Hi, guys back again!! Today I’m gonna be reviewing Chris Colfer’s fantasy book A Tale Of Witchcraft. This book is a sequel to A Tale Of Magic and is about the aftermath of Brystal and her friends saving the world from the Snow Queen. It also presents new threats in the form of Mistress Mara, a mysterious new witch and a dangerous clan called the Righteous Brotherhood.
Warning: SPOILERS UP AHEAD! ( IF YOU’VE READ IT, GREAT! BUT IF NOT THEN DON’T SCROLL UP OR IF YOU JUST WANT TO SPOIL IT FOR YOURSELF THEN GO AHEAD)
My book review:
Book itself
- I absolutely love when fantasy books have maps as it allows the readers who want to visualise, actually see where the story’s going (aka me!)
- Also, I love the covers. They are just so appealing!!
- I loved the chapter titles. They are so nice!
Characters
- TBH, the Righteous Brotherhood made how many men they had really easy to remember: just 333
- A white wolf for a logo is pretty cool, ngl.
- It makes sense that everyone won’t know each other, since they are a secret society.
- There was a lot of eye-rolling for the Righteous Brotherhood and their Righteous Philosophy. So goddamn misogynistic.
- I love how they are all so scared of one girl and they are like a bunch of old men. So petty.
- I absolutely love Lucy, one of my favourite characters in the series, you know what, she’s my number 1 fav.
- I love that she got her own side plot which was integral to the main plot!
- She cracks me up with her jokes and her personality, as a whole, is amazing. She cares so much about her friends although she is a troublemaker (aren’t we all?) and has a unique way of taking care of things, she still has good intentions.
- And she has such an iconic outfit from the way she is described, I mean the bowler hat and her being into theatre, I can definitely imagine it as an extension of her personality.
- Tangerina and Skylene are such besties you can definitely see it.
- Emerelda is such a good friend to Brystal and a close friend to Xanthous, she’s just amazing.
- Her outfit sounds so nice like emerald is a very pretty colour.
- Oh my god, Xanthous. I love him. He’s just so caring.
- I love Brystal and her pantsuits. I would definitely wear them when I grow up as an adult.
- Mistress Mara had a Morticia Addams kinda vibe but I just think it was because of her outfits.
- I loved the additions of Sprout, Stitches, Hareiet and Beebee. Although Hareiet was a bit standoffish to Lucy.
- It was unfortunate, what happened to Hareiet but I didn’t really care for her much.
- Stitches is my 2nd favourite character. Her whole personality and interest in the dark and macabre are fantastic. I mean I get her.
- I liked how each character had a hobby that related to their name in a way like Sprout with fertiliser, Stitches with her dolls 🪆and Beebee with her insects.
- I loved that Lucy would fully enrol herself into Mistress Mara’s academy so that she could spy on her to get back on the Fairy Council. That’s so Lucy, to be honest.
- The character arc with Seven was a rollercoaster. Like I liked him when he introduced himself to Brystal but then he did a 180 and became evil 😈
- Well, technically he was evil from the start and he had an elaborate plan with Mistress Mara like man that was on another level of evil.
- The fact that Brystal had a curse made on her to have those bad thoughts 💭 like oh my god why.
- I mean I get Brystal, when did she have a curse planted on her??
- Mrs Vee is an absolute hoot. In every scene she is in, she’s just on point with her dialogue.
- I felt so bad for Mrs Vee when she heard about the Righteous Brotherhood. That must’ve been traumatic for her.
- Wow Seven starts getting petty at the end.
- I absolutely love Madame Weatherberry.
Plot
- The twist to Mistress Mara’s manor was wow. I mean the invisible butler and the goat in the painting. 😲
- That plot twist with Seven and the Righteous Brotherhood, like my god. I didn’t even see it coming.
- I felt bad for Brystal like you could see how happy she felt with Seven then to have that happiness crushed when she discovered Seven killed his own family. She was even scared to let Seven go after the Righteous Brotherhood with her.
- I kinda felt bad that Mistress Mara got backstabbed by Seven at the end but she did deserve it after attempting to kill Brystal.
- I was so scared when Lucy did the three initiations but she attempted to ‘fake’ it and she passed all three.
- Unfortunately, this resulted in a demon being inside of her which needs to be exorcised and luckily, her friends came to her rescue.
- Although the demon escaped which wasn’t good.
- It turns out that Mistress Mara’s academy was just a front to create a demon in the students to be used in Seven’s plan.
Moments
- I did not like when Lucy tried to impress the crowd and it turned into a disaster. Although she had good intentions, it wasn’t the best execution.
- I hated it when she was kicked out from the fairy council, although it was reasonable, I still hated it. It had that feeling when you are kicked out of a friend group and your friends do stuff without you.
- It was kinda sad and painful when Pip wanted to go to Mistress Mara’s academy but Brystal wouldn’t let her but she had to let go.
- I loved how Lucy attempts to give Mistress Mara a nickname ‘Double EM’ but she did not care for it at all.
- I really liked the scene where Brystal and Seven first meet at her brother’s wedding – however, that was just a ruse for Seven to enact his plan
- I loved how Brystal described the scenery in the ‘In-Between’ after she died from the bloodstone.
- I loved how Brystal overcame the curse and got out of the pit with the help of her friends.
- Tbh, I feel like the thoughts in Brystal’s head were quite relatable. Those harsh feelings make you feel like you can’t do it, you are gonna fail etc.
- It was interesting to find out that Mistress Mara was Death’s daughter.
- It was relieving to read Brystal finally telling her friends the truth about what has been going on with her.
- I hated when Brystal and Lucy fought when Lucy found out about Madame Weatherberry’s Snow Queen’s body in the ice cave.
- Although it was nice that Lucy caught the Fairy Council up on everything that Brystal has kept from them so they are not in the dark anymore.
- It was quite disturbing to find out that the lynxes at Mistress Mara’s academy were all the disobedient students that were cursed so they can learn a lesson.
- Tbh it was kinda fun to read Pip and Lucy get revenge on their past tormentors, while I don’t condone it, it was fun to see their tormentors get what they deserve.
Overall it was an amazing book, one that I would love to read again if I could!!
Comment down below which part of the book was your favourite!
Also, comment down below any parts, characters and plotlines that I missed!
Thebookaholic 