The Black Witch (The Black Witch Chronicles - Book 1)
ByLaurie Forest
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Readers` Reviews
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
pedro mand as couto
Started 'The Black Witch' last night and would have read through the night, but the battery on my kindle died... So I reluctantly went to bed.
Came home from work and jumped back into this fascinating novel to the end - but it's not the end & I want more!!!
Came home from work and jumped back into this fascinating novel to the end - but it's not the end & I want more!!!
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
tressa
I enjoyed stepping into Laurie Forest's fantasy world and experiencing the magic, setting, and demographics along with naive Elloren.
The high points of the novel for me were
(1) diverse cast of characters, each with her own agenda, some obvious, others not so obvious.
(2) a world and University where different races interact, each with its own beliefs and customs.
(3) an imaginative magic system and set of abilities (telling the origin tree from touching an object or material) that made Elloren a unique protagonist.
(4) combating the old guard, which mirrors in many ways young adults having to fight our parents' generation's outdated ways of thoughts.
The weak points were few, mostly production-related:
(1) the writing isn't always of as high a quality as you'd hope. The description goes on too long at times. First-person present tense limits the amount of sophistication in the writing, and restricts suspense. First person present POV occasionally makes the telling seem infantile and too immediate. Third-person past would have been more appropriate, given that this is an older audience (characters are all in their late teens, nearly college-age and above).
(2) excessive politics. I hate politics in real life and don't want to read government intrigue in fiction either. As a first book in the series, Laurie Forest would have done better minimizing all the talk of government roles, who's who in the adult mage rankings, and other rather boring diversions. I thought Mage Marcus Vogel's rise happened too fast to be believable, and Elloren simply hears about it one day, like a convenient plot device sprung too suddenly. Stick to the school, the fantasy, and the immediate plot surrounding Elloren, and the book would have easily been five stars.
(3) lusty description. Elloren's repeated sensual descriptions of her physical and mental obsession with Yvan really took away from the novel. I didn't buy Black Witch for chick lit-level romance, and it did feel blatantly directed at a female audience much too often. Elloren's attraction to Yvan was clear from the start, and relentlessly pounding that into my head almost made me want to put down the novel at several points later in the book. His strong jaw, intense gaze, muscular body, warm touch, ... these were all way too overdone for a fantasy YA novel. Way too sappy, way too sensual, way too distracting from the novel's main plot. Even Lukas, who strangely disappears halfway through the novel, is presented too sensually, making me question whether the author wanted to write a fantasy novel or a steamy romance.
(4) protagonist inactivity. I kept waiting for Elloren to gain magical powers, but we see almost no sign of it until her magical accident in the last few chapters. Even then, it is clear she has little control of her powers, and almost all of the plot events happen because of other characters intervening. Lukas saving her from the kitchen assistants. Assassins saving her from Fallon Bane. Yvan attacking Damion Bane before Elloren can swing her skillet. Yvan saving her from the dragons. Professor Kristian saving Tierney. In MG/YA, the protagonist needs to be a prime catalyst for overcoming antagonistic forces, and even though I have full confidence Elloren will one day face down Fallon Bane, her lack of action did nothing to help the novel. Even if she didn't yet have control of magic -- despite her learning at University -- I wanted her to at least grow, learn, and show something: magic, attacking with the skillet, any kind of physical intervention instead of always fleeing and letting her friends do the dirty work. She's the protagonist!
(5) the book is available only in hardcover (even the UK doesn't have paperbacks yet), and the pages are all of differing lengths with fringed edges, like the printing machine just torn them apart. This makes the book seem of a much lower quality than it really is, and it makes it harder to turn the pages, even as the story keeps me reading fast. The cover is also plain and easily torn.
(6) the map also seems needlessly plain to the left and right of the spine, devoid of important geography or towns. Ironically, all of the important towns, cities, and landmarks all cluster around the central spine of the book's binding, making it hard to see the most important places. Since so much of the story takes place in University, a closer-up map of the University grounds, much like J.K. Rowling includes with Harry Potter's Hogwarts, would have been more appropriate.
Overall, relating young girl school life to a world of high fantasy and magic makes for fantastic reading. It is much more exciting than Tolkien and other high fantasy where little to no action happens, and where teens can't relate to characters because the background is too foreign. I can relate to Elloren, and her friends and foils all have believable personalities. Well done!
The high points of the novel for me were
(1) diverse cast of characters, each with her own agenda, some obvious, others not so obvious.
(2) a world and University where different races interact, each with its own beliefs and customs.
(3) an imaginative magic system and set of abilities (telling the origin tree from touching an object or material) that made Elloren a unique protagonist.
(4) combating the old guard, which mirrors in many ways young adults having to fight our parents' generation's outdated ways of thoughts.
The weak points were few, mostly production-related:
(1) the writing isn't always of as high a quality as you'd hope. The description goes on too long at times. First-person present tense limits the amount of sophistication in the writing, and restricts suspense. First person present POV occasionally makes the telling seem infantile and too immediate. Third-person past would have been more appropriate, given that this is an older audience (characters are all in their late teens, nearly college-age and above).
(2) excessive politics. I hate politics in real life and don't want to read government intrigue in fiction either. As a first book in the series, Laurie Forest would have done better minimizing all the talk of government roles, who's who in the adult mage rankings, and other rather boring diversions. I thought Mage Marcus Vogel's rise happened too fast to be believable, and Elloren simply hears about it one day, like a convenient plot device sprung too suddenly. Stick to the school, the fantasy, and the immediate plot surrounding Elloren, and the book would have easily been five stars.
(3) lusty description. Elloren's repeated sensual descriptions of her physical and mental obsession with Yvan really took away from the novel. I didn't buy Black Witch for chick lit-level romance, and it did feel blatantly directed at a female audience much too often. Elloren's attraction to Yvan was clear from the start, and relentlessly pounding that into my head almost made me want to put down the novel at several points later in the book. His strong jaw, intense gaze, muscular body, warm touch, ... these were all way too overdone for a fantasy YA novel. Way too sappy, way too sensual, way too distracting from the novel's main plot. Even Lukas, who strangely disappears halfway through the novel, is presented too sensually, making me question whether the author wanted to write a fantasy novel or a steamy romance.
(4) protagonist inactivity. I kept waiting for Elloren to gain magical powers, but we see almost no sign of it until her magical accident in the last few chapters. Even then, it is clear she has little control of her powers, and almost all of the plot events happen because of other characters intervening. Lukas saving her from the kitchen assistants. Assassins saving her from Fallon Bane. Yvan attacking Damion Bane before Elloren can swing her skillet. Yvan saving her from the dragons. Professor Kristian saving Tierney. In MG/YA, the protagonist needs to be a prime catalyst for overcoming antagonistic forces, and even though I have full confidence Elloren will one day face down Fallon Bane, her lack of action did nothing to help the novel. Even if she didn't yet have control of magic -- despite her learning at University -- I wanted her to at least grow, learn, and show something: magic, attacking with the skillet, any kind of physical intervention instead of always fleeing and letting her friends do the dirty work. She's the protagonist!
(5) the book is available only in hardcover (even the UK doesn't have paperbacks yet), and the pages are all of differing lengths with fringed edges, like the printing machine just torn them apart. This makes the book seem of a much lower quality than it really is, and it makes it harder to turn the pages, even as the story keeps me reading fast. The cover is also plain and easily torn.
(6) the map also seems needlessly plain to the left and right of the spine, devoid of important geography or towns. Ironically, all of the important towns, cities, and landmarks all cluster around the central spine of the book's binding, making it hard to see the most important places. Since so much of the story takes place in University, a closer-up map of the University grounds, much like J.K. Rowling includes with Harry Potter's Hogwarts, would have been more appropriate.
Overall, relating young girl school life to a world of high fantasy and magic makes for fantastic reading. It is much more exciting than Tolkien and other high fantasy where little to no action happens, and where teens can't relate to characters because the background is too foreign. I can relate to Elloren, and her friends and foils all have believable personalities. Well done!
Lodestar (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 5) :: Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 4) :: Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 2) :: Everblaze (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 3) :: Mary Ann in Autumn: A Tales of the City Novel
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
abigail evans
I enjoyed stepping into Laurie Forest's fantasy world and experiencing the magic, setting, and demographics along with naive Elloren.
The high points of the novel for me were
(1) diverse cast of characters, each with her own agenda, some obvious, others not so obvious.
(2) a world and University where different races interact, each with its own beliefs and customs.
(3) an imaginative magic system and set of abilities (telling the origin tree from touching an object or material) that made Elloren a unique protagonist.
(4) combating the old guard, which mirrors in many ways young adults having to fight our parents' generation's outdated ways of thoughts.
The weak points were few, mostly production-related:
(1) the writing isn't always of as high a quality as you'd hope. The description goes on too long at times. First-person present tense limits the amount of sophistication in the writing, and restricts suspense. First person present POV occasionally makes the telling seem infantile and too immediate. Third-person past would have been more appropriate, given that this is an older audience (characters are all in their late teens, nearly college-age and above).
(2) excessive politics. I hate politics in real life and don't want to read government intrigue in fiction either. As a first book in the series, Laurie Forest would have done better minimizing all the talk of government roles, who's who in the adult mage rankings, and other rather boring diversions. I thought Mage Marcus Vogel's rise happened too fast to be believable, and Elloren simply hears about it one day, like a convenient plot device sprung too suddenly. Stick to the school, the fantasy, and the immediate plot surrounding Elloren, and the book would have easily been five stars.
(3) lusty description. Elloren's repeated sensual descriptions of her physical and mental obsession with Yvan really took away from the novel. I didn't buy Black Witch for chick lit-level romance, and it did feel blatantly directed at a female audience much too often. Elloren's attraction to Yvan was clear from the start, and relentlessly pounding that into my head almost made me want to put down the novel at several points later in the book. His strong jaw, intense gaze, muscular body, warm touch, ... these were all way too overdone for a fantasy YA novel. Way too sappy, way too sensual, way too distracting from the novel's main plot. Even Lukas, who strangely disappears halfway through the novel, is presented too sensually, making me question whether the author wanted to write a fantasy novel or a steamy romance.
(4) protagonist inactivity. I kept waiting for Elloren to gain magical powers, but we see almost no sign of it until her magical accident in the last few chapters. Even then, it is clear she has little control of her powers, and almost all of the plot events happen because of other characters intervening. Lukas saving her from the kitchen assistants. Assassins saving her from Fallon Bane. Yvan attacking Damion Bane before Elloren can swing her skillet. Yvan saving her from the dragons. Professor Kristian saving Tierney. In MG/YA, the protagonist needs to be a prime catalyst for overcoming antagonistic forces, and even though I have full confidence Elloren will one day face down Fallon Bane, her lack of action did nothing to help the novel. Even if she didn't yet have control of magic -- despite her learning at University -- I wanted her to at least grow, learn, and show something: magic, attacking with the skillet, any kind of physical intervention instead of always fleeing and letting her friends do the dirty work. She's the protagonist!
(5) the book is available only in hardcover (even the UK doesn't have paperbacks yet), and the pages are all of differing lengths with fringed edges, like the printing machine just torn them apart. This makes the book seem of a much lower quality than it really is, and it makes it harder to turn the pages, even as the story keeps me reading fast. The cover is also plain and easily torn.
(6) the map also seems needlessly plain to the left and right of the spine, devoid of important geography or towns. Ironically, all of the important towns, cities, and landmarks all cluster around the central spine of the book's binding, making it hard to see the most important places. Since so much of the story takes place in University, a closer-up map of the University grounds, much like J.K. Rowling includes with Harry Potter's Hogwarts, would have been more appropriate.
Overall, relating young girl school life to a world of high fantasy and magic makes for fantastic reading. It is much more exciting than Tolkien and other high fantasy where little to no action happens, and where teens can't relate to characters because the background is too foreign. I can relate to Elloren, and her friends and foils all have believable personalities. Well done!
The high points of the novel for me were
(1) diverse cast of characters, each with her own agenda, some obvious, others not so obvious.
(2) a world and University where different races interact, each with its own beliefs and customs.
(3) an imaginative magic system and set of abilities (telling the origin tree from touching an object or material) that made Elloren a unique protagonist.
(4) combating the old guard, which mirrors in many ways young adults having to fight our parents' generation's outdated ways of thoughts.
The weak points were few, mostly production-related:
(1) the writing isn't always of as high a quality as you'd hope. The description goes on too long at times. First-person present tense limits the amount of sophistication in the writing, and restricts suspense. First person present POV occasionally makes the telling seem infantile and too immediate. Third-person past would have been more appropriate, given that this is an older audience (characters are all in their late teens, nearly college-age and above).
(2) excessive politics. I hate politics in real life and don't want to read government intrigue in fiction either. As a first book in the series, Laurie Forest would have done better minimizing all the talk of government roles, who's who in the adult mage rankings, and other rather boring diversions. I thought Mage Marcus Vogel's rise happened too fast to be believable, and Elloren simply hears about it one day, like a convenient plot device sprung too suddenly. Stick to the school, the fantasy, and the immediate plot surrounding Elloren, and the book would have easily been five stars.
(3) lusty description. Elloren's repeated sensual descriptions of her physical and mental obsession with Yvan really took away from the novel. I didn't buy Black Witch for chick lit-level romance, and it did feel blatantly directed at a female audience much too often. Elloren's attraction to Yvan was clear from the start, and relentlessly pounding that into my head almost made me want to put down the novel at several points later in the book. His strong jaw, intense gaze, muscular body, warm touch, ... these were all way too overdone for a fantasy YA novel. Way too sappy, way too sensual, way too distracting from the novel's main plot. Even Lukas, who strangely disappears halfway through the novel, is presented too sensually, making me question whether the author wanted to write a fantasy novel or a steamy romance.
(4) protagonist inactivity. I kept waiting for Elloren to gain magical powers, but we see almost no sign of it until her magical accident in the last few chapters. Even then, it is clear she has little control of her powers, and almost all of the plot events happen because of other characters intervening. Lukas saving her from the kitchen assistants. Assassins saving her from Fallon Bane. Yvan attacking Damion Bane before Elloren can swing her skillet. Yvan saving her from the dragons. Professor Kristian saving Tierney. In MG/YA, the protagonist needs to be a prime catalyst for overcoming antagonistic forces, and even though I have full confidence Elloren will one day face down Fallon Bane, her lack of action did nothing to help the novel. Even if she didn't yet have control of magic -- despite her learning at University -- I wanted her to at least grow, learn, and show something: magic, attacking with the skillet, any kind of physical intervention instead of always fleeing and letting her friends do the dirty work. She's the protagonist!
(5) the book is available only in hardcover (even the UK doesn't have paperbacks yet), and the pages are all of differing lengths with fringed edges, like the printing machine just torn them apart. This makes the book seem of a much lower quality than it really is, and it makes it harder to turn the pages, even as the story keeps me reading fast. The cover is also plain and easily torn.
(6) the map also seems needlessly plain to the left and right of the spine, devoid of important geography or towns. Ironically, all of the important towns, cities, and landmarks all cluster around the central spine of the book's binding, making it hard to see the most important places. Since so much of the story takes place in University, a closer-up map of the University grounds, much like J.K. Rowling includes with Harry Potter's Hogwarts, would have been more appropriate.
Overall, relating young girl school life to a world of high fantasy and magic makes for fantastic reading. It is much more exciting than Tolkien and other high fantasy where little to no action happens, and where teens can't relate to characters because the background is too foreign. I can relate to Elloren, and her friends and foils all have believable personalities. Well done!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
austin
This book preaches diversity not racism. I first heard about this book from an NPR story about the blogger who sparked a social media backlash before the book was released to the public. The blogger must have not read the second half of this book.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
kate squires
LOVED! Initially got it because I heard it was being trashed as racist. Awesome book about overcoming prejudices and stereotypes and learning to make your own path. Easy read. Can't wait to share with my kids.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
michael k
4.5 stars
The Black Witch is Laurie Forest's debut novel, and I envision a promising career ahead for this new author. I was initially daunted by the length of the novel, thinking that I didn't have time to fit it in my schedule. But all the controversy (more on this later) made me want to read this book for myself - and once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I read it over the course of a day and late into the night... and got killed by the cliffhanger! I got busy tweeting today to the author telling her to write fast because I need to know what happens... luckily she advises that the next installment is already written, so hopefully we won't have a horribly long delay.
This is one of the more provocative young adult novels that I have read, set on the fantastical world of Erthia. Erthia has various races (species? / cultures?) of mages, sorcerers, elves, fae, lupine and wyvern shapeshifters, etc. Each culture has its own strict religion and belief system which sees non-members as impure, demonic, or otherwise inferior. As you can imagine, there is a multitude of prejudice in this fantastical society, and the author does not pull punches when showing just how horrid some of these belief systems are.
Our heroine and narrator of this tale is Elloren Gardner, a seventeen year old girl of the Gardnerian race of mages. She has been raised in a small town sheltered environment by her kindly non-violent uncle, and her worldview is limited to what she has been taught by her family, and what she has read in the Gardnerian's Holy Book. So Elloren is in no way prepared for what she will face when she enters the integrated University (magical boarding school) for the first time. Through difficult experiences, multicultural integration and education, Elloren starts down a tumultuous path of enlightenment where her worldview evolves and expands. While I found Elloren to be incredibly naive (through no fault of her own), I admired her opening her mind to other opinions and beliefs. It was not always easy for our heroine to change her way of thinking, particularly when she was hated and bullied by others, but she challenged herself and sought answers instead of sticking her head in the sand and taking the easy way out.
Elloren was not the only character broadening their beliefs, she collected a variety of allies and victims during her short time at the University. As these students were drawn together into their small resistance group, the author demonstrated how team work (even from a small group) can work to make a change. I liked that Elloren was not the only character who needed to challenge and change her beliefs. Through an examination of holy books and histories, we saw that each society had some aspect that would not be considered politically correct in today's society. From racism to sexism to homophobia - this was a book that made you think, explore and analyze multiple points of view. Doing this while becoming embroiled in the angst, drama and action made for a very busy brain and that 608 pages flew by very fast.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from the publisher, Harlequin Teen.
As to the controversy surrounding this book, it really saddens me to see fellow readers calling for the censorship and banning of books. I, in no way, think that this author was condoning any prejudice or homophobia or misogyny, but instead showed the evolution of our heroine and her friends breaking out of that mold, changing their worldview and joining the resistance. And honestly, the societal situation in this book is not uncommon in fantasy, paranormal and historical stories. If you don't like to read about these issues, don't read the book. It's simple. But the majority of the people who I see blacklisting this book and/or rating it poorly, have not even taken the time to read the story for themselves. Instead they have joined a hivemind to bash an author and publisher. Listen, its fine if you read and don't like it... write a review and state your reasons why. Don't just start bashing authors and publishers and then link to someone else's review without forming your own opinion. That reflects poorly on you. As of the time I wrote this review... I only saw 2 negative reviews from people who actually read the book. The other 700 one-star ratings were from the hive mind who admitted that they did not (and would not) read the book. So I urge everyone to read the story for themselves before forming your opinion or bashing an author.
The Black Witch is Laurie Forest's debut novel, and I envision a promising career ahead for this new author. I was initially daunted by the length of the novel, thinking that I didn't have time to fit it in my schedule. But all the controversy (more on this later) made me want to read this book for myself - and once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I read it over the course of a day and late into the night... and got killed by the cliffhanger! I got busy tweeting today to the author telling her to write fast because I need to know what happens... luckily she advises that the next installment is already written, so hopefully we won't have a horribly long delay.
This is one of the more provocative young adult novels that I have read, set on the fantastical world of Erthia. Erthia has various races (species? / cultures?) of mages, sorcerers, elves, fae, lupine and wyvern shapeshifters, etc. Each culture has its own strict religion and belief system which sees non-members as impure, demonic, or otherwise inferior. As you can imagine, there is a multitude of prejudice in this fantastical society, and the author does not pull punches when showing just how horrid some of these belief systems are.
Our heroine and narrator of this tale is Elloren Gardner, a seventeen year old girl of the Gardnerian race of mages. She has been raised in a small town sheltered environment by her kindly non-violent uncle, and her worldview is limited to what she has been taught by her family, and what she has read in the Gardnerian's Holy Book. So Elloren is in no way prepared for what she will face when she enters the integrated University (magical boarding school) for the first time. Through difficult experiences, multicultural integration and education, Elloren starts down a tumultuous path of enlightenment where her worldview evolves and expands. While I found Elloren to be incredibly naive (through no fault of her own), I admired her opening her mind to other opinions and beliefs. It was not always easy for our heroine to change her way of thinking, particularly when she was hated and bullied by others, but she challenged herself and sought answers instead of sticking her head in the sand and taking the easy way out.
Elloren was not the only character broadening their beliefs, she collected a variety of allies and victims during her short time at the University. As these students were drawn together into their small resistance group, the author demonstrated how team work (even from a small group) can work to make a change. I liked that Elloren was not the only character who needed to challenge and change her beliefs. Through an examination of holy books and histories, we saw that each society had some aspect that would not be considered politically correct in today's society. From racism to sexism to homophobia - this was a book that made you think, explore and analyze multiple points of view. Doing this while becoming embroiled in the angst, drama and action made for a very busy brain and that 608 pages flew by very fast.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from the publisher, Harlequin Teen.
As to the controversy surrounding this book, it really saddens me to see fellow readers calling for the censorship and banning of books. I, in no way, think that this author was condoning any prejudice or homophobia or misogyny, but instead showed the evolution of our heroine and her friends breaking out of that mold, changing their worldview and joining the resistance. And honestly, the societal situation in this book is not uncommon in fantasy, paranormal and historical stories. If you don't like to read about these issues, don't read the book. It's simple. But the majority of the people who I see blacklisting this book and/or rating it poorly, have not even taken the time to read the story for themselves. Instead they have joined a hivemind to bash an author and publisher. Listen, its fine if you read and don't like it... write a review and state your reasons why. Don't just start bashing authors and publishers and then link to someone else's review without forming your own opinion. That reflects poorly on you. As of the time I wrote this review... I only saw 2 negative reviews from people who actually read the book. The other 700 one-star ratings were from the hive mind who admitted that they did not (and would not) read the book. So I urge everyone to read the story for themselves before forming your opinion or bashing an author.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
raquel nolasco
I really enjoyed the message of this book--that racism can happen on all sides and the importance of education in fighting misconceptions, stereotypes, racism, ect. And not just to understand others better but to understand your world better. This really is about the main character learning how to combat her own prejudice through education, by truly listening to other people and hearing their stories, and reading and absorbing ideas not given by the historical winners. This is such an important message and it needs to be heard.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
karen wine
Started out really interesting and i enjoyed the different characters. Storyline a tad predictable, and i was frustrated that she still knew nothing of her powers by the end of the book hence the 3 stars. Some characters a bit one dimensional. I will probably still read the next installment though.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
gizelle
I am a white nationalist. I bought this book because it was loudly criticized by leftists, on the theory that anything condemned by leftists must be worthwhile. I'll expand this review after I've read it.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
heidi agerbo
If you like clichés and writers whose whole story line and characters depend on them you are going to love this book. The author does not miss any group in popular culture, both those perceived persecuted and those perceived dominant, to use as a model for her characters and racial groups. And the innocent, sheltered main character, Elloren is, of course a member of a rich and influential family from the most dominant and most powerful racial group. She discovers, at a liberal university, of all places, that people from other racial and cultural groups are really nice and just misunderstood. The teeny bopper audience for this young adult genre of literature will absorb the author’s themes like limp, wet sponges. There is ample romantic, sexual tension, fraught with forbidden love, to keep them involved in the story. You can see the ending of this series coming like a locomotive speeding down the track. After a holy and brutal war the enlightened will emerge victorious and a utopian society will emerge where everybody gets along and true love conquers all. Religion will, of course, be banned because it is based on false premises and is filled with hate, A different group of dissenters will be silenced but they will be defined as evil so it is OK. Oh well! It is a wonderful thing to be naïve and filled with self righteous indignation and have a word processer on which to vent your immature thoughts. And it is a financial advantage to have a young, naïve audience ready to read the claptrap. Save your money and your time; this book is worth neither.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
north chatham
This really is a great read. The world and characters are really well developed, making it somewhat of a page turner as you want to see what they do next. While the book is definitely fiction there are parallels to our reality that we can draw and learn from, which is always a plus in a book for young adults. I personally give this author a lot of credit for creating a book my teen actually enjoyed reading (it's actually a very rare occurrence) and it is also one of those books adults can enjoy as well so a good book if you're looking for a story to discuss and bond over with your teen. I usually don't give full five star reviews to books but I honestly can't think of one thing I'd change about this so this is joining the handful of titles that have ever gotten five stars from me. Highly recommend.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
lorri
Really good YA Fiction. I loved the different characters in this one, a few being .....elves, dragons and of course witches. It kept my interest I did feel ready to finish the book after about 300 to 400 pages it felt a bit "much" or a lot of info somewhere along that area but I kept going and over all I found this to be a good solid read. I will probably read the second in the series to see what happens next.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
bzfran
I have concerns about the propriety of this book for some young adults, which I will list, and at times I felt the writing was amateurish, with descriptions of some minor scenes seeming forced and jerky. That said, by the end, I simply loved it. I thought after the first 50 or so pages that I might not remember it in a year, but by the end, I couldn't put it down. I don't think I will ever forget it, and I eagerly await the next book out, as I understand it, in May 2018.
Some have characterized this book as racist and dangerous. I would say that the book is very racially evocative, and that is different. It deeply explores racial issues in a very comprehensive way using an imaginary world full of different fantasy groups, like various shapeshifters, mages and the fae, icaral demons, and enslaved groups with very little power, magical or political. At the center of social change in this world is a university that teaches the brightest in an integrated setting.
I suspect that racial experiences are as intensely emotional, personal, and perhaps conflicted, as our sexual ones. I could FEEL the author's collection of experiences resonate in this book, and that might be too much for people who have felt intense racial trauma or who don't really have the abstract thinking ability to see the complex interplay between the groups and the fantasy world's power structure, or the main character's weltanschauung.
I feel it is important to recognize that this book needs a strong level of abstract reasoning ability that only develops in the teen years. In my own son, I saw that skyrocket when he was around 16; suddenly, he just got depth, complexities, and symbolism so much better. It's a wonderful ability humans develop that so broadens our intellect. There are literally changes in the brain that happen during the teen years to support this higher level of conceptualization. As a young adult novel, some readers may not be at that point in their development yet, and thus not able to adequately digest this book.
Now, all that said, about my experience with the book...
At first, I felt like the book was headed into typical Harry Potter magical boarding school territory. I was very confused by the term Gardnerian Witches, because I know some Wiccans of this tradition, and they are not monotheistic, they don't wear all black, and they certainly are not in any way congruent with the supremacist group that uses their name in this book. This little thing probably will not bother 99.9% of the people out there, but it just seemed a rookie mistake to mix real Wicca in with this fantasy world in such an unfitting way. That was the only incidence of this happening though, thankfully. So that, and the apparent unoriginality of this book, was very off putting to me through the first section of the book. I trudged on because I liked the world building.
The world building is where the author excels. I found the book very visual, and by the end of the first 40 or 50 pages, I was able to clearly imagine the settings, clothes, and characters, all of which were well described in a romantic style. The author's romanticism compliments the magical fantasy genre so very well; I could smell and feel the stinking, cold damp dreariness of the drafty dormitory. The story, which slowly turns from typical young adult themes like bullying and rivalry to one of life or death political struggle, is set perfectly in this well-described world.
I did have some problems with the main character. I never felt she was a bad person, only that at times she was badly written. She enters the world naive, ignorant and totally accepting of the authorities over her. Her spiritual and cultural upbringing have emphasized racial purity, with her own race as a supremely good, master race. She has never KNOWN anyone outside of her sheltered world. She does want to be a healer though, and the concern that she shows her outcast friend Sage, and her feeble attempts to connect with others outside her race on first meetings has led me to believe that she always had a good heart, with egalitarian impulses. No, the problem I had with her was with how she was written. She is a character without magic, and she takes her share of beatings, and she's not very brave, but then she goes and does things that are impulsive, foolish and just very out of character, like try to take the cake from her roommates, who she IS scared of, when she has a generous, forgiving nature. To me, that was a problem with the writing. Some of the worst things she did simply did not FIT with her character, and when she would do them, the writing got really bad. I almost wondered if some scenes that tried to illustrate her ingrained racism were not written in later because they didn't flow well. Perhaps those scenes were just hard to write. I just detected some jerkiness in the continuity of the writing style concerning her at times.
The pace of the book was fast though, and I never felt the story was dragging. Minor mysteries, and wonderful supporting characters, like Diana, a 'MAGNIFICIENT' lupine female, kept me hooked too. Right when the book could have become boring, suddenly, there were dragons, and the story took off again.
I loved that the development of the story followed the main characters own development. Where it starts out predictable and unoriginal, with all too common, only personally relevant to the main character themes, Elloren starts out in the book as superficial and racist, not knowing or caring about other people or politics. As she begins to question authority and expand her mind, and her heart opens, then the entire story of this fantasy world likewise starts a struggle that is intense and life-threatening for many.
This is a book that highlights the importance of real conversations, real education, both formal and autodidactic, and questioning authority in a thoughtful way. How could I NOT love that?
The language in this book is generally mild. There's some talk of sexuality, including sexual slavery, but kissing is as hot as romantic passions get. The racial pain is evocative and quite unchecked.
Some have characterized this book as racist and dangerous. I would say that the book is very racially evocative, and that is different. It deeply explores racial issues in a very comprehensive way using an imaginary world full of different fantasy groups, like various shapeshifters, mages and the fae, icaral demons, and enslaved groups with very little power, magical or political. At the center of social change in this world is a university that teaches the brightest in an integrated setting.
I suspect that racial experiences are as intensely emotional, personal, and perhaps conflicted, as our sexual ones. I could FEEL the author's collection of experiences resonate in this book, and that might be too much for people who have felt intense racial trauma or who don't really have the abstract thinking ability to see the complex interplay between the groups and the fantasy world's power structure, or the main character's weltanschauung.
I feel it is important to recognize that this book needs a strong level of abstract reasoning ability that only develops in the teen years. In my own son, I saw that skyrocket when he was around 16; suddenly, he just got depth, complexities, and symbolism so much better. It's a wonderful ability humans develop that so broadens our intellect. There are literally changes in the brain that happen during the teen years to support this higher level of conceptualization. As a young adult novel, some readers may not be at that point in their development yet, and thus not able to adequately digest this book.
Now, all that said, about my experience with the book...
At first, I felt like the book was headed into typical Harry Potter magical boarding school territory. I was very confused by the term Gardnerian Witches, because I know some Wiccans of this tradition, and they are not monotheistic, they don't wear all black, and they certainly are not in any way congruent with the supremacist group that uses their name in this book. This little thing probably will not bother 99.9% of the people out there, but it just seemed a rookie mistake to mix real Wicca in with this fantasy world in such an unfitting way. That was the only incidence of this happening though, thankfully. So that, and the apparent unoriginality of this book, was very off putting to me through the first section of the book. I trudged on because I liked the world building.
The world building is where the author excels. I found the book very visual, and by the end of the first 40 or 50 pages, I was able to clearly imagine the settings, clothes, and characters, all of which were well described in a romantic style. The author's romanticism compliments the magical fantasy genre so very well; I could smell and feel the stinking, cold damp dreariness of the drafty dormitory. The story, which slowly turns from typical young adult themes like bullying and rivalry to one of life or death political struggle, is set perfectly in this well-described world.
I did have some problems with the main character. I never felt she was a bad person, only that at times she was badly written. She enters the world naive, ignorant and totally accepting of the authorities over her. Her spiritual and cultural upbringing have emphasized racial purity, with her own race as a supremely good, master race. She has never KNOWN anyone outside of her sheltered world. She does want to be a healer though, and the concern that she shows her outcast friend Sage, and her feeble attempts to connect with others outside her race on first meetings has led me to believe that she always had a good heart, with egalitarian impulses. No, the problem I had with her was with how she was written. She is a character without magic, and she takes her share of beatings, and she's not very brave, but then she goes and does things that are impulsive, foolish and just very out of character, like try to take the cake from her roommates, who she IS scared of, when she has a generous, forgiving nature. To me, that was a problem with the writing. Some of the worst things she did simply did not FIT with her character, and when she would do them, the writing got really bad. I almost wondered if some scenes that tried to illustrate her ingrained racism were not written in later because they didn't flow well. Perhaps those scenes were just hard to write. I just detected some jerkiness in the continuity of the writing style concerning her at times.
The pace of the book was fast though, and I never felt the story was dragging. Minor mysteries, and wonderful supporting characters, like Diana, a 'MAGNIFICIENT' lupine female, kept me hooked too. Right when the book could have become boring, suddenly, there were dragons, and the story took off again.
I loved that the development of the story followed the main characters own development. Where it starts out predictable and unoriginal, with all too common, only personally relevant to the main character themes, Elloren starts out in the book as superficial and racist, not knowing or caring about other people or politics. As she begins to question authority and expand her mind, and her heart opens, then the entire story of this fantasy world likewise starts a struggle that is intense and life-threatening for many.
This is a book that highlights the importance of real conversations, real education, both formal and autodidactic, and questioning authority in a thoughtful way. How could I NOT love that?
The language in this book is generally mild. There's some talk of sexuality, including sexual slavery, but kissing is as hot as romantic passions get. The racial pain is evocative and quite unchecked.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
nicolebou b
I really loved this book. Compelling characters. Vivid imagery. A story that twists and turns but never goes where you think it will. This book is, fundamentally, a story about how hard it is for someone raised in an oppressive system where they possess privilege to clearly see the reality of the system. Whoever discovered water wasn't a fish. Author Forest doesn't "soft ball" how hard it is to take down the system or even change the mind of one person - but she tells a tale here that hits the mark and shows how one person can start a fire and change the world she lives in. I can't wait for the next one!
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
meghan mccabe
I discovered The Black Witch a couple of months ago, when a book reviewer slammed the book with 8,500+ words of screeching, flailing and literally can’t even-ing. Like fake news, this person provided a FAKE REVIEW. It began with: The Black Witch is the most dangerous, offensive, book I’ve ever read. It’s racist, ableist, homophobic, and is written with no marginalized people in mind.
Wow. I wish I could get such a review for my next book. Imagine what my sales would be then? I’d ask her for one but I find myself already blocked by this person.
Anyhow, the fake review is extremely long, and really doesn’t speak to the substance of the book at all, but takes lines without context to make some of the most bizarre, inaccurate points one could ever have imagined about this extremely innocuous YA fantasy novel. Because of this, hundreds of alt-left internet trolls took to Goodreads and left drive-by hate reviews to try to torch the book and author without ever having read it. If the original review hadn’t gotten me interested, the sheer bullying evil that the reviewer’s followers acted with made me certain to support this author. I might add, that kind of bullying is something that the author speaks against heavily in the book. Irony points for people too stupid to read.
Without further ado, a real review of The Black Witch:
The Black Witch follows a girl in a rural village. There’s a prophecy that they believe she’ll rise up and fight the evil one – standard fantasy fare. The evil ones are considered some abomination race that sprouts wings and the like, and they seem to be able to come from any birth whether it’s our Gardnerian humans or elves. It’s not exactly clear where they originate from but there’s some background that there were fae in the world that intermixed with everyone, and a lot of people have fae blood which is magical, but the fae themselves were mostly exterminated in a war a long time back or gone into hiding. It ramps up as one of Elloren (the main character)’s friends has one of these abomination children, which shows she was unfaithful to the mage she’s been wandfasted (their form of marriage which isn’t shown on screen but I believe involves some magical tie) to. The friend goes on the run to save her baby. Elloren is whisked away by her very powerful mage aunt. Her friend left with her some powerful wand that’s supposed to be a relic from myth. Only problem is, Elloren can’t actually do magic. Some power stirs within her, but there’s a mystery that’s left her magicless.
Elloren is set to live with her aunt for a few days before she goes to university – which is sorta Harry Potter-style wizard school but also deals with apothecary and other fantasy trope items in this book. At this section we meet the powerful bad boy love interest, Lukas Grey, and the rival Fallon Bane as this develops more into a paranormal romance than regular fantasy for a good chunk of pages. It returns to its fantasy plot when Elloren is attacked by members of the evil race who know she’s going to be the reincarnated Black Witch, as her grandmother decimated them years ago. Elloren escapes with the help of Lukas and they head to wizard school.
This was about the first 100-150 pages – and honestly, I found it extremely exciting. The pacing was relentless, the writing crisp, nothing really to complain about at all here. We get glimpses that the Gardnerians hate other fantasy races, especially from the aunt, and we get the feeling that Elloren the main character is uncomfortable with this, but trusts her authorities on it anyway as she has no life experience. The reader definitely wishes she wouldn’t, because that’s where the sympathies are played by the author, but any sane reader would be good with being immersed in a very well developed world with a fun plot, high danger, and interesting romance. What’s interesting is how every character seems to treat Elloren terribly except for Lukas, which continues for awhile throughout the book. She’s almost psychologically abused from every angle, and it both creates sympathy for the character and shows her resolve and value. Reallly an A+ on the characterization and world and even the plot at this point.
Once it gets to university, however, the story bogs down and loses focus. There are a lot of pages where meanders to meeting different fantasy races, showing why Elloren and Gardnerians hate them, and why they hate Gardnerians and Elloren, as well as dropping far too much backstory history. This continues for the next three hundred or so pages of the book. We’re in very mundane situations in school, with extraordinary creatures like elves, wolf-shifters, etc. just doing ordinary things, but also sneering at our main character and making her life miserable and abusing her like everyone else does in the book. Elloren naturally reacts that she hates these people, and blames it on their race, where it can get a little preachy at points that this reaction is bad and one shouldn’t do that. Of course, with these people actively trying to physically and psychologically injure her at every turn, can’t say I blame her in the least. There’s a large cast of characters introduced, many of whom are interchangeable for this message beyond descriptions of their races and histories. I don’t really have much of a problem with the preachiness there other than a suspension of disbelief problem of the sudden switch in Elloren where she realizes she just hates her own race and loves all these others to force the message. She reads some books that show her people basically caused all these races to hate them, and that they’re just terrible. It’s a bit over the top of a presentation and reaction.
I’ll reiterate that I agree with the message: don’t dehumanize individuals around you just because of who they are. That’s quite a sensible message, but it again comes back to the length and how that message is presented with the “I’m really fighting for the wrong side” trope. It both convolutes the great lengths the author went to present the message, and derails the cool, exciting fantasy story in the beginning of the book. During this time we lose all focus on anything in the opening. Lukas Grey goes away, Fallon Bane the evil witch rival gets a lot of mentions but gets less and less on screen time as it goes on too. We find most of the plot and characters abandoned for new ones. I read somewhere that this book was written out-of-order scene wise, and it could have used some tighter outlining to keep the plot on point. I think if this section was 100 pages instead of 300 pages, it would have been a much stronger novel. My suggestion would have been: the evil winged creatures would have come and attacked her in the night but her roommate winged creatures defended her—just to keep that early developed plot thread going. If that happened or something similar in the middle there to break it up, it would have felt more cohesive. The reader could have still received the don’t dehumanize individuals message but also maintained the original plot and not had it feel like the book’s entire purpose is an allegory for white guilt. Instead what we find is the Gardnerians are just bad at every turn. Even though all the fantasy races are also awful to her, in many cases moreso than her own people, Elloren just accepts that awfulness and over pages, while hating her own people. The fantasy races we learn are really just that way because they’re so oppressed. Lukas is ignored during this and she develops a relationship with a boy who has a mysterious mixed-race background Yvan instead, which also disappointed me, as co-opting Lukas would have made for a better plot as well.
Then it gets back to what I loved about the beginning. The kids decide they’re going to take on the Gardnerian military and escape and get all the fantasy creatures to safety. Action picks up, pace picks back up, the last 150 pages of the book stutter at points back into the message fiction, but when it hits full stride it really hits full stride and is masterfully done. It doesn’t fulfill much of the promises at the beginning of the book – thus is the way of series these days sadly, as they serialize plots across books rather than chapters, but it’s got its own plot that I found worth reading and a lot of fun that I won’t spoil.
The result is we have about half a great book, half a meandering message fiction book. The message was pretty subtle at the beginning and it went full tilt as the book went on to a point where it became too much in a reader’s face without advancing plot. An example of the more annoying aspects is there is a mage running for their office who was LITERALLY HITLER talking about eradicating species and making everyone where arm bands in support. It was a bit much. There’s also a section where one of the other races starts lecturing Elloren “why do you think your religion is right we have our own creation myths too!” or something of the like, and Elloren just nods and agrees, pushing the multiculturalism is great angle, which I strongly disagree with the premise of, and it doesn’t make much sense given the characters that it was just accepted.
That’s not to say that the message/allegory were all bad either. What I did like about those points that none of it directly lined up with current events or current cultures, so it wasn’t finger wagging at a group either. I give this props as a lot of authors of this particular multiculturalist viewpoint tend to show their real prejudices in picking on American/Christian culture, which this author avoids. The Gardnerians act like extreme islamists in the way they force girls into marriage at a hyper young age (which was a cool point of the culture from a worldbuilding perspective – especially with the magic involved), but not all the way so as it has a lot of Christian religious elements as well, no direct allegory there. The Hitler dude in power was definitely is its own unique thing with the way their mage-council was structured, not an “American culture is bad” message. Dehumanizing people is bad. Real racism is bad. That’s all stuff that we can agree on and appreciate that the author is trying to say.
Her writing was also excellent on the prose level. This was in a first person present form for most of the book, which usually annoys me to the point where I won’t read past a page, but the author pulled this off fine to where I didn’t even notice it. It just kept the pace at awesome speed, and that’s a testament to her ability to write. It switched perspectives and forms at points and that didn’t ever throw me out, which is a difficult task. Descriptions are great, the world really had a lot of thought as I mentioned, many of the characters were unique and interesting. I do keep in mind that this is a debut novel and she’ll probably only get better from this point forward. It’s an interesting start to a series, got a great climax, good times, sets up the next book nicely.
Overall, because of the lengthiness and how I felt it could have been trimmed down, I call this a 7/10. Very close to being the next great fantasy, and with her talent I honestly expect that her next book will be. I do have one point for her as I saw some alarming interviews that I’m guessing were a reaction to the bullying: please ignore sensitivity readers. Don’t let people censor your thoughts or your ideas. This is your world, your story, keep it that way. Watering it down will only prevent greatness.
Wow. I wish I could get such a review for my next book. Imagine what my sales would be then? I’d ask her for one but I find myself already blocked by this person.
Anyhow, the fake review is extremely long, and really doesn’t speak to the substance of the book at all, but takes lines without context to make some of the most bizarre, inaccurate points one could ever have imagined about this extremely innocuous YA fantasy novel. Because of this, hundreds of alt-left internet trolls took to Goodreads and left drive-by hate reviews to try to torch the book and author without ever having read it. If the original review hadn’t gotten me interested, the sheer bullying evil that the reviewer’s followers acted with made me certain to support this author. I might add, that kind of bullying is something that the author speaks against heavily in the book. Irony points for people too stupid to read.
Without further ado, a real review of The Black Witch:
The Black Witch follows a girl in a rural village. There’s a prophecy that they believe she’ll rise up and fight the evil one – standard fantasy fare. The evil ones are considered some abomination race that sprouts wings and the like, and they seem to be able to come from any birth whether it’s our Gardnerian humans or elves. It’s not exactly clear where they originate from but there’s some background that there were fae in the world that intermixed with everyone, and a lot of people have fae blood which is magical, but the fae themselves were mostly exterminated in a war a long time back or gone into hiding. It ramps up as one of Elloren (the main character)’s friends has one of these abomination children, which shows she was unfaithful to the mage she’s been wandfasted (their form of marriage which isn’t shown on screen but I believe involves some magical tie) to. The friend goes on the run to save her baby. Elloren is whisked away by her very powerful mage aunt. Her friend left with her some powerful wand that’s supposed to be a relic from myth. Only problem is, Elloren can’t actually do magic. Some power stirs within her, but there’s a mystery that’s left her magicless.
Elloren is set to live with her aunt for a few days before she goes to university – which is sorta Harry Potter-style wizard school but also deals with apothecary and other fantasy trope items in this book. At this section we meet the powerful bad boy love interest, Lukas Grey, and the rival Fallon Bane as this develops more into a paranormal romance than regular fantasy for a good chunk of pages. It returns to its fantasy plot when Elloren is attacked by members of the evil race who know she’s going to be the reincarnated Black Witch, as her grandmother decimated them years ago. Elloren escapes with the help of Lukas and they head to wizard school.
This was about the first 100-150 pages – and honestly, I found it extremely exciting. The pacing was relentless, the writing crisp, nothing really to complain about at all here. We get glimpses that the Gardnerians hate other fantasy races, especially from the aunt, and we get the feeling that Elloren the main character is uncomfortable with this, but trusts her authorities on it anyway as she has no life experience. The reader definitely wishes she wouldn’t, because that’s where the sympathies are played by the author, but any sane reader would be good with being immersed in a very well developed world with a fun plot, high danger, and interesting romance. What’s interesting is how every character seems to treat Elloren terribly except for Lukas, which continues for awhile throughout the book. She’s almost psychologically abused from every angle, and it both creates sympathy for the character and shows her resolve and value. Reallly an A+ on the characterization and world and even the plot at this point.
Once it gets to university, however, the story bogs down and loses focus. There are a lot of pages where meanders to meeting different fantasy races, showing why Elloren and Gardnerians hate them, and why they hate Gardnerians and Elloren, as well as dropping far too much backstory history. This continues for the next three hundred or so pages of the book. We’re in very mundane situations in school, with extraordinary creatures like elves, wolf-shifters, etc. just doing ordinary things, but also sneering at our main character and making her life miserable and abusing her like everyone else does in the book. Elloren naturally reacts that she hates these people, and blames it on their race, where it can get a little preachy at points that this reaction is bad and one shouldn’t do that. Of course, with these people actively trying to physically and psychologically injure her at every turn, can’t say I blame her in the least. There’s a large cast of characters introduced, many of whom are interchangeable for this message beyond descriptions of their races and histories. I don’t really have much of a problem with the preachiness there other than a suspension of disbelief problem of the sudden switch in Elloren where she realizes she just hates her own race and loves all these others to force the message. She reads some books that show her people basically caused all these races to hate them, and that they’re just terrible. It’s a bit over the top of a presentation and reaction.
I’ll reiterate that I agree with the message: don’t dehumanize individuals around you just because of who they are. That’s quite a sensible message, but it again comes back to the length and how that message is presented with the “I’m really fighting for the wrong side” trope. It both convolutes the great lengths the author went to present the message, and derails the cool, exciting fantasy story in the beginning of the book. During this time we lose all focus on anything in the opening. Lukas Grey goes away, Fallon Bane the evil witch rival gets a lot of mentions but gets less and less on screen time as it goes on too. We find most of the plot and characters abandoned for new ones. I read somewhere that this book was written out-of-order scene wise, and it could have used some tighter outlining to keep the plot on point. I think if this section was 100 pages instead of 300 pages, it would have been a much stronger novel. My suggestion would have been: the evil winged creatures would have come and attacked her in the night but her roommate winged creatures defended her—just to keep that early developed plot thread going. If that happened or something similar in the middle there to break it up, it would have felt more cohesive. The reader could have still received the don’t dehumanize individuals message but also maintained the original plot and not had it feel like the book’s entire purpose is an allegory for white guilt. Instead what we find is the Gardnerians are just bad at every turn. Even though all the fantasy races are also awful to her, in many cases moreso than her own people, Elloren just accepts that awfulness and over pages, while hating her own people. The fantasy races we learn are really just that way because they’re so oppressed. Lukas is ignored during this and she develops a relationship with a boy who has a mysterious mixed-race background Yvan instead, which also disappointed me, as co-opting Lukas would have made for a better plot as well.
Then it gets back to what I loved about the beginning. The kids decide they’re going to take on the Gardnerian military and escape and get all the fantasy creatures to safety. Action picks up, pace picks back up, the last 150 pages of the book stutter at points back into the message fiction, but when it hits full stride it really hits full stride and is masterfully done. It doesn’t fulfill much of the promises at the beginning of the book – thus is the way of series these days sadly, as they serialize plots across books rather than chapters, but it’s got its own plot that I found worth reading and a lot of fun that I won’t spoil.
The result is we have about half a great book, half a meandering message fiction book. The message was pretty subtle at the beginning and it went full tilt as the book went on to a point where it became too much in a reader’s face without advancing plot. An example of the more annoying aspects is there is a mage running for their office who was LITERALLY HITLER talking about eradicating species and making everyone where arm bands in support. It was a bit much. There’s also a section where one of the other races starts lecturing Elloren “why do you think your religion is right we have our own creation myths too!” or something of the like, and Elloren just nods and agrees, pushing the multiculturalism is great angle, which I strongly disagree with the premise of, and it doesn’t make much sense given the characters that it was just accepted.
That’s not to say that the message/allegory were all bad either. What I did like about those points that none of it directly lined up with current events or current cultures, so it wasn’t finger wagging at a group either. I give this props as a lot of authors of this particular multiculturalist viewpoint tend to show their real prejudices in picking on American/Christian culture, which this author avoids. The Gardnerians act like extreme islamists in the way they force girls into marriage at a hyper young age (which was a cool point of the culture from a worldbuilding perspective – especially with the magic involved), but not all the way so as it has a lot of Christian religious elements as well, no direct allegory there. The Hitler dude in power was definitely is its own unique thing with the way their mage-council was structured, not an “American culture is bad” message. Dehumanizing people is bad. Real racism is bad. That’s all stuff that we can agree on and appreciate that the author is trying to say.
Her writing was also excellent on the prose level. This was in a first person present form for most of the book, which usually annoys me to the point where I won’t read past a page, but the author pulled this off fine to where I didn’t even notice it. It just kept the pace at awesome speed, and that’s a testament to her ability to write. It switched perspectives and forms at points and that didn’t ever throw me out, which is a difficult task. Descriptions are great, the world really had a lot of thought as I mentioned, many of the characters were unique and interesting. I do keep in mind that this is a debut novel and she’ll probably only get better from this point forward. It’s an interesting start to a series, got a great climax, good times, sets up the next book nicely.
Overall, because of the lengthiness and how I felt it could have been trimmed down, I call this a 7/10. Very close to being the next great fantasy, and with her talent I honestly expect that her next book will be. I do have one point for her as I saw some alarming interviews that I’m guessing were a reaction to the bullying: please ignore sensitivity readers. Don’t let people censor your thoughts or your ideas. This is your world, your story, keep it that way. Watering it down will only prevent greatness.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
eileen anderson
Loved The Black Witch by Laurie Forest and will be anxiously awaiting the next book in the series. I couldn't help but find comparisons between Laurie Forest's style of writing and Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series. Both writers describe their characters so eloquently, you can't help but be fully immersed into the story. In the Black Witch, the main character is Elleron, granddaughter of the first Black Witch of the Gardnerian people. Elloren grows up hearing how her Grandmother dies saving their people and is a person that is greatly admired...or is she? Laurie Forest weaves in a storyline that is old as time, race differences and the hatred and fear people have for people who are different than themselves. She adds this element into her book with a gentle hand, showing rather than telling her readers that differences can make us amazing. This is the first book in a not to be missed new series by author Laurie Forest.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
memma
If Middle Earth went to Hogwarts, you’d have Verpax University. I cannot express enough how engaging and powerful this book is! I wish I’d had THE BLACK WITCH growing up—this book transports us to a fantastical world while still tackling very human, very relevant issues and attitudes of today. Through the language of magic, Forest bravely tackles ideas of prejudice, sexism, and politics in a thought-provoking, emotionally haunting way. I loved seeing Elloren transform from a girl with assumptions about her world and the cultures around her--it takes a while, and it's hard to read, but I'm excited to see her in future books as a discerning girl who interrogates what she hears, stands up for what she believes is right, admits to her faults, and befriends her former enemies. Elloren is a relatable, admirable protagonist--one that I can’t wait to follow in the next book!
Please RateThe Black Witch (The Black Witch Chronicles - Book 1)
This book was fan-freaking-tastic! Even though I wanted to beat about 1500 people ?
I love about 15 people in this book! They were so d*mn awesome!
First off, Elloren, Rafe and Trystan were all brought up by their uncle Edwin. And good ole uncle brought them up to be good peeps. They were all still tarnished by untrue beliefs but it all comes out in good time ladies and gents!
They are all descendants of The Black Witch and uncle is keeping some things hidden from Elloren
Then ole evil auntie comes and takes Elloren off to university where her brothers go. There is a lot in between that storyline but you can read that yourself. Evil auntie wants Elloren to marry this mage named Lukas. When Elloren refuses, auntie makes it hard for her at university.
You see the Garderians think they are the better race. We have elves, werewolves, selkies, dragons, etc. They are called The Evil Ones, which is cr*p. Well, auntie sets it up where Elloren has to work with some said Evil Ones and bunk with some said Evil Ones. Little did evil auntie know, this is the best thing that could have happened to Elloren because she eventually finds out the truth about these creatures and makes friends with many and so do her brothers. There is even love in the air ❤️ But none of this is supposed to happen so a lot of stuff goes down.
I seriously hope we see Elloren come into her own in the next book. I know she has to be all powerful damn it and I want to see her fire up the world!!!
****SPOILER QUOTE****
Sweet Ancient One in the Heavens Above, what a mess we're all in.
I've stolen a Selkie. Yvan's plotting to steal a military dragon. Both Rafe and Aislinn are in love with Lupines, and I'm becoming increasingly close friends with a shunned Elfin Icaral.
This has actually gone way beyond a mess. We're all threading on increasingly dangerous ground here.
What on Erthia are we all going to do from here?
****END QUOTE****
Like I said before, I love so many of the characters but the werewolf Diana is my favorite. She's just bad to the bone!
Mel ❤️