Thank you to NetGalley, C.M Alongi and AngryRobot for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the overarching story line. Evil emperor becomes immortal, surrounds himself with witch concubines and guards and trades with Death to keep it that way in his quest to conquer the world. When one of those concubines escapes rather than continue her terrible life in the palace, he swears to find her.
The found family trope is done very well. Khana ends up in a far away town and manages to find friends, a military unit (the frogs) that become like family. Haz, Neta, Sava and the others are fabulous in their own right. Going to war against the Emperors troops including terrible night creatures, seemed too easy, with Khana basically saving the day...every day. The magic is super cool though.
The only disappointment I have is that the "trades with Death" was the smallest part of the book. I loved Death and wanted more of them and their world.

This book started off strong for me and fell a little flat in the middle in terms of pace however it did wrap up nicely.

For a standalone, it did a nice job tying everything together.

I enjoyed the aspects of found family and finding self through this book. I was intrigued by the magic system in place and how the world was built.
I appreciated how the romance in the book didn’t take over the plot or the fantasy elements. The story held up against it.

I liked this romantasy a lot!!! It surprised me, and I'm so glad I liked it because this cover eats.

Thing I liked:
𖥔 Actually acknowledging the FMC's trauma and abuse and therefore not immediately jumping into a romantic relationship. Specifically a physical romantic relationship.
𖥔 The characterization of death as just a chill dude (entity? can't remember if we gendered death in this book actually)
𖥔 A badass FMC that has feelings and emotions and is totally fine with acknowledging them
𖥔 Found!!! Family!!!
𖥔 Interesting witch powers, relatively unique magic system

⭐️ 4.25
🌶 2

This dark fantasy has so much heart and healing that my own heart was fit to burst - in pride and anguish, in equal measures.

These characters are so special. Each has their own traumas to heal through, yet they have so much love and compassion for one another. Their complexities and flaws are laid bare, and their struggles felt all too real. This found family is top tier!

TWWTWD deals with some heavy topics (e.g. SA, DV, refugees, misogyny, class structures, racism, war, genocide, colonialism), both on page and off, yet the author handled each with sensitivity and respect. The characters' mental health struggles felt authentically portrayed as a result.

On a lighter note, the banter, sarcasm and witty one-liners were generously sprinkled throughout, especially when Haz (the bi-disaster best friend) was involved.

Speaking of, I really appreciated that the author made this universe queer-normative without having characters' queerness be a target for harassment. Adding to the power of this representation is the fact that the whole cast is BIPOC and several are also disabled.

The worldbuilding for the physical settings is beautiful. The African, East Asian, Scandinavian, South American, Native American and Nepalese influences created a lush tapestry of environments and cultures. Even language differences between the regions were included.

My favourite part was the magic system. TWWTWD gives necromancy an interesting spin, where it's less about raising the děād and more about manipulating life energy - to heal, to boost your strength, to transfigure and transform.

What needed a bit of work was the physical descriptions of the characters and the character blocking within action sequences. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of detail in the training scenes. They felt neglected by the author.

Overall, if you love traumatised characters slowly rediscovering their inner strength, developing ride-or-d!é bonds with one another, all while kicking ass (and the patriarchy) in a bloody war, then you'll love this story.

Oh how I absolutely fell in love with this FMC, Khana! She's a witch with magic that can only be used if she drains people around her - it's really interesting, and the ways in which she could use this magic were really impressive. The trades with death were a bit odd, at first, but I found myself loving that death was more of a person in this story. The relationship with Sava and Khana was also beautiful - the way they were with each other was so kind and amazing that I really was just blown away. The found family, the characters all brought so many special things to this story.

The pacing was up and down at times, the middle was far too slow but otherwise it didn't feel bad and felt like a really well written and perfectly planned standalone fantasy romance!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am an absolute sucker for a found family story and this gave me everything I wanted and more. This story feels like a weird mix between a dark fantasy themed high stakes cozy novel with the way it ends.

Khana was a great FMC she really grew and adapted throughout the entire story and was incredibly likeable.
Haz is such a giant goofball and I want to squish him I loved him so much.

The poison dart frogs were fantastic. I genuinely don’t know how the author has managed to create a standalone where all the characters were so well-rounded and had significant emotional attachment to them.

The political system was well versed without intense world building relying on everyone’s own understanding of our actual world history which was great.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and kept wanting to pick it up to keep reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot publishers for the eARC of this book. This is my honest opinion.

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.