Book Review – A Witch Alone by James Nicol

Arianwyn Gribble is back!

During an eventful holiday in Kingsport, Arianwyn is recruited for an important mission: to retrieve the Book of Quiet Glyphs from its hiding place in the Great Wood.

But as she returns home to Lull, feyling refugees gather outside the town walls and hex plagues the forest. As tensions lead to fall-outs with her friends, town squabbles and magical mishaps, Arianwyn faces a sobering truth: she alone can find the Book, and wield its secrets …

***

4/5 Stars

I love this universe and the writing here. It’s so full of magic and whimsy and joy. Nicol manages to portray a basically perfect middle grade world in my opinion, just the right balance of everything.

I still love Wyn and Salle, their friendship is lovely. I also love that we see it wobble here a bit, as real life isn’t all perfect friends all the time. There was not enough Bob in this book for me though 😉

My only real niggle about this book is that nothing really happens. This sounds more major than it is, I adore the world so much I seriously still wanted to give it 4.5 stars 😂. The whole book has lots of little things happening but it feels like the set up to the next book, and there’s no real resolution to the things we learn about hex, the spells or even Gimma. However apparently the next book is written so fingers crossed for a quick release!! Hehe.