A review by thereviewbooth
Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It’s interesting what influences your mind when you are imagining characters speaking reading a book. Throughout the entire book I heard the characters voices in a way similar to Naomie Harris who portrays Tia Dalma/Calypso in Pirates of the Caribbean. Ira & Jaz reminded me of her in their personalities too – just as beautiful and fierce. 

Initially the book was a little bit slow and slow world-building, but the latter half made up for it in spades – I was hooked. The Jamaican patois (patwah in the book) threw me off initially and interrupted the flow of the book for me, mainly because I am a person that has to look up things that I don’t understand. I desperately wish that this book had a map, either as endpapers or inside. When I read fantasy books like this one with specific locations for things I like to have a visual representation of it. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the prowler catch-all describing the animals of the island. It does leave things open for you to imagine but I love when they’re described in detail like the Zesian’s cat.

The plot twists in this book were a surprised and there were several that I didn’t see coming at all. I do plan on purchasing the second book in the series to read soon because I can’t stand leaving series unread. The closing of this book was a bombshell. I’m extremely thankful to the wheel of names for picking this one out of my backlog of physical books to read and I can’t wait to read the next book – Empress Crowned in Red.