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A review by bubblewombat
Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft: Slavic Magic from the Witch of the Woods by Madame Pamita
5.0
I live for books about Slavic culture/traditions/magic written by actual Slavic authors. Sure, authors who aren't from Slavic countries can attempt to explain it, but the same feeling won't be there.
Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft was not only written by a Slavic author, but also had Slavic helpers and extensive research (with cited sources) done which makes me very happy.
The arc I received was only the first chapter of the book, which I wasn't expecting. I didn't even realise it until I got halfway through in no time. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, I just wish it was stated that it was a sample on the NetGalley page.
In that first chapter, and the intro before that, we get to see parts of the author's personal story, a fairy tale, and embroidery patterns. It was enough to convince me to buy the book (but let's be real, I would've bought it on sight anyway). I'm really excited to see what the rest of the book will hold, since we didn't even get to the most interesting part (the spells) yet.
And that mention of the evil eye and someone harming you just by looking at you with it? VERY REAL. It works similarly with objects given with ill intent. That's why my family never let me accept objects given to me by people they didn't trust (my aunt even vacuumed a clear quartz crystal necklace "on accident" because the person who had given it to me very likely wanted to wish me harm).
So yeah, I'll absolutely be reading the full version when it's out. And you should too.
*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*
Baba Yaga's Book of Witchcraft was not only written by a Slavic author, but also had Slavic helpers and extensive research (with cited sources) done which makes me very happy.
The arc I received was only the first chapter of the book, which I wasn't expecting. I didn't even realise it until I got halfway through in no time. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, I just wish it was stated that it was a sample on the NetGalley page.
In that first chapter, and the intro before that, we get to see parts of the author's personal story, a fairy tale, and embroidery patterns. It was enough to convince me to buy the book (but let's be real, I would've bought it on sight anyway). I'm really excited to see what the rest of the book will hold, since we didn't even get to the most interesting part (the spells) yet.
And that mention of the evil eye and someone harming you just by looking at you with it? VERY REAL. It works similarly with objects given with ill intent. That's why my family never let me accept objects given to me by people they didn't trust (my aunt even vacuumed a clear quartz crystal necklace "on accident" because the person who had given it to me very likely wanted to wish me harm).
So yeah, I'll absolutely be reading the full version when it's out. And you should too.
*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*