Project Athena | Reviews

The Elf Witch (Emily)

Author: jacquelyngilmore

Genre: Dark Fantasy

Reviewer: OutOfMyImagination

Hello, and thank you for requesting a review. As you requested, I focus on certain points within the story, and of course overall impression. I read eight chapters in total, so the review is up to that point in the story.

The Elf Witch presents us with a magical world of witches. The problem is magic is disappearing. Here we meet Imani, a magic-less, strong-willed elf. Her world is shattered on the day her grandmother is executed, not because of loss but because she unexpectedly possesses a magic she never had before. With newfound power, her only goal is to keep her siblings safe and keep their family's magical shop afloat.

The book cover is perfect, it goes well with the story and genre as well. The same could be said about the book description, though I would suggest removing the last paragraph in which you compare your book with other known works in the same genre. It's just a personal preference for me. Other readers might even like it. But overall the description tells enough to pique readers' interest.

I loved the descriptive writing style, and the story seemed polished as well. So answering your question, "Is the prose well-written and engaging?" I would just simply say yes, the story has a suitable setting which pushes the story forward. "Does the hook make you want to keep reading more?" the story has a good hook and starts with loss. The way Imani deals with that loss suggests conflict between her and her grandmother, which could push readers to get into the story more.

The story has a good pace, but the first chapter lacks background and it is harder to grasp what was happening. You wanted to know is "Exposition - is it too slow or does it start right with the action?" the pace overall after the first chapter got a lot better, and while reading further I realized the choices you made with the first chapter, with descriptive writing style. Sometimes it's hard to explain what is happening in the scene, so the first chapter could be a bit more straightforward.

With characters, we only had a few introductions apart from Imani. We can see her motives and perhaps understand her more. So to answer your question, "Can the readers connect with the MC (Imani) by a few chapters in?" I couldn't connect with her, so far I was not rooting for her, nor I am against her, so it might take a bit longer to connect with the character. Though I was surprised she followed through with her original plan and achieved that goal. So my position on her stayed mainly neutral, if for example she would be out of the story and Dak or Meira would take the lead, the story still would be interesting since there are a lot of points we don't know yet.

Overall, to answer your question "What could be improved to make you want to keep reading more?" simply focus more on the world built and explain it with more details.

The magic in this world is not clarified that well, nor is the world itself so while there is a lack of information, that in a way causes me to read more.

There are inconsistencies with the magical part of this story, and a lot of it is very unclear. They use wands to cast magic, but wands are never clearly explained. How does Imani use Aras's wand, for example? Or how the wand looks; possesses magical powers. Yet Imani feels the magic inside her and sees shadows as well, so do they need wands to use magic or do they need them on some occasions?

In the first chapter, it was mentioned that Imani conceals the fact that she lacks magic, but later in the story when she acquires magic and a brand/rune, she doesn't want anyone to be aware of her magical abilities. What does "selling magic" exactly mean? For me, it was very unclear. The way I saw it, is selling some sort of potion, but it's only called magic in the story. Are there a few types of magic in this world? And if there are you should explain them since it can feel confusing. It's hard to judge the full world build since I haven't read that much, but these are some concerns/questions I had.

I would rate this story four stars out of five. While the technical side and writing style are truly mesmerizing, the world-building issues I mentioned prevent this story from being perfect.

I would recommend The Elf Witch to readers who enjoy high fantasy books, discovering new worlds and characters with a grey nature.