witchbuns

Amy Yorke, 2025

Four stars for fun that covers the bases as a book one. It’s lighter on fantasy but deeper on feelings (the big squishy love ones) because it’s “New Adult” (think older YA) and the seeds are there for bigger moments in magic. What I wanted was more intensity with higher questions on the morals of war, the question of trusting advisors, and one more step forward on the magical mysteries, but I attribute that to this being New Adult, and either way, I’ll gladly return for the sequel. To me the central issue is that we lean too heavily on Sylvie’s POV and she’s young and inexperienced from being raised in isolation in a castle. Had we had more Ronan chapters to experience his maturity and live inside his moral choices (and had he made more mistakes), I think we’d have the intensity that I was craving.

The story introduces Sylvie, the spare to a ruling family who is orphaned from a devastating war of ruling lands. She feels like the weakest sibling because she can’t deal the killing blow and she’s not conniving and ruthless like her elder sister Adria. There’s also an older brother Seth but he’s missing in the story, I am guessing he will be a prominent storyline in Book 2.

Sylvie is set to kill Ronan, the god king (and naturally, gorgeous) enemy of her people for starving them and harvesting their land for gold. And then she meets him – and this is more than chemistry because their magic interweaves and they serve as empaths to each other. The mystery of their magic is the best part, and there are larger mysteries looming to tease us. Sylvie is so trusting and inexperienced that we don’t uncover much beyond an early mystery and many of the supporting characters receive limited scenes which leave a lot on the table. I really needed more colour about Adria and her psychology and I wanted more time with Larus because he was a very interesting character morally.

However – all the ingredients are there for the sequel to have more complexity, deeper questions of trust, and the higher stakes of who will rule – that’s an exciting proposal and I’ll take it.

Thank you to Amy Yorke, Glasslook Press, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.