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Once We Were Witches #2
Twice We Make Magic
The second spellbinding adventure in the magical middle grade series by the author of The Huntress, perfect for fans of Starfell, Nevermoor and A Pinch of Magic.
Sisters Spel and Egg grew up in Mistress Mouldheels’ School for Wicked Girls believing they were the daughters of criminals, until they discovered the truth:
They are witches.
And after always being in the shadow of her big sister, Spel discovered that she was a Shadowborn Witch – the only one who can step between portals to other worlds.
Now in a coven with their schoolmates and part of the alliance against the Hunt, the sisters try to master their new powers. But the Hunt is rising, the witches are in danger and when a new portal opens the whole world is under threat . . .
The second in the fantasy adventure series with a witchy twist from the author of The Huntress trilogy
Sisters Spel and Egg grew up in Mistress Mouldheels’ School for Wicked Girls believing they were the daughters of criminals, until they discovered the truth:
They are witches.
And after always being in the shadow of her big sister, Spel discovered that she was a Shadowborn Witch – the only one who can step between portals to other worlds.
Now in a coven with their schoolmates and part of the alliance against the Hunt, the sisters try to master their new powers. But the Hunt is rising, the witches are in danger and when a new portal opens the whole world is under threat . . .
The second in the fantasy adventure series with a witchy twist from the author of The Huntress trilogy
352 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 2022
1 person is currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Driver
11 books65 followersSarah Driver was born on the Sussex coast and started writing as a small child. She graduated with distinction from the Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People in 2015, after winning the 2014 United Agents prize for ‘most promising writer’. She is also a nurse and midwife, having trained at the Florence Nightingale School at King's College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Dreamstalkers: The Night Train is releasing on February 1st 2024. It is the first in a new middle grade fantasy-adventure duology, telling the story of Bea Grimspuddle and Pip, an owl who smells like butter and candle smoke. In the world of Hirathorn, Bea lives in the remote wilds of a rugged moorland settlement called Thunderheart Tor. She longs to become a mage, riding off on adventures, with the power to use wild magic. Instead she is taught that all the magic of Hirathorn resides exclusively with the elites in the faraway city of Silvervein. Everything changes when the dreams disappear, strange shadows are glimpsed and nightmares come walking. Then the Night Train steams across the moors, and Bea is swept into an adventure in the world of the Dreamstalkers.
Other novels by Sarah Driver are The Huntress trilogy, which tells the story of Mouse, who grows up aboard a ship captained by her grandmother in a world of moonsprites, terrodyls and merwraiths. Once We Were Witches is a fantasy duology which follows Spel Wrythe and her sister Egg, who grow up in Mistress Mouldheels' School for Wicked Girls believing they are the daughters of criminals. Learning the truth will lead them on an adventure to a strange funeral parlour guarding even more secrets.
Photo credit: Lauren Psyk.
Dreamstalkers: The Night Train is releasing on February 1st 2024. It is the first in a new middle grade fantasy-adventure duology, telling the story of Bea Grimspuddle and Pip, an owl who smells like butter and candle smoke. In the world of Hirathorn, Bea lives in the remote wilds of a rugged moorland settlement called Thunderheart Tor. She longs to become a mage, riding off on adventures, with the power to use wild magic. Instead she is taught that all the magic of Hirathorn resides exclusively with the elites in the faraway city of Silvervein. Everything changes when the dreams disappear, strange shadows are glimpsed and nightmares come walking. Then the Night Train steams across the moors, and Bea is swept into an adventure in the world of the Dreamstalkers.
Other novels by Sarah Driver are The Huntress trilogy, which tells the story of Mouse, who grows up aboard a ship captained by her grandmother in a world of moonsprites, terrodyls and merwraiths. Once We Were Witches is a fantasy duology which follows Spel Wrythe and her sister Egg, who grow up in Mistress Mouldheels' School for Wicked Girls believing they are the daughters of criminals. Learning the truth will lead them on an adventure to a strange funeral parlour guarding even more secrets.
Photo credit: Lauren Psyk.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 5, 2022
Sarah Driver's imagination leaves me speechless. She created such a rich and compelling world in her earlier Huntress series, and the previous book to this one (Once We Were Witches) had the same complexity and depth. Her skill is very much in evidence here, too, as we follow Spel and Egg and their found family of witches into yet another nail-biting adventure.
Spel and Egg are living at the Ring, and Spel is the Undertaker-in-Waiting; their schoolfriends from Mouldheels' School are with them, in a coven whose magic is needed to keep them all safe and unseen by any mortal eyes. But the Undertaker, Shranken Putch, is missing - and while he remains absent, things are beginning to come under strain at the Ring. When the girls accidentally break the magical protection that keeps them from being found, and the danger around them grows to immense proportions, it's up to Spel, a witch whose powers extend far beyond her own plane, to try to travel through the Shadow Way to find Shranken Putch. Spel knows that without Putch, their home - and the portals to all the other realities, hidden in their basement and guarded by a pudding-loving dragon named Grael - come under dire threat. And who is the mysterious Flux, a child who is not a child, whom Spel meets in the Otherworld? And can they be trusted?
This is a marvellous story, completely unpredictable in the best sort of way! I loved the character of Artemis the cat (for Mogget-like reasons...) and the descriptions of the magic of the Hunt. But it's Flux I keep coming back to, and Flux who held my imagination the hardest. They are a brilliant creation, and only one of the gems in this magical fifth novel from Sarah Driver.
(Thank you to Sarah Driver and her publishers for sending me a review copy of Twice We Make Magic)
Spel and Egg are living at the Ring, and Spel is the Undertaker-in-Waiting; their schoolfriends from Mouldheels' School are with them, in a coven whose magic is needed to keep them all safe and unseen by any mortal eyes. But the Undertaker, Shranken Putch, is missing - and while he remains absent, things are beginning to come under strain at the Ring. When the girls accidentally break the magical protection that keeps them from being found, and the danger around them grows to immense proportions, it's up to Spel, a witch whose powers extend far beyond her own plane, to try to travel through the Shadow Way to find Shranken Putch. Spel knows that without Putch, their home - and the portals to all the other realities, hidden in their basement and guarded by a pudding-loving dragon named Grael - come under dire threat. And who is the mysterious Flux, a child who is not a child, whom Spel meets in the Otherworld? And can they be trusted?
This is a marvellous story, completely unpredictable in the best sort of way! I loved the character of Artemis the cat (for Mogget-like reasons...) and the descriptions of the magic of the Hunt. But it's Flux I keep coming back to, and Flux who held my imagination the hardest. They are a brilliant creation, and only one of the gems in this magical fifth novel from Sarah Driver.
(Thank you to Sarah Driver and her publishers for sending me a review copy of Twice We Make Magic)
October 8, 2022
This book is such a special one, because I am thanked in the acknowledgements alongside my friend Izzy, and that just never stops being the coolest thing ever (I’m literally tearing up writing that sentence, THANK YOU Sarah!!). It’s the second in a series following a coven of witches which includes sisters Spel and Egg, who love each other fiercely but are struggling to redefine their relationship after the revelation that they’re witches and that Spel is Shadowborn. Their relationship is so interesting, as are the wider dynamics of the coven, who all grew up believing they were the daughters of criminals. I thought Flux was an incredibly interesting character, and their relationship with Spel was so complex and unique. At the end of our buddy read, both Izzy and I commented that we’re very interested to see what Sarah does next, as this book felt like it could be a conclusion, but also that doors are left open for more.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews