I usually go out of my way to avoid anything described as a cozy urban fantasy, but I'm pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Witch Season. This one was so much fun to read and I did not want it to end.

The worldbuilding and magic system are simple. The setting is present-day L.A. and features real places, which made it easy to picture where the story was taking place. I thought the magic system was clever and unique. The covens keep shared community books that hold their spells, and witches stock up on the ones they expect to need soon, the way you'd run to the grocery store. FYI though, casting magic requires cutting oneself, which the characters are doing constantly. If blood and self-injury are a sensitivity for you, this probably isn't the book for you.

The politics between covens delves into real-world issues like corporate overlords, privilege, and also the need for community organizing in a really natural way without being over the top or cartoonish.

Our main characters are walking representations of these issues. Silas is the heir to the corporate dynasty that oversees every coven in the country. Instead of the flat spoiled-heir archetype, he's clearly thought hard about his privilege but just doesn't know how to use it to do good. Katherine is an "unsettled" witch whose magic came in unstable. Witches like her usually end up on the street due to the stigma Silas's family spreads, but she was taken in by the L.A. coven until her magic settled. So Katherine is living proof of the support Silas's family could offer but won't, out of fear and prejudice. This experience left her so self-sacrificing she takes everything on alone. Both are flawed in a realistic way, and I expect their growth to continue throughout the series.

I did struggle with the romance though. It felt a little forced, and Katherine swings between hot and cold toward Silas. I get the tension the author was going for, but it got annoying. The romantic arc is tied closely to their character growth, so it's clear they aren't ready for each other yet. I'm curious to see where it goes in future books.

I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for the next book! Highly recommend for people who like multi-POV, mystery plots, and modern urban settings.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

3.75 ⭐️ - I picked up The Wind Weaver because I love chosen-one/prophecy tropes and it's been too long since I've had a book with those on my TBR. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the magic system and am definitely going to continue the series.

Most of this book focuses on getting to know the characters, the worldbuilding, and establishing relationships between them. If I had to categorize it, I'd say this is mostly a character-driven book, which I wasn't expecting. There isn't a ton of plot and the action comes at the very end.

I was concerned the worldbuilding would be dry, dense, and not unique. I'm not typically drawn to elemental magic systems for that reason, but I loved how unique this magic system is, and I appreciated that the worldbuilding wasn't done through long blocks of explanation. It's spread across short conversations and a book Rhya reads bits of throughout.

There's a great cast of side characters who quickly become Rhya's found family, and I always love the character development that comes from people learning to have others care for them for the first time.

All that said, I was not a fan of the romance. Penn and Rhya went from open hostility toward one another to Penn being absent and not interacting with her, so when the love confession felt so out of left field. He was also possessive and jealous very early in the book, which made no sense. I know his behavior toward Rhya is rooted in trauma, but it was executed in a way that made him a very poor romantic lead. By the end, I was practically begging for Soren to swoop in and save the day, because I thought she deserved way more from a romantic partner and it seemed like he saw Rhya's potential. Fingers crossed the romance will improve in the rest of the series.

I'll continue to the next book to see more of the side characters and how they work together to save the world.

Definitely recommend if you like elemental magic, prophecies, and are okay with a heavier focus on character development over plot.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC!

2.75 ⭐️ - Ugh, this one pains me. Dire Bound was a rare, perfect five-star read for me, so I went into Fury Bound expecting to love it no matter what. I was having a good time until the last 30-ish percent or so. There are plenty of things I liked, but by the end I couldn't ignore the glaring issues with the plot and pacing that made this frustrating to get through.

The worldbuilding expands a ton and we venture into the neighboring kingdom of Astreona. We learn more about the political stakes, siphon society, and even some lore about ancient gods. The story just feels more ambitious and I respect what the authors were trying to do.

With the new setting comes new characters like Lucien, who quickly became my favorite character. He brought theatrics and personality when the story desperately needed some excitement. Meryn's growth into her role as queen was satisfying, and Stark getting his own POV chapters helped us learn more about him, which I thought we missed out on in the first book.

The romance was kind of mid for me. The mate bond felt like a shortcut around actual relationship development between Stark and Meryn, so outside of the bond itself I'm not totally sure what their connection is. That said, I liked them together, and I wasn't mad about the spice scenes either.

The plot and pacing are where things start to fall apart. The story pivots from wolves vs. siphons to ancient gods and a quest, and the transition was not smooth at all. On top of that, the story builds tension throughout but never actually delivers any satisfying payoff. Reveals feel half-explained, important threads get raised and then quietly dropped, and we get a lot of detail about getting to the next thing but very little on-page action when we actually get there. The twists and turns kept me interested, but the back half of the plot felt a little incoherent because of them.

There's a really good book in here somewhere, and I still think this series is worth picking up if you want a fun vibes-read. I was getting Quicksilver flashbacks while reading this because Fury Bound is similarly a fun read but not necessarily well written. If you're in the mood for that, this series could be for you.