Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsREAD. THIS. BOOK.
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2020
**The Shadow Wand is book 3 of The Black Witch series by Laurie Forest, a riveting fantasy series ABOUT PREJUDICE AND RACIAL HATE WARS in a fantasy fae-magic-witch drenched fantasy setting, featuring potentially world-ending dark leadership and powers.
I inhale Book 3, The Shadow Wand.
Deep breath.
I close the book.
And I scream.
I literally scream from the rise of energy and emotion.
I scream from the intense knuckle-bludgeoning ride.
I scream from release of hopes for this series, from surprise at plot twists, from power finally being claimed, taken as is birthright.
Wow wow wow WOW!!!
Holy Ancient gods, all!
Holy Ge'o, Holy planet!
Holy existence of all that ever can be Holy!!
The Black Witch female hero-rising in The Shadow Wand installation is looking for her full empowerment to set the world right and eliminate racism and injustice upon Earthia. This is a story for the ages.
This book is MUST READ FULL STARS highest rating all the way, written with soul-churning emotion and rising arcs of character and crescendo of event and urgency.
Book 3 launches during the most jaw-dropping of real world times, a book about Earthia-world race war…
launching during a real Earth race war (the George Floyd murder being the ignition for righting injustices of prejudice in the US) and world pandemic, blurring reality over and over.
IN SUMMARY, READ THIS.
Feel the rising power of standing up to racism.
Feel the tides turn to aid those facing the Right Way, the Way of Compassion, the Way of Equality.
Feel the alignment of Nature standing for what is right.
Feel the Planet rising in response to unity (and to Environmental Care).
Feel the power we all need right now:
Feel the power of a coming Great Leader, one born on the side of the oppressor instead moving to the side of aiding the oppressed, The Black Witch (she has green shimmering skin fyi).
Read this book to feel the unity of that, the power of the universe streaming through you when you stand for what is right and stand for anti-racism.
And enjoy the hell out of the fantasy powers and abilities and settings and magic and types of beings and rich character portrayals that frame this glorious ride.
This is one ginormous E-ticket magical rune-stamped wand emblazoned ride, and it will take you as high and as low as your emotions can stretch. And it will leave you feeling hope, hope the evil can finally be stamped out, justice that is still in the offing in this series since there are two more installments coming.
For those who have read the series thus far, you have to mostly wait a tiny bit for your favorite characters to take center stage again: there are new character introductions from the start, but it's not too much, if one is the tiniest bit patient to see beloved characters appear. Other epic series have woven far more. You will remember these new beings as their stories are also heart pounding and memorable. They fill roles needed as these lands are far-flung.
These new introductions are written not as info dump but as micro stories that are written so well that one is left with emotion overflowing in only a glorious chapter, and the next and next, done with immediate reeling in and tapestry weaving. I immediately felt the knot rising in my throat from sorrow for what is unfolding for these new characters. That sort of reel-you-in-fast writing is hard to do! And yet Ms. Forest has done it so well.
In the reading:
I highly recommend a refresh on the entire series before reading this installment.
READ WAND FASTED JUST PRIOR TO THIS INSTALLMENT.
IMMEDIATELY OPEN THE SHADOW WAND *AFTER* CLOSING WAND FASTED.
Chapter one will have you in gut wrenching torment IF you have just read Wand Fasted.
THE SERIES ORDER:
Read (or reread) in the following order:
The Black Witch
The Iron Flower
Light Mage
Wand Fasted
And AFTER closing Wand Fasted **IMMEDIATELY** read chapter one of The Shadow Wand.
(AUDIO: Julia Whelan is back for the voiced narration, and she is MASTER in this telling! I HIGHLY recommend the audio, on Audible and Scribd, though I haven't heard it yet, she reins supreme in the voice acting for The Black Witch book 1 and The Iron Flower book 2, so her telling of book 3 is a given.)
Enter the land of The Black Witch and you will not want to leave!
