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madistechoxo's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I couldn’t put it down. Read the whole thing in 2 days.
lavendermarch's review against another edition
5.0
Told in three parts, from the perspective of Elloren, The Black Witch is a tale of many things. Overcoming prejudice. Forbidden romance. Friendship. Secrets. Finding oneself. And finally, just generally being awesome.
I found Elloren to be tolerable at first, and then I grew frustrated with her prejudices. But she still felt guilt, and she changed. I was very glad. She develops friendships in unlikely places, with unlikely people, and I loved every second of it. There’s also a semi-romance (i.e. it’s in the works). So yay for that. Advice if Elloren frustrates you? Keep reading. It gets a hell of a lot better, and part three...AMAZING.
That’s pretty interesting, and I greatly look forward to book 2!
5 stars.
I found Elloren to be tolerable at first, and then I grew frustrated with her prejudices. But she still felt guilt, and she changed. I was very glad. She develops friendships in unlikely places, with unlikely people, and I loved every second of it. There’s also a semi-romance (i.e. it’s in the works). So yay for that. Advice if Elloren frustrates you? Keep reading. It gets a hell of a lot better, and part three...AMAZING.
Spoiler
On Ren’s magic: I think she’s a tree witch, or tree mage. Tree fae? I think it’s tree fae. But whatever.5 stars.
thebookishlibrarian's review
Carnissa Gardner is the last prophesied black witch, and there is evil on the horizon. Her granddaughter Elloren hopes to fight this evil, but there’s just one problem: she has no power in the magical society whatsoever. Elloren puts the evil out of her mind when she is given an opportunity to study to be an apothecary. She is excited to pursue her lifelong dream, but she soon realizes that evil has followed her to the university and life as a student there won’t be as easy as she thought.
Thanks to School Library Journal for a review copy of this book.
Thanks to School Library Journal for a review copy of this book.
aledoux's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lhclack666's review against another edition
3.0
To be fair, I'm only 25% through right now, but I need a place to gather my thoughts and I don't know how to do notes along the way (unless there are highlights? And I don't find any single thing worth highlighting)
I'm having a hard time with the world building and in general understanding the main character just yet. Usually I have a feel for that by now, maybe not the entire world, but the character. She's 17 but so far doesn't annoy me acting like a 12 year old like Feyre in ACOTAR. But she _does_ seem appropriately naive and "young." She just doesn't have much personality other than her naivity? She's so ultra confused by everything in the city and has zero analysis skills to infer anything that might be happening. Zero insight, other than "omg a 'woman' is in a cage!" Idk, not fully annoyed yet, just..."huh?"
And it seems like a lot of world building info is thrown around, but it's not sticking in any comprehensive way. The only thing my brain seems to put together is how similar the Ancient One's story is to our world's Christian "God" and Elloren's group of people are racist Man's Destiny types. To annoyingly call out the elephant in the room, based on what I'm seeing with other reviews, people seem to think that writing about racist people means the author is racist, which I think is so dumb. I'm glad to have books that talk about this kind of thing in a narrative, hopefully giving people more ways to connect with the parallels of our own world, see that Elloren's people are in the wrong here, and learn from it, maybe??? Like can we root for the MC and hope she, too, learns? Either way, I don't find it difficult to empathize here.
But besides that, like reading the "creationist story" when Elloren is in church, how old is this world and when did the Realm War happen? What are the lifespans of these people for me to understand how long ago her grandma fought? Was it mentioned once and I missed it? I'm honestly kind of picturing a Witcher-type world and timeline, that has helped. But also, ok I'll stop saying "Elloren's people" but I honestly can't remember what they are called, the Gardeners? Ok, but also, I don't understand how we're supposed to feel about magic in this world? The Gardeners are so puritanical, but magic seems like a normal thing, so it's not trying to be "pure" people in that sense? But why do men primarily have it? And why does that make them superior? And what is the genetic background of how it passes down and why haven't we figured that out? And I guess the level magic you have you're born with, but it does seem like there's possibility to become more powerful, but can you gain levels?? And what's with the green glowy skin in the dark, are these people wood feye?
The other characters all seem fairly cliche, so I'm hoping for more unique arcs. Team up with the mean girl, yo. Ok, i guess I need to get back to reading and hope things get better.
This was sold to me as "Harry Potter for adults but with dragons" and I'm waiting for those vibes tp appear.
-----------
Ok I finished. Part way through I dropped it to 2 stars, but finishing it, back to 3 stars. Elloren got annoyingly defensive and prejudiced a few times. But overall she's less annoying in general.
A couple times some characters were named that made me go "Who the fuck is this person?"
It's a slow burn, but I am interested in the love triangle. I want more from Yvin. I want to see more of Lukas. I wish Fallon would die and all her brothers. All I care about are the Lupines and each time their stories unfolded, I cried real tears. And ultimately I need more of the story so I guess I will continue on, next book on hold at the library.
I'm apprehensive at some of the reviews for the book that hasn't been released yet (also I really really really hate people putting up any sort of star rating or review for a book they haven't read, can Goodreads come out with some "discussion" option so people aren't poisoning the well here? sheesh) -- but I hope the second book gets better and we'll see if I hate what everyone else is hating about the third book.
I'm having a hard time with the world building and in general understanding the main character just yet. Usually I have a feel for that by now, maybe not the entire world, but the character. She's 17 but so far doesn't annoy me acting like a 12 year old like Feyre in ACOTAR. But she _does_ seem appropriately naive and "young." She just doesn't have much personality other than her naivity? She's so ultra confused by everything in the city and has zero analysis skills to infer anything that might be happening. Zero insight, other than "omg a 'woman' is in a cage!" Idk, not fully annoyed yet, just..."huh?"
And it seems like a lot of world building info is thrown around, but it's not sticking in any comprehensive way. The only thing my brain seems to put together is how similar the Ancient One's story is to our world's Christian "God" and Elloren's group of people are racist Man's Destiny types. To annoyingly call out the elephant in the room, based on what I'm seeing with other reviews, people seem to think that writing about racist people means the author is racist, which I think is so dumb. I'm glad to have books that talk about this kind of thing in a narrative, hopefully giving people more ways to connect with the parallels of our own world, see that Elloren's people are in the wrong here, and learn from it, maybe??? Like can we root for the MC and hope she, too, learns? Either way, I don't find it difficult to empathize here.
But besides that, like reading the "creationist story" when Elloren is in church, how old is this world and when did the Realm War happen? What are the lifespans of these people for me to understand how long ago her grandma fought? Was it mentioned once and I missed it? I'm honestly kind of picturing a Witcher-type world and timeline, that has helped. But also, ok I'll stop saying "Elloren's people" but I honestly can't remember what they are called, the Gardeners? Ok, but also, I don't understand how we're supposed to feel about magic in this world? The Gardeners are so puritanical, but magic seems like a normal thing, so it's not trying to be "pure" people in that sense? But why do men primarily have it? And why does that make them superior? And what is the genetic background of how it passes down and why haven't we figured that out? And I guess the level magic you have you're born with, but it does seem like there's possibility to become more powerful, but can you gain levels?? And what's with the green glowy skin in the dark, are these people wood feye?
The other characters all seem fairly cliche, so I'm hoping for more unique arcs. Team up with the mean girl, yo. Ok, i guess I need to get back to reading and hope things get better.
This was sold to me as "Harry Potter for adults but with dragons" and I'm waiting for those vibes tp appear.
-----------
Ok I finished. Part way through I dropped it to 2 stars, but finishing it, back to 3 stars. Elloren got annoyingly defensive and prejudiced a few times. But overall she's less annoying in general.
A couple times some characters were named that made me go "Who the fuck is this person?"
It's a slow burn, but I am interested in the love triangle. I want more from Yvin. I want to see more of Lukas. I wish Fallon would die and all her brothers. All I care about are the Lupines and each time their stories unfolded, I cried real tears. And ultimately I need more of the story so I guess I will continue on, next book on hold at the library.
I'm apprehensive at some of the reviews for the book that hasn't been released yet (also I really really really hate people putting up any sort of star rating or review for a book they haven't read, can Goodreads come out with some "discussion" option so people aren't poisoning the well here? sheesh) -- but I hope the second book gets better and we'll see if I hate what everyone else is hating about the third book.
ataccata's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
booksofreverie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
dr_bookdragon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
aroden's review
Aside from the worldbuilding/plot being incredibly derivative, (oh wow another book about an attractive chosen one MC going to a boarding school where elves and witches and werewolves hate each other) and all of the characters are unlikeable, it feels like a weird take on racism if racism was written by someone who’s never experienced it.
brinatividad's review against another edition
1.0
this book was very underwhelming….idk how i feel about elloren, she’s quite boring as a mc. i don’t really feel inclined to continue this series :/