The Black Witch (The Black Witch Chronicles, 1) Hardcover – May 2, 2017

I absolutely loved this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series. Different races merge together for the greater good, gives great insight on how people judge from outside looking in. Full of magic, great characters, plots; this book is very well thought out. I couldn’t put it down. 5 star read easily.

I enjoyed stepping into Laurie Forest's fantasy world and experiencing the magic, setting, and demographics along with naive Elloren.The high points of the novel for me were(1) diverse cast of characters, each with her own agenda, some obvious, others not so obvious.(2) a world and University where different races interact, each with its own beliefs and customs.(3) an imaginative magic system and set of abilities (telling the origin tree from touching an object or material) that made Elloren a unique protagonist.(4) combating the old guard, which mirrors in many ways young adults having to fight our parents' generation's outdated ways of thoughts.The weak points were few, mostly production-related:(1) the writing isn't always of as high a quality as you'd hope. The description goes on too long at times. First-person present tense limits the amount of sophistication in the writing, and restricts suspense. First person present POV occasionally makes the telling seem infantile and too immediate. Third-person past would have been more appropriate, given that this is an older audience (characters are all in their late teens, nearly college-age and above).(2) excessive politics. I hate politics in real life and don't want to read government intrigue in fiction either. As a first book in the series, Laurie Forest would have done better minimizing all the talk of government roles, who's who in the adult mage rankings, and other rather boring diversions. I thought Mage Marcus Vogel's rise happened too fast to be believable, and Elloren simply hears about it one day, like a convenient plot device sprung too suddenly. Stick to the school, the fantasy, and the immediate plot surrounding Elloren, and the book would have easily been five stars.(3) lusty description. Elloren's repeated sensual descriptions of her physical and mental obsession with Yvan really took away from the novel. I didn't buy Black Witch for chick lit-level romance, and it did feel blatantly directed at a female audience much too often. Elloren's attraction to Yvan was clear from the start, and relentlessly pounding that into my head almost made me want to put down the novel at several points later in the book. His strong jaw, intense gaze, muscular body, warm touch, ... these were all way too overdone for a fantasy YA novel. Way too sappy, way too sensual, way too distracting from the novel's main plot. Even Lukas, who strangely disappears halfway through the novel, is presented too sensually, making me question whether the author wanted to write a fantasy novel or a steamy romance.(4) protagonist inactivity. I kept waiting for Elloren to gain magical powers, but we see almost no sign of it until her magical accident in the last few chapters. Even then, it is clear she has little control of her powers, and almost all of the plot events happen because of other characters intervening. Lukas saving her from the kitchen assistants. Assassins saving her from Fallon Bane. Yvan attacking Damion Bane before Elloren can swing her skillet. Yvan saving her from the dragons. Professor Kristian saving Tierney. In MG/YA, the protagonist needs to be a prime catalyst for overcoming antagonistic forces, and even though I have full confidence Elloren will one day face down Fallon Bane, her lack of action did nothing to help the novel. Even if she didn't yet have control of magic -- despite her learning at University -- I wanted her to at least grow, learn, and show something: magic, attacking with the skillet, any kind of physical intervention instead of always fleeing and letting her friends do the dirty work. She's the protagonist!(5) the book is available only in hardcover (even the UK doesn't have paperbacks yet), and the pages are all of differing lengths with fringed edges, like the printing machine just torn them apart. This makes the book seem of a much lower quality than it really is, and it makes it harder to turn the pages, even as the story keeps me reading fast. The cover is also plain and easily torn.(6) the map also seems needlessly plain to the left and right of the spine, devoid of important geography or towns. Ironically, all of the important towns, cities, and landmarks all cluster around the central spine of the book's binding, making it hard to see the most important places. Since so much of the story takes place in University, a closer-up map of the University grounds, much like J.K. Rowling includes with Harry Potter's Hogwarts, would have been more appropriate.Overall, relating young girl school life to a world of high fantasy and magic makes for fantastic reading. It is much more exciting than Tolkien and other high fantasy where little to no action happens, and where teens can't relate to characters because the background is too foreign. I can relate to Elloren, and her friends and foils all have believable personalities. Well done!

FeedbackWow, just wow. What an amazing story this was! This book was a little over 600 pages which made me nervous. I don’t like a lot of unnecessary background information or events that aren’t important in the plot just to fill up pages. Since this is the first book in the series, I was really worried about these issues being present. However, I was worried for nothing. If anything, I wish there was a little more background information! I love all of the different races in the book and wanted more knowledge about each one. Every interaction was important to the story and not once did I feel bored. The story totally consumed me and I just needed to take all of it in. The progression of the story was perfect with no event seeming out of place. There was a lot of world building but it was done magnificently. I could imagine this world that Forest built and the tension between the races. Each detail helped portray the scenes that flowed through the book creating easy transitions.There were so many characters in this book. Sometimes this can lead to a downfall as there are too many characters to remember. However, each character in this book was unique in their own way that I could easily distinguish them apart. I am only going to focus on Elloren though, as she is our main character. I adored her. Even though she is considered weak due to only being a Mage 1 and not having access to magic, she was strong in so many other ways. Growing up with her uncle had caused her and her brothers to have a different outlook on life as a Gardnerian. While some of the prejudices of the other races does seem to taint Elloren’s outlook, she quickly grows out of them. Her personal growth in this book was outstanding. All of it was so believable while creating a likeable character in the process. Throughout the whole book, I rooted for Elloren to overcome her hardships to grow into the unstoppable woman she became.Final ThoughtsOverall, The Black Witch by Laurie Forest was an absolutely stunning book. I was overwhelmed with how good the story and world building was for the first book of this series. Everything had a purpose and no detail was unimportant. Each character played an important role in creating Elloren Gardener into the woman she became at the end of the book. While it took some time for Elloren view the world differently, she was always an easy character to follow. I highly recommend this book for fantasy and magic lovers who enjoy a deeply rich world.Audio? OMG yes -Julia Whelan does an amazing job.

Love the growth of Elloner’s character, love the schemes, adventures and different layers of the world, great world build. I also enjoyed the audio book as I half read half listened to it

Absolutely loved the way the author weaves each character’s own story. The detail and depth that is crafted around each character draws the reader into each story. I am so excited for the last book to come out!

I’m giving it 4 stars because while the story line is very interesting and fun and has me intrigued, the actual writing doesn’t flow quite as smooth as I’d like it to. The conversations and detail don’t flow as well as it could.

Since the beginning of Covid, I lost my way from regularly reading multiple books in a year. This is literally the first book I have not been able to put down since March of 2020. So very captivating.

So many themes that are very relevant in the real world today, fascist leaders, unlearning racism, and the power of friendship, listening and understanding.

Eine gut geschriebene, junge Fantasy um die naïve und unwissende Vollwaise Elloren Gardner, die den Erwartungen, die alle in ihrer bigotten konservativen Gesellschaft an sie haben, nicht genügen kann. Als Ebenbild ihrer mit mächtiger Magie ausgestatteten, heldenhaft gestorbenen Grossmutter, sollte sie deren Kräfte geerbt haben. Was aber nicht der Fall ist und sie ihren Gegnern gegenüber ungeschützt lässt. Um dem Ergeiz ihrer einflussreichen Tante zu entgehen, die sie zu ihrem persönlichen Vorteil verheiraten will, besucht sie die Universität ihres Nachbarlandes. Wo es allerdings nur schlimmer wird. Vermischt mit anderen Rassen, die sie hassen, weil ihre Grossmutter als Heeresführerin vor 14 Jahren am Tod von Vielen verantwortlich war.Eine gute Geschichte, ein überzeugender Charakteraufbau mit einer Heldin, die trotz allem Bösen, das ihr passiert, zu ihren Überzeugungen steht. Rassismus überall, bei allen Völkern, jeder ist sich am nächsten und liebsten. Wie im richtigen Leben und in gewissen Ländern trauriger Alltag. Die Aussage des Buches gegen Diskriminierung und dass sich jeder ein eigenes und gerechtes Urteil bilden soll, ist grossartig.

I was rivited from the beginning. Fast passed, great characters and quite thrilling. A must read for everyone. Exciting stuff

A very traditional fantasy with a thought-provoking, revisionist twist.The Black Witch has a really, really interesting premise: it full-on tackles the fact that many fantasy tropes are inherently racist. That's not only a telling comment on the radical polarisation of real-world politics, but, within the scope of genre, Witch takes a fascinating approach to fantasy's racial essentialism. All Orcs are evil. All Drasnians are sneaky. All Elves are good. Fantasy is grounded in simple, unchallenged 'genetic' truths, with the exceptions (whaddup, Drizzt) there to prove the rule.Black Witch has a completely classic fantasy world with a heroic human - basically the unappreciated secretly-hawt princess trope, rampaging hordes of Evil, the true religion, Fate and Destiny, a war against the darkness, and, of course, the chosen ones of light and darkness. But, as is made rapidly clear: every part of this is completely subjective.This is - above everything else - brilliant. Contrast this to, say, most fantasy epics: conflict between the good guys and the bad guys, and the formula/prophesy that will resolve it all. The prophesy is literal and objective. The good guys and the bad guys are indisputably connected with sides of the formula. Tolkien, et al, at least takes the effort putting the bad guys into different, fictional races. It is easier to believe that all Orcs are evil because, well, they're invented that way - so why not? If the existence of millions (if not billions) of creatures with free will and personality conflicts with the possibility of independent thought, well, ignore that, because then you'll feel a little squeamish about Legolas' body count.So, as a concept, The Black Witch is absolutely cracking. An idea that the prophesy isn't objective (or, psst, even true), and that entire races can't be bucketed into a single stereotype. As an execution, however, The Black Witch is, perhaps ironically, grounded in formula. Elloren is the chosen one. She possesses that brilliant dichotomy of background found only in YA and epic fantasy: she’s vastly important, but also grows up in a completely forgotten, naive backwater. She’s happy in said backwater, but, wait! Her Fate calls, and she’s off to come of age at the centre of everything. The problem is, Elloren is the grand-daughter of the titular Black Witch, the previous Chosen One who successfully triumphed over the ‘evil’ races. That makes Elloren a lightning rod for controversy: be it the few underground liberal elements, the bloodline-obsessed aristocracy, possible suitors, definite rivals, etc. And, of course, Elloren doesn’t have any magic herself. Or does she? Etc. etc.As Elloren navigates the predictable waters of good-bad boy and bad-good boy and friends that aren’t and rivals that are, we learn two things: once past the initial concept, this plot is not particularly surprising, and Elloren herself is a bit of a wet rag. Fortunately, because the plot is so familiar, we, as readers, know her that her naïveté and self-doubt will inevitably resolve and she'll get around to making good choices. Plus, as routine as Elloren’s adventures are, they still take place in interesting surroundings, underpinned by a fairly radical interpretation of epic world-building. Elloren learns about history, then then perspective - all in a secondary world sense, but still, a process that establishes a) the power of critical thinking and b) the lack of recognition of subjectivity in any other fantasy world. The Black Witch is unsubtle, and Elloren's wibbliness can truly drag on, but this book should serve as a long-overdue slap to the system. Well worth reading.