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Book Review: Through the Witches’ Stone by Scott A. Johnson

Cover art for Through the Witches' Stone by Scott A. Johnson

 

Through the Witches’ Stone by Scott  A. Johnson

Timber Ghost Press, 2023

Available: Paperback

Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

 

12 year old  Hadley and her younger twin brothers are stuck for the summer on her grandma’s isolated farm. It isn’t as boring as she expects: she learns she is descended from a long line of witches, and her grandmother starts teaching her magical spells. Hadley’s grandma has only three rules: stay out of the locked rooms upstairs, stay out of the woods, and don’t invite strangers into the house. But while the twins have each other, Hadley has no one her age to talk to, until one night she spots a girl in a white dress and sneaks out to meet her.

 

Although her brothers are uneasy, Hadley keeps it a secret from her grandma. There’s a magical barrier that prevents the girl from crossing between the house and the woods, so she lets the girl lead her into the woods, and they become friends. Then Hadley makes the mistake of inviting the girl into the house. She turns out to be a changeling, who kidnaps Hadley’s brothers and grandma. Hadley must go into the inhospitable woods alone and attempt to find and defeat the changeling to rescue her brothers and grandma. She saves a pukwudgie (a short creature with hedgehog quills down its back and a large nose that originates in Native American mythology) She is also accompanied by a duo of brownies she calls Tom and Jerry. Despite the unfriendly folk and forest, Hadley wins them over and eventually, after some really creepy and compelling adventures, rescues her family.

 

There’s a lot of grief work going on. Hadley’s father was killed in a car accident she blamed her mother and herself for. Her mother is grieving her sister, husband, and father. The pukwudgie is grieving his family. Much of this is about making peace and letting go of grief and fear, but it does not overwhelm this fantastical, scary tale reminiscent of Mary Downing Hahn’s books, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and Outside Over There.

 

 

Posted on December 31, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy

 

How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy

G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readees, 2022

ISBN-13: 978-0593354520

Available: Hadcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

Shay is one of the few students of color at T.K. Anderson Prep. In a world where only licensed magic users can get top jobs, she is a striver. She has a higher level of magical strength than anyone else in her class,  and the second highest GPA. Her rival, with a slightly higher GPA and slightly lower magic level, is Ana.

 

At a meeting about the application process for a scholarship the school offers for a student to attend the University of Wilmington, which offers magic licensing, theater teacher Mr. B, who heads the scholarship committee, suggests to Shay that if she wants the scholarship she should participate in the school play, which is intentionally “diverse”. Shay is a terrible actor, but discovers she has been assigned the lead role of Valeria. Ana, also a student of color, is cast as her sister, Gabriela.

 

As the year goes by, Shay stumbles into friendship with Ana, and then into a (closeted) romance. Mr. B. continues to single Shay out for special attention and private rehearsals, violating her physical space (she does not like to be touched: based on this and other behaviors I think she is coded as autistic). She is uncomfortable, but none of the other kids seem to be bothered by Mr. B. When Shay is accidentally outed, he is cold to her, turning his attention to Ana, until Shay convinces him she isn’t a lesbian, so she can keep his attention and win the scholarship.

 

One night Shay’s dad’s car dies while he is on his way to pick her up from school, leaving her on campus alone. While she is walking the school grounds, she sees Mr. B. and student choreographer Brittany kissing. Brittany is sharing her magic with him, which makes him stronger, but leaves her open to manipulation. Shay decides she has to tell, even if it means losing the scholarship, and does so in such a public way that the administration is forced to act.

 

There’s a lot of subtext on privilege, systemic racism and classism, college admissions, the impossibility of the American dream, and the way sexual and emotional abusers take advantage and get away with it. Mr. B is a truly predatory character and Shay’s eventual confrontation with him is terrifying, At the same time, this is a really sweet rivals to lovers sapphic romance with some great world-building. It’s not truly horror, but it is a wonderful, witchy read that should be relatable to teens.

 

 

Posted on November 15, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

Sourcebooks Fire, 2022

ISBN-13: 978-1728209753

Available: Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, Kindle edition.

Buy:   Bookshop.org   |  Amazon.com

 

 

The Midnight Girls takes place in a fantasy kingdom based on the Kingdom of Poland at the end of the 18th century, which was torn apart by wars with Russia, Lithuania, and Poland.

 

Three sister witches terrorize the forest, each with a servant girl who desperately wants to please them. Black Jaga’s servant is Zosia, with the power of Midnight. Red Jaga’s servant is Marynka, with the power of Midday. White Jaga’s servant is Beata, with the power of Morning. The girls compete to seize the hearts of princes for their witches. Zosia, hidden away, is most successful. Marynka is desperately in competition with her as she is punished when she fails and receives affection when she succeeds. Beata quietly claims the spoils while Marynka is distracted. The descriptions of the servant girls’ powers and especially of their literally ripping hearts out of people”s bodies were really hard for me to read.

 

All three girls are sent to the city during Karnaval season to claim the pure heart of Prince Josef, a source of powerful magic when eaten. In their competition, Marynka and Zosia inadvertantly keep saving the prince in order to gain the opportunity to claim his heart. It would be funny but it is deadly serious. In spite of their antipathy, they develop a close connection. Zosia plans to run away after taking this last heart and asks Marynka to come with her.

 

Prince Josef wants his kingdom to rebel and fight the tsarina of Rusja in order to preserve Lechija’s national identity and freedom from its oppressors, while the king is tired of fighting and willing to make concessions. His life is complicated by the return to court of Kajetan, his closest friend, who supported his family and turned against him on the battlefield. Both Zosia and Marynka and Josef and Kajetan harbor strong and contradictory feelings for one another. Josef and Kajetan’s story had unexplored potential. Marynka and Zosia feel more like they are characters from a folktale, and as one would expect in a folktale, are relatively one-dimensional. Their rivalry and romance are the primary focus of the story, so the political situation Josef and Kajetan were navigating, while intriguing, didn’t get much attention. The Midnight Girls has a similar feel in places to Katherine Arden’s.The Bear and the Nightingale, but that book balances these elements better.

 

This was a clever premise with great world building, and it wasn’t an easy book to read. Regardless of their home environment or your investment in the story, these girls really are monsters. They don’t try to justify their actions. It is really something that Jasinska has humanized them.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on August 12, 2023 by , Reply
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