions. However, for those who think they are open-minded, but then become defensive when they become attacked in the slightest could very well learn a thing or two reading this book. Because that's exactly what happens with the main character. She's raised by someone who is not religious but has absorbed cultural religion and beliefs and read their religious text with little-to-no guidance outside regular church services. She doesn't especially consider herself open-minded, but she was raised not to promise to marry at the age of thirteen but rather waiting until she's 20. (This isn't the enlightened view it seems to be. The author is still tripping over patriarchy.) The main character is treated harshly by her family, fellow Gardnerians, and people who have suffered at the hands of her government. Under that, she lashes out. This is painted as understandable. It takes her causing a deep hurt for her to learn her lesson. This allows people to cause deep hurts before they learn their lessons. Hopefully people who would be inclined to be like this can read the story and realize this before they engage in such behavior, too.

Overall, I rank this in the same area as Ever the Hunted and Ever the Brave by Erin Summerill.

Where do I begin? This series is like a mix between Harry Potter, Throne of Glass, and Nazi Germany. Magical boarding school, a heroine that doesn’t know her own power or destiny, and an evil regime that wants to eradicate those they see as “impure.”

The characters are well rounded, they all have their own voices and personalities. They have immense depth to them, and the relationships they form are, respectively, beautiful and heartbreaking. The story is well thought-out and moves along at a steady pace. It’s really difficult to put down, and when some 300-400 page books take me 4-5 days to read, and I can read this 600 page book in two days, it just shows how amazing it is!

The world-building itself is well thought-out and well explained without the feeling of an information dump. It’s explained thoroughly and with reason. The magic system makes sense and the fact that each race of people has their own religion but they’re all a bit similar in some ways makes sense. Not even to mention the fact that this book deals with a lot of things that we deal with in the real world, prejudices, racism, bullying, and religious totalitarianism to name a few. For a YA series this book deals with a lot of heavy subjects, but it does it well.

Overall, I absolutely LOVED this book and can’t wait to read book 2!