A review by r3vonyx
The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

✒️📖ARC REVIEW📖🖋️

3.25 rounded down

The beginning of the book was fantastic! It was very similar to gone girl, and well thought out. However, our main character is just as smart as she is stupid. She planned the first part of her escape with practiced efficiency, but the majority of her actions afterwards are sloppy. You are feed pieces of how she planned the great escape from a dual point of view from one of the detectives. There is a great deal of connivence in the book that allows the main character to get away with quite a bit…a bit more than she probably deserves. Honestly, would not have minded this as much if it didn’t make the ending so predictable 

When she finally meets the venery, they seem to agree. The meeting, or conclave, was hypocritical and cringy. Their actions leading up to the meeting mark them as jealous in my opinion, or at least shortsighted. The main character is “special,” but they don’t go check on her, a literal ticking time bomb, after her mother passed. Honestly would have saved everyone some trouble.

Enough about why the book gets some stars knocked off (really just cringy character actions that kind of don’t make sense). The concept is unique…many stories of women with poison are inspired by France and include them slipping poisons not modified by their own bodies. The lore and origin of the Bane Witches is well thought out, and Morgyn delivers the tid bits seemlessly with story’s action. There is some character development, but some of the venery names get lost in the sauce-they are all named after flowers and there are over a dozen of them.

There is also a dog!! He comes in handy. Mrytle explains the different abilities the “family” has, and is really a lovable, motherly figure in the book. 

Despite the sweet moments in the book; this is not cozy or light hearted. The book is practical magic/thriller/literally fiction or commentary on  some judicial failing for crimes against women and children. Not only does the main character question her role in the world as a Bane Witch, but also asks the reader what if they existed and took out “insert horrible human here -I can only think of Ted Bundy right now.” Could you live with it if you knew the truth?

I was provided a free advanced reader copy courtesy of St. Martin’s Press and Ava Morgyn via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

#arc #advancedreadercopy #NetGalley #TheBaneWitch #AvaMorgyn #StMartin’sPress