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sagittarian 's review for:
The Unmarked Witch
by Miranda Lyn
i picked this up hoping for an autumnal, fun, witchy read before halloween — and while it is indeed autumnal and witchy, i struggled with this hard.
on the surface, this book seems great — in a kingdom broken up into different quasi-elemental ‘covens’, the witches have struggled over the years as subjects of the fire coven and the dark king, a legendary half-shifter, half-witch who’s been killing witches and stealing grimoires. our FMC raven is an ‘unmarked’ witch — aka a witch with powers not immediately visible via magical tattoos, and after losing her grandmother and the coven leader who replaced her grandmother, decides to enter a witchy hunger games to vie for the position herself. and those hunger games are hosted and judged by the dark king.
truly this had a lot of potential, but i just could not get into it. the writing was not my cup of tea, with its abundance of modern language used, and the romance was so insta-love that even me, a leo, couldn’t buy into it. the upside? the dark king is a shadow daddy who writes fun, flirty, bantery letters. MY KRYPTONITE. and yet still this book wasn’t enjoyable for me, due to the lack of buildup and how quickly our FMC switches sides, despite years of loss, trauma, and grief attributed to his rule, and absolutely no explanation for why the dark king is drawn emotionally or romantically to our FMC.
while this book wasn’t for me, if you’re on the hunt for an easy witchy read with minimal investment, you might want to pick this up. the spice is fun and bastian is intriguing, and the ‘hunger games’ competitive element makes it for a fast-paced read — but if you’re looking for depth and emotional connection, or for plausible romance to invest in, skip this one.
2.5/5.
on the surface, this book seems great — in a kingdom broken up into different quasi-elemental ‘covens’, the witches have struggled over the years as subjects of the fire coven and the dark king, a legendary half-shifter, half-witch who’s been killing witches and stealing grimoires. our FMC raven is an ‘unmarked’ witch — aka a witch with powers not immediately visible via magical tattoos, and after losing her grandmother and the coven leader who replaced her grandmother, decides to enter a witchy hunger games to vie for the position herself. and those hunger games are hosted and judged by the dark king.
truly this had a lot of potential, but i just could not get into it. the writing was not my cup of tea, with its abundance of modern language used, and the romance was so insta-love that even me, a leo, couldn’t buy into it. the upside? the dark king is a shadow daddy who writes fun, flirty, bantery letters. MY KRYPTONITE. and yet still this book wasn’t enjoyable for me, due to the lack of buildup and how quickly our FMC switches sides, despite years of loss, trauma, and grief attributed to his rule, and absolutely no explanation for why the dark king is drawn emotionally or romantically to our FMC.
while this book wasn’t for me, if you’re on the hunt for an easy witchy read with minimal investment, you might want to pick this up. the spice is fun and bastian is intriguing, and the ‘hunger games’ competitive element makes it for a fast-paced read — but if you’re looking for depth and emotional connection, or for plausible romance to invest in, skip this one.
2.5/5.