Slow paced and it took a while to get into, but an interesting story about witches and womanhood, ~I think it has been a bit overhyped for me as I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to.

Kirsty Logan never fails! A beautiful historical fiction about witches, friendship, love and feminism.
Not as dark and quirky as some of Logan's short stories but incredible, nonetheless.

Lux has always lived in the woods – helping her mother to share herbs to kill or cure, she’s skirted accusations of witchery but after her mother’s death, she is left with nothing. When the mysterious Else offers her a chance to escape all she has ever known, Lux jumps at it, and what follows is a dizzying, magical journey through a mediaeval world spiked with magic and danger.

I am a huge fan of Kirsty Logan’s work, particularly her short stories, so I was delighted to receive a copy of her latest novel. Now She Is Witch is, to begin with, is a difficult, slippery little book to get your head around – Logan drops us right into Lux and Else’s world and resists leading us out with any ease. As a result, the beginning of the novel is slow, though never dull – Lux and Else join a band of mummers and learn their ways. A travelling group is always a great way to get into world-building and Logan does a great job of that here.

The narrative takes a sharp shift in part two, where Lux recounts her back story, the death of her mother, and her time “being cleansed” in a monastery which she later escaped from. Lux’s story is told through an intense stream-of-consciousness mode, and it’s desperately hard to follow – which was maybe the point? The intensity of feeling leaks through here but in terms of plot points it’s hard to keep up. It’s a disjointed, fragmented section of the book though it pays dividends as we continue. Persevere, dear reader, I promise it'll be worth it.

Thematically, the novel takes on many of the considerations of our era – the body, femininity, misogyny and rape culture. Showing them through the medieval lens, however, is absolutely brutal – I’d recommend checking TWs to be honest. It's chill-inducing stuff, and Logan doesn't skirt the traumatic effect living in this world has on its women. It only occasionally skirts into the realm of too much -a couple of scenes are equal parts horrifying and a little cringey.

Now She Is Witch is a reading experience not unlike being lost in a forest; you blunder through, unsure what the hell is going on, but blindly trusting that you’ll get out. Logan pulls of a magnificent feat of storytelling with this one – when you do find your way out of the dense narrative, all becomes clear and the result is stunning. It’s a dense plot but it’s absolutely filled with Logan’s trademark pitch-black beauty and wonder, and the burst of light at the end makes it all worth it.

thanks to netgalley for an arc of this book! it's out now and I definitely recommend this book if you like creepy, atmospheric feminist stories of witches, forests & women

I so enjoyed this story. It really grips you and makes you read on, especially in the own story chapters. It's experimental, dark and creepy but also comforting and like going on your own adventure. And bonus points for the casually non-binary character! "Is ash a boy or a girl?" "No"

I have now bought my own signed copy of this so I can reread it with a physical book! (I struggled with the format of this e-arc as it's scans of pages rather than text which meant I couldn't change the font size / read in night mode so I was often straining)

"It seems that stories don't always do what we want them to."

This quote from Now She Is Witch sums up my experience of this book but despite this I loved it. It wasn't what I wanted in the beginning and didn't head where I wanted it to. However, the resulting book was spectacular.

Lux grew up in a ramshackle cottage in need of repair. She had only her mum for company and they made their meagre living by selling poisons and charms to their neighbours. Until one day Lux is sent away to a sanctuary and when she comes back her mother has been burned as a witch.

"they call her a witch & try her in court & send her to die -

she dies for everything she is & everything they want her to be that she isn't -

& all their secrets die with her & I bet they are glad of that most of all"

Lux is trying to decide where her future lays when she meets Else, a young girl who wants her help to get revenge on a man who names witches publically so he has a reason to kill them.

Lux's mum used to tell her stories about the real witches who live in the North. The North Witches. Lux dreams of North Witches, of women with power in their words.

"they are terrible my mother says -

they are rotten and filthy to the core & burned black inside from the raging fire of their power."

Her mother makes it clear to her that what they do cannot be compared to the magic of the North Witches because most of what they do is just for show rather than real magic.

Now I Am Witch is portrays what is is to be a woman in a time when men control their every action, even the labels they are given. It is also about the suppression of female desire.

"i want-

but there's no use in a girl wanting."

Now I Am Witch is full of feminist fire and righteous anger. It is about witches and about all the things a girl can be. I devoured this book because it is a book about witches but it is unlike any book on witchcraft I have ever read.

3.5

There are books we read and consume, and then there are books we experience. Now She is Witch felt like the latter, something in the moment and hard to capture, which makes it difficult to review. I’ve always been interested by Kirsty Logan’s books, yet Now She is Witch is the first of Logan’s books I’ve read.

This was a dark, compelling, atmospheric read with intense and evocative imagery and writing that immersed me in the story.

Lux is a complex, fleshed out character with a journey that faced many perils both externally and internally, and I found her to be an absorbing character to follow as she learnt and grew into herself. Her interactions with Else provided a captivating mystery.

The structure of this book is intriguing, and I enjoyed the skilful and experimental way the storylines threaded together. At times, the story felt like an oral tale. This was a book of exploration: being a woman in a man’s world, power, love, history, labels, sexuality, family, friendships, wanting and the stories we tell. While historical, this felt relevant to today.

There were some portions I found hard to follow, which confused me and took me some time to get back into the story, and I found some of the secondary characters not as engaging and wanted a little more to connect better with them.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harvill Secker for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bewitching in the most literal sense of the word, this book had me hooked from the first page. Kirsty Logan has managed to breathe new life into a a constantly evolving genre, bringing a claustrophobic intensity to Lux’s tale. Steeped in folklore, I loved every moment of this darkly unsettling, yet utterly gripping, story.

Sinister and powerful, NOW SHE IS A WITCH is full of compelling stories. Parts of it are very good, but I found the characters somewhat flat and the interludes for Lux and Else hard to follow. A story that left me wanting, but a decent read nonetheless.

I really enjoyed this creeping, sinister tale of witchcraft, such a hugely satisfying read, a kind of fantasy history, full of complex, powerful, women. The plot was so compelling, the pacing perfect, it just flowed beautifully, exactly what I’d expect from Kirsty Logan and her skilful writing. It’s a kind of revenge plot, but being female in a male dominated time highlights the power and powerlessness of women at this time. It’s a book that will stay with you long after you close the pages. Thoroughly recommended

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in return for an honest opinion

I am a bit of a newbie when it comes to the fantasy and mythology genre, but, I am widening my perspectives and so far loving it. The author has done this brilliantly. The story is beautifully written, the characters come alive on the page, the settings pop and all characters have believable voices.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I have came away from reading Now She is Witch with a feeling of hope and strength, but that the fight isn't over hundreds of years later.
I think this story explores the power of stories, who tells them, who controls them, who listens, who changes them, why and what's the impact with care and finesse.
I found it hard to connect to Lux and I feared this book was not for me, but Kirsty Logan didn't let me go insisting I follow Lux's tale through her poetic and beautifully crafted writing.
So although I struggled to engage initially I did in time and feel like the novel manages to ask the reader to consider the historical treatment of women with current societal opinions.
3.5 stars.

I found it fascinating and original: there's a lot of books about witches to the point that you risk mixing names and story.
But this is a different type of story and the women in this books are realistic and well developed.
There's elements of folk horror, there's some very dreamlike parts, and some that I found a bit dragging even if the book kept me hooked.
4.5 upped to 5
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

A great read and my Frost from Kirsty Logan! The plot moved at a good pace and after the initial pages (which I found to drag on slightly and were quite difficult to read) I was really invested in the story.

Lux was a complex and interesting character and I found myself rooting for her throughout.

I want to start off by saying that I'm not generally one for witchy books -- so giving a four-star review here is pretty surprising even to me! I picked up this book originally because the cover was gorgeous (guilty-as-charged), and then I liked the premise.

I've never read Kirsty Logan's books before, but I'll keep an eye out for them from now. She paints a very vivid picture of Lux's life, and although the book is quite dark, it is also beautiful (think smoky caves carved into cliffs, dark castles, and thick forests). Lux is - at first - a character you feel unendingly sorry for, although she has strength from the beginning, and this grows throughout the book. Overall, this book is very much a story of strength and endurance, but it is hard-won.

Some of Logan's perceptions of the world are so interesting. The way she references religious texts and - through Lux - criticizes the hypocrisy of patriarchal standards is very well done. Her characters are also fairly varied in regard to race and gender, which is a big plus if that is something you look for in a story.

So why knock off a star? Firstly, I ended up skipping about 15 pages of this book when I was 25% of the way through, and it didn't really impede my understanding. The part I skipped was when you hear Lux's childhood story in her own (badly-formed, virtually incoherent) words, In my opinion, whilst this is revealing of her character and entertaining for a while, it went on so long I got tired of reading it. Secondly, the book was (in parts) too dark for me. It's not particularly graphic or anything, but I felt readers needed a few more victories for Lux along the way.

I’m not sure why - I usually very much like Kirsty Logan’s work - but I just couldn’t get going with this at all. I really missed any sense of orientation in the opening pages, and from then until I gave up I had no idea what was going on. Very beautiful prose but just not for me!

It is hard sometimes to think how people experienced the world in the past? It tempting to judge the person on the knowledge you now have – how on earth could you think something we know to be wrong or not possible or moral? It is tempting to think the past was a simple time of absolutes. We tend to use the shorthand we learn in primary and secondary school to make assumptions as to how people lived. But life is hardly ever that simple. Look around at our own world and we’ll see people rarely think and act uniformly. In Kirsty Logan’s fantastic and immersive novel Now She Is Witch we experience a whole world of competing magics, beliefs, societies and even sexualities which delivers a fantastic and surprising tale I absolutely loved to read.

A young woman named Lux arrives at her mother’s cottage to tend to her grave. She is bleeding herself and insured after being exiled from a place of Sanctuary she has been exiled from. Her mother has been executed for being a witch; at the graveside she meets another young woman named Else – they soon have to flee from the ruins of the cottage after an attack from local villagers who have heard Lux has returned. They escape into the mysterious forest and Else requires Lux’s help to murder the man who has done her wrong. Their journey will cross all levels of society; myths and the danger or power of ever being called out as a witch.

I loved this story as it is never predictable and challenges our assumptions of what medieval life may have been like. Cunningly this is a world more adjacent to our own where we have a land named only as the South – forests and villages more akin to what we tend to think of similar to medieval England with a Christian Church as well as a constant fear of a disease we can recognise as the Black Death. Across the nearby sea though there is a land of snow, ice, fire and this is where Dark Witches live which sounds so much like tales of Scandinavia and Iceland. The lack of specific time and place is an advantage here because we can only guess what this world is like. We can’t come burdened with our knowledge of history and that means we are reliant instead on our characters and their interpretation of the world plus Logan’s own third person narration to make us understand how this society works.

The characters are also refreshingly new. Lux is a far more complex character than we initially assume. Our initial meeting makes us think she fits the role of innocent daughter and wide eyed innocent but as the story develops Lux turns into a far more complex character not a simple stereotype. We see a young woman dealing with being cast away by her mother for being infertile; someone who has a skilled knowledge of herbs but also a faith in God which creates a conflict as to whether her actions are good or not and we also find a woman starting to be comfortable with her sexuality and also starting to learn she doesn’t have to take everything at face value and starts to see and understand the contradiction and hypocrisy of her world.

The plotting of the story is really impressive and intricate. We get plunged into the deep end with Lux and Else’s escape and how this soon turns into a mission to kill an unnamed man who Else hates. We get on top a strange ethereal encounter with a theatre troupe who tour the land telling stories and this brings to life how this world accepts its many contradictions believing in Christ and also magic and witches. It all helps the exploration of the various roles that women can have and initially Lux examines if she wishes to always be the innocent Maiden. Later on, we move to Lux working in the household of the land’s Lord and Lady and this too is a strange ecosystem of its own of various social strata and none appear as simple as we usually expect. Lux finds herself both a member of the kitchen staff but also thanks to her knowledge of herbs and poisons a food taster for the Lord. This is the tensest section of the story that exposes Lux to dangers that she has to untangle. This should be the home of the Light of the Land in the form of the human Lord of the world) and there is an interesting look at how the same term is being used for God) but in fact we find this is a place of power games, secrets and betrayals leading to a stunning conclusion.

We also get two interludes one in Lux’s own voice and Else’s own life story which bring all these storylines together and further expose the complexities of this world. Where a Sanctuary was both a place of miracles or forbidden lust or love; and another tale where a young woman arrives in the wrong place at the wrong time and faces the gravest danger. Throughout there is a theme of the concepts of Good and Evil being far more fluid than the priests and those in power want people to believe and that matches the attitudes towards those labelled witch – wise woman, herbalist, demon-lover, root of evil and more are all used for this single term and for Lux just as she examines what a woman means in a world where ultimately Men are in charge. Lux also has to explore what the terms mean for herself and her own future.

Throughout this journey is the pure joy of reading Logan’s writing. Language changes to suit characters; there are repetitions to underline certain actions and it’s a tale using colour, nature magic and shadow intermixed with light all used to powerful effect that manages the difficult task of being both familiar with its use of magic and folklore but also to regularly wrong foot us about what this story is and who these characters are. Its not a simple story or world; rather than an over-familiar re-telling of myth we get a novel deconstructing and exploring the possible reality behind these stories a d the people who made them.

This is a hugely satisfying and intelligent read. Crossing the lines between historical fiction and fantasy and a gentle reminder for those who lived in this time as well as stories about magic there was a certain belief that magic itself was real (and just possibly we readers want that to be the case too). Alongside this here is a story exploring what Witch and also Woman could mean at the time and the concepts are not straightforward and change continually. Now She Is Witch is a powerful and compelling tale I hugely enjoyed and got easily swept up into and I strongly recommend that you pick this up!

Unfortunately I had to DNF after 10 pages due to the way the file had been sent and downloaded to my kindle and even the NG app. It was difficult to read and was all over the place with text missing.

Wow! This is Kirsty Logan at her best. The book feels like a fever dream, in a good way. At times (intentionally) difficult to read, it really packs a punch. The world she paints feels so real, yet so dreamlike, and I am sure this book will stay with me for a long while.

Another brilliant telling of a folk-tale adjacent story from Kirsty Logan. Its themes of motherhood and being female in a male dominated time resonate deeply with its mystical and magical elements.

A slow burning, sinister tale of witchcraft and wise women, with complex, powerful, female characters. The plot was compelling, often creepy and violent, but flowed well. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.