Witness the battle for country, family, and magic as the critically acclaimed YA fantasy series returns with a powerful new chapter!
The magical creative team of writer Conor McCreery and artist V.V. Glass are back to bring fans the breathtaking conclusion to Saoirse’s magical journey in The Last Blood & Betrayal!
Once taught to fear witches, Saoirse now finds herself becoming one—and must wrestle with what that means for her family, her future, and herself. With the dark witch Nicneven drawing closer to unleashing a world-ending force, Saoirse’s struggle to control her emotions, her powers, and her doubts might mean the difference between saving Ireland or losing it forever…
Can she ultimately stay true to her heart when everything—including her own magic—urges her to give in to the darkness?
Saorise has been through utter horror in order to protect the world and her little brother Brahm from a coven of witches determined to release the terrifying Fairy King. Unfortunately, she has two more of the coven to dispatch of, all while trying to reign in her anger in order to prevent herself from slipping into dark magic. She luckily has her Nan to help her build her mind garden and her fairy friend Hugh to assure her that magic does not only come from anger. But, forces are working against her and her little brother goes missing. Now she has more than the witches destruction in mind, with spectres of her past talking to her and strange things occurring that hint at a double cross. But who can The Cailleach really be and can Saorise defeat her and her coven without losing herself to the magic?
This was a very twisty/turny second installment of this series and I truly enjoyed the addition of the changelings who only "watch." They cannot interfere or assist as it may lead to dark magic. Hugh has also become more important to the story as he continues to remind Saorise of her humanity and kindness. He tries to show her another path, but someone continues to dislodge him and his friendship from her side. Can she trust everyone she loves, or is one of them hiding a deep secret?
Deals a lot with familial love and misplaced trust, with learning to defeat your own self doubt and to trust your own instincts. Brahm even shows his own intelligence and wit as he outsmarts someone he thought loved him. I am very excited to see where the next installment takes us as it seemed neatly wrapped up until the final panel.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending the ARC of the book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
'The Last Witch: Blood & Betrayal' is a story about Saoirse struggling to control her emotions and her powers. Her internal battle might influence the survival of Ireland and all that's precious to her... like her little brother Brahm.
I have never read anything from this world, so this's my first introduction to these characters and magic. The plot is enjoyable but predictable, with a wholesome message even in the darkest moments of the narrative.
The artwork is appealing with beautiful colors, but this art style isn't my favourite. In spite of that, the art is still lovely to look at. And I love the character design section, I always enjoy seeing the process of the craft.
In my opinion, the pronunciation guide should be at the beginning of the story or maybe add a little warning on the first page, mentioning that there's a guide at the end of the book.
This is the second book in the series. I loved the first book, where Saoirse learns to become a witch and helps her brother, and finds her Nan, and all turns out well in the end.
In this second book, I found myself wondering what happened to all the good that was in the first. I got bored, going on ahead to see what was going to happen. Not to give any spoilers here, but there was so many cliches, and plot twists that were not plot twist, and stuff I didn't care about.
If you loved the first book, don't read this one. If you didn't read the first book, you might like this story as there is action and adventure, and good and evil. I just didn't care what happened at that point.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out on the 31st of March 2026.
The Last Witch: Blood & Betrayal is a dark, emotional, and satisfying conclusion to Saoirse’s magical journey. This final volume focuses heavily on identity and choice as Saoirse comes to terms with becoming the very thing she was once taught to fear.
The stakes feel high both emotionally and magically, with Nicneven’s looming threat matched by Saoirse’s internal struggle to control her powers, doubts, and emotions. The story does a great job balancing epic folklore-inspired danger with deeply personal consequences.
V.V. Glass’s artwork is atmospheric and expressive, bringing the magic and emotion to life in striking ways. Overall, this is a strong finale that will resonate with fans of witchy fantasy and character-driven stories. A solid 4-star read. ✨🩸
Thank you BOOM! Studios, BOOM! Box, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. This is the next installment and conclusion of the Last Witch series and it was just as great a read as the first volume has been. Here, Saorise continues the fight for her family, Ireland, and magic by becoming what she once feared — a witch who needs to embrace her magic to prevail against the evil and save everyone. The glossary of Irish terms and pronunciations would have been more beneficial at the beginning of each book to help readers pronounce the characters’ names and other terms correctly. Beautiful art, non-stop adventure, magic, and fast moving plot made this a fast and enjoyable read.
Even though I'd not seen the first half of this fantasy, I still found something of merit here. It takes some time to work out who's who, from the heroine, the fairy hunk, the one-eyed kid and the cigar-chomping old nan character, and what everyone wants. But the loose look at Gaelic myth and Irish fairy tales (plus Black Annis being mentioned) seemed to be making for a rich story, the telling wasn't too dense and wordy/worthy, and the art had more than enough kinetic action in it to make the pages pleasing. Sure, talk of magic taking the girl to the dark side if used too much is fairly routine, and some bits made much less sense than others, but this had four star quality, and to actually read the whole thing through in order is surely a charm.
The illustrations reminded me of Aang so much. Brought back memories for sure. Though this book was kinda different with Aang, but the magic still had water, fire, earth, and wind elements like in Aang.
For me, the story itself was actually good but I missed the background contexts within the story. I think maybe some stories were happening in other books in this series. I wish there were some throwbacks and/or explanations about those. Yet along the way I could understand the story fully because it was easy to guess.
I think this book is the first book I've read with Irish mythology as the main theme. It was refreshing and definitely entertaining to read.
Thank you to Conor McCreery, BOOM! Studios, BOOM!Box, and NetGalley for the ARC.
This book reminds me of animated fantasy movies from the 80s. Movies like the Rats of NIMH. In it, we have a girl who is destined to be great or destined to cause harm. She is a witch not in control of her power. Her grandmother is her leader but may not always be so. Her family has been killed, except her brother survives minus one eye. And there’s a half fae boy who wants to help in this adventure. This all takes place in Ireland. It has good versus evil, family drama, and enough magic to really entertain someone. While this is a graphic novel, it actually feels like watching a really fantastic animated movie. The book ends but also feels like it could have a sequel very easily.
A big thanks to #NetGalley and boom-studios.com for giving me the opportunity to read this e-ARC of #TheLastWitchBloodBetrayal
I haven't read anything from this world before, but it was a nice first visit. Great illustrations, an easy-to-understand plot and few characters to keep track of. Also very exciting right up until the end. But if I had a choice, I would have liked to have seen the glossary at the beginning of the book and not at the end. I had to struggle a lot with the pronunciation of the Irish names.
I read the first volume of The Last Witch and then this one, and Netgalley introduced me to a very enjoyable fantasy comic book!
The story obviously deals with magic (with the four elements, like in Avatar and many others), but also with inner struggles, mastering power and the responsibility that comes with it, bonds and family...
The final twist wasn't entirely original, but it was good and fit in well with the rest of the story!
Even though we don't see them very often, I liked the animal-shapeshifting witches (the Bean Feasa?).
The drawings were pretty and stood out from most of the comics I've read.
Finally, the glossary with the pronunciation of Irish terms at the end is a nice addition, but it comes a little late in the album.
Saoirse's journey with Brahm, Nan, and Hugh continues in this sequel to The Last Witch. Will she find a way to defeat the witches in time, or will the darkness of her powers corrupt her? You'll have to read to find out.
I still really enjoyed the Irish mythology, and thought the illustrations were quite nice in this graphic novel. I did not expect the twist! The story was maybe a bit rushed, but it's a quick read, and surprisingly emotional. Worth picking up.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I recieved a copy of this ARC thanks to NetGalley and BOOM!Studios. I am leaving a voluntary and honest review.
The artwork is beautiful and the characters are a lot of fun. It's obvious that this isn't the beginning of a series, but it's possible to read alone. While I liked the art and the characters, I felt the story was really basic. I would have liked more depth of a fun twist to really make it stand out.
This was an interesting graphic novel with Saoirse coming into her witch powers, with her Nan training her. I didn't read the first one, so I came into this not knowing her backstory. There were some plot twists that are easy to foretell; but I didn't find it to be a huge detriment to the story. I'm interested in seeing where it goes from where it left off.
This was an interesting story about siblings—one with powers who is determined to keep her brother safe. However, the people they thought they could trust turn out to be anything but trustworthy.
The story takes a lot of turns, is very emotional, and ends on a note that leaves you thinking, “Oh no, what will happen now?” The art complements the story really well and helps bring it to life.
Conor McCreery and V.V. Glass finish the story of Saoirse and Brahm. Saoirse is the last witch in Ireland. Trained by her Nan to stop a great evil from returning. It's pretty dark for a Boom Box book. The story is good. The art is great. What more can you ask for?
What a payoff! There’s magic in every piece of the plot. From the character dynamics, reflections on past and present events, to big reveals. It feels like being engrossed in a magic trick.
Thank you to BOOM! Box for providing me with an arc.
I absolutely loved book 1 and book 2 was just as good. This is such a good continuation to the first book and the main character’s coming of age story. We continue to see her learn what her powers mean and what her new life will be due to her powers. I loved the family dynamics and how they evolved over both books. I also adored the art work. I highly recommend both of these books.
‼️this review is an unbiased version of my thoughts and opinions, however thank you to NetGalley and the publisher / book team for providing me an ARC in exchange for it‼️ 4.5/5
WOW. WOW. WOW.
I’ve read work from the boom studio before so between having previous experience and finding the cover enthralling; I was very excited about this read.
I adore that it’s set in Ireland and you get more uncommon names and phrases, which also is a huge prop to the book that they have a pronunciation and definition guide at the end!
The artwork is stunning, the story is fast paced and kept me thoroughly gripped throughout.
We follow Saoirse on her witch and magical journey culminating in an epic conclusion. I assume she’s around mid-late teens and we see her battle her magic alongside the relationship with her little brother Brahm and friend Hugh.
I don’t know what I was expecting from the story but it definitely wasn’t this! Would definitely recommend it to anybody who enjoys this genre or for anybody wanted to venture into reading comics & graphic novels.
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