Hello friends! I have such a cool book for you today! If you’re looking for a cool low fantasy book with elemental magic, then keep on reading to learn more.
About the Book:
For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, their power from the sun peaking in the season of their birth. But now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic. All hope lies with Clara, an Everwitch whose rare magic is tied to every season.
In Autumn, Clara wants nothing to do with her power. It’s wild and volatile, and the price of her magic―losing the ones she loves―is too high, despite the need to control the increasingly dangerous weather.
In Winter, the world is on the precipice of disaster. Fires burn, storms rage, and Clara accepts that she’s the only one who can make a difference.
In Spring, she falls for Sang, the witch training her. As her magic grows, so do her feelings, until she’s terrified Sang will be the next one she loses.
In Summer, Clara must choose between her power and her happiness, her duty and the people she loves… before she loses Sang, her magic, and thrusts the world into chaos.
Practical Magic meets Twister in this debut contemporary fantasy standalone about heartbreaking power, the terror of our collapsing atmosphere, and the ways we unknowingly change our fate.
My Review:
I was highly anticipating this release since I read the synopsis on Goodreads last year, so I was so excited when Source Books so kindly sent me a copy of the book!
The Nature of Witches was truly a unique book. I’ve read plenty of books involving witches and elemental magic, but nothing like this. The magic system was such an interesting twist on the traditional elemental magic, where the magic was tied to the season and it weakened when their season ended. So spring witches were most powerful and able to use their magic in the spring months etc. The different focuses of magic within each season was so interesting to read about! (I so want to be a winter witch!) Also the ties between the magic and the worsening of the climate was super interesting. It was clearly commentary on the worsening environment in our real world where intense natural disasters are much more common because of global warming.
I thought Clara was a likable main character. She’s an Ever Witch, which can summon magic from all the seasons (and is SUPER rare.) There was a lot of the “woe is me” attitude, but other characters call her out it on it, so I thought that was good and not super annoying. I adored the side characters the most though! Paige was so spunky and lovable! I enjoyed reading all the flashbacks with her in them. Sang was the perfect love interest! He was so sweet and supportive. Clara and him had such a cute friendship that slowly developed into more.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time reading The Nature of Witches! The writing was gorgeous, and the magic system was so cool. My only complaint would be that sometimes the the plot would drag a bit (this mostly happened in the middle) and I wish we had more scenes where Clara and Sang could showcase more chemistry with each other. Some training scenes felt devoid of any emotional depth as the magic was kind of being info-dumped on the reader.
I would recommend this to any reader looking for some light fantasy that still resembled our real world a little.
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