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Witches of the North: Winter Journey starts in the middle of the epic tale. There’s a couple of quick prologues, which try and bring you up to speed on the lore of the world that Oldrin has created, and then you’re dumped into the centre of an incredible, fascinating world where Witches and Humans live side by side in relative peace.
Chris is half human, half Witch (or, in the lore of the book a Hach), and is desperately in love with the Witch Princess Winter. In the prologue, it’s explained that she was thought to have been assassinated when very young, but was smuggled out of the Northland by a family of Wolf shapeshifters (or Valkoliki), and raised in the Unfrozen. The current queen of the Northland is something of an usurper, and Winter should have been next in line to the throne, except, Chris somehow did something to the legendary sword which marks the crown, and he became the reluctant ruler. The major problem with that is that the current queen is not particularly partial to giving up her rule, and Chris is still in school.
At the actual start of Witches of the North, Chris is pining after Winter, having not seen her for some time. It’s only when he’s about to go on vacation with his roommate Daniel and his girlfriend Julia, does Winter and her friend Ian catch up to him. Unfortunately, Northland police are hot on Winter and Ian’s tail, and so Daniel and Julia are accidentally swept along with Chris when they skip through a portal to the Northland. From there, they meet the hapless, somewhat depressed Arnold, who’s quite taken with Ian; Julia storms off into the cold, and Winter reveals a bombshell which could very well end all of their lives.
But, please don’t let my somewhat confused synopsis put you off what is an extraordinary novel. This is a world filled with colourful, believable and intensely likeable characters. It’s almost like a parallel world to ours, with technology and terminology that is easily recognisable – except the Northland is surrounded and protected by the Aurora, and that Witches, Vampires, Dwarves and all sorts of fantastical species inhabit. It’s also one filled with love and with seemingly little bigotry towards gender and sexual orientation. Chris and Winter are both Trans and Daniel and Julia are bi – with Ian being gay. It’s a joy to read a book where people (and Witches) are free to be themselves and to love whomever they want.
S. A
First published on Reedsy Discovery as part of their ARC program. You can read the original review here.
You can purchase Witches of the North: Winter Journey by clicking on the name.