3.0
The Hollow Witch
ByPublisher Description
When child soldier Silvie loses her magic and part of her hearing, her life as she knew it is over. Sent to the far-away canal city of Arteria to be an alchemist's apprentice, she is forced to begin again.
Azura, the alchemist's daughter, lives among Arteria's wealthiest and most comfortable. She and Silvie couldn't be more different, and yet the two are drawn to one another, each trapped by the circumstances of their birth.
But Arteria is plagued by the high cost of its magic use: the cadaveri - walking corpses that prey on the living.
When the city comes under unprecedented threat, can Silvie and Azura save it? Do they even want to?
"This is a wild, magical, powerful story. Our queer disabled heroine lives in a world of zombies and witches... Can love, friendship and hope survive in such a place?" - Jess Walton, Stars In Their Eyes
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Hollow Witch Reviews
3.0
“Loved the world setting in this one - essentially magic is late stage capitalism and instead of breaking the environment it broke the dead who now rise like zombies to haunt the living
Lena and Sylvie were the standout characters for me but I really struggled to like Azura - I think its a me problem but she is a very woe is me nepo baby that never got that moxie or convinced me of her plight that flips them to likeable for me. Lena was a damn delight, if this had been a friends to enemies to lovers situation with Sylvie and Lena I would be throwing myself at this book”
“I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The concept of cadaveri/zombies being a result of magic was both new and intriguingly fresh. I wish there had been more exploration of Silvie, Koyla, Lena, Myles, and Azura's lives prior to Silvie's death in her wolf form. I found it exciting to anticipate the twists and turns before they unfolded, even amidst the revelations of such deep trauma. I would love to see the development of Azura and Silvie's blossoming relationship. I'm eager to find out what lies ahead for Myles and Lena as they confront their trauma and what their choices ultimately signify for not only their group but for the entire kingdom as well. I am giving this 4 stars only because everyone keeps saying this is a standalone, and I sincerely hope there will be at least one more book it does not feel like it is over. I will revise to 5 if a second is released.
Thank You NetGalley for an ARC of this book.”
“Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this!
The Hallow Witch was a story of Sylvie who has her life turned upside down when she is chosen to become the apprentice to the royal apothecary.
The world building in this was beautifully executed for such a short book. I loved the magic system and the undead element. It was just brilliantly thought out.
The diverse representation is also a nice touch. Having both sapphic, as well as differently abled representation (in the one character) was such a treat.
I did feel like the story was a little slow to get going, especially being such a short book. But once it took off, it really took off.
Thank you again NetGalley and Mary Borsellino, it was a pleasure.”
“Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this book.
3/5
I don’t know if it was because I started this book at the worst time - i.e. during a billion exams - but I continuously contemplated DNFing and I don’t DNF books.
Why did the book get so interesting in the last 30% of the book? It may require a reread but not anytime soon.
While the world building was excellent and I enjoyed the interactions between the characters, I was a bit bored regarding the plot line. Such as how it took over half of the book for the interesting Zombies/Ghouls to appear. One part I was horrified at was that Lena was made Queen at 2 years old. My jaw literally dropped to the floor, Holy Crap why? Why make her that young?
I loved the complexity of the characters, especially Lena. I was guessing why she often acted like she does and constantly tried to understand why the Little Queen was ruthless. In my opinion she was the only character who experienced deep flaws and I wouldn’t mind a spin-off where she goes full terminator on her kingdom without being stopped. She deserved a book to be written about her.
I liked Sylvie a lot, she was forced to become ordinary and human despite living with magic. Her deafness allowed her to change her experiences and become who she was at the end of the book. Myles was also an interesting character even if we barely see him. I kinda disliked Azura a little, I tried not to, but I kept thinking, “huh, what is she going to do?”, I don’t know if I actually missed something while reading but she kept bothering me.
I loved the Sapphic representation and how normal it was for the characters and not experience stereotypical hatred that can be found in books. I love how normalized LGBT+ representation is becoming, especially for a younger generation who probably want to seek more books that they can semi-relate to. I wish I had that, I still don’t but I’ve expected that.
(Cross-posted to Goodreads and StoryGraph)”
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