Title: A Curse of Ash and Embers
Author: Jo Spurrier
Series: Tales of the Blackbone Witches #1
Genre: Fantasy/Magic
Publisher: Voyager
Publication Date: November 3rd, 2020
Edition: Kindle Edition, 367 pages
Source: NetGalley
Synopsis:
A dead witch. A bitter curse. A battle of magic.
Some people knit socks by the fire at night. Gyssha Blackbone made monsters.
But the old witch is dead now, and somehow it's Elodie's job to clean up the mess.
When she was hired at Black Oak Cottage, Elodie had no idea she'd find herself working for a witch; and her acid-tongued new mistress, Aleida, was not expecting a housemaid to turn up on her doorstep.
Gyssha's final curse left Aleida practically dead on her feet, and now, with huge monsters roaming the woods, a demonic tree lurking in the orchard and an angry warlock demanding repayment of a debt, Aleida needs Elodie's help, whether she likes it or not.
And no matter what the old witch throws at her, to Elodie it's still better than going back home.
It's taken me a few days to figure out how to review this book without giving spoilers, or to phrase things in a way that makes it sound as if I didn't like or enjoy the book. But everything about this book was, in a word, unexpected. Kind of.
Elodie, or Dee as she prefers to go by, is very much the definition of 'unlikely hero'. She grew up in a pretty verbally abusive household at the hands of her step-father. While I wasn't a huge fan of how that part of the book was handled, and while it also didn't exactly take up a large portion of the book, I can see why it was there. It was to give the character something more internal to overcome, but I don't fully feel like she did in this book. The self-doubt runs deep, and while I can relate to that on some level, I also some-what feel like the way it kept coming up in the story didn't move her along or past it the way I would have liked. I hope though, now that the threat from this book was defeated, she can overcome more of that now that she has time to focus on other things.
Aleida, I liked her character a lot. She was also somewhat of an unexpected character. Morally gray witch, I like that trope. She's not evil, but I wouldn't exactly call her kind either. Her brash, no-BS personality was enjoyable to read. She didn't beat around the bush when talking to Dee, she never held back when it was important. I just really liked that she was honest and upfront with Dee, letting her make up her mind on whether she wanted to stay or not, but also telling Dee that she should leave for her own safety.
There are a lot of side characters that I hope still have a role to play in the rest of the series. Mainly because I want Dee to have the friends her family never afforded her to have. I was on the fence when it came to the budding romance, and I still don't fully know how to feel about the reveal of who he actually was. I didn't feel like it was explained entirely, there is a tiny plot hole there that I would have liked filled in.
The climax of the book was pretty exciting, and the mystery of who sent the letter has yet to be explained but I hope it will be in the sequel. All-in-all, this was a really fun book, and I enjoyed the writing. I very much look forward to the sequel.
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