Thank you to NetGalley, Angry Robot and author C.M. Alongi for this eARC

The witch who trades with Death is a gripping standalone fantasy novel with amazing characters, beautiful world building and a unique magic system.

I loved our MC Khana! From the beginning she has this quiet strength about her and it was so great to see her grow into herself and gain confidence in herself and her abilities.
I'm also a sucker for stories where a group of misfits find each other and become family.
I could not put it down and read it in one sitting!

A fantastic read and I can't wait what Alongi does next

The Witch Who Trades with Death is a standalone fantasy that tells the story of Khana, stolen from her home as a child and forced into the service of a dark, immortal Emperor as a concubine. Her struggles were portrayed in a very authentic way and added emotional depth. Despite her trauma, Khana maintains her humanity and finds the good in people. Her strength through adversity made it easy to cheer for her. The magic system was unique, and the found family was delightful. Overall, this is a very easy book to recommend. It exceeded my expectations, and I can’t wait to see what CM Alongi comes up with next!

What I loved:

* Found family
* Death magic
* LGBTQIA+
* Disability rep

This was such an engaging read to help pull me out of a reading slump. I enjoyed the simplicity of the story telling— an easy read. The characters are loveable. There’s darkness with perfectly time comedic relief. There is loss and love. 4.8 ⭐️

#thewitchwhotradeswithdeath #cmalongi #bookreview #bookrecommendation

For three centuries an immortal emperor has ruled an empire he is constantly expanding his empire. Witches, who can draw life energy for their magic, are brought to his palace. The women are all his concubines as he tries to breed witches. C.M. Alongi tells the tale of Kahna who escapes the palace and accidentally learns the secret of immortality. Thus she is The Witch who Trades with Death (hard from Angry Robot), but the price for immortality is far more than she wants to pay, preferring to use her trades for small healings. She escapes through the mountains where she finds friends. When the emperor discovers her location, he sends his army. Kahna enlists in the local militia to help fight the emperor and finds good friends, all of whom will die if the emperor succeeds. This is a wonderful tale of love and friendship that left me with a grin. Recommended.

I enjoyed this book! I felt like there were so many unique aspects to the world and the magic system.

🌟 4

💫 Dark fantasy
💫 Romance
💫 High stakes
💫 Found family
💫 Witchcraft
💫 Death & making deals with Death
💫 Trauma recovery ❤️‍🩹

✔️ Cover art

Immersive world building for this dark fantasy, with sensitive management of trauma and recovery. Beautiful found family, depiction of resilience and tentative romance.

A fantasy standalone with high staked, an amazing set of characters and world building.
This book was absolutely a gem to read! I truly loved the plot and the characters so much.

The magic was so interesting and the found family was so heartwarming 😭 you should all go run to buy this book and LOOK AT THAT COVER!!!

Thank you for this arc! World building and magic were enchanting with found family and trauma was handled well. Well executed in writing character development and plot.

I found this to be not for me. I didn’t connect with any characters and found it just feels like it kept dragging.

TW: SA/sexual trauma; partner abuse

This is probably one of the best depictions of sexual trauma I have ever read.

The Witch Who Trades With Death follows Khana, a witch who unwillingly serves as one of the immortal Emperor Yamueto’s concubines, as she escapes her prison and ends up in a different country over the Empire’s border. While facing the scars of her trauma and prejudice from other townsfolks, she forges bonds with other misfits and creates her own family. But she knows the secrets of Emperor Yamueto, and he won’t let her live to ruin him.

This is one of those books that personally is hard for me to read, but I kept reading it and was fully engrossed. There are brief depictions of SA but I think it is outweighed by the fact that Alongi creates such a hopeful narrative at the end of the day without ignoring the ways trauma manifests (for men and women, which was refreshing to see). It ends up being a tale of perseverance and triumph over personal demons accompanied by wonderful world-building and characters.

Khana is extremely traumatized but still is resilient (even if she doesn’t always know it) and cares deeply about her friends despite her trauma and fear holding her back. It was extremely heartwarming to me personally and is the type of inspiring character that I always am a sucker for. The characters around her that become her found family are also super compelling and well-rounded which adds really well to the narrative.

The plot was paced pretty well - this is a standalone novel but the plot kept proceeding at a good pace. The world-building was really well done: it made sense, it was clear but wasn’t too overwhelming for the standalone story. The burgeoning romance also was paced super well which added to the enticement.

Overall, I really loved this story for my own personal reasons, and if the triggers are not an issue for you, I highly recommend!

Thank you Angry Robot for the e-ARC in exchange for this review!

The premise sounded really good about a girl that can make deals with death, but it wasn’t my personal taste. I made to 60% and didn’t really feel a connection to the characters. I also wasn’t very invested in the romance and it fell flat for me. Also there was quite a bit of animal death which, while very relevant to the story, I’m not a fan of. I do think other people might really like this.

Wow what a ride and what a book. Something completely different and unique to what I have read before.

I have also been fascinated by death magic and how it works (just general curiosity mind!) as is normally the way with magic nothing comes for free and what it gives you with one hand it takes away with the other, so our main mc has to be careful and selective.

There is a lot of manipulation and exploitation which is explored throughout the book and how the characters deal with it.

Overall a great read and one I would highly recommend!

What an incredibly crafted story this is! It’s got some of my favorite things in it: found family, witchcraft, and healing.

“You still think you’re alone, but I assure you, you’re not. When you face this fear, you’ll have an entire army with you.”

The worldbuilding is first class and I love the magic of this world. In addition, the deals with death are phenomenal ways to move the plot and deal with some plot conundrums. Trading memories and core parts of your being with death to make deals to save lives was an interesting concept.

This book handles healing from trauma so well. Better than any book I’ve ever read. After years of abuse and terror from Emperor Yamueto, Khana is finally free from him and struggling to be free from his influence.

“It’s not cruelty to want something for yourself, even if you think you don’t deserve it.”

I love the friendships the develop and grow throughout the story as well as the love story that is told throughout.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @angryrobotbooks for my ARC of the book and for having me on the tour! All thoughts are my own.

On one hand, I really liked the ideas behind this book. Khana's abilities to drain aji were very interesting, especially with the variations of ways it could be used. All too often, you'd only see the life draining side of things, but I liked the way it was also used for healing and such. I also enjoyed Khana as a character. She had a complicated past, and I appreciated the careful way the romance played out, with time and space given for her to work through the challenges of her experiences as she finds love.

That said, I did struggle with some aspects of the writing itself. The pacing was rather uneven, with the beginning and end moving quite quickly, while the plot seemed to bottom out throughout the middle portion. There was also some strange word choices and use of metaphor that had me scratching my head as to what the author was actually trying to say. I also really dislike modern language in my high fantasy. Authors don't need to use medieval speech patterns or anything, but the avoidance of modern lingo that almost always ages poorly can only be an improvement.

Overall, this was a perfectly fine romantasy story. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed portions of it. However, the weaknesses of the writing and pacing left me struggling to continue in other parts.

The premise of this book pulled me in and it didn't disappoint. I love the plot and admire the author's ability to explore sensitive topics in a respectful and meaningful way without using shock tactics. Overall, a great standalone fantasy story.

C.M. Alongi’s The Witch Who Trades with Death explores deep and relevant themes, including trauma, healing, xenophobia, and the contrast between toxic and healthy relationships. The novel also emphasizes the power of chosen family and friendship, adding emotional weight to the story. While these themes are handled with care, at times, they feel more like statements rather than elements naturally woven into the narrative.

The worldbuilding is inclusive and detailed, the character development is strong, with complex and multidimensional figures. However, some relationships and emotional arcs could have been deepened.

While the novel offers a satisfying resolution, I felt that certain aspects, could have been explored in more depth. It’s a well-crafted book with a solid foundation, but I didn’t find it as immersive or emotionally gripping as I had hoped.

***The trigger warnings for this one are important to read***

"WARNING: This book contains references to violence, war, racism, xenophobia, sexual assault and domestic violence."

This book took an incredibly sensitive topic, rape and healing from it, and handled it in the most tasteful and real way I have ever encountered in a novel. This book follows Khana and her flight from life as a concubine, through her growth and establishment of self, and into the arms of the found family she surrounds herself with and takes a stand to protect.

I absolutely adored the Poison Dart Frogs, and loved getting to dig into their unique backstories and see how their lived experiences shaped them. Their bonds with each other made my heart happy and having a group of oddballs and outcasts pull off the impossible makes for a great story. They also gave another avanue for gaining a better picture of the wider world and setting up the stakes for allowing Yamueto to continue his conquest.

My only real complaint was the pacing near the end of the book. It seemed to speed up in the last quarter and wrap up the main conflict far too quickly when compared to the other trials Khana faced early on. However, I am glad this was all resolved within this book and that it did what it set out to do while maintaining it's status as a standalone book. It was refreshing to experience a standalone fantasy that tied up its loose ends while still having a developed enough world where I wasn't left feeling like I was missing out.

Forced to play concubine for her powers, Khana flees when she kills using her magic one of his favourites.
I really struggled with this one. The synopsis was great but fell flat in the book. Whilst there is plenty of descriptive world building, for me there was not much plot substance. For my liking the balance between the plot and character development/world building was not there and as such I lost interest in the characters.

this was a good story when it came to the found family elements and the arc of a survivor slowly healing from what was done to her— but i found it to be a little… contrived? especially by the end and with the fantasy elements. however, i adored the depiction of death here and the depravity of immortality.

All the aspects of the perfect fantasy book!! A little spice, unique magic system, incredible character development, and an original plot! I hope this author writes more because I am an instant fan!!