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A review by novelshire
The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields
2.0
First up, this should have trigger warnings for miscarriage, various deaths and blood. I mention this first because I think they could be a surprise, given that this comes across as fairly cosy.
I think it starts of quite well, a historical fantasy setting with the main character Marigold feeling like she doesn't fit in and dreaming of escape, being whisked away by her grandmother after learning she's a honey witch. A little rushed, but fine.
So what didn't I enjoy? There's a lot of telling rather than showing - time skips that cut out the learning parts and the relationship developments. It made many of the interactions feel shallow (although I did like the relationship between Marigold and her grandmother and Mr Benny).
I assume that the treatment of a woman experiencing a miscarriage was there to illustrate that the honey witches were there to help the locals, but that line wasn't really developed - again we're told but not shown much in that regard - making it feel oddly jarring.
Now, the magic. Bees, honey magic and ash magic. I thought it was an interesting idea, but the curse didn't make a huge amount of sense to me. I thoroughly disliked the soulmate spell and everything related to it, and the romance made me cringe.
In the end, everything felt quite frenetic and choppy and I didn't feel any attachment to the characters to make up for that. I was drawn in by the cover and the cottagecore vibes. And there are some of those vibes to start with, but there's too much drama and peril if you're looking for something cosy.
Thank you to Orbit UK for providing me with a netgalley review copy
I think it starts of quite well, a historical fantasy setting with the main character Marigold feeling like she doesn't fit in and dreaming of escape, being whisked away by her grandmother after learning she's a honey witch. A little rushed, but fine.
So what didn't I enjoy? There's a lot of telling rather than showing - time skips that cut out the learning parts and the relationship developments. It made many of the interactions feel shallow (although I did like the relationship between Marigold and her grandmother and Mr Benny).
I assume that the treatment of a woman experiencing a miscarriage was there to illustrate that the honey witches were there to help the locals, but that line wasn't really developed - again we're told but not shown much in that regard - making it feel oddly jarring.
Now, the magic. Bees, honey magic and ash magic. I thought it was an interesting idea, but the curse didn't make a huge amount of sense to me. I thoroughly disliked the soulmate spell and everything related to it, and the romance made me cringe.
In the end, everything felt quite frenetic and choppy and I didn't feel any attachment to the characters to make up for that. I was drawn in by the cover and the cottagecore vibes. And there are some of those vibes to start with, but there's too much drama and peril if you're looking for something cosy.
Thank you to Orbit UK for providing me with a netgalley review copy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury