Witchlings 1

I finally got around to reading the first Witchlings book, now that I have the sequel in hand. 

Witchlings was definitely enjoyable, though not without minor flaws. I see some clear Harry Potter influence here. Mainly in that the concept seems to be "What would happen if witches weren't sorted?" The Twelve Towns sort their witches into houses (the houses even have personality traits like in HP), which each get one new coven of five per year. Any extra kids are called Spares. This seems pretty silly honestly. Just make some covens a little bigger. Instead, this entire lower class of witch is created and they're treated horribly. The treatment of Spares is so antiquated compared to the otherwise modern setting. It's kind of a bizarre setup. The other main HP thing is that the witch world is separate from the non-magical, though it isn't explained how. Non-magical humans are called humdrums. Heh. While the name is funny, I think the worldbuilding would have been just fine as a magical world. It didn't have to also connect to the human world like HP does. 

Anyway, Seven in the middle there is our main character. She wants to be sorted into a particular house alongside her BFF, Poppy. Poppy makes it, but Seven doesn't. She becomes a Spare. The one with the bob is named Thorn. She's new to town and seems on the fearful side. The pink-haired girl is a rich kid named Valley, who bullied Seven for years. When their mini-coven of three fails to seal, Seven invokes the Impossible Task. If they can perform the task, they'll be a coven. If they can't...they'll be turned into toads. (Not a normal punishment. This is noted.) The girls' task is to kill a Nightbeast, a huge, wolf-like monster that likes to eat witch kids. 

The story twists and turns with the girls getting to know one another and getting over old grievances (Valley and Seven). They try many different things to find the Nightbeast, and they end up uncovering a huge evil plot along the way. Each girl has somewhat decent character development, though honestly, I felt Thorn's was a bit weak. We know her a little, but not as well as Seven and Valley. I felt that way about a lot of the side characters. There could have been more development on most of the parents for sure. The book is definitely very plot and action heavy and lighter on developing the large cast of characters. I'm hoping future volumes work on that. 

I enjoyed most of the world the author built. I love the Spanish-influenced terms for things. Luz is a light spell and Veneno is a poison spell. Monsters are monstruo. I know very little Spanish, so I think this would be even more enjoyable for someone that knew more and could more easily see the origins behind the words. 

Overall, this is a fun book and a quick read. I cared about the characters and wanted to know how the story would end. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes some good witchy fantasy.