This is a truly powerful and moving story that delves into themes of misogyny, race, abuse, and the abuse of power. While it explores very dark and heavy subjects, the overarching narrative is one of healing, inner strength, the importance of chosen family, and discovering the power within yourself.

The story follows Khana, a witch with the extraordinary ability to take life and give strength to others. After being forced into servitude as one of the immortal conqueror Yamueto’s concubines at the age of 14, she finally escapes his clutches. However, her freedom is short-lived when she discovers Yamueto plans to invade the town she’s fled to, determined to reclaim her. In her fight for freedom—both her own and that of others—Khana strikes deals with death, making sacrifices to help free others from their ailments.

Khana’s journey is both heartbreaking and empowering. She evolves from someone focused solely on escaping and securing her own freedom to someone who fights to protect her found family and their futures. Her growth is remarkable, as she learns to heal from her trauma and even finds love along the way.

While the story does have a few slower moments that slightly affected my overall rating, the plot is primarily intense, emotional, and deeply engaging.

The side characters are wonderfully crafted—relatable, lovable, and full of depth. Watching their individual journeys unfold alongside Khana’s was equally compelling and motivational, adding richness to the narrative.

In conclusion, I loved this story. It addresses challenging topics with sensitivity and grace, leaving a lasting impact. It’s a beautifully written tale of resilience, healing, and love, and I highly recommend it.

It felt so good to get lost in a story. To get so excited for the plot that you want to squeal and kick your feet. It’s been a minute since I’ve done that.

A lot of high fantasy can be intimidating. Complex political machinations, character names and relations so complex you need a diagram, purple prose, geography so perplexing you beg for a map. Alongi doesn’t do any of that.

The prose was accessible, the magic made sense, the world and ethnic groups felt plausible, the geography wasn’t needlessly complicated.

If you know Alongi’s web series Cafae Latte, it won’t surprise you to know this book is quietly queer and has good trauma representation. I think it’s very well done. The asexual representation made me laugh. She opens with trigger warnings if you need them and they’re easy to skip if you don’t.

If you want a fantasy story that has depth, high stakes, heart, and humor, get this on your TBR. 5/5

I picked this ARC due to the title and the description of the book. This is a new author for me and I was intrigued by the premise of the book which was described. It had all the elements of fantasy that I look for in a book.

The writing style was really enjoyable to read and flowed really well. I enjoyed the plot points throughout the book and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters in the book - even the villains.

The character development in the book was phenomenal, the action scenes were enjoyable and I loved the learnings from the characters. It was so good. I really felt like I had an emotional connection to the characters of the book and I did feel like I wanted so much more.

Overall, it was a fantastic fantasy read and I look forward to other works by this author.

I thoroughly enjoyed C.M. Congi’s storytelling in this addictive, action-packed fantasy novel. The story follows Khana, a young witch and concubine to a cruel, immortal emperor. She escapes his oppressive rule only after striking a bargain with death. Finding refuge in a new kingdom, Khana must navigate the harsh judgment she faces due to her race and her magical abilities.

While working at an inn to save enough coins for a dangerous trek across the tundra—hoping to flee even further from the emperor—Khana is unexpectedly drawn into a battle alongside a group of rebels she grows close to when the callous emperor tracks her down and sets to destroy the kingdom she has been staying in, endangering the people she has come to endear.

The novel has more action-packed scenes than romance, with the latter developing more toward the end. I particularly enjoyed the diversity among the characters, which added depth to the story. Overall, it’s an engaging and well-paced tale that kept me hooked from start to finish.

This book is out March 10, 2025. Thank you to the publisher, Angry Robot, the author, and Net Galley for a copy of this free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

📚The Witch who Trades with Death by C.M. Alongi📚

Overall Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Rating:🌶️

✨Tropes✨
⚔️Healing
⚔️Political Intrigue
⚔️Gentle & Sweet MMC
⚔️Unique Magic

✨Initial Thoughts✨
I have mixed feelings about this book. As I reflect about the book as a whole, I realize this book had a lot of great qualities, and my original rating of 2⭐️ is a “me problem.” This book, while well written and well thought out, just simply wasn’t for me. With that in mind, I changed my public rating to 3⭐️ because I think many people would enjoy this book and I don’t want to put anyone off. Let me explain why. I did read the trigger warnings. I went into this book this only a vague description of what it would be about, but I saw that there would be some mention of sexual assault, abuse, etc. Thankfully those are not particular triggers for me and I thought that the book did a decent job at handling those situations.
I didn’t realize there would be so much animal death (it is one of the ways that our FMC, Khana’s magic works). Most of it isn’t graphic, but it’s talked about often due to the nature of Khana’s magic. It was rough for me reading about it. I’m most likely the only person that is extremely squeamish about this topic so again, if this is not a particular trigger for you, then this book would be enjoyable. I just wish I would have known about it going into the book. I probably would not have picked this up.
As far as the overall story, world building, and the uniqueness of the magic it’s a great book.

✨Pros✨
* Great world building. I imagine it’s difficult to create an intricate environment for a standalone book. The author did a great job in creating a rich, immersive world.
* Unique magic: while not at all my favorite method, the concept of life magic is really interesting.
* I really liked Khana. I saw her as a survivor of the trauma she went through at such a young age.
* Sava is so sweet and gentle.

✨Cons✨
* The mention of animal sacrifice.
* For a hot second, I genuinely thought Khana would get together with Death at one point and I was kind of excited for that prospect. I think Sava was a safe choice for the love interest.


Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the gifted copy and the opportunity to review this book.

C. M. Alongi is an amazing writer who creates not only picture perfect scenes but makes you feel the way each character does, not matter the emotion. This book is a must read for those who love a witch who is learning her magic, uses it for good, and is powerful enough to put people in their place when needed. Absolutely following this author and her journey!

A heartwarming action packed high fantasy story. This book has it all. This is a well written book and needs to be added to your next tbr.

Loved the idea of being able to trade out of death … this book wasn’t quite to my tastes. Action, romance and witches ingredients. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

The Witch who Trades with Death was one of those reads that genuinely surprised me. I thought going into this book that I’d enjoy it but as soon as I started I knew that this was a new favourite of mine that I’ve already raved to my friends about!

This is a story about healing, found family, magic, death and overcoming trauma. It’s a story that does it WELL.

Khana is a concubine of the immortal Emperor who has conquered almost all of the world, she escapes by forging a deal with death, a secret the Emperor cannot have her knowing.
Feeling to a Mountain town, one of the few places free from the Emperor, Khana struggles to fit in doing all she can to protect herself, her friends and the entire town while trying to understand the magic she can now possess. Now she must decided to stay and fight with her new home against the Emperor and face her trauma.

This story is so incredibly well done. The writing is beautiful without being overly wordy and taking away from the plot. It balances the progress of our characters with the world building but also keeps the pace of the story without feeling rushed or lagged.
The world building was amazing, it felt fresh and intriguing and I was very satisfied with what everything I’ve learnt about the world that made the story, it all made sense.
The characters were easily loveable, the side characters added so much depth to our FMC Khana without taking away from her. I often found myself laughing out loud because the characters felt so real.
I loved and appreciated the hard topics that were represented in the story which were all handled respectfully and done in an informed manner that didn’t feel like it was added to the plot for the sake of wow factor. The story included struggles of trauma, abusive/toxic relationships, disabilities and racism.

The romance in the story felt so natural and I loved how the love interest respected and understood Khana boundaries and helped her understand (along with her friends) that she was worthy of love and respect and helped her on her journey to self worth and healing.

The battle scenes balanced very well throughout the story and added a lot of excitement for the reader, I could not stop reading and was excited for the chance to sit down and read more. The battles had my blood pumping while I cheered on the characters as I read. They were detailed and done well with balancing war tactics while in a fantastic element that didn’t feel far fetched in these scenarios.

I found the ending very satisfying, even despite everything having a happy ending I found the way it evolved to feel natural and not forced or rushed. As a standalone story it holds incredibly well from start to finish captivating you the entire time.

I will always recommend this book going forth. One of my new favourites!

This story really surprised me, mostly because it just wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

There are many, many positives here;
- The writing was great; the perfect mix between being descriptive and beautiful without it negatively impacting the pacing and being too wordy.
- Pacing was pretty well done. It never felt overly rushed or too slow it actually feels really well balanced.
- Characters were interesting, specifically the side characters. So many of them were really heart warming and I loved seeing their dynamics play out.
- Some very heavy topics were handled very well here. Exploring the impact of trauma is tricky business but I genuinely felt like this was approached really sensitively and realistically which was refreshing.
- Representation felt really organic and natural. We had multiple characters with disabilities, various different relationships all of which felt very grounded in the story and not simply tacked on.

I also really enjoyed being swept along on Khana’s journey of self-discovery and realising her worth. Khana’s whole journey of recovery feels very tender and there’s something so wholesome about the life she builds and the relationships she makes. Shes soft but theres steel underneath and a determination that was heartwarming to see her discover and own about herself. I also quite liked the slow burn romance, which I think could best be described as very sweet.

But there were a few elements that just bugged me.

World building was… a mixed bag. Some things were really well done, but I’m going to need a lot more explanations to buy into this world. So many elements of the magic system just seemed too convenient for the plot with far too few consequences.

And this leads onto my bigger issue which is that everything just seems to work out in the end? I don’t say that as a spoiler, this is a stand alone story so we all know it’s going to wrap up at the end. I just feel that there should have been more negative consequences from everything as the ending feels quite different the realism of the rest of the story. While I did enjoy that there weren’t lots of loose ends left it all just felt too cookie cutter to end so well.


My other criticism is one I’ve seen other comment on too. Why is there so little Death?? If you’re having Death as a character and he’s even in the title then I’m going into this expecting him to be a pretty much feature but in reality we see very little of him. Death was without a personality for much of the story and really functions like a minor side character which truthfully was just disappointing.

Overall, I did enjoy this but for me I want more complex world building and higher stakes for my high fantasy.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"How can something so tiny be so dangerous"

The Witch who Trades with Death by C.M. Alongi

First off, I love the authors note, it's very sweet while being informative as it could be.

The yearning. The atmosphere! A story about love and healing. 5*
It has great pacing, it didn't feel like a chore to read, there's no filler, not beating around the bush, it gets straight to the point.
With it's underlying notes of feminism, Alongi doesn't hesitate to write the truth of their characters, no matter how gruesome or hideous some may find it.

I think the trauma was done expertly well, the nightmares especially hit very close to home. But it was more than a trauma story, it was a story about growth and moving on: relearning how to live.

I loved the setting, there wasn't too many names and places to remember either.
The magic system reminds me of The Bone Witch, which I really enjoyed and rated 5* so of course I loved it in this story too, it's similar but different.

The multiple POVs added depth to the characters and the story, as well as tension. It also helped raise the stakes as we knew things certain characters did not, especially when a romance is blooming. It was nice to learn how the different characters thought and why they acted the way they did, even Yamueto.

Theres a sapphic side relationship that was very cute, which leads me to the romance: it is so so refreshing

It's lovely to see the slow-burn of an innocent crush rather than a story of insta-love, I found myself giggling and kicking my feet in the air at times. Not to mention the friendships forged and the found family, it's so wholesome it brought a tear to my eye.
Moments did leave me heartbroken, it was a roller coasters of emotions to say the least, and the ending!

The ending is bittersweet, it broke me and put me back together.
It's how most of is wish our stories could've ended.

Overall I rate The Witch who Trades with Death 4 stars. I might read this again when it fully releases! It was the best thing I've read in a while, last year was full of duds for me, so thankyou AngryRobot for the early copy!!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Amazon.

The blurb sounded amazing but unfortunately the book wasn’t for me.

It was a slow burn, and nothing was gained from it. The writing was was fine, overall lacking in substance. This is a book that I would only recommend to those booktok/social media readers. One for the Boghop table

The book was a little slow to start, but once I got to about the 50% mark I couldn’t put it down! The magic system was easy to understand, and I very much enjoy a necromancer story. A realistic depiction of growth and healing is also a big part of this book. Khana is an SA survivor learning to trust and have healthy relationships.
I also love how many absolute badass female characters there are! From the chief of the village to the “old whore” in Khana’s unit! I love them all!

Thank you to both NetGalley and Angry Robot for approving me to read this book. Originally I was intrigued by the title and the description however as I read through the book I found my brain to be jumbled every which way. While the plot was exciting I became too distracted by all of the long, hard to pronounce names as well as the amount of characters I was trying to keep track of. I would definitely like to recommend this book to more people however I could barely follow along with the story and think that many would have the same problems I did.

Thank you for sending me a copy of this book, but I will not be able to finish it. The concept is interesting to me, but I just do not click with the writing style. Too many information given at one and the MC moves setting before I can grasp what is happening.

Due to the trigger warnings, I will not be able to read this book. Thank you so much C.M. for listing them on the first page of the book. And thank you NetGalley, C.M. and Angry Robot for the E-ARC! This book sounded so interesting! I’m so sad I’m not able to read it.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had that fantasy romance element that I was looking for. C.M. Alongi was able to weave a strong tale that had that element that I was hoping for. I enjoyed getting to know these characters and was glad that the concept worked overall. C.M. Alongi does a fantastic job in writing this and the characters had that feel that I wanted. I hope to read more from C.M. Alongi as this was really well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the arc! Hm. I have mixed feeling about this one.
I know a pros and cons list hates to see me coming, and here I am!

Pros:

The magic, Aji, was very interesting to read about and led to some interesting plot points. It’s both terrifying and fascinating to read about someone who has control over life energy.

I’m adding Lueti to my dream blunt rotation

The very beginning had me reeling. It was easily my favorite part of the book. It pulls no punches, and is batshit. That bitch deserved what she got!

I appreciate how this book handles physical touch and that aspect of trauma; It’s honestly too real. I really came around for the LI because of this. He was kind and incredibly patient with Khana. We love to see it

Cons:

Idk if it was just me who thought this but… from the synopsis I thought Khana would fall in love with death themselves. That would have been much more interesting than what we got in my eyes, though I do appreciate Sava. He was gentle, attentive, accommodating, and at some points sexy. That being said, I do think Alongi took the safe route with having Sava as the LI

I struggled to connect to our main characters. Khana and Haz always felt too distant for me. I do think the side characters outshine the main characters in this one.

As such, the book dragged in the middle for me. I did almost put it down

Without spoiling, this book needed more consequences in the plot. Everything just seems to magically work out, and to the detriment of the book’s messaging. It really dampened the experience for me, having everything be so easy.

Did you guys know that Khana is small? Did you know that she’s teeny weeny? Did you know that she’s short? It case you didn’t know, Khana is small!

In conclusion, meh. There were some aspects of this book I loved, and others I did not. This was the first book I completed in 2025, and I do wish I liked it more than I did. That being said, I’ll live, or maybe I won’t! Maybe I’ll call up Khana to trade with death. -3 night creatures

The title itself Intrigued me. The story follows a young woman (20 y/o) that has the ability of witchcraft in the form of necromancy. The first part of the story she's running from her oppressor (immortal emperor that forced her to be concubine) only to be found and ends up in a war. There were characters that I felt I could be friends with, that I understood. I appreciate the relationship building and the found family aspect. While it does have a HEA, I spent most of the story confused. I had painted this picture in my head of it taking place in a land much like ancient Japan, only to find out it was more Peruvian in reference. Which is totally fine except that my brain wouldn't accept the change. The names were difficult to pronounce and since the story was in 3rd person POV, it was harder to follow. It seems to me that the whole reason why she was pursued wasn't reason enough. Overall, it was a fun read.

The Witch who trades with death is not what i expected. Its very character focused with a backdrop of brewing war. Khana is a young witch forced to "serve" the immortal Emperor Yamueto as one of his thousands of concubine since she was first taken from her village. On chance, she finds out the Emperor's secret to immortality and manages to escape the palace to a remote icy mountain village where Yamueto hasnt managed yet to conquer.
Its there that the story really focuses on the healing process from her abused up bring, the found family and new friendships and romances all whilst war is threatening. Khana is nervous, scared of her powers but learns to embrace it for those she cares for. The author does character building really well and i felt connected and invested in the relationships that develop.

What didnt work for me is the fact that she is a witch that can drain life force and make deals with Death to heal and revive was a little too convenient most of the time which meant the stakes were low. Based on the synopsis I was hoping for more of a high action, high stakes plot focused story but this was not that. There was a lack of world building in the wider scheme and just focused around Khana's immediate surroundings. The emperor rules in terror but somehow people are still loyal to him?

However, the writing did grip me and whilst i enjoyed the mundane small town setting and how everyone banded together for a common purpose, I wanted more. The last few chapters was where the story picked up for me, but the rest of the book was relatively slow placed. The romance was very cute and I did love the gentleness of Sava which made a refreshing difference.

I think this book would suit readers after a slower paced character focused story around a more timid protagonist going through their healing process from abuse in a fantasy world setting. The story wraps up relatively well for a standalone.

Check TW, as there is reference to rape, abuse and death.

Thanks to Netgalley and Angry Robots for an e-ARC. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.