This book has fantastic world building. I especially liked reading about the mystical creatures like storm horses and the different kind of witches. I'd definitely recommend this book to kids that enjoy fantasy and magic.

THE LAST WINDWITCH is enchanting. Brida’s world is filled with such unique and splendid magic – the ethereal and haunting sort that’s tied to the natural universe. There are tangled seasons, spellsongs, and storycakes in this rich and detailed world, and when the winds blow in the story, the reader can feel the magic swirling around on the page. Jennifer Adam’s writing is lyrical and poetic, and I was carried away by the spell this adventure wove around me. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the eARC.

The Last Windwitch follows Brida, a young hedgewitch apprentice living in Oak Hollow. It is such a beautifully written Middle Grade fantasy story. A really wonderful first book from Jennifer Adam. It's a really great journey filled with great fantasy and characters.

Brida lives in a dangerous world. She doesn't realize how dangerous until the day the Huntsman arrives and she finds herself tangled in a battle against the darkness that has ravaged the country for over a decade. If only Brida could get her magic to work right! Filled with imaginative characters and thoughtful descriptions, The Last WIndwitch is an intriguing adventure full of mystery and heart that is perfect for middle grade readers. It includes themes of discovering what family truly means and coming to terms with bullies of both the adult and child varieties. Brida is a likable character, whose joys and sorrows dance over the pages with effortless realism.
While this book won't end up on my favorites list, I'm glad I read it, and I'll certainly be recommending it to anyone who enjoys adventures in magical fantasy.

The writing and wordbuilding in this story are very strong and it has an intriguing premise. However, the pacing seemed slow and dragged. At 448 pages, this book feels WAY too long for middle grade, and I do think it will be a tough sell for most kids, except maybe the most avid readers. The story also felt a bit cliche and like every other vaguely European based fantasy, so I'm not sure how well it will stand out.

I ended up liking this book more than I had thought I would! Obviously I was intrigued by the synopsis since I requested the ARC, but I can honestly say that description did not do the book justice. It's not just a good book for fans of other authors, it is a great book for anyone who enjoys well crafted, exciting stories with strong heroines. This is a great book for young readers and I highly recommend it for school and classroom libraries! The bone creature and Hounds might be a little scary for some younger children, but overall the content is good for late elementary and middle school readers.

This book is so well written and difficult to put down! Brida is a fantastic lead character and her strength to get through the events of the story is something we would like to see young readers aspire to. She gets scared, but is able to overcome that fear to do what she has to in order to survive and save those she cares about (and even those she barely knows). The message of following your instincts (as Brida does with her magic) is a great one for the target audience. If the author ever wanted to go back and tell the stories of Bones, Bear, and Hush in prequels I would love to know more about them. I would also happily read the continuing tales of Brida and her family and friends!

It's always a special thing to read an author's debut and such is the case with Jennifer Adam's middle-grade fantasy "The Last Windwitch," an April 2021 release from HarperCollins Children's Books.

"The Last Windwitch" introduces us to the world of Brida, a young hedgewitch apprentice living quite contentedly in the small village of Oak Hollow trying to live into the gift she is constantly told she possesses but which she has great difficulty manifesting with any consistency.

We know rather early on in "The Last Windwitch" that there is more to Brida's life than meets the eye, though my guess is that middle-grade readers will be less quick to become fully aware of Brida's journey and the rather fantastic places that it goes.

Working under the watchful eye of Mother Magdi, Brida is both a disciplined apprentice and a curious child, possessing a curiosity that we all tend to know is going to lead to more than a little bit of trouble. Eventually, she catches the eye of her kingdom's wicked queen who aspires to possess as much power as possible.

If you've seen the cover for "The Last Windwitch," it rather beautifully captures very much how I felt while reading the book. Adam beautifully develops the character of Brida as a young child growing into her skills and the responsibility for which she has been born.

It's not surprising, of course, that she is born with great purpose and that purpose will be revealed by the end of "The Last Windwitch."

Before long, Brida will be on the run from the Queen's Huntsman, an intimidating man who seemingly pops up everywhere and who is tasked with presenting the revealed to be gifted Brida to the queen. Along the way, Brida will meet friends and foes, adoring animals and dastardly beasts. She will encounter the Queen's Crow-spies and will learn the truth about her family, her magic, and the life into which she was born. She may very well learn that even as a little girl she is born with the gifts that will help defeat the wicked queen and restore the kingdom to its rightful place.

"The Last Windwitch" is a delightful tale, a patient journey at 448 pages that takes its time setting the stage for Brida's journey and for enfolding us into the fantasy world in which Brida's journey is set. Adam sets the stage slowly, perhaps a bit too slowly, but in most ways that patience is worth it as we become immersed in the lives of these characters and by tale's end we care about their resolution. While the beginning unfolds a tad slowly, the climactic conflicts seem to unfold rather abruptly and made me wish we had a little more time to really savor Brida's unfolding gifts and how they weave themselves into the conflict and the story's resolution.

However, these are minor quibbles, truly, for a story that engaged me from beginning to end and kept me thoroughly delighted with characters such as Brida, Magdi, Hush, and others whose relevance shall remain secret in this review. Even ancillary characters are developed nicely here, not always true in children's lit and yet essential to the story's success.

"The Last Windwitch" is very much an immersive story. Jennifer Adam is an engaging, visual storyteller and I found myself quite often reading more slowly and surrendering myself to the story unfolding in my heart and in my mind.

Fans of Shannon Hale and Kelly Barnhill will find much to appreciate here and there seems little doubt that HarperCollins has given to us an imaginative, gifted writer whose creatively yet intelligently constructed fantasy world is destined to delight middle-grade readers.

There's potential in this book, particularly in the world building, but it falls short on plot. The entire narrative is moved forward by repeated instances of someone telling Brita, the MC, not to do something for her own safety, at which point she does that thing, and then immediately falls into a highly dangerous situation. Her motivation for ignoring the advice of the very many people who are trying to protect her (from, apparently, herself) is consistently an ongoing belief that she is unworthy and unwanted, despite no evidence that anyone but the town bully has any opinions about her at all. Overall I was bored, rather than intrigued. Some parents might object to the inference to out of wedlock sex that is a feature of the in-world Samhain festivities.

This book was received as an ARC from HarperCollins Children's Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I could not stop reading this book. I love how books take you on a journey alongside the main protagonist and as you read, it is like you are their partner in crime along for the journey and they are asking you to come along and help out. That is how I felt following alongside Brida's adventures as she finds and confronts the Queen of Crows in hopes to make it back to save her kingdom or it will become ruins. Also, it a lot of fun reading in the point of view of a child. Being a kid at heart, your heart will be warmed and be the biggest cheerleader ever!

We will consider adding this title to our JFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.