Rachel Griffin: The Nature of Witches
Cindy
Rachel Griffins debut “The Nature of Witches” is an extremely gripping and beautifully written novel. While reading it, it felt like Rachel put all my thoughts about the seasons, everything I feel during summer, autumn, winter and spring into words. I connected very strongly with protagonist Clara Densmore. She is an Everwitch and is tied to all four seasons. It is a very rare kind of witch and Clara is the first one in about 200 years. Everyone expects something of her but she struggles to control her magic and meet the expectations of everyone. Her magic tends to kill the people she loves most, so she isolates herself as best as she can to prevent such things from happening.
But the shaders (normal people who are no witches) destroyed the earth so much that an Everwith is needed to maintain the climate as best as possible. So Clara must learn to control her magic to make the difference.
I loved every single chapter in this book so so much. There are a lot of feelings between the words. Clara feels extremely lonely and struggles to love magic or even herself. Her power did nothing good to her, so it is perfectly comprehensible why she hates it so much. Her journey to accept herself and reconnect with her magic was so moving.
After a tragic accident her training schedule is changed and Sang, a student from another school takes over her trainig. Clara begins to trust him and realizes, that she feels a lot more comfortable around him. Their relationship is so beautiful and cute. It made me feel all the feels. I loved Sang as a character, because he is kind, he loves botany and he never puts Clara under pressure. Step by step, she learns to accept herself. But of course her feelings for Sang are growing and she knows that her magic always seeks out the ones closest to her.
The story is full of emotion. Claras feelings for Sang, her feelings for her ex-girlfriend Paige and all the self-loath. But it is also filled with the beauty of nature. Griffin captures the seasons so precisely. I felt really understood in my love for nature. I also just love the concept of witches who are tied to one of the four seasons and need to help maintain the climate. The book is also very relevant regarding climate change and all the things we do to destroy the earth.
I loved everything about this story. It has an amazing main character, who really grows throughout the story, a sweet lovestory, beautiful writing and a gripping plot, that really flows naturally. And there are so many amazing and poetical quotes in there. Every chapter starts with a quote from the (fictional) book “A Season for Everything”. These quotes are so clever, I loved them so incredibly much.
“The Nature of Witches” definitely became a new favourite of mine. I cannot wait to read more books by Rachel!