Swords and Spaceships for October 23: Witches

Immanuelle was born in blasphemy, the child of her mother’s union with a dark-skinned outsider, and existence threw her family into disgrace. Approaching adulthood, Immanuelle does her best to be pious and follow the edicts of the Prophet, even as she becomes ever more aware of his base hypocrisies. But when she is drawn into the woods where the four vengeful spirits of the powerful witches the first Prophet killed still live, she discovers more about her mother, her self, and the grim truths that make a rotting foundation under the community. This is one of the best, righteously angriest books I’ve read this year, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Alex is the most powerful bruja of her generation, but she hates her magic and wants nothing more than to be rid of it. When she tries a spell to remove her own power, it backfires and causes her entire family to vanish. Now she’s got to figure out where her family has gone and how to save them, and the only ally she has is Nova, a brujo she’s not even sure she can trust.

Tea is different from the other witches of her family; her gift is one of necromancy. As a bone witch, she is feared and ostracized. Her only allies are an older bone witch, who will guide her in her journey to power, and her brother, whom she accidentally raised from the dead.

There are two series-within-a-series about witches in Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, but Wyrd Sisters is still my favorite, probably because it’s got a lot of Shakespearean references in it and that’s the kind of nerd I am. But I heartily recommend joining Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick as they sort out a small problem of succession after the King of Lancre is murdered by his cousin.

Agnieszka has grown up with the Wood as her home and she loves them dearly… but there is a corruption in the Wood, and it’s spreading, threatening to twist and consume every living thing. What keeps this corruption at bay is a wizard known as the Dragon, and every ten years, he takes a woman from the villages to serve him. This time, he reluctantly takes Agnieszka, because he can see what she cannot–that she has magic of her own. But despite his arrogance, it’s not a magic he can understand… and it’s very much of the Wood.

What seems like a common problem for many a sleepy English village–a major supermarket chain wants to plop down a giant store right at their border–is more than a question of local control versus modernization. Because Lychford stands at the boundary between two worlds, and disturbing that boundary would be a very, very bad idea.