Such a fun read that makes the environmentalist in me happy. I loved the magic system and they way the author connected the seasons to personality.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an electronic ARC of The Nature of Witches , gifted to me in exchange for my honest review.

Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk!

Griffin's premise was promising, a modern world in which magic exists and witches with seasonal powers work to protect humans from natural disasters but are finding it increasingly hard to do so in the face of climate change. It sounded like it would be whimsical yet highly relevant. Sadly, the premise falls short due to adragging plot, weak characterization, underused setting, and purple prose.

On the plot, the book starts with protagonist Clara leaving her fellow witches at her magical boarding school in a bind, refusing to use her unique Everwitch powers because, in the past, her lack of mastery over them led to the death of her best friend and her parents. In the present, they kind of, sort of kill her mentor. Griffin introduces a ticking clock here, when Clara decides that she'll have her powers stripped by the next eclipse. According to the - underdeveloped - magic system, witches can lose their powers if they cross paths with an eclipse. So, we know that an eclipse is coming and that Clara could choose to end her Chosen One suffering then. However, the stakes remain somehow very low for a story where failure means the end of the world after a series of cataclysmic events.

For nearly 40% of the book, the plot consists of dry, flowery descriptions using words that ring false due to their lack of connection to the protagonist. We're in Clara's head, but we might as well be in a cottagecore Thesaurus. Later on, a few events take place in which Clara is forced to use her powers and, once the Love Interest is introduced - a soft but generic cinnamon roll called Sang - the ticking clock is fully forgotten and instead Clara becomes determined to control her powers. She's tested and she succeeds. She mouths off her teachers in that typical "I know better" attitude of Chosen Ones. The climax comes and it's very anti-climactic. She wins, the world will not end. She rides into the sunset with Sang. Well, or flies to London. Same difference.

As I alluded before, Clara is a poorly characterized Chosen One stereotype. The one word that comes to mind when I think of her is: whiny. She's this super-powerful witch who has powers all year round, whereas her peers only have powers during the season to which said powers belong. And yet, she spends about 95% of the book complaining and hating her powers and crying about how her inability to control them killed her loved ones. Yet, for half of the book she doesn't even try to learn how to control them, which in turn kills people. Makes zero sense. Then, suddenly, through some convenient fast forwarded training sessions with Sang, she not only controls them but discovers new powers.

Clara is bisexual, and a plotline about her romantic relationship with one of her girlfriends (the one she didn't kill) could have been interesting if it hadn't been seen through flashbacks only and present scenes in which the other girl is basically her therapist for her current relationship.

The romance is laughable in that for half the book there's no tension between the two characters and all the scenes fall flat and then, suddenly, the love interest is declaring how much he likes Clara. Why would he? She's been nothing but rude and condescending to him. And then he's declaring how much he loves her, and how she's his forever and ever, ever, ever. That's a direct quote. Why? How? It felt like Griffin wrote this just so Clara's internal conflict would be activated, since she spends most of the book thinking she can't be in love with anyone for longer than a season or love anyone in any shape or form without killing them. An interesting but transparently false misbelief.

The other characters are basically cardboard placeholders: Boy Love Interest Discarded, Real Boy Love Interest, Kind Mentor, Cold Mentor, Mean Mentor, Cool BFF and former fling. They were written very two-dimensional and existed only in relation to Clara.

The setting, a boarding school somewhere nature-y, is underused throughout despite paragraphs upon paragraphs of description. It felt like it had been inspired by She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Harry Potter, but the magic of Hogwarts is that you feel like you know it, like you could be there, walk those hallways, turn a corner and see the moving staircases, or run into one of the many students named throughout the series. Here, I couldn't even picture the school. There were houses, but Clara lived alone in a cabin. We barely ever saw her spend time with the other students in a collegiate manner.

Something that also confused me about setting was the choice to have the book take place in modern times. Clara has a cellphone. There are cars. I understand that part of the premise of the book was making a metaphor for climate change and the impending doom, so having these technology devices is a reminder that the story isn't taking place in the 1800s. However, they don't really do much for the plot and they just took me out of the scene abruptly since they felt out of place. They made it obvious that the magic system wasn't fully developed.

As I said, the prose was too flowery yet fell empty to me. The words could have been anyone's, there was no reason to believe Clara would have said them. There were even some sentences that made me pause and wonder if a 17-year-old, witch or not, would have ever phrased something like that. I read them out loud, they sounded artificial.

The decision to use first person POV and to be very much in Clara's head throughout felt claustrophobic and redundant, since her thoughts were very circular. Perhaps a close third person omniscient would have served this story better.

The final point of confusion for me, which I am aware is even more of a personal opinion than the rest of this review, is the use of quotes at the beginning of a chapter from a book that, we find out at the end, is written by Clara after the events in the book. The quotes are the sort of superficial-deep inspirational quotes you expect from an Instagram page that posts only using the typewriter font on a white background. "You're allowed to love yourself," "You are stronger than you think," "There is nothing more powerful than being understood." They do not serve the story, in my opinion, and just constantly broke any illusion the plot or prose might have created.

I can appreciate all the boxes The Nature of Witches ticks, there's some sexual representation, an Asian love interest, cottagecore aesthetics galore, pretty language, a powerful heroine. I'm sure many readers will love it, but to me it felt disjointed and devoid of true meaning.

What I liked? The gorgeous cover. The concept of natural magic based on seasons, which was unfortunately not sufficiently explored. The premise as a whole.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.

Witches have maintained the climate for centuries, keeping witches and non-witches (shaders) safe. Until the shaders got greedy, as humans do, and wanted more. As the world suffers from being overtaxed, weather patterns become more erratic, and witches struggle to keep everything from entirely falling apart. But now witches are dying from depletion of their magic as they try to save Earth. It's an interesting take on global warming and how humanity is destroying the planet.

It was great to see the concept of seasonal witches in a YA novel and I really enjoyed how Griffin built the laws and parameters of magic around the seasons. In this world, seventeen year old Clara is an Everwitch - she has the power of every season. She's the first Ever in generations and her power comes at a cost, when she loses control of it, her power seeks out and kills anyone she cares about. Her school is doing the best they can to train her, but no one living knows how to train an Ever.

As with most "chosen ones", Clara struggles with the cost of her powers, and she'll need the help of her friends to figure it all out before it's too late. Griffin has some truly beautiful imagery throughout this book, and how the witches use their power/get their power is really interesting. And how GORGEOUS is that book cover?!

I don't think there are enough standalone novels in YA and while I would love to have this story continue, THE NATURE OF WITCHES is great on its own and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I really liked the unique magic system in this book, and how the sections were tied to the seasons. The author's descriptive writing really brought the natural setting to life.

The main character is 17 year old Clara, the chosen one at magic school, the once-in-a-generation Everwitch who can control the magic of all 4 seasons, as opposed to a normal witch, whose power is tied to just one season. And, for reasons, she doesn't want her special power.

Everything is told from Clara's POV, and the story is focused on her journey to understanding her magic and self acceptance. She's overcome with self-pity for the first third of the book, and her defeatist woe-is-me attitude tended to be repetitive and tiresome. She slowly begins figuring things out, thanks to help and guidance from other characters.

Nothing really happens during the book, except the building of the predictable relationship between Clara and her trainer Sang, and we don't see much outside of the school setting. It is definitely character driven, not much plot besides the over-arching need of the witches to strengthen their magic so they can help to heal the damage done to the atmosphere due to climate change.

I do feel that some world-buiding issues weren't really explained, like how a witch's seasonal power would be affected if they like, followed their season across the globe. And how was no one able to explain the past Everwitches' magic to Clara? Wouldn't there be some official record of what it can do? Also, the mysterious solution tied to the big event at the end came out of nowhere, and was just too convenient.

Overall, this was a light, fast read with lovely writing and a unique magic system, but it was bit too shallow for me to be truly invested.

THIS IS A MUST READ!

I was hooked in the first chapter! This is a book about witches who control climate change. All witches in this story have their powers based on one season: fall, winter, spring or summer. However, Clara is an everwitch meaning she has the power of all seasons. Clara is extremely powerful but doesn’t feel like she has the capability to control it and will hurt the ones she loves. As each season changes so does Clara. In the fall she doesn’t loses interest in any love she may have found over summer and is disinterested in her magic. In the winter the world is on the cusp of falling apart and Clara realizes she may be the one to save everyone. During her training she falls for Sang and as her magic gets stronger so do her feeling for Sang. This terrifies Clara and during summer she will have to choose between her happiness or her powerful magic.

Fantasy isn’t my go to genre but this also has a mixture of romance! I will definitely be reading more fantasy. A huge thank you NetGalley for letting me read this copy early!!

I'm always up for a good witchy read and this one was fantastic.  I loved the unique magical system that basically had witches maintaining the climate as they draw their power directly from the sun, with it being strongest during the season of their birth. They're struggling to keep up with the changes to the climate brought about by humans, however, which has caused the atmosphere to become increasingly erratic.  Clara is their own hope of stabilizing the atmosphere, as she is the rarest of all witches, an Everwitch who draws her magic from the sun and from every season of the year.  I thought the author did a brilliant job of creating such a unique magical system and tying it to something like climate change, which is so relevant and something we can all relate to. 

As fascinating as all of the magic and all of the action-packed scenes surrounding the witches and their attempts to stop climate change, what really captivated me about this story was Clara's personal journey.  As the only living Everwitch, she is completely alone. People try to help her master her magic, but no one fully understands how it works and how to harness it to its fullest potential.  When we first meet Clara, she hates her magic and refuses to use it at all because it killed her parents and her best friend because she couldn't control it.  My heart broke for Clara and I longed for her to realize it wasn't her fault so that she would stop closing herself off from others who love and care about her.  The Nature of Witches is at times heartbreaking and terrifying, but yet also hopeful as Clara slowly comes to embrace her magic and how life changing it can be.  If you're in the mood for a beautifully written standalone fantasy about the unlikely combination of witches and climate change, The Nature of Witches is a must-read for you.

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my review.

I really enjoyed this book, to the extent that I read it over the course of a couple of days. It is a new and different look at magic, in that nearly every witch in this story has magic tied to one of the four seasons, and is at his/her most powerful during that season. The exception is Carla, who is an "Ever", a witch who can use magic from all four seasons, and all year round; Evers are extremely rare, and Carla is the first one known in a century. All witches in Carla's world are born on either a solstice or an equinox, and they attend boarding school for their entire academic career, with a curriculum designed to teach them to use and control their magic as well as the usual academic curriculum. Because of the rarity of Carla's ability, her teachers are learning how to train her as they go, because they have no experience with Evers, and the usual training methods aren't working. A new teacher is brought in to try different training methods, and from the start, Carla can't stand him, which significantly impacts the effectiveness of his training methods. This novel begins in the summer, and cycles through a year, following Carla as her magic changes with the seasons. A wonderful and different coming of age story, appropriate for all readers who enjoy fantasy, magic, and coming of age stories.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

The description and title grabbed me, as did the unique take on a magic system. A witch's power tied to the seasons is an excellent idea, and the execution of that magic system is, indeed, great. There were many ways that the MC, Clara, used her magic that I found to be a breath of fresh air. The greater world beyond the school seemed interesting too, though we don't see much of it.

However, I struggled to connect with the MC, who for half the book was kind of a downer (I'm not the only one who thought this, other characters called her out! So I guess I connected with them, but they didn't have a POV). I also tended to skim quite a bit of the training scenes (of which there were many). I found myself wishing there was greater focus on a larger plot, or more emphasis on the romance, or something other than Clara needing to control her magic. I like it when things are changed up and slightly faster paced. There was also quite a lot of repetition in the book.

Overall, the idea is amazing and there were parts of this book I enjoyed. If you enjoy slower paced contemporary fantasy with unique magic systems this could be just the book for you.

<i>I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

The premise and the magic system was really interesting. Witches have helped maintain the climate for centuries. Each witch born is connected to a season, where their power flourishes and fades after the season is over--except for Clara. She's an Everwitch, a rare witch whose magic changes with each season. Many would love to have this power, but Clara hates it. She can't control it and fears that her magic seeks out those she loves. To save them and herself from more heartbreak and guilt, she tries to keep her distance from her peers.

However, when a Spring witch, Sang Park, arrives and Clara is told she has to train with him, she does so with hesitation and dissatisfaction until she discovers that he's not so bad. Clara is still adamant to not get close because she doesn't want to harm any one else and yearns for the equinox so she can possibly be stripped of her powers and the curse of hurting others along with it.

As I mentioned above, I really did enjoy the magic system. Clara discovering how to navigate being an Ever was interesting alongside the witches who are connected to a season. Throwing in the climate change aspect was a fascinating way to come up with an obstacle to overcome.

The characters fell a bit flat for me. Clara was very flippant and indecisive; which, could've been due to the fact that she was an Ever witch, but something didn't pull through in making her a solid character. Really, the only other character that seemed to have anything to them was Sang. And he also seemed to be missing... something that I couldn't really put my finger on.

It also felt like not much happened? Clara had to train and control her powers, so we saw her struggling through that. And then there were balls at the end of every season. There was a point at the end that was supposed to be the climax and it wasn't very long.

Overall, while I did give this book a three and felt it was a bit lackluster, I do think that this author did a great job with the magic and I look forward to what else she writes.

I love witch stories. While "witch revels in her powers" is much more my speed, I like the pacing and handling of Clara's reluctance here. You feel yourself going through the season with her, the romance is charming (and the exploration of past relationships without it ever feeling like a love triangle - love that), and the payoff is really great.

*I received an e-arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Great debut from author, Rachel Griffin! This book was not only about witches, but it also had a sweet romance, and spoke about some environmental issues in this fictional world.

Every witch in this book, no matter their gender, have their powers based in one season: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The main character, Clara is an Everwitch, meaning that she has the power of all four seasons and can use them throughout the year. As an Everwitch, Clara is very powerful but she is afraid to wield her power, as she feels that she can’t control it. She wants to help the world that’s been damaged by climate change, but she’s afraid she’ll hurt the ones that she loves. Losing her loved ones has been too high of a price to pay.

In the Autumn she wants nothing to do with her magic. In the Winter, the world is on the precipice of disaster and Clara realizes she may be the only one who can help. In the Spring, she falls for Sang, the witch who is training her and helping her figure out her powers. As her magic grows, so do her feelings for Sang, and she’s terrified that she will lose him next. In the Summer, Clara must choose between her power and her happiness.

Great for lovers of angsty romance and witchy reads! Be sure to check this one out.

A magic school. An exceptionally powerful witch. A crisis that needs solving and our heroine is the only one who can do it. The boy who loves her for her, not her power. These sound like familiar and almost cliche tropes at this point, right?

But here's the thing - The Nature of Witches does indeed feature these tropes. But they are classics for a reason. The interweaving of these familiar elements with the twists and turns of this story is so well-done that it is a great joy to read. Ms. Griffin's book practically turns its own pages, engaging readers in both the larger conflict of the world and the intimate relationships that surround our main character, Clara.

In this paradigm, witches are born only on the solstices, and their magic features elements of the season in which they are born. Spring witches make flowers grow, while winter witches are cold and precise. Clara is the Everwitch, the rare person who can control all four seasons, and her birth comes at exactly the right time - the world is being rampaged by extreme weather and her power is needed to keep everyone safe.

But that same power comes with consequences. It has killed people close to Clara when she loses control, and the quirks of nature means that as the seasons turn from summer to fall, she no longer cares about those who matter to her. So Clara struggles to decide whether her magic is even something she wants to have, let alone control.

As a first-person narrative, Clara's perspective is lovely to read. She is not perfect (a major plus in my book), but is endearing and engaging. The romance here is believable and enjoyable, with just enough spice to make a relationship between teenagers realistic. I also greatly enjoyed the LGBTQA+ rep here, explored and honored but not controversial by any of the characters. Ah, to live in that world.

I also liked that the "big bad" here was climate change - there was no dark overlord, no large quest, just a contained story about a girl managing herself and her gifts when it would be easier to throw in the towel. This is a message from which many, many teenage girls would gain great value.

Is the book perfect? No. It seems like every single adult with which Clara interacts is completely idiotic, and even as things are resolved the ending comes a bit too cleanly and easily. The pacing is a bit off, but not horribly so.

Ultimately, I enjoyed this book very, very much and would feel comfortable recommending it to anyone over 11. My thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for the opportunity to read this e-ARC and share my thoughts.

Set in a world where witches are tied to the seasons and control the weather, Clara Densmore is a phenomenon being the only 'ever' witch in over a century. Clara isn't tied to just one season and can use her magic all year round, it changing with the seasons. Being so powerful has its drawbacks, the biggest being Clara's magic targets those closest to her emotionally and unfortunately she has lost a few of her nearest and dearest including her parents. As a result, she isolates herself and stops herself from using her magic to its full potential. A freak storm and a tragic accident later, that is no longer an option. She makes a promise to either learn to control her magic or forever be stripped of her powers.

The Nature of Witches is at its heart a love story; of friends, family, trusted mentors and most of all the earth and the world we live in. It had quite a slow start and I struggled to bond with Clara. I found her quite self pitying and irritating to begin with. As the story developed and she began to open up and be herself I really started to enjoy it. I think it's a fair description to say it's for fans Practical Magic and enjoy slow world building character centered stories.

THE NATURE OF WITCHES was a gorgeous, emotional book that is ultimately about a girl learning to love herself. Clara's character arc -- from a girl scared of her volatile magic, capable of killing those she cares about; to a witch fully embracing her powers -- is very satisfying to read, and one that many readers will be able to see themselves in despite the magical setting. Clara's internal conflicts over what happens with the next stage after her life would make this book a great fit for older readers, and the unique, season-based magical system will appeal to readers looking for something a little bit different.

The Nature of Witches
by Rachel Griffin
SOURCEBOOKS Fire

I first want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this incredible story! Wow, I can picture this on the big screen! It would be amazing!

This is a world where witches help control the weather and other disasters that the regular people (Shadows) have messed up. (Pollution, global warming, deforestation, etc.)
The witches are each born on an equinox and that is their season they are strongest in. It's been over a hundred years since there has been an Ever, one that has the super power of all four seasons.

Clara is that Ever. But she also has to find a way to control it. She killed her parents when she was just five and her friend at school while practicing. Witches are dying at an incredible rate trying to do this massive job without an Ever. But she is scared she might kill someone if she lets her power go again.

There are a lot of small but important side things going on and at times. But I want Clara to zap the heck out of one of the teachers! He is so mean!

There is a romantic element too. Sang is a botany student who came to do advanced studies with the mean teacher. But he has to teach Clara instead. They develop a bond but it's complicated and sad and wonderful at the same time.

It's a teen/young adult book but without a lot of the typical angst. Lots of great fantasy, magic, friendship development, learning to trust yourself and others, and that touch of sweet romance. I really enjoyed it and I don't normally like young adult or teen books. The only teen angst in here is a witch that doesn't want to kill anyone else. I'd say that's an okay angst to have!

Love the characters, (except one teacher, lol), wonderful world building, realistic dialogue, and terrific ending! I want to see it on the big screen!!!

The Nature of Witches is a fantastic, imaginative story centered around an ailing atmosphere and the witches that sustain it, namely a young Everwitch Clara Densmore. Most witches only possess the ability to fully command their magic in one season, but Clara's rarity in commanding magic in all four seasons makes her a highly valued individual. But her gift is not without its difficulties, of course, and her school attempts to help her work through it. It is not until she meets the intriguing Sang that she begins to question what she is being taught and how she is being handled.

As a horticulturist myself, I found the magic system wonderfully imaginative and fun. The idea of magic being tied to the seasons is believable and even logical for those of us who do live according to the seasons. Sang's character is well-crafted in the guide and love interest role. He draws out Clara's shortcomings and helps her uncover the truth within herself. Clara's character is a well-written arc that taps into familiar feelings of unworthiness, mistrust, conflicting emotions, and loneliness along her journey to mastering her power.

The pace of the story is lively, weaving the seasons into the timeline so that the individual magics all play a part in the story. I enjoyed learning about the strengths of each season's magic and how they were used to control the weather. Though this is apparently a post-apocalyptic story, the event itself does not play a part, nor does it need to.

For fans of nature-based magic, young adults seeking their own identities and struggling with their feelings, and happy endings, The Nature of Magic is a perfect read.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this lovely YA fantasy debut!

I enjoyed The Nature of Witches quite a bit, especially the unique magic system. I love the idea of witches whose powers are tied to the seasons and whose personalities match aspects of those seasons as well. I also really love the idea that the witches can help stop the disastrous effects of climate change, but they will only be truly successful if ordinary people are bought into saving the planet as well. I thought the contemporary fantasy setting worked well for the story being told here, and I thought the world-building was phenomenal.

There are a few flaws in the book: the main character, Clara, is a bit annoying, and the plot is fairly predictable. The book follows the classic trope of "every person in the world gets one kind of magic, but the main character is special and gets ALL the magics," which I generally find kind of annoying and a bit too tidy. I think the book might have been better if it had been a team of protagonists, each with a different magic, who had to work together to solve the conflicts. I also think multiple perspectives could have added a more dynamic nature to the story and given the reader a break from Clara.

Overall, though, this is a solid YA fantasy debut, and I definitely recommend it to fans of the genre!

Great debut - looking forward to her next release.
Clara is a rare Ever witch- and she hates it. Her magic caused the death of her parents and best friend. Since Clara has become an outcast- forced her to move to an abandoned cottage in the woods.
The Headmaster becomes more interested in her training as more witches experience draining and death.
Sang is assinged to Clara as her trainer. As Clara progresses, their friendship grows; Clara becomes more confident.
Great coming of age story - accepting one's abilities as gifts, rather than shortcomings.

this book was perfection. i absolutely adored it, Rachel’s writing was breathtaking and this is one of my favorite books of 2021

I LOVED IT! What a shame this is a standalone novel, I would have loved for this book to become a series. This was such a new and refreshing way to read about magic and witches, and I was so on board with the whole concept!

Each witch has a season. There are winters, springs, summers, and falls. Unless you’re Clara, then you’re all of them. These are called Everwitches, and their magic is at full strength year-round, but the magic adapts to the current season. Clara also just so happens to be the first Everwitch seen in two hundred years. No pressure… With the help of Sang, a transfer student who has a very gentle nature, Clara must learn to overcome her traumatic past and step into the powerful future she is destined to have.

I appreciated the author’s not-so-subtle hint at her overall message about the need for us shaders (people with no magic) to start taking responsibility for our actions and take care of the planet. I’ve seen some more aggressive tactics used and I was a little worried that the message would get in the way of the story, but it was nicely done!

I think the characters in this book were incredibly well written and this is the first book in a while that I felt like my version of each character looked like how the author intended them to. I also really enjoyed watching Clara and Sang’s relationship blossom (pun intended) into something truly special. I read some reviews that thought the relationship fell flat, but I disagree. I mean, they’re 17. How raunchy do you want them to get? And PAIGE. What a gal! I would love to see a book from her perspective because THAT would be an incredibly entertaining read!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Nature of Witches and I can’t wait for Griffin’s next novel in 2022!

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! This book is set to be published on June 1st, 2021.