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Witch Hunt: These Foolish Things
Propaganda Goes Medieval
William Grey is on a mission to cross a continent and read a book. Easy. Except it's a book that contains every story of every person that's ever lived. And he needs to do it before winter to stop humanity sliding inexorably into chaos.
Against him, rival groups of witches compete to snatch the book and use it for their own deadly schemes of murder and revenge. Because the book is the ultimate tool of the Proper Gander, the mysterious force that controls the hearts and minds of men and women.
With him are his best friend, Ridkin the stableboy, and his old enemy Feydor, who has changed his tune. Or has he?
Will our hero succeed against the odds and emerge a stronger, wiser man?
Witch Hunt is a tale of witches, a stableboy, a mischievous jester, a would-be king, a terrifying half-woman half-tree, and, of course, Filthy the monkey.
William Grey is on a mission to cross a continent and read a book. Easy. Except it's a book that contains every story of every person that's ever lived. And he needs to do it before winter to stop humanity sliding inexorably into chaos.
Against him, rival groups of witches compete to snatch the book and use it for their own deadly schemes of murder and revenge. Because the book is the ultimate tool of the Proper Gander, the mysterious force that controls the hearts and minds of men and women.
With him are his best friend, Ridkin the stableboy, and his old enemy Feydor, who has changed his tune. Or has he?
Will our hero succeed against the odds and emerge a stronger, wiser man?
Witch Hunt is a tale of witches, a stableboy, a mischievous jester, a would-be king, a terrifying half-woman half-tree, and, of course, Filthy the monkey.
311 pages, Paperback
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 13, 2025
Once again William is thrust into unexpected danger and adventure. He's been tasked with destroying a curious and sentient book that seems impervious to damage and shows him impossible things. Now on the run from guards and witches he's reunited with allies and enemies to figure out what to do next.
Meanwhile Matilda has been exploring her magical abilities and now is under the supervision of mistress Drusillla, but as the dark magic keeps calling to her will she embrace her evil side.
With schemes at play, rumours of prophecies, a search for a lost heir, and quests for the mystical book, everyone's paths will cross once again.
It's another wit filled perilous journey, with the lovable characters who always find mischief and chaos, but this time they face world ending stakes, shattering revelations, and bitter rivals.
This sequel is packed full of adventure, action, character redemption, and forging paths of destiny everyone must embrace. Looking forward to more of the teams adventures!
Meanwhile Matilda has been exploring her magical abilities and now is under the supervision of mistress Drusillla, but as the dark magic keeps calling to her will she embrace her evil side.
With schemes at play, rumours of prophecies, a search for a lost heir, and quests for the mystical book, everyone's paths will cross once again.
It's another wit filled perilous journey, with the lovable characters who always find mischief and chaos, but this time they face world ending stakes, shattering revelations, and bitter rivals.
This sequel is packed full of adventure, action, character redemption, and forging paths of destiny everyone must embrace. Looking forward to more of the teams adventures!
February 12, 2025
Here is my review for Witch Hunt by Stephen Grant
This book was an enjoyable read which I really liked. It is the follow up book to False Tidings which I, also, enjoyed. In this story, we met Drusilla de la Torre who has been training as an apprentice witch for the last two years. She has been summoned by Supreme Mistress Livia of the Grand Coven. Her mission was to be sent to Italica! She couldn’t believe it. How could she use her magic out there? Mistress Livia explained that they needed the Bearer to be brought to them but under no circumstances was she to touch the Crystal Of Life, we will use it through her. The Bearer is Anglonian, a young girl barely eighteen summers. She is lost and vulnerable where she is. She doesn’t know what she is or can do. You must befriend her and teach her our way of doing things. Also, you will corrupt her. Drusilla was sure she could achieve this and set off immediately. She soon reached Italica and started her search for the Bearer. After asking around she was told of a girl who lived in the cave up the hill beyond where the forest used to be. Drusilla easily found her after that as there was a green light atop the hill that only certain people could see. Matilda had been lonely and had set the light to try and attract some witches from a coven. She was surprised to see Drusilla but liked how she dressed. Talking was stilted at the start, Matilda refused to talk about her parents so Drusilla talked about her mum. It turned out that the burnt forest was down to Matilda but it was an accident and she couldn’t put a stop to it or douse the flames with water. Drusilla said she would help teach her magic but it went a little bit wrong. This is an enjoyable read and I loved it with the witches to give it a new dimension. They weren’t going to give up without a fight. This is a brilliantly written story that has been well thought out and planned exceptionally well. Matilda and Drusilla are great characters. There is a lot going on in this story, it held my attention and I didn’t want to put the book down.
Blurb :
Propaganda goes medieval...
William Grey is on a mission to cross a continent and read a book. Easy. Except it's a book that contains every story of every person that's ever lived. And he needs to do it before winter to stop humanity sliding inexorably into chaos.
Against him, rival groups of witches compete to snatch the book and use it for their own deadly schemes of murder and revenge. Because the book is the ultimate tool of the Proper Gander, the mysterious force that controls the hearts and minds of men and women.
With him are his best friend, Ridkin the stableboy, and his old enemy Feydor, who has changed his tune. Or has he?
Will our hero succeed against the odds and emerge a stronger, wiser man?
Witch Hunt is a tale of witches, a stableboy, a mischievous jester, a would-be king, a terrifying half-woman half-tree, and, of course, Filthy the monkey.
This book was an enjoyable read which I really liked. It is the follow up book to False Tidings which I, also, enjoyed. In this story, we met Drusilla de la Torre who has been training as an apprentice witch for the last two years. She has been summoned by Supreme Mistress Livia of the Grand Coven. Her mission was to be sent to Italica! She couldn’t believe it. How could she use her magic out there? Mistress Livia explained that they needed the Bearer to be brought to them but under no circumstances was she to touch the Crystal Of Life, we will use it through her. The Bearer is Anglonian, a young girl barely eighteen summers. She is lost and vulnerable where she is. She doesn’t know what she is or can do. You must befriend her and teach her our way of doing things. Also, you will corrupt her. Drusilla was sure she could achieve this and set off immediately. She soon reached Italica and started her search for the Bearer. After asking around she was told of a girl who lived in the cave up the hill beyond where the forest used to be. Drusilla easily found her after that as there was a green light atop the hill that only certain people could see. Matilda had been lonely and had set the light to try and attract some witches from a coven. She was surprised to see Drusilla but liked how she dressed. Talking was stilted at the start, Matilda refused to talk about her parents so Drusilla talked about her mum. It turned out that the burnt forest was down to Matilda but it was an accident and she couldn’t put a stop to it or douse the flames with water. Drusilla said she would help teach her magic but it went a little bit wrong. This is an enjoyable read and I loved it with the witches to give it a new dimension. They weren’t going to give up without a fight. This is a brilliantly written story that has been well thought out and planned exceptionally well. Matilda and Drusilla are great characters. There is a lot going on in this story, it held my attention and I didn’t want to put the book down.
Blurb :
Propaganda goes medieval...
William Grey is on a mission to cross a continent and read a book. Easy. Except it's a book that contains every story of every person that's ever lived. And he needs to do it before winter to stop humanity sliding inexorably into chaos.
Against him, rival groups of witches compete to snatch the book and use it for their own deadly schemes of murder and revenge. Because the book is the ultimate tool of the Proper Gander, the mysterious force that controls the hearts and minds of men and women.
With him are his best friend, Ridkin the stableboy, and his old enemy Feydor, who has changed his tune. Or has he?
Will our hero succeed against the odds and emerge a stronger, wiser man?
Witch Hunt is a tale of witches, a stableboy, a mischievous jester, a would-be king, a terrifying half-woman half-tree, and, of course, Filthy the monkey.
January 15, 2025
Grant casts a witchy wonderful spell with another magical medieval satire set in a Euro-inspired old school world. Hints of Pratchett, the homeyness of Tolkien’s Hobbits and a classy British take on one of my favorite authors - Christopher Moore. Need I say more?
At heart, Witch Hunt is a book about an ancient book (not that book) thrust into the reluctant hands of our scholarly everyman hero, Will. Will must band together with friends and a former foe to fulfill his mission. Or is it his destiny? Maybe his Special Purpose? Or is it his Doom? Will would love to contemplate these deep thoughts, have a nice meal and a good read. And he would do just that if it weren’t for a bunch, er, a coven or two of witches who want the book and will do whatever dirty deeds to get it.
To complicate matters, one of these witches happens to be Will’s 18 year old stepdaughter, Matilda, who left home to find herself, or whatever they say back in the really, really old days. Matilda has been trying to hone her witchy skills and feed her anger while trying not to burn down too many (more) villages. Oh, Grant does a great job with those tense relationships of young women and their moms!
Matilda finds herself gravitating toward the dark arts with the help of a fashionista, power hungry witch, Druscilla, who wants to use Matilda for her own, less than white magic purposes. Too bad for Will that Matilda and Drusilla aren’t the only witches who want the book and they aren’t playing. Though someone might be riding a broom…
Between Will and Matilda and her own powerful destiny, there’s a boss ass tree witch who makes a lot of trunk calls, a furiously funny monkey, a girl monkey, rival fools, monarchs and princesses, antics, fights, feuds and at the center of it, friendship. Dare I say, there’s a humanism to the writer’s message in the ragtag lot of good sorts that help Will do whatever it is he’s supposed to do with the book, when he finally figures out what that is. I won’t spoil the mystery of the big old book, but I found it very meta…you’ll see. I also loved the medieval takes on modern tech, politics, taxes, news, philosophy and more.
Surprisingly, the third act took me from LOLlarious to deeply moved, something that doesn’t happen often. Overall, I ended with the good feeling good stories about good things give. This is the second book in the series and I can’t wait for another!
At heart, Witch Hunt is a book about an ancient book (not that book) thrust into the reluctant hands of our scholarly everyman hero, Will. Will must band together with friends and a former foe to fulfill his mission. Or is it his destiny? Maybe his Special Purpose? Or is it his Doom? Will would love to contemplate these deep thoughts, have a nice meal and a good read. And he would do just that if it weren’t for a bunch, er, a coven or two of witches who want the book and will do whatever dirty deeds to get it.
To complicate matters, one of these witches happens to be Will’s 18 year old stepdaughter, Matilda, who left home to find herself, or whatever they say back in the really, really old days. Matilda has been trying to hone her witchy skills and feed her anger while trying not to burn down too many (more) villages. Oh, Grant does a great job with those tense relationships of young women and their moms!
Matilda finds herself gravitating toward the dark arts with the help of a fashionista, power hungry witch, Druscilla, who wants to use Matilda for her own, less than white magic purposes. Too bad for Will that Matilda and Drusilla aren’t the only witches who want the book and they aren’t playing. Though someone might be riding a broom…
Between Will and Matilda and her own powerful destiny, there’s a boss ass tree witch who makes a lot of trunk calls, a furiously funny monkey, a girl monkey, rival fools, monarchs and princesses, antics, fights, feuds and at the center of it, friendship. Dare I say, there’s a humanism to the writer’s message in the ragtag lot of good sorts that help Will do whatever it is he’s supposed to do with the book, when he finally figures out what that is. I won’t spoil the mystery of the big old book, but I found it very meta…you’ll see. I also loved the medieval takes on modern tech, politics, taxes, news, philosophy and more.
Surprisingly, the third act took me from LOLlarious to deeply moved, something that doesn’t happen often. Overall, I ended with the good feeling good stories about good things give. This is the second book in the series and I can’t wait for another!
December 11, 2024
A story filled with courtly and magical intrigues.
This is the second book in ‘The Fool's Journey Medieval Fantasy Satire’ series, where you follow a fun and odd cast of characters in a medieval, but fantastical Europe where magic is possible in the medieval sense of the world and intrigues are ever shifting as the story evolves.
What I really enjoy with this series, is the cast of characters and their different personalities which shine through when the world is seen through their point of view (my favourite being Filthy, the jester’s monkey) and also the footnotes about very strange and fun facts about medieval Europe.
Like the first book, this read really feels like a dip into medieval times. It can be read as a stand-alone, but my advice would be to read the first book first, as that would benefit reading this book greatly (even if some of my favourite characters didn’t make it into the second book, giving me the good Game of Thrones vibe).
If you ask me to describe the book in one sentence, I would say it’s like reading Boccaccio’s Decameron and playing Witcher 3 but with focus on the strange characters hidden all over the map, and all mixed up in the same royal and magical plot.
This is the second book in ‘The Fool's Journey Medieval Fantasy Satire’ series, where you follow a fun and odd cast of characters in a medieval, but fantastical Europe where magic is possible in the medieval sense of the world and intrigues are ever shifting as the story evolves.
What I really enjoy with this series, is the cast of characters and their different personalities which shine through when the world is seen through their point of view (my favourite being Filthy, the jester’s monkey) and also the footnotes about very strange and fun facts about medieval Europe.
Like the first book, this read really feels like a dip into medieval times. It can be read as a stand-alone, but my advice would be to read the first book first, as that would benefit reading this book greatly (even if some of my favourite characters didn’t make it into the second book, giving me the good Game of Thrones vibe).
If you ask me to describe the book in one sentence, I would say it’s like reading Boccaccio’s Decameron and playing Witcher 3 but with focus on the strange characters hidden all over the map, and all mixed up in the same royal and magical plot.
January 30, 2025
This was a satisfying sequel to False Tidings and is the second instalment in "The Fools Journey Medieval Satire' series. I was excited to get started with this as it is slightly different from the first one. It follows Matilda, who is starting to embrace her magic and is heading down a path with her powers, and William is on a brand new quest. Another brilliantly written addition to the series, and it was lovely to see the footnotes of wonderful facts still there. I was a little sad to see some of my favourite characters didn't join us this time, but those that were involved were fun, original, and continued to evolve throughout. Grant has a very unique way of writing, and I really hope to experience a lot more of his work.
January 31, 2025
After reading False Tidings I was excited to dive into th second instalment of The Fools Journey a medieval satire fantasy series by Steven J Grant.
I was eager to see what the characters had been up to since the events of the last book. It seems most of the characters have gone there separate ways, but it’s not long before Will finds himself in need of help and it seems it’s destined for them all to come together again.
I loved all the returning characters Ridkin, Helena, Feydor and his trusty monkey sidekick Filthy and I enjoyed trying to work out the plots and unravel the secrets while as always having a few belly laughs along the way.
I enjoyed this book as much as the first and the ending has me eager for the third book.
I was eager to see what the characters had been up to since the events of the last book. It seems most of the characters have gone there separate ways, but it’s not long before Will finds himself in need of help and it seems it’s destined for them all to come together again.
I loved all the returning characters Ridkin, Helena, Feydor and his trusty monkey sidekick Filthy and I enjoyed trying to work out the plots and unravel the secrets while as always having a few belly laughs along the way.
I enjoyed this book as much as the first and the ending has me eager for the third book.
August 18, 2025
Witch Hunt is a solid sequel to False Tidings, which grew on me more the further I got through it. Grant's whimsical style shines again, prompting smiles and the occasional chuckle, and the sporadic social commentary continues to hit, without feeling clobbered over the head!
I must admit, with an increased number of POV characters to track, and with characters more peripheral or non-existent in the first book taking centre stage early on, it took me a little while to really get into the swing of things. However, my persistence paid off once the story got fully into its stride in Part 2.
Feydor and William both remain very endearing, and the story's central mystery kept me guessing and eventually surprised me when the reveal came!
If you enjoyed the first, you'll enjoy the second.
I must admit, with an increased number of POV characters to track, and with characters more peripheral or non-existent in the first book taking centre stage early on, it took me a little while to really get into the swing of things. However, my persistence paid off once the story got fully into its stride in Part 2.
Feydor and William both remain very endearing, and the story's central mystery kept me guessing and eventually surprised me when the reveal came!
If you enjoyed the first, you'll enjoy the second.
December 28, 2024
I loved the first book and loved this one even more. The continuity in story and style is impressive. Though Book 1 was self-contained, I was curious about what happened to all the characters afterwards. This second book answers those questions beautifully. I was delighted to find my favorite characters back on a crazy quest, and relieved to see that the comical characters weren't reduced to simple mascots—instead, they evolved and grew while remaining fun, original, and endearing. I devoured every word, and the ending left me hungry for a third one!
January 30, 2025
This book is the second in the "Fool's Journey" series, following characters from the previous book - William, Feydor, Ridkin, Matilda and introducing new characters.
Matilda is getting to grips with her newly discovered magic, with help from Drusilla. As the crystal bearer, Matilda has a lot still to learn.
Meanwhile Will and friends are on another quest, this time to find and read an important book.
Once again, I enjoyed the medieval fantasy setting and the humour sprinkled through the story. A fun and exciting adventure.
Matilda is getting to grips with her newly discovered magic, with help from Drusilla. As the crystal bearer, Matilda has a lot still to learn.
Meanwhile Will and friends are on another quest, this time to find and read an important book.
Once again, I enjoyed the medieval fantasy setting and the humour sprinkled through the story. A fun and exciting adventure.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews