summary

This is a great fantasy novel with LGBTQ relationships (normalized throughout the society), and most importantly, the strife experienced doesn’t come from homophobia but from dark magic.

Tamsin is an incredibly powerful witch, but was banished for using dark magic to save someone else’s life. Wren can’t perform magic, but she’s what’s known as a “source” and is a human conduit for magical energy. Wren can taste, feel, and see magic everywhere. When a plague overtakes various towns and villages, Tamsin realizes that it’s dark magic. Through a series of events set off by a fake coin, Wren and Tamsin team up to hunt the witch responsible for the plague.

I read this book all in one (late night) sitting, because I just HAD to figure out who the dark magic perpetrator was. I appreciate this book being written by a queer author, because they’ve imagined a world where the difficulties Tamsin and Wren face aren’t due to internal struggles with identity or public persecution of same gender relationships. I would definitely recommend this to age middle-grade aged reader interested in magic and fantasy!

this book was sent by Simon & Schuster but all opinions and decision to review is my own.

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more like sweet & bitter magic