The Witch's Glass: 09/07/18

The Witch's Glass by Holly Grant is the third book in the League of Beastly Dreadfuls. Anastasia who has come to terms (more or less) with being a member of the royal family of Nowhere Special, now must struggle with coming into her ability to transform while trying to solve the mystery of her missing grandfather.

Book one, The League of the Beastly Dreadfuls introduced magic and changelings into the ordinary world. Anastasia goes from having parents to being the prisoner of two so-called aunts and befriended by the ghosts of the children they've already killed.

Book two, The Dastardly Deed removes Anastasia from the ordinary world, into a magical, subterranean one where she is unusual for her lack of understanding of her history. It's also where the foundation of the split between witches and changelings is laid.

This book, then, reconnects Nowhere Special to the ordinary world. It also fills in the blanks both in Anastasia's personal history and that of Nowhere Special. This is accomplished through the efforts of Anastasia, Ollie, Quentin, and Gus as they work together to solve the mystery of the Witch's Glass.

Thematically this book reminded me of Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Bigger Than a Bread Box by Laurel Snyder, and Winterhouse by Ben Guterson with a dash of the Eclipsa arc from Star vs the Forces of Evil.

In terms of it being a road narrative, this third installment is a privileged trip to (or through) a uhoria by way of a metaphorical cornfield (ie, magical passage through a magical barrier). The journeys, though, reveal things about both the royal family as a whole, and of Anastasia's personal history that might put both in jeopardy, or herald change in the society as a whole.

At the time of writing this review, there is no mention of a fourth book. The third book ends without total closure. I hope this signals an opening to a fourth book.

Five stars

Comments (0)