Witch Season

Julia Bianco’s debut Witch Season is, according to the back cover, the first in a duology. I wish I’d noted that when I started reading, as it would have informed my experience. Because I didn’t know that until the end, the book felt very incomplete to me. I am not generally a fan of duologies; I’m of the belief that a good editor can make two okay books into one great one. But there is a compelling story in Witch Season.

Magic is real in this world, but the witches who use it try to shield “ordinaries” (non-magic-possessing humans) from its existence. Katherine Barnes, a high-ranking member of the Aestas coven, is charged with keeping that secret and keeping her fellow witches in line. Her story is complex; she was born with unsettled magic. This only happens to witches born to ordinaries, but Aestas’s head witch, Sylvia, saved her when the power Katherine possessed became impossible to manage. For that reason, Katherine is loyal to Sylvia and to the mission of helping other unsettled witches. This is the foundation in place when unsettled witch Lily enters the picture, and a member of the Khatri family — the powerful coven that controls most other covens in the world — arrives to audit Aestas.

The issue for me is that many of the twists are forecast, and the resolution is likely coming in the second book, so Witch Season isn’t a complete story. But if the witchy world and a little romance are your thing, you’ll likely enjoy this.