A review by boocwurm
The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli

adventurous tense

5.0

 After losing her grandmother in a bloody anti-witch revolution, Rune Winters has one goal: Save as many witches from the hate-fueled Blood Guard as possible. To do so, she poses as a vapid socialite, hiding her real identity as the mysterious, vigilante witch, the Crimson Moth. Gideon Sharpe, a noble leader in the revolution, has dedicated himself to hunting down and exterminating the Crimson Moth and ending the witches’ reign of terror once and for all—and Rune is his primary suspect. Realizing the other has information that could further their goals, Rune and Gideon secretly pretend to court one another, leading to a deadly game of cat and mouse where tensions are high and lines become impossibly blurred. 

 

The highlights: 

-Enemies-to-lovers romance 

-Interesting, well-defined magic system 

-Love triangle 

-Hidden identities 

 

WHEW this book. I found it compulsively readable—every time I picked it up, I could not bring myself to put it down. It was fast-paced, interesting and dripping with delicious tension. 

 

THE CRIMSON MOTH doesn’t put forth a completely unique romantasy concept—witches are seen as evil, they are hunted after a revolution, and a young, powerful girl must save them all, but love gets in the way of her plans. But where I think this story really shines is the matching of wits in our main characters and the ideologies the story puts forth. 

 

Rune has a bit of an identity crisis in this story. By day, she’s a silly young aristocrat who’s known for being a huge flirt, loving pretty dresses and enjoying a good ball. By night, she puts her life on the line using her limited magical abilities to save other witches. But neither of these things really defines who Rune is or what she wants out of life. She’s so clouded by grief and the concept of duty after losing her grandmother, she hasn’t allowed herself to actually envision a life of peace and joy. She makes dumb decisions and has a wild, wounded spirit underneath her vapid and vicious façades. I really appreciated her sensitive nature and her ability to not have everything figured out. 

 

Gideon is a good mirror for Rune. He, too, carries a tremendous amount of grief with him and throws himself into his “cause” to avoid confronting his reality. He holds back his true feelings for Rune almost until the end because he doesn’t believe himself worthy. The two are much more similar than they believe themselves to be, which sparks their banter and chemistry on the page. 

 

Then there’s the plot and overarching conflict. I liked that there was quite a bit of nuance to the story’s warring sides—the formerly ruling witch queens and the Blood Guard revolutionaries. Both of the MCs’ beliefs are called into question throughout the book, and we learn that neither side are the righteous, benevolent rulers they claim to be—muddying the violent feud between them. It’s this complication that makes the romance between witch and witch hunter more “acceptable” while stoking that enemies-to-lovers tension. 

 

I really liked the magic system used here. It was relatively simple, using blood to power spells, but the addition of visible spellcaster scars and/or the need for blood from others put limitations on the witches’ power—and made Rune’s predicament more interesting and believable. 

 

There were some wild twists and turns throughout the story. I halfheartedly predicted some of them, but it didn’t make the payoff any less satisfying. The ending is action-packed and leaves on an intense cliffhanger that made me thank my lucky stars I had a digital arc of book two ready to go!!