The Last Lunar Witch | By S F Henne
Book Review | BBNYA Finalist | Urban Fantasy | TheWriteReads Blog Tour
My thoughts
Narrative and Plot
The Last Lunar Witch is an urban fantasy that follows Nyssa, an alchemist with unstable magic. The story revolves around how Nyssa finds her place in the city of Arkirith while navigating dangerous situations.
The pacing of the book was a bit slow for me. The writing style—or at least the voice of the protagonist—was filled with self-doubt. I’m all for a self-doubting heroine who finds her way, but if your lead is still unsure of herself after the 80% mark, it starts to wear thin. Especially when it’s a first-person, single-narrator story.
There were a few compelling moments that kept me going, but overall, the book didn’t have many standout qualities.
Characters and Conflicts
The book begins on a promising note, introducing our main character, her familiar, and a bunch of colourful characters. But it never really takes the time to sit with any one character and flesh them out. Instead, it keeps moving, constantly introducing new characters with different powers and affiliations. With so many factions and cliques, some supporting characters are so forgettable you can’t recall where you last saw them.
Aside from Raynor and Danika, no other supporting character felt three-dimensional. The villain was quite a mysterious figure, which had potential, but the story kept repeating the same beats. There’s a lot of focus on meditation and training. I wish it had spent more time developing the side characters, so when something happened to them, it felt like more than just another plot device.
Conclusion
Overall, The Last Lunar Witch was a one-time read for me. Since this is the start of a series, I assume it’s meant to set up future instalments. Still, I wish there had been more to enjoy here even as a standalone.
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors. It is organized by @TheWriteReads I received this book in exchange for an honest review for the BBNYA 2024.
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