Witchlings Seven Salazar, Valley Pepperhorn, and Thorn Laroux are back for the third adventure of this exciting series that focuses on a group of witches who, unlike everyone else, weren’t sorted into covens upon coming of age and never gained full power. Seven and Thorn are trying hard to reverse the curse that turned Valley to stone in the previous volume—but even as they try to solve that problem, “Spares” (unsorted witches) like themselves are disappearing throughout their town of Ravenskill and the surrounding Twelve Towns. And a group of prominent witches are blaming strange recent magical happenings on an imbalance created by Spares.
As the friends dig into the problem, they discover long-hidden secrets about their town and conspiracies to keep them quiet. At the same time, we see lead protagonist Seven in particular continue to grow into herself and her unusual powers of being able to conjure and to talk with monstruos.
Author Claribel Ortega has once again imagined a fun and fantastical setting that both evokes the world of She Who Must Not Be Named and goes beyond it in important and original ways. Here, a character of color takes the lead; the culture is infused by Ortega’s Dominican heritage (as well as by purely imagined phrases, events, and traditions); and themes of power, privilege, and social justice come to the fore, along with a message about the importance of knowledge, history, and librarians. Also, the series does not take place primarily in a school (although there are a few such scenes), but rather in the wider community. Of all the several books I’ve now read that use Harry Potter as a creative spark, this is the one that both goes happily farthest from it but that also best captures the sense of whimsy and creativity that originally made Harry Potter such a delight. Ortega’s clever names, frequent puns, and vivid descriptions are simply wonderful.
The oppression and mistreatment of Spares echoes the experiences of marginalized people throughout our real society. “It seemed even being joyful, even existing as a Spare, was breaking the law,” we read at one point. Elsewhere, a character asks, “Why do they hate us for something we can’t control, Seven? How are we supposed to grow up and live our lives when it feels like everyone just wants us dead?” LGBTQ youth and youth of color may feel resonance here, but Ortega is skilled enough not to try and make the Spares’ experiences exactly mimic that of a specific real-life group; she’s making broad points with wide applicability.
The story also involves an ambitious politician who says, “I believe I am the only one who can fix these problems” and wants to “return Ravenskill and the Twelve Towns to the greatness we know they’re capable of.” The parallel to a certain real-life politician should be obvious (though perhaps not to the middle-grade target audience), but again, Ortega does not simply make the character a carbon copy of his real-life counterpart; he’s a fleshed-out character with his own distinct history and situation. Ortega’s point seems to be that people with privilege and power have certain similarities no matter when and where they are found.
These themes give the story depth, but it’s also simply an exciting, magical adventure about three girls whose separate skills and strong friendship help them stand up to evil and make their community a better place.
Two characters are nonbinary; Valley has a girlfriend (who is mentioned but doesn’t show up in this volume); another character is a drag queen (although we don’t see him perform here as he did in the previous volume). Seven’s crush on a certain boy is developed further in this volume, although in the previous one, there’s a hint that Seven has had crushes regardless of gender. (I’m therefore tagging this volume as having a bi character, so readers can decide for themselves.) All of the queerness is seamlessly accepted.
In sum, it’s a “toadally” great read, as Seven might say, with a clear hook for another volume to follow.
Content warning: One significant and sympathetic adult character is killed.
