Journey to the magical world of Erthia in this exciting collection of stories from The Black Witch Chronicles by critically acclaimed author Laurie Forest.
THE BLACK WITCH
Though Elloren Gardner is the spitting image of her famous grandmother, the last prophesied Black Witch, she is utterly devoid of power in a society that prizes magical ability above all else. But as evil looms on the horizon and the pressure to live up to her heritage builds, Elloren’s best hope of survival may be among the most unlikely band of rebels…if only she can find the courage to trust those she’s been taught to fear.
WANDFASTED
Twenty years before The Black Witch, Erthia was rent asunder during the devastating Realm War. When Tessla Harrow is driven from her home by the fighting, she discovers a depth of power she never knew she had…and an irresistible draw toward Vale Gardner, the son of the Black Witch who is destined to save their people.
LIGHT MAGE
Before Elloren Gardner came to possess the Wand of Myth, the Wand was drawn to another bearer: Sagellyn Gaffney, the first female Light Mage born in decades. When Sage discovers that the fastmate her parents chose for her is not the charming young man he appears to be, she is forced to abandon everything she once knew and forge a new path for herself…and find a way to protect the Wand from the demonic forces hunting for it.
Laurie Forest is a New York Times, USA Today & Internationally Bestselling Author who lives deep in the backwoods of Vermont where she sits in front of a wood stove drinking strong tea and dreaming up tales full of dryads, dragons and wands. She has penned THE BLACK WITCH CHRONICLES including - THE BLACK WITCH, THE REBEL MAGES (a compilation of the prequel novels WANDFASTED & LIGHT MAGE), THE SHADOW WAND, THE DEMON TIDE & THE DRYAD STORM. She is currently working on her first standalone adult romantasy - SILVERLING.
I like Fantasy and Sci-Fi beause it can depict social structures and mechanisms as well as human emotions, motives and reactions in a world completly seperated from my daily reality. Sometimes I read something in a book and think to myself: "This remindes me of ..." and it helps understanding the emotions someone might experience. Viewed like this, The Black Witch Chronicles are a excepional and brilliant work of Fantasy.
I read the first book nearly 2 years ago in German. After growing tired of waiting for the translations, I reread it in English and just finished #3 The Shadow Wand before writing this review.
Laurie Forest was influenced in her writing by some historical Events and accomplished writing a story about characters placed in similar situations. As the Black Witch is written is from the perspective of Elloren the knowledge of the reader is limited to only the things she sees, hears and feels. This means you learn about this intricately imagined World piece by piece and are able to understand why she reacts like she does. She really isn't my favorit character and I often don't like her decisions but she is real and human. And over the course of the chronicles (so far) she is learning and developing, witch is shown in smal steps without rush. The Author is builiding this World and the Journey is the Goal. This reminded me of Avatar the last Airbender. I strongly advise to read Wandfasted and Lightmage directly after the Black Witch. These two novels tell the stories of Ellorens Mother and her childhoodfriend and neighbor Sage and they bring two completly new perspectives to the mix and suddenly the kind of one-dimensional storyline deepens and morphs into a complex web of storylines. From there the Ironflower will seem like a setback at first but it gains momentum.
The Chronicles remind me of the following stories. I would like to know whether you can relate!
Avatar the last Airbender The Wave (Morton Rhue) Star Wars Harry Potter Panem Trix Solier (Sergei Lukajenkov) The Bookthief (Markus Zusak)
PS: I got a list of people who would love to read this the moment it's translated in German, so please don't stop with Die Schwarze Zauberin. That's teasing!
I loved reading Elloren Gardner's story in The Black Witch, and the other two novelettes filled in some of the background to events before and during her lifetime. I look forward to reading the next instalment when it comes out!
Meh. Too much YA I get these are novellas to fill in details on the main, which are also very anxious, ignorant etc. I think I could have finished Light Mage if the arc wasn't so brainwashed ignorant to savior of the light, first disbelieving anything anyone besides her religion/parent/priest said. Skipped to second part towards the end, much better Sage finely grows up. I'll finish this one after all.
I was intrigued enough to purchase this due to a few chapters given at the end of a different authors book. I deeply regret this purchase. Its actually a teen fantasy of some sort, with vague harry potter school leanings ???? I made it 30% of the way through & had to quit in total disgust.... Very unhappy camper, here.....
I love me a good series. One that pulls you in and you don't want to stop reading. I will definitely be getting the rest of the series. The characters are amazing. Spell gripping good story telling.