This book is one of those that’s just so incredibly fun, that it just forces you to enjoy reading it. This book did deal with a lot of heavier topics, mainly relating to queerness and being forced to hide it, but the writing, characters, and their banter just made it all feel so much lighter! It’s definitely a fantastic book to pick up when you need a generally lighter read and want a type of writing that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is there just to give you a fun time. The cast is just full of a bunch of queer disasters, and I loved seeing how they all came together to help each other and befriend each other, even if they were not fans of each other at first! 

One of the things that I struggled with a bit in this book was maintaining my focus and finishing it up, though it may have been more my fault than the book’s for that. I did end up finishing it up in audio format, and I feel like I would have enjoyed it even more if I read it entirely as an audiobook! I just find it difficult sometimes to push through romance and contemporary books when the main characters are acting difficult and miscommunication kind of takes over, though I can see now at the end that it really wasn’t that bad at all!

One other thing I wasn’t as big a fan of was the sharp turn in focus in the final portion of the book seemed to take. Most of the book felt fairly low-stakes and was a bit more fluffy, focused more on the characters and their romances and relationships with each other, with a touch of politics. The ending is extremely focused on these politics, more so than anything else, and I felt like we lost a bit of the conclusion to the character side of the story because of it. It was also suddenly a lot darker and more harrowing. It made sense for the way the plot turned at the end, but it didn’t fit tonally with the rest of the book for me, and it made the ending feel much more abrupt.

Overall though, I had a lot of fun with this book, and I’ll definitely be reading more by this author in the future!

 

 

This is now my second book by this author, and I’m really enjoying the types of stories she writes. I love the way witches and magic are presented in this world, especially how closely they’re tied to nature. There’s always this close bond between the characters and the natural world, and it leads to some beautiful expressions of their magic. While The Nature of Witches focuses a bit more on nature magic, Wild is the Witch focuses more on animals and Iris’s relationship with them as a witch. It was a new angle of the magic system, but still written with the same depth and atmosphere.

I also really loved Iris as a main character, because she’s extremely sincere and full of love for her magic and her animals, but she’s also an extremely flawed character as well. The world has hurt her over and over, often due to her being a witch, and it creates this interesting relationship between Iris and her magic. We see her very closed off at the beginning of the story, both to new people and new experiences, and seeing her open up and grow throughout this book was amazing.

Overall, Wild is the Witch is another fantastic book from Griffin, and I can’t wait to read more of her work! 

 

While I was originally drawn in by this book’s gorgeous cover, I ended up staying for the synopsis itself. Not only was this book comped to Ninth House and A Deadly Education, but I always enjoy a good dark magic school with a secret society. I generally enjoyed my time with Curious Tides, but unfortunately, it didn’t end up becoming a new favorite for me. 

One thing I did think this book did well was the world-building and general pacing of the plot, though it may be too slow for many readers. I found the way the story unraveled to work well for me, and it was balanced well with us learning more about the magic system, the secret society hidden Aldryn, and the world’s history in general. When there are so many moving pieces in a story it can often feel like they’re racing each other or fighting for the reader’s attention, but this book was a good example of how it all can work together. There were moments it did drag a little bit and I did start to feel the book’s length, but it wasn’t generally an issue for me!

Unfortunately, this book lost me a little in the characters. A lot of the motivation for our narrators comes from Romie, the sister/friend who died before the story began. Even though we do see flashbacks of before, it didn’t really endear me to Romie and it made the intense motivation to bring her back feel hollow to me. We really only see the moments where Emory and Romie’s friendship is already suffering and beginning to fail, and it honestly didn’t do enough to help me understand Emory and Baz’s intense desire to bring her back. I completely understand wanting to reverse the loss, even at the expense of others or yourself, but it’s an easier motivation to follow when you (as the reader) as feel the loss of this character. I also wasn’t always a fan of Emory and the decisions she would make, and it made some of her choices quite frustrating to read and follow. Lastly, I also wasn’t entirely convinced by the romance in this book and the love triangle that ended up forming. I didn’t find either of the relationships very appealing, and I was often left more frustrated than intrigued by the romantic subplot.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book and did like where the ending seemed to be heading, though I’m not entirely sure yet if I’ll end up continuing the series!