Witch Born by Amber Argyle

Witch Born by Amber Argyle

Brusenna thought it was finished.

She defeated the Dark Witch, saving the Haven Witches from imprisonment and death. She found love and a place to belong.

She was wrong.

Haven is not the sanctuary it appears to be. Even love is in danger of slipping away like water through cupped hands.

Some things can't be saved.

A new threat merges with the old as the Witches’ dark history begins to catch up with them. Only Brusenna knows the extent of the danger and how to stop it, though doing so might cost her everything.

Including her life.

Will Brusenna be required to make the ultimate sacrifice? (Summary from Author’s Website)

This sequel to Witch Song picks up with Brusenna in Haven learning all the things she needs to know about being a witch. As an apprentice, she gets through classes fairly well though she has to deal with how her teachers and classmates treat her because her song has become so very strong that it does impossible things.  They speak of her being creator touched, but as Brusenna tries to find out what that means she discovers another coven of witches,  who desire to destroy their haven.

I found that I really got caught up in this book. I remember having a few nitpicks about the first book in this series, but I found that I enjoyed Witch Born a lot more. The plot felt more original, the characters more natural, and there was some really cool world building in this installment. So I really enjoyed this read and felt like the author had really hit her stride in presenting the characters and the world set up around them. I would enjoy reading a sequel, but I am not quite sure where the author would take the characters. I just know that at the end of the story I would have had a lot of fun exploring the new setting the author created for the witches to live in and there wasn’t a whole lot of time to do that. 

Author's Website
Book avaliable as Paperback or ebook .

Witch Song by Amber Argyle

Witch Song by Amber Argyle

Far from the other villagers, Brusenna and her mother live alone in a little cottage guarded by trees enchanted by their witch song. Each time Brusenna visits town she is treated with hatred and disgust, until one day a woman named Coyle stands up for her. Leading the woman back to the cottage Bruenna discovers that she has much to learn about being a witch.

Her mother attempted to shield and protect her from the war waging between two factions of witches, and in the process left her unable to protect herself. As Coyle and her mother leave in order to stop the evil machinations of a witch named Espen, Senna must find a way to protect herself from the witch hunters that come after her soon after their departure. With a bag of gold, her dog, and a notebook full of witch songs she sets out to defeat Espen and free the other witches from her prison. She teams up with Joshen, a witch guardian, and together they travel to Tarten to save her mother and the other witches.

So, there were good things about his book and bad things. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters. The setting and world background felt real and detailed, and I found myself interested in politics and social dynamics that affected the characters. I also liked how the witches used their magic, singing seeds to life to heal and attack people. Occasionally, I really wished for a little more detail on how the magic worked, but for the most part the system was understandable. I felt like the plot was full of action and kept me engaged as a reader. Though sometimes I felt that the author fell back on melodrama to keep the tension in the book going, which did keep me reading, but made me roll my eyes a few times. The romance between Senna and Joshen suffered from this melodrama issue and their love story came off as a bit cliché. I can’t quite put my finger on it but the love story between these two fell a bit flat for me. They were interesting to read about, but I wasn’t really moved by the love story line.

There were one or two times I stopped reading because something within the text itself was contradictory or confusing.

So, bottom line: The world and magic system were interesting and engaging, the plot fulfills everything it promises, the characters are strong and real, but there were a few storytelling and technical issues that took me out of the story.

Visit Amber's Website