The Witch's Boy

 TW: Discussions of death

My third Kelly Barnhill book!

The Witch's Boy is about Ned, who is the son of the witch of the small village he lives in. Ned lost his twin brother Tam in a rafting accident years earlier. The village outside his family always seemed to prefer Tam over Ned, so for years after Tam died, Ned is ostracized by the rest of the village, which has lowered his self esteem. 

On the other side of the continent, a girl named Aine recently lost her mother, and she has a strained relationship with her father, who is the leader of a bunch of bandits. Aine's father also always wears a magic pendant around his neck, which makes him act strange. He and his group of bandits are trying to find and steal the rest of the magic in the world, which Ned's mother, is the protector of. Additionally, before Aine's mother died, she tried to tell Aine something about her future. Something about the wrong boy saving her life, her saving his life, and something else about a wolf. 

At the same time, there are some mysterious magical stones that seem to be connected to the magic Ned's mother and Aine's father possess, and they are responsible for separating the continent into two countries with a huge forest running down the middle. King Ott is the ruler of the country Aine is from. He is a greedy king who wants to reclaim the land on the other side of the forest. That is the kingdom Ned is from, ruled by an elderly Queen. A war is on the horizon. 

Ned's mother the witch (also called Sister Witch) also saves the Queen's life--twice--over the course of the book. The Queen was poisoned by one of her brothers but the second time, the brother accuses Sister Witch of poisoning her and tries to sentence her to death. But the Queen knew the truth and she saves Sister Witch's life too. The Queen and Witch become very close. 

There is a lot happening in this book but it all comes together beautifully at the end. The book has the usual you will find in a Kelly Barnhill book: family, love, friendship, magic, and lush and vivid worldbuilding. However, I did find this book to be a lot darker that the first two books I read from her (if you couldn't tell from all the references to death and dying in my review alone). It's still great though! 

I gave it 4.5 stars. This is my second favorite book from her, after the Ogress and the Orphans. 

Have you read anything from this author? What is your favorite book from her? Know any other authors similar to her?