Two YA Historical Fantasy Reviews: Night of the Witch (Witch and Hunter #1) by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis & Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros

Night of the Witch (Witch and Hunter #1) by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch, Beth Revis
Series: Witch and Hunter #1
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on October 3, 2023
Genres: YA Fantasy, YA Historical Fiction
Pages: 416
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating:
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Blurb:

A witch and a hunter. Vengeance is their mission. Love is their destiny.

Fritzi is a witch. A survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she’s determined to find her only surviving family member and bring the hexenjägers—zealot witch hunters—to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader—Kommandant Dieter Kirch.

Otto is a hexenjäger and a captain, the second in command to Dieter Kirch—but that’s just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjagers burned his innocent mother alive and since then, he has been planning a move against the witch hunters that tore his family apart. And now the time has come for them to pay for what they’ve done.

When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other, despite their common enemy. But all they have is one another, and they both crave revenge. As truths come to light and trust shifts, Fritzi and Otto uncover a far more horrifying plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks . . . but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all.

My Review:

I was really blown away by this! It kept me turning pages as fast as I could whenever I could fit in the time to read! I liked the enemies to friends/lovers aspect of this story. The backstories for the characters were so good. The surprise about Fritzi’s family, and even who the “wild magic” voice in her head was definitely was something I was a little surprised about and loved how it kept the story going and in a different way than I’d expected. There was a lot of interesting mythology to this witchcraft, but also so many historical aspects to the story that I think it will keep people who are interested in those two different genres engaged for the whole story. While it seemed to be wrapping everything up at the end, the author made sure that we got the little extra to see where the story will continue for book 2, as well as giving away a few more details we didn’t know for things that happened earlier in the book, and I’m definitely ready to read on!

Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros
Published by Inkyard Press on October 10, 2023
Genres: YA Fantasy, YA Historical Fiction
Pages: 336
Source: the publisher
Format: Hardcover
My Rating:
Goodreads
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Blurb:

Frankenstein meets Inglourious Basterds in this stunning Jewish historical horror novel from the award-winning author of The City Beautiful

Vera was made for vengeance.

Lithuania, 1943. A father drowns in the all-consuming grief of a daughter killed by the Nazis. He can’t bring Chaya back from the dead, but he can use kishuf — an ancient and profane magic — to create a golem in her image. A Nazi killer, to avenge her death.

When Vera awakens, she can feel her violent purpose thrumming within her. But she can also feel glimpses of a human life lived, of stolen kisses amidst the tragedy, and of a grisly death. And when she meets Akiva, she recognizes the boy with soft lips that gave warm kisses. But these memories aren’t hers, and Vera doesn’t know if she gets—or deserves —to have a life beyond what she was made for.

Vera’s strength feels limitless—until she learns that there are others who would channel kishuf for means far less noble than avenging a daughter’s death. As she confronts the very basest of humanity, Vera will need more than what her creator gave Not just a reason to fight, but a reason to live. 

My Review

There were a lot of interesting historical and even cultural/religious aspects to this story. I really liked the idea of a golem that we looked at as “good” and a character we wanted to see get to live a normal life. I know that there are similar stories out there about other types of creatures, but I feel like this was a little bit different and unique. It was another look at World War II and all the different sides. Showing how people just turned on each other to save themselves. One part where Vera is called a monster by someone, and she thinks how it is actually the humans doing this to each other, so how is she the monster? That really stood out. And I get that it was a lot of what the story was trying to get across.

When the other golem or similar creatures are revealed it is just crazy, but also sounds right on track for something Nazis would do based on what we know of their experimenting on humans in concentration camps. There was a bit of a different look at the ghettos as well as resistance fighters. While this was a really good story, it did drag for me a bit at times. Overall I really did think it was a good story and will be putting it in my school library to share with my students.