Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Near Witch

After a failed attempt of trying to get through The Darker Shade of Magic series (I dropped it after the first 50 pages in the second book) I wanted to give the author another chance and I’m glad I did.

V.S Schwab excels when they let the story exist. TDSOM’s worldbuilding was so overly troublesome that it was uninteresting. Going into The Near Witch, you understand that there’s a fairy tale aspect to the narrative. We don’t need to question the lore more than what we are told. Witches exist and they speak to the earth and the moor and live for hundreds of years and we accept it and wait for the next part of the story.

Don’t expect an in depth character arch if you’re looking for that. The characters do go through conflict, but there isn’t much growth or change in their ways (

besides cole

). I didn’t mind all that much, as once again, if you understood this was more fairy tale than a typical fantasy book you’d have a better time reading it. The romance was pretty thin but cute! Kinda wish the main story was 50 pages longer just so we could have a bit more fleshing out.

Loved the witch sisters and the description of the town and the way magic is explained and talked about. The writing was pretty and if you’re looking for an easy read, this is the book!

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was a delightful read! Comparing it to Diane Wynne Jones was incredibly accurate. The romance was a bit boring to me, mostly because it leaned heavily on the same descriptions over & over again. We get it, his eyes looked like wet rocks and it made her heart race lmao

not many complaints, though I wish the Near Witch had been a bit more nuanced

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tales_of_1001_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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thewitchwhoisabook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A lovely little fairy tale. Like a bowl of nourishing soup.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This one is real hard to review because I didn't like the narrator for the audiobook. They spoke. Very. Stunted. Without. Any. Flow. ...I don't believe that is how the book was written as that is not my experience of Schwab's writing. I do think you can tell this is early on in Schwab's career as her writing really has improved with her subsequent novels. It is a very typical YA kind of romance between characters (a bit insta lovey).

Overall it was hard to get through with the narrator, and if I wasn't reading it for a book club I might've switched to a physical book or DNF'd.

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tkatt20's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I loved this book. Its a really quick read if you're looking for something with a relatively simple magic system and high tension. I thought the pacing was wonderful for it being a standalone (accompanied by a short story) partially because it had such an interesting writing style and I felt like I could really connect emotionally to the characters which kept me reading. It also didn't feel like too much of an info dump which I run into sometimes with standalones and all the characters had depth and personality outside of the main character. My only complaint was the romance seemed to be very insta love which I'm not a huge fan of but considering that isn't the main plot, this book was great. Gave me major salem witch trial vibes too which I loved!

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theprocrastinatingbookworm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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lauraj122's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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