You don't know what you must give up to become a witch.
Avery Roe wants only to claim her birthright as the witch of Prince Island and to make the charms that have kept the island's sailors safe at sea for generations, but instead she is held prisoner by her mother in a magic-free life of proper manners and respectability.
Avery thinks escape is just a matter of time, but when she has a harrowing nightmare, she can see what it means: She will be killed. She will be murdered. And she's never been wrong before.
Desperate to change her future, Avery finds a surprising ally in Tane - a tattooed harpoon boy with magic of his own, who moves her in ways she never expected. But as time runs out to unlock her magic and save herself, Avery discovers that becoming a witch requires unimaginable sacrifice.
Book Review
Kulper's writing is impecable. I'm not normally pulled into novels set in anything other than modern day, fantastical or otherwise, but this story is set in the 19th century (1800s) and is amazing. Prince Island sounds like a beautiful yet terrifying place to live. The income that keeps the families alive is focused around sailors to catch whales in dangerous waters with no way to communicate with their loved ones or other ships if they are in danger.
For generations the sailors have relied on the Roe women to keep them safe with their spells and charms. At the start of the book Avery's grandmother is the Roe witch, but she should be long gone by now. She should have passed down the title to her daughter, and would have if her daughter had not vowed to give up magic forever when she left Avery in her grandmother's care. Avery's mother then returned for her when she was 12 years old, took her from the only home she knew, and forced her to never do magic or contact her grandmother.
Throughout the novel we see Avery attempt to escape and what amounts from that and the relationship that flourishes between her and Tane, the boy who tries to help her claim her birthright as the Prince Island or Roe witch. But the sacrifice that she must make is heart breaking, literally.
Book Discussion *SPOILERS*
Avery doesn't know that the sacrifice she must make to become the witch is to live the rest of her life in pain. She will forever be heartbroken and unable to find true love again. That sacrifice is that her first love will hurt her in ways that she can not even imagine. That is the only way her magic can be unlocked. Yet no one has told Avery this and by the time her mother does, it is already to late.
The backstory behind all of the Roe witches is that each of them fall in love for the very first time but the magic inside of them begins to change the loves of their lives. Each of them are then hurt in unthinkable ways, finding their love cheating, being abused, death, etc. And once they have endured that pain, they are tied to the island because they all then discover that they are pregnant with little girls. The only thing that separates them is that they each have a different power, besides their ability to cast spells and make charms. For example, Avery's mother can make men fall in love with her and Avery can tell ones fate based on their dreams.
After Avery was born her mother took off, we later learn as a way to protect her (which I'm still not certain on how much of that I believe), but then returns and takes Avery away when she is 12. Avery is forbidden to do magic or see her grandmother every again and when she tries to escape, her mother's curse pulls her back. But after Avery has a dream that she is going to be murdered, she will do anything to escape. And that is where Tane comes in.
Tane is from an island near New Zealand and has magic all of his own, just like his people. But he is looking for vengeance when he meets Avery. He pleads with her to tell his dreams so that he can track down the sailors who killed his family. She agrees but only if he will help her escape. They work together and eventually Tane is able to break Avery's mother's curse on her and help her escape, in an unusual way. But Avery's grandmother tell her that she will not be the next Roe witch before killing herself and making all of her magic useless.
Now the rest of the story follows Avery as she falls in love with Tane, learns of the family curse, and she and Tane try to change her fate, eventually leading to ones ultimate demise.
It's intense, beautifully written, and so strange. I loved it.
Pages: 398 Rate: 5/5
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