I'm always looking for new sapphic fantasy reads, so I was super excited when The Hollow Witch came out in December. I love the idea of magic having a cost since it gives every decision so much more weight. It was easy to get immersed in the world and to become invested in the lives of Silvie and Azura. Admittedly, I did not read the entire synopsis before reading and the zombies took me completely by surprise! I haven't stumbled across a novel featuring zombies in years, so it was a welcome change that kept things interesting for me.

My only complaint is about the pacing. For the first 70-80% of the story, it felt like things were dragging on at times. The later half of the book felt rushed since the bulk of the plot advancement happened at once. Regardless, I still really enjoyed myself and would recommend giving it a read!

The Hollow Witch
Rating: 3/5

The Hollow Witch is an intriguing blend of fantasy, zombies, and queer representation, making it a unique addition to the genre. The novel does a great job incorporating LGBTQIA+ characters in a way that feels natural and well-developed, while the supernatural elements add an exciting twist.

However, the pacing is a bit uneven—some parts move too quickly, while others drag, making the flow of the story feel inconsistent. Despite this, the overall experience is enjoyable, with interesting world-building and engaging characters.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this book.

I liked the worldbuilding of the story, of the zombies and I wish we had gotten more with the sentries and their connection to the animals. I really liked Silvie, but the others kind of felt...meh. I don't feel like there was a lot plot wise until like the last 20% of the book, then it felt like I was reading a completely different story. Also tag warning for childhood sexual assault and pedophilia. That part caught me off guard so...fair warning.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher for the book.

I really like that the zombie type creatures are the main conflict of people using magic as an everyday thing, I just wish there was more to them in the story. I was curious about the sentry aspect and how they melded with animals and such but its never really talked about once Sylvie loses her magic.

The romance felt a little lackluster at times, I did like Sylvie but I had a hard time liking Azura but the overall romance wasn't really there for me. I did enjoy some of the other characters.

I just wish there had been more to this book, maybe if it had been longer some parts could have been written out better, some parts could have been edited out.

I saw the potential in the book but it gets a 3 star from me.

There was some good and some not so good aspects of this book. I appreciated the world building, the queer and disability representation, and who doesn’t like zombies?!

On the other hand, the story felt like there should have been more to it, or at least maybe have a sequel? Some sections didn’t seem fully flushed out and a lot of character development and plot progression seemed stagnant and choppy.

First few chapters were confusing and felt thrown in which made it hard to understand at first. As it went on through things start to piece together as the characters and world are built. At about 50% more started to happen but did feel a little rushed by the end.

There was no one character I was drawn to whilst reading. I would have liked more background of the characters whilst also more exploration of the relationships as this like the storytelling felt rushed.

However overall the premise I enjoyed however would have just liked some more!

I wanted to like this, I really did. But it just fell flat. Azura wasn’t particularly likeable, the romance felt way too quick (went from 0-60 in like 2 seconds), the interesting part (the ghouls) felt really underutilised. The book didn’t really pick up plot wise until the last 25-30% of it. There some very questionable writing in parts as well - saying that because the character was vegetarian meant she found sucking a cut on her own finger repellant had me rolling my eyes. And why did the author need to make the queen get married when she was 2?

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this book.

3/5

I don’t know if it was because I started this book at the worst time - i.e. during a billion exams - but I continuously contemplated DNFing and I don’t DNF books.

Why did the book get so interesting in the last 30% of the book? It may require a reread but not anytime soon.

While the world building was excellent and I enjoyed the interactions between the characters, I was a bit bored regarding the plot line. Such as how it took over half of the book for the interesting Zombies/Ghouls to appear. One part I was horrified at was that Lena was made Queen at 2 years old. My jaw literally dropped to the floor, Holy Crap why? Why make her that young?

I loved the complexity of the characters, especially Lena. I was guessing why she often acted like she does and constantly tried to understand why the Little Queen was ruthless. In my opinion she was the only character who experienced deep flaws and I wouldn’t mind a spin-off where she goes full terminator on her kingdom without being stopped. She deserved a book to be written about her.

I liked Sylvie a lot, she was forced to become ordinary and human despite living with magic. Her deafness allowed her to change her experiences and become who she was at the end of the book. Myles was also an interesting character even if we barely see him. I kinda disliked Azura a little, I tried not to, but I kept thinking, “huh, what is she going to do?”, I don’t know if I actually missed something while reading but she kept bothering me.

I loved the Sapphic representation and how normal it was for the characters and not experience stereotypical hatred that can be found in books. I love how normalized LGBT+ representation is becoming, especially for a younger generation who probably want to seek more books that they can semi-relate to. I wish I had that, I still don’t but I’ve expected that.

(Cross-posted to Fable and Goodreads and StoryGraph)

Good premise but it didn’t catch my attention too much. It left me with some questions about it, it had interesting choices of words that different from other fantasy books

A cute, short fantasy with a sapphic couple as the main coupling. I like this story for what it was. It is a great pallet cleanser in between more in depth fantasy books to give your brain a break. I would have liked to see more conflict around the zombies, and less of a romance that goes from zero-one hundred in like two pages. Overall, a good little story though. I would definitely read more from Mary Borsellino in the future!

Silvie is a sentry, part of a group of child soldiers who can mentally bond with wolves in order to kill the reanimated corpses that attack. These corpses are a consequence of the use of magic. Azura’s father is the royal record keeper and alchemist, and she chafes at his well meaning but ultimately misguided rules and feelings.

After Silvie loses her magic, her hearing, and her balance in an attack with a ghoul, she is chosen to apprentice with Azura’s father. She struggles to let go of the past, and Azura struggles with the idea of taking her father’s role in the future. They are thrown together, and slowly learn to appreciate the other.

The entire time I was reading this book, I felt a sense of tension between the characters which was very well crafted. I think the beginning was slow, but I felt that it made the later parts of the story come together more cohesively.

I do think that Silvie and Azura would still have a long way to go to understanding each other, and I felt as though the extent of their romance moved faster than I would have expected. However, I think this book packed so much world building and character building into such a small package that I was impressed.

This was quite enjoyable ! The world and the magic system were very interesting, I really liked having a natural consequence to the use/abuse of magic in the form of resurrecting corpses. The characters were interesting and complex, while I didn’t always agree with them they felt real.

My one complaint is with the overall pacing and the ending. It felt both rushed and too slow, not leaving enough time to let things simmer but also like nothing happened. I personally would have liked to see what happens after the ending, but that’s mostly because I don’t like such open endings.

3.75/5

I had a lot of difficulty getting into this book, and honestly DNF. Lots of long sentences with dependent clauses, and so many character names introduced with no context made it hard to follow and be absorbed by the story. What's a sentry? Silvie seemed to enjoy bonding with the wolf in the brief moment before the Ch. 1 attack, but what was the purpose and history of the role? Seeming disconnects--in Ch. 1, Silvie decides not to admonish another child for using "ghoul" instead of "cadaveri", but in Ch. 5 "frankly Silvie didn't see why it made a difference what you called them"-- and repetitions of scraps of information (christallo cause problems when used, evidently; magic requires latent ability) made it unclear what's important. At times, the narrative relies very heavily on dialogue that doesn't seem to move the plot forward, while at other times the world's rules are helicopter-dropped in.

I think there's probably an interesting world underlying this fantasy story, but I had trouble understanding both it and the intended plot line.

I received a free copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I thought there were some good aspects to this book, I like the idea of a fantasy setting where zombies are the primary conflict, and I think it was underutilized since they really only appear a couple of times.

I liked Silvie as an mc, but on the other hand I didn’t really care for Azura since she didn’t really have any character development despite the fact that her flaws are a major part of her character.

The romance was cute at times, but it felt a little rushed since we hardly get any indication that Silvie was interested in Azura at all until right before they get together.

I do think the biggest problem was the pacing, since some ideas were introduced but not fully fleshed out. The most enjoyable part of this book for me was the friendship between Azura, Sylvie, Lena, and Myles. Lena ended up being my favorite character.

i didn't enjoy this novel as much as I thought I would, but I was still surprised just by how original it was. the whole premises was interesting, and I would even say nicely done. However, I couldn't really get into the story because I didn't care for any of the characters (i straight up hated some of them).

one of the main characters was just boring. her backstory was great, and the representation was impressive, but she didn't do nothing the entire novel, and she barely showed any kind of emotion.

the other main character, azula, was just annoying. even though she was supposed to be 18, she acted like a spoiled brat. she reminded me of people who try to force their opinion on everyone else because they believe theirs is the only correct one. the entire time, she was just insufferable. anytime she said something I wanted to punch her.

i really liked the side characters, the princess and her guard. even though I saw the plotwist coming, I still enjoyed it and the ending was quite sad. we needed more worldbuilding, but since this was an under 200-page novel, it's understandable why the author rushed it a little.

As an avid reader of supernatural and romance books, I had very high hopes for this one, because the description made it seem amazing and I was super hyped to read it.
Unfortunately, I struggled with this book.
The worldbuilding seems very rushed. when I first began reading, I was extremely lost. I know It's common for that to happen in the beginning of a book, so I carried on. It did not get better.
I was very much clueless and had to come up with my own explanations for things that didn't fit.
What kind of magic are these people using? why are the dead rising? Why is it blamed on the mankind? what are the mixed races? who are they mixed with? What's up with the sudden, uncalled - for bullying of people wearing yellow furs? How was silvie saved, exactly?

Ok, next up_
The characters are all over the place.
one minute I see Silvie as this brooding never-trust-anyone type, but the next- she's.... a shy teen?
herr chemistry with other people is confusing for me, because she acts like a normal teen who overshares with people she just recently met. And why is she so cool with the royalty?
Additionally, silvie and Azura barely spend any time together, but suddenly Azura's jealous of other people having more things in common with Silvie? And the absolutely unacceptable things she says in her mind are baffling and insulting to What Silvie had to go through. It felt way too artificial.
I couldn't develop any sort of bond with the characters, because they all seemed too one-dimensional and their actions were too... much.
The action scenes are another sources of headaches. oftentimes I had to re-read some scenes to make sense of who did what, like in the beginning, when some drink men, for some reason, started cussing out silvie, getting all up in her space and... Actually, I had to quess from here, because in the middle of the scruffle Azura appeared? And they fell.. someplace that for some reason is very dangerous for magic users. It was so confusing I turned off my brain.
Then there are some weird phrasings that I would word differently, I guess. sometimes I had to read a sentence again just to understand what It wanted to convey.

In conclusion, worldbuilding is a major problem for this book, followed by character Inconsistencies, hard to read action scenes and many questions that are left unanswered.
If I were youunger though, I probably would have liked this book.
Unfortunately, It didn't live up to my expectations.

2.5 / 5 stars

Oh I wanted to love this so much, but it never managed to really get me invested in the story or the characters. There isn't really a actual plot for 85% of the story, and the romance between the two main characters also doesn't really get started until about 50%. In a longer book, that may have been fine, but with a novella length story like this, it just means that the romance almost feels insta-love-y because of how quickly it goes from maybe to serious. It also makes the ending feel very tacked-on, as if it were an afterthought, instead of the logical conclusion to the story. There were obviously morsels of the plot scattered throughout, but when the thread between them is revealed at the end, it doesn't feel satisfying or compelling, it's just "meh". The magic system is quite interesting and probably the thing I liked best about the story, but it still feels kind of half-baked, since it's never really clarified what exactly magic can and cannot do. I was also very put off by the whole 'sentry' thing, because I never quite understood what they were, they hunt down the cadaveri, yes, but apart from that? Is the projecting into animals unique to them? Can they do more than just that projection? Why are they so despised by the common people? I also really struggled with the ages of the main 4 characters, as they were all described as 'young', but also they weren't all the same age, I think?
There's potential, certainly, but in its current form I really can't justify any score above a 2.5.

Witches and world-building... what's not to love?! I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved how Mary Borsellino really leans into the personal costs of magic that a lot of fantasy books tend to gloss over. PLUS, it's a queer book! There is an awful lot to love about this book and I really look forward to more books from Borsellino! :)

If people come from The Wolf House to this, they are going to find something that may be quite different to what's expected. While the former has a focus on snappy dialogue and a host of characters, this one is much more centred on world building. Because of that, I think it's a slower book to start before we even really start getting to know the four main characters and, particular, the two PoV characters.

We see Sylvie very briefly with magic before she loses it in the same incident that injures her leg. She's not much use on the front lines after that and ends up being sent for by the alchemist of the far off city, Arteria.

It's here that she meets our other PoV character, Azura, as well as her friends Queen Lena (who is queen in name only) and her body guard Myles.

The most similar book to this with its sapphic love story and zombies/necromancy plotline that I can think of is the very well known Gideon the Ninth but, although I struggled sometimes to understand what was going on (I'm not a huge consumer of the zombie genre overall) I enjoyed this one a great deal more.

This is a book that is queer, disability and survivor friendly all at once. I don't think I've so aptly seen a story that discusses the issue of people doing bad things out of a terrible thing that happened to them in childhood in such an empathetic way. Just loved the resolution of this story.

The Hollow Witch is a solid YA read that has strong characters and even stronger world building. Actually, the world building regularly takes precendent over the characters and plot which messes with the pacing and can make the reading experience less enjoyable.

Around 70% the author truly commits to the plot and rushes forward with answers to all of the readers' questions.

There are some serious themes that are touched on but not explored. I don't believe it's a bad thing but rather see it as being sensitive to readers with triggers.

An overall good read.