Witch'n

by Joshua Braun

An evil witch has conquered the world and plunged it into eternal darkness, but that didn't really work out for her so she's changed her mind. After being voluntarily deposed from her throne she seeks out the former hero who had once fought against her. Forsaking evil, she sets out on a new quest to learn how to be a good person, and why it's not okay to sacrifice babies to summon demons.

A hilarious satire of the high fantasy genre, it examines age old tropes and puts a new light on them. It will make you laugh out loud as it's characters go through increasingly bizarre encounters. Earn odd stares if you read it in public as people wonder what you're giggling at. Question the author's sanity as you realize you've never read anything like this before.

197 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2020

Reviews

[Andreya Lombardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light read

Story starts off with a witch and her prisoner caged up. The intro within itself was interesting as I'm a fan of fast pace, getting right down to it, no frills writing. It was a bunch of info in the beginning to set the mood but I felt it could have been delivered in other ways rather than an info dump. The witches backstory was interesting enough for me to finish the book, her persona really being the core strength of the novel. It was lovely to see her character development. Comical, dark and quick read.

[The Book Suite · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, as I mentioned before, I was super into the energy of the plot description–and that energy definitely carried over to the book itself, and I loved it. Part of it was due to the way the plot jumped all over the place; although there was a vague structure to the story, events happened somewhat randomly and there was a lot of skipping ahead in time.

To be honest, I think the book could’ve benefitted from a little more structure–even when the goal is a chaotic tone, that tone should be carefully created, and not just a byproduct of sloppiness–overall, it was decent and I had no real complaints.

As for the characters, I loved the witch, Honey. She was over-the-top ridiculous and evil solely because she had no sense of right or wrong, and I really enjoyed it. Obviously, I love complex villains with all the bells and whistles of a tragic backstory just as much as the next person–but, it was fun to have a villain with no complication, who was evil just for the fun of it.

I liked the other characters well enough, too, but Honey definitely stole the show. But I think that that was the author’s intention, in which case

And finally, I want to mention that the magic system of this fictional world had quite a lot of development. The rules for what magic could do were outlined; Braun even gave some detail to the history of different witch covens. So, all in all, I enjoyed all that development and complexity.

All things considered, I recommend reading this if you’re looking for something light and fun. It has the perfect vibes for this time of year, after all. And although it wasn’t the most amazing book I’ve ever read, it had its strong points, and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you do decide to pick it up.

[Phillip Murrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I waffled between three and four stars for this one. I settled on the higher rating based on the quirky banter. I enjoyed the concept of the wicked witch growing bored with evil and doing good merely to shut up all the suffering of the conquered. However, I feel I may have enjoyed it more if played straight versus as a comedy.

The strengths of the book are the previously mentioned banter and Honeydrops desire to be good simply because she's bored. This isn't really a redemption story. She ends pretty much as selfish as she began, but her actions are now seen as noble instead of evil. I especially loved her "one-more-step" speech that mocked Sam's statement in Lord of the Rings. Many good comments from Honey break down absurd platitudes.

Not everything was strong. The speed of the set up chapters hand waved more than I would have liked. With such a relatively short book, I feel a few more words could have gone to show versus tell. Since it's a comedy, I gave it more of a pass here, but I hated how many conquered villagers were so openly bold with Honey. They saw her murder for any offense, yet they complained without even flinching many times. If this had been a straight story with those actions, I would have gone to two-stars for my rating. Finally, there were many noticeable typos. A species called Rodar became Rodan. Many words had extra or missing letters (Ssaid, Princ Alteem, She laughe, etc). There weren't so many to make me quit, but there were enough to make me hunt for more and note them for this review. More than a little and less than a lot is the best way to describe it.

Taken together, I recommend this book to people who like stories like The Princess Bride.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well......

I received this book for free in a giveaway.
With that said, I would like to borrow a quote from the author. "Annoying, but in a charming way".
The majority of the book was snarky dialog between a witch that was a detached from reality as possible and what can only be described as two plain pieces of white bread and a curiously accepting older woman.
If you like Terry Pratchet imagine all of that dialog with none of the world building.

The book also touched on being a commentary on society, dealing with all the problems that we face but stopping short of actually talking about the issues. Like, here is an issue, let's have witty banner about it, now the issue is solved!

That being said, I did enjoy it. I'm just not going to carry any of these characters with me.

[Mark Sneed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story but needs a better cover

Let me say that I really enjoyed reading this book. It is fun and lightweight in its handling of big issues. It’s easy reading and entertaining. The idea of a witch taking over the world and then regretting it is gold. But what is memorable of the story is the humor and dialogue. Wished that there were more quote identifiers because when the characters are talking it can get a bit confusing. Only bad point.
Really great character development. Loved the witch who is by and far the greatest thing going in the book. Loved the witch deciding to do good but in such an over the top way. So fun. Wish the cover worked with this great book. Great read.

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway. The plotline was charming and I was attached to most the characters. That being said I felt the sentence structure was very abrupt and short, and the plot hopped from one point to another very quickly. I felt with the underlying messages about being a good person and how to develop one's conscious, this would've been an excellent grade school book, however there were roughly six lines/paragraphs that would need to be removed first making this a bit confusing to determine the target audience.

All this being said, I still finished it in quite a hurry, eager to see where the witch ended up in her quest to change everything she'd ever been.

[Taylor Padilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway. Most of the both I felt like I was missing something. It felt very rushed at times and moved from plot to plot very quickly. The idea of the story was good but it left me confused and wanting more.

[Jamie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book

The typos and grammatcial errors were a bit distracting. But overall, the story was deeper than I expected and I laughed out loud too many times to count. Very well done.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I laughed, I cried (I mostly laughed). I did not want to leave the world where Witch'n took place.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preachy but consistent.

[Denise]

I got bored about halfway through and skipped to the end, which turned pretty much as I thought it would. Also, there were a lot of typos, which was very annoying.

[Katie Kissel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mostly, really enjoyed this book. The book took the stance that being naive, or I think innocent was the word the book used, can be a bad thing as much as it can be a good thing. The witch in the book is a perfect example of what someone raised by an evil person but living a sheltered life might look like. No opportunity for real connection, no idea how to resolve conflict, and majorly overachieving just to get some kind of approval or recognition. There were parts of the book that were frustrating, funny, and sad. It took us through all the emotions while taking us on an adventure.