The Apprentice Witch

Chicken House

The Apprentice Witch
James Nicol
2017

The Summary
"Arianwyn has flunked her witch's assessment:  She's doomed.  Declared an apprentice and sent to the town of Lull in disgrace, Arianwyn may never become a real witch--much to the glee of her archrival, Gimma.

"But remote Lull is not as boring as it seems.  Strange things are sighted in the woods, a dangerous infestation of hex creeps through the town, and a mysterious magical visitor arrives with his eye on Arianwyn.

"With every spirit banished, creature helped, and spell cast, Arianwyn starts to get the hang of being a witch--even if she's only an apprentice.  But the worst still lies ahead.  For a sinister darkness has begun to haunt her spells, and there may be much more at stake than just her pride...for Arianwyn and the entire land."

The Good
I liked The Apprentice Witch.  It's not a bad book, but it's not a great book either.  It's a fun story, more suited for a younger audience, and I liked the magical aspects of it.  I was particularly fascinated by the glyphs, which seemed to help witches control their magic, and I would certainly have liked to learn more about them.

The Bad
The Apprentice Witch feels a little like it's trying to be Harry Potter--and, well, it doesn't really succeed.  Personally, I really thought it needed more detail.  It has such a rich history and a sprawling background from which it could pull, yet it simply doesn't.  I mean, here is a enormous world full of strange creatures and magic and myth and lore...and you barely get a tiny piece of it.

Take the witches, for example.  They have this whole hierarchy and education system in place, but I found very little explanation as to how it works.  What is it that apprentice witches do, and what does it mean to become  full-fledged witch?  How does their "school" work, like what sort of classes do they take and what do they learn?  What are glyphs and where did they come from?  What is "hex," other than just bad magic?

Moreover, I really wanted to know how witches became witches.  I mean, I never met a single male witch--or would they be wizards?--and I couldn't figure out if they even existed.  Were witches only women?  Were women the only ones able to control magic, or was there just more of a predisposition for women to become witches?

I had lots of questions about The Apprentice Witch, but I never received any answers.  Granted, I put my hands on an advance readers copy, so I could be judging this book a little prematurely.  Changes could have been made at publication that cleared up my questions or complaints; however, I doubt they will be so great as to make this novel feel entirely different.

The Ugly
The night ghast is pretty terrifying.