Waking the Witch: a darkly spellbinding tale of female empowerment

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I don’t often read YA but I can hands down say this was just an outstanding read, praying for a sequel 🤞🏻 this is my first read by Rachel Burge and I’m eyeing up The Twisted Tree and sequel The Crooked Mask as I just can’t wait to read more by the author. Ivy's attempts to become a cormorant should come with a warning due to the physical transformation scene and throughout there are certainly some shadows that may give people nightmares. The book is left open to a sequel with no real resolution which may irritate some. It would, however, be welcome with much more to explore of the love and kinship of the sisters and allow exploration and explanation of the dynamics of the siblings and their magic powers. Readers of fantasy and the macabre will love this book

Follow six talented magicians selected to earn their place in the secretive Alexandrian Society. For one year, they must live together at the Society’s headquarters, where they will study and learn how their powers can work together. The catch? Only five will ultimately earn their place, and one will be eliminated – maybe permanently.

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Our main characters! I had such a soft spot for Tom, a particular scene in a kitchen had me laughing out loud. I appreciated the insight into Ivy’s emotions regarding the search for her mother and her identity

It’s an enchanting allegorical tale of female empowerment and sisterhood that I throughly enjoyed. I loved how it subverts a lot of the popular portrayals of Arthurian Legend especially Morgan Le Fay who I really liked. Inheriting a billionaire’s fortune seems like a dream come true, but for Avery Grambs, it’s a mystery. She has no idea who Tobias Hawthorne is or why she’s up to inherit his fortune, especially when his four grandsons expected to get it. But claiming the inheritance comes with a catch: Avery must move into the Hawthorne House with the rest of the Hawthorne family. Soon after, Avery finds herself piecing together clues to determine why she was chosen. You use a range of symbols through the story, including cormorants that become a powerful image of witchcraft and magic. What inspired you to use this image in the book? As I was writing the book, I kept in mind that some readers would empathise with Ivy and find 'home' a difficult word as she does. The theme of found family is hugely important in the story, and I would love it if just one person felt a sense of hope from reading it. Even if you have a difficult childhood, you can still find a sense of family and belonging as an adult.Second - The way Arthurian legend has been spun through this book, is so cool. It's so subtle while Ivy is learning and it increases as she learns and just Ahhh. Learning with the characters is my favourite way to have a plot evolve and I am HAPPY.

Martha can tell things about a person just by touching their clothes, as if their emotions and memories have been absorbed into the material. It started the day she fell from the tree at her grandma’s cabin and became blind in one eye. Themes of abandonment and decay throughout: abandoned baby; empty cottages; closed-up schoolroom; crumbling abbey and lopsided gravestones. Abandoned island, people gone, farm animals gone, nothing that is human or living left.

Featured Reviews

Throughout this book, I felt the pain, confusion, fear and anger that Ivy felt as she learns more about herself and her origins. There are vivid descriptions of the landscape and the characters which made everything very real. When Ivy’s search for her mother draws her to a remote Welsh isle, she uncovers a dark secret about her past. A wonderfully evocative and positive opening with Ivy, our protagonist, thinking of something that she loves - a butterfly emerging after it's metamorphosis, of being freed. Slowly you are being drawn into the story, and what a story it is. And so Ivy begins her quest for her birth mother. All the time questioning - why was she abandoned, why did her mother not love or care for Ivy, has she got any other family? Brothers and sisters? Or other family members?