Tag: witchcraft

Book Review

Moon Reads: Over My Dead Body

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Over my dead body by Sweeney Boo

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

I saw this book in a bookshop and it caught my eye. I normally try to browse the graphic novel section, as sometimes it contains gems, and honestly Over my dead body did not disappoint.

At Younwity’s Institute of Magic, they don’t talk much about a girl that went missing many years go, but when Abby notices that Noreen just seems to have vanished, she starts to wonder and investigate. The problem is that there is a forbidden forest a plenty where Noreen could have disappeared to and also preparations for Samhain festival which are also distracting.

And so the adventure starts of Abby trying to find what happened to Noreen and slowly finding out the potential things that make it much too similar to what happened before her time in this school.

The art is glorious and the use of colour was epic, alongside giving it a magical appearance to things and setting the moods of each character and their ways clearly. It is a fun and mysterious read, with a lot to go for it and I enjoyed it a lot.

Of course there are frustrating bits, various things at stake and obstacles to overcome, including adults that don’t seem to be doing their duty (I admit this part is probably my least favourite trope of “hey the adults are just there to be an obstacle” and probably my least favourite part of this, but it works out not too badly and with a little more plot as you go along, but on first impressions it wasn’t winning much.

Overall, a good witchy and mysterious read worth grabbing and reading in one sitting.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Paranorthern and the Chaos Bunny A-hop-calypse

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Paranorthern and the Chaos Bunny A-hop-calypse by Stephanie Cooke and art by Mari Costa

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Bought it for myself.

Chaos bunnies? Did someone say chaos and bunnies? That was basically what sold me this book. And that it is a graphic novel. If that hasn’t sold it to you yet, let me try a bit more.

We start with our main heroine, Abby, who is helping her mum at a cafe and serving the magical community but then her sister gets bullied and portal is opened to this chaos bunny land. Abyy is sweet but her magic is a bit odd and she wants desperately to help fix everything a nd help everyone. Obviously having chaos bunnies come through a portal creates chaos so that’s basically the story, how to stop the chaos bunnies from causing the end of the world and all that chaos.

But one of the things I really liked about it is how it integrates diversity into a magical world. The concept of ghosts here was beautiful and I like that it had a hijabi character. Then each of Abbys friends has a specific background, issues and approaches and despite some clashes, they are friends and help each other out and want the best for each other and again that was super cute to read and very encouraging and uplifting.

I recommend this book because it is a cute cosy chaotic read and I even sold it to the booksellers from the publisher, because it is so good and fun. If you want a more chaotic Mooncakes vibes with less romance and more middle grade or lower vibes this is it!

Book Review

Moon Reads: Witch for Hire

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Witch for Hire by Ted Naifeh

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Saw it in Forbidden Planet and it looked good so I bought it.

Witch for Hire is part high-school drama, part mystery thriller, part horror, and part fantasy. As such, it is a very odd combination that somehow works once you realise you are getting a little of everything. We have Faye who sits with the outcasts that somehow make it once good luck touches them except for Faye who wears her witch hat and doesn’t seem to care.

So when Cody who is the little sister of the popular girl finds herself shunned by her sister for not being cool enough, and into the rejects table with Faye, she thinks she’s found a good new friend.

Faye isn’t convinced of taking Cody under her arm or meddling in strange happenings that keep causing incidents and this weird series of pranks that are getting more and more dangerous until they seem to be entirely out of control. And even if Cody admits that she joined this odd challenge to become popular which is behind the pranks, it doesn’t fully explain what is going on.

Faye finds herself at odds with her way of doing things and wanting to help, but she fears the consequences and meddling despite her don’t care attitude.

It is a very interesting book and I just wish it was a little longer because the story is interesting even if quite twisted, but because of how twisted it is, it would have benefited from more back story in some places and just more context in others and tying a few loose ends that don’t detract from the story but that would make it a lot better.

As for the artwork, it is quite dark with an old school vibe and yet a twist of modern. In general, it seems to carry the effect of being a part of here and there and combining them in a way that works not just for the plot but for the artistic style and the way the story is told in pictures.

Overall a recommended not as well known witchy story to read.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Payback’s a Witch

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Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Bought for myself

This book was slightly outside of my usual reads, but it sounded like a good change from those usual reads. And I am glad I did.

In Payback’s a Witch you meet Emmy who is on her way back to her home town where magic is real and she is about to venture into her past. She is convinced she left Thistle Grove for good and she has a great life where she is, but the pull of magic and the memories will do a number on her. And it is not only that but the chance to gain revenge on Gareth Blackmoore, the heir to the most powerful magical family in town.

She pairs up with her best friend Linden, and also with Talia, both also heirs to the other magical families, and when they realise they all want to get that sweet revenge, chaos turns interesting.

The book overall was really sassy and with awesome witchy vibes. It leans heavily on cliches, and preconceptions of magic types, but then it turns them don’t their head at times or adds an interesting spin on it to make it its own thing and it was so nice to read. It felt a little like one does when you read a cosy murder mystery, even if there was no murder or mystery in this book particularly. And there is some romance happening here and there, alongside a lot of self-discovery and loads of revenge and payback.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and then even had to share it with friends because it left a good fluffy feel and the revenge and payback vibes were awesome, alongside some of the discoveries in the story. If you like witchy vibes, friendship, romance, and a fun adventure of a contest happening in the background, then this is the book for you.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Flying Witch Volume 1

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Flying Witch Volume 1 by Chihiro Ishizuka

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Gifted by a friend from my wishlist

Spoiler free review: No

Series: Flying Witch, Volume 1.

I added Flying Witch to my wishlist after Asha over at A Cat, A Cup Of Tea, And A Book talked about it, and as soon as I read her review plus the about of the book, I knew it was one I’d enjoy too.

Now, Flying Witch is a soft slow book, there isn’t technically a lot going on, or at least on in the Western fast-paced need for adventure and plot advancing at a high-speed kind of pace. Instead, things just slowly happen and overall there is little progress from Makoto moving in to live with her distant cousins and the end of the first volume.

And yet, I was happy to read through her trying to set up a garden, or figuring out what she actually wants to do beyond follow the path to becoming a full-fledged witch. There is the fact that her sense of direction is apalling and therefore, small hiccups and fun things happen on her day to day, plus there is also her little cousin who is a bit confused and surprised about Makoto being a witch. Plus there is obviously some excitement about magic.

Overall, it is a soft hedge witch story with slow pace and a lot of day to day little things that suddenly build up a bigger nicer thing. A good soft Ghibli vibe with a little less intense moments and more of smaller moments building up to a bigger one. It feels like a softer more Japanese version of Kiki’s Delivery Service, with a slightly older witch and family receiving her rather than just selecting a completely new city.

Partly, the relationships between Makoto and her cousins and family is what adds a nice flavour to this story and enriches it with new things to explore including dynamics of how to settle into a new house with family and not disrupt too much but also how to accommodate for a budding witch trying to find her way in the world.

Recommended for fans of Kiki’s Delivery Service, lovers of slow soft stories and magic, and overall if you want a feel-good story.

Book Review

Moon reads: The Once and Future Witches

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The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Disclaimer: I received a proof copy for free fromt he publisher in the hopes I’d review it, which I mean I have done and wanted to do anyway, so I would’ve got to it one way or another. The fact it was gifted does not affect my views at all.

What happens when you mix suffragettes, fairy tales and witches into a book? I’ll tell you what, great magical things happen with a pinch of trouble, a lot of adventure, and feminism.

Once and Future Witches is all about what defines us as women and how we stand tall and havethat fire inside us, the magic, the witchcraft that makes us persevere (in some places they’d call it grit or mother nature, or many other things).

Getting into the actual story we meet three young women, the Eastwood sisters, who inexplicably end up coming together at a suffragist meeting in New Salem after being apart and following their own path for a while.

One of the things I liked a lot here was that the relationships between the sisters and their internal struggles are not exactly fairy tale stories, but could be any of us today. Each of them carries some heavy trauma, heavy burdens and things to be worried or anxious about, and each has to figure them out in part on their own but also as they figure out where they stand as sisters.

It has a lot on sisterhood both as a family and born into it look, but also as a we’re all coming together, strangers and found family, into this. Alongside dealing with what happens when you make certain choices and act on resentment, fear, anger, etc. To me, it is those parts that shine the most in this book alongside the “retellings” and reworkings of fairy tales and “new tales” that are peppered through the book.

Probably the one part that this struggles is sometimes some odd choices on plot and behaviour of the characters (I had a proof copy so it may be different in the final version) and that the worldbuilding relies heavily on a lot of gaps to be filled by us or to be inferred meaning sometimes it is hard to remember what you thought x should be. Probably part of the problem was I read it through a long period of time due to different life interruptions and coming back to it I’d have to leaf back a few pages or just skim read back to try to place myself. This is probably the place it can do a lot better in.

Overall, if you are looking for a feminist book with lots of witchcraft, a fairy tale but not the Disney vibe and more the true Grimm brothers style, and sisterhood, this is the book for you. It was a wild ride and one that left me wondering what comes next.

Book Review, Books

Grimoire Noir Review

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Grimoire Noir by Vera Greentea and Yana Bogatch

It tells the story of a town where every woman is a witch, and what happens when one of them goes missing.

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

With a name like that, it ewas hard to resist and the artwork caught my eye even further. This was a preorder and it cameon a grey day so it was the perfect read.

The book is a witchy mystery in a town full of secrets where every female (girls at a certain age and women) has some kind fo magic power, but they can’t leave the town or they will lose their powers and may not survive the “barrier” that keeps them in.

It is an interesting world, and it made me wonder if it was worth having magic if you’re stuck to a small town and area? I guess it’d depend on what the people in town are.

The story follows a young man, who’s sister has disappeared, and she was a very powerful witch even if a little bit young. He thinks it is foul play and something is going on, but the police aren’t really helping so he decides to investigate on his own.

As he investigates you get to see more and more fo the inhabitants of the town and the town itself. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it had a tiny bit of scary but mostly it was trying to solve the mystery of what happened to his sister and why.

The ending is interesting as it can be the end but there could be another book. I hope there’s another but if there isn’t, I am happy a is.

If you like graphic novels, witchy stuff or magic, and/or mysteries in small towns and close knit communities, this is a great one to read.

Book Review, Books

The Burning Review

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The Burning by Laura Bates

A rumour is like a fire. You might think you’ve extinguished it but one creeping, red tendril, one single wisp of smoke is enough to let it leap back into life again. Especially if someone is watching, waiting to fan the flames …

New school.
Tick.
New town.
Tick.
New surname.
Tick.
Social media profiles?
Erased.

There’s nothing to trace Anna back to her old life. Nothing to link her to the ‘incident’.

At least that’s what she thinks … until the whispers start up again. As time begins to run out on her secrets, Anna finds herself irresistibly drawn to the tale of Maggie, a local girl accused of witchcraft centuries earlier. A girl whose story has terrifying parallels to Anna’s own…

Rating:MoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20pxMoonKestrel Logo2 20px

This book sounded like the kind of grippy gritty books I have recently been into, so I grabbed it. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting (not to say it really wasn’t at all).

I expected the thing that Anna is trying to forget to be something else, so when it finally surfaces I was more like “oh, it’s that? meh” rather than “oh wow!”. Won’t spoil what it is, but this book certainly touches on topics like abortion, torture, abuse, bullying and the kind.

The witchy part was my favourite of it all. When they move to the new house Anna notices some odd marks scratched into the beams of the house and things like that, and turns out they’re witches marks, to try to disuade the spirit of the witch to come back and haunt the people that bought the house.

All the story of the “witch” was quite interesting, and it was intense. I was so angry for her, and I really liked that Thomas had an opinion and the part he “played” in it (yes, I wish it was different, but hey, this was way far back in time).

Another thing I really enjoyed was the friendships developed here. Partly it touches on how friends can turn on you and fall to peer pressure, which is something I had happen a lot during high school when I used to be bullied. My “best friend” would bully me in public then outside of school treat me completely different. Go figure! Regardless, it is interesting to see how each of the old and new friendships Anna slowly biulds develop, and that they are unique, most of the characters involved didn’t feel bland which was lovely because they were part of Anna’s world and not just plot props. Kudos for that.

The topic and the thing Anna deals with is important, I just imagined something else and it then fell under my expectations, but it hooked me so I read it before dinner the other day.

I guess you’d say my overall rating comes from having different expectations (my fault a little, part the blurbs fault) but it was an interesting book that I enjoyed reading.

Books, Subscription Boxes

Witchcraft Book Box Club Unboxing

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A witchy magical box for their first special box (as in the box is now Book Box Colour and printed rather than a sticker on a brown box and it is so gorgeous!). Starting with the book and going clockwise:

  • The Lost Witch by Melvin Burgess, I was going to preorder but guessed it’d be in this box. Then knew he was at YALC so I actually have two copies, one dedicated and one from the box.
  • A bookmark to match the book.
  • Promotional postcards.
  • A chocolate frog for all your witchcraft (it was very yummy!)
  • Invitation to the Clubhouse
  • Promotional bookmark for This Cruel Design (This Mortal Coil was awesome).
  • Portable Magic Book Pouch by Tea Cake Art. The design is gorgeous (though I admit I thought it was a sandwich carrier for lunch but love it either way).
  • A Spell for Wildflowers by Wildflower Favours. I thought this was such a cute thing to get!
  • Hubble Bubble Bath Potion by Midsummer Child. A great spell for a weary day!
  • Luna Lovegood candle by Madame Fiction. It smells delicious.
  • And a pair of super cute witchy earrings by Fairy Fountain Gifts.

I can’t wait for the next box and to read the book and I just really loved the box 🙂