After the murder of her mother at the hands of witch Hunters, Evey is determined to get her revenge at any cost.

Unfortunately I really didn't get on with the writing style for this. It's clearly a stylistic choice, but it made me unable to concentrate on the story. Although I liked Evey is a character, and I liked her fury and rage, I found I just couldn't get passed the writing style to connect with her. I also found the pacing to be very uneven, with a slow start and not a lot of action until right near the end. For such a short book I was expecting something quicker. The world building is minimal, and we never really see more than what Evey is directly involved in or travelling to, with little to no descriptions of what the environment is like.

There's also no backstory to explain why the world is like it is, how witches came to be and why they're being hunted. The magical system is also simplistic, but again largely left to the reader to determine themselves as we are not told anything about how it works.

Some interesting aspects, but largely this just didn't connect with me.

I ended up DNFing this at 30%. I personally wasn't very attached to the writing style, and while I initially found the premise interesting, I ended up feeling quite disengaged.

The sibling dynamic in this was interesting and something I really enjoyed. I liked our main characters, but I didn't feel that those who surrounded them were particularly fleshed-out, which contributed to a sense of displacement within the world.

The writing is very talented - I did like it, and I think it was very stylistically distinct, which is always nice to see. The voice came through clearly, so if that's something you love in a book then I think you would enjoy this.

This could be a great book for someone else, but it just didn't click with me.

Thank you to Netgalley, Finbar Hawkins and Head of Zeus for my arc of Witch in exchange for an honest review.


Synopsis: Set in the 17th century this is a novel of witches, power, fury, women, and revenge. After witnessing the murder of her mother by Witch hunters, Evey is determined to get her revenge even at the risk of losing everything she holds dear.

Witch is first and foremost beautifully written, true to its time but with a modern twist which makes it a much easier read. It only took me a couple of hours as it is a relatively short book as well. While I felt at times that the book was somewhat 'strange' and not the sort of writing I usually enjoy I did fly through it and find it engrossing but not enjoyable if that makes sense!
I don't doubt that this book will be up for a prize at some point it's that kind of writing. I don't feel like I've explained what I mean very well but it has left me with very conflicted feelings.

"I never did no magick. Not at the time they said, anyways."

The book follows Evey, who is left responsible for her younger sister, Dill, after the murder of their mother by witch hunters. Consumed with anger, Evey leaves her sister with their aunt and sets out to get revenge. This is a relatively short book and set in the 17th century.

I liked that the writing style reflected the times and it was easy to believe that a young girl was narrating the story. However, this made it a little confusing as the narrative jumped around a lot. The plot was interesting and I totally loved the concept, but overall, the story felt slightly rushed.

In terms of characters, I really enjoyed Evey's development. Initially, she seemed selfish and not particularly likable, but as the book progressed, she grew and showed her fierceness and loyalty. While predictable, the story was a lot darker than I expected and I enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review. I will wait until closer the publish date to share my review socially.

Because of the writing style, I had hard times with this book. I couldn't connect with it and it affected the reading. I didn't care for any character nor the story itself, which was too slow for my liking. It could have been an interesting book if not for all these negative aspects.

Easy to read and intriguing but a little predictable. Not what I was hoping for, the narration wasn't coherent and jumped around abruptly in places.

THIS BOOK!! I flew through this book and found it thoroughly engrossing, finishing the entire thing within a few hours. It's dark and mysterious but so beautiful and enchanting. Evey's voice took me through the entire story easily, the action is constant and exciting!

Evey herself is very complex, in the balance between being a hero and going too far which I always find very captivating. I enjoy characters that aren't one-note, and have a depth to them. Hawkins definitely nails that with Evey and I found myself really enjoying her constantly changing morality.

The setting is also so unique and engrossing, Hawkins perfectly capturing how I imagined it to be. His writing style is so different to anything I've read before but it's truly wonderful.

Highly recommend to everyone!

DNF @ 63%

I gave this as much of a chance as I could, and while the basic premise was extremely interesting (Eveline hunting down the witch hunters who killed her mother), I really struggled with the book itself. I felt like I was reading it because I had to, and not because I wanted to. The narrative style just didn't particularly work for me. It was very dialogue heavy, whereas I tend to prefer a lot more description, and I also felt like there was a great hurry to get everywhere in this book. Each scene was rushed as if we were hurrying to the next one, only for that to be the same. I also found it very frustrating that Evey would do something, immediately regret it/lament it in the internal narrative but would make no attempt at doing anything about it. A few times, absolutely, teenagers are like that, but every single time made me lose interest as I, unfortunately, just felt like Evey wasn't going to actively fix anything.

HOWEVER, there are plenty of positive reviews for this book, so potentially this just wasn't a good fit for me, rather than it being a problem with the book itself. I recommend checking out those positive reviews first before you make any decisions on TBR or not TBR!

Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the arc of witch.

4 stars- enjoyable, great quick read, recommend if you like books about witchcraft, the 17th century etc.

After witnessing the brutal murder of their mother by witch-hunters, Evey promises to avenge her and bring those responsible the justice as what they deserve.. Evey also promised to her mother that she will keep her little sister, Dill safe if anything was to happen to her and it did so Dill is now Evey's responsibility....

This book was not what I expected. It was quite dark, but also lyrical. Very easy to read and a great story!

Atmospheric, historical novel, set just after the English Civil War, when witch finders were all-powerful, spreading suspicion among communities. At the start of the novel, sisters Evey and Dill watch as their mother is killed by one such witch finder and his men. Evey swears to take revenge on these men and we follow as she tracks them, trying to keep her sister safe and learning more about her magic as she does so. I enjoyed this book very much.

Witch holds all the promise of a tale of witch trials and justice, told from the voice of a young girl who witnesses her mothers murder and promises to avenge her death whilst protecting her younger sister. This is the type of novel which really excites me.

There are many very good elements to the book, the setting in 17th century England, the forests and towns, the wars and the language used makes for a whimsical yet historic charm. I do love a good story of witch trials and justice. However there are for me some uncomfortable topics and one or two plot holes.

What I’m left thinking about most is what I found difficult to read about. For example a boy who seemed to be disabled but is described as mad. I didn’t think that this was necessary. Secondly the scene where a girl seeing Evey’s face blackened by ash in a disguise describes this as the black witch and therefore dark magic. This strikes a bad chord with me since there are direct connotations with blackface, plus the dark face being likened what is bad, rather than the whitened face of the other girl describes as good.

I also felt that there were some areas which left me confused; were the women witches or wise women, and was magic actually happening; we are told the girls’ mother knew the ‘old ways’, but not what this was. This is alluded to throughout and yet not quite dealt with, and the scrying stone is never explained either.

The main body of the book is an adventure through town and forest, some questionable friendships seem to be made, but these are necessary for the plot. The climax is is good, a satisfying rescue and escape.

All in all, I feel that the book should have trigger warnings at the beginning due to the scenes noted above, and also for the desecration of a body, death of an animal and descriptions of suffering.

Witch is the debut novel by Finbar Hawkins, it's haunting and unforgettable. The main protagonist is very likeable and easy to connect with. Well worth a read.

I cannot resist a book with witches in it. This is a book about two sisters witnessing the death of their mother so they set out to get revenge. It was a quick short read for me but I also felt it was simplistic at times. The characters felt a little young and the language used was simplistic. I didn’t enjoy the writing style, it didn’t work for me but it will for some. The overall story was okay but the pacing was off in places.

Witch is a sharp, unflinching tale of family and revenge. While I didn't love the writing style, I could see it was beautifully written. Not really a book I was in the target audience for, as it turned out, this was still a good read.

You say witches, I say sign me up..

It's a tale of two young sisters who witness their mother's murder and set out on path to avenge her death. Younger sister is only 9 years of age so the main character conveniently leaves her with an aunt which was also their mother's dying wish.

Needless to say it's not a smooth road to find the ones guilty..

For some reason the writing style didn't work for me at all. Maybe it was the character's age but I found the language very simplistic.

Story itself was alright but I felt like some transitions weren't done well and it didn't progress smoothly.

That said this book is a quick read and I would recommend it to anyone who likes tales of witchcraft and sisterhood

Witch tells of the story of two sisters, Evey and Dilly.

It's a powerful tale of revenge, family and relationships, Finbar Hawkins richly describes his characters and as such, you picture them in your mind as Evey and Dilly's story is played out on the page.

The theme of revenge is present all of the way through and it's only towards the end of the tale that we find out the true nature of the scrying stone and Evey's powers..

Very well written and I look forward to reading more of Hawkins' work.

Despite the fact that it’s the 21st century women have yet to be given all the right and rewards awarded to men at birth. Hawkins takes readers back to the 17th century, when being a woman who had opinions, medical knowledge, or who just dared to speak up, were cast as witches and summarily executed. Evey’s mother has been killed by witch hunters, and although she knows she must care for her little sister, in her heart burns a hot coal of rage. A desire for revenge and an end to the hysteria are foremost on Evey’s mind. Can she care for her blood sister and fulfill her destiny to her sisters of magick?