The Last Windwitch

February 15, 2021
Unwittingly caught up in a magical family's deadly quarrel, an apprentice hedgewitch discovers that she has a higher destiny. Adopted as a foundling by Mother Magdi, a kindly hedgewitch, Brida has spent much of her 12 years struggling to learn herbal spellcraft. Unfortunately, in discovering that she has a truer knack for a more powerful, intuitive form of magic, she draws the cruel attention of Moira, Queen of Crows, whose evil magic has driven away her two sisters and knocked the once-peaceful realm so out of kilter that the weather has turned unpredictable, the population is terrorized, and zombie revenants and other monsters are rising. What can Brida do to fight such evil? What else but harness other magics, including the white, or sacred; the hedgewitches' nature-based green; the wild magic of the legendary stormhorses--and one other mysterious type, based on wind and long thought to be extinct. Brida never seems to lack for an encounter with a knowledgeable character or overheard conversation to fill in her backstory or conveniently placed allies to bail her out of tight spots; still Adam kits her with a sturdy sense of right and wrong, pits her against several genuinely creepy creatures, and outfits her with simple choices at the climax...plus the power to right all wrongs at the end. Brida presents as White; two secondary characters have copper skin. Satisfying fare for readers who prefer their heroes and baddies clearly distinguished. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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March 22, 2021
An intriguing setting, an interesting magical system, and a resourceful, empathic heroine mark this ambitious fantasy debut by Adam. Brida, 12 and good with horses, is finding it difficult to master the hedge magic she’s learning from her mentor, hedge witch Mother Magdi, who took her in as an infant. After she hears a forbidden story of mythical stormhorses that embody uncontrollable aspects of weather, then spots them, she determines to prove her worth to the tiny village she calls home by getting to the bottom of their destructive rampages. But her efforts place her in the path of the wicked Queen Moira, who seeks the stormhorses for her own unfathomable ends. Captured by the Queen’s Huntsman and brought to the capital city, Brida learns more of the ways in which magic manifests and is used—from hedge magic to ruthlessly outlawed sacred spells to sinister shadow magic—and the relationship between her family and myriad magical forms. While the leisurely, sprawling epic occasionally meanders, Adam succeeds in bringing everything together, emphasizing forgiveness and healing over vengeance and anger. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sarah Landis, Sterling Lord Literistic.