The Good Witch of the South by T. C. Bartlett
Genre: fantasy
TW: death of parent, torture, murder
There is a darkness brewing in the West and alarming rumors of dragons and an evil enchantress building an army to overthrow the Great Head of Oz. A demon fairy witch the Land of Oz hasn’t seen since Dorothy Gale destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West.
Soon to be sixteen-year-old Samantha Goodwitch, the daughter of Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, knows she is disobeying her mother’s wishes when she leaves the castle to search for dragons, but she’d rather have an adventure than follow her mother’s command. When one of the Shadow Mountain Cats, Akasha, unexpectedly saves her life, the adventure turns deadly and a friendship grows between them.
But the rumors soon become real, and the freedom that had captured the hearts of the citizens of Oz is quickly unraveling. As the tensions mount and battles begin, Sam and Akasha find others who join them in the last Great War of Oz, to fight against the darkness that is devouring a once peaceful land.
I would like to thank the author who kindly sent me a digital copy of their book in exchange of an honest review. This, of course, didn’t affect my opinion on the book.
For those of you who have watched the Witches of Oz, I’m really interested in knowing what you’d think of The Good Witch of the South! I haven’t watched it–yet–so I didn’t have anything to compare it to, to see the differences and similarities. What I did was read some basic info before starting to better understand any references, which I think helped a lot.
Sam–daughter of Glinda Goodwitch–is, like any sixteen-year-old princess, full of life and adventures and hopes, and she’s growing up to be a fair, brave young warrior who would do anything to protect those closest to her. She gets to see just how far she can take when rumors of an evil witch arises.
For a middle grade book, this certainly was entertaining and very enjoyable. I would have liked if there was more depth to the other characters other than Sam, the main character. I felt like they were a bit superficial, which didn’t get me to feel any kind of connection to them.
Pace-wise, there were some parts that were slower than others where I felt like I wasn’t really captured in what’s happening in the book. But, for the most part, the pace was medium.
The writing-style was one of the things I liked, it was very magical and smooth. What I found really delightful was how the author’s writing style was similar across both the book and his emails, thought I’d point it out :).
librorum in sempiternum 